Blog Entries

May Day is a Celiac-Friendly Holiday

jenny@tasteslikerealfood.com — Thu, 01 May 2008 20:00:00 +0100

Today is May Day. Did you celebrate by taking May baskets around to all your friends? Your answer probably depends on where in the U.S. you live. I'm in Iowa-Cedar Rapids to be exact. I grew up here and May Day was a huge deal for me growing up. I actually have many wonderful childhood memories of May Day and I am so glad I get to pass on that joy to my children. There was much squealing to be heard this afternoon as kids tried to "catch" their friends as they tried to [...]

Making New Celiac Friends in Des Moines

jenny@tasteslikerealfood.com — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:00:00 +0100

Each time I go to meet a new group, I make these awesome new connections and I also get to work to improve my skills of making and transporting my favorite gluten-free foods to share with other celiacs. Last Saturday provided me with the opportunity to share my foods with 200 new friends in Des Moines.

First of all, let's reflect on the number 200. 200! In the Des Moines area there are more than 200 celiacs actively involved in supporting each other. Isn't that amazing? They mee [...]

New Celiac Friends in Arizona with Much to Share

jenny@tasteslikerealfood.com — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 20:00:00 +0100

I'm learning so much each time I speak to a different celiac or group leader. I thought I had a pretty good understanding of how to survive in the celiac world before this whole venture started. But each phone call or meeting not only allows me to make new friends around the country, but I always walk away with some new bit of information.

Take, for example, my wonderful phone conversation I had on Tuesday with Cheryl Wilson, the group leader of the Southern Arizona Celiac Support Group. [...]

New Celiac Friends in Waterloo, Iowa

jenny@tasteslikerealfood.com — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 20:00:00 +0100

I made new friends yesterday AND I got to share my new products with a well-organized celiac support group in Waterloo, Iowa. It was a wonderful day and I got great feedback from the folks who attended. My mom went with me (Thanks, Mom!) and we sampled six different items: white bread, whole meal bread, lemon poppy seed bread, banana bread, yellow cupcakes and waffles.

Being that this was my first official group that I traveled to meet, it was quite an experience planning, baking, load [...]

Learning Gluten-Free Baking the Norwegian Way

jenny@tasteslikerealfood.com — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 20:00:00 +0100

Life brings us little bonuses along the way. It truly does. Last May, as my husband and I were in the middle of the process of bringing our Toro mixes to the U.S., we realized it would definitely be to my benefit to have the opportunity to work with the creator of the mixes. Not only was I having trouble translating the Norwegian baking instructions (my limited Norwegian language skills didn't help), but I knew there were tips and bits of knowledge that the inventors of the p [...]

We're in Business. Go Make a "Gluten" of Yourself

jenny@tasteslikerealfood.com — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 20:00:00 +0100

It almost feels like giving birth except this gestation period was 22-months long. Today is a day of celebration for my family. The path that life takes us on is so amazing and the events that had to occur to present us with this business opportunity are great. But today, after all the steps and hours and decisions and waiting, our shipment has arrived and has passed all the federal inspections and we now are officially able to sell these great products to our celiac friends in t [...]

Tastes Like REAL Cupcakes

jenny@tasteslikerealfood.com — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 19:00:00 +0100

One of my goals with starting tasteslikerealfood.com is to create recipes that I can share with celiacs and non-celiacs alike. Food that THEY like and I can still eat with them. And I've always had a soft spot for kids with celiac disease. Having not been a diagnosed celiac until adulthood, I've always felt bad for celiac children when I think about the dozens of birthday parties they will attend in their life and will never be able to join in the joy of eating pizza and birthday cake [...]

The Best Valentine's Day Gift a Celiac Could Ever Want

jenny@tasteslikerealfood.com — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 19:00:00 +0100

It was the Valentine's Day of the year I was to be married. My then-fiance and now-husband pulled off the most brilliant gift a celiac could ever want.

Since I had been diagnosed with celiac disease mere months after graduating from college, I really had survived my college years on a strong pizza and beer diet. Part of my gluten-free depression that had set in had to do with knowing what I was missing from the gluten-filled real world. And topping my list was knowing that I would [...]

It Really Was Love at First Sight

jenny@tasteslikerealfood.com — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 19:00:00 +0100

After having been diagnosed with celiac disease in 1993, I returned to Norway in 1994 to visit my foreign-exchange family from my high school years. They had been working hard to learn all about celiac disease and to produce food that I could eat while I stayed with them for two weeks. As I entered their house, jet-lagged after a long transatlantic journey, I was met with an example of all their hard work. I couldn't believe my eyes! There on a tray that looked like it had been arranged b [...]

Discovering Yenny Bread

jenny@tasteslikerealfood.com — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:00:00 +0100

I was an exchange student in Norway when I was 16. I knew it was one of the best experiences I could ever have, but I had no idea what a huge role it would play in my life later on. Not only did I get to trace my heritage and practice my basic Norwegian-speaking skills, I also got placed with the most fantastic family, and I SWEAR we must somehow be related because we have so much in common. Liv Kristin was my "host-sister" and we hit it off immediately. She spent the following summ [...]