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.

Good job little man!

The kids and I went outside for some snow fun on Saturday before the flurries turned to rain.  We had a good time making a snow man and rolling around in the snow.  Tyler enjoyed eating snow too!

Tyler taking his first steps in snow

Deck view of the Snow

Hailey posing in the snow

Tyler posing while Hailey works on mr snow man

Tonight was recipe exchange night and several people provided copies of their recipes, and some even brought samples of their yummies!  I took my favorite pizza crust recipe as well as the peanut butter chocolate pie I so enjoy.

Ken and Karen brought a motherload of freebees from various gluten free food companies: Bob’s Red Mill, Quin0a, and others.  Bob’s Red Mill send 20+ bags of their new GF Corn Meal!  The same with Quinoa, loads of their corn+quinoa blend pasta.  This is really amazing how these two companies chose to be so giving and supplying these samples.  

Tonight Heidi also covered the proposal of developing a board for the group, pres, secretary, public relations, etc.  Casey and I would definitely like to help, but need to figure out just how much time we can provide since Tyler and Hailey keep up pretty busy.  We will see, I know that if the group continues to grow like this we are definitely going to need some sort of board of people to keep things running smoothly.  

Thanks again to Heidi for organizing the meeting. Thanks Ken and Karen for contacting these companies about samples and bringing those samples to the meeting.

Heidi Watson is the group organizer / contact person.  Kudos to her for getting the local support group started!  I enjoyed the meeting agenda.  I especially enjoyed the meeting’s inclusion of two local business owners: Natures Pantry Owner and Corrinado’s Pizza Owner. I have been to Natures Pantry a few times before, but it was nice to hear from the owner about some of the efforts she was taking to make it easier to find gluten-free products in her store.   I have heard of Corrinado’s Pizza before from friends, but never actually tried their pizza.  Well, the owner brought 3 of his pizzas for sampling by the group and they were very good.  He also explained in great detail the efforts that his staff goes through to ensure that their gluten-free pizzas are not contaminated.  Bravo to him and his staff for making this comfort food gluten free for the local community!  Casey and I will definitely have to stop there sometime and get a pizza when we are in a rush.

The group is very friendly and social which made for great discussions about all things celiac related.  I was especially interested to hear about doctor issues that almost everyone in the group had experienced.  The fact that most doctors just don’t have any experience when it comes to celiac disease.  This brought back the memories of Casey’s horrible dietician experience.

I am looking forward to the next meeting and hope that Casey can also attend.  I think I will also make something delicious for the group to enjoy at the next meeting since they seemed very excited about some of the foods I have made for Casey.

For those of you that were in the meeting and happen to visit my site, here are a few of our favorites:

Thanks Wendy and Dustin for making the long drive to join Casey and I for a nice get away.  It was so nice seeing you two again.

Thanks Gateway lodge for a great visit.

Drinking the hot stuff

We returned to the lodge to warm up and relax.  We ended up having lunch in the great room and enjoying some wine.  

Later that after noon, Wendy and Casey both had massages at the on-site spa.  Dustin took a nap and I read up on various fly fishing casting techniques (like the double haul cast). 

We had reservations for dinner that evening at 7pm. It was delicious!  Dustin, Wendy, and I had the 8oz Filet.   Casey had the Salmon.  Dustin ordered a wonderful wine (Earthquake Petite Sirah ‘05) to pair up with our steak dinners.  After dinner, we all retreated to the great room, where I served some Gluten-Free Peanut Butter pie I brought for the occasion.  

We enjoyed each-other’s company that evening; sharing wine, food, and stories.  We also got a game or two of pool in.  Check out the photos below:

Gateway Lodge's Great Room

This will be our third year in a row visiting this special place.  We enjoyed it so much that we asked our good friends Wendy and Dustin to join us last year.  

Wendy and Dustin

I don’t need to say how they felt about the Gateway Lodge, they are also going to be joining us there tomorrow.  I will post some photos of the trip when we return Sunday.

P.S. – Thank you Bonnie and Don for watching the kids and letting Casey and I get away, we owe you!