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| Italian Gone Wild and Gluten Free by Anna Marie Aloe Testa Red Engine Press |
Is it possible to use
the words Italian cooking and gluten free in the same sentence? Of course it
is! When I heard about Anna Marie Aloe Testa and her cookbook, Italian Gone Wild and Gluten Free, I knew it was
something I had to share with my readers.
Anna Marie Aloe Testa is the
absolute essence of a good Italian daughter from a family that runs a pizza
shop that’s been in business more than 50 years. She married a nice Italian
boy, just like all Italian mamas would want.
Hers is a family rich in
heritage, returning to the southern Italy’s Calabria region and their family
village of Amantea in the province of Cosenza summer after summer as
Anna Marie was growing up. Relatives opened their homes to them for many visits
where she learned fluent Italian and true Italian cooking at the elbow of her
mother and aunts. Life was rich in family and love, but Anna Marie’s chronic
health difficulties put a damper on many family gatherings.
Finally in 2009, a doctor
correctly diagnosed her with Celiac disease. According to The National Foundation for Celiac
Awareness “…83% of Americans who
have Celiac disease are either undiagnosed or misdiagnosed with other
conditions.” The foundation defines Celiac disease as “an autoimmune digestive
disease that damages the villi (lining) of the small intestine and interferes
with the absorption of nutrients from food.”
Up until the time I met Anna Marie, the only thing I knew about Celiac disease was through an acquaintance I sometimes encountered at parties who could never nosh on the same hors d' oeuvres that we enjoyed. Through Anna Marie, I now know how devastating the diagnosis can be. One of the most frustrating features of the illness is that there is no cure. The only way to effectively treat the disease is through a 100% gluten-free diet.
When faced with the diagnoses,
Anne Marie buckled under the information. She broke down in tears in the doctor’s
office. She was despondent with the knowledge that her father’s pizza, her
mother’s homemade pasta and breads, and the rich desserts she enjoyed all her
life were suddenly off limits to her. More bad news followed when she learned
that as a practicing Catholic, she would no longer be able to receive Holy
Communion with the host dispensed at her local church. What else could go
wrong? She didn’t think she could exist in this word without the foods of her
family. Her first holidays afterward brought tears and depression as she sat home alone
unable to bear watching her family enjoying the foods she could no longer share
with them.
From her cookbook Italian
Gone Wild and Gluten-Free, Anna Marie says, “After a proper time of mourning
and feeling sorry for myself, I decided to fight back and find a way to create
gluten-free recipes that were good – or nearly as good-as my mother’s gluten
recipes.” She spent five trial and error years working on the family recipes
adapting them to her new lifestyle.
With the encouragement of her
family and friends, the gluten free versions of favorite family holiday recipes
are now available for you to enjoy in this cookbook
published by Red Engine Press,
and available by clicking this link to Amazon.
Her recipes cover all Italian Holidays
from La Festa Di San Silvestro (New Year’s Eve) to Natale (Christmas). She’s
pleased to offer this cookbook to her fellow Celiac disease suffering brothers
and sisters.
I would have thought that the
first recipe she would try to adapt for her gluten-free life would be pizza;
but according to Anna Marie, what she really yearned for the most was the
stuffing that her mama used in turkey and crown roasts. She has generously
offered to let me share that with you. You can find it at the end of this blog.
For anyone who knows Anna Marie
as the bright and bubbly person she is now, it’s hard to believe how much she
struggled to get here today. In 2013, as she was working on her recipes and preparing
her cookbook,
she received a breast cancer diagnosis as well. Putting on her warrior woman
armor, Anna Marie faced off against that illness too. She admits to a slow-down
of energy level from battling these multiple diseases.
As typical of our wise
women, she exudes optimism, and presents herself as a positive role model for
others. On another high note, there are now two churches in her area that serve Holy Communion with gluten-free host!
If you know someone who may be
suffering from Celiac disease, please forward this to them, or share this blog
on your Facebook page wisewomenofage.blogspot.com.
Anna Marie's Stuffing
Please enjoy her recipe below for
turkey stuffing. For this stuffing recipe, using the giblets is optional. If
you would like to include them in your stuffing, wash giblets, chop and sauté’
tin olive oil, sprinkle with salt. One cooked, set aside.
- Chop 5 stacks of celery and 1 onion. Sauté the celery and onion in 1 Tbsp. of butter. Sprinkle with salt and set aside.
- Cube 2 sticks of Gluten Free French Baguettes. Set aside. (Anna Marie purchases hers locally at Soergels Farm Market in Wexford, PA)
- Beat 4 eggs and add 1 tsp. salt, ½ tsp black pepper, 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese, ½ cup of grated Romano cheese, and 1 cup of gluten-free chicken broth.
- Mix all ingredients together and stuff the inside of the turkey. Any leftover stuffing can be cooked separately in the oven for approximately 45 minutes.
Buon appetito!
Italian Gone Wild and Gluten Free http://www.amazon.com/Italian-Gone-Wild-Gluten-Free/dp/1937958736/ref=as_sl_pc_tf_mfw?&linkCode=wey&tag=65isthne45wiw-20
National Foundation for Celia Awareness http://www.celiaccentral.org/
Soergels Farm Market, Wexford, PA http://soergels.com/market/
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