Wishing you a very happy, gluten free Christmas
and a fantastic new year.
love Kirsty x
I’m back!
I’m sorry. I know I haven’t blogged for a couple of years, but when I came back to have a look at ‘My Gluten Free Child’ a few months ago I was amazed at how many people are still visiting every month. My Gluten Free Apple Crumble in particular seems to be very popular!
So I’m in the process of updating the site, making it much nicer to look at and easier to find your way around. There will be new features over the next few months too, so look out for those, as well as videos, a free report and of course plenty of new gluten free recipes.
So, please come back often and see what’s new, and if you have any ideas of what you might find useful, then please either comment here or write to me through the ‘contact me’ page (above).
Easter Hols
I’m so sorry that I haven’t blogged for ages! We have been away – on our first ‘proper’ holiday since Jamie was diagnosed with celiacs disease last June. It is hard to believe that this time last year we had a very sad and ill little boy with permenant tummy aches, exhaustion and weight loss. He had a great holiday, no tummy aches at all, all the energy in the world, and although he is still of a very thin build, he is no longer skeletal!
Anyway, we went to the south coast of Devon (in the South West corner of the UK) and if you have never visited, you must! It is amazing. We stayed in our own self catering apartment so that we were in complete control of Jamie’s diet this first time, and that was lovely. He did like the ice-creams down there (we all did!) so we chose a quiet time to go the first time, and the man in the ice-cream shop was fantastic, letting us know which flavours had gluten in and which didn’t. After that, we went every day, and Jamie wasn’t at all bothered about eating from a tub instead of a cone, although I think in future I might find some gluten free cones to take with us.
Anyway, back to earth with abump. That was a long winded way of explaining why I haven’t blogged much lately. Many apologies and thanks for keeping coming back!
On Bantham Sands, Devon, UK
Gluten Free Easter
Our first gluten free Easter! So that means no hot cross buns (which Jamie is not ever so happy about but will get over) and probably as much chocolate as ever! I have had to be careful to check the labels on the Easter eggs: some contain gluten, some don’t… but there are enough that don’t for it not to be an issue at all. He likes ‘Crunchies’ best and they are gluten free.
I have also had to be careful when we go out on ‘treasure trails’ and ‘Easter egg hunts’, all of which seem to end in chocolate at this time of year. I carry a supply of small ‘safe’ eggs with me, and swap what he has found for the ones I know are gluten free (then I eat the others!)
Easter hasn’t been a big deal as far as Jamie’s gluten free diet is concerned. I don’t think he really thought about it all all – except that I have been told to invent a recipe for gluten free hot cross buns for next year!
My God Bless you richly this Easter. Enjoy!
Sign a Petition for Better Rates of Coeliac Disease Diagnosis (UK)
We were very fortunate. Our GP spotted the symptoms of coeliac disease on the first visit and referred Jamie for blood tests immediately. But I know that for thousands of people suffering from coeliacs, diagnosis can take years, and unmanaged coeliacs disease can lead to many more health problems, such as infertility, osteoporosis, anemia, and certain forms of cancer.
Coeliac Uk have launched a petition to the governemnt, asking them to better prepare doctors to diagnose coeliac disease quickly, and thus reduce the risk of long term health problems for sufferers.
To sign the online, simply go to http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/coeliacdisease/ This is a two step process and you’ll first need to add your name and email address. You will then be sent a confirmation email with a link. Simply click on the link to register your signature. Please note: depending on your email security settings, this might go into your Spam folder.
Another Gluten Free Birthday Party
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Another birthday, another gluten free birthday cake! This time it was my daughter’s. She is not celiac and does not follow a gluten free diet, but her birthday was gluten free anyway because:
a) She’s a kind hearted little person and wanted her brother to join in.
b) All my baking stuff is gluten free and I didn’t want to contaminate it.
c) The kids have decided that gluten free baking tastes nicer anyway!!! ; )
So here are the results of our gluten free ‘puppy party’ – the birthday cake recipe is on another page, and the biscuits are adapted from the gluten free lemon star recipe also on another page (in another shape!)
The Gluten-free-last-minute-lunchbox-solution
Have you ever had that sinking feeling at about ten o’clock at night, as you turn the TV off and are about to head upstairs, and you suddenly remember that you didn’t bake and you’ve nothing in for his lunchbox tomomrrow? The old standby options (such as easy, wrapped chocolate biscuits) are no longer available, you have none of the expensive ‘free from’ alternatives in the cupboard, you feel like the world’s worst mum becasue you should have planned for this…
Okay, maybe it’s just me that is totally disorganised! But it does happen, more regularly than I would like, and the options have always been:
a) Get the car out and head for the local supermarket
b) Switch on the over and bake the world’s easiest gluten free cake (which is easy, but I’d have to stay up to switch off the oven)
c) Give him extra fruit instead (healthy but not popular)
Anyway, I have recently come up with a fourth option, which you may have already thought of… but I hadn’t!
Chocolate Crispie Cakes!!
They are naturally gluten free (as long as you have pre-checked the cereal and the cooking chocolate) and soooo simple. All you need is a bar of cooking chocolate, gluten free breakfast cereal and some paper cake cases. The chocolate goes in the microwave for a minute, stir in the cereal and pop it in the cake cases. Five minutes max! Then leave it to set overnight.
The kids love ‘em (and sometimes request them) and it has got me out of a tight spot on many ocassions! Also great if you suddenly have to supply gluten free goodies and have nothing in the house.
If you have any last minute standbys, please post! Would love to hear about them!
Should the Whole Family go Gluten Free?
One of the biggest questions we had when Jamie was first diagnosed with celiacs disease was ‘Should the whole family go gluten free?’ And it is a question that must be asked in any family where one member is diagnosed with celiacs.
Certainly there are advantages to this option: equally there are disadvantages. It is a question that needs discussing and working through,preferably as a whole family, as everyone is affected, the earlier the better.
The first option is for only the affected family member to go gluten free, and the rest of the family to eat as they always have. This may be the most popular option if brothers and sisters object to eating gluten free food – especially if they object to giving up certain gluten containing favourites such as cakes and biscuits! As my daughter used to say on occasion, ‘I’m not celiac- why am I suffering because he is?’
So this option would in some ways maintain family harmony, although it does continually point out the celiac child as being different. It also means that whoever is cooking for the family will often have to make multiple meals which is both time consuming and difficult.
Another argument is that if the rest of the family are eating gluten all the time it is incredibly difficult to avoid cross contamination for the celiac child. The whole family needs to be very aware of contamination issues but mistakes happen – especially when children or teenagers are in a hurry!
On the other end of the scale, the whole family could go gluten free. This has the great advantage of eradicating gluten from the kitchen completely, so cross contamination is not an issue at all. The family can eat together, the cook only has to prepare one meal, and the celiac child is not the ‘odd one out’. This can work well in a family where someone does most of the cooking and also bakes gluten free cakes and biscuits on a regular basis. The big disadvantage of this option, however, is the cost. If pre-prepared
meals are a large part of the diet, or if you buy a lot of gluten free cakes and biscuits, this can be an incredibly expensive option! Gluten free products are generally quite pricey and for the whole family to eat it unnecessarily will cost! You may also get complaints from other family members who neither want nor need to eat a gluten free diet.
We, like many other families I have talked to, have settled for the middle option. We all eat… mainly gluten free! Everything I bake is gluten free: the whole family has homemade gluten free cakes and biscuits in their lunchboxes and there have been no complaints about this at all. Family meals are also gluten free: this is very easy as I do not rely on pre-made sauces etc, and there are so many meals that are naturally gluten free that it really doesn’t take much planning.
However, because of the expense (and my complete failure with the bread maker) my son has his own gluten free bread while the rest of us have sliced (to avoid contamination) bread. We also have a separate tub of margarine with a big red cross on it for using on wheat bread, and two toasters. Also because of the expense, Jamie will have things like gluten free fish fingers while the others have normal, and the normal ones are cooked on a special baking tray. In fact it is the gluten things that are singled out as being different in our kitchen, because most foods and kitchen areas are completely gluten free. It has worked for us. My son never feels any different, and the ‘gluten things’ are kept separately and carefully.
It is an issue that needs thinking through. But life gets so much easier when the whole family knows where they stand with it. And compromises can be reached to ensure that every member is happy.
The Tummy Ache Mystery is Solved!
Having blogged a few times about the mystery of Jamie’s ongoing tummy aches, despite my keeping of a thorough (I thought) food diary, and trying every remedy under the sun, I thought I should update you.
It was the tomato ketchup!
And yes, I have to take full responsibility and yes, I have been on the world’s biggest guilt trip ever since.
It was at teatime the other day: we were having gluten free cottage pie and the kids wanted tomato ketchup as usual. Myhusband made a comment about it being ‘full of sugar’ and I checked the label to see just how much sugar it contained… and was horrified to read “contains what and gluten” in the allergy box! And there it was, poured liberally over Jamie’s dinner.
It is only one supermarket’s own brand ketchup that contains gluten and I think that’s where I went wrong. When Jamie was first diagnosed with celiacs I checked every label (including ketchup) and bought it from a different supermarket (no gluten). When that ran out I simply bought another bottle, without realising it was from Supermarket B, and having it in my head that ketchup is safe.
It so brought it home to me that I just have to check everything!
Anyway, we reverted to the safe Supermarket A ketchup and after a week or so the tummyaches stopped completely. Jamie has forgiven me and I have just about forgiven myself.
Moral of the story: check everything! It could be ‘safe’ from one shop and full of gluten from another.
