Vegetarian Celiac With Nut Allergy

[finlayson]

I have only just been diagnosed with celiacs. I am a vegetarian as is my husband and three children (ages 10, 12 and 14 years). So far I am the only one diagnosed. My huge dilemma here is that my eldest daughter has a severe nut and peanut allergy so I make all our baking and most of our meals from scratch to ensure her safety. I really, really do not want to make my whole house gluten-free because of the other restrictions we already have on our diet and one of my pleasures is to bake for my family. A lot of the gluten-free flours contain traces of nuts so here is my question: has anyone continued to bake for their family using regular flour and how hard was it to keep the flour dust contained and cleaned up at the end. It breaks my heart that I may have to stop baking all their favourite things. Please help!

[gfpaperdoll]

well, you will have to decide for yourself... But IMO I think you will be much healthier not using wheat flour & glutening yourself everyday. Do you want to be a healthy happy mommy?

The good news is that most all cookies, cakes, cupcakes, pies, lemon bars, brownies, tarts, banana bread, & my favorite carrot cake will all taste very yummy made with gluten free flour. I have never made bread but there are many recipes & books for all kinds of breads, although the learning curve on this one might be a little higher. People make all kinds of breads & waffles & pancakes...

Just use your regular chocolate chip cookie recipe & replace with gluten-free flour & add a teaspoon of xanthan gum. I also refrigerate my dough overnight or 24 hours, till the next night. Lots of nuts & chocolate chips & maybe an extra teaspoon of vanilla & you will or anyone else will never know they are gluten-free.

Oh & gluten-free baked goods freeze beautifully...

Most of your recipes can be easily converted especially the ones that have fruit or nuts & chocolate & eggs & butter that will hold all the stuff together. then there is our friend xanthan gum!!!!

Although, I seldom bake because I am mostly grain free - but occasionally I will make something. I make a lemon bar that will rival any gluteny one - & I think is really better...

I have a lot of allergies, but have settled on sorghum flour. If your family can tolerate it, sorghum flour mixed with tapioca flour makes an excellent baked product with a wonderful texture. I cannot tolerate tapioca flour. Sometimes I add white cornmeal (fine) to the sorghum flour, or maybe a tablespoon of cornstarch to the whole batch. I also use coconut flour, not sure if your family can have that. I order my sorghum flour on line from a place that only mills sorghum flour.

be careful about glutening yourself from your old cookbooks. & you will want to replace the sugar in your canister, if you are like I used to be & thought nothing of dipping a flour spoon it there or leaving the lid off while baking...

really once you get over the shock of not using wheat flour, there is not much to it. It is just that we have been brainwashed to think that you can only cook with wheat flour...

you did not ask, but really with the other food allergies that your family has they probably also have a problem with gluten. Very common that the other food allergies show up first, just ask us double DQ1 people. So really it will be a much healthier diet for your family. Some of their other food issues might go away, at least that is the experience that a lot of us have had. there is an article somewhere about anaphylactic shock & how it can be lessened after being on a gluten-free diet. Most of those allergies do not go away, but if you are accidently exposed your chances of dying are lessened. Maybe it was a thread on here about the peanut allergy, sorry, I do not have a source for it.

You can check out the recipe section on here, google gluten-free recipes - there are a ton of them on line & many gluten-free cookbooks...

[Juliebove]

If you continue to bake with wheat flour, you will be continually glutening your daughter who can't have it. My daughter can't have peanuts or gluten. And I can't have almonds. So I am careful with the flours that I use. I have not run across any gluten-free flours that contain nuts.

[Rya]

Fret not! It's always most hectic to make changes, but you'll figure this out.

I found this for you. Open Original Shared Link.

You may also try perusing a Whole Foods or health food store (if you have one nearby) and see what sorts of flours they carry. There are many dedicated products lines to gluten-free, nut-free, other things free. I know they make cereals too!

As for continuing to use regular flour. This topic comes up often. It is highly unrecommended. Some seem to get away with it, but more seem to be contaminated, often without realizing it. As careful as you are with your daughter, you must be equally careful with yourself. You probably know how little can set her off. The body's response to gluten in Celiac's is markedly similar to an allergy; it usually takes the same amount to trigger each.

So reasons not to use gluten flour: You can inhale the flour and swallow it. You can get it on your fingers and into your mouth. It gets on all your kitchen equipment and dishes and counters and sponges.

One other thing you can do, maybe set aside one day a month, is actually purchase grains or beans or rice and make your own flours. Quinoa makes an excellent flour, as does buckwheat, garbanzo beans, fava beans, brown rice, white rice. They sell spice grinders at Target for $18. This is time consuming, but maybe an option for special occasions if nothing else works out. And then you can sell it to others like you!! If you have any energy left

No worries finlayson!

Rya

[pele]

Welcome to the forum. You will find many members here with multiple food issues, such as those in your family.

Whenever I or my gluten-eating husband tried to bake with wheat flour, I got glutened. The stuff gets in the air and if you open your mouth, it gets in. My suggestion: don't try it. Get rid of all gluten containing flour. You can make your own gluten-free baking mix with rice flour, sorghum flour, garbanzo flour, etc, to ensure it is nut-free.

You might consider tapering off on the baked goods. They are not good for you or your family. Stick to unprocessed foods as much as possible. Plain veggies, fruit, beans, and so on.

If you search this forum, you will find postings from vegetarians who began to crave meat after going gluten-free. Someone said that humans evolved eating meat, not grain. I am not telling you to eat meat, but I do suggest that you keep an open mind and prepare yourself for changes in the way you feel about food.

You might also investigate the possibilty that some or all of your children are either gluten intolerant or celiac.

[purple]

Tip, just in case you buy more wheat flour, dump it in your canister outside or leave it in the bag and ziploc it up even if you have to use a kitchen trash bag (treat it as rat poison )......but I hope you go gluten free

My dd that can have gluten is trying to become a vegan with very little gluten. She is not allergic to anything...yet. I am having a hard time cooking for her. She eats lots of nuts and beans for protein so be sure your dd is getting the protein she needs from other sources. I like sorghum flour the best, it has 4 grams of protein per 1/4 cup. I try to put some ground flax in everything I bake.

My gluten-free dd moved out so sometimes I bake with wheat flour but only pie crust. All my other baking I switched to gluten-free b/c I know its healthier than wheat. I bake all the time. When I used the wheat flour, I noticed that I can contaminate the whole kitchen in just a few short minutes. Its really hard to keep it away from everything and you easily forget to wash off even the salt shaker, then you need new rags repeatedly, then its in your sink, then on your other dishes in the sink, not to mention the floor, then it flies around when someone walks thru the kitchen, esp. the dog wagging his tail...yuck...

I hope you see the problem.

My dd is only mildly allergic and none of the other members, but I am going to continue going gluten-free until I am 100%

I am learning how to cook new things and I'm having fun...I hope you will too!

[mysecretcurse]

I'm a vegetarian and gluten free! No meat cravings. haha.. it's not a choice between meat or grains. I still eat rice, quinoa, etc.

[ItchyMeredith]

Hi there! I don't have much advice on the flour topic. I would most certainly stop baking with the wheat one though and do some research about nut safe gluten free ones. There has to be some good ones out there. Unfortunately, the one I love is rice/almond. Food allergies can be so tricky. My son is allergic (with one anaphylactic reaction) to milk so I am constantly scrutinizing ingredients too.

I am a vegetarian too and I have never craved meat or compromised my vegetarianism in any way. There are some great books: The Gluten-Free Vegetarian, The Gluten-Free Vegan, Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker (not all gluten-free) and my favorite, Veganomicon (NOT all gluten-free and has many nut recipes). Though not all of these books are gluten-free you can adapt many of the recipes to be gluten-free.

There is also a board for vegetarian celiacs: Open Original Shared Link it's pretty slow but there is a lot of good information.

There are also two Yahoo groups: Open Original Shared Link

and

Open Original Shared Link

Good Luck!!! Feel free to message me if you have any other questions.

[Helena]

I have celiac and allergies too (including life threatening nut allergies), so I understand the problem here. I wish I could have Bob's Red Mill--the last time I called, their manufacturing practices didn't sound safe to me (on account of possible tree nut cross contamination).

Have you seen EnerG flours? You might check out their website---it sounds to me like they really understand allergies, and I would trust their cleaning process (but I understand this is an individual decision!)

I personally use El Peto because I can't find EnerG where I'm living now, but they aren't entirely safe for the soy allergic, and I think I've been reacting slightly

[finlayson]

Thanks to everyone who has replied. I think the first order of business for me will be to track down a local supplier (I live in Calgary, Alberta) of gluten-free, nut-peanut safe flours then maybe my stress level will come down! It feels great to have support from everyone here, thanks again.

[hawaiimama]

I do a lot of kid friendly gluten-free nut free baking. My DD has a tree nut allergy and we do fine without wheat or nuts.