Comments on: Planning a Gluten Free Weekend Away

By: Sheri

Sheri — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:28:15 +0000

We flew across the country for a week in May with a four year old and an adult that are sensitive to gluten, dairy, corn, soy and nightshades.
We took two loaves of multigrain bread, 12 gf banana oat muffins, gf oatmeal peanut butter cookies, a pound of gf spagetti, an electric frying pan and a toaster. We hit a grocery store on the first night and bought a styrofoam cooler. We ate muffins or toast with peanut butter and jam for breakfast, salads with tuna or chicken for lunches and we made gf spagetti and gf chicken rice a roni for dinners. We had made the same trip the year before without knowing about the sensitivities and we ate much better the second time.
Next time we intend to slice one of the loaves of bread very thin and bake it until it is like rye crisp texture. It is great as crackers and keeps much better this way.

By: Sheri

Sheri — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 15:11:01 +0000

Ann

The library is a new gluten free persons best friend in my opinion. Mine will order my requests that they don’t have. Everyone seems to start with Bette Hagman books because she was first and there’s alot of them. My current favourite GF baking book is Gluten-free Baking Classics by Annalise Roberts. Every recipe I’ve used has been successful. Her website is http://www.foodphilosopher.com. There are lots of good recipes on her site.
When you are just getting started the best bet is probably buying a mix for baking like Bob’s Red Mill or Authentic foods. Recipezaar has lots of gluten free baking recipes. Grocery stores carry cornstarch, rice flour, tapioca, buckwheat, millet, quinoa, potato starch that can all be used as flours in baking. In a coffee grinder you can grind millet and quinoa.
Chia is the best egg replacer on the market. It is loaded with vitamins and minerals as well. Flax is a good egg replacer as well.

By: Mary Frances

Mary Frances — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 18:12:19 +0000

Ann, I feel sure you’ll find that all of the teaching you’ve done over the years will help your son cope with this new challenge. It is definitely frustrating at first to spend money on products that don’t work for you; hopefully he’ll find some products quickly. As far as the flours go, buckwheat is gluten free, but rye and spelt are not. For a cookbook, I’d suggest Joy of Cooking…it’s a great cooking text and many of the recipes (especially for meals) are naturally gluten free.

By: Ann

Ann — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:02:38 +0000

Now imagine you have a son ready to go to college in September. You have prepared him to fend for himself after a lifetime of teaching him about cooking and ordering foods free of his allergens, diagnosed when he was 4: Peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, dairy, shellfish.
It is May, and you are thinking he is having an appendicitis, but no. A cat scan reveals some interesting dynamics going on, so it is back to NYC to see his allergist. This week, early June, he is diagnosed with Celiac disease. He is terribly down about losing his newfound freedom, we all are hurting for him.
A lifetime of coping and teaching thrown out the window, to be reinvented in 2 1/2 months.
What kind of a care kit do you send along, now? We have been to our local health/gourmet store to buy and try one of everything. A very small bag for someone with all of his no-nos. And half of that he finds inedible. We toasted the bread forever and it wouldn’t brown. The cookies left so much grit in our mouths, we had to go brush. The crackers were great with hummus, though…eureeka!
I bought flours, but wasn’t entirely sure which were gluten free: Buckwheat? Rye? Spelt? We discovered many old favorites were lost to us…even his sweet and spicy mustard.
The cookbooks weren’t worth the price when vegans use so many nuts and non-vegans can use eggs and dairy to improve texture, add flavor and provide the glue and leavening.
I am very grateful to have found your site! I will be visiting often!

By: Mary Frances

Mary Frances — Wed, 07 May 2008 12:22:14 +0000

Natalie and Cris,

Here is the breadkeeper that we use. It has a handy slicing guide, which we really enjoy. I put the bread in this and then put the whole thing into the refrigerator.

By: cris

cris — Mon, 05 May 2008 05:23:31 +0000

That’s really interesting about the cornstarch. I did use it. I’ll have to experiment with your hypothesis. Hmmm. And so far no storage system beyond foil and ziplock. Something else to think about.

By: Natalie

Natalie — Mon, 05 May 2008 00:48:20 +0000

Hey Mary Frances! Your blog looks great!!!
Cris- Does your bread use cornstarch? I swear cornstarch makes gluten free things go stale faster than tapioca or arrowroot. Just a hypothesis! Also I think Mary Frances has a great system for storing her bread too. Where did you buy that container for the bread, Mary?

By: Mary Frances

Mary Frances — Sat, 03 May 2008 03:57:39 +0000

Jill, that is awesome. I would never have thought to use the carafe of the coffee pot.

By: Mary Frances

Mary Frances — Sat, 03 May 2008 03:56:32 +0000

Cris,
I made the bread on Wednesday and we made the last sandwich on Sunday without toasting it. One piece had gotten a bit moldy (and we threw it away) but the pieces we used didn’t fall apart and were only a little dry. I sliced the bread before we left and just put the slices into zipper style plastic bags. What was your bread like by day 3?

By: Mary Frances

Mary Frances — Sat, 03 May 2008 03:54:27 +0000

Kristina, that’s a great idea! We tried some of the Indian packaged food a few weeks ago and it was pretty good. We even found already cooked rice in a similar package - it just called for reheating in the microwave.