Gluten-free wraps at Larry's Giant Subs

I was talking to Larry Raikes of Larry's Giant Subs and he told me that, in addition to offering gluten-free subs, the sandwich chain is now offering gluten-free wraps.

So I went and tried one today, just a regular turkey sub in a wrap instead of a roll. It was very good. I like the sub sandwiches there a lot but this was good too.

The wraps have the advantage of being lighter than the sub sandwiches, and also cheaper. There is a $1.25 surcharge for the gluten-free wrap, while the gluten-free sub rolls have a $2.25 surcharge.

Larry said the gluten-free wraps, in addition to the gluten-free subs, are available at all 70 Larry's Giant Subs restaurants.

I'll always go for chocolate

I received some new samples from Glutino. You may recall last month they sent a box of lemon wafer cookies that I wasn't crazy about, just because I wouldn't normally eat lemon wafers.

However, this month, they sent a box of Glutino Chocolate Wafers. These were absolutely delicious. I hope I get more chocolate from them.

Glutino also sent along a box of Double Chocolate Brownie Mix. That certainly looked delicious and the directions looked simple enough. But I just don't bake (I wouldn't even have a pan to bake them in), so I passed the box along to another regular member of the Celiac Support Group of Jacksonville. When she tells me what she thought of the brownies, I'll let you know.

As I've said before, for those of you who've never been to a Celiac Support Group meeting, please try to attend. The meetings are held on the third Tuesday of every month. It's a great opportunity to meet other celiacs and share ideas of where to find good gluten-free food or just commiserate about our condition. We don't like to whine to others because there are worse problems to have than celiac disease, but at least we can whine to each other and understand.

Great gluten-free list for Chicago

While researching potential restaurants for an upcoming trip to Chicago, I came upon a fantastic list of gluten-free friendly restaurants from one gluten-free blogger.

I know there's a lot of websites and apps you can use to search for restaurants in a particular city, but I love this list because it comes from a celiac in Chicago, so you know it's reliable.

So, for those of you who may be visiting Chicago, check it out:

http://www.glutenfreebetsy.com/p/gf-chicago-restaurants.html

Gluten-free options at Jimmy John's

During last night's meeting of the Celiac Support Group of Jacksonville, I mentioned that one quick lunch option is Jimmy John's, because they have a lettuce wrap option on their sandwiches.

However, another member of the group cautioned me that their cheese has gluten, which I found very surprising. I would have never even thought to ask that.

So I checked with Jimmy John's today and got a very quick response. The good news is they said the cheese falls within the FDA's 20 ppm guidelines, so it is considered gluten-free.

Here is the full response I got from Jimmy John's with a list of their gluten-free ingredients:



Thanks for eating at Jimmy John's! I am writing you back in response to your earlier e-mail.

You ask if our menu items are gluten-free:

Avocado – It is gluten free.
Bacon - It is gluten free.
Beef - It is not gluten free.
Ham - It is gluten free.
Capicola - It is gluten free.
Salami - It is gluten free.
Turkey - It is gluten free.
French bread - It is not gluten free.
Wheat bread - It is not gluten free.
Cheese - It is gluten free. (Based on the FDA proposed ruling saying that product with <20ppm gluten can be decaled as gluten free)
Mayo - It is gluten free.
Cookies - They are not gluten free.
Chips – They are gluten free.

We have a great gluten free option..our unwich.  Any sub/club minus the bread wrapped in lettuce.

These quesadillas didn't do it for me

Unlike a lot of foods I haven't been able to find in a gluten-free form, I haven't actually been craving quesadillas. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't like to eat them once in a while.

So I was intrigued when I saw these Evol gluten-free chicken quesadillas in my local Target. I had to try them.

Unfortunately, I was less than thrilled. I just didn't find them very good.

Now Jennifer of glutenfreejacksonville.com says she found Evol gluten-free chicken burritos in Target and she liked them, but I haven't been able to find them yet. Yes, I have been craving burritos and my attempts to make my own burritos have generally failed, because the tortillas always seem to fall apart. So I'd like to find those Evol burritos.

On the bright side, I did have one really good find in Target: Omission beer at $7.99 for a 6-pack. That's the best price I've found anywhere for Omission.

Celiac Support Group meets next week

The Celiac Support Group of Jacksonville will be meeting Tuesday, Sept. 17, at 6 p.m.

After much moving around in the last few months, we've settled on what we hope will be a permanent location at the offices of Windsor Assisted Living and Memory Care Welcome Center at 6331 Roosevelt Blvd., Suite 7.

It's in a strip mall alongside a Target store, so it's easy to find. The shopping center is just north of NAS Jax.

If you haven't joined us before, please do. The support group is very informal and is a way for fellow celiacs to get together and share ideas on where and how to maintain our gluten-free diets. Or you can just commiserate on how frustrating the diet can be at times. We all understand.

If you need more information, please e-mail me at basch.mark@gmail.com

Extend Nutrition has low-sugar, gluten-free snacks

One thing I've constantly complained about since going gluten-free is the lack of sugar-free, gluten-free snacks. There are an awful lot of very tasty gluten-free cookies and other treats available, but they of course contain globs of sugar.

So I was very happy to receive samples of low-sugar and sugar-free products from a company called Extend Nutrition. The company makes a variety of snack foods designed to control blood sugar, and they have the added benefit of being made with gluten-free ingredients.

The one drawback that may concern some celiacs is that they are not made in a dedicated gluten-free facility.

I've tried a variety of Extend's bars, crisps and "drizzles," which have the appearance of small rice cakes but taste like cookies. I enjoyed them all.

Extend also produces low-sugar shakes and while I received a couple of packets, I haven't tried them yet.

The products are available at national retailers like Target and Walmart. I'm going to have to look for them.

You can get more information on the products at the company's web site at http://www.extendbar.com/.

Udi's baguettes at Publix

Here's another good find -- Udi's gluten-free baguettes are on sale at Publix.

I had never even seem them at Publix before, but they are on sale for $4.19, 80 cents off.

There are a lot of gluten-free baguettes out there that you can find at Native Sun or Whole Foods, but they are soooooo expensive. So I was happy to find this.

On a completely separate note, here's an enjoyable post called the "Everyday Struggles of Living Gluten Free." I'm sure you'll enjoy it as much as I did.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/erinchack/everyday-struggles-of-living-gluten-free