It’s been just over one year since three of my six kids were diagnosed with celiac disease. In this year, we have made mistakes, we have learned A LOT, and have learned that we can do hard things. So this week, instead of a recipe, I want to share five things that we have learned, that I hope might help someone who is just beginning this journey.
1st Lesson – Just buy an all-purpose gf flour blend
Gluten free baked goods take some getting used too, so don’t go out and buy a million different types of gluten free flour right off. Start with recommended “all-purpose” blends. Otherwise, one year later, you will still have some of those flours, and they will be EXPIRED. Gluten free flours do not have a long shelf life. This was hard for my food-storage thought process, but trust me, just take the first few months and get used to the new texture of things.
Then as your palate resets, and you get used to things, they actually start tasting better, and you are better able to tell when just a slight change in the flour blend makes a HUGE difference. For example, in my flour blend that I use almost all the time, just 1 oz of the tiger nut flour makes a huge difference in the depth of flavor in baked goods. But if you add much more, the blend becomes too grainy and too strong in flavor.
Give yourself a bit of time to adjust. I have a sister in law that has had celiac disease for more than 20 years and she still just loves the Walmart great value brand of GF all purpose flour. You don’t need to be fancy. You just need to do what works for you. Don’t feel obligated to do what all the hundreds of gluten free blogs say- including mine.
2nd Lesson – Organize by Categories
Going through your food pantry and deciding what you can save and what you need to throw away can be overwhelming. And then what do you buy to replace everything? Something that helped me was to break things down into categories: breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks. Start by picking 3 things in each category that are safe to eat. For example, for breakfast: Chex cereal or Kind Granola, eggs/hashbrowns(Ore-Ida)/bacon, pancakes(easy to buy a cheap mix at the store). I could take these three breakfast ideas and put them on repeat until we are ready to add more. Then slowly add more as you feel more confident.
Do the same with lunch, dinner, etc. You will not always just eat those three items. But it gives you a starting point that is doable and from where you can grow and expand your menu. We still eat a LOT of tacos. We love it and it is easy to change up with toppings, meat, and choice of your base: tortilla, tostada, baked potato, etc.
3rd Lesson- It’s okay to throw it away
In the first year, you will do a lot of experimenting. Sometimes it will be great! And other times, it will need to go straight in the garbage. This happened a lot as I tried baking so many loaves of bread…you see I was a great bread baker before this diagnosis. And alas, I have not found that perfect recipe yet. I have found some that are close, but not perfect yet. Sometimes dinner was AWFUL…like I thought, how could someone say that it was good at all? And that’s when those pancake mixes come in really handy.
4th Lesson- You can live without eating out all the time
I honestly don’t love cooking dinner. Dessert- YES! But dinner, not so much. So it was a little sad for me when my go to Little Caesar’s pizza every Friday night was no longer available. Lucky for me, in the Salt Lake City area, I have access to the Food & Meat Co-Op. I can buy frozen gf pizza crusts and make my own pizza using my own delicious pizza sauce on those busy Friday nights. This still gives me an easy dinner night, and buying in bulk doesn’t break the bank.
When we do splurge and get fast food, we love In N Out, Costa Vida, and Chick Fil A because we don’t get sick there. We also love Joy Luck for Chinese food here in Salt Lake- my kids love to get their hot chocolate too no matter if it’s 100 degrees outside.
5th Lesson- Make New Traditions
So much of our lives are centered around traditions, and often they are food traditions. My youngest was diagnosed just about 2 weeks before her 4th birthday. We had already planned on making her favorite homemade girl scout thin mint cookies(recipe will come soon). How was I to do her birthday without her favorite treat???
Luckily, I was able to pull off the recipe using tips and tricks I read online. There really is so much info, the trick is sorting out what you need. We have had to leave behind my famous bread, but we have continued to make new recipes that my family enjoys- I almost have cracked a cinnamon roll recipe that we all love! Crazy how many gf cinnamon roll recipes there are out there.
Keep trying. Don’t give up. Surround yourself with positive people who also know what a challenge a celiac diagnosis is. It IS different than just choosing to eat gluten free. My kids health depends on me being careful, feeding them nutrient dense food, and helping them to feel confident that this disease doesn’t define what they can accomplish in life.
I really am trying to find more time to share the recipes that we love. Thank you for following our journey.
Hugs!
Emma
