The Gluten Free Adventure

Good morning!

For those who might not know, we are 90% certain that Precious has celiac disease.  Truly it was not even on our radar--I am a HUGE bread baker!  In fact, baking is one thing in cooking that I do relatively well.

However, severe health issues, rashes, etc led to many dr visits which showed some sort of autoimmune disease, and most of the biggies were ruled out (and the rash was a giveaway).  So she asked to be put on a gluten free diet.

That poor, sweet girl!  This started right before we were moving, traveling across Canada.  She had had enough, and we were still trying to piece together what was wrong with her, and she asked if we could just try the gluten free diet, just in case.  I went that day to the commissary and bought all sorts of gluten free prepackaged food.  There were not a lot of choices in Alaska, so she basically had cookies, fruit cups, corn tortilla roll ups, and hot dogs (no bun).

Now that we are down in the Lower 48 there are so many more options!  And now that we are settled in our house, I can tweak recipies.

One more note:  we talked about how this would affect her and the family.  I explained that the entire family could not give up gluten foods just to keep her from feeling "left out".  It is important, I think, to not expect the world to work around us, but for us to understand that we have to work in the world.  HOWEVER, that being said, there is no reason why I can't try to make her gluten free journey as enjoyable as possible :).  She understood fully.  So if we get krispy kreme donuts for breakfast, she might get a milkshake for breakfast--something delightful and "treat"-y.

So far I have tried making gluten free chicken and dumplings.  They turned out pretty well, but needed an egg binder.

Yesterday I made gluten free lasagne, fried chicken, and potato soup.  The lasagne and potato soup I put in individual containers for when I need a quick meal if I have been out working the land or something.

Here are photos of the assembly process.  Sorry for the greenish hue--there is one light in our kitchen that is exceedingly green colored for some reason.  Yet another project we are going to get around to :)