Learning to cook and bake differently for a good reason.

One of the pleasures of life for me is cooking. I will often take a cook book to bed to explore new recipes, how sad is that?. The joy of our new kitchen with a warming drawer (it really helps with proving bread) has just added to the delights of time to try recipes old and new.

All of this however has been turned on its head. 

Just before Christmas our eldest grandson was diagnosed with being Coeliac. Considering he was a big baby, 10 pounds, it had become noticeable that he was not growing at a rate you would expect. Getting the local GP's to test to see what was going on was a saga in itself. The blood tests came back and the results were off the chart. 

His mum having done her research checked and double checked when told to take him off Gluten. "Are you sure?"  Everything you read says you need a second blood test to have the confirmation. But no get him off she was told. So he went Gluten free. This was a real challenge because he loved bread, especially granddads bread for toast. 

Being Coeliac means that your body attacks itself in the small intestine preventing nutrients to be fully absorbed. It brings with it lots of complications if not addressed. For a five year old he has been amazing in accepting he has to be  'GF' Gluten Free, and after what is a relatively short time, we can see he is so much healthier. 

If one member of the family is coeliac there is a higher likelyhood that others will be. So mum, dad and three siblings have been tested. Dad and eldest granddaughter results were also sky high, while one other was just a bit high. So four out of six have a problem with Gluten. 

To our total annoyance and some anger, the surgery suddenly said the hospital consultant who is to see our eldest grandson will need to do blood tests, and he needs to be on Gluten. But why when it is so obvious he is improving would you consider giving him gluten again to poison his system? 

While a firm believer in the NHS, I am not foolish enough to believe it does not make mistakes.  But I equally recognise that a system starved of funds for 10 years plus, is not going to function always as it should. Internal communication can at times be sadly lacking leaving people in serious situations, and for those who cannot afford a private route, it's very serious. Rant over.

So I have a new bible to read "Becky Excell" How to bake anything gluten free. 

In our newly discovered GF world the first thing to note is how many ingredients have gluten in them when they don't need to be. When we go shopping now I have an app from the excellent Coeliac society so I can check everything we buy. 

Secondly the challenge is to avoid cross contamination which is no easy matter. So we have Gluten Free cooking days to ensure what we prepare is safe. 

Thirdly Gluten Free stuff is so much more expensive and must for some people be a real hardship and maybe prevents some from going fully GF.


So I have baked mince pies which I think are better than the so called real thing. 








Yorkshire puddings 'wow' made with corn flour.





 




Cornish pasties and cheese pasties



quiche, 







pizzas, 


and naan's. 


I've even made my own ruff puff pastry for  chicken pies and though I say so myself the pastry is better then the bought GF free puff pastry. All thanks to the guidance of Becky Excell and her amazing GF free cook books and recipes which come out on line. 

Jill made the most amazing GF millionaires shortbread


                                                                                  and Lemon meringue pie



The really big challenge it seems to me is bread. 
If you have the time and inclination making pastry or cakes or biscuits they are all very good.
But bread is the challenge.

Sliced white loaf 
Seeded loaf 
are all okay and toasted more than acceptable. 






I'll keep on working on them till I get them right.

My plea is that people should take very seriously people who indicate they are coeliac and do all you can to provide GF foods where ever possible. 

I'll continue to experiment after all the future of our grandchildren is really important.




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