In this spirit – “Hot and flavorful, that’s how I like my matzo balls…” We hope you’ll enjoy this passover video as much as we did!

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/5qSXrnkSeKs?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0

But first things first. It’s become a tradition that’s dear to my heart that we at Custom Choice Cereal recognize the creative names for your gluten-free cereal on the last day of the work week. Maybe you made it this week! Even if not – at the very least you can snap up some ideas what you might call your next mix. This week’s contestants are:

5. Hajo’s Breakfast Surprise (mix ID fd9830). I’m honored!
4. CCCereal (mix ID 8d21f6). Just because.
3. PinkFlash Race Mix (mix ID c812c7). Certainly hope you won/will win your race
2. Elizabeth’s Awesome Blend (mix ID 74b640). Couldn’t possibly agree more.
1. And our winner is Chocolatey granola blast (mix ID b4b871). Guaranteed to give you an energetic start into the day!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend! Remember: If you upload a picture of yourself with your personal gluten-free cereal to Custom Choice Cereal’s facebook page, you can win 2 free replacements of your last order! We’ll select the winner at the end of April!

“It was delicious and my kids just loved it. I enjoyed it with almond milk as a cereal and also as a topping to my yogurt with both being equally ‘yummy’. I especially appreciated that it includes a nutritional label specifically for my mix so I can portion this correctly for my lifestyle.”

Maureen also makes another great comment in her review because she starts out by saying that even though she does not follow a gluten-free diet she “still found the concept of creating my own cereal intriguing and I would highly recommend this for everyone”. That’s exactly the point! We never fully understood why so many foods that are naturally gluten-free (duh, they’re called corn flakes) have gluten added to them during processing. But that’s just something you learn as one of the first things when going gluten-free – that stuff is literally everywhere!

We especially appreciate that Maureen also highlighted the fact that you can get really creative in naming your cereal and couldn’t have said in any better:

“Once your mix has been created it is hand packaged to ensure freshness and arrives with your own personalized label which was a really neat feature that my five year old son thought was brilliant.”

Maureen really is brilliant because she immediately discovered the potential, saying that “this would make a fantastic gift idea for Valentine’s Day”. So true! And the naming option is perfect for a personal message that your Valentine will see bright and early. Add some cranberries or goji berries to the cereal to give it the appropriate color and it’s a surprise that can’t go wrong! By the way, if you order by tomorrow, February 11th, you’ll receive 10% off with the coupon code “valentine”!

Fortunately for me, the one and only Katie Chalmers, mother to a daughter with celiac disease and author of the book “Mommy, What Is Celiac Disease”, has already done the work and compiled a list of 10 gluten-free summer camps in 2011. She has even be so nice to allow me to copy it here, so THANK YOU, Katie!

Please be aware that the camps fill up quickly and that you should act by the end of the month to reserve a spot for your child! Katie has been so nice to organize the camps chronologically. If both you and your child are interested in seeing a few different gluten-free camps and across the country over the summer, you can (at least in theory) attend 7 of the 10 camps this year

• Summer Camp Weekaneatit, May 29 – June 3 at Camp Twin Lakes Will-A-Way in Winder, GA
• Camp Fire USA Gluten-Free, June 19 – 25 at Camp Waluhili on scenic Fort Gibson Lake, 45 min. from Tulsa, OK
• “Free To Be” Camp, June 19 – 25 at Camp Westminster on Higgins Lake in Roscommon, MI
• The Great Gluten Escape, July 10 – 15 at Camp Gilmont in Gilmer, TX
• GIG Kids Camp West, July 20 – 25; July 26 – 29 and July 20 – 29 at Camp Sealth, Vashon Island, WA
• Camp Celiac, July 21 – July 25 and July 25 – 29 at Camp Arroyo, Livermore, CA
• Camp Celiac, August 7 – 12 at Camp Aldersgate, North Scituate, RI
• GIG Kids Camp East, August 7 – 13 at Camp Kanata, Wake Forest, NC
• Gluten-Free Fun Camp, August 14 – 19 at Camp New Hope in McGregor, MN
• Gluten-Free Camp, August 14 – 19 at Camp Manitou-Lin on Ol’ Lake Barlow in Middleville, MI

We hope you can enjoy a few relaxing days surrounded by your loved ones with good gluten-free food, great conversations, and good wine! Thank you for a wonderful year.

What I’ve done this time is very different but the result is really awesome. These cookies/granola bars are perfect as a snack on the go, great for the Holiday season, and so easy to make that even I succeeded. You need

• A gluten-free granola mix of your choice. I added Organic Banana Chips, Pineapple, Pears, and Organic Coconut Chips
• 1 cup of light corn syrup OR brown rice syrup
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar
• 1.5 tablespoons of butter or margarine
• Cooking spray
• A large non-plastic mixing bowl
• One-piece spoon
• Saucepan
• 8-inch square pan
• Aluminum foil

Fortunately the whole process works in four super easy steps. I must admit that I had a great time doing this, and I am sure that you will as well! Here is how it works:

1. Line the bottom and sides of the pan with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray. Pour your granola into a large (non-plastic bowl). Set the pan and bowl aside for later.
2. Heat butter, sugar and corn syrup over medium heat and stir constantly until the sugar is dissolved. Boil for about 2 minutes afterwards until the mixture becomes slightly thickened.
3. Pour over the granola in the bowl and stir until evenly coated. Using the one-piece spoon (see what happened to mine…), take the mixture and press into the prepared pan. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until it’s firm enough to cut.
4. Take a bread knife and cut how you like it: bite-size squares or bars.

Of course there are plenty of other combinations you can choose at Custom Choice Cereal without the hustle of having to buy all the individual ingredients. For my next batch, I will definitely mix it up a little bit – right now I am thinking about cranberries, apples, raisins, and pecans. It’s tough to decide with so many delicious options at hand… What would you choose?

Vanessa Phillips is the co-owner of Friedman’s Lunch in New York City and happens to be gluten intolerant. Together with her partner Tryg Siverson, she is featured on CNN’s eatocracy where they give five easy tips to make gluten-free Thanksgiving a success:

1. Plan ahead
2. Think about all the ingredients
3. Delicious gluten-free desserts are easy
4. Time to get cooking
5. What to do with leftovers

The best part: the article incudes recipes for orange-apricot turkey breast, a gluten-free stuffing that sounds absolutely amazing, and a pumpkin pie. Finish the feast by serving some gluten-free granola with a few dried fruits sprinkled over ice cream or frozen yogurt (see tip 3 above, delicious gluten-free desert is SO easy), and you and your family will definitely have a wonderful Holiday!

First things first – the turkey or ham. Usually these centerpieces of the traditional Thanksgiving meal are gluten-free. However, you must make sure that

• the glaze they used is gluten-free
• no non-gluten-free broth has been injected to keep it juicy

If in doubt you should always make sure and call the manufacturer! That’s exactly what we did, and Honey Baked Ham assured us that their turkeys and hams are safe for celiacs and other gluten-free consumers.

On to the stuffing. Most gluten-free folks suggest recipes based on corn bread. Check out how the Celiac Sprue Association makes it, watch the video from Gluten-free Girl and the Chef and their stuffing, or have a look at this site with gluten-free recipes for a few of the most typical Thanksgiving dishes! Also check out this recent article on gluten-free Thanksgiving in The New York Times. It includes a recipe for delicious-looking pumpkin dumplings with radicchio.

For those of you who prefer a step-by-step guide we highly recommend Jules’ gluten-free Thanksgiving e-book! It’s a great one-stop resource. And since there is a tendency to overheat the dining and living rooms over Thanksgiving – ice cream sprinkled with a gluten-free cereal that you created is an amazing treat and the perfect way to finish the meal!

Besides recommending a special Halloween mix – Cinnamon Granola with Pumpkin Seeds, Apricots, and Apples, mix ID 80413c – I wanted to share an outstanding tool that can help you make the gluten-free trick-or-treat excursion much easier. The website No Trick Treats is probably one of the coolest things I’ve come across this Halloween!

It is basically a map that lets you search the entire US for houses that hand out treats that are Vegan, Organic, Raw, Fruits/Veggies, Nut-free, Kosher, Sugar-free, Gluten-free, or Non-food. The tool is super simple:

• Click on the appropriate button on the left hand side, and little markers in the corresponding color will appear on the map
• Clicking again on the same category removes those markers again

This is a community-based tool, so the more of you enter your house in the appropriate categories, the better it is for everyone!

We at Custom Choice Cereal hope we can help spread the word about this great tool through this blog post. What do you think about this? And what gluten-free treats are you stocking up on for the trick-or-treaters in your neighborhood?

Thankfully Jules Gluten Free – who by the way is from North Carolina – just released her 2010 Gluten-free Thanksgiving e-book which is available for FREE until the end of today with the coupon code “thanks10″ and only $12.95 after that. The entire e-book has 52 pages with holiday tips ranging from how to be a great hostess or guest to substitution ideas for dairy-free versions of her scrumptious recipes and nutritional information.

Featuring more than 20 of Jules’ favorite recipes and full-color photographs, the book also covers:

• Planning the dinner
• Suggestions for guests
• Helping guests and hosts understand gluten contamination
• Ingredient substitutions for other food allergies
• A comprehensive planning checklist (page 35-36)
• Bread-baking tips
• And more!

After placing your order online you can immediately download your copy of the 2010 Gluten-free Thanksgiving e-book. Our advice: top off the perfect gluten-free Thanksgiving experience for your friends and family by creating personal gluten-free cereals for the next morning. They will definitely come back next year!