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

At last, a book to help teachers in school, pre-schools and daycare centres deal with the most daunting dietary challenge of recent times.

The explosion in food intolerances is continually being written off as an imagined phenomenon of an attention seeking ‘helicopter-parent’ generation, but amid all the conflicting theories and information, it is the teachers and carers who are increasingly being charged with keeping our kids on the straight and narrow in a world filled with wheat. Read the rest of this entry »

Gingerbread minimen from Dragonfly foods.

Our gluten free family has got used to doing without certain things when we are out and about. We mainly take it in our stride, but every now and then I have to explain to my four-year-old son why can’t have one of those delicious looking gingerbread men lurking temptingly at eye level when we visit certain food outlets.

I make a yummy gluten free version of these at home, and he always just assumes gingerbread is one of those things he is allowed to have. Read the rest of this entry »

Most people listen with interest, sometimes even fascination, when I describe my adventures with gluten—unless they are doctors, in which case they just think I’m a loon.

There are exceptions and I now have a great doctor for my nine year old son, who has Attention Deficit Disorder. I can’t bring myself to say ADHD (the correct term for his condition) because he’s not hyperactive—unless he has gluten.

Last weekend this doctor drew my attention to ground breaking research published in highly regarded medical journal, The Lancet, in February which found a significant link between food intolerances and ADHD, finally! Read the rest of this entry »

Allergy Riders food labels

Tucker time is a fortnightly institution at our school. We don’t have a canteen so every second thursday, the parents from one class bring in home-baked cakes and biscuits for all the kids to buy at recess.

Once upon a time the gluten free kids could only get their hands on the goodies if their parents sent in a cake – otherwise they would have to make do with a GF treat packed in their lunchbox – but things seem to be changing…  Read the rest of this entry »

Against all the odds, I did manage to produce a car-shaped cake for my son’s birthday party.

Yes, it took two attempts and far more time than I am prepared to admit here – but on Sunday I was able to serve him up that big blue car cake as promised.

Here’s how it unfolded. I bought two NaturallyGood chocolate mud cake mixes thinking that would easily be enough mix (6.5 cups) to fill the mold I blogged about last week.  As you can see from my picture gallery below, my first attempt at a car lacked – ahem – wheels.  And because it took ages to bake, it got a bit crispy on the bottom (or top) as well.

But fortunately the vegetable shortening and flour pan lining held up well and I had no problem at all removing my half-car cake from its mold.

In my second attempt (which I neglected to photograph owing to it being midnight) I used almost three cake mixes (which easily made up the 6.5 cups of mix) and used the rest to make muffins.

When my final result still fell short of a whole car,  I concluded that gluten free cakes probably don’t rise as much as ordinary ones and vowed next time to fill the mold almost to the brim and put a tray underneath to catch any drips in the oven.

Luckily I had kept the first cake and was able to carve bits off that to complete the car shape.

As you can see – the pre-made icing was not too hard to handle and didn’t scrub out too much of the original car detail. Read the rest of this entry »

Call it the folly of a desperate woman – but I am hoping to pull off a modern-day miracle this week when I attempt to bake the best ever gluten-free car-shaped birthday cake.

It all began a fortnight ago when our birthday party season officially kicked off with a bang.  A poolside party with one of our son’s best friends yielded a fabulous feast of lolly pops, marshmallows and hot chips – all things our little guy could eat.

Not only did he have a ball – but we didn’t have our usual heartbreak of him feeling like a party pariah – where he gets to watch all the other kids gobble down things he cannot.

Fortunately in this day and age -  most party hosts are sensitive to our predicament and are happy to make a little concession here and there to make our little guy feel like one of the crowd.

We are also lucky in that most hardcore party fare – chips, lollies, chippolatas etc – are largely okay for him to eat – or at least we choose turn a blind eye to the possibilities of small quantities of wheat  (I realise many other kids do not have this luxury).

But what happens when you are invited to a birthday bash with people you don’t know so well – and who may not even know that your child has a dietary issue? Read the rest of this entry »

I recently embarked on a new strategy to make carbs more tempting to my gluten free kids.

I blogged about it at the time so I have decided to write an update because we have been having quite a bit of success with the plan – which basically involves them making their own meals.

Here is a chronicle of our latest efforts:

The first involved them designing their own pizzas, a no brainer and predictably popular.

The second was more experimental: roll your own uncooked ricepaper springroll. Read the rest of this entry »

More than a dozen princesses and fairies descended on my house on the weekend to eat, drink and be merry.

This bunch of belles were in the dark about the gluten free thing and I don’t think the g-word was mentioned even once.

They were thrown off the scent largely thanks to my favourite gluten free mud cake mix – popular as ever with the gluten quaffing crowd – and some marshmallow-garnished red jellies.

Our little party people were also more than happy to tuck into the popcorn, rice crackers (which I cunningly jazzed up with a cheese square and half a mini tomato), a watermelon & kiwi fruit platter, gluten free mini snags, corn chips & dip and some regular chips. Read the rest of this entry »

You’re probably realising by now that when it comes to your child’s diet there are a whole load of experts out there – and none of them is your paediatrician.

Schools, daycare centres, well meaning relatives, family friends – they all have strong opinions about what you should be feeding your child. Add food intolerances or coeliac disease into the equation and you will suddenly find that the whole world knows better than you (and your dietician/doctor) about what is good for your child.

Part of the problem is the perception that food intolerances are just a growing fad. You can almost see those start eyes rolling when you mention gluten intolerance to some carers/educators, and some relatives can take the whole issue even more personally. They may either try to tackle you on head on and talk you out of your foolishness – or subtely undermine your efforts by slipping prohibited foods to your child.

This of course can jeopardise the health of your child – and with severe intolerance or coeliac disease – this is really a dangerous situation. Its also very hard to deal with if the very person or organisation you are relying on, is letting down you and your child when you are not around to prevent it. Read the rest of this entry »

Where do you find your gluten free recipes? Do you have a favourite recipe book or do you go online to hunt down specific gluten free treats?

I used do a lot of recipe hunting once upon a time but because I have perhaps the fussiest child on planet earth, I no longer do a huge amount of experimentation.  These days we stick fairly much to a rotating fortnightly menu. But I still dream about cooking delicious gluten free pies, cakes and creations that will turn mealtimes back into a journey into the daring and unknown.

For those who still dream, or even better, have created their own gluten free masterpiece, Vitarium – which makes bread, jelly and pancake mixes plus a few other things – has launched a baking competition.

The Great Vitarium Bake Off is asking people like you and me to send in our favourite recipes. They already have quite a few on their website. The only catch is that they must contain a Vitarium ingredient like self raising flour or bread mix.

Dietician and gluten free cook, Sue Shepherd, will be the judge of the best recipes and Vitarium has already gathered a bunch of them on the site which might just turn into your mealtime inspiration. You have until August 8 [UPDATE: competition has been extended to September] to invent your own amazing contribution and we’ll be reporting on the winner here.

LH

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