Arizona East Valley Celiac Disease Foundation Connections Support Group

Welcome to the Arizona East Valley Celiac Support Group!!!

2012-01-27T18:51:00.000-08:00

The mission of the Arizona East Valley Celiac Support Group is to offer both knowledge and support to those with Celiac and other related diseases, while creating a greater awareness not only within the Arizona East Valley community, but in any and all other areas that we can. Additionally, we work to empower our members to assert their dietary needs, pursue better health care, and support the best gluten free products and services to maintain good health in mind, body, and spirit.

The East Valley Celiac Support Group began holding monthly meetings in October 2009!
Date: 3rd Wednesday of every month (02/15/2012)
Time: 6:30-8:00 PM
Place: Sunrise Senior Living of Gilbert, AZ
580 South Gilbert Road
Gilbert, AZ 85296
United States
Phone: (480) 632-9400
Contact: Chandice Probst (435) 671-2211
E-mail: Chandice with any questions at azeastvalleysupportgroup@gmail.com

For February 15, 2012:

Annual Dining Out Gluten Free: Executive Chefs Panel from some of your favorite restaurants including our favorites like PF Changs, The Melting Pot, Chelsea's Kitchen, Tryst Cafe and award-winning Citizen Public House!!! They will be offering gluten free menus, insight into their gluten free preparations and what's to come for them. The event will be complete with a Q&A session from you the audience! Plus, Chocolate and Sweets Fun with Danells Signature Blends treats! We will also be featuring New Grains Bakery's famous, pink frosted sugar cookie, Elisabeth Hasselbeck's NoGii bars and so much more!!! This is such a fun and informative evening and is our most attended meeting year after year! You don't want to miss out!

***PLEASE NOTE: OUR MEETINGS WILL NOW BE IN THE FIRST BUILDING (instead of the 2nd) UPSTAIRS. It is a larger room with a full kitchen and lots of tables, which will benefit our group. There is an elevator for those who need it. THANK YOU! :)

As always, we will have a door prize as well as a prize for a member of the Celiac Disease Foundation. We will also have coupons, local menus, and many other handouts available.

*There is never a cost to attend our meetings, but we will gladly accept donations to cover the costs of printings and such. Thank you!

Thank you for your interest in this wonderful group. We look forward to seeing you soon!

~Your CDF Arizona East Valley Support Group Officers~

January 2012 Meeting

2012-01-27T16:43:00.000-08:00

For January (01/18/12)-

January's focus was on New Year, New You! Many of us try to get off to a healthy start this time of year, so we had a few great companies talk to us about nutritious foods and healthy body care. My Dinner Kitchen kicked off the evening with "5 Meals Under 500 Calories," which included a delicious array of entrees and desserts that can be purchased ready to cook. The food was incredible! We also had a presentation from Reliv Nutritional Shakes and heard success stories of individuals freeing themselves from ailments with proper nutrition. See Chandice's product review here. For the body, we had representatives from Arbonne give us some information and let us test some products. They produce cosmetics, skincare, and hair care for both women and men, and all gluten free! To wrap up the night, we had drawings for a $25 Gift Card to My Dinner Kitchen, a Gift Bag of GF Foods from the Gluten Free Country Store, and a Gift Bag of GF Goodies. My Dinner Kitchen also raffled off an additional $25 Gift Card, which was a pleasant surprise!

We saw a lot of new members this month, so we would like to say a special welcome to you! We hope to see you again soon and get to know you as we all learn how to be healthy and stay healthy together!

December 2011 Meeting

2011-12-21T21:02:00.000-08:00

For December (12/14/11)-

We had our Annual Gluten Free Cookie Exchange!!! We had TONS of amazing, gluten free cookies provided by members of the group for exchange. In addition to our cookie exchange, we also held our Annual Benefit Raffle. We had a number of great prizes to raffle off in an effort to raise money for our 2012 calender year. Also, we gave each member family an awesome Christmas/Holiday gift from the Board. We love our CDF support group family and have become so close these past few years that we always like to do something nice for each wonderful individual this time of year. Yummy cookies were enjoyed, taken home, and great prizes were won! We also had an informative presentation from The Green Asylum about raw and vegan foods. They provided tasty samples for us to try. What a fun night!!!

November 2011 Meeting

2011-12-07T06:45:00.000-08:00

November (11/16/11)-

It was our Annual Gluten Free Thanksgiving Feast!!! We will had TONS of amazing side dishes that were provided by members of the group. In addition, Udi's Gluten Free Bread and a gluten free Honey Baked Ham were provided by the groups Board and Udi's Gluten Free. Angela Saban of Angel Cakes Bakery and Angela Saban Design provided us with an amazing array of delicious and gorgeous gluten free pies! They were so good!!! With the 3,300 people who attended the Believe Boutique in November, many had already tasted her stuff and were in awe that they were gluten free, they are so good! Many individuals who have no gluten intolerance or celiac disease were taken in by her delicious treats. We took pie orders for them for Thanksgiving and many took advantage of that great deal. We were so impressed by all the amazing side dishes and treats that everyone brought. We have some amazingly talented people!!! We can't wait to see each shine at the December cookie exchange! :)

We also handed out SOOO MANY awesome samples and treats to take home including Pamela's Products brownie mix, cookies and cooking utensils...yay! We all enjoyed a delicious gluten free feast with our group family!

October Meeting 2011

2011-11-14T20:20:00.000-08:00

For October (10/19/11)-

The topic for the evening was "Tricks" of Holiday Baking by Angela Saban of Angela Saban Designs and "Treats" from Angel Cakes Bakery, WOW Bakery, Gluten Free Creations Bakery, Scott's Gourmet Cookie Company and many more!!! We had TONS of great products to share and we were able to introduce everyone to Angela Saban, an amazing event planner and gluten free pastry chef in the valley. Her gorgeous events have been featured in Style Unveiled as well as on ABC 15 Sonoran Living LIVE and Channel 12 News, Arizona Midday. Angela's treats are so delectable nobody could even tell they were gluten free. She will be providing us with a gorgeous dessert table at our November, Thanksgiving feast! We were so thrilled to have her as our guest speaker this month! The WOW Bakery items were the NEW holiday line of peppermint brownies, pumpkin spice cookies and white chocolate, cranberry cookies...yum!!!

We also had some wonderful new gluten free menus from restaurants in the valley as well as some features shared from recent restaurant visits, seen on Gluten Free Frenzy. There was a sneak peak given of the upcoming 25 Days of Christmas Giveaways, Gluten Free of Course! Event with thousands of dollars in FREE prizes on Gluten Free Frenzy this December. It is a much anticipated event in the gluten free community that we want everyone to be a part of.

September 2011 Meeting

2011-10-18T00:55:00.000-07:00

For Sep.(9/21/2011)

The topic for the evening was Navigatong the food aisles and gluten free basics. We had lots of great info and products on hand to display and share. We will also had treats from Jewel's Bakery.

June 2011 Meeting

2011-10-18T00:54:00.000-07:00

For June (6/15/11)-

The topic for the evening was Eating light, Eating right w/ Kristen of Nourish Restaurant in Scottsdale, AZ. We also had treats from Laura's Wholesome Junkfood...yum!!!

As always we had wonderful door prizes as well as a prize for a member of the Celiac Disease Foundation. We also had coupons, local menus and many other handouts available.

May Meeting

2011-06-11T12:21:00.000-07:00

Our May meeting took place on Wednesday, May 18th at our usual meeting site, the Sunrise Senior Living Center in Gilbert. Please note—beginning with our June 15th meeting, our meeting place will change from the 2nd building to the first building, on the west side of the parking lot. We will be meeting in a 2nd floor meeting room.
Our June 15th meeting will feature Kirsten of Nourish Restaurant who will speak on the topic "Eating Light, Eating right. Treats will be furnished by Laura's Wholesome Junk food.

The meeting was begun by President Chandice; she made several announcements and also discussed our small but growing library of books. We are gathering more titles from cookbooks to celiac related informative books.

Our guests for the evening were Chef's David Hall and Gregg Piazzi from PF Chang's. Members brought favorite GF dishes and treats to be judged by the chefs. A first and second place overall winner was picked from the assortment of dishes and treats our members brought. The chefs gave us wonderful and positive feedback about our creations and everyone enjoyed tasting after the judging took place. We all enjoyed the banter, tidbits and comedy of the two chefs, thanks so much to Chef David and Chef Gregg! Members brought a great assortment of food, from cooked millet for breakfast with an assortment of delicious toppings, Garlic cheese popper biscuits, shortcake trifle, oven fried chicken, peanut butter brownies, oatmeal raisin cookies, chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, and sugar cookies. We all enjoyed the wonderful food, the first place winner went to the garlic cheese poppers, a close second to the oven fried chicken. Thanks to all the members who participated in our fun evening of recipe sharing, tips and tasting. It was a wonderful way to celebrate celiac awareness month by enjoying many wonderful and safe foods.

Respectfully submitted by Secretary Sheri K
East Valley Celiac Support Group
Dx 1/08

April Meeting 2011

2011-05-10T07:35:00.000-07:00

Gary Baker of Gluten Free Country Store spoke about all the new gluten free products to hit the market. He attended Expo West and had a lot to share with us! He brought lots of yummy samples as and provided the gifts for our door prize and CDF member drawing. Thanks Gary!

Namaste will provided us with chocolate cake and toffee frosting and we had a delicious take home gift for all attendees. Yum!

February Meeting

2011-04-19T20:36:00.000-07:00

It was our Annual Dining Out Gluten Free Panel with the best gluten free friendly restaurant chefs/managers! They discussed their specific gluten free menus as well as their kitchen practices and what's coming soon. We were honored to have the following guests in attendance.

~Assistant Manager Ryan of Streets of New York Pizza
~Gregg Piazzi, Director of Culinary Operations P.F. Changs
~General Manager of JP Pancakes in Gilbert, AZ

Kinnikinnick provided their delicious gluten free donuts, Streets of NY provided us with yummy pizza AND we each received gift cards to PF Changs and coupons to JP Pancakes and Streets of NY!

January 2011 Meeting

2011-02-12T20:09:00.000-08:00

For January (1/19/11)-

The topic was Gluten Free Birthdays and Parties! 123 Gluten Free and Betty Crocker provided us with birthday cake and frosting!

Not only did we celebrate our 1 year birthday (a little late :) with coupons and treats but we discussed how to conduct themed parties while on a gluten free diet. We had over 40 pictures of adorable themed parties that will be shared and discussed. Everything from childrens parties to Bridal showers to the fun Twilight themed party! :)

November Meeting 2010

2011-01-17T21:43:00.000-08:00

For November (11/17/10)-

The topic was Dealing with the Holidays while living gluten free. Information was provided using many sources including the new Holiday issue of Living without magazine.

We also had our DELICIOUS Annual Thanksgiving Feast!!! We provided Honey Baked Ham and the bread. We asked that each of you please bring a gluten free side dish or dessert and boy did you ever! There were some amazing dishes to enjoy with our little gluten free family! It was a blast! :)

October Meeting 2010

2010-10-25T12:29:00.000-07:00

The topic was GF naturally by Alisha Chasey, RD* and owner of Innocent Indulgence. Alisha will brought her yummy treats to share with the group. Some include cheesecake, cookies and brownies!

We also had a mini pizza party presented by O'Doughs foods. ON TOP of all of that...we will be gave each of our attendees an adorable Halloween treat from us, the AZ East Valley CDF Support Group Officers!!! It was a night filled with no tricks, only treats!

September Meeting

2010-09-29T14:55:00.000-07:00

For September (9/15/10)-

The topic "Dealing with Social Situations" was presented by the one and only, LynnRae of Gluten Free Creations Bakery. She gave us great ideas for when you are out and about dealing with your Celiac disease. She had her wonderful treats for tasting and purchase that evening as well. Each of us took home a small loaf of her new bread which was wonderful!

We also had delicious treats provided to us by the adorable little company, Smart treats. We each received a coupon code to get a free treat with our next purchase! It was a great evening.

August Meeting

2010-08-20T14:57:00.000-07:00

For August (8/18/10)-

We were honored with the presence of a very talented Chef, David Hall, of Thyme For a Chef. He spoke to us on a variety of topics involving gluten free living. He has much experience in the field of cooking and especially in cooking allergen free. We very much enjoyed hearing from him.

We also had a HUGE gluten free PIZZA PARTY sponsored by the well known, NYPD Pizza! Raging Raw Organics also brought in their delicious, raw crackers and snacks for tasting. The speaker was great, the pizza and crackers were so tasty!!!

July Meeting

2010-08-11T13:43:00.000-07:00

We were honored to hear about Celiac disease & the Body: Risks of Delayed Diagnosis with Yolanda Rodriguez NMD. She is very knowledgeable and we welcome her back anytime.

We also had a delicious Milk & Cookies Bar with an array of cookies from such great companies as Josef's Gluten Free, Nana's Cookie Company and Lucy's. We had every variety from chocolate, vanilla and cinnamon cream sandwiches to chocolate and vanilla animal cracker, cinnamon, chocolate and vanilla squares, ginger and chocolate bars to oatmeal cookies. It was a cookie frenzy!!! :)

June Meeting 2010

2010-06-17T21:17:00.000-07:00

For June (6/16/10)-

We were honored to have Registered Dietitian, Stacy Smith, with us for the evening. She discussed proper nutrition for all bodies but especially for those of us with Celiac disease whom are already lacking in nutrients. She also discussed related issues such as osteoporosis and anemia. We were able to ask many questions which was great! Thank you Stacy!

We had a delicious ICE CREAM bar set up for socializing!!! We had sugar cones, regular cones, confetti/chocolate/dot sprinkles and many flavors of icecream ALL GLUTEN FREE!!!

Our door prize was a box of each of the sprinkles that we had on our Icecream bar. We also had a prize for a member of the Celiac Disease Foundation. It was a box of lightly salted brown rice crackers from Edward and Son's, the wonderful company that provided us with our Icecream bar treats. Thank you to them and congratulations to our drawing winners!

We also announced our new CDF Arizona East Valley Support Group Officers. Congratulations and thank you to them for expressing interest in helping out in our group!

President and Founder, Chandice Probst
Vice-President, Gary Baker
Secretary, Laura Danielson
Treasurer, Sheri Kempke
Kids Corner Mama, Julie Dobson

May Meeting 2010

2010-06-15T15:15:00.000-07:00

For May (5/19/10)-
Gluten-Free Bake-off!

We held our 1st annual Gluten-Free Bake-off. We were honored to have guest judges...
~Chef Candy Lesher
~Chef Jason Silbaugh
~Chef David Hall
present to vote on their favorite dishes. It was amazing to hear all their positive comments!!!

**We will add the full list of what everyone brought and the winners names very soon...

April Meeting

2010-05-12T21:14:00.000-07:00

APRIL (4/21/10)

We had a discussion on reading labels to understand gluten-free shopping even better. We were honored to have Gary of Gluten Free Country Store join us as a guest speaker for this meeting. Gary was so kind as to donate a gift bag of various items from his gluten-free store for one attendee to win!!! Thanks Gary!

We were also honored to have delicious tastings and a message from Leslie of Great Harvest Bread Company, a delicious little bakery that makes yummy gluten-free breads and treats!!!

We also had a gift basket of products from Pamela's Products for giveaway to one individual present who was a member of the Celiac Disease Foundation. It was a wonderful evening as always! :)

March Meeting 2010

2010-04-19T13:32:00.001-07:00

FOR MARCH (3/17/10)
We will be having a discussion on cooking gluten-free so your friends won't even know! We will talk about some of the yummiest products out there. And how to "fool" your friends and family into eating gluten-free because the taste is so good they won't even know the difference!

We will also be honored to have delicious tastings and a message from Cookies From Home, a delicious little bakery that makes the most delectable gluten-free white chocolate macadamia nut cookies!!! (Not to mention a handful of other delicious gluten-free cookies!)

You won't want to miss this!

We will also have a large gift basket of many products from Mixes From Heartland for giveaway to one individual present who is a member of the Celiac Disease Foundation. If you are not a member yet, please become a member before our next meeting to be entered into this great giveaway! Thank you to Mixes From Heartland for donating a gift basket to raise funds for wonderful causes.

February Meeting

2010-03-06T07:09:00.001-08:00

FOR FEBRUARY (2/17/10)
*If you missed this Executive Chefs Panel speaking about dining out gluten free, you are going to be sad. It was an amazing evening! The speakers were so great. They taught us alot and even sent us each home with gift cards to their restaurants!!! Again, the guest speakers are very knowledgeable and it was our privilege to have them join us.

~Executive Chef Eric Martin of Maggiano's Little Italy
~Chef Robert Kabakoff of White Chocolate Grill
~Gregg Piazzi, Director of Culinary Operations P.F. Changs

**Each so kindly offered a gift card from their restaurant to be donated to our monthly raffle. We accepted donations for the Haiti Relief Fund. 100% off donations made were sent to help those suffering from the devastating earthquake in Haiti. We earned over $100.00!!! Great job!

Other things that will be happening at our February meeting include the following.

*We had delicious tastings from Laura's Wholesome Junkfood and Katz gluten-free.

*We had our collection box for our ongoing food drive with St. Mary's Food Bank available as always.

Greater Phoenix CDF Gluten-Free Expo

2010-03-06T06:58:00.000-08:00

Here is some information on the upcoming:
Greater Phoenix CDF Gluten Free Expo

Saturday, May 22, 2010
10 am to 2 pm
Sheraton Crescent Hotel
2620 West Dunlap Avenue
Phoenix, AZ 85021
$5/adult; children under 18 are free (cash only accepted at the door)

Don't miss it!

January Meeting

2010-01-27T14:44:00.003-08:00

Gluten Free Cooking on a Budget with Chef Rachel Albert Matesz
Follow a special diet doesn't have to break your piggy bank. Join natural foods chef, healthy cooking coach, cooking instructor, and freelance food and health writer, Rachel Albert Matesz for an engaging presentation designed to help you cut your food costs, improve the quality of food you and your family eat, and enjoy delicious, gluten free food on a daily basis. Chef Rachel will also share three delicious recipes from her book, The Garden of Eating: A Produce-Dominated Diet & Cookbook. She will donate one of her books for the raffle and have both of her gluten free cookbooks on hand to sign and sell after she speaks.
Chef Rachel Albert-Matesz has been a natural foods chef, cooking instructor, and freelance food and health writer for more than 20 years. She has led 900+ cooking classes in 5 states and had more than 225 articles published in national and regional publications. Rachel is the author of The Ice Dream Cookbook: Dairy-Free Ice Cream Alternatives with Gluten-Free Cookies, Compotes & Sauces (Planetary Press, 2008) and co-author with Don Matesz of the award-winning book, The Garden of Eating: A Produce-Dominated Diet & Cookbook (Planetary Press, 2004. She specializes in cooking for special diets, including gluten free and dairy free diets. She leads group and private classes, cooking parties, healthy shopping tours, coaches clients by phone and in their kitchens, and speaks to groups in the Phoenix metro area.
For recipes, cooking tips, and a schedule of classes, visit her blog

*A gluten free prize pack giveaway from Bob's Red Mill for one lucky attendee who is a member of the Celiac Disease Foundation. It's only $35 dollars and they send you a bunch of great things for being a member, plus you will receive a quarterly newsletter. (Be sure to sign up! http://celiac.org/cybersource-membership.php)
*GLUTEN-FREE CEREAL BAR!!! Many different brands and flavors of gluten-free cereal from companies like Erewhon Foods and Nature's Path for you to enjoy!
*Collection box for our ongoing food drive with St. Mary's Food Bank-please clean out your cupboards of things you aren't going to use and donate them to this wonderful cause.

December Meeting

2010-01-05T20:21:00.000-08:00

For December: We will be discussing traveling gluten free, as well as dealing with food social situations during the holidays. Bobandruths.com, a gluten free travel company will be so kindly sending us information we will use in our discussion.

~Short n' Sweet Bakery will be providing refreshments as well as selling their yummy goodies! How exciting!

~We will also be doing our annual cookie exchange. Please bring 8 dozen cookies in a large container. Bring another large container to walk around and collect your cookies in. Make sure to bring a list of all the ingredients in your cookies to sit next to your container, that way people know if there is something in it they cannot have. Each person will be taking home between 3-4 of each others cookies. What a fun way to get an array of gluten-free goodies!!!

This month we will have our 1st Annual Celiac research benefit giveaway lineup!!! I would like to start a tradition in the Arizona East Valley Celiac Support Group where we will have an array of awesome giveaways to raise money for celiac research. No tickets need to be purchased to be entered. Just come and put your name on a piece of paper and your entered!!! We encourage donations as 100% of donations made that evening will be donated to the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research and the Celiac Disease Foundations awareness programs. It's the perfect time of year to donate to these great organizations. Here are just a few of the things that will be given away.

1. THREE (3) SUBSCRIPTIONS TO GLUTEN FREE LIVING MAGAZINE
2. THE COOKBOOK, GLUTEN FREE EVERYDAY
3. SHORT N' SWEET $10.00 GIFT CARD
4. NUT THINS CRACKER PACK (2 BOXES)
5. CHEESECAKE FROM INNOCENT INDULGENCE

WOW is that a lot of giveaways or what?! We might just have a few special giveaways as surprises for you as well. :)

~One final thing, be sure to come with your favorite gluten-free living holiday tradition. We will share these great traditions with one another. And finally, just a few other fun things that will happen at this meeting. (It's a good one! :)

Just wanted to share a little good news...

2009-12-07T07:40:00.000-08:00

** Chef David - "Thyme for a Chef" **

Personal Chef David has already been cooking up a gluten-free storm and doing wonderful gf cooking demonstrations for the community. We're now proud to announce that Chef David is a Gluten Free-Absolutely! LLC personal chef, as well!

Chef David's knowledge of Celiac Disease, safe and non-safe gluten-free foods, awareness of cross-contamination concerns and food preparation all receive 2-thumbs up. He is dedicated to both gluten-free accuracy and gourmet preparations with a personal touch. Chef David is happy to accommodate individuals, families, and
groups large and small. His many services include family meals,
parties, special events, and cooking demonstrations. You can rest assured and also enjoy a
delicious gluten-free meal with this Gluten Free - Absolutely! LLC
approved chef. Check out his website for more information <http://thymeforachef.com/>

Happy GF Dining!

Nina Spritzer
Gluten Free - Absolutely! LLC
www.glutenfreeabsolutely.com

November Meeting

2009-10-23T20:18:00.000-07:00

The amazing LynnRae of Gluten Free Creations Bakery Phoenix will be our guest speaker. She will be discussing holiday baking as well as transforming your kitchen to make it gluten-free friendly. Not only will we be honored to hear her speak but she will be providing samplings from her bakery that evening as well!
Some other things that will be happening at this months meeting include everything from giveaways for YOU to us giving to others less fortunate then ourselves. Here are some other things we have planned.

*A gluten free prize pack giveaway from Namaste foods for one lucky attendee! (brand new items! Fall themed!)
*Sampling of sweets from Shabtai Gourmet!
*Collection box for our ongoing food drive with St. Mary's Food Bank-please clean out your cupboards of things you aren't going to use and donate them to this wonderful cause.

Team Gluten-Free

2009-09-02T09:57:00.000-07:00

I wanted to make sure you all knew about an event the Celiac Disease Foundation is participating in. It is in Phoenix, Jan. 17, 2010. Team Gluten-Free is forming a team for the P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon and Half Marathon. I have attached our flyer and information packet. I would really appreciate it if you could forward this information to your group members. Also, check them out at www.teamglutenfree.org. The money raised goes directly to Celiac children’s summer camp scholarships.

October Meeting

2009-09-01T20:15:00.000-07:00

Allyn Krieger-Fiedler NMD-Naturopathic Medical Doctor specializing in Celiac Disease will be our guest speaker. Don't miss this great opportunity to learn and grow as well as have your many questions answered by a certified NMD! Refreshments will be provided by Gluten Free Creations Bakery as well! Product giveaway will be provided by Erewhon Cereals.