Summer over soon!!???? Crazy how fast time flies.  I remember when I was a kid time seemed so long. The time between seasons was an eternity. Especially waiting on Christmas and the end of the school year.  As soon as that last day of school and summer vacation was inevitable i was psyched!!!!!!!!!!!!! It seemed to go on forever!!! Playing outside with friends, pool parties, barbeques, sleep overs, up late nights sitting outside watching the stars and the most important the ICE CREAM man!!!!!!!!!  I would hear those bells ring from the ice cream man’s truck for blocks, maybe even miles away.  It didn’t matter  what I was doing at the time, when those bells went off, I went running.  One of my favorite treats was a creamsicle.  That mix of vanilla and orange just made me so happy. To this day, I smell those flavors and immediately I’m a kid again standing on my stoop in Brooklyn with my sister.  As many of you know I try to not feel deprived by this ever lovely disease that has joined my life.  Any way of capturing the love affair from yesterday with a certain taste, texture or smell, and make it into something I can have today has always been my goal.  And of course not just good taste, but must be nutritious as well, as always.  I always believe that shopping for fruit and vegetables is best when it’s seasonal.  Buying what nature is giving you at that moment in time is simply the healthier way to eat.  Think about all the man made adjusting, I will be nice and say adjusting, that has to be done to a piece of fruit to keep its color or make it taste sweet when it really doesn’t want to even exist at that particular time.  So before those gorgeous oranges leave the farmers market grab a couple and some fresh vanilla bean and taste the last bit of summer.

Oranges.  When they’re fresh and juicy I cannot stop singing the praises of these juicy little gems. With their plentiful stores of Vitamin C, fibre and phytonutrients (which have an anti-oxidant effect, hunting down those free radicals in your bloodstream and boosting your immunity) not only do they keep your heart and colon happy, but did you know they can have an effect on your mood?  Studies have linked Vitamin C deficiency with fatique and depression, with the addition of Vitamin C to the diet having mood boosting effects.  How’s that for a delicious pick-me-up?  Plus, poppyseeds have a decent dose of calcium and phosphorus, two essential components of building our bones.  With that I share with you this delicious and nutritious muffin recipe.

Orange Vanilla Poppyseed Muffin

2 cups my all purpose gluten free flour or 1/2 cup quinoa flour, 1/2 sorghum flour, 1/2 brown rice flour, 1/2 cup starch. I would mix potato/arrowroot or tapioca/arrowroot.

1tsp baking powder

1tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp himalayan sea salt. You can use other salt i just love this salt. The taste and the benefits it brings, awesome.

1/2 cup date sugar or coconut sugar, maple sugar, cane juice sugar

3/4 tsp xanthan gum

1/3 cup grapeseed oil or olive oil

1 tsp fresh vanilla bean, then another splash for dressing top

1 tsp cinnamon

3/4 cup rice milk or almond

1 cup applesauce unsweetened

half of a very ripe banana

2 tbsp of fresh squeezed oj

1 tsp unwaxed orange rind

1/4 cup poppy seeds

Directions

Preheat oven to 350

Whisk together all dry ingredients and set aside

Mix all wet ingredients except rice milk

Add dry a little at time to wet ingredients alternating with rice milk, don’t over mix.

Fold in poppy seeds

Put into muffin cups and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean

Let cool

can enjoy as is or combine some powdered sugar, (i make my own out of evaporated cane juice and arrowroot starch) some orange juice, and some vanilla until a thick consistancy appears then drizzle on top of muffin for an extra CREAMsicle expierience!!!

enjoy!!!

I am here!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So much to say I don’t even know where to start!!!! I will start with where on earth I’ve been. Bahamas? No. Italy? No. Lower East side NYC? YES! Not as glamorous as you might think – but for sure more rewarding. As most of you know I opened a gluten free, dairy free, soy free, and peanut free bakery that is mostly vegan, organic and a SAFE ZONE for people like us. Yes I’m actually there baking away! Its been a long, long road getting this passion project off the ground and MOST of the time well worth it. Yes, there are times when I question what the hell I was thinking? Then a weary person comes in who has allergies to everything like me and is use to seeing things they can not eat and realizes that the chocolate chip cookie looking back at them is SAFE! Their eyes light up, a smile, sometimes even tears, and all the work is somehow worth it. Or the dad that brought his little boy in the bakery, sat him on the counter and told him he could have whatever he wanted. It would be the boys FIRST COOKIE EVER!!!!!! The boy looked at me like I was Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny all wrapped up in one. There have also been countless conversations with customers, celiacs and non celiacs alike, who just want cleaner food. We discuss everything from the difficulties from this lovely disease, to the current state of the gluten free world. The bombardment of so called “gluten free” products are now everywhere and just getting worse. The list of ingredients in these products are deplorable. Not to mention every nonsense book, article and ill informed “journalist” spewing just more inaccuracies to hurt the celiac community even more. Yes I was the one who screamed while getting dressed for the bakery one morning to see the word celiac spelled WRONG on screen of the Today Show and wrote to Gluten Dude and tweeted immediately. I also am aware of the recent opinion about dating a gluten free eater from Hota Kotbe. I was so shocked, horrified and saddened. I’ve met her twice and she seems like a lovely person. I seriously don’t think she realized how hurtful her comment was. Either way when you have a platform as she does to reach millions you have a responsibility to choose your words carefully. Which brings me to an issue that i wanted to talk about about with this disease. Yes another one. Discrimination.
Yes discrimination. I have never seen people with an illness, such as the celiac community, have to keep begging for understanding, people to listen, and to have to keep explaining their existence and severity, as this one has to. The fact is people still do NOT think Celiac is an actual DISEASE. I’m sure you have all heard being called an allergy or better yet now i’m hearing and reading articles that are stating that Celiac disease is all a state of mind. REALLY? And I’m sure you have all gotten the looks and sneers from a waiter or even a doctor. Or how about the even less than understanding WORKERS (CBS should still be sued) and even worse, family members not understanding. It’s sad but true. People just do not understand this disease and in my opinion, many don’t care to. Most are just interested in making money off us with their new “gluten free” product. Case in point, I walked into this new chain of burger shops here in NYC that claims in big bold letters to have gluten free options. Yet when you read the fine print it says “not recommended for people with gluten allergy due to cross contamination” REALLY!!!????????? Who the F%$# is it for then? THe hipster who wants to be gluten free because its the new “fat free” fad??????????? Or how many times have you had to fight with your pharmacist stating that most generic drugs contain gluten! When i do have to take some kind of prescription (which I hate to do) I have to constantly argue that I can NOT have the generic version of the drug due to the gluten used in it as filler. They argue with me then always say, fine but the brand is expensive. Oh yeah then your insurrance won’t pay for the brand either, thats always a fun day. But its the recent discrimination that just literally had me speechless.
About a month ago I received an email from my landlord, who I’ve maybe seen and spoken to three times in a year, that my lease was up on my rental apartment and he was not renewing for another year. WTF I thought!! Why? What Why HUH? I fixed this place up and made it home??! I’ve always paid my rent and have been an ideal tentant. Never really home, at the bakery most of the time and quiet when I am home. I’ve also never bothered him about the drafty windows, sinks that don’t drain properly, the mice that come to visit or the list of other problems in the building. I’ve lived in small run apartments for close to 20 yrs in NYC and know that getting a landlord to do anything is like getting blood from a stone. It isn’t happening. So I did what I always do, took care of everything myself and went on my way. So when I was being asked to leave, and without explanation, I was confused to say the least. I emailed and called to no reply. I wrote his realator as well and she said she had no idea why I was being asked to leave. Running a bakery, finishing a book and dealing with this disease is enough of a challenge. Adding moving to the list was just not in the plan. I decided to call the realator who rented me the place just a year prior to try and make sense of it all. We decided to meet. As she walked up to greet me she was on the phone and gave me the wait a minute sign. She was standing in ear shot of me and I could hear everything being said on the phone. I figured out quickly it was the landlord. He went on to say to her that he googled me and read that I was no longer working on “that show” because of a disease and didn’t want to deal with me possibly not being able to pay rent in the future because of it. He then whet on to say he checked my finances and didn’t think I was suitable anymore for his apartment. My favorite line, “between you and me” came next. My realator and I just stood there stunned. Disgusting? yes. Unimaginable? yes Illegal? YES. Do I have the time, money or constitution to fight him about this? No. Believe me I am so deeply disgusted by this I can’t even explain. BUT I need to spend the energy I do have on doing something positive, like the bakery and the book. If I spent time on every negative thing that came along with this disease I would be overwhelmed to say the very least. My point in telling you this story? Well to vent to a community who “gets it’ but more importantly, to say, I AM STILL HERE AND WILL CONTINUE TO TRY AND MAKE THING BETTER FOR THIS COMMUNITY!!!!!!!!!!! The road is obviously long but I am dedicated to trying my hardest to change things for us in some way. If even just being another voice in a crowd for now! It’s times like this that I think about that little boy that was able to have his first cookie at my bakery that I hold on tight too and know that its the small steps that will pave the road to something better. I’m hopeful.

Be Well
Jennifer

Our incredible pancake mix and flour mix are now available through Longevity Nutritionals. To place an order, simply call 212-688-5536. Each bag of mix is $10.50 and standard UPS shipping and handling fees apply. Limit 6 bags (any assortment) per order. In a few weeks, you will be able to order directly from visiting www.longevitynutritionals.com.

Yes my products are here and they are awesome!!!!!  And yes the shipping price stinks!  If I could ship it for free I would, unfortunately that’s not the case.  We have done our very best to get the lowest prices possible and we are hoping still, to get even lower prices in the near future.  If you can swing the price of shipping I advise you to order more than one bag so its more cost efficient for you.  You also will have enough mix for when you run out of from baking up all your favorite treats.

A few things I also want to make clear about the products and ordering:

We can not ship outside the US at this time.  I’m hopeful it will be soon though.

GMO free?  With all the lying about which products have GMOs and which don’t, I do not feel comfortable saying that these products are 100% GMO free.  I absolutely set out for that to be the case, as I feel GMOs are a main reason for much of these “new” diseases.  However as always I will NOT ever say or stand behind anything that isn’t 100% under my control.  Going forward I am going to do everything possible to ensure that no GMOs are ever used in anything I make.

Lastly the server is secure so all personal info is safe when processing your orders.

Any other info needed don’t hesitate to get in touch with me.

Every piece of this blog, products and the celiac campaign are funded completely by ME. Straight from my pocket. Every penny of the profits from these products is going back into the the cause for education, awareness and bringing us better choices in food.  As I’ve said in the past I’m opening a SAFE Haven in the form of a bakery/info-spot for celiacs in NYC as well. That dream is almost fulfilled, again funded all by me (and my lovely boyfriend).  Know that the money from these products are not buying me a new pair of Manolos or a vacation on the beach, but awareness, education, better quality products and hopefully some change to the way celiac disease is viewed. I thank you you in advance for healing me in this journey. It might be a long one but every step makes a difference. The number of emails and twitter messages I get from people who have gotten help in many ways through this blog have been heart warming and invigorating.

VISIT THE ONLINE STORE if you’d like.

All Purpose Flour

Old Fashioned Pancake Mix

Finally, finally, finally!  The Jennifer’s Way Old Fashioned Pancake Mix and the All Purpose Flour is here and ready to go. I apologize for the delay, but you can’t even imagine how hard it was to figure this all out to get to you. The mixes are simple though. I made the all purpose flour mix cup for cup. That means you don’t have to do anything with that xanthan gum that I know you’re all afraid of. You don’t have to try and find it either. You also don’t have to go and search for all these different flours.  Just get my all purpose flour, open up the bag and start baking.   And what’s wonderful – you can get grandma’s old recipe for whatever cookie or muffin you thought you had lost forever and substitute my mix cup for cup in place of any wheat flour in grandma’s old recipe. There’s also a recipe for a muffin on the back of the package that I know you will love. So, get one today and start to enjoy your food again. Know that this is not any other gluten free mix. This gluten free mix was made by a celiac with the intent to give you nutrients, fiber, and protein all rolled up in a yummy package. It’s not loaded with sugar and starches, and it’s actually healthy for you. So enjoy, bake, eat up and have fun!

The old fashioned pancake mix is yummy, yummy, YUMMY! I have gotten so many great responses from people that have tried the pancake mix. You can make them on their own, you can make them vegan, you can make them into waffles, you can make them thin like crepes, you can put bananas in them, strawberries in them, chocolate chips in them, pumpkin in them – anything your heart desires! They are fantastic, simple and easy – so you can have those memories of yesterday and eat with peace today, knowing that they are not only gluten free but they are nutritious good for you. That is what Jennifer’s Way products strive to be and will always be. You’re not only getting a gluten free product, but you’re getting a product that is also filled with nutrients, vitamins and protein.

I’d love to hear your thoughts after sampling the product, and please note that there are only a limited amount to be shipped at this time.  Click here to purchase!  Much Love.

Be Well,

Jennifer Esposito

I recently wrote a blog on carrageenan, a food additive that is used as a thickening agent in foods. It’s a substance in many foods that includes yogurt, beer and non-dairy milks; everything from soy to hemp to almond to rice milk.

Why we would want to ingest this stuff is beyond me. I do hate giving you information like this with no alternative. The alternative at the time that I posted was “make your own”, which is a great option but if you’re busy, making almond or hemp milk or cashew milk is not a luxury that many of us have. So since then, I’ve been searching the shelves, up and down, scouring the Internet for non-dairy milks that didn’t have carrageenan.

 One is O Milk, which is sold in Dean & Deluca and also online. O Milk makes a beautiful almond milk and a cashew I believe others. Their milks are made with absolutely nothing in them except what needs to be in them: water, something kind of sweetener, almonds, or hemp, etc.

 If you can’t get your hands on that, then another good product is, Pacific All Natural Hemp Milk, I jumped up and down and made a bit of spectacle of myself to actually find a hemp milk that didn’t have this nasty carrageenan in it. Like I said, I’ve been looking for months! If you recall one of my recent blogs about food rotating, I mentioned that I was having way too much rice milk, until I found that beautiful hemp milk on the shelves.

I really do get that excited when I find something that I can eat. I’m sure a lot of you Celiacs understand, so I bought about four boxes full and went home and enjoyed! Hope you do, too!

Ever Onward,

Jennifer Esposito

This discovery came after MANY, MANY, (did I say MANY, MANY) attempts to find a great shampoo that was gluten free yet color safe (yes I color), didn’t smell horrible, gave body, and was cruelty free. Not an easy list, I know, but when I was having problems with my hair falling out recently I thought I MUST truly find something other than these harsh chemical shampoos and the gluten free ones that smell and feel like dirt. So I went into a local health food store and saw this new bottle I hadn’t seen before: ACURE.  As I picked up the bottle and started to read I was amazed. Not only was it gluten free and ticked all the boxes on my list, it was made from stem cells of quinoa and echinacea. I couldn’t believe it so I took it home and seriously LOVED what it did for my hair. Soft, bouncy not weighed down, a gentle soft smell and no FEAR of getting gluten by some run away shampoo that gets in your mouth. I actually got many compliments on my hair.

I am hooked.

Hmmmm I thought, if they have great shampoo do they have other products that I’ve been searching for as well? They sure did. Everything from leave in conditioners and argon oil to face creams. Although I haven’t tried all their products, all I can say is a big thumbs up.
They may not be available everywhere but you can view their product line and purchase on their website.

Happy safe shampooing!

Ever Onward,

Jennifer Esposito