Fashion, Gluten Free Carrot Cake & Fun

Last Friday night Whitby History Museum sponsored a Fashion Food & Fun night as a fundraiser. I baked my gluten free carrot cake with cream cheese frosting so that attendees who are gluten intolerant could eat without worry.

The event was a lot of fun, and along with Jane, of New Vision Nutrition, I was able to give a short talk about the gluten free diet.

Even though I thought my cake turned out a bit dry this time. Making a huge batch to feed a hundred is different than just making a regular sized cake. However, it was a hit and wheat eaters and all ate and enjoyed. I got a call the next day from a friend who took some home to her husband and he said it was the best carrot cake he had eaten, wheat or no.

The family is getting together this weekend, so I’m thinking a chocolate cake would be in order. I’ll try and get a photo of it before it is gone and post it for you.

New Books done and a Taste Test

Finally after hundreds of hours of research, testing recipes and photographing I have finished my next two gluten free cookbooks: Health & Nutrition - A Gluten Free Trina E-book. and a small sampler book called ‘A Sampler’.

I have also managed to get my new website www.glutenfreetrina.com/ posted with all the new information about my books.

Recently I was invited to do a taste testing at an event where about 200 women attended a conference. My friend Jane Snyder of New Vision Nutrition was going to be there. Jane helps people find out how their diets can impact their health issues and advises dietary changes. Since she has been finding many people have absorption issues which are often caused by gluten, she has advised people to try a gluten free diet. In many cases this has helped.

The problem is a dietary change of this scope means people have to learn how to live a gluten free lifestyle. Often, they go through a few weeks of the diet, feel better and then despair what to do to not feel deprived of foods they love.

Because food is not only a necessity of life it is a big part of our enjoyment of life it becomes hard to totally deny yourself of many comfort foods you have enjoyed in the past, and those delicious looking delicacies that are around everywhere, just to taunt you!

I understand this as, the only way I could convince myself not to cheat, was to tell myself to go home and make it myself, only, make it gluten free.

This is why most diets fail altogether, we need to be able to enjoy or food!

Well, I’m getting a bit long winded here, but anyway, I went to the conference along with several of my freshly baked Famer’s loaves of gluten free bread. It was different from Celiac events I had been to before where everyone there just loved my bread, saying “It was the best they had ever eaten!” I know these people are used to a gluten free diet. They probably haven’t tasted wheat bread for a long time.

Well, the beautiful fragrance of freshly baked Farmer's Style bread wafted through the halls of the conference center and pretty soon I found a line up of people who wanted to try my bread. So there I was handing out nice little slices of freshly buttered bread.

Well, they loved it! I can tell you I was not amazed exactly, I know my bread tastes good and is filled with only good healthy ingredients, but it sure did make me feel good, that these were people who normally eat wheat based breads also loved my gluten free bread.

I didn’t think I would meet anyone there who actually was on a gluten free diet, but I did. Not only that, I started asking, “Do you know anyone who has to be on a Gluen free Diet, could you tell them about my cookbooks?”

Well it seems almost everyone knows someone! In fact a woman standing at the table beside me said her husband was on a gluten free diet, and he would be thrilled to learn about my cookbooks as he used to bake pies and misses them. She said she never usually tries anything gluten free because it just does not taste good to her, but my bread ‘looked’ so good she gave it a try and loved it!

I’m happy to say, sales are going quite well of my new books. Check out my website, www.glutenfreetrina.com/

At the end of the month, I’ve been invited to do another taste testing and bring my gluten free carrot cake this time. It is going to be in Whitby, Ontario October 24th 2008. At the Centennial Building, 416 Center St. South, Whitby, from 7 to 10 pm. Tickets $10.00 each. It is a fundraiser for the Whitby History Museum & Children’s Centre.

I’ll let you know how that goes.

PS. The recipe for the Farmer's Style Brown loaf is in my book, Health & Nutrition.