An interview by Lorette C. Lucajic in Gremolata

Lorette called me up recently and asked me if she could interview me for an article in Gremolata. I of course said yes and when I found out that Lorette is also on a gluten free diet, I brought along some of my Angel Chiffon Cake.
 
We had a wonderful time over a cup of Lorette's delicious herbal tea blend and munched on cake. If you would like to read the article, here is the link.
 
http://www.gremolata.com/Articles/559-Gluten-Free-Trina-Takes-The-Cake.aspx
Thank you Lorette!
 
Below is the re-print of the article by Lorette C. Lucajic in Gremolatta
Gluten Free Trina Takes The Cake
written by: Lorette C. Lucajic
It's been well over a year since I had a piece of cake, or a half decent piece of pizza, for that matter. Trina Astor-Stewart has been gluten-free for sixteen times as long as I have, but she enjoys nice chewy, airy breads and pizzas on a regular basis, plus amazing cakes and pies on holidays just like everyone else. We're not talking about those dense heavy cardboard ‘gluten free' products you buy at specialty shops. We're talking about stuff where no one can tell the difference.
 
Indeed, Trina is so famous for her delicious recipes that she's known far and wide as "Gluten Free Trina." The Internet has helped her help people all over the world to connect, and a decade and a half of trial and error in the kitchen is exactly how Trina fills her cookbooks.
 
"I had plenty of flops," she tells me candidly. "I did throw out a few things. Or my family would say politely, don't make that one again."
 
Trina's experience means newbies to the gf lifestyle won't have to throw anything out, or get sick from eating the miscreant protein by mistake. Her website, her three cookbooks, and her gluten-free support group provide knowledgeable information, recipes, tips, hints, and other people's experiences. And instead of focusing on the 'without' Trina prefers 'free': "I like to keep everything positive and upbeat. We all know about the horrible symptoms, the depressing things, and they're gone now. We're free. It's all about what we CAN do, not about being deprived. Those who use my recipes don't even feel like they're on a gluten-free diet."
 
It's not that Trina didn't face any challenges or obstacles. She did. It all began in the early ‘90s when she met her husband, who had celiac disease. He'd been gf for a decade already, but Trina felt "he didn't manage his eating very well. It was a very limited diet. Steamed fish, brown rice, cabbage." Hubby didn't know how to cook, but Trina did. She was used to fine cooking from her Mom and a whiz in the kitchen herself. It was during the early experiments and the extensive discussions about wheat gluten that Trina began to clue in to her own sensitivities.
"When you're around someone who goes through this, you begin to recognize the symptoms," she said. She's lucky- most cases of gluten intolerance go undiagnosed for life, and millions of people with symptoms as diverse as arthritis, multiple sclerosis, autism, skin disorders, bowel problems, immunity issues suffer their whole lives without finding a very simple cure. Of course, not everyone with mystery symptoms is gluten intolerant, but with today's wheat bred to have 70 per cent more gluten than it used to, it can be expected that gluten-related diseases also go up exponentially. Trina spent most of her life with inexplicable swelling in her hands and feet, general malaise, and a constant achiness that was seemingly without cause. Since she was cooking gf for her husband anyways, she took the plunge and never looked back.
Trina's remarkable recovery is not so unusual. I'd read about a million miracle cures and tried them all, but never experienced said miracle. Up and down like a yo-yo I went for three decades, seeing more of my doctor than I saw of my classroom, place of employment, or family. I didn't believe g-f life would help me, and I was hardly willing to try one more thing. My health was at an all time low and I was truly ready to admit defeat and accept my fate as a 35-year-old cripple. I also didn't think I ate much gluten because I seldom used bread or pasta, given my weight problems. I soon found out it's hiding in everything, and some of the improvements were instantaneous. Within three days I knew I was on to something. A year later, I am left with only a small handful of dozens of ailments and issues, and I'm quite confident that they too may dissipate in time. It can take a decade for the body to heal completely of gluten sickness, but I feel like a million bucks, like I have never felt even as a child.
If anyone in the family has gluten sickness, the likelihood that you do is very high, and it's recommended that any blood relative get tested or try the gf diet. When Trina went gf, so did her kids, and the whole family has thrived for sixteen years.
The difference is that I've now had a thousand and four ways with chicken and salad, and Trina's family enjoys strawberry tarts, pancakes, and sandwiches. "It's not that we have pie or cake at every meal," Trina says.  But with a family of four, without the staple bargain foods of bread or pasta, gluten-free eating is not exactly budget. Meat, fish, and specialty packaged foods are expensive. There's also the convenience factor. "I'm a busy working mother," Trina explains, a reality most women share. "I had to find easy ways to send nutritious lunches to school."
So with these requisites - a budget, dietary limitations, and healthy convenience- Trina began her kitchen odyssey. Most gf substitutes are heavy, flavourless, and crumbly. Simply substituting a gf flour - the mixes and cookies on the market seem fond of the dull and dense rice flour - doesn't work. "I've played around until I found the right combination of ingredients," Trina says, and we'll find out what they are in her books. The measurements are key. "Now I can make anything. I make my bread ahead and freeze it. Then we can have hot buns for breakfast or sandwiches for lunch."
As for pizza, the two times I've tried the ones on the market, I picked off the gooey cheese topping and left the deadweight dough in the box, despairing for the astronomical amount of money I forked out. "I've been making pizza since before the gf ones were around," Trina confides. "No one could tell the difference. Children don't lie: they wouldn't eat it if they didn't like it. I can make it with a thin or thick crust, and it behaves just like the 'real' thing." Trina says she rolls out the pizza and puts toppings in the raw dough, freezing it ready to go. "The frozen pizza doesn't last long. If it's in there, that's what everyone wants for dinner!"
Trina's secrets are all available in her three cookbooks, Gluten Free Goodies, A Sampler, and Health and Nutrition. (You can visit www.glutenfreetrina.com for samples and stories as well.) For now, all three are e-books, but they have become so in demand that Trina's going to make them available soon the old fashioned way.  Plus, if you're new, lost, or just want a handy reference, Trina's collected everything in the Health and Nutrition book - labels, and lists of foods you can and can't have. Finally, you can join the brand new Gluten-Free Support Group that Trina just started a month ago. "Sometimes we need to get to know other people like ourselves," she says.
"So, you said you hadn't had a piece of cake for a year," Trina comments. "That's about to change." And she proffers me a gorgeous, fluffy pink tutu of a cake. "It's Pink Angel Chiffon," she says. I dig into it like a sailor who thought he'd never see land again. It's spectacular. "This takes the cake," I say, never able to avoid a bad pun.
The funny thing is, I've never been a fan of angel food cake at all. And that has just changed.
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