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Showing posts from January, 2014

6 days and counting to the Gluten & Allergen Free Expo... some last minute tips

The Gluten and Allergen Free expo will be in the San Francisco Bay Area in less than a week! I just took a look at the vendor list which reminded me of some tips I learned last year which I'd like to share: Don't eat before going. Last year we opted for a light breakfast and then came for the 9am opening Sunday morning. By 11am we were so stuffed we were taking a small bite out of a sample and throwing the rest away - as well as turning down countless other samples. Take a look at the vendor layout when  you arrive and decide on a plan of how you will systematically cover all booths. Trying to dash between different vendors who interest you will be exhausting and you'll never see it all. Bring your family members! Last year  I brought my husband and daughter. 3 entries = 3 expo bags = 3x the samples. We were eating those samples for months. If you tasted an item and did not care for it, don't take the take-home sample. You will have plenty of take home samples yo

Product Review : deSIAM Peanut & Coconut Thai Sauce

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I love peanuts - especially peanut curry's like Massaman and peanut dipping sauces for things like Chicken Satay. I often make a quick dinner which consists of shrimp, broccoli and red bell pepper over rice noodles with, you guessed it, peanut sauce. I've tried making peanut sauce myself many times but only rarely find a recipe that reminds me of the delicious sauce I find at my local Thai restaurants. I've also tried just about every bottled peanut sauce on the market and could not stand a single one, that is, until I happened upon deSIAM. Of course, now I can't recall exactly where I found it - but I can narrow it down to either Whole Foods or Cost Plus -more likely Cost Plus. It's a product of Thailand and is labeled "GMO Free" but note it is *not* specifically labeled gluten free , although I could not find any gluten ingredients listed, not even the ambiguous ones. I can say I have had no reaction and usually I start to feel queasy 30 minutes afte

Giveaway Winners Announced

I learned about a neat site called random.org which chose who won the giveaway. Thank you to everyone who entered via following glutenfreetop10.com or liking the Facebook page. I have notified the winners (for privacy reasons, I do not like listing winners publicly) and if any decline the ticket I will continue to draw winners until all 5 tickets are claimed. I hope to see you all at the expo and stay tuned for future posts describing the best, the worst and the most memorable of the expo. https://gfafexpo.com/locations/san-francisco-ca/

Free Expo Ticket Giveaway

I will be giving away 5 regular admission tickets ($20 value) to the upcoming Gluten & Allergen Free Expo coming to the San Mateo County Event Center on January 25 and 26. The ticket is good for either day. In addition to the many vendors, there will be classes and demonstrations. Click here for the schedule. I'll be there on Saturday and am looking forward to the first class " The Latest on Gluten, Celiac and IBS: Separating Fact From Fiction". To stay in the know about the expo, be sure to: Follow GFAF Expo on Twitter  twitter.com/gfafexpo Like GFAF Expo on Facebook  www.facebook.com/ gfafexpo Share this post so your friends know about the Expo To enter the drawing,  follow this blog and for an extra entry, like its Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/glutenfreetop10 The drawing will be held Friday January 17 and winners will be able to pick up their ticket at the expo. Spread the word, and I hope to see you at the expo!

Freschetta Frozen Gluten Free Pizza

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I finally found the elusive Freschetta Gluten Free Pizza at the Sunnyvale Safeway at 150 East  El Camino Real across from Sprouts, next to Toys R Us . My local store did not carry it - I guess it's too small - I also just checked the Los Altos store on Miramonte Ave and it too did not carry this item. If you have been following my blog, you will recall my husband and I are absolute pizza snobs. I grew up in NY and he grew up in Chicago. We have extremely high expectations when it comes to pizza. Well, I am happy to report that we both really enjoyed this pizza! It was not quite as good as the pizza I make with the Venice seasoned crust and Edan Organic's Pizza sauce, but it was pretty close. I decided to cook the pizza on the baking stone so I would have a true apples to apples comparison to what I make. So I heated the stone to 450 degrees F, then when up to heat reduced the oven to 425 degrees F. The instructions said to cook the pizza 12 to 18 minutes but I found I r