Best Tips For A New Comer To Celiac

[shan]

My friends little one has just been diagnosed, and she has no access to internet, so she can't get your help What is the best thing that i can say to her? I gave her i think the basics, and told her where to shop etc, but i need to hear from you guys what else to say! I don't want her to fail at this coz i didnt tell her something

Any and all tips welcome!!!

[missy'smom]

Maybe you could encourage her to or help her find a support group in her area. There is a list of groups here and you can do a search here or goggle.

[Guest j_mommy]

I would definetly fill her in on what to replace in teh kitchen(Ie: New toaster, replace scratched pots and pans, replace woodens spoons, new colander ect)

If she isn't going to have a gluten-free house then she nees to keep things seperate.

Books: Living Gluten Free for Dummie by Dana Korn(HUGE help to me!) and Celiac Disease: A Hidden Epidemic by Dr. peter Green. I bought both together on Amazon for about 20.

Defently join some kind fo support group.

Also I created a binder of recipes from this site. I went to the recipe section and used a whole ink cartirgde . But atleast you know these recipes are tried and true!

[Phyllis28]

In addition to practical advice tell her to keep an open mind about what can be served at each meal and food combinations.

Breakfast can be served and dinner and vice versa. I have eaten scrambled eggs and rice for dinner and mashed potatoes for breakfast.

Food combinations that are different from the standard diet are ok. I make a quick pizza by layering corn tortillas with pizza sauce, cheese and pepperoni. Meat sauces (i.e. spaghetti sauce with meat,) can be put over rice, rice pasta, baked potato, mashed potatoes, vegetables or layered in corn tortillas.

Lastly, if she can get to a public library she should be able to get free access to the internet.

Hope all goes well.

[dandelionmom]

My sister overnighted Dana Korn's book (Kids with Celiac Disease : A Family Guide to Raising Happy, Healthy, Gluten-Free Children) to me and I swear there was nothing more helpful than that!

[Ridgewalker]

In addition to the excellent advice given by previous posters, I'd say...

Let her in on some of the "favorite" brands-

Tinkyada

Pamela's

Bob's Red Mill

Chebe

And let her know that there are a few mainstream cereals that are safe:

Fruity Pebbles and Berry Pebbles

Cocoa Pebbles

Trix

Envirokids Gorilla Munch tastes like Kix.

[shan]

Thanks, i forgot to tell her about the toaster and all the kitchen stuff... I lent her my gluten free for dummies, which i hope will help her! She's panicking coz she doesn't know how her sone will live without pizza! i told her there i s life without pizza, but anyway you can make your own she said that's no fun - the point of pizza is to have a lazy day Couldn't agree more but said that now is when your lazy days have finished... you ALWAYS have to have food in the house in case your in a lazy mood

I also gave her a book that has all the makes of the food sold here and which ones are gluten free, (sorry useless to all you guys, its only for isreal!) But i still need more to tell her. she is drowning!!!

[Ridgewalker]

I know how she feels about the pizza-- but we could not go without it! This is what I do--

Every Sunday I take a few hours and cook like crazy. I make gluten-free pizza, chicken nuggets, pancakes, etc- and freeze it. It's still not as good as ordering out, but it's as close as we can get. And you get used to it!

Tell her not to panic. There is a major learning curve involved here. NONE of us gets it all right, right away.

[mama2two]

I see others mentioning books that have been helpful, most are fairly inexpensive, but you can suggest your friend go to the local library, they should have some books related to celiac disease, gluten intolereance etc. and also should have internet access that she can use for free. The more she can learn the better she can deal with things at home, and getting on this site and becomming a member will be a great benefit to her.

[Dramagal]

I know how she feels about the pizza-- but we could not go without it! This is what I do--

Every Sunday I take a few hours and cook like crazy. I make gluten-free pizza, chicken nuggets, pancakes, etc- and freeze it. It's still not as good as ordering out, but it's as close as we can get. And you get used to it!

Tell her not to panic. There is a major learning curve involved here. NONE of us gets it all right, right away.

Do you cook the pizza before you freeze it? Or do you just freeze the dough?

[shan]

I know how she feels about the pizza-- but we could not go without it! This is what I do--

Every Sunday I take a few hours and cook like crazy. I make gluten-free pizza, chicken nuggets, pancakes, etc- and freeze it. It's still not as good as ordering out, but it's as close as we can get. And you get used to it!

Tell her not to panic. There is a major learning curve involved here. NONE of us gets it all right, right away.

What is your dough recipe? Mine just started eating hard cheese, not milk yet, and so i want her to eat as much cheese as she can

[Ridgewalker]

Do you cook the pizza before you freeze it? Or do you just freeze the dough?

I have done it two different ways- Sometimes I will mix and BAKE the crust, put it in a large-size ziploc bag, and freeze it. 1/2 cookie sheet size just fits in a gallon size ziploc bag. I also just go ahead and cook the whole pizza, with everything on it, slice it, and freeze it in smaller bags. The first option is good if you're wanting a really fresh pizza. The second option is good if I just want to microwave a few slices for the kids real quick.

I have frozen unbaked bread dough before, and it came out fine. I'm sure it would work with pizza dough as well. I recommend unsealing the bag or container while it thaws, because the outside tries to rise a bit while the inside is still thawing!

What is your dough recipe? Mine just started eating hard cheese, not milk yet, and so i want her to eat as much cheese as she can

This is by far my favorite pizza crust recipe. It makes just one 12-in. pizza, so I always double the recipe and use my cookie sheet sized stone pan. If I triple it, I can get 2 cookie sheet sized pizzas out of it, with very thin crust.

2/3 c. sorghum flour

1/2 c. tapioca flour (plus extra to work with dough)

1 Tbsp. yeast

2 Tbsp. instant dry milk powder

2 tsp. xanthan gum

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. unflavored gelatin powder

1 tsp. sugar

2/3 c. warm water

1 tsp. vegetable oil

1 tsp. vinegar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Whisk together all dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients. Stir until moist so that the flour doesn't fly everywhere. Beat with electric mixer on medium for 3 minutes. (This helps develop the xanthan gum, so that the crust isn't biscuit-y.) The dough will try to climb up the mixers. Just use the bottom of the mixers, and dig in every few seconds.

Sprinkle pizza pan liberally with tapioca flour. Dump the dough onto pan and sprinkle it with flour. Pat dough into pan. Be patient, and add more flour a sprinkle at a time to prevent it from being to sticky to handle.

Bake crust 10-15 minutes, until it JUST starts to barely brown on top. (This is the point where I sometimes let it cool to put in freezer.) Remove from oven and add sauce, cheese, toppings, etc. If I add meat toppings, I PRE-COOK them, to make sure they are fully cooked. Return pizza to oven and bake another 10 minutes or so, until cheese is melted and slightly browned at edges.

It goes really fast once you do it a couple times.