The Happily Divided Kingdom

[momxyz]

ok DD and I are gluten free, for various and sundry reasons. Tho neither of us has a formal diagnosis, both of us are seeing benefits. And, more telling, seeing adverse consequences when we ingest gluten again.

My dear husband, since the kids were little, has been chief cook. It's what worked for us. My involvement in the kitchen (formerly) had been the testing of a new recipe, and, baking at Christmas. Other than that, I have been very happy to allow the Lord of the Kitchen complete reign...

Summer 09, and first my daughter goes gluten free, followed by me 3 weeks later. Houston, do we have a problem?

OUr cooking, especially in the summer, is pretty much whole foods. Fresh fruits, veggies, grilled lean meat, potatoes, brown rice. Since baking is limited to holiday times, wheat flour has not surfaced in the kitchen for many months, and is stored away in airtight containers.

I have read about cross contamination and wondered about how careful we needed to be. Here's what we have done to date.

We have a gluten free shelf in the pantry closet and in the fridge. All items stored in sealed containers.

When my daughter or I cook gluten free stuff, we don't use any of my husband's very nice stick free or cast iron cook wire... we use plain metal stuff that we wash in very hot water immediately prior to use.

We have one baking tray and one pot (again non stick, not cast iron) that is now designated for gluten free cooking. these are not new, we are not in the position right now due to a layoff to make expenditures, but these have been SCRUPULOUSLY cleaned.

We try to coordinate cooking times. So that if my husband wants to eat something "glutenous" we either cook before him, or we cook after him, after a thorough cleaning of kitchen surfaces.

(Happily, my husband is willing to adapt to things like gluten free pizza crust and pasta, so there aren't so many double cooking nights)

Toasting bread: well I haven't found a brand of bread I truly like yet. Any bread I have bought has been converted to bread crumbs for recipes.... and I toasted the bread on the designated tray in the oven, not in the toaster.

Everything seems to have worked so far, but am concerned that we may be hindering even better improvement by not being more scrupulous. We may not be super sensitive, but, would like your feedback...

[lpellegr]

If you are vigilant, as you seem to be, then you should be able to avoid contact between your gluten-free food and his regular food. Most cookware cleans up pretty good, although you shouldn't share a colander. I would worry about wheat flour for baking, though, because it's likely to hang in the air and then gradually deposit on cleaned surfaces and get into everything. You might have to find somewhere else for him to bake or switch to all gluten-free.

[momxyz]

If you are vigilant, as you seem to be, then you should be able to avoid contact between your gluten-free food and his regular food. Most cookware cleans up pretty good, although you shouldn't share a colander. I would worry about wheat flour for baking, though, because it's likely to hang in the air and then gradually deposit on cleaned surfaces and get into everything. You might have to find somewhere else for him to bake or switch to all gluten-free.

you know, he rarely uses flour... only when he deep fries something, which is not often, and we can work on gluten free alternatives for that pretty easily.

It's really only during the holiday season when the flour comes a flyin'. And in that case I have been the baker...

So this holiday season I am either going to have to adapt my recipes... or bake less, since half the family won't be eating it anyways!

[nasalady]

you know, he rarely uses flour... only when he deep fries something, which is not often, and we can work on gluten free alternatives for that pretty easily.

It's really only during the holiday season when the flour comes a flyin'. And in that case I have been the baker...

So this holiday season I am either going to have to adapt my recipes... or bake less, since half the family won't be eating it anyways!

It'll be OK....I went gluten free 3 days before Thanksgiving and I made everything I usually do, but gluten free (stuffing, pies, gravy, etc). I just used recipes I found here or elsewhere on the Internet to help me convert my recipes to be gluten free!

It was all delicious!