we heart pizzavino 707.

The Gluten Free Lab is walking on sunshine! Starting Thursday, December 3, our GF pizza dough will be on the menu at Pizzavino 707 in Sebastopol. Come join us for the pizza’s debut, we’ll be there from 6–9 p.m. Just call ahead and mention The Gluten Free Lab to reserve your table.

ALL of Pizzavino 707’s pizzas are available in a GF option, and they are deliciously wideranging, from expected favorites like the margherita (tomato sauce, mozzarella & fresh basil), to stand-out flavor mash-ups like the spicy potato, mozzarella, fontal, soppresatta, arugula & parmesan. Add to that a light wild arugula, cucumber, lemon-chili vinaigrette, toasted almonds & pecorino salad and finish with a flourless chocolate cake that’s to die for, and you have yourself a tastebud-bursting, completely gluten-free dinner! Pizzavino, you have our hearts.

Please note: While the restaurant makes every attempt to keep gluten-free ingredients separate, this is not a gluten-free kitchen.

thanksgiving goodies.

I’m not sure why I continue to make the choice to drive anywhere in town. As soon as I leave my parking space, I immediately regret the seeming convenience, cursing myself for not remembering that walking is infinitely easier (and faster) than trying to maneuver a hulking auto through a town where the pedestrian clearly rules. It was the very slowness of driving, though, that pointed my head in the right direction, my eyes following the string of west-bound pedestrians crossing illegally toward Screamin’ Mimi’s (our town’s favorite ice cream shop, which also happens to be completely addictive. Hence the string of people crossing illegally and lining up out the door. IT’S WORTH BEING ILLEGAL FOR.). With my head pointing in the right direction, I spotted a delivery van parked at the curb – legally, I might add – with three very magical words: Gluten. Free. Goodies.

OMG, what is this? Curse on the flow of traffic, which has now sped up to an unreasonable 35 MPH, the pedestrians safely crossed, the road wide open. Before barreling out of the intersection and away from the delivery van, I managed to mentally capture the van’s verbiage in its entirety: McNish’s Gluten-Free Goodies.

Mmmmm. Yes, please.

McNish’s is a baby of a bakery, having started their business at the Cotati Farmer’s Market in June 2009 and meeting the demand of growth by making deliveries to clients in Sonoma and Marin counties. And, thanks be to the gluten-free gods, McNish’s goal is to open an exclusively gluten-free bakery in the near future. Think small, simple and fresh baked. Woo!

In the meantime, McNish’s is here to make your Thanksgiving holiday lots easier. Check out the gluten-free goodies you can order for your holiday feast:

. stuffing (available as a mix or ready-to eat)
. cookie dough
. graham cracker crust mix
. stuffed mushrooms or cucumbers
. brazilian cheese bread sticks
. pumpkin muffins or scones
. veggie or breakfast quiche
. carrot cake with cream cheese frosting
. pumpkin spice bundt cake with spice glaze
. New York cheesecake
. apple, pumpkin or pecan pie
. Thanksgiving meal for one (just think: your loved ones who JUST DON’T GET IT don’t have to worry about contaminating you this holiday!)

Think it can’t get any better? THEY DELIVER. McNish’s is taking Thanksgiving orders only until this Sunday, November 22, and they’ll deliver for free to local homes & businesses (check in with them to make sure your location is in their delivery area).

Let’s take a moment to give thanks for goodies that come in all sorts of packages! And a warm thanks to McNish’s Dawn Graves, the woman with a passion, who baked and delivered a moist, tender and not-too-sweet pumpkin bread pictured above. I just love a happy ending.

venison braised in tomato onion sauce.

Remember earlier in the season when The Lab was all optimistic about canning? I had envisioned rows upon rows of jewel-toned jams, rich ruby tomato sauces, half-moons of peaches…and that pleased me. But come September when no canning had been done, I started to panic. I flashed-forward to bleak winter nights stretching on endlessly (and this is California we live in, so I use the term “bleak” with a heavy dose of relativity), my husband and I chewing on a bland stick of potato with nary a burst of fresh flavor in sight.

Let me just point out that we are SO not in danger of that happening. For onesies, every week I pick up a just-harvested box of produce from our nearby Laguna Farm, and for twosies, once a month I pick up my meat subscription from the Sonoma County Meat Buying Club, which is eight pounds of locally, humanely & deliciously raised chicken, pork, beef & goat. So that scenario of chewing on only a bland stick of potato that I fear? It’s never going to happen.

Still, irrational as the fear may be, it inspired me back in August to put up at least a few jars of something for me to fall back on during the coming “bleak” winter. And although we’re not even a day into winter yet, last night I broke down with the need to have a little taste of summer.

One jar of tomato onion sauce down, three to last me through winter.

Venison braised in tomato-onion sauce

2 cups tomato onion sauce (recipe here)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound venison stew meat (or use your preferred red stew meat here)
salt & pepper to taste

Heat a large nonstick skillet over high heat for about 3 minutes, or until screaming hot. Decrease heat to medium and add olive oil. Immediately add stew meat, and season generously with salt and pepper. Sear until a rich golden brown crust appears on all sides of stew meat, about 8 minutes. Add tomato onion sauce and bring to boil. Cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 1 1/2 hours or until meat can easily be shredded with two forks.

Shred all of meat and serve in tacos, with rice & beans, cheese & greens as a tostada, or over brown rice with greens & red peppers on the side (as pictured).

sesame seaweed rice balls.

If Trader Joe’s were a man I would want to be his woman. Apologies to my husband, but it’s Joe that fulfills my GF snacking needs. One taste of these brand-spanking-new sesame seaweed rice balls (I like to call them space balls on account of the wacky packaging) and I was hooked.

Remember cheeze puffs? The ones that came in a can and stained your fingers bright orange with “real” cheeze? You may not have eaten them for half-a-lifetime, but these sesame seaweed rice balls fulfill that sort of snacking need. It’s an airy crunch akin to the longtime favorite, PiratesBooty, but the taste is slightly sweet, slightly salty, and has a delectable undertone of seaweed (note: if you’re not a seaweed fan, the flavor will certainly not overwhelm you. This is seaweed for the people, people!). Just one piece of advice: try not to judge yourself too harshly if you munch it down to the very last space ball. Yum!

i’m stuffed.

We know people read the blog – we have a graph that tells us that — but hosting an event for a virtual (and virtually invisible) audience is an experience we’re not soon to forget. As the three of us known as The Gluten Free Lab set up for our maiden event, the gluten-free meet & greet, we had no idea what to expect. And soon enough we discovered that you’re a warm and friendly bunch, full of life, and excited by the possibility of a new community. We saw long-time celiacs, newly-diagnosed celiacs, gluten intolerants, kids with gluten intolerance, husbands who eschew gluten for their spouse’s benefits and individuals who just choose to eat cleanly. We smiled, we introduced, we chatted, we coached, we munched on goodies, we packed bags with a variety of gluten-free products donated by some of our favorite suppliers (thanks Mary’s Gone Crackers, Oliver’s Market and Pamela’s Products, we heart you!).

It was a real pleasure meeting, talking and eating with all of  you, and after last night’s festivities, I’m stuffed. WE’RE stuffed. And we’re so happy to have met you all.

We’d like to send special thanks – again, because we can’t possibly say “thanks” enough – to Mary’s Gone Crackers, Oliver’s Market and Pamela’s Products, and also to Apron Thrift Girl for helping us spread the word on her blog!

A toaster displays a postcard announcement for The Gluten Free Lab’s next event. Thursday, December 3, the Gluten Free Lab and Pizzavino 707 are debuting the GFL’s very own gluten-free pizza dough, which will be a permanent addition to their menu. More details are forthcoming, but please call ahead and mention us to reserve your table!

Some of The Gluten Free Lab’s resources: a pocket guide to gluten-free shopping, a postcard announcing the next event, and the blog card.

A display of mints and fresh flowers meets & greets newcomers to The Gluten Free Lab’s maiden event.

let’s meet on the morrow.

We sincerely hope to meet you tomorrow TODAY!! at The Gluten Free Lab’s maiden event, the Gluten-Free Meet & Greet, in Sebastopol. If you need more than one reason to hit the town (which you shouldn’t, because our event will rock your gluten-free world!) here are some other GF happenings scheduled for tomorrow night – that’s Wednesday, November 11. We encourage event-hopping!

The Gluten Free Lab
a gluten-free meet & greet: enjoy snacks, wine, meet other gluten-free folks, enjoy samples from Pamela’s Products, Mary’s Gone Crackers and Oliver’s Market.
108 Petaluma Avenue
Sebastopol, CA (just off the Sebastopol plaza)
pop in anytime from 5–7 p.m.

Relish Culinary Center
hands-on gluten-free Thanksgiving class featuring a variety of side dishes including gluten-free stuffing.
14 Matheson Street
Healdsburg, CA
call for availability: 707.431.9999

Amitabha Clinic
free bi-monthly talks covering a range of health concerns, including being gluten-free.
7064 Corline Court
Sebastopol, CA
call for details and availability: 707.829.5900

hello, ruby tuesday.

I don’t have a particular affinity to any one cocktail. Dry martini, up, olives; Maker’s Mark, neat; margarita, on the rocks, salted rim. Each one fills a niche on my personal tongue map of flavor. But after a day spent outside – hiking half the time, working around the property the other half – only one type of cocktail would do. It would be a juicy refresher-of-an-adult-beverage, cool and languid over the tongue, slightly warming as it eases down the gullet. Come five o’clock, my husband invented the Ruby Tuesday.

Mind, you may drink this any night of the week, but the Ruby Tuesday just might help ease you into Wednesday.

Ruby Tuesday

makes 1

1 part vodka (we used Roth)
2 parts Trader Joe’s Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice Rio Red Grapefruit Blend
1 part berry-flavored bubble water
1 slice orange

Fill a highball glass with ice. Pour in vodka, juice and bubble water. Stir. Float slice of orange on top. Sip and repeat.

mashed potatoes get a makeover.

A humble pile of leftover mashed potatoes – or in this case, rosemary-smashed potatoes & parsnips – doesn’t need to be bland and ho-hum. Any pile of mash, whether it’s squash or sweet potato or potato, is a perfect candidate for a croquette makeover, in which the mash will be formed into small patties and seared in a hot pan where they will develop deliciously irresistible crispy bits. Here’s how:

Mashed potato croquettes

Use a large soup spoon to form golf ball-sized spoonfuls of mash. Smooth into a ball, then gently flatten into patties. Meanwhile, put your large nonstick skillet with 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high heat. As they’re formed, drop the patties into the hot pan and cook until browned on both sides, about 4 minutes per side. Serve alongside a meaty main course like pork chops, as an underpinning for fried eggs, or by themselves with ketchup or hot sauce!

gluten-free gets techy.

From Gluten Free Made Easy app

Ahh, technology. So many ways to make life simpler. And so many ways to make life much, much more complicated! But if you’re one of the millions of iPhone or Blackberry users, you’ll enjoy learning about a new crop of allergen-oriented apps that could very well make gluten-free living easier.

These apps have not been tested by The Gluten Free Lab, so if you love any of the apps listed below – or if you know of an app that’s not listed here – tell us about it by posting a comment!

Is That Gluten Free?
$5.99
Lists over 14,800 verified gluten-free products.

iCanEat OnTheGo Gluten & Allergen Free
$4.99
Select one or any combination of common food allergens (eggs, fish, gluten, milk, peanuts, shellfish, soy, tree nuts and wheat) and discover what you can eat anywhere while on the go.

iEatOut Gluten & Allergen Free
$8.99 / FREE lite version
Quickly learn what is safe for you to eat, how foods are prepared and what questions to ask restaurant personnel when ordering meals in restaurants.

GlutenFree
$0.99
A comprehensive guide to a Gluten Free lifestyle, including recipes & customizable food preferences.

Gluten Freed – Gluten Free Dining for Health and Celiac
FREE
A gluten-free restaurant finder that locates nearby gluten-free restaurants.

Gluten-Free Recipes
$0.99
Contains 14 recips for making breads, cookies and cakes.

Gluten Free Restaurant Cards
FREE
Great for travelers! Let your iPhone explain the restrictions of a gluten-free diet to your waiter in one of 40 languages.

Gluten Free Menus
$9.99
Get access to the gluten free menus from your favorite restaurants.

Gluten Free Made Easy
$2.99
A collections of quick and easy recipes designed with the busy family in mind.

glutenScan
$1.99
A subscription-based app that allows you to search a database by product name or UPC to determine whether that product contains gluten.

halloween candy.

In retrospect, Halloween was the ultimate indication of the woman I would grow into. My Halloween plans were thorough, and the execution fast & dirty. My goal, first and foremost, was to hit up as many houses as possible – sometimes this included a hand-drawn route, meandering efficiently through the neighborhood, skillfully skipping houses that “treated” kids with toothbrushes or raisins. The night before, my costume all laid out and ready to don come morning, I had already chosen the largest pillowcase in our linen closet, and also pulled out a back-up pillowcase, equally as large, in the event that the first one was filled or ripped (I was optimistic back then). The trick-or-treating itself was a mad dash across front lawns, around lawn ornaments or fences, over hedges, through cobwebs, under tree limbs heavy with autumn color. By the time I got home I was out of breath and exhausted, but eager to put Tier II of Operation Halloween into action: SORTING MY LOOT. Yes, dear readers, I was one of THOSE kids, who first sorted her candy by type, so I could mentally log just how many butterfingers and tootsie rolls I had collected. Once those statistics were recorded, I launched into a secondary sorting system in which I ordered the loot by preference and determined order of consumption. And with just a cursory glance over the piles of Delicious, Medium Delicious, Okay, and Mediocre candy I could calculate approximately how long I would be eating my Halloween candy. Usually it lasted me until the beginning of December.

These days we might not be able to be quite so carefree with our Halloween loot, and our piles might be called Gluten-Free and Glutenous instead of Delicious and Mediocre. Nonetheless, use this list of some of the more popular Halloween candies, compiled by Deborah Ceizler of the Celiac Foundation, to help sort your goodies.*

Almond Joy
Altoids
Ande’s mints
Atomic Fireballs
Bazooka gum
Big League Chew Gum (Original, Grape, Strawberry)
Blow Pops
Boston Baked Beans
Bubbilicious gum
Bubble Yum gum
Butterfinger
Cadbury candy bars
Charelston Chew
Candy Corn (only some; check with manufacturer)
Chicklets
Dove milk, dark and caramel)
Dum Dum Pops
Gobstoppers
Hershey’s Kisses
Hershey’s Hugs
Hershey’s plain chocolate bars
Hershey’s Skor Bar
Hot Tamales
Jawbreakers
Jelly Belly jelly beans
Jolly Rancher products
Junior Caramels
Junior Mints
Jujus
Laffy Taffy
Lemonheads
Lifesavers and Lifesavers Gummies
M&Ms (all except crispy)
Mike & Ike
Milky Way Midnight (original Milky Way is NOT GF)
Mars Bar
Mary Janes
Mounds
Necco Wafers
Nestle Milk Chocolate
Payday
Pez
Pixie Sticks
Pop Rocks
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
Reese’s Pieces
Red Hots
Runts
Sixlets
Skittles
Smarties
Snickers and Snickers dark
Sour Patch Kids
Starburst
Spree
Sugar Babies/Sugar Daddy
Swedish Fish
SweetTarts
3 Muskateers
Tootsie Rolls and all Tootsie products
Trolli Gummis
Werther’s Originals
York Peppermint Patty

*This list is not complete and should be used only as a guide; ALWAYS read the label, even if you think the product is gluten-free, and when in doubt, call the manufacturer or assume the candy contains gluten.