Gluten Free Homesteader Cornbread

 

                                                                      photo credit

When the weather is cold and I need a warm, hearty, batch of cornbread, this is my "go-to" recipe. My favorite thing about this recipe is how easily it can be converted from a wheat version into a gluten free version. We have had great success with this using the Pamela's All-Purpose mix.

Delicious Gluten-Free Cauliflower Lasagna

Shortly afterbecoming gluten free, we discovered this amazing recipe for a healthy version of Lasagna that tastes far better than any noodle version. I have made this several times for our guests(many of which really dislike cauliflower) and they have quickly eaten this up and asked for more.

Homemade Gluten Free Donuts!

Recently, as my son's birthday was drawing closer, I began searching for ideas, hoping to make him a batch of gluten free donuts. Anytime I try a new recipe I'm a little nervous...especially when I need to make adjustments. Most of the time It seems like I'm always trying to "wing it" with what's in my pantry...and that's what I did again here. Instead of using the fancier, more expensive types of GF flour mix(that wasn't in my pantry) I tried substituting it with Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Flour Mix, a fairly affordable mix that is a little easier to find in most stores.

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Muffins

Back when we used to eat wheat, one of our favorite recipes were these incredibly moist,  pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. They were wonderful, and we all really enjoyed them, even those of us who are not dessert people. Needless to say, I was sad to lose this recipe from our menu...until I came across a muffin recipe at Simply Recipes.  The recipe originally has a cream cheese frosting recipe to go along with the pumpkin muffins, but we have always been content to go without it.

Union Station's Grilled Sub

Years ago, when my husband and I were first married, one of our favorite places to visit was the Kansas City Union Station. It was a neat place to browse, and at the time, there was a small museum where we were able to see the buildings history, how it was renovated, and it was free of charge. This made for a great time together and cost us little to no money. Sadly, like many things, there have been some changes made since then, and the little museum is no longer there.  

Anyway, during one of our visits there, we stopped at one of the little restaurants that they had(don't remember the name of it) and ordered this wonderful grilled sandwich! Perhaps we were so hungry that anything would have tasted amazing to us. Either way, we had discovered a 'little treasure' there and planned to stop in again on our next visit. Unfurtunately, the next time we returned, the restaurant was gone! We were a bit disappointed...but, after giving it some thought, we recreated the sandwich to enjoy at home...whenever we wanted.

Gluten-Our Struggle Begins!

Our families story with gluten began to transpire around the time my daughter was almost 18 months old. My husband and I began seeing our eldest and only daughter(at this time) struggle with constipation. At first we didn't really worry as we were assured that this was common at her age. However, after some time, we did begin to worry. What we were seeing and dealing with couldn't be normal. We felt that her digestive system should have been able to adjust to table food by this point. We began to see this issue begin to improve through adding stool softeners, potty training, baths, lots of liquids, etc.. It wasn't perfect, but it had improved.

Between 18months and 2 years of age we noticed that she was beginning to develop eczema. At first, dry skin, then patches, and it continued to worsen. (At the time we didn't realize this, but these two symptoms were in fact linked from the same cause) We went to an Allergist for a skin test hoping that this would give us some solid answers. Unfortunately, the skin test revealed no positive results with anything that she had been tested for. We were told to try and work even harder on hydrating our daughter both internally and externally to help. If this didn't help we were told to come back and begin a food elimination diet. My husband I were both discouraged. We were both really hoping for answers to this. 

It wasn't until we were visiting with a friend that is also a Naturopathic Doctor and he performed a muscle test on our daughter that we discovered all this was in fact due to a wheat allergy. You can imagine our relief when we knew the true cause for all this. As we began our new-founded quest to become gluten free, we also became overwhelmed with how hard this was going to be. In the American diet wheat is the main staple. Gluten is in almost every product imaginable. Much more than I had realized.

In time we also discovered this same condition in each of our other children. Even today, two years later, I am still struggling to maintain a healthy, frugal, gluten-free diet for my family. This entire process has a been, and still is, a big learning curve for me. The struggles I have faced through our families food allergies is just another way the Lord has continued to stretch me.

By the time we knew that our daughters condition was caused by wheat she was four years old and we also had two other sons that were gluten intolerant as well. For some this may not have been such a big deal, but I was trying to change our diets and with three kids the time(and energy) that I had to search out new recipes was very limited.

I'm amazed by how many people I know, or that I come across, who are also discovering that they are gluten intolerant. I hope to organize and share the resources and information that have best helped me. I'll also share our favorite recipes and what we are learning in the process.