If you ask anyone who has a food allergy or sensitivity what the hardest part is and they will say that making sure what they eat doesn’t have the ingredient they are sensitive to in it. Thankfully, there are now labeling laws for the top 8 allergens (milk, eggs, shellfish, fish, soy, wheat, peanuts and tree nuts). Unfortunately for those who have Celiac or are sensitive to gluten, companies are not required to call out gluten on the label. Gluten can be hidden in natural flavors, spices, etc. There is a lot to be said for companies that won’t hide gluten in spices or natural flavors. I will gladly spend extra money to make sure that the product that I am eating is free of gluten and is easily verified over one that I have to call to verify or wonder about. Here is a list of companies that will clearly mark gluten on the labels:

These are companies that say they will clearly list gluten in the
ingredients. I have not included companies that are specifically GF or
smaller specialty companies. I know this list is not complete. Some of
these are actually subsidiaries of some of the others, but I have not tried
to sort that out.

When a company says it will clearly list gluten, you might still see things
like “modified food starch” or “natural flavor.” In this case, the suspect
ingredient does not have gluten if gluten is not plainly listed. I cannot
tell you about any policies regarding cross contamination.

Act II
Alexia
Aunt Nelly’s
Balance Oasis (Balance bars)
Ball Park
Baskin Robbins
Ben & Jerry
Betty Crocker
Blue Bunny
Breyers
Campbells
Cascadian Farms
Celestial Seasonings
Con Agra
Country Crock
Crunch & Munch
Edy’s
Egg Beater’s
Fiddle Faddle
Fleichman’s
General Mills
Good Humor
Green Giant
Gulden’s
Haagen Daz
Healthy Choice
Hebrew National
Hellman’s
Hershey~ Update (Just issued a new statement this year (2009); call per each item to verify GF status)
Hillshire Farms
Hormel
Hunt’s
Jiffy
Jiffy Pop
Jimmy Dean
Knorr
Kozy Shack
Kraft
La Choy
Libby’s
Lipton
Manwich
Marie Callender’s
Martha White
McCormick
Nabisco
Nestle
Old El Paso
Ortega
Orville Redenbacher
Pam
Parkay
Peter Pan
Pillsbury
Poppycock
Popsicle
Post
Progresso
Ranch Style
Reddi Whip
Ro*tel
Rosarita
Russell Stover
Sara Lee
Seneca Foods
Slim Jim
Stokely’s
Sunny Delight
Swiss Miss
T Marzetti
Tyson
Unilever
Van Camp’s
Wesson
Wishbone
Yoplait
Zatarain’s

For the first 6 months or so after I was gluten-free, I carried this list around with me every time I went to the store. I also had a huge notebook full of lists of individual foods that I could safely purchase and eat. I no longer need the notebook or lists. For the most part I can either remember the brands or stick with what I know. We also tend to buy very few processed foods so there really isn’t the issue of what is in it if it is a natural, whole food.

So, yesterday we went to Aaron’s company picnic at King’s Island amusement park. We had a great time. We left home early, about 8:10 AM. Surprisingly that is only 10 minutes after the time we planned on leaving. Not bad! I packed a cooler for lunch for Jon and I and made sure to have a doctor’s note in order to bring the cooler in (rules per King’s Island are that no food is to be brought in). We arrived right as the rides were starting to run at 10:00 AM. We had no trouble at all getting in with the cooler, as a matter of fact I could have had anything written on that doctor’s note. I am not complaining, I would rather have it be easy to get in with the food then hard. Jon and his friend, Grant, were eager to take off and ride the roller coasters, so we set them free. We took Hannah and headed to Nickelodeon Land, the area for all of the little kids. She immediately rode the kiddie bumper cars and had a blast. Then we met up with our neighbors, who have 2 kids, their little girl is Hannah’s age. We spent some time with them and the girls got their faces painted. Hannah chose a “mask”. Here she is in all her glory:

Around noon we headed over to the picnic grove for lunch. Aaron, Grant and Hannah were able to enjoy the food provided by King’s Island. They feasted on chicken fingers, pototo chips and salad. I packed myself a turkey & muenster cheese sandwich on Pamela’s bread, a fruit bowl and blue corn chips. Jon had a roast beef & cheese sandwich, Cool Ranch Doritos and a Yoplait yogurt. We buy Oscar Meyer lunch meats, as they are a Kraft company and will label any gluten indgredients. Yoplait yogurt has started to label their yogurts “gluten-free” on the side. They also won’t hide any ingredients on their labels.

After lunch we headed back out into the park. The boys headed to the water park area, Boomerang Bay. They didn’t stay there for long, they wanted to go back and ride more coasters. Aaron and I took Hannah over to the area where they have the Scrambler, Spider (which they call the Monster) and some crazy ride called “Shake, Rattle & Roll”. It was nuts. Hannah loved them all. Mommy, not so much. I rode them for Hannah. Those round & round rides make me want to vomit. Before heading home we headed to Graeter’s from some ice cream. I indulged in the strawberry, it was amazing. Jon had chocolate. Hannah had a vanilla scoop on a cone. YUM!! After stuffing our ice cream down, we headed home. I couldn’t wait to go to bed! LOL! I had gone to the gym at 5:00 AM and after working out and then walking all day, I was whooped!

Gotta love being able to call and get Chinese take out. That is one thing I have really missed since going gluten-free. I still have yet to find a GF egg roll, but I will take what I can get. Last night on the way home from King’s Island I was really tired and couldn’t fathom cooking & cleaning up, so I suggested Pei Wei Asian Diner for dinner. Pei Wei is run by P.F. Changs. Convenienty I keep a carry-out menu in my glovebox. I love the Pei Wei Spicy Chicken or the Pei Wei Spicy Chicken salad. Jon really likes the Pei Wei Sweet & Sour. Some locations even carry gluten-free soy sauce, you just need to ask for it. I keep La Choy Soy Sauce at home for when we get Chinese take out. It is like heaven on earth.

We really like P.F. Chang’s too, but there really isn’t one close by to our house. Not only do they have a pretty extensive GF menu, they have an amazing dessert too. It is a flourless chocolate dome. Whenever we go we have to get more than one b/c Jon doesn’t really like to share his dome. 🙂 I don’t blame him. It is one of the few places he can safely order dessert out. I have tried many of the items on P.F. Chang’s menu, but really like the Singapore Street Noodles the best. Some of the other good dishes are Philip’s Better Lemon Chicken, Ginger Broccoli, Chang’s Spicy Chicken and don’t forget the lettuce wraps. They also have gluten-free soy sauce, just make sure to ask your server to get it from the back, the soy on the table is not GF.

Every once in a while when Jon and I get frustrated with eating gluten-free, we will make a list of all of the things that we would eat if we had one day to eat gluten. We both realize that unless there is some major medical/pharmaceutical development, this will never happen, but it is fun to daydream. So with our upcoming King’s Island trip, I began to think about what I would eat if I could. My list is not going to be limited to what I can find at King’s Island, KI just inspired me to daydream about gluten. Here is my list….let’s see how long it is:

Charley’s Chicken Philly & Fries
Pizza Hut Pan Pizza & Boneless Spicy BBQ wings
Whole grain bread (weird, I know, but once you have eaten GF bread, this sounds gread)
Sourdough bread (never knew how much I would miss this one…..when we go out to eat and the server places a nice, hot, fresh basket of sourdough on the table, I will pick it up and just let the wonderful aroma drift upwards towards my face)
Cheesecake (yes, I know I can make it GF and it is excellent, but I miss ordering it out)
Hot Soft Pretzel (have yet to find a replacement)
Pretzels
Wendy’s Spicy Chicken Sandwich with cheese & mayo
McD’s Filet-O-Fish Sandwich
Egg McMuffin
Flour Tortillas (love Chipotle burritos)
Kringle (the pasty filled with fruit, topped with icing that you eat around the Holidays)
Krispy Kreme glazed doughnuts
Panera Bread Bagels or a good bagel in general
Amstel Light Beer
Nathan’s Hot Dogs

Jon’s List:

Pop-Tarts
Waffles
Pancakes
Donuts
Pizza (in all shapes and forms)
Chicken Fingers
Cake
Cookies
Pop-Tarts
Charley’s Fries & Philly
Did I mention Pop-Tarts?

Now, I am sure you are catching a theme by now. None of the above is healthy, except maybe the whole grain bread. So, if there is a silver lining in our gluten-free cloud, it is that we eat pretty healthy now.

Ah…Cheeseburger in Paradise. One of my favorite songs and one of my favorite restaraunts to eat at. I loved this place even before I had to eat gluten-free. The burgers rock! Imagine my surprise the first time I went in there after starting the gluten-free diet and they handed me a gluten-free menu. I swear that I almost fainted. I had gone months without french fries. Yes, I had fries at home, but they weren’t the deep fried yummy potato goodness that you get from a restaraunt. I was in french fry heaven! We started to make CIP a weekly treat, after my daughter’s ice skating class and now, 2+ years later, we are still going at least once per week. I have had the burgers (love the bacon and cheddar burger and fries), Carribean chicken sandwich, Son of a Sailor salad with grilled shrimp, Parrot Beach Salmon and Blackbeard’s Shrimp. I am on a salmon kick now, so I start with the side sald with citrus vinaigrette and then have the blackened salmon and steamed broccoli. I got to know the staff very well at the location we visit. They even went as far as to order in the gluten-free beer, Red Bridge! Jon loves to eat here too. He gets a plain cheeseburger, fries and house salad with the house vinaigrette, which he loves so much he gets extra to take home! He will occasionally get the Jamaican Root Beer sans coconut as a treat. When we go to CIP, we usually have the same server and she knows what we want without us having to tell her. She knows what to watch for and makes sure our food comes out properly. It is so nice to be able to eat out regularly without having to worry about getting sick. Jon is really sensitive and seems to get sick every time we eat at Bonefish, though he still begs to go back. We have yet to have a problem with CIP (knocking on wood). I know it is risky to eat out due to cross contamination issues, but I don’t want to live in a bubble either.

Speaking of eating out. In a few days we are heading to Kings Island for Aaron’s company picnic. They provide lunch, very scary for anyone with any kind of food sensitivity or issue. We plan on brining in a cooler with lunch for Jon and I and a doctor’s note so that we are allowed to bring food in, as it says right on the website that no food or drink may be brought into the park. The kids are really looking forward to going. Let’s hope we don’t have any issues getting the cooler in or Jon and I will be having an awful lot of Graeter’s Ice Cream and Starbucks coffees during the day! LOL! Come to think of it, that doesn’t sound too bad, does it? I plan on packing roast beef sandwiches on the bread that I made yesterday, along with some fresh fruit, baby carrots and chips (either Cool Ranch Doritos or Blue Corn Chips). Maybe I will make the brownie mix I have sitting in the pantry from Trader Joe’s. Ooooh……I bet I can top one of those with a big scoop of ice cream from Graeter’s…..I think I just might! I will probably pack some Lara Bars for snack. Jon’s favorites are chocolate mint, lemon, key lime pie and peanut butter cookie. I love the chocolate coffee, cashew cookie, chocolate, pecan pie, cinnamon roll and gingersnap. I love they are a whole serving of fruit! It is helpful to disguise fruit in any way possible for picky eaters like Jon. 🙂