Posts Categorized: Lily’s corner

gluten-free kids in the kitchen

Way back in June, my girl Lily and I went to the Canadian Celiac Association's national conference.

Way back in June, my girl Lily and I went to the Canadian Celiac Association‘s national conference in Mississauga, hosted by the Halton Peel Chapter.

 

We were there for the food.

We were there for the food! Lily participated and I volunteered in a cooking class for kids that ran as part of the conference’s youth program “Surviving Gluten Free.”

 

We weren't afraid to get our hands dirty.

After a short bus ride from the conference site to the PC Cooking School at Loblaws, we donned our aprons and got busy. Here are the kids baking buns for subs. What a fun, yummy morning!

 

Hot out of the oven buns for subs..

Gluten-free buns fresh from the oven.

 

Quick and easy tri-colour pasta salad.

Quick and easy tri-colour pasta salad.

 

Turkey sub with a side of pasta salad.

And, voila! Turkey sub on fresh-baked bread with a side of pasta salad. Lily was stoked to be eating a sub that she made herself! She was just so happy to be able to take part in a cooking class, period.

 

Donut holes BEFORE

Doughnut holes BEFORE

 

Waiting patiently for the doughnut holes...

Waiting excitedly…

 

Donut holes AFTER

Doughnut holes AFTER

 

Our teacher Monique van den Wildenberg and TK TK.

Chef and registered dietitian Amanda Li and chef Monique van den Wildenberg helped the kids whip up a gluten-free feast.

 

They tossed the hot doughnut holes in a cinnamon/icing sugar mix.

They tossed the hot doughnut holes (which were actually shaped more like mini muffins) in a cinnamon/icing sugar mix.

 

A hole in one.

A hole in one!

 

Jaime Plain, the fearless youth program coordinator, put together a fantastic weekend for kids with celiac.

Energetic youth program coordinator Jaime Plain did a super job of organizing an educational, camp-like weekend for kids with celiac—the CCA’s first conference youth program! Look at this happy camper! Jaime, you rock!

 

 The Gluten Free Garage was proud to sponsor the kids’ cooking class as part of the youth program of the 2013 CCA national conference.

i scream, you scream

We all scream for ice-cream sandwiches!

We all scream for ice-cream sammiches!

 

One day last week Lily came home from camp feeling sad because it was ice-cream sandwich day. A few days earlier I had received a call from the camp director asking me if there was a gluten-free ice-cream sandwich that they could get for her so she could have what everyone else was eating. I told him about a brand I had heard about that we hadn’t tried yet and where he could pick them up. I felt grateful that he had called and I was happy that Lily wouldn’t feel left out.

So why was she upset? She said that it wasn’t a real ice-cream sandwich, that the outside was hard and crumbly like a cookie instead of being soft like the other kids’ treats. She understood that the camp had gotten that ice-cream sandwich especially for her and she didn’t want to make anyone feel bad so she had wrapped it up and put it in her napsack. This is my seven-year-old gluten-free girl.

A couple days later I’m trolling around on Facebook and up pops a post from Bunner’s Bake Shop with a pretty pic of what they called a “classic ice-cream sandwich” wrapped in tissue and tied with a ribbon—their latest vegan, gluten-free (re)creation, available on weekends only. I had faith in this ice-cream sandwich because, well, it’s Bunner’s and they don’t mess around when it comes to gluten-free baking. Case in point: Their “fauxstess” cupcakes. So Friday rolled into Saturday and we rolled into the Junction.

 

Lily came

“It’s a real ice-cream sandwich!”

 

She would have given it two thumbs up if she wasn't holding her sammie in her other hand.

She would have given it two thumbs up if she wasn’t holding her sammich in her other hand.

 

While Lily was living it up with her ice-cream sammie, I spotted this happy woman coming out of Bunner's sporting a GFG tote bag! That made my day.

While Lily was living it up with her gluten-free ice-cream sammich, I spotted this happy woman coming out of Bunner’s sporting a GFG tote bag! Move over sammich…this gal made my day!

 

it’s (a) live!

The new Live in Liberty Village

One hot day in the city, this little girl went to Live Market in Liberty Village.

 

And the sign said...

Little sister to Live Organic Food Bar on Dupont, the bright Liberty Village eatery is part cafe and part grab ‘n go, serving prepared items (salads, wraps, etc), food you can order at the counter (bowls, burritos, etc), bottles of fresh pressed juices, gourmet coffee and a selection of artisanal products—all vegan, organic and most importantly gluten free!

 

The girls were feeling the heat.

The girls took a seat while mama browsed.

 

It made our day that Augie's Gourmet Ice Pops were in the freezer. Juiciest popsicles ever!

Augie’s Gourmet Ice Pops are in the house! Some other faves include: Sweets from the Earth frozen cookie dough, Bunner’s Supersonic cookie, Stasis Preserves, RawFoodz salad dressing and Chocosol dark chocolate.

 

These wraps are a game changer!

Wrapper’s delight! We bought Live’s flax and corn tortillas for our breakfast burritos: scrambled egg and cheese with avocado.

 

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Ezra’s Pound teamed up with Live to bring the best espresso in the city to Liberty Village.

 

Refreshing Tonica Kombucha.

Lily refreshed with naturally sparkling Tonica Kombucha. She’s mad for mango passion!

love your gluten-free guts

We baked these

We baked these banana chocolate chip muffins today with JK Gourmet’s almond flour muffin mix. They were amazingly moist and, I’m going to use a word here I don’t use too often, scrumptious! We were off to The Mike Chalut Show on 103.9’s Proud FM, gluten-free goods in hand.

 

Lily, aka the GFG muse, made her radio debut with Mike Chalut on 103.9 Proud FM.

Lily, aka the GFG muse, in-studio for her radio debut with the handsome Mr. “Love Your Guts.”

 

We felt bad we didn't bring Mike's favourite— poutines—but he was thrilled with his muffin and his GFG bag.

We felt kind of bad that we didn’t bring Mike his favourite— poutine—but he was thrilled with his muffin and GFG bag. Tune in to Foodie Friday on 103.9 Pride FM!

 

We’re happy to have JK Gourmet as a sponsor of the Gluten Free Garage! They sample like crazy at the event so don’t forget to hit up their table!

a pain in the gluten-free butt

Prunes

Yes, this blog post is about poo…and prunes.

Our daughter Lily, who has celiac, has been dealing with constipation problems on and off since switching to a gluten-free diet. Sometimes she doesn’t have a bowel movement for a couple of days and her tummy gets big and round and she complains about stomach pain. We’ve been trying to get to the bottom of this (pardon the pun) for quite some time. Yes, she loves rice but it’s not like she eats it every day. She does eat lots of fruit and veggies. We put ground chia seeds and flax oil in her smoothies. She takes probiotics. She gets plenty of exercise. Both her gastroenterologist and her pediatrician recommended that she take Restoralax, a gentle laxative that provides relief of occasional constipation by bringing water into the bowel and softening the stool so it’s easier to go. We mixed the powder in her water for a couple of months and it certainly did the trick, but who wants their seven-year-old to be dependent on a laxative? So about a month ago, we substituted Restoralax for a prune a day and some extra fluids and I can’t tell you the difference it’s made!

Gluten-free products are notoriously low in fibre, so we figure Lily’s not alone in her poo problem. We asked registered dietitian—and GFG guest speaker— Alexandra Anca for advice on what to do when you can’t poo. more…