Gluten-Free Cupcakes Finally Win Cupcake Wars!

Kyra Bussanich of Crave Bake Shop returned to Cupcake Wars and this time, her gluten-free cupcakes won! In December 2010, Kyra first appeared on Cupcake Wars and her gluten-free cupcakes almost won.

On tonight's episode, The Closer 100th Episode, Kyra said that this is a "win for the entire gluten-free community." I couldn't agree more! After watching three seasons of Cupcake Wars, it is fantastic to finally see a gluten-free winner on the Food Network. Cast members of The Closer loved the cupcakes and said "we are all going to gluten-free."

Season four of Cupcake Wars airs Sundays at 8 pm ET/PT. This episode reairs on Tuesday, December 20 at 8 pm ET/PT.  If you missed the episode, watch this clip of the ending to see the first gluten-free champion.

The Goal to Cure Celiac Disease in 10 to 15 Years

According to the University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center, the goal is to cure celiac disease in 10 to 15 years! They will be hosting the 15th International Celiac Disease Symposium in September 2013, and have made this fantastic video to promote it.

While the first two minutes of the video are about the city of Chicago, the remainder of the video sends a powerful message about celiac disease. “It would take 936 cruise ships to hold every American with celiac disease.” This is one of several statistics mentioned in the video. 

Video: Kumquats Educational Puppets Explain Celiac Disease to Kids

Kumquats are adorable educational puppets. There is something very comforting about seeing puppets talking about celiac disease. While the video is very simple and short, it is a good starting point for talking to kids about celiac disease. The ending was my favorite part and made me smile!

Video: New Gluten-Free School Lunches

Skaneateles Schools in New York will begin offering gluten-free pizza and deli sandwiches in March. Watch this news video, which does a great job explaining the necessary measures to prevent cross-contamination. This quote about prices raises an interesting point.

"Skaneateles has been trying to get gluten-free foods through the door for a couple years now. Crysler says those foods were more expensive and the cost just wasn't in the small district's budget, but I see as there's more diagnoses and more people that are in need, the prices have come down."

Gluten-free options are already offered in three other central New York school districts: North Syracuse, Liverpool, and Baldwinsville. 

Imagine how thrilling it will be for kids with celiac disease to be able to go through the lunch line. If you are trying to get gluten-free options in your school district, share this video. Hopefully, gluten-free school lunches will become a nationwide trend!

Video: Celiac PSA on CBS

Thanks to a tip from Amy Ratner at Gluten-Free Living, I discovered this good celiac disease PSA that aired on CBS last night as part of CBS Cares. Pauley Perrette from NCIS is in the PSA. For more information, the PSA mentions celiac.org, which is the website for the Celiac Disease Foundation. Watch the video here or click below.

Gluten-Free Cake Mix Doctor on QVC

Last night, Anne Byrn was on QVC showing many desserts from her brand new cookbook, The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten-Free. You can watch the entire video on the QVC website and preorder the book at a low price of $11.89.  The books will ship on November 29.

The 80 recipes use a store-bought gluten-free yellow or chocolate cake mix, like Betty Crocker. Every recipe also has a dairy-free option. Anne was inspired to write the book after many requests from her readers. Her gluten Cake Mix Doctor books have been extremely popular. Over 3,000 autographed books were sold during this QVC segment!

Video: Kids Making Gluten-Free Granola Bars

I stumbled across the cutest video of two kids making gluten-free granola bars. The video is from the My Kids Make blog. The recipe looks very easy and delicious. 

If you have a gluten-free blog, consider letting your kids do a blog post. They will be so proud to see their work published on your blog! Read my daughter's blog posts and reviews. Leave a comment sharing blog posts from gluten-free kids.
 

Video: Dr. Fasano Receives $45 Million

The University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research received an astonishing $45 million donation to create a special institute!  The detailed EurekAlert provided information about the donation from "a grateful patient," her husband, and their foundation.

"Forty million dollars of the donation is coming from a private foundation in which the Caffertys are key stakeholders. The remaining $5 million comes to the School of Medicine directly from the Caffertys, and will fund an endowed distinguished professorship that supports a director position in perpetuity for the research enterprise."

Watch this video to hear Dr. Fasano's comments about the donation.  For more details, read this article in The Baltimore Sun.

"Fasano said the money will be used to create a first-of-its-kind institute that could eventually employ up to 200 doctors and researchers. They will not only study the often-misdiagnosed celiac disease but use it as a model to study other related diseases, including diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis."

Video from Lifetime: Celiac Disease on The Balancing Act

If you missed the celiac disease segment on The Balancing Act yesterday on Lifetime Television, watch this great video. It is almost five minutes long and packed full of good information!  I loved this part. "If you have symptoms you can't explain...ask your doctor about it."

Watch the Celiac Disease Foundation on Lifetime Television

On Monday, October 25 at 7 am ET/PT (6 am CT/MT), watch The Balancing Act on Lifetime. The show will feature Phyllis Kessler, President of the Celiac Disease Foundation South Florida Chapter and a doctor. They will discuss awareness efforts and celiac resources.

Read the press release and watch the preview video. If you miss the celiac segment, it will probably be added to their YouTube channel next week.

View the Transcript for the Celiac Episode to Air on Second Opinion

Recently, I blogged about the Celiac Disease Episode to Air on Public Television on October 15 or 16.  The transcript can now be viewed online. This great episode includes Alice Bast from NFCA and Dr. Daniel Leffler.  The patient, a 42-year-old man, presents with swelling in his hands, joint pain, and lactose intolerance. Later, he develops GI symptoms.

This episode is truly amazing awareness! One of my favorite parts is this quote from Alice.

"Yeah, malignancies, and I ended up seeing twenty-two doctors before I was diagnosed, but in my case I also had reproductive health issues.  So when you say how can it affect you, I had a full-term stillborn child, I had three miscarriages, and my youngest daughter was two pounds when she was born.  So she fit into the palm of my hand.  I’m five foot nine and I weighed a hundred and thirty pounds now.  I was down to about a hundred pounds. My hair was falling out, my teeth were breaking, and the doctors were telling me that I had postpartum depression and telling me I had psychiatric problems, you name it, anemia, so a lot of this — I had, you know, swelling in my joints.  I had such diarrhea that I couldn’t even go to work."

All aspects of celiac disease are discussed, including testing, related conditions, complications, and the gluten-free diet. Celiac is even referred to as "a multi-symptom chameleon disease." 

Celiac Disease Symptoms and Treatment: An Excellent Video

Watch this excellent video of Dr. Daniel Leffler, Director of Clinical Research at the Celiac Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Melinda Dennis, a registered dietician, discussing celiac disease and their new book.  The video aired this week on the Fox morning news in Boston.  Visit their website for more information about their new book, Real Life with Celiac Disease.

Celiac Disease Episode to Air on Public Television

The seventh season of Second Opinion will feature an episode about celiac disease. Episode 702 is called celiac disease, and will air on October 15 or 16, depending on the public television stations in your viewing area. In the DC area, Second Opinion airs on Saturdays at 9:30 am on WHUT channel 32.

Here is the description of this episode, which will likely include Dr. Daniel Leffler, Director of Clinical Research at the Celiac Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

"Nearly three million Americans suffer from Celiac Disease, a hereditary, autoimmune digestive disorder which is difficult to diagnose. Discover how a gluten-free diet (no wheat, rye, or barley) results in greatly improved health for those suffering from this disease."

If you aren’t familiar with Second Opinion, read the description of this unique series.

"The long-running, Telly award-winning series engages a panel of medical professionals and lay people in honest, in-depth discussions about complex medical issues. Host Dr. Peter Salgo presents intriguing, real-life medical cases to professionals representing a variety of specialties. As the experts grapple with the diagnosis and treatment options, viewers gain an understanding of doctors' decision-making process."

In episode 413 called inflammation, there was information about celiac disease and eating gluten-free. Joseph Mercogliano, a plumber in Long Island, shared his celiac diagnosis story on the show. It took two years for doctors to diagnose his weight gain, swollen lymph nodes, and chest pain as celiac disease.

Additionally, you may be interested in watching episode 701 about Vitamin D. Watch this new Second Opinion Stat! podcast featuring Alice Bast explaining celiac disease.

Dr. Vikki Petersen Responds to the Today Show Gluten-Free Segment

A recent segment on the Today Show called, “Gluten-free: Diet fad or healthy option?” stirred up a lot of emotions in the gluten-free community. You can watch the segment here, but the better and more informative video to watch is this one from Dr. Vikki. Does a gluten-free diet cause weight loss or weight gain? Dr. Vikki has the answer.

Gluten-Free Junior Olympian Wins Gold Medals

You may remember my blog post several months ago called, “Fourth Grader with Diabetes and Celiac Disease Qualifies for the Junior Olympics.” Well, this amazing young athlete, Sage Donnelly, won five gold medals in kayaking in the Junior Olympics recently held in North Carolina. She lives in Carson City, Nevada. Read all the details here.

“For the past two months, Sage and her parents have been on the road, living with their four dogs and a cat in the family van to compete in kayak competitions throughout the West. This was the first year they traveled back East to compete.”

Sage is only ten-years-old, but she has already accomplished a lot. Hopefully, we will see her in the Olympics when she is older! Here is some advice from Sage.

“If you have a disease or anything, you should not give up your dreams.”

This is an impressive video from May 2010 of Sage practicing.

Access Hollywood Videos: Bill Clinton’s Gluten-Free Lunch and Inside La Tulipe Desserts

Bill Clinton had lunch on Friday, July 30 at Gigi Trattoria, where he enjoyed a flavorful gluten-free buckwheat gnocchetti pasta. The pasta dish is shown at the end of this Access Hollywood video.

Bill Clinton reportedly lost 30 pounds and it is not clear whether his diet included gluten-free items. However, a gluten-free diet is not a weight loss diet or a trend. It is the only treatment for celiac disease, an autoimmune disease.





Watch this video about the making of Chelsea Clinton’s wedding cake. Although a photo of the cake isn’t in the video, La Tulipe Desserts shares more details about the all-natural gluten-free cake that was nine tiers and four feet tall! In an article in The New York Times, the wedding planner talked about the other gluten-free items, but didn't mention who made them.

"The wedding cake was gluten-free, as was the bread. So were the chocolate-chip cookies in the straw welcome bags in the guests’ hotel rooms."

Update from People on August 4, 2010: 

"As for the food, the cake was a four-foot, nine-tier masterpiece of vanilla sponge cake, layered with dark chocolate mousse. It was gluten free, and the chefs Maarten and Frances Steenman, owners of La Tulipe Desserts, gave PEOPLE an exclusive look of their creation.

For many more inside details of Chelsea Clinton's lavish wedding, pick up this week's issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday"

Who Made Chelsea Clinton's Gluten-Free Wedding Cake?

The media has been buzzing about Chelsea Clinton's vegan gluten-free wedding cake, which is estimated to be $11,000.  She has a "gluten allergy" and has been vegan since she was a teen. According to The New York Times, La Tulipe Desserts in Mount Kisco, New York, made Chelsea's gluten-free wedding cake.  The reception was catered by St. Regis Hotel and included vegan and gluten-free items. 

La Tulipe Desserts, a European patisserie, is not a dedicated gluten-free bakery, but they do sell some gluten-free products, including award-winning macaroons. Here is some information from their website.

"We can create any custom size, flavors, and style for your special day. Anything is possible. Imagine it and it is yours..."

"Our flavorful ingredients are almost all organic and come directly from original sources around the world — vanilla beans from Haiti, pure lemon and orange essences from Italy, Marcona almonds from Spain, chocolate from France, Lubecker marzipan from Germany.


And that’s just what we import. We buy fresh, seasonal organic produce and honey from local farmers, and we choose it ourselves. Those fruits in your dessert taste fresh – picked because they are fresh – picked.


From start to finish, every creation at La Tulipe Desserts is an individual work of art. No mass production, no prepackaging, no artificial anything. Just premium, hand-selected ingredients prepared by artisans. We invite you to taste the difference."

A photo of Chelsea's cake hasn't been released yet, but some photos from the wedding can be viewed here and in this AP video, which mentions the vegan gluten-free wedding cake. She was a beautiful bride in her Vera Wang dress!

Gluten-Free Videos: Fox News Strategy Room

Here are some good gluten-free video segments that recently aired on FoxNews.com on The Strategy Room, "the web's most talked about live show."  Marlisa Brown, author of Gluten-Free, Hassle Free, is one of the panelists in the videos.

If all the videos do not properly load on this page, click refresh or the play buttons at the bottom to watch them.














Click here to watch the fourth video segment, Gluten Alternatives.

Below is one more video I found on YouTube, which looks like it aired recently on the Fox News television channel.

Gluten-Free Baker Wins Cupcake Wars on the Food Network

Lisa Cowden, a baker at Gluten-Free Creations (GFC) bakery and LuLu's Cupcakes in Scottsdale, Arizona, won Cupcake Wars on the Food Network.  The episode called "Survival of the Fittest" airs on Sunday, July 11 at 5 pm and 11 pm ET/PT.  Here is a quote from Lisa.

"They're very natural, very good for you and I think that's one of the things that really came across with the judging. Our competitors are really tending to go less natural, a lot of artificial ingredients, and I think it counted against them in the end."

For more details, watch this video and read this article. 

Update:  The show did not mention gluten-free, so I contacted Gluten-Free Creations to find out if the cupcakes on the show were gluten-free. Here is their response.

"The cupcakes on the show were not made gluten-free. However, the same recipe works using our Gluten-free sweet Baking Mix."

Update December 2010: Read about gluten-free Crave Bake Shop on Cupcake Wars and gluten-free and vegan Sweet Freedom Bakery.

Update December 2011: Gluten-free cupcakes finally won Cupcake Wars when Crave Bake Shop returned to the show.

Vote for Gluten-Free Girl to Have Her Own Show on Oprah's New Network

Oprah is accepting auditions online for a chance to have Your OWN Show on Oprah's new network. On Twitter, I saw a few gluten-free auditions this week, but this audition from Shauna Ahern aka Gluten-Free Girl is the one that I hope the gluten-free community will unite behind.

Watch the audition video and vote now for Shauna! Ask everyone you know to do the same! The angle of her show, joyous cooking and naturally gluten-free, will appeal to many outside of the gluten-free community. Shauna needs your votes since only the five auditions with the highest votes will become finalists. Voting ends on July 3, 2010, and "you can vote as often as you like."