gluten free familyA mum's blog about gluten-free living in Australia

Healthy Feast's legendary lemon meringue

It’s the sort of news no gluten free blogger ever wants to deliver: a favourite bakery has quietly shut up shop.

Healthy Feast, makers of arguably the best spread of gourmet gluten-free baked goods in Australia, is no more. The Leichardt-based shop front has closed its doors and there will be no more appearances at local food markets. Read the rest of this entry »

Coles pops up frequently on this blog as a strong player in the gluten free market — so I was disappointed when it recently went missing in action on another food issue that is close to my heart.

In the gluten free market, we applaud Coles for resisting the path taken by other retailers who push their own self-branded merchandise — potentially stifling innovative new products — in a bid to corner the market. As a result, its shelves, in our view, contain the best selection of products. Read the rest of this entry »

It dawned on me recently that the typical Gluten Free Family reader is female — yet coeliac disease is not a gender-specific condition.

I decided it was time to try and figure out what was going on and it turns out that it’s no coincidence. Men are slipping through the cracks when it comes to getting their gluten problems diagnosed, according to an Australian gastroenterologist, Dr Bob Anderson. Read the rest of this entry »

Don’t get out much? Then I’ve got some tips to share from Sue Black who spoke at the Gluten-Free Expo back in August on the topic of The Social Coeliac.

I’ve been meaning to jot down the highlights of her presentation for a while. Her advice is particularly applicable to those with Coeliac Disease who are concerned about making a fuss in social situations: Read the rest of this entry »

It’s often said that you shouldn’t remove gluten from your diet unless you really have to. But where does that leave you in a household where half of you react to gluten and half of you don’t?

On one hand, you don’t want to deprive everyone of the flavour, texture, nutrition and fibre content of gluteny grains, (the latter’s a risk if you stick to unadventurous alternatives like rice and spuds—and I’ll own up to this).

On the other hand, if you’re not into a la carte-style meal prep, and want to avoid gluten envy, you’ll need to find some common ground at the dining table. Read the rest of this entry »

Gluten-free Babycakes

Discovery: Navigating the delights of New York’s retail precinct and tourist circuit is more time consuming than you’d think!

Result: Not as much insight into gluten free living New York style as we hoped.

Conclusion: You need more than just a few days in the Big Apple to accurately log its gluten free credentials—but we still managed to make some casual observations as we bumbled our way around the tourist traps. Here they are: Read the rest of this entry »

Food for Health gluten free muesli (right).

Breakfast happens to be a favourite meal of mine – but it all became so much more complicated when we had to stop eating gluten.  Bacon and eggs is never quite the same without a round of hot, buttered toast, and my favourite cereals all dropped off the menu when wheat fell out of favour in our home.

But like all things, we have learned to adapt – and a few new products on the market have helped us to bring some of the yum factor back into brekky. Here is a round up of some of our favourites. Read the rest of this entry »

There’s nothing like having a few friends over for a sausage or two and a bread roll… oh, unless you happen to be gluten free. Read the rest of this entry »

Quinoa

Health was the watchword at this year’s gluten free expo in Sydney, as savouries triumphed over sweets, and some alternative grains went under the microscope.

We’ve already discussed the dearth of cupcakes at the show, and will run through some of the new/interesting products we hunted down in the coming weeks.

But first I thought I would share details of one of the more intriguing talks for those who suffer unpleasant digestive complaints as a result of eating gluten.

Naturopath and nutritionist, Janalla Purcell, took the stand at the expo to discuss this issue.  She believes that the growing numbers of gluten intolerant people have resulted from the over-reliance of our society on wheat as a grain.

For those suffering classic gluten intorerance symptoms (which means IBS-type symptoms rather than coeliac disease) she believes you can fix your digestive tract to tolerate gluten (in smaller quantities) – as long as you give your body time to recuperate. Read the rest of this entry »

corn chip crab cakes (photo supplied)

Sometimes you just hanker for something crispy-coated. Unless you make it yourself though, these types of foods are usually out of bounds.

I have dabbled with a few types of gluten free breadcrumbs over the years.  I have made them the usual way by drying gluten free bread slices in the oven on low heat and then grinding them into submission.

You can also buy gluten free breadcrumbs if you can find them. Vitarium are among those who make them and they are pretty good [crumbs from Lifestyle bakery have also recently appeared on on shelves at Coles].

And back in the day when I used to whiz up my own chicken nuggets, I would coat these in rice bubbles crushed by hand with a wooden spoon or in the kitchen whiz.

They offer a very quick, easy, nice tasting last minute solution and they also go well in rissoles, meat balls and patties along with some onion, egg and seasoning – and whatever else you feel like throwing in.

But far and away the yummiest crumbing was introduced to me recently at a work do. Read the rest of this entry »