Good Meals For A Family Of Celiacs And Non-celiacs!

Posted by tlipasek, Oct 29 2009, 09:38 AM

I decided to post a few items that I have found to be my "go-to" meals when I'm feeding my family and don't have the energy to cook 2 separate meals:

Mexican - corn tortillas, yellow corn taco shells (Ortega are marked gluten free on the box), ground sirloin and some spices - good to go! The whole family will eat these! Some corn chips, salsa and you've even got a great snack!

Pasta - the gluten free pasta is pretty expensive but I have found it is pretty easy to just make it for the whole family.... I've tried a number of gluten free pastas - I like DeBole the best with a Classico pasta sauce. I make a gluten free bread - my favorite is Pamela's bread mix for a breadmaker - turns out great! Perfect meal for everyone!

Salad - I know this can be a bit boring but I do make salad a lot for my family with fruit as an added side dish. I jazz up my salads by using a couple varieties of cheese, pecans or walnuts, green olives, sunflower seeds, etc. That keeps them better than the basic "boring salad" which means I don't mind eating them several tims a week. There are some great salad dressings out there as well!

There are a few others that I turn to but these are the ones that I've been using the most. When I do cook a meal that we all are sharing - I put my food on a separate colored plate! I keep a set of plates that are different from the rest. That keeps my kids from touching my plate and reminds me to keep my food separate just in case there are any gluten filled foods on the table that the rest of the family is eating.

Diagnosis Day - Also Known As D-day....

Posted by tlipasek, Oct 28 2009, 08:31 AM

I decided to create my own blog as I'm a newly diagnosed Celiac and have learned a lot in the last several months. I was diagnosed on May 22nd, 2009 when a nurse called me to tell me I tested positive for celiac sprue.... At the time, I was looking at a slice of pizza from Pizza Hut that I was about ready to eat I had not been feeling well for quite a few months which is what started me down this path - more on that in a future post....

Little did I really know how much my life was going to change! None of my immediate family has Celiac Disease so I didn't know much at all. I began to read books, online articles and everything I could get my hands on... I cried when I was diagnosed but did feel relief that I finally did know what was wrong. Since then, I have bounced between relief and despair - it as only been 5 months and it feels like much longer than that... I have developed a list of staples that I've added to my kitchen and will share that in a future blog. All in all, I think I've handled this well although there are still some days when I have to talk myself out of eating food with gluten; my husband and children eat some meals that are gluten free but I do frequently have 2 different meals on the table - one for me and one for them. More on that in the future as well - some tricks that I have gotten down pat to make it a bit easier....