Celebrity Apprentice Update - Annie Duke's Favorite Gluten Free Pasta

I found Annie Duke's twitter profile from her blog when I was viewing her gluten free turkey meatball recipe and leaving a comment. I am so pleased to announce that she responded to my tweets. Wow! Sometimes celebrities do respond! She told me that her favorite gluten free pasta is Ancient Harvest Quinoa, which is what she used on the Celebrity Apprentice. She has a close friend with celiac disease and her daughter Maud has a wheat allergy. For more on this episode of Celebrity Apprentice, read my earlier post.

I just discovered a post on Annie's blog that lists the many allergies that she and her kids have, which they recently discovered. Here are some quotes from her blog about the allergies.

"So I thought that since my joints were swelling up a lot along with the stomach pain that maybe it was food that was affecting me. So off I went and when I got my results it was totally obvious why the only days I felt at all well was on days I didn’t eat. I am allergic to green beans, cabbage, carrots, garlic, onions, sesame, soy, baker’s yeast, pistachios and hazelnuts."

"Now for poor Leo. He is allergic to mushrooms, salmon, sesame, malt, vanilla and brewer’s yeast. It is the last one that is really bad because along with beer, win and champagne, brewer’s yeast is in vinegar which means he can’t have any prepackage mustard, mayonnaise, ketchup, salad dressing, most soups, jarred sauces etc. Vinegar is in everything because it acts as a preservative. The vanilla is a pain too because it means I have to bake special cookies and such for him with no vanilla and the poor kid can’t eat most chocolate because chocolate almost always has vanilla in it."

"Now Lucy. Lucy is allergic to green beans, carrots, garlic, CHICKEN, EGG YOLK, and cashew."

I assumed from her statements and actions on the show that she must have a personal connection with celiac disease or allergies. It certainly must be a challenge cooking for her entire family. I was a little surprised at her pasta choice and that the executives liked it. While we do eat the Quinoa sometimes and like it, we prefer Cornito and Orgran. Most people I talk to think Tinkyada is the best.

Update - April 24, 2009 - Annie also made meatloaf and chili on the Celebrity Apprentice and both of these recipes were gluten free. Her chili recipe is on her blog.