My Mother-In-Law Made Me Gluten Free Cookies

[sweetsailing]

Sounds nice right?  She is elderly, perhaps with some early memory issues and I love that she wants to help and bake for me....however....this is the same women who just a week prior was still asking me "What's gluten again?"  When I asked her what was in the cookies, she recited the recipe and told me there was 1/3 cup of salt in them (opps - here are the memory issues)

 

She brought them over and wanted me to try one while she stood there to watch.  I had to decline and told her I would try them later as I wasn't feeling well. 

 

Seriously, now I don't know what to do.  If I don't try them I will never hear the end of it.  On the other hand, if I don't try them and just tell her they were good, she will take any sign of encouragement and continue to bake me more cookies. 

 

It's also difficult to say that I don't eat food that others prepare for me because that's not true either.

 

This really is a no win situation for me and I am not sure what to do. 

 

Really, there is no way I am eating the cookies, I am just not sure what to tell her. 

[BlessedMommy]

I'm sorry, that is a really lousy situation. Dealing with well meaning friends and relatives is absolutely my least favorite part of being gluten-free. 

 

It sounds like you'll probably just have to explain to her why you don't feel comfortable, so that the situation doesn't repeat in the future.

[CaliSparrow]

I'm sorry. That's a difficult situation. Whenever I feel uncomfortable (and I'm having a good enough day to remember this!) I just point to the elephant in the room and mention how awkward I feel in the situation. Then the conversation turns from expectations about the cookie to human emotions everybody feels at one time or another. If she's open, she may then offer you a different type of support. Most people want to feel needed and she sounds like a good egg.

On a side note: Keep an eye out for her. My mom also started having similar difficulties and the ball of yarn unraveled pretty fast. Had I lived near her and paid better attention, it wouldn't have been such a shock as she had had difficulties for a while but hid what she could, like we all do.

Take care!

[NatureChick]

Teach her about contaminated kitchens, that it isn't her cooking, but her baking pans, spatulas, cutting boards, etc. that will cause you grief.