Gluten Free Foods

This page is dedicated to all who face the challenge of gluten free living.  There are tasty alternatives to the traditional gluten containing foods you usually eat.  Remember that your eating habits are learned behavior, and you can retrain yourself with a little effort.

Eating Out Safely: 

It is very important to ask your server if a menu item contains gluten.  Most decent restaurants will have staff trained to handle your questions.  Cross contamination is a real problem in the kitchen so eating out is always a crap shoot.  You are better off doing without any menu item you or the server is unsure of.  Never take for granted that ordering a steak and fresh veggies is safe.  Some restaurants marinade their steaks, and I was served a steak with an onion ring on top at one restaurant.  Always tell the server  your meal must be gluten free!  Several national chain restaurants have gluten free menus, but you have to ask for them. The Bone Fish Grill is my favorite.  Carrabba's Italian Grill, Outback Steakhouse, PF Chang's and many others.  Jule's Pizzeria in Doylestown, and Newtown Pa. offer gluten free pizza.

You can order a pocket sized restaurant guide called the Clan Thompson Food Guide.  & http://www.triumphdining.com/ These guides have restaurants with gluten free menus from all over the country, and is packed with safety tips when dining out.

 Meat, Fish, Poultry, Fruits and Veggies: 

All meats, fish, fruits, and veggies are gluten free as long as they have not been breaded or otherwise processed with gluten ingredients.

Gluten Free Flours:

White and Brown Rice Flour, Buckwheat Flour, Tapioca Flour, Garbanzo Bean Flour, Arrowroot Flour, Teff Flour, Potato Flour just to name a few.  All of these are common in health food stores, and some major markets.  

Gluten Free Breads, Bagels, and Muffins :

Bread is one of the true disappointments when going gluten free.  All of the gluten free breads I have eaten taste best toasted. The following are my families favorite pre made breads: 

Glutino Corn Bread, Sterks Italian Whole Brown and High Fiber Bread, and for those on the Candida diet I recommend EnerG Brown Rice Yeast Free Loaf.  These breads tend to be dry, so I use olive oil to moisten them.  Most gluten free breads are found in the freezer section of the store; however the Sterks bread and EnerG bread mentioned above are not. 

Bagels and English Muffins are much better than the breads.  Our favorites are:

Glutino Sesame Seed and Plain Bagels, Glutino English Muffins

Gluten Free Breakfast Cereal, Waffles, and Pancakes

There are many great breakfast cereals to choose from.  These are just a few:  Glutino Apple and Cinnamon, Natures Path Corn Flakes, Perky's Nutty Flax and Nutty Rice,  Enviro Kidz Koala Crisps, Erewhon Crispy Brown Rice, and Bakery on Main Rain forest Granola

Van's gluten free apple and cinnamon waffles, and Lifestream Buckwheat waffles are both very good.  Pamela's pancake mix is our favorite, and my wife uses this mix for cookies as well.

These pancakes are very moist and my kids prefer them to the regular wheat pancakes.

Gluten Free Pasta:

I was surprised to discover that I didn't have to sacrifice a good spaghetti dinner when I went gluten free.  These pastas are very good.

Bionaturae Gluten Free Spaghetti and Pastas are by far my favorite.  Tinkyada Brown Rice Pasta, Ancient Harvest Quinoa Pasta

Soup:

There are many tasty soups that are gluten free.  always read the labels and look for the words Gluten Free.

Imagine Organic Cream of Broccoli, and Creamy Potato Leek, Pacific Natural Foods Roasted Red Pepper Tomato, Amy's has a large selection, and my favorite is Lentil Vegetable.

Lunch Meat Hot Dogs and Sausage

Boars Head does not use gluten in any of their products, so I always buy Boars Head lunch meat.  Some hot dogs contain gluten, so be careful not to eat any unidentified hot dogs. LOL

I buy Coleman Natural uncured hot dogs, and most all beef hot dogs are gluten free (read the label before buying).  Many sausage makers use gluten as a binder for their products.  I always

purchase fresh sausage from my local market and avoid sausage when eating out.  Read the labels, and ask the butcher at your local market to make certain that their product is gluten free. 

Gluten Free Pizza and Pie Crust:

Several companies make decent pizza and pie crust.  Our favorites are:  Amy's cheese pizza with rice crust, and Glutino spinach & feta pizza.  The best gluten free pizza is made at home, and our favorite crust mix is Chebe pizza crust mix.  Many gluten free cook books have recipes

for pizza dough from scratch. I make 1/2 dozen doughs when I get the urge to have home      made dough.  It takes alot of time getting all the ingredients together, so I don't think it is practicle to make just one. 

Gluten Free Desserts:

Pamela's cake mixes are excellent!  My friends never knew my birthday cake was gluten free, and why tell them LOL.  Other good treats are:  Enjoy Life chocolate chip cookies, Good Eats snicker doodles, Kimikimik K-TOOS cookies, Foods By George crumb cake, the list goes on.  The selection is getting larger every year.

Snacks:

There is a lot to choose from in the snack department.  Read the labels on all processed snack foods to avoid problems. The following are common snacks in my house:  Michael Season's Lite Cheese Puffs, Asian Gourmet Rice Crackers, Blue Diamond Nut & Rice Crackers, Enviro Kidz Organic Crispy Rice Bars, Larabar Apple Pie (snack bars), Glutino pretzels, EnerG Sesame Pretzels, Lundberg Rice Chips, Newman's Own Organic Pop Corn, Frito's, and Low sodium Lays Potato Chips

Frozen Dinners:

Amy's has a large selection to choose from; however I do not buy most of this stuff.  I prefer fresh food as much as possible.  The following are some of the foods my kids like:

Amy's gluten free mac & cheese, Ian's gluten free fish sticks and chicken nuggets

Salad Dressings and Condiments:

I like to buy organic mustards and ketchup's for my family; however Heinz catchup is still our favorite.  Most ketchup and mustards are gluten free, but some do contain gluten.  Read the labels before buying.  Mayonnaise is also generally safe. 

Any's  Naturals makes excellent gluten free dressings, and for those of you on a yeast free diet they offer vinegar free dressing as well.  My favorites are Lemon Chive Vinegar free , and Artichoke Parmesan Vinegar free dressings.  Again, many are gluten free so read the labels.

How To Find Gluten On Those Confusing Food Labels:

The following ingredients contain gluten:

wheat, rye, barley,*oats, spelt, sprouted wheat, kamut, seitan, semolina, modified food starch, malt, bran, trilicale, udon, soy sauce, and teriyaki sauce

The following are hidden sources of gluten and must be avoided:

food coloring, fillers, flavorings, hydrolyzed plant protein, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, mono sodium glutamate (MSG), spices, and textured vegetable protein

*Oats are getting a second look, and are now considered to be safe to eat.  However, they must be labeled gluten free!  Most food processors that process oats also process wheat, and rye.  This means most oat product on the market are contaminated and must be avoided. 

Bob's Red Mill Steel Cut Whole Grain Oats are gluten free. I recommend you stick to this, or another oat product produced by a trusted gluten free manufacturer.