Spring Gluten-Free Newsletter | Archived Newsletters

Light the Grill!

Spring signals the start of grilling season, a time that can be naturally gluten-free with ease. Fire up the barbecue and invite your friends – grilled meats, fish and vegetables are perfect health-promoting foods for everyone, especially those following a gluten-free diet.

Consider serving easy gluten-free sides such as potato salad, pickles and hearts of palm, cut veggies and homemade ranch or dill dip, and cinnamon sweet potatoes. With gluten-free hot dog and burger buns available at Hiller’s, the meal is complete and easy for everyone’s palate.

Easy Grilled Veggies

Red and orange peppers
zucchini and yellow squash
red onions
olive oil, salt and pepper

Cut peppers into slices, zucchini and squash into thick chunks, and onions into halves. Drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Cook on a hot grill sprayed with non-stick spray, turning once for grill marks on both sides. Serve hot or cold.

Asian Grilled Chicken Salad

2 chicken breasts, marinated in favorite
GF dressing or wheat-free Asian marinade
1 can mushrooms or mushroom slices
1 can bamboo shoots
1 bunch peapods, cleaned and chopped
1 can, bean sprouts

Cook chicken on hot grill. When cooked through, slice into pieces and toss chicken with vegetables. Drizzle with sesame oil and wheat-free soy or teriyaki sauce. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Autism Connection

For years, experts have suggested that diet and nutrition can play a part in taming the symptoms of autism. While no definite protocol works for every autistic individual, some parents have seen marked improvements in the behavior of their autistic-spectrum children when eliminating gluten and casein from their diets.

While gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye, barley and oat products, casein is a protein found in dairy items. Many processed foods contain both. Some research suggests that ingestion of casein and gluten can cause an autistic child to behave in a drugged manner.

Researchers in England, Norway, and at the University of Florida had previously found peptides (breakdown products of proteins) with opiate activity in the urine of a high percentage of autistic children. Opiates are drugs, like morphine, which affect brain function. The two main offenders seem to be gluten and casein (milk protein.) Not all gluten-free products are casein-free, but many are.

Hiller’s is pleased to partner with Celebrities Against Autism.

Guest Column:

Gluten-Free Mom by Alissa Malerman

A year and a half after my son was diagnosed with Celiac Disease, I am taking a deep breath.

The news was shocking at the time. I read as many books as I could find, asked doctors lists of questions and scoured my house, emptying the contents of my refrigerator, my pantry and my spice cabinet.

I scanned every store in the area again and again, spending an arm and a leg on foods that made my son groan in disgust. I remember going through loaf after loaf of gluten-free bread, trying to get my son to eat a full meal and dreading the day he asked for something I couldn’t substitute with a gluten-free alternative. Nothing seemed palatable.

Then, I began cooking.

I baked cookies, I baked bread, I made meals from scratch. I experimented with pastas, rice and quinoa. I baked, and then froze, dozens of muffins, cookies and cupcakes. It turned out, these are the foods my kids enjoy. And the bigger truth is, I began enjoying cooking them.

It was the beginning of a whole new lifestyle and a new perspective on how to feed my family. Instead of looking at the kitchen as the place where I somehow have to churn out the next meal, it became my laboratory, my therapy couch and the pharmacy where I created what would eventually make my son healthy again.

Gone were boxes of cookies, warm bagels and pizza delivery. In their place were bags of Bob’s Red Mill mixes, warm bread fresh from the oven and hands-on family pizza nights, where we top our gluten-free crusts with whatever we want.

We no longer made trips to the nearest fast-food restaurant to pick up a quick burger on our way to other destinations. In it’s place I filled snack bags with nutritious gluten-free goodies I found at Hiller’s, which stocks its shelves with so many gluten-free alternatives.

It has been a long time coming, but I finally feel a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. And in the end, my family is healthier and happier for it.

The best, and cheapest, way to do this is to use pure, simple ingredients. Here is one of the first recipes that my son dug into.

Sweet Hamburger Hash

1-2 large sweet potatoes, diced
3-4 fingerling potatoes (or 2 medium potatoes of choice), diced
1 lb. ground hamburger
1 sweet red bell pepper, chopped
1 medium-sized sweet yellow onion, chopped
2 T. extra-virgin olive oil
1 T. fresh dill, chopped (or 2 teaspoons dried)
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in large skillet and sauté onion. Brown ground beef and drain. Add potatoes, red pepper and seasonings. Continue to sauté, scraping pan and turning ingredients every 5 minutes for about an hour or until potatoes are fork tender. If potatoes are sticking to the bottom of the pan, try adding 1 cup of chicken broth (check label: Kitchen Basics is gluten-free). Serve with gluten-free ketchup.

Alissa Malerman is the food editor for The Oakland Press, as well as the author of “Suddenly Gluten Free,” which can be found at www.theoaklandpress.com.

Gluten-Free Products at Hiller’s

Yoplait

Many yogurt brands include unidentified modified food starch, which may contain gluten. Yoplait yogurts are marked as gluten-free, except those containing granola or cereal. Look for a variety of flavors among Yoplait Original and Yoplait Lite.

GFN Foods, LLC Gluten-Free Naturals

GFN Foods, LLC was founded in 2004 in Cranford, New Jersey. Their Gluten-Free Naturals muffin and bread mixes feature recipes that are studiously tested on non-gluten-free foodies to assure that the taste and flavor are simply satisfying rather than a sufficient substitute.

Company founders know well the difficulty gluten-free eaters face when searching for good foods. They created Gluten-Free Naturals after a spouse was diagnosed with Celiac Disease and was disappointed at the slim pickings found in local groceries.
They went through hundreds of versions of recipes, testing and modifying until they arrived at something delicious.

Find Gluten-Free Naturals pancake, brownie, pizza crust, yellow cake, corn bread and corn muffin mixes and multi-grain bread flour at Hiller’s!

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Archived Hiller's Gluten-Free Newsletters

2008