Celiac disease-GF anyone?

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CatPalmer1116
CatPalmer1116 Posts: 2 Member
in Recipes
I was recently diagnosed with celiac disease (a week and a half ago) I'm trying really hard, and it's a struggle. I would love some yummy ideas for family dinners. Anyone have one they would like to share with me?

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  • jmarcoly
    jmarcoly Posts: 1 Member
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    My daughter was diagnosed almost 15 years ago. Most of our weekly dinner go to recipes are easy to make substitutions. Gluten free pasta has come along way. Barilla brand makes several pastas that act like traditional pastas, gluten free soy sauce and many all purpose gf flour blends are available that work well to replace in your favorite recipes. When we first started, we kept it simple with basic proteins and vegetables. There are so many more options available now, I am sure it will just take time to find the ones that fit best for you. If there are any specific things you are looking for, let me know, and I can share with you what has worked for us. :)
  • Tried30UserNames
    Tried30UserNames Posts: 561 Member
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    I've been gluten free for quite a few years. I don't usually cook for a family, but I can make some recommendations. Visit ayearofslowcooking.com. The author of the blog and several cookbooks writes all of her recipes to be gluten free or to have adaptations to make them gf.

    The Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook is also gluten free although not marketed that way. This is my favorite cookbook. Ever recipe I've tried, I now make on a regular basis.

    I'm not too fond of any of the actual gluten free cookbooks marketed as gluten free that I've bought. And I despise white rice flours above all other flours. Most cookbooks seem to use a lot of white rice flour. Sorghum, millet, buckwheat and teff are all great flours, but they are best blended together with other starches

    My best advice when going gluten free is not to go out and buy a bunch of gluten free junk food. Just buy regular food that is already gluten free. You can have rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, lentils, all types of legumes, polenta, quinoa, buckwheat, etc. Mostly, meat, vegetables, fruit and fats are all gluten free in their natural forms (that said, let a food manufacturer get their hands on any of these and they'll immediately fill them with gluten).

    If you want to thicken sauces such as a white sauce, use sweet rice flour (Mochiko) found for about $8 at Whole Foods or for about $1 at any Asian market. Or you can use cornstarch, but sweet rice flour gives a texture identical to flour while cornstarch is more gelatinous.

    If you want to make baked sweets, brownies are the easiest thing to make taste like normal food even if using a mediocre gf flour blend. I usually blend my own baking flours. The more grains and starches you mix together, the better it is. I've found Trader Joe's blend to taste okay, but be very dry. Bob's Red Mill and Pamela's all-purpose blends are probably my favorite commercial brands. I bought a very expensive bag of xanthan gum years ago as I was told it was required in gf baking. It's not. Don't waste the money.

    Tinkyada makes the best gf pasta, but Trader Joe's brown rice pasta is a nice option for a cheaper price. I've tried some of the corn, quinoa and lentil pastas. I like quinoa pretty well, but the others have too strong a taste and odd texture for me.

    The first couple months of gluten free are hard. After a few years, you won't even give it much thought.
  • Tried30UserNames
    Tried30UserNames Posts: 561 Member
    edited March 2018
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    Also, instead of trying all new recipes, go through some of your favorite old standbys. What's your favorite family recipe? Is it already gluten free? Or can it easily be adapted to be gluten free?

    Here's a helpful recipe for "condensed cream of" soup if that's a staple in any of your family casseroles https://glutenfreehomemaker.com/gluten-free-cream-soups-recipe/.

    Udi's millet chia bread is my favorite at the grocery store. They often have $1 off coupons on their website. Actually, it's not just my favorite; it's the only grocery store brand I will eat in the U.S. I have a local gf bakery where I usually buy bread, though. They also make bagels and buns, but only in their "white" version. They're okay.

    Many Amy's frozen meals are gluten free and delicious.
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
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    I believe @GottaBurnEmAll is Celiac. She's a long time poster here and should have lots of ideas.

    My wife is intolerant of a lot of things, including gluten. She is forced into a more Paleo way of eating.

    And all I can say is don't try the pasta we had on holidays once. No I don't know the brand but the look on my face said it all as we both chucked it out.
  • GottaBurnEmAll
    GottaBurnEmAll Posts: 7,722 Member
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    Thanks for paging me in here @Tacklewasher! I was diagnosed as celiac 20 years ago, and I've been through it all with all the substitutes. Though they have come a long way, at the end of the day, I came to realize that like Tried30UserNames, I also found the best way of eating gluten free is to eat foods that are just naturally free of gluten.

    I base most of my meals around potatoes or rice for starch and don't really rely on many prepacked items except for gluten free oats and bean pasta (my preference to get protein since I'm also a vegetarian... when making pasta dishes for the whole family, we like Tinkyada rice pasta). Sometimes we have meals where I'll use corn tortillas.

    The other piece of advice I have is learn to read labels. Even if something should be gluten free (like corn tortillas), it could be produced in a factory with wheat tortillas and be cross-contaminated. It should say something about this on the label.

    Honestly, I just base our meals around simple protein/veg/starch combinations. We aren't an exciting family meal-wise, so I don't really have any thrilling dinner suggestions for you.
  • marsgirlly
    marsgirlly Posts: 71 Member
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    Tried30UserNames wrote: »
    . I've found Trader Joe's blend to taste okay, but be very dry. Bob's Red Mill and Pamela's all-purpose blends are probably my favorite commercial brands. I bought a very expensive bag of xanthan gum years ago as I was told it was required in gf baking. It's not. Don't waste the money.

    This! I'm a baking fanatic. I love using Bob's 1:1 to all purpose baking and even for coating foods to pan fry!
  • johnson91308
    johnson91308 Posts: 5 Member
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    My fiance was diagnosed with celiac disease recently. We thought it was going to be a big challenge and at first thought it would be the end or the world. My fiance is a farmer and the whole "GF thing" he thought was some fad that would run it's course. So for him, he was shocked at his diagnosis. His symptoms were crippling for him but is improving greatly.
    I don't make separate meals for the kids to minimize any contamination issues. Our children are picky eaters but the don't even notice a difference. The biggest change for us is bread. We can't find a bread that has a airy texture. Some will taste alright but is very dense. He pretty much cut bread out of his diet, with the exception of once a month maybe for cheese bread or BLTS. We do some pastas. We didn't care for the rice pastas because of the grainy/chewy texture.
    We do a lot of meat, potato, and veggies for meals. Salads for lunch because they are easy for his traveling. Things you wouldn't think have Gluten in them do, like taco meat seasoning, lipton onion soup mix, etc... We are always trying new things.
    I use Pinterest for a lot of new recipes.. I tweak them alot also.

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