Jules did a great job and showed how easy it can be to make great tasting gluten free foods.  Jules brought already made items (day before) and also showed how to make each of these items live during the demo.  This was great because we could sample each item a day after it was made… as many celiacs know, most baked goods don’t taste that great the day after you make them.  Her items were all very delicious that she had made he day before.

Jules Shepard Demonstration

So you are probably asking yourself, what did she prepare / demo?  Well she demonstrated how to make bread in a bread machine, pierogies, graham (like)  crackers, and finally a two-layer birthday cake.  All of which were very good.  The graham crackers were the best gluten-free ones I had ever had, light and crisp!

It was also nice to hear her talk about how you could vary the recipes to get different results… like how to make ravioli using almost the same recipe as the pierogies(for the dough).  I also enjoyed hearing about bread machines and makes me want to bust mine out of the closet again to start making breads.

At the end of the evening, she had a raffle and the group attendees could win one of three items: cake batter, graham cracker dough, or pierogi dough.  I won the cake batter, so I will be making that tomorrow night!  I also bought one her books: Nearly Normal Cooking for Gluten-Free Eating.  I definitely enjoyed the demonstration and encourage those of you that are near one of Jules’ demonstration locations to attend!

Thanks to Natures Pantry for providing water and the space for the demonstration.  Thanks to Karen from the State College Celiac Support Group for initiating and organizing this event.

]]> http://www.ethanknepp.com/2010/05/10/butterflies-bigger-and-messy/feed/ 0 http://www.ethanknepp.com/2010/05/10/mothers-day-weekend/ http://www.ethanknepp.com/2010/05/10/mothers-day-weekend/#comments Tue, 11 May 2010 02:53:00 +0000 Ethan http://www.ethanknepp.com/?p=525 I know, I am late posting, but that’s how it goes with kiddos.  Do I think Casey had a nice mother’s day weekend.  It all started off with cleaning the house for her on Saturday, which obviously the heavens above were please with my cleaning as they blessed us with a beautiful rainbow that afternoon.

Happy Heavens Rainbow

Casey and I enjoyed a movie later that evening, Blind side.  We both enjoyed it, check it out next time you are looking for something good.

Sunday, the kids got out their mother’s day card they made Casey, it was huge, like 1.5ft x 2 ft.  Funny how the kids area already realizing how different aspect of gifts get more reactions.  We then hurried and got everyone ready and went out for breakfast at the waffle shop on Atherton.  We knew there was going to be a line and we were prepared, snacks, toys, games, etc just to keep them entertained till we got to the table.  It was definitely the least pleasant trip to the waffle shop ever.  I know it was mother’s day, but taking like 25mins to get our food seemed a bit ridiculous.

We then went over to my grandmother’s house to visit.  We also took some flowers and a vase.  She enjoyed the flowers and got a kick out of watching Hailey and Tyler play.

Later that evening, I cooked Casey her dinner request for gluten-free Mac n Cheese with grilled rosemary balsamic vinegar chicken. And to finish off dinner I made a Cranberry Mint Martini (her new fav).

Cranberry Mint Martini

Happy Mother’s Day!

We saw lots of birds, even heard a wood pecker once.  We saw fish in the streams. We also got to observe a really big ant hill.  The kids were very interested in the ant hill, since it was almost 2 feet high.  We met some nice doggies and their owners walking on the trails.

Below are a few photos we took while on our visit to Millbrook.

Hailey excited about her butterfly garden kit present

The caterpillars at this point are about 1/2 inch long.  They are also very active, moving around and eating a lot.

Caterpillars: day 2

Caterpillars: day 2

Stay tuned for more butterfly updates.

Butterfly Garden Kit

So basically as you can see in the image you get a container with butterfly caterpillars in it and a butterfly habitat.  The caterpillars are currently a little over 1cm long.

Caterpillars

Hailey and I are going to try to post photos and descriptions every few days just to show how they are growing.  Should be exciting.

1. Make the pizza dough following the pizza recipe instructions
2. Spread it out onto a large piece of parchment paper, just like in the my pizza recipe instructions, except make the entire thing flat, no extra dough needed around the edge for a crust.
3. Cover spread out dough with your favorite topping stuffers (veggies, meats, cheeses)
4. Pick up one edge of the parchment paper and fold it over to the other side.
5. Now push the dough together around the edges to create a sealed stromboli.
6. DON”T try to pull the parchment paper away now, wait until it is cooked
7. Place stromboli into the oven to bake (on a pizza stone works best)
8. After 5-8 minutes, its time to flip it, so very carefully flip it over onto its other side
9. After another 10 minutes, its time to take it out and enjoy

Lisa’s presentation was good. I was surprised to learn just how many studies have been done and the amount of research being associated with Celiac Disease (CD) in the past few years.  It is obvious that CD is main stream and more people are becoming aware of it.   I appreciated her taking the time to come visit with our group.

Tonight’s meeting had an attendance of 22 people, of which 4 faces were at the meeting, hope those individuals enjoyed the meeting.  Heidi stated that we now have 50 people on our groups yahoo list server, woohoo!  This is pretty awesome.

Product Samples at the meeting tonight included:

• Allergy Free Homebaked Goods – Thanks Lisa Lundy
• GF Betty Crocker mini iced chocolate cupcakes – Thanks Janelle
• GF Bread, Graham Crackers, and Cheese Crackers – Thanks Grainless Baker
• Living Without Magazines (April/May Issue) – Thanks Living Without and Ken for making the effort to get the free copies

It was a great meeting and thanks again goes out to those that helped make it happen.

Speaking of Celiac research and awareness… tomorrow (3/18) there are two seminars happening in Happy Valley:

1. Penn State University’s Food Sciences Department will be having a seminar tomorrow afternoon @ 4:30pm; Celiac Disease: How Nutrition Can Go From Joy to Nightmare, presented by Alessio Fasano, MD, professor of pediatrics, medicine, physiology; and director, Mucosal Biology Research Center, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD.
2. The Mount Nittany Medical Center is also having an educational seminar tomorrow night @ 6:30pm; How to Identify A Clinical Chameleon: A Focus on Celiac Disease,  also presented by Alessio Fasano, MD.  If you can make it, check it out, besides its FREE (for a fee you can go early 6pm and enjoy a gluten free buffet).