About Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef
The gluten-free girl.
Hi. My name is Shauna James Ahern. I am alive.
I have been alive since August of 1966. Or, should I say, I have been on this earth since then. I haven’t always been alive. For much of my life, I felt lousy. Low in energy. Sick and sometimes depressed. I didn’t know why.
Still, I survived. And I laughed deep from my belly, in most moments of the day.
(Well, except for those six months in the seventh grade I was so embarrassed of my loud laugh that I forced myself to let out only a tiny heh.) I adore being here. I am constantly amazed by life and frequently struck by the absurdity of it. Mostly, I’m grateful.
And I’ve been writing about all of this from the moment I could pick up a pen and put words on the page. I’m a writer. I write about little moments of being awake in the world. Sometimes, I write to remind myself to wake up.
For much of my life, I was a high-school English teacher, first on Vashon Island, in Washington state, and then in Seattle. Between those two teaching times, I lived in Manhattan, tutored child actors, ran a screenplay-editing business, and rollerbladed on the streets to work. (That was dumb.) For a time, I lived in London, where I edited a book for a famous person. (I can’t tell you who it was. I’m contractually obligated to remain mum on this one.) Everything I have ever done for money had to do with words and helping other people with their words. (Okay, those eight weeks I was a terrified waitress don’t count.)
Now, I am writing, full-time. My dream came true. (And my fingers are tired from all the typing.)
I am the daughter of two incredible people, the sister of a remarkable man, the sister-in-law of some phenomenal women and men, and now the aunt of a line of kids ranging from three years old to a married 25-year-old. (There used to be just Elliott, but getting married meant I inherited cool nieces and nephews too.) I am blessed with friends who make me laugh, tease the hell out of me, feed me in every way, and mostly don’t read this website. (They’d actually rather talk to me than read the stories.)
And now, at the heart of everything I do, and the monikers of which I’m most proud? I am the wife of my tender-hearted, hilarious husband and the mother of our darling daughter.
Oh, and by the way, like millions of humans in the world, I have to live gluten-free. I have celiac disease, although I chafe at the word disease. Being diagnosed with celiac changed my life, in ways that I could never stop listing. Now, I am no longer low energy, prone to falling ill, or depressed. Now, I am free. Now, I am alive.
And I don’t miss gluten at all.
Way back in May 2005….
taken on April 20, 2005 — ten days before diagnosis
taken in early June, 2005 — one month after being gluten-free
In the early spring of 2005, I was terribly ill. My body required 18 hours of sleep a day, my stomach ached all the time, and I could barely move without hurting. Doctors ordered one medical test after another, and none of them yielded answers. (The low point is when I endured a colonoscopy and endoscopy on the same day. Bleh.) All I could eat was soft bread, chicken noodle soup, and crackers. No one understood why I was so ill.
It had been a hard few years. In the winter of 2001, I suffered pneumonia for the sixth time in my life. In the beginning of 2003, I required emergency abdominal surgery for a fibroid tumor that had grown to the size of a grapefruit. In the winter of 2003, I was t-boned by another car, in a terrible accident that changed my life. My body reminded me, every day, how lucky I was to be alive, with pain from the injuries that didn’t go away. Just as I was starting to recover, I fell into that crisis of 2005.
It started to feel like I would never be well.
After all those tests, and no answers, I started to despair. A friend of mine who had been a nurse all her life confided in me later, “I thought you were terminal.” So did I.
Then, a friend of mine called me from Maine, to say she had just heard a story on celiac disease, the most under-diagnosed disease in the States. It sounded like me. I googled it, and found myself in the symptoms. Two years before, in an effort to find my energy, I had given up wheat for six weeks. I felt fantastic, but I slipped back into it. Remembering, my body jolted. What else could it be?
And why had I never heard of this before?
My gastroenterologist refused to test me for it, even though it only required a blood test before I could stop eating gluten. He refused. Actually, he had his nurse call me. “Celiac is really rare,” she said on the message. “That’s a long shot. We’ll talk about it during your follow-up in two weeks.”
Heck with that. I knew my body, exhausted as it was. At this point, I was down to eating a jar of baby food a day. I wanted to start living again.
I went to a naturopath, who did the blood test. I stopped eating gluten.
I have never gone back since.
At the end of the first day without gluten, I felt some energy. My stomach didn’t hurt when I ate. On the second day, I didn’t need a five-hour nap. On the third day, my brain fog cleared, as though my contacts had been cleaned for the first time.
When I received the official diagnosis — you have celiac — I clapped my hands and said yes! The naturopath was a little surprised to see my celebration.
The gastroenterologist was even more surprised, the next week, when I showed up for my follow-up appointment in great health, blood test results in hand. He confirmed it — I have celiac. And he left the room, embarrassed.
I’m not the only one who had to fight her way through the medical system to receive the correct diagnosis and become healthy for the first time in my life. Americans have to wait an average of 11 years, and many doctors, before finally being diagnosed. It is estimated that 1 out of 100 Americans has celiac disease. Only 3% of us have been diagnosed.
We have to change this.
After I was diagnosed, I felt reborn. I became a self I had never been before.
And I started writing about it. About amaranth and quinoa, ume plum vinegar, how to braise a lamb shank, and the life of food I began to live. I wrote to teach, to lead other people to the awakeness I was feeling. I love the fascination of the human body; I dissected cadavers in high school. (It was for an advanced biology class.) And yet, I had never heard of the condition that had been commanding me all my life.
I did the only thing I knew how to do. I began to write.
And thus, this website was born.
Gluten-free woman just doesn’t have the same ring.
When I had been so sick, my friend Dorothy came over, many times, to bring me food and commiserate. When I just didn’t improve — and grew worse and worse each week — she said, in exasperation one day: “We’re just going to have to call you the sick girl.”
When I was finally diagnosed, and told Dorothy about it, she said, ironically, “Oh, we’re going to have to call you the Gluten-Free Girl!”
I never thought people would stop me at the farmers’ market and exclaim, “Oh, you’re the Gluten-Free Girl, aren’t you?” I certainly never thought I would see that phrase on the cover of my first book.
I just liked the alliteration.
Focusing on the food.
When I first started eating hot food again, I was moved to tears by the physical sensation of it sliding down my throat. It had been so long since I had been able to take pleasure in food.
I have always loved food. Every story I share with my dear friend Sharon seems to involve food, of some kind (and falling down). Even though I ate a requisite number of processed foods when growing up (I was born in the late 60s remember, so I was raised on Wonder Bread), my mother was a good cook. She could bake like no one’s business. And over the years, I started going to farmers’ markets, cooking with good olive oil, and eating food from recipes that originated from outside the boundaries of the United States.
But it wasn’t until I was diagnosed with celiac that I truly started focusing on the food.
Food is the path to healing in celiac. There is no pill we can take, no surgery we can endure, and in fact, no cure other than living on an entirely gluten-free diet. Some find that distressing. I find it a blessing.
In order to be well, I have to eat well. I have to feed myself. I have to live in food.
Yes.
I started taking photographs of my foods as soon as I was diagnosed. Having been so weak and in pain, I had not been able to write. I needed that creative outlet. But more than that, being able to eat again — after at least six weeks of eating bananas and baby food — made me see. Food is so beautiful. The vivid oranges of baby carrots, the fuzzy hair on a soft peach, the little white rings on red quinoa in a skillet, the crumbling flakes of dark chocolate on a cutting board — everything attracted my eye.
I began taking photographs of my meals. I haven’t stopped since.
From May 2005 to July of 2006, I took photographs with my little Nikon Coolpix.
In July of 2006, I switched to a Fujifilm Finepix.
And in the winter of 2007, I bought the body of a Nikon D-100, and a 2.8 35-70mm lens. It has a wonderful macro capability, which is why I bought it from a professional photographer in Seattle, who needed to move to a different system. That lens has been around the world, taking photographs of people living with AIDS in Kenya, and women singing in Morocco.
This camera has good karma.
And then there was the Chef.
When I was diagnosed, I had a visceral understanding that I was now a self I had never been before. And I needed some time to myself. I decided to take a year off from dating at all.
Four days to the year, I met the Chef.
I knew, at once. This is the love of my life. But I held off for six weeks from writing about him on this site. I had to be sure. I knew that once I began writing about him here, everything would change.
Oh boy has this site changed. It used to be called Gluten-Free Girl. Now, you’re reading Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef.
From the first post I wrote about him (Meet the Chef), until the post about our honeymoon (la luna di miele), there has not been a single piece I have written here without his influence infused into the words. He lends tender-heartedness, a ribald sense of humor, real working-man’s hands, slow-braised flavors, and a wonderful practicality to everything here.
This is our website now.
This man makes me feel alive. He makes me laugh, teases me, feeds me, listens to me, wakes up in the morning with me and says, “I love you, sweetie.”
He is also the most talented chef I have ever met.
Within a few months of our falling in love, the Chef started changing his menus. He always found a way to feed me safely when I went into his restaurant. He understood the details of living gluten-free, immediately. The Chef loves and lives in food like no one else I have ever known. For him, cooking gluten-free was a compelling challenge, a chance to discover foods he had never eaten.
But one day, I looked up after typing up the next month’s menu, and said, “Hey honey. I can eat everything on this menu.”
“I know,” he said.
“What have you done?”
And he said, quite simply, “You are my muse. I don’t want to create another dish, and be excited by it, and find I can’t share it with you. I’m just going to make everything gluten-free from now on.”
And he still does.
Oh, how I love him.
For quite awhile, I just referred to him as the Chef on this site. Some readers wrote to me to ask: “Why do you call him the Chef? Why don’t you just use his name?”
He preferred it that way.
When I first met him, I refereed to him as “the Chef” when I talked to my friends. After so many bad experiences with dates, I didn’t want to trust and even say his name. This only lasted about a week — he walked right into my heart — but the name stuck.
And when I first began writing about him, I wanted to somehow maintain some anonymity for him. He wasn’t writing this. He read and approved of every piece, but still. He hadn’t originated this. And really, it was the only way to represent him. He is, in his heart, a chef. He lives in food. He works crazy hours. His hands are covered in burns and scars. And he expresses his love for humanity through his food.
He cooks because he can give people joy in the belly.
And really, it just stuck. When people come into his restaurant after reading this website, they often shriek a little and say, “Oh, you’re the Chef!”
He loves it.
So, the Chef it was.
After our daughter was born, and we endured the scary time in the ICU with her, and major surgery, and experienced more joy in being her parents than we could have ever predicted, it started to seem silly to refer to him as the Chef. And so, he became Danny.
But, for the record, his full name is Daniel Fitzgerald Ahern. But to me, he’s Danny.
He’s my husband, and I love him.
How we eat around here.
Anyone who thinks that living gluten-free is deprivation? Come on over here for dinner.
We live in food. Food, to us, is sensuality and texture, kindness and laughter, being alive and in love. Roasted potatoes with sea salt. Cinnamon-walnut scones. Crispy pork belly. Mixed green salads with champagne vinaigrette. Pizza with prosciutto, chanterelle mushrooms, and goat cheese. Fig cookies. Scrambled eggs with truffle salt. Sauted black kale. Shaved fennel with lemon. One crisp apple.
Food doesn’t have to be expensive to be spectacular. Sure, I’ve eaten foie gras a few times in the past year, and I love truffles after being in Italy. But one perfect peach, in late July, is true richness to me.
It’s about the best ingredients. Food in season, in an awake moment, with the right person. That’s great food.
We shop at farmers’ markets as much as we can. We know the men who sell us fish by first name. We look for truly great olive oil. We allow ourselves to be surprised by good food. We feel fresh to it, every day. We like great spices and creamy butter and gelato in Italy (but not anywhere else). We eat the best food we can find in the places we find ourselves. We love to share.
There is so much to learn. When do I salt the food? How much vinegar should I use? What does a cross between a peach and an apricot taste like? Where do I find the best locally raised, grass-fed lamb? How would those brownies taste with sorghum flour instead? I love this.
We love the people who grow our food.
And one of my best accomplishments is when we are home, late at night after his shift at the restaurant is done, and the Chef eats the first bite of the dinner I have made for us. He pounds his fist on the table, grunts a little, and digs in.
And the other is when we sit around the table with our toddler daughter, enjoying a meal we made together while she stood on a chair at the kitchen counter watching what we do, and we all take our first bite. Lu says “Yumma yumma!” and digs in for more. Danny and I grin at each other over the table and eat more, laughing.
In the end, that’s all that really matters.
The book.
As a kid, I always dreamed of being a writer. One of the literary kinds. Not the one whose books would be produced in thick, cheap paperbacks that fall apart halfway through the read. No, as much as I thrilled to the sound of The Beatles’ “Paperback Writer,” I had higher aspirations.
After all that reading, all those books — or actually, after reading my first book, long ago, before I had the words to say it — I knew that I wanted to write. And not just write. I was going to write the books that transported everyone else away. And they’d make my book into a movie, and I’d never have to borrow books from the library again.
I have no idea if they are going to make a movie out of my book, and frankly — I’m not sure I’d want it now. But I can share this with you, dear readers (I’ve read Jane Eyre more times than I can count. And, dear reader, I married him.). Holding the book in my hands?
Well, that little girl is cheering, right now.
This has been a journey, a story of transformation. I loved food, from the moment I could eat it. But that food didn’t always love me back. Throughout my life, I was frequently sick, mostly fatigued, and sometimes at war with my own body. After I was diagnosed with celiac disease, and I stopped eating gluten, I finally learned to find food that would feed me.
This book is a love story. It’s the story of a love affair with food, and finding everything that I can eat, joyfully. It’s a story about slowing down, and appreciating my life. It’s a story about forging a new relationship with my body, and learning to love the life I have. It’s a story about eating local, eating organic, and eating in season. It’s a story about loving the time in front of the stove, dancing. It’s a story about developing recipes and devouring stories. It’s a story about finding the self I never was, for the first 38 years of my life, and reveling in that self.
And of course, it is an actual love story as well. It can’t surprise anyone to know that the last chapter of this book is about meeting the Chef.
And so, in all those ways, this is the perfect subtitle (or perhaps, even the real title): How I Found the Food That Loves Me Back.
Filled with funny essays, tempting photographs, and readable, easy-to-follow recipes, Gluten-Free Girl will break down the mysteries of the kitchen and teach its readers to find themselves, laughing, in the process.
Of course, I intend this book to help everyone who cannot eat gluten. I hope that you all will find it essential. But it is also a book for anyone with food allergies, anyone who wants to become more comfortable in the kitchen, and anyone who loves food. (Hopefully, that’s a lot of people!)
But I can promise you this: I am not doing this for myself, alone. Sure, I want to sell books. I’d like to keep living this life with the Chef, loving each other, eating well, and writing about it. And of course, that little girl who is still with me cannot wait for the book tours and media appearances. I’m not ridiculous enough to say I’m not enjoying this.
But I wrote this book, and I am going to be marketing it, for one urgent reason.
I want to help everyone to finally recognize his or her own story.
That little girl who read books on hot days, alone? Who dreamed of being plucky and stalwart and published in a magazine some day?
She cannot thank you enough.
I hope that you buy it. I hope that you enjoy it.
If nothing else, I can promise you this: if you buy my book, you will be reading my heart.
And now, there is our cookbook: Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef: A Love Story in 100 Tempting Recipes.
This was three years of our joint effort, the two of us pouring our hearts and laughter into recipes you can make at home.
We just want you to cook and feel comfortable in your kitchen. We just want you to taste how delicious gluten-free can be.
If you think that living gluten-free means deprivation? You won’t feel that way once you make duck confit with Umbrian lentils, seared shrimp with Marcona almond sauce, and the blue cheese cheesecake with a fig crust.
Plus, there is pizza, pasta, and bread. Good ones.
We love this cookbook. So do many others. We were humbled and still amazed that The New York Times named our cookbook one of the best of 2010.
We think you’ll like it too.
Yes.
That’s all I need to say.
Yes.
La Dolce Vita, senza glutine.
Some people ask why I don’t write in every piece here about gluten-free.
I am alive. That life involves being gluten-free, but there are so many more parts to it:
funny stories, exhilarating travel, tender moments with my husband, discoveries in mouthfuls, falling down and laughing at myself, and learning how to live in the moment, every moment I am alive.
When we were in Italy for our honeymoon, we were both astonished to discover how easy it was for me to eat gluten-free. All I had to say was “Io sono celiaco.” Waiters and chefs understood. They pointed out the dishes I could eat, and then brought me plates of black-truffle risotto, or sizzling beefsteak, or a saucer of perfectly ripe heirloom tomatoes so vividly colored that I had to blink twice before looking at them. And that was it. No explanations or apologies. I simply ate gluten-free and went onto other conversations around the table.
The sweet life. Italians call it la dolce vita. And in order to remain well there, sometimes I simply said senza glutine (without gluten).
That’s what I’d like to bring here. La dolce vita, senza glutine. I want to show you a vibrant life, filled with hilarious adventures and quiet contemplation. Stories of saying yes to life.
All of it, gluten-free.
Oh, and should you wish to reach us, drop us a line at
glutenfreegirl@gmail.com
Hearing from you, in comments and emails, responses on Twitter and conversations on Facebook, is an enormous gift. We’re a community here, and I’m so happy to be part of it.
I wish that I could answer all the emails I receive. I can’t respond because there is a growing mound of dishes in the sink that I should probably put in the dishwasher before midnight. But just know that I read every email.
And we adore you.
Yes.
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{ 295 comments… read them below or add one }
Love your story, it is so beautifully written. Thank you for putting it to paper, the internet, twitter and your blog. Food can save us or make us sick. Thanks for showing the other side. Congrats on all of your success.
Thank you so much, Jamie. I’m thrilled that this helps you in any way.
I read your story almost wanting to scream MEEE TOOOO. I had all the issues. I also had the double test day. I struggle with not eating gluten. My whole family (husband and two little boys) eat all kinds of gluten products. With a limited budget it is hard to shop for two different grocery lists. I have been able to do it *mostly* but slip. Do you have any suggestion on ways to keep inline with gluten free living?
Oh and our boys were both covered in tubes after birth and had extended stays in the hospital. I should have gotten you tattoo for myself so I would remember to breath through it all.
What is the name of Chefs restaurant? I am in the Seattle area and would love to visit.
Sarah
Sarah, that’s one of the feelings I love the most about writing this blog and being here — the sense of community. That me too! We’re not alone.
Danny works at a restaurant called The Hardware Store on Vashon. He’d love to feed you!
Sarah,
You can take care of you while taking care of the family. I, too, am the only “gluten-free” person in our house of 5…but over the past few years, have started converting the family to gluten-free as well. I only bake gluten-free cookies, muffins and pie crusts. we don’t buy store bought cookies or junk anymore, and we are all healthier because of it.
My family is supportive, and love helping me in the kitchen. They are so pleased when they help me bake or cook something that I can enjoy with them. It’s a great feeling. it can be done on a small budget. I try not to spend more than $300 a week on groceries and essentials, and can usually stick to it. Like Shauna says… eat seasonally, it’ll save you a ton of money.
Good luck!
Sarah, you should NOT have to cook more than one meal for supper. Right from the start I refused to cook anything with gluten, even for guests, even though my husband refuses to be gluten-free with me (almost all my kids and grandchildren have to be gluten-free as well we’ve discovered, so they aren’t a problem). If I can’t eat it, I won’t cook it. And that goes for meals for guests as well.
If you cook potatoes, meat and veggies, those are gf anyway, and sauces are just as good if thickened with rice flour or cornstarch. Rice is gf as well, and rice pasta is every bit as good as wheat pasta.
And if you follow Shauna’s recipes for baked goods, NOBODY would ever suspect those are gluten-free! In fact, they are better, and don’t cause bloating like so many wheat products.
Also, I found that the one time I wanted to surprise my husband with a cake for Valentine’s Day a few months after finding out I have Celiac, using wheat flour, I was awfully sick for several days after, from INHALING flour dust when mixing the batter!
That settled it, all gluten ingredients have been banned from my house ever since. My husband buys himself flat bread (no crumbs) and crackers (they stay in his office in the basement), which are the only gluten things around.
Chances are your children should be gf anyway, as Celiac is hereditary.
i think if you don’t make a issue of being gluten free and just cook what you can eat they will feel better and probably not worry about it.
Dear Shauna,
I think you are a very special and inspiring person. This is a beautiful and (I don’t find another word) inpiring story. I’m 17 years old, and I was diagnosed 3 months ago. It was not easy to change my whole lifestyle – for example, it’s so strange that I’ll never try beer or different specialities made from grain. But my friends and my family keep telling me that I sholudn’t give up and I should see the brighter side of the situation.
And by reading all these inspiring stories and your fantastic blog I begin to believe that I can do it. And my life has an aim now: there is no gluten-free restaurant in Budapest, Hungary where I live and so do hundreds of celiac people. So when I grow up, I would like to open a fully gluten-free restaurant
This nightmare gave me a new dream… So now I’m preparing for my exams, looking for the appropriate university and collecting recipes.
I’d like to thank you for creating this amazing blog! I’ll try all of your recipes, I promise.
Melanie xoxo
The Hardware Store – OMG – just had dinner there Friday and was so thrilled they were happy to say “Here’s our gluten free menu”. Awesomeness. Yay Danny!
What an inspiration for me. I too am celiac. Someone who can relate! I am looking forward to your recipe book.
Thank you and abundant Blessings.
thank you too!
Beautiful story. I can really relate, as I have been living gluten-free by choice for almost a year. While I do not have celiac, I chose this lifestyle to improve my health, and have encouraged all my family members and friends to try it as well. I, too, married a chef and while it took him a while to adjust to my lifestyle, his large Italian family hasn’t quite accepted it yet. They constantly chastise me for turning down their lasagna, ravioli and garlic bread at meals. I have mastered the art of politely rejecting certain foods on their table, but they still give me looks that make me self-conscious. I think it’s important for people to know that although they may not understand or support this “diet,” it is a very healthy and liberating way of living that should not be criticized.
Amy, it saddens me to hear about your husband’s family not accepting this, particularly because celiac seems so well understood in Italy itself! Keep at it. Don’t politely reject it. Tell them exactly what will happen if you eat the stuff! If they still make you feel bad for not wanting explosive diarrhea or pain for days, then you don’t need their approval anyway, right?
Amy, I understand the feelings involved with the lack of support from family. While my husband and my Mother’s family are supportive others are not. I do not have celiac, but I am gluten intollarant. I was unable to get testing. (My baby might have died if I had kept eating gluten.) so I frequently hear the whole, “It is all in your head” thing. but the lack of pain, the abundant energy, and the loss of bloating… If it is all in my head, I’m still not going back. I have taken my three boys off gluten as well, and they finally look, normal. They no longer have that malnurished, half starved, way bloated look that I was begining to think was normal. My best friend and her children share a home with us and it has been some what difficult for her to see me “Randomly just take my kids off Gluten, on nothing more than a possibility” However, they are happy and that is what truly matters. One “trick” I have learned… when people ‘don’t’ understand, (or won’t, or just plain don’t want to…) a detailed mention of why you have made this decision… (like Shauna said) “oh the Difference in how my bowels move, the way my body smells/feels… people quickly leave you alone. And part of the reason they do is they finally understand. If it hadn’t been for some one doing so in my presence, I probable would have lost my youngest son. (Dr. told me it was impossible for a baby to react to gluten that its mother had eaten. THEY DO.) I would still always look nine months pregnant, and I would have probably have had to endure two or three surgeries. Hang in there, stick with it. for what ever yor reason.
Just finished reading “Gluten Free Girl” and really loved your passion for food and your chef – great story all around! I’ve been “trying” to stick to a gluten free diet for 4 months now. It was suggested that I try gluten free by my PCP when she saw my total cholesterol dip down to 54. So even though my celiac blood work came back negative, I’m doing this to correct the malabsorption issue and bring my cholesterol back up to normal [I hope]. Some days are good – some not so much. It can be really hard to do this when you realize you’re always making and buying different groceries and meals for yourself – and then another set of groceries and meals for your family. The other stumbling block I’ve come across is the fact that I have diabetes and many gluten free prepared products and grains cause my blood sugar to spike wildly. I try to stay away from them – but jeez! – sometimes you just want a GF waffle for breakfast or have GF pasta for dinner! I fear that I’ve moved into the realm of not enjoying my food, but simply just eating for fuel – beans, greens and brown rice on occasion. What’s a woman-without-wheat to do?
Paula, I’m so thrilled that the book was a help to you!
And I would definitely suggest that you pull away from the prepared foods and cook as much as you can. It makes a big difference. There’s so much great food out there!
My husband is in the same position….he needs to eat both gluten free AND low carb to combat different issues. Eating low carb helps his blood sugar and, surprisingly, eliminates his restless leg syndrome. But he misses sandwiches and pizza, so while we eat them very rarely, I do make gf, lc baked goods stuff occasionally. I made GF, LC wraps tonight and they were so good. http://www.healthyindulgences.net/ has a number of lc, gf recipes on her site.
Hey Gluten Free Girl!
As much as I love to read stories (the good ones) I am impatient enough to jump to the last para
.
This is (from as far as I can remember) the first time that I have read a story start to finish.
I love your writing style. No complex words, nothing stretched, a very simple narration and yet so poetic.
I do eat regular food (gluten included) and am vegetarian (no eggs, garlic, onion for me) by principle.
But, I LOVE food. All these years, I have been trying to explain my love for food and now I have your site to refer my friends to! Most of the recipes posted here, I cant cook. But I can hear and feel your love for food….. I can see the romance with ingredients, hear the laughs…..
I will keep coming back to your blog!
Thank you and abundant blessings
Deepti, thank you. I’m so glad you enjoy this.
Can I just tell you how much you completely rock?
Because you do… and also, you’re pretty and wonderful, and have shiny, pretty hair! (And that sounds really weird seeing as how you don’t know me from Adam.. Basically, I just want you to know how awesome you are, and how excited I am that your site exists!) My mom and I were both just diagnosed with gluten-intolerance. It’s been a crazy ride, but we just feel so much better! In the process, it was also discovered that I’m casein-intolerant as well… so no dairy for me! Bummer… I miss cheese. But all in all, it’s a good thing to feel well and not sickly! I am so excited to have stumbled across your site today! I’ll be bringing my whole GF crew along to read you regularly. Thank you for being you! Your writing is moving and pretty and really fun to read. Yay for Gluten-Free Girl!
Hi, Aubri,
Have you tried raw (unpasturized) dairy? I, too, am casein-intolorant IF I eat conventional, “supermarket” dairy. If it’s possible for you to souce local raw dairy, you might find that you can eat it! I get my raw goat and cow milk from the farm just down the road from my house. realmilk.com and westonaprice.org are great sources of information, if your interested!
By the way Shauna, you have a beautiful site!
Ariel
Hi Shauna,
I saw this article about hotels starting to serve GF to accomodate guests. Hoping it catches on and wanted to share
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40967182/ns/travel-luxury_travel/
I am so moved by what you have written and how you have written it. I too am a lover of the written word, in the last stages of writing my first book, after writing articles for business, speeches and just generally sharing stuff. You have inspired me. You have made me smile and you have made my heart warm. Thank you my dear gluten free girl.
I have given up wheat, and I trained as a chef. I love food and my wonderful hubby of 14 years. We have 2 beautiful, yet cheeky little boys. We wouldn’t have them any other way. I promise you I am going to buy your books. I am going to share them, just like I am sharing your blog on my blog, and just like I have shared this on facebook and twitter. People need to hear your voice, and I will do my little bit to make sure they do.
Be blessed the three of you and your journey through life. Together, happy and in love with each other, food and the world.
With love, Dawn x
Thank you for being a voice and inspiration for those living with celiac. Your story is beautifully written and positive. My daughter was diagnosed with celiac at 26 months of age. 4 years later, she is doing well and thriving. I have met so many celiacs that have a terrible outlook about being gluten-free. They often focus on how they feel deprived rather than how they are blessed. It is always wonderful to see someone living a positive gluten-free life. Keep it up! As my daughter says, “Gluten-free, just for meeee!”
Dear Shauna, you’re a wonderful, wonderful writer. Thanks for the Amazon link to your book. Didn’t get it on Kindle — ya gotta be able to hold a cookbook, yes?
Can’t tell you how grateful I am to have found your website. I’m working with friends who’ve developed GF bread mixes. Their daughter has celiac and the rest of us are gluten allergic or sensitive. Anyway, the other day they asked if I would help them become a digital presence on the internet, whatever that is, so I’m reading up on how to go about it and was led smack to your website. You and Danny are so highly regarded in this field — clearly the King and Queen of Gluten Free. Was thrilled to hear you’re in Seattle. We’ll soon be on a ferry, headed to The Hardware Store.
I’m a nutritional therapist and instead of expensive tests, I tell many clients: go without gluten for two weeks, tell me how you feel and I’ll tell you whether you’re gluten intolerant — then I give them a list of where gluten’s hidden (a long list). I’m putting your web address on that list. I had no idea such a beautiful, smart, wonderfully written resource is out there for all of us.
Mille grazzie, –Siena in Seattle.
You inspire me. I began the gluten free life this past summer. I was 49 at the time and have suffered gi ibs type issues at least 30 years. Aches, pains, joint problems, weird weight gain and even infertility. When I ate bread, pizza and even oatmeal my face turned red and got hot.My gastroenterologist too has refused to test me. He’s not a believer. My pcp however suggested to go this route as she thought it sounded valid. After a few days the brain fog started to clear and other issues resolve. However over the holidays I have made a lot of poor choices and need to belly up once again. My passion is cooking and eating. Ha. Being gluten free I’ve discovered does not mean to sacrifice. It’s eating better. Healthier. Whole foods. Thank you for your blog I look forward to your postings. I also will purchase your cookbook and look forward to how to master baking gluten free.
Any gastroenterologist who doesn’t “believe” in celiac needs to find a new line of work
My dear Shauna: Finding your website tonight has been like a gift. A real gift and I am so excited about it. My dear daughter in law is celiac and I am always looking for delicious recipes for her. That’s because I love her dearly and I would never want to make a thing that might make her ill. Plus I want her to have lots of variety in her diet so that she can remain healthy and happy for a long long time. She maintains that everyone should eat like a celiac. She says we would all feel better and have more energy. Recently, my arthritis has been giving me problems. Since this and arthritis are both systemic diseases, I’ve made the decision to try to eliminate gluten from my diet. It can’t hurt. So, thank you for your writing talents, your passion to share with others, and your energy which comes through loud and clear.
I was at the library today looking for Elizabeth Hasselbeck’s book, The G-free diet. While on my search… I stumbled upon your book, Gluten- Free Girl. That brought me to your website! I look forward to all that I will learn here. Thank you! Your book is on my reading list!
Shauna,
Your words moved me to tears.
Thank you for being so alive – I look forward to reading about new adventures with food, with Lu, and with the Chef/Danny.
Shauna, I have a dad with celiac disease and a growing passion for clean eating. I would love to be able to make yummy food that truly nourishes the people i love. I have a lot to learn in the kitchen… I think your book, your blog, your passion will be great teachers. Thank you for sharing your love story.
Shauna,
I love your blog and your insight into how to live GF and still enjoy good food.. Since being dx’ed 2 years ago, I sort of lost my joy in cooking. Your thoughts and reassurance that living GF isn’t as awful a predicament as I thought it was, is helping me to find ways to go back to feeling the happiness I once had in cooking and baking. I very much enjoy trying out your GF recipes and have been able to expand my menu for nightly meals and not have my 2 teenage boys complain about the dense dry GF foods we have tried in the past. Thank you, thank, thank you!
Well Shauna at the ripe ole age of 55 I have been diagonised with Celiac! Some would say oh that’s bad luck. I say Thank Heaven!!!! At last an answer to the health issues I have had my whole life. So I have been gluten free for six months now, spent most of the six months studying and reading and understanding about my new life that I have been given. I found your blog the first week and I have read every inch of it. I myself am a chef and baker! Yes I made a thousand of cookies for this past holiday and no I didn’t taste one of them!!!!! I hired my husband to do that. HE loved the job and refuses any pay what a deal! Here is my issue though. I promised myself after this holiday season that I would get together the flours and start trying the fabulous recipes I have found on your site. I did. I hunted them all down because I live in a one horse town I must travel pretty far or order on line to get these items. I am all ready to bake and I get back on here and
I too, just hit a milestone turning 50 this week and discovering that my health is suffering from the foods I eat. I have not been diagnosed yet, but for years I have had to consider my dinner choices by what events I had on my schedule the next day! Healthy stomachs don’t need to do that I gather??? I followed a link from Heidi Swanson’s 101cookbooks to Gluten-Free Girl and have been somewhat addicted all weekend to this website. I used to bake blueberry buckle and sell it at the Farmer’s Market that I was organizing in my one horse town. I could not figure out why it made me sick while everyone else LOVED it; now I know.
Thanks for sharing!
THE RECIPES ARE GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please tell me are they coming back? I want to cry. I do have a few of them I printed out from the first time I was on here which I have tried and LOVE. Thank you for all of the great info by the way. It has helped my new life out so much!!!
First, I have respect for anyone who writes a book and sells it.
Now, have you ever tried Molly Loves Candy or Chateau D’Lanz Swiss Licorice. It is totally natural and completely Gluten free and Diabetic friendly. It’s hard to find but that’s what the web is for.
Dear Shauna,
I stumbled across your website after being diagnosed with celiac disease this week. I wish I had read your story a long time ago because it is amazingly similar to mine. I, too, am 44 and have been sick for way too long. After 4 days gluten-free, I am already feeling so much better. I can’t wait to try your recipes and learn to love my new life-long diet! Thanks for your beautiful writing.
Rhonda
PS: I have friends who live on Vashon. Now I really need to visit so I can go to the restaurant!
Sitting here with tears in my eyes…so happy for you! And so happy you and The Chef created this site and continue to share with us. I’m so incredibally happy to have found it…sniff…what to make first? THANK YOU!
With Bessings~
wow,I feel as if you wrote about my life.After many years of feeling sick,tired,and just down right ill all the time I finally found a Doctor that listened a found out my problem.Celiac disease.how simple,but yet how long it took me find out my problem.I have been on a gluten free diet for seven months now and feel wonderful.My energy level is sky rocketing,my iron level is finally normal,I no longer fall asleep everytime I sit down.After ten doctors and many tests finally I too am alive.Thank you for your writing.I do look forward to your gluteen free book.I am a flight attendant and that is a challenge for me.I try to pack all my own food in a cooler and take it with me on my trips.So I am always looking for new ideas.Thank you and God Bless
I’m a fan so I’m giving you an award of sorts! Check it out here: http://tuesday2.wordpress.com/2011/01/23/its-all-in-the-game/
Shauna:
Thank you thank you for the wonderful blog. I have ordered both of your books right now. My husband of five years stopped eating gluten a year ago and I have been stumbling…not really sure how to substitute. Thank God he feels so much better though. I cannot wait to read your books and to see the recipes. We both love to cook:)
Best of luck to you!
Shauna,
You are such an inspiration and an amazing cook n’ baker…thank you for your beautiful recipes, incredible dishes and delicious posts. Such a pleasure to have met you at BlogHer Food and I truly hope to see you again soon for some tasty gluten-free treats n’ fun foodie memories.
Keep up the amazing work.
Best,
Amie
Dear Shauna:
I am LOVING your blog, and I can’t wait to get your cookbook!
I am not sure how long I have had a gluten problem, but I think it started a long time ago; now that I look back on my life, I just don’t know. I had stomach problems, I was always tired, I was always sick with some virus…I just never felt good. I started seeing a Chiropractor in May of 2008. He offered many remedies that worked for his patients to help with building the immune system. None of them helped, although I did feel a bit better being adjusted regularly. Finally, during the summer of 2009, I became so sick that I could no longer eat without pain and nausea. I tried the BRAT diet and toast and crackers. I just kept getting sicker. I couldn’t even stand to be touched my abdomen was so sore. I was at my wit’s end and I mentioned my stomach problems to the Chiro. He asked me what I had been eating and I told him. He just looked at me and said, “That’s your problem. Eliminate everything except meat, fresh fruits and vegetables for two weeks. Eat no dairy and especially no grains. Add them back one at a time and see what happens. Then, let me know and we will go from there.” My husband and I went to Outback for dinner and I ordered a Steak with steamed veggies. For the first time in two months, my stomach didn’t hurt after I ate. It took about three days, and I felt like a new person! After the two weeks, I drank a glass of milk – nothing. Two days later, I ate a piece of bread and I thought I would die. The Chiro said no more bread…ever…for the rest of your life. And (at that time) I sadly began my GF journey. I had many failures, because no one would help with nutritional counseling as I am not a Celiac. So I started researching myself and I happened upon your blog. After getting so sick that I needed to be hospitalized overnight, I finally got some help; but it was stuff I already knew. I have self-educated and since that hospital trip I have done pretty well. I haven’t been glutened since before Thanksgiving which is a new record. I no longer have every cold or flu that comes by, yay! I finally have an immune system. My hubs is an awesome guy! He goes mostly GF with me (lunch is his whatever meal), and he searches for new dishes. We both love to cook and turning recipes GF is a fun challenge. Now, my niece’s fiancee must be GF too, so it has become a family thing. I have finally begun to lose weight as well. No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t get it off. I kept saying I wasn’t cheating, but no on would listen. Now, I eat healthier food and less sugary carbs. It is coming off slowly, but that’s okay; it’s coming off.
Thank you for your blog and the awesome recipes! I love being gluten-free and I tell people to give it a try. You may be amazed at how it changes your life!
Good eats and blessings to you and yours!
Stacie Barton
Kansas City, Missouri
My very first post, published January 13, is called: COOKING DINNER — AND EACH GUEST IS ON A DIFFERENT DIET!
One of my dinner guests in the story is on a gluten-free diet so, of course, I thought of you. Knowing how you enjoy life and laughter, I thought I’d send it along.
Wishing you continued success and the best of health,
Rina Torri
Shauna…you’re an amazing speaker.
What a treat it was to see you, your sweetie Daniel, and your cutie pie daughter last night at Village Books,in Bellingham WA/Fairhaven area. You’re insight & knowledge has inspired me. Thank you for sharing your walk and to both you & Daniel for the amazing recipes and such.
Cheers from B’ham,
Ann
Hi, Shauna. I am Italian and there celiac disease is not understood at all. For every diagnosed celiac, there are 9 that do not know their condition. Diagnosis is as difficult as everywhere. I live in the Netherlands and it is more or less the same. Of course there are some restaurants that try to be sensitive about food intolerance issues (with the crisis they cannot afford to lose customers) and the local celiac association awards a label for the restaurants that are able to cook gluten free. However, it is very difficult to get gluten free food (basically only in pharmacies) and the choice is very limited. And most of people do not get what it means (you cannot eat normal bread, but you can eat whole grain bread, can you?)…. And the biggest problem is that pasta and bread are a staple of the Italian diet. I am so much better when I am not there.
Albert Heijn has a small but good selection of gluten-free food, as does C1000. Of course stores like de Natuurwinkel also have gluten-free stuff in abundance. What part of the Netherlands do you live in? If youre close to Leiden, the Natuurwinkel there has a whole aisle of GF food, both sides, shelves all the way to the ceiling! I was like a kid in a candy store my first trip there!
Dear Shauna, I am in the process of getting tested for having a Gluten intolerance. I got a blood test done for celiac and came back negative. I have a lot of the signs and the symptoms that match having a gluten intolerance. I am in the middle of reading your gluten free girl book and hope someday to meet you. So far though since I stayed away 90% of time from Gluten I am feeling a little better. Thanks.
Hello Shauna,
I am a big fan and I love all of your recipes and stories. I am from Seattle and have a cabin on Vashon, but I am currently living in Seoul, South Korea. I am writing because as I was looking through the recipe books at the big book store in Seoul, there was your new book! To much delight I am glad Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef could follow me all the way over here!
Hey Shauna and Daniel aka The Chef
Great to find this wonderful website. I live in Ireland and my daughter, Liadh, who is 13 now was diagnosed as coeliac (spelt with an ‘o’ here) when she was 5 after a lot of mysterious sick tummies, hospitalization and surgery. When the test results came back the Consultant was really surprised because she had thought that Liadh looked too healthy, and thriving (despite all her tummy illnesses) to have coeliac disease. It hasn’t been easy for her, poor little sweetheart, over the years of going to kiddies parties etc and not able to eat any of the food. Although she has been so brave over it she has become a really fussy eater as well; she will only eat 3 veg…potatoes, carrot and brocolli, chicken, cheese, but only if it’s orange coloured, and chocolate… which makes it even more difficult to feed her. GGRrrrrr! Any ideas that you have for feeding a fussy eating, coeliac hormonal…ahem, DARLING daughter would be much appreciated! Love your blog!
I wonder if you were at the costco in gig harbor with your book. I told a friend about your book and she wanted me to buy it the next time I went to costco , but, no such luck. Are you the right person or is thee another cookbook by a girl and a chef.
large, loving tears rolling down my cheeks.
you write lovely words
lucky girl
speak often and loudly and please, continue your passion!
Hi there. I’m wondering if you have seen this interesting article from a Harvard newsletter I receive on digestive health: http://www.foodnavigator.com/Science-Nutrition/Fermented-wheat-flour-may-be-safe-for-celiac-patients-suggests-study. Would be interested to know your thoughts.
Kind regards,
Laura
You are an amazing womand and what a compelling story! Lovely, lovely is all I can say about you. I have a friend who was feeling sick just like you and and after many months she found out she has celiac disease. She back to running and her liver healed. I will have to share you sire with her! God Bless you sweetie!
Dear Shauna,
Your story really touched my heart. I was one of the luckier ones, living in Israel at the time I started showing signs of distress most likely saved me many years of being misdiagnosed. I was like you, my boyfriend at the time used to call me a sleeping pill, I would drop off where ever I sat, I was pale and very thin. One day I got sick, so sick I could not even walk home and my visiting father had to be called to help me home so I could clean myself up and go to bed. The illness did not go away, everything that I ate went right through me. I was hospitalized, poked, tested and retested with no results. After about a month and everyone thinking I was going to die, the diarrhea stopped and life went back to normal. A year later it happened again, I went to several doctors and nothing. This time when they wanted to pit me in the hospital, I refused. They made me an appointment with a doctor who asked me about Celiacs and my family. I had never heard of it and being a European Jew, I did not have much of a family to ask. When the test results came back positive and I went to the doctor bx2xho my follow up, I cried about all the weight I was putting on (I was very under weight before) the doctor just laughed and with a big smile told me, that I am not sick!
I have 3 children, my 22 year old daughter is a self diagnosed celiac and my 7 year old was just diagnosed. Your story is beautiful and I just wanted to thank you for sharing!
Having to eat gluten-free has been a challenge for me. I have been at it a little over a year now and though I do stick to it, I tend to just eat processed foods/already packaged dinners purchased at local Natural food store here in town. I am not a cook but do get the itch when reading your books – I have both. But to be honest, most of the time I have no idea what you are talking about with the names you have for all of the different type of foods/spices/etc. I grew up in the midwest eating plain old food my mom cooked and everything stated in your books just sounds totally foreign to me. Our food markets in the summer time only, locally grown, just have plain old peppers/cucumbers etc on their tables with none of the names you give to all of them. I just am lost when reading when you tell about what you fixed for supper! But I do enjoy reading and getting the information from you about how to eat, I just have no idea really what I am doing!
I’m 35. Just discovered I’m a celiac. Your story sounds very similar to mine. The gastroenterologists need to get their head out of their patient’s asses, stop depending on a proto-scope for the answers. Their really should be a public service announcement regarding celiac. When I was a kid they just thought I had ulcers, lactose intolerant or just a “nervous stomach”. Now after all that time and misery I feel like I have a new lease on life. It’s great to be alive and well! Thanks for your website and I wish you much luck!
I just found your blog and am super excited to explore it more and more. I’ve been gluten free since 2006. I am excited to find new recipes and creations here!
Also, as a vegetarian and a gluten free gal, I love that The Chef has committed to making dining a bit easier for those of us with food needs/challenges! I commend that!
What a wonderful story, and thank you for all you share. After my diagnosis, not of celiacs but of gluten intolerance, I saw it as a challenge, to see how to make the baked things I liked without gluten. Scones and cookies were actually rather good, but bread was.. just, awful. Your bread recipe has changed that, not for just me but for gluten free friends and all of those around us. We’re in a rural area and have frequent pot-luck dinners and its been a group education, where is gluten found and how easy it is to make things without it. It was wonderful to read your story and to read about two, and then three, people who love each other. You inspire me, and others I show your blog to. All the best to you and yours.
I have not been diagnosed with celiacs disease, as I cut it out months before doctors finally ordered the endoscopy. Regardless, living gluten free is a must. I’m truly inspired by your blog, your honesty, and your outlook on life. I’m currently dealing with the challenges of being a gluten-free vegan. People look at me funny when I explain that I can’t have gluten, and that I choose not to consume animal products. I come to your blog everyday for inspiration and guidance. Thank you for your support!! =)
Dear Shauna,
I may, or may not, be gluten-free. I don’t know, because I have to be grain-free – no wheat, rye, oats, barley, rice, corn (except corn starch), or even millet. I am allergic to all of them. Buckwheat is my staple flour. It is not a grain. I have found a local bulk food store which sells “white” buckwheat flour. The flour is white and produces fairly good baked products, with some measurement adjustments. Here is a recipe for yeast-raised buckwheat biscuits.
Yeast-Raised Buckwheat Biscuits:
Preheat oven to 200° F
One Large Mixing Bowl
One Small Bowl
One Food Processor (or use your hands to lightly blend the butter in to the flour mixture.)
One 10″ Skillet, coated on the inside with oil spray
One Light-weight Kitchen Towel
Ingredients:
¼ cup very warm water
1 generous tsp yeast (I buy yeast in bulk and store it in the freezer.)
1 tsp sugar
2 Cups of “White” Buckwheat Flour
1½ tsps Baking Powder
½ tsp salt (not kosher)
1 tsp sugar
1/3 Cup Butter, cut into bits
¾ Cup Skim Milk
1 egg
Place Buckwheat flour, baking powder, salt and sugar into food processor and cover. Whirl to mix dry ingredients together. Add butter bits. Whirl in processor until the butter just is incorporated, but the dough is not adhering to itself.
Turn off the oven and open the oven door to let out excess hot air.
Proofing the yeast: place very warm water, yeast and sugar into a small bowl. Mix. Place the yeast mixture into the oven. Close the oven door. While yeast is proofing (5 or more minutes; check it to make sure it is really is alive.), turn the flour / butter mixture into the large bowl. Add the milk and the egg. Mix well until the wet ingredients are incorporated into the flour mixture. This mixture should be very stiff. When the yeast is proofed, remove yeast mixture from the oven and pour this mixture into the dough. Mix well. [If the oven needs to be re-warmed, turn it back on to 200° F. at this point for a few minutes.] The dough should now be very moist, but it should stick to the mixing spoon in a thick glob. If it isn’t very moist, you may add – one by one – by Tbsps, up to ¼ more cup of warm water. Just make sure the dough isn’t runny. Place dough by heaping Tbspfuls into the greased skillet. You should get six to seven biscuits out of this recipe. Spray tops of the biscuits with oil spray, or drizzle oil lightly over the tops, to keep the dough moistened for the long rise. Turn off the oven and vent it to remove excess hot air. Cover the skillet with the kitchen towel. Place the skillet into the oven. Let the dough rise for 45 minutes to 1 hour. I go the full hour, unless I am really hungry! Remove the raised biscuits from the oven and set aside. Keep them covered with the towel. Turn oven on to 425° F. When the oven reaches 425° F, remove the towel from the skillet and place the skillet in the oven. Bake the biscuits for 15 minutes, no more. They should be just light brown around the edges. Remove the biscuits from the oven. !!! Remember to use a pot holder !!! Place the skillet on a rack. Let cool for 10 minutes. Cut the biscuits into six or seven servings. Serve hot! Store cooled leftovers in a plastic bag in the freezer. I purchase my buckwheat flour at The Cheese House in Plain City, OH. The last time I checked, their buckwheat supplier was Dutch Valley Food Distributors, Inc. in Myerstown, PA. A 5 lb bag of buckwheat flour costs about $6.00 at The Cheese House. I buy several bags and store them in my freezer.
Carol Lindwall
If you’re grain-free, and you don’t eat processed foods (only whole, real foods), then you’re gluten-free!
Thanks so much for making you and your husband’s story public. I read your book and it helped me so much! I have been tested for celiac, but the results are negative. I have been suffering for about 8 months with hives and angioedema without being able to find the cause. Thanks to giving up gluten and dairy, the hives are much more tolerable now. I am also losing weight and have more energy. Again, thanks so much for sharing your story and posting all of the wonderful recipes!
Shauna, I want to thank you. Though I have been to your web site many times before, it was always a brief visit. But then I had the privilege of listening to you speak at Village Books in Bellingham and was so very impressed. Jump ahead a few weeks, and here I am in Puerto Vallarta on vacation. I keep asking when I order my tacos and quesadillas if the tortillas are corn or flour. Then I asked an American who lives down here and he said they are almost always corn. They are so good, I wanted to make them at home. THEN I found your article from 2005 on tortillas. Now I can’t wait to make them at home. Thank you for being a wonderful writer, cook and gluten free girl.
What a lovely story to read! The 3 of you look so happy together. Blissful.
PS: Is The Chef in any way related to the write Cecelia Ahern?
What a fantastic story. I’ve just wrote you on Twitter (TravellerNick) to thank you for opening my eyes to a life without gluten. You see, just yesterday, I was diagnosed with Celiac. I no longer have to endure the pain, fatigue, depression and myriad of other symptoms, any longer. I am about to buy your cookbook (the pizza on the front cover looks like heaven), and I am sure it will boast a wonderful list of recipes, each telling its own story, along the way.
Thanks again.
Nick.
You are SO beautiful!
I stumbled on your blog (somewhat unexpectantly, but as I read along I knew that it was only a matter of time). I have been transitioning to gluten-free for the last year. I don’t think that I have a serious sensitivity, but I (like your Chef), LOVE food and I love trying new ways of preparing foods, playing with flavours and textures to create something familiar or extraordinary. Your story is so lovely and your joy for living an inspiration. Life is beautiful and challenges only make us stronger, more understanding and grateful.
Food is Life, Food is Love, I Love Food!
Thank you for sharing YOU,
Liz
I just got the book the gluten free girl and the chef from the library. It is very nice and I like the finer details you included about preparing the food, esp the sauces and stocks etc. I loved it. Writing about the incident before the
Thank you for writing such a wonderful book.
By the middle, I was in tears. After 20 years of being sick and unhealthy and NO ONE truly understanding, of being labeled as “unhelpable” and “uncurable” and “sensitive” and 48 years of feeling like crap……I again have a little glimmer of hope. Now if I could just figure out how to get rid of the aches and pain and stomach aches too. So far, cutting out Gluten hasn’t done that! Anyway, thanks for the hopeful tears….
Hang in there. You may be getting hidden gluten that you don’t realize. All it takes is one bite and it can cause your body to attack itself. Read labels and read the product list. It could be as hidden as the lipstick you wear or the lotion you use.
Dawn, I hope you’ve found some relief and happiness. I hope that I’ll read among these blogs what you discovered as a remedy and how your life changed. I’m surprised at hearing, “unhelpable”. I was told in early 2010 at a clinic, “You don’t want help.” I could only cry right there in the office. They gave me acid reflux meds…which were a joke because the beads came up with the food. I wasn’t digesting much. I will be happy to first eat again and to enjoy it. I hope I will be led to figure out the pains. I’m glad I didn’t let those dentists pull my teeth. I had Wendy’s chilli tonight and so far I don’t feel worse. But I do feel kind of hungry. It makes me want to acknowledge that feeling.
All the best.
Just a voice out of Dan’s past to say “Well done Lad!”. Glad to see you are doing well. Best of all things good.
Thank you for the lovely story. I borrowed your book from the library and now I have to buy it
.
When I clicked the “About” link on your blog, I had no idea it would do what it just did.
Thank you for opening your heart, and writing about it.
You are an inspiration. Thank you for sharing your soul.
I love your writing and loved your story. Someone told me about the GF Girl right before my first Thanksgiving this year without gluten. It was a difficult time for me because my three young adult children grew up on my mother’s old sixties recipes of stuffing and traditional pumpkin pie. But you and the Chef got me through, your ebullience inspired me!!! Plus, my wonderful husband helps me too. Turns out one of my boys is a celiac too.
Wishing you much success on Vashon. We lived on Bainbridge from 1995 to 200.
Hi Shauna! I found your book at the library while I was browsing for something completely unrelated. I plowed through the first half at my son’s baseball practice last night. With a few exceptions, I felt that I was looking through the looking glass at my childhood. I have been “sick” since I was a small child. I had surgery in September and things have gone from bad to worse. I finally self-diagnosed this week and have an appointment on Tuesday to have the doctor confirm for me what I know to be true. When I first realized that everything I was reading about celiac disease fit my symptoms, I realized that I would have to give up so much. Thanks to your book, I know that I don’t have to give up anything other than eating bad food. I am now excited about the prospect of giving up gluten. I can’t wait to finish your book, and I plan to buy your cookbook today. Thank you for telling your story!
Hey Shauna,
My maiden name is Gilbert, and we went to HS together! I just found you through Heather Griffo. I am probably not full-blown celiac, but am definitely gluten sensitive. I now begin my journey into the land of gluten free. I have known for years I probably was (the Blood Type Diet is remarkably accurate!), but was in denial about it. Who wants to give up yummy wheat things? However, I realize that more often than not, yummy is whatever you want it to be. Is almond bread the same as wheat bread? No. but it is still fantastic, just in a different way. That, I see, is a big problem with the masses. They want it to be the SAME. I say suck it up and be healthy. It is equally as satisfying!
Anyway, just wanted to say thanks for this site. You are beautiful, happy, and a gift to all how come into contact with you. I appreciate your wealth of knowledge, and the spirit in which you present. Nice to be on the other side of feeling bad….
Yours,
Samantha
Gluten free Girl,
What a blessing it has been to find your page! I am already (mostly, minus my rare slip-ups) sugar free and fructose free (which calls for mostly GF anyway). After 10 years of constant stomach aches and feeling like poo, I FINALLY have a doc that will listen and is testing me for everything under the sun, Celiac included. I had sensitivity to so many foods as a baby and into childhood, and back in the 80′s there werent many GF alternatives. I can remember the hit or miss of mum’s baking/cooking. too much or too little of anything made it inedible.
I was feeling the food mopes (maybe I am the only one that gets that, where everyone in the world seems to have that one item that you cant have *ahem!* chocolate… and there isnt a simple alternative) and then I found you through Bob’s red mill’s twitter. And it was as though the heavens opened up and the Hallelujah choir was playing on the Muzak in the elevator… Woe is me no more!!
It is for me a constant struggle, my family and some friends want to be supportive from arms distance (take for example family dinner, I wanted to make a nice GF lasagna with spinach and chicken and alfredo. I got a resounding ‘that’s great, but we dont HAVE to eat like that, please make sure a store bought option is ready as well’) I used to be an avid cook, but my vitamin D and B12 levels are so low and they keep talking malabsorption (which after 10 years of this tom foolery isnt surprising) so it is all I can do to keep in school and be clothed. Thank heavens for potatoes, I am surprised Idaho hasnt run out of spuds yet.
anyhow, thanks for your site. It gives me hope that I too will feel better and can cook again soon.
Pepper
Thank you so much, Shauna, for everything you have given me. I stumbled onto your website after some extensive research about gluten-free cookery. Not satisfied with “the gums” in gluten-free baking recipes, I wanted to know if they were absolutely necessary for beautiful baking – I hung on every word you wrote in your entry about multi-grain muffins. I have changed everything in my kitchen and our lives to help my son adjust to his diagnosis and I am so happy to know that I have you in my corner. Your story is beautiful – despite its gastro-intestinal origins. It has been one month and my son has never been happier…or busier.
xxoo
I found your web site through another nutritionists web site. I too have Celiac, was born in August 1966 and will be marrying my (should be a professional) chef fiance next month. My story is very similar to yours. I now have more energy, normal iron levels and no stomach aches. It is like a whole new life. I will be getting your book soon.
Hi Shauna! I love your blog. I am a 17 year old who has suffered with migraines everyday of my life since I was 8. I just found out a few months ago I am a celiac. And I suffer through it everyday of my life. My family and friends are supportive to a point but when it comes to eating whatever they want in front of me, well it gets hard. I just found your blog and I absolutly love it. It gives me a new outlook on this disease. So I want to thank you.
~Brigit
I’m new to eating gluten-free. I’m so excited to find this website and even more excited to try out the recipes on it! Both my son (four years old) and I will be eating gluten-free (and my husband and daughter will too, even though they don’t HAVE to.) Thanks for sharing your passion
Shauna! Thanks so much for all you do here. We just learned that my special-needs 15-year-old child has gluten intolerance (I, too, am not crazy about ‘celiac disease.’). We have slowly been changing the way every one in the household eats. After just two weeks of changes in diets, he has more energy, way less gastric-issues, and more importantly seems happy to dine with us again (a challenge for any teenager…hehe). I just finished watching the video on rouxs and gravies as my son is also learning to cook and he wants to make gumbo this week, so a roux will be necessary. So, the video is very helpful.
Thanks again! Please keep blogging!
~Casz
You write beautifully!!! I was just browsing and came across your site. Your writing is so refreshing. (And this coming from someone whose career centers on reading!) I have a friend who is lactose intolerant and has several other allergies. As if this weren’t enough, she just recently discovered she also has Celiac’s disease. Fortunately she’s a creative, driven and inspired person. I plan to buy a copy of your book for her. I think the writing alone is quite nourishing for the soul!
Congratulations and best of luck!
Hi Shauna — my wife self-diagnosed her gluten intolerance about a year ago (it’s actually a pretty funny story. I HATE Lent. All those days without meat — what to do? So last year I made a beautiful fococcia with peppers, onions, parmesan and olive oil. A real work of art; extra chewy with the addition of wheat gluten to the recipe. And then, as the lenten tradition holds, I made chewy pretzels with, again, extra gluten for that wonderful chewy texture. Dawn [my wife] saw the box of gluten and mistakenly said — oh these are gluten-free? I responded with — “No, Honey, I added gluten to these recipes!” at which point a light went on in her head that gluten might be the reason she wasn’t feeling well.) So that was the start of our gluten-free way of living. We haven’t looked back.
Your story is inspiring! I think too many people live a life without energy and never feeling well because they have no idea what celiac is (and neither do their doctors!). Thank you for sharing.
I’ll be directing my blog (http://pizzaandpilates.tumblr.com) readers here for some great recipe ideas!
Hello Gluten Free girl,
I had a lot of fun scrolling through your blog – it’s very well written!
Just wanted to share with you how the situation is like in Europe:
I am an Italian girl and I currently live between Italy (were I live) and Germany (were I work).
I am 27 now, to me the disease was diagnosed 4 years ago after about 2 years of suffering. Stomach pain all around the clock, and the more it hurt, the more (especially in Italy) it is said to eat “dry stuff” such as pasta with just a little bit of oil or bred.. You can easily imagine how instead of getting better, I felt worse and worse everyday!
I had NO iron in my blood (iron 9 out of 59 and ferritin 2 out of 15) this meant that I had to go to hospital every day to have injections (which to up to 1hour) which revealed to be useless because I immediately lost it through the bleeding that was occurring in my stomach and I didn’t know.
The freaky think is that you can not really explain how you feel like, when you tell the doctors that you have “stomach pain” he does not loose a lot of time with you!
By chance I once read in a magazine the word “celiac” and “gluten”… since I didn’t know what it was I goggled it and I finally got to an explanation what the thing was about. This was the revelation!
I went back to my doctors and said that I absolutely wanted to be tested for this kind of disease, and here we are..
I feel much better since than, I got a little bit of weight, my skin improved and I feel much more active!
The situation in Italy is not as idyllic as you represented it, unfortunately there are a lots of Gelateria and Ristoranti, who just say not to worry, but it’s just because they don’t want to loose the client. Lot’s of public campaigns have been done in Italy, even on Tv with famous testimonials, so everybody knows about it. Yes it is a serious matter, but that you don’t die from it at once (as for example with nuts) so many just don’t care!
In “civilized Germany” they are not well informed and even less organised. Groceries who sell gluten free stuff are very rare and most of the business is done on the internet.
In Italy, once the disease is confirmed, you receive €140 monthly voucher to buy gluten free product for free – this is very good! In Germany there isn’t..
If I ever happen to be in Seattle, I d love to come an eat at your husband’s restaurant!
Best wished and good luck for your blog!
Maria
Honestly, Shauna, you have moved me to tears with your story. OK you write a LOT =) but what you say is so worth reading. We aren’t GF in our home, however, my son just got asked by the naturopath to stop wheat and dairy for a month. We have been back and forth with this before and his symptoms are sort of subtle so he isn’t easy to convince. And he’s 17! So I am just hoping that he will stick to it to see if there are results and I am VERY grateful to you for sharing your recipes and wisdom that I may make some really yummy food for my gorgeous boy. As soon as saw your picture I thought you were radiant!! I want him, too, to feel that alive. Grazie mille!!! Summer
Love your site. I’ll bookmark it, now,
I was looking for Marcia Setser, the HR Manager who worked at Shamrock. is that you?
Rochelle
I’ve been eating gluten-free for fifteen years now and I can remember how excited I was when I first read your book. However, after having a very challenging 2010 I found I’d forgotten how to enjoy being in the kitchen. Earlier this week I decided to re-read your book and it was exactly what I needed to get me inspired again. What I particularly like is how you write about having fun and playing when it comes to cooking. I’ve been doing that for the last couple of days and have been really enjoying myself so thank you!
Julia
Hey I have a quick question. My youngest son has gluten intollerance, and his eyes don’t dialate the same. Does any one know if these could be related? I can’t find any links any where… so now I am looking for people’s personal experiences. Thank you.
LaNae, I can’t say I have experienced this before. Perhaps someone else has? I’m assuming that you’ve had a doctor look at this?
I have had him looked at, and at this point with his age and no obvious problematic issues, I’ve been told to “watch him” and get back with them if it gets worse, or if other neuroligical issues develope. I’m just curious to see if it is common among people with Gluten issues. To be honest with myself, I think I’m probably just a worried Mom, wanting to know that he really is ok.
My son has the same thing! He has been tested for Celiac but it came back negative. I’m pretty sure though that he has some kind of gluten intolerance. And he also has unevenly dilated eyes. The doctors we’ve seen said they aren’t worried about it and I guess after his MRI came back normal neither am I. We are just now seriously going gluten free so it will be interesting to see if his eye dilation evens out.
Hi Gluten-Free Girl,
I am just going down this path of going gluten-free, and to find your site on the first week of doing so is great! I suspect both my son and mom might have the same issues as mine, so I will be educating them to make the switch too, and all of your resources you have here will make it so much easier. Thanks so much!
Sincerely,
Elisa
If you are lucky enough to live near a Publix Super Market. They have just started putting a big GF on the shelf tags of all Gluten Free Product! Yeah!!! For the first time today I could walk up and grab a bottle of salad dressing without reading the label. Life is Good:)
I love your website, recipes, and your story, thank you for sharing this with the world!
Your story sounds so similar to mine, out of the blue after eating gluten for my whole life, I developed some pretty severe symptoms to it.
In 5 months I had gone from a healthy 120 lb active young woman to a 90 lb gaunt, skeletal, lifeless sad young woman, I had ulcerations in my colon, fissures, boils, chronic diarrhea, rashes…unbelievable pain!….I really thought I was going to die…and so did my family.
My doctors didn’t know what it was, they didn’t do the celiac test, they were really no help….then I saw a Homeopath and Holistic Nutritionist and within 2 days of adopting her suggested gluten free diet the diarrhea and pain stopped and I began a long journey of healing.
After a few months of a gluten-free diet I met an old friend who had become a Registered Holistic Nutritionist and Holistic Allergist. I had 5 appointments with her to help clear allergies and sensitivities to over 50 different foods, including gluten, and since then (1.5 years later) I can eat a bit of gluten several times a week without any issues or symptoms!
However, I do mostly eat gluten free to prevent building a sensitivity to gluten again.
Holistic Allergy treatments don’t work for everyone, but they do work for many…over the past year and a half I’ve met many people who’ve cleared their gluten allergy with the help of an H.A…..it’s an interesting technique!
Because of this experience I wanted to learn more about healing the body with foods and herbs. I am about to finish school and become a Registered Holistic Nutritionist and am considering pursuing the Registered Holistic Allergist degree.
At school I learned about the pathology of food allergies and sensitivities – if you eat too much of any one food, over time your body can develop a sensitivity to it. It’s even more likely to happen if you eat food while under stress.
I encourage you to look into treatment from a Holistic Allergist, if it suits you….I’m grateful to be able to eat whatever I want now and feel full of life and energy!
Cheers! G.C.
Sauna I have had Celiacs disease all my life, living in Canada,growing up in a smaller city, not so many places were aware how serious it is. I recently found out that it is more common than people( mostly doctors) think. 133 people every 1000, have it! I agree with you about loving food and using what we have available to make it great. My husband has started growing our garden inside from seeds so hopefully we will have a huge vegetable garden. The snow is almost gone from the ground but we won’t be able to plant outside for another 6 to 7 weeks. I am very impressed with the grocery stores in our area lately; they have quite a variety of foods that I can buy; I am trying very hard to make most of my own meals. My husband doesn’t like a lot of the things I eat, but he is very understanding with what happens to me if I eat wrong! He will start cooking a meal for both of us, with ingredients I can eat, and then split it into 2 to finish for each of us.thanks for your encouragement to a lot of frustrated people.
I love the synchronicity of life…
A week or so ago my herbalists suggested I eliminate gluten…been mentally preparing to eliminate gluten for 40 days to see if my allergies are related.
Today I was working on my wordpress thesis website and decided to google ‘thesis websites’ to get an inspiration from what others have done with this theme.
I landed on a site with several thumbnail pictures of some thesis sites. My site is going to be a herbalism site so I was attracted to the fruit.
I landed on your blog- The GLUTEN-FREE girl and the chef. Talk about Faith.. your site could not have come at a better time in my life.
Looking forward to learning from your site!
Thanks for making gluten-free seem exciting
Geneviève
Hello. I just found this site and want to make the Roasted Asparagus Frittata. Could someone please tell me what size cast iron skillet I need. I have to buy one and want to be sure. THANKS!
so…my husband loves salisbury steak…and we just had dinner at the Elks Club (we like to be the youngest people in a place sometimes!) and it was one of the dinner choices. mike turned to me and said, i wish you could learn to make this…and i retorted…you probably wouldn’t like a salisbury steak made with real ingredients. and so he dared me. your salisbury steak popped up in google, a bit down the list, but your story, about grace..had me hooked. your writing is mesmerizing…and your food looks amazing. i will be back when i have more time to wander around.
thanks for the recipe…i am going to give it a go
Shauna – Your entire blog is just such a joy to read. Whenever I’m home for a visit from school I end up in the kitchen with my mom, who is a celiac, and we make delicious food together. Just reading your stories and seeing your beautiful pictures make me want to go back home to Seattle. I always shut my laptop feeling inspired. Thank you for sharing your life with us!
Shauna,
Just when I was thinking that I would start a blog on gluten and dairy free life, I found yours and know that I can focus on other things! The job is done by another Shauna! We are in month 7 of kitchen renovations, yes 7 months without running water or a countertop. During this time, we have had to rely on processed foods unrelentingly — I have ignored my own digestive limitations during this time and I have gotten sicker and sicker. Now, this week, although still without a kitchen, I am taking back control over my food. Reading through your site inspires me to continue getting that renovation done, so I will have a place to cook again. I cannot wait. Until then, it may be a lot of raw foods and rice, but come May 1, I’ll be braising up some fennel a la Shauna.
With many thanks, Shauna B.
Shauna – I hate that I waited to read this book when a friend bought it 2 years ago for me…
I just completed the book and it gives me hope on so many things – eating, cooking, baking and mostly finding that someone…being 32, single and severly depressed with having diabetes, heart condition and a few other things I fell into a hole BUT after reading your book I am going to do my best to turn over a new leaf to my life and wanted to deeply THANK YOU!
Yeah for you!!! Really.
Both of you are adorable.
8 years ago I eliminated gluten from my life. The difference this made to my health was almost immediate and life-changing. After years of stomach pain, bloating, “accidents” and brain fog I felt like a new woman. I lost weight as well which I feel was more fluid as I always felt puffy. I live in Australia and have found that in the past 2 or 3 years the availability of gluten free produce has been increasing. Yay!! I am self diagnosed as gluten intolerant and will not bother to get tested as I feel so wonderful without gluten in my diet. I am almost obsessed with this as I will not even chance eating it. I do wonder if I have gone too far sometimes as I can eat for example, a small amount of sauces which contain wheat flour and do not react. I am sensitive to dairy and alcohol also.
I read your book quite a while ago and have been following you blog regularly. You are inspiring. I love that your Chef loves you so much that he adapted his cooking. I have a husband who loves me so much he always checks the menu when we eat out for me even though I can “fend” for myself. He has experienced my reactions!
I spread the word when I can and do not hide my intolerence. Saying this I do not like being fussed over which sometimes happens as some people feel anxious that they haven’t any food you can eat. I always say that its my responsiblity and carry a few rice crackers or fruit as a snack.
If we ever travel to Seattle we will dine at your Chef’s restaurant.
Thank you Shauna for an inspiring life story and your continuing commitment to sharing recipes and snippets of your life.
Just got your book and love it. Have been gluten free for two weeks and feeling much better, the only thing that has helped. So many tests all negative. Have you heard of high back pain after eating or chills from gluten in the diet? Carole
Shauna,
I love your book, Gluten Free Girl. I have been gluten free since 2006. I talked my sister into going gluten-free, which took a lot of work. She finally gave in and decided to take her nine year old son off gluten. He had been seriously depressed, crying every night. Within a month, he was a changed boy. She had him tested and he came up positive for celiac disease. I think my father and my siblings are all celiac or gluten intolerant to different measures. Can’t talk four of them into going gluten free, inspite of their serious depressions and health concerns.
However, we do have a farm in Michigan that we are turning into an L3C. An L3C is a wonderful new business model that marries a non-profit with a for profit. In other words, a for profit business with a mission statement that is charitable/educational. The goal is to teach people how to live more sustainably and to produce beautiful, organic food.
We are considering having the WHOLE farm be gluten free and growing the wonderful grains that you write of – quinoa, sorghum, millet, teff, maybe oats, etc. We have a threasher and are considering a mill.
Wanted you to know of your inspiration. Just need to find sorghum, millet, quinoa and amaranth seeds. Want to move away from anything Monsanto touched. Michigan farmers, like too many others, plant mostly Round-Up Ready Soybeans, Wheat and Corn.
We’ll keep looking.
Blessings to you and yours,
Good morning Shauna,
After reading your amazing story, I wanted to introduce Wildtree Gluten Free products to you as a way of quick and easy baking. We now manufacture a line of breads, brownie mixes, cake mix, muffin mix and pizza dough that is not only wheat free it is all natural, has no dyes, no artificial ingredients, no preservatives or MSG. Our entire food collection is also nut free as well and geared to people who want to eat healthy quick and easy meals. Wildtree was founded on the premise that food should be natural, nutritious, delicious and easy to prepare – all at the same time. I invite you to check out our website for more valuable information at http://www.jjohnson.mywildtree.com. I look forward to hearing from you!
Oh, I forgot to mention. I, too, teach high school. I teach plant biology in South Tacoma. Would love to meet you sometime.
beautiful site
your stories and recipes inspire me. take care and all the best!
I have had gastro-intestinal issues for years. And I have never had anyone explain gluten-free eating in a manner that is so appealing as have you. It should give anyone that is suffering with celiac hope, and a “fully alive” outlook.
Thank you for this site -I am ordering your book today!
T
Hi Shauna and Daniel aka The Chef,’
I just happened to find you on a friend’s blog and what perfect timing( i have a knack for fining what is needed, and for being supported by the Universe).
I have symtoms of Fibromyalgia (30 plus years, although, it feel s like all my life), and I know how much BETTER I feel when I eliminate gluten.
I am so committed to start my gluten free plan ONCE AGAIN. With the new moon singing to us, I am starting my plan tomorrow and feel so fortunate to have your beautiful recipes to keep me on my path. I love your story … Love you blog … love you …
I am going to link you onto my blog. Do you have a button?
Thanks so much for sharing and inspiring.
xoxo
Thank you.
I can still remember sitting by the pool clinging to your book and your voice as my only friend with Celiac. I also grew up in the eighties and wore my house key around my neck, so your description of packaged not-so-goodness made for a few embarrassing guffaws. The laughs were priceless.
Now, I am raising a daughter who also has Celiac. We cook together. It is a rewarding life – now.
Thank you for pioneering a new topic, providing incredible recipes and living transparent.
Wow, so happy I found your blog! What a wonderful story, and way of living. Definitely an inspiration.
I am so happy that you have published another cookbook. What my husband and I miss are the Friday or Saturday evenings we spent at the restaurant where the Chef cooked in Madison Park. Now the restaurant has been replaced by a pizza restaurant and we have not been back. But, we are anxious to try some of your new recipes. I too am a celiac survivor having had it for well over 30 years so it is great to have someone put together wonderful recipes that my husband and I can try.
We can’t thank you enough and we’re glad to hear that Lucy is doing fine after a rough start. Best wishes….and thank you.
Thank you for sharing your story. I have trears welling up in my eyes because your story is familiar to me! I had been very ill for a very long time and have only recently been well. It has been a long journey to health. A journey that I ultimately took the lead on. Because, like you, no doctor could or would figure out why my stomach hurt after every meal and why I was chronically ill. I found an integrative medicine doctor who put the pieces together. I have just discovered your site and look forward to preparing some new recipes. To good health!
Love reading your blog, I just found out 2 weeks ago That i’m a celiac and I’m not adjusting very well. I find it so difficult to feed my very very picky family and myself. I’m on day 4 of eating entirely gluten free and honestly it’s been challenging but so worth it. I feel amazing! But I’d love any advice or tips. Thanks
You are cuter’n a speckled pup under a red wagon on a snowy mornin girl! And your hubby looks like that Luke guy on TV, mmmm.
Wow, what an inspiring story, gluten-free girl, you’ve got me thinking. I don’t have celiac, at least not that I’m aware of. But I know I feel better when I don’t eat wheat. It’s a journey. I’m learning. And thankful to discover you & your blog. Cheers! Angela
Dear Shauna,
I loved your book! Thank you for taking gluten free living into everyday life.
I’ve read a lot of books on all of the health issues around this condition but
never such a refreshing book on how to navigate in a glutenous society!
You feel like a kindred spirit. I was diagnosed 6 weeks ago and have been
gluten-free ever since. I no longer walk in a “fog” on auto-piolet anymore.
I am energetic, happy, accomplishing so much in life again. I, like you, don’t feel
that my life has been taken away from. I feel a whole new world has opened up.
It is fun cooking with new food items and making healthy choices. I was never
what one would call a “compulsive” eater, yet I was overweight. Now the extra
pounds are falling off. Not because I’m trying…I am very satisfied with what I eat
now. My body is balancing out. I now have begun to seem my patients with chronic
problems in a new light. Thank you for your great contribution to the society of
gluten-free individuals! God Bless you, Dr. Dianne
I think I’ve found another sister! A couple of years ago I began eating gluten free due to other health issues. I did my best to research and study on my own and not only has my health issue been somewhat relieved, other problems I had seem to have vanished. No longer do I have to endure the stomach problems or various other ailments I thought I just had to live with. Your story is not only touching but validates my choice.
Thank you dear beautiful lady!!
While I tested negative for celiac, so many in my family have tested positive that I realized going gluten free could not help but improve my life. After one week, I feel mentally much sharper with far more energy. I have both your books and plan to buy your first book for my friend who is going gluten free. She’s a breast cancer survivor and has struggled with many of the symptoms. I’m the “test chef” and internet shopper (she’s not particularly computer savvy),. Having her share the same diet will make our Thursday night, “Champagne and Chocolate” potlucks much more interesting. Thank you and your husband for all you’ve done. DJ
I love the way you write. You truly have a gift for it. Looking forward to getting your cookbook.
Thanks,
Lee
Shauna,
Thanks so much for your encouraging, enlightening and illuminating website and books (yes, books, I have two of them so far). As a recently diagnosed Celiac, I have been haunting the web, book stores and libraries for information on how to live GF. I stumbled across your web site and haven’t looked back. Fortunately for me, my husband LOVES to cook and loves to cook for me. (I’m not much of one, sadly.) I so enjoy your stories about food and look forward to trying some new things – expanding my palate, as it were. We had your lemon-rosemary roasted chicken tonight and I am drooling at the thought of the leftovers! Thanks again!
Shauna (yes, I’m Shauna too – even spelled “right”)
I am crying…three days ago we got the diagnosis for our 12 year old daughter of celiac disease. I have been terrified…thinking only in terms of all the things she will never eat again. Trying to put on a brave face about how excited we are going to be converting to g-free eating, while a stone sank in my stomach, I felt it was a death sentance for my palate, I just didn’t want her to know. Your blog has given me hope for her and my kitchen, thank you so much for sharing your life with strangers and giving a crack of light in the doorway of our new life.
Dear Shauna and Danny,
How a nice story!!!! I am Cris and I am from Buenos Aires, Argentina. I reached your blog through Saveur´s webpage, voting blogs I usually visit, and I saw the tittle of yours interesting, so I came. And I am delight! Your story is so nice, so sweet and so realistic. I am a dietitian and although nowadays I do not work so much with celiac patients, I used to in the past, and their stories are so much like yours that I felt sorry for the patients looking for so much time for an answer. Well, anyway, this disease is being screened as a common disease here in Argentina, foods gluten free are available (however, at a higher and privative prices, sometimes) and the disease is known. And in your case, the disease has brought you the most beatiful present: a man who loves you and the best partner you can find!
Congratulations to you both! I will return for more (posts from the past!) and as a “frequent visitor” for the new posts!
Kindly,
Cris
I just finished reading your first book and the first paragraph of page 15, not only made tears flow unexpectedly, but described my lifelong health problems in a way I had never really recognized. Especially not all on one page so plainly laid out before me. I recently experienced a traumatic life and health experience (visiting India and returning with a very intense stomach parasite) and believe that my quiet and dormant (until now) Celiac Disease has been awakened (have not been officially tested yet). I was feeling devastatingly depressed and overwhelmed and grieving gluten like I never thought food could be grieved.
A new friend of mine gave me your book but I honestly didn’t think my outlook could be changed. I was definitely one of those girls who made a large batch of baked mac n cheese twice a month, baking cookies once a week, lasagna, ravioli, pizza when out, and toast every morning with my fried eggs. I feel horrible for doing that to myself for YEARS but now I have the rest of my life to make up for it with much inspiration from you.
I truly feel like you have saved me from months of wasted time trying to substitute gluten instead of discovering.
I have only been GF for about a month and have a lot of healing left to do but the repairing now not only looks conquerable, but exciting. I can’t wait to start feeling healthy again (some of my symptoms have already cleared!!)!
Thank you so much for sharing your story and helping me discover how to be alive and well.
oxo
-Sadie
I just wanted to thank you for giving me such a special day. I haven’t had this kind of happiness derived from food in some time. The mere thought of food just hasn’t been exciting since the Celiac diagnosis. Today, delicious food served with the cutest smile that came from total understanding of the disease was truly a gift. I totally get what you mean by it being a “family” type situation amongst those of us that carry this inconvenient problem day in and day out. Everything you made was awesome. Dan is a lucky lucky guy.
In all seriousness, thanks a ton.
So, I am doing research on gluten free cooking because I want to add a gluten free section to my blog and I bought your cookbook as part of my “research”. I spent the whole weekend reading it, actually consuming it is a better word. As someone who reads cookbooks like other people read novels, this book was such a treat! I absolutely loved it, so had to stop by and let you know! I literally couldn’t put it down…lovely lovely writing..
xxoo,
RMW
thank you! that made my day. I’m so glad you enjoyed reading it.
All I can say is “WOW” and thank you for sharing your passion.
I was recently diagnosed with MS and just stared a gluten-free diet in trying to alleviate my symptoms without going on the drugs. I am a baker and a cook and there’s nothing more I love in this world than clean eating. However, I’m terrified of mixing flours, etc. but ready to try. My first question, albeit rudimentary, is what kind of scale should i use in weighing the GF flours? Please help so I can get started. Thanks!
I just wanted to say how much I love and appreciate your work. In some ways, I dread coming here though…because I get lost in all the recipes…dreaming of the day I can tackle each one and hoping that they really are better than all the disappointing ones I have tried in the past. I am motivated and encouraged by your life and your dedication to being something better. That is my hope for myself as well.
Thank you , again for the fantastic role model that you are.
Sincerely,
Rachel
Reading your story just moved me to tears, thank you so much for sharing your life and discoveries with the world, I have been Gluten free for 2 months now due to developing a seizure disorder (long story!) and it has completely changed my life, I look forward to following your blog and your gluten-free love story from now on
Have a wonderful day xx
I just read your book. I read it in a few hours, which is completely unlike me. It was beautiful, inspiring, comforting, and above all freeing. Thank you for using your words in such a wonderful way.
Hi! I have come across this blog a couple times before, trying to teach myself more about celiac and living gluten-free. My boyfriend has celiac disease, and we talk about getting married a lot. Though that’s still a few years off (I want to graduate undergrad first, so when we do get married, we won’t be split apart), I would like to be able to share our meals. He has, however, let me try his bread, some of which he buys, some he makes. But anyway, I was wondering if you were the only one in your family who has celiac or does your daughter or the Chef have it too? Do you eat the same foods, including breads, or do you set out gluten-free bread as well as “normal” glutenated bread? (Is glutenated a word? It seems to work there!)
I’d love to hear from you! Thanks, Erin
The first part of your story is so similar to my own that I had tears in my eyes. It’s amazing to be alive! Thank you for sharing your story.
~Annie
Dear Shauna,
There are tears in my eyes as I’m reading your story because it touches on so many issues that have caused me pain – not feeling well all of the time, the struggle to find love, not being able to enjoy food, yet loving to eat…..
I agree with the person above who also expressed what a beautiful, simple way you have with words.
Everything in life happens for a reason. Today I found your blog and I’m quite certain it’s divine intervention. I’m about to embark on the same journey. I’m so overwhelmed by what to eat, how to cook it, what tools to buy, etc. Plus, I’m half-Italian and very involved in the Italian community. So I get offered food all the time!!! Very good food, too – homemade Italian breads, pastas and cheeses – that is very difficult to turn down. Italians are also very insistent about food, “mangia…mangia” and sometimes it even offends them if you don’t eat what they’ve put so much love, time and effort into making for you.
But what you’ve done here is made me hopeful – hopeful and enthusiastic about food and about learning to eat in a new way. And, hopeful, too, that maybe there is a “chef” out there for me, too, though, frankly, I’ve given up hope in that area after so much pain with men. But maybe…..
Anyway, I’m so glad I found this blog. I’ll be ordering your books, too. Sei italiana? You seem to interject so much Italian into your writing that I must ask.
I also appreciated learning the phrases, “sono celiaca” and “senza glutine” as I’ll be using then more often now.
With gratitude
Jen
PS The one thing I think I’ll miss the most is gnocchi, but I actually saw a gluten-free gnocchi in the freezer section of Whole Foods last week.
Shauna,
The comment pages attached to your blog are almost as incredible as the blog itself! It must feel great to have such an outpouring of love from every which corner of the internet. If you’re ever in a terrible mood, you could just print all of these out, bind them into a book, and read them again…
So here’s my two cents: thank you for everything you do. You are wonderful! Your blog has been second only to my own gluten-free mama in keeping me happy and healthy after discovering this month that yes, I had inherited the family’s pattern of gluten intolerance. Everyone I talk to about my way of eating seems to think that I should be mourning beer and cupcakes. When I tell them I’m happy about the discovery, they look perplexed. But after I explain that my now my gut won’t keep me from dancing, from enjoying a meal, from having a full and happy life, they eventually start to get it. Here’s to a long life of good food and good health. The very best wishes to you and The Chef!
Bill
What a truly beautiful story. I personally know several people who have had their lives changed by celiacs, and, to say the least, not all of them have dealt with it as gracefully as you have. . . you are an inspiration. Thank you for your wonderful blog and for the difference you’re making in the world – I know you’ve made mine a little brighter.
I actually cried reading this. Me too, I’ve been there. I’m a professor and the brain fog part was the worst. I felt like I was the nutty professor; blanking out in class, forgetting to tell my students important things. Now, I’m gluten-free and feeling wonderful (and more like the intelligent woman I am). Thank you and your husband for the great recipes! Keep on!
Is there a way to subscribe to weekly recipe emails? If so, how?
Sorry, Teri, but we don’t have that function here!
thanx for the article
i was diagnosed with CD in 1983 – the stress of my stepdad’s passing was a big factor in bringing it on
but lo and behold, after 15 years of eating gluten free, i pretty much “outgrew” it and can now eat a normal diet (was retested negative six times); doctors were stumped on how i managed to overcome it, but a lot of it had to do with emotional recovery
but i still encourage people who are symptomatic to continue with their gluten free diet, it is actually a very healthy way to eat
glad you found the love of your life- am still waiting for mine LOL!
Darryl Henick
http://www.drhphotos.com
http://www.modelmayhem.com/drhphotos
Just discovered your site and LOVE IT!!! You are doing an amazing thing! Just discovered my gluten intolerance = gluten free for 4 weeks. Happy to see such passion for food and all the great recipes. I can’t wait to try each and every one of them with my family. Thank you!
My little one was diagnosed last December and since her diet started, what a change. So, I think I can relate to your story. One thing that makes me uneasy is the fact that my daughter’s doc was, as in your case, not cool with testing. Her diagnosis came about because friends and family, who are in the medical field, insisted that some testing had to be done. Again, when I asked for testing, her pediatrician even went on to tell me that if he had to guess “there was no general health issue with her.” We have changed pediatricians since then, I am outraged that this is such an undiagnosed condition. Just a simple blood test is such a big deal? Really!? Come on…! Once the diagnosis came and read about the symptoms, I seemed so obvious!
I cannot tell you how happy I am to have found your site!
I’m an American girl, living and studying in Scotland, and right at this moment doing a two month long apprenticeship in Siena Italy. In the States I live completely gluten free, and avoid gluten-free products as well. I’ve been lucky to find higher quality (and less expensive) gluten free food in Scotland, but I was worried about how I was going to eat in Italy – I nearly cried when I went to the supermarket and more than half of it was blatantly wheat products, never mind all the foods containing a smidgeon of wheat that I just can’t handle… but my mum (a fellow coeliac) found your site and passed it along. The gluten free in Italy post is SO incredibly helpful!
Thank you so, SO much for creating this site – it’s truly a joy to read, and it makes me feel like I can actually eat again!!!
I love your website and all the yummy food pictures! I am going through many tests right now – including the infamous colonoscopy just this very afternoon….. to figure out what the heck is going on, but I already suspected gluten. How did I find you – I was “google-ing” findings from today’s exam along with the name Mark Hyman (because I have been following his Ultra- concepts for several years now and your page came up as a Healthy Cooking link on his Functional Medicine page. I never did totally stop gluten on his plan though. I did, however, recently stop gluten when the gastroenterologist told me to stop all medicines, vitamins and supplements in prep for the procedure. I figured what’s one more thing! I do believe it was making a difference – until it was time to start the soft diet and magnesium citrate drinks.
To make my long story short (although I love YOUR long story and thank you for it!), I have added your site as a link on my page so I can get to it easily and so my readers might also find it! I’ll blog about it and I’m buying your book! Keep it up!!
Hi there, Shauna!
I started reading your book, “Gluten-Free Girl” just the other day and am almost finished! I cannot believe how much we are alike! My passion for food only slightly fizzled when I was diagnosed with Celiac disease, and then came back 10 fold when I discovered that this diagnosis would now allow me a whole new world in the kitchen!
I love you for your words and for sharing them with other gluten free girls like me!
~Sue
I came to the end of your book Gluten-Free Girl today in tears. You have sparked in me a respect for my body, a passion for the food I eat, and most importantly, love for myself. Thank you, Shauna, for your inspiration and your wonderful recipes.
I was recently diagnosed with Celiac disease. Prior to this, I was what one might call a “foodie” that LOVED baked breads that my husband baked most weekends. Your website and book- Gluten free Girl- have really been a great comfort to me during this learning process on what to eat now. With just a few chapters to go in the book, I even found myself buying your cook book online a few days ago. It arrived on my doorstep this afternoon and I plan to have a lovely evening reading it tonight after my kids are in bed. Thank you so much for your writing and love of food. It has been a blessing these past few weeks.
Laura, the new Gluten-free Girl living in Vermont
Hi Shauna.
I have thoroughly enjoyed ready your book and blog. I can really connect with your “sick” days. I have been sick for about 2 years now but have not been diagnosed with celiac, instead my gastroenterologist calls it severe IBS… along with this has come depression and anxiety. It’s oh so interesting how your digestive system effects ALL of your body. And there is no “cure” to IBS. I do live gluten and dairy free and have felt better, but not 100%. Thank you for sharing your stories, good and bad. I will absolutely be using your recipes and recommendations to new finds.
Thank you. Really.
Emily
I love your site & your book. My boyfriend has been sick for years with gluten sensitivity and a variety of allergies. It was after we started dating that I decided to dive into the unknown world of a gluten-free life. I also just started a blog to share my stories & experiences with others.
Thank you for sharing,
Jennifer
Thank you Shauna! I just discovered your blog, when I googled “eating gluten free in Italy.” I dream of visiting Italy someday, but not too seriously, as I assumed it would be torture to go and not be able to eat the pasta and bread we assume they live on there. I am SO excited to hear that they understand celiac and you can in fact eat gluten free without sacraficing. A beautifully written article. My dream just grew exponentially.
Thank you!!!
Hi, Gluten-Free Girl! I’ve recently begun to venture into the gluten free lifestyle after a lifetime of changing diagnoses ranging from IBS to ADD and depression. Since becoming pregnant with my fourth child, my physical symptoms have increased tenfold when I slip up, so I’ve become determined to cut all gluten out of our household meals. I’d say my husband is supportive, but in reality he’s more apathetic. He’s fine with eating gluten free if he can’t tell it is.
Better than him refusing the diet! I have a blog of my own, and I hope you don’t mind that I shared a link to one of your recipes. If you do mind, please let me know and I will remove it. Thanks for providing such an informative website with great recipes and support for those of us who share your need for tasty, simple, GF living! –Sarah
Hello Shauna,
My daughter put me onto your site. I am one of the ‘trialgroup’ children of the doctor in the Netherlands who discovered the link between gluten and child deaths. Fortunately for me, my grandfather knew him and when I was sickly as a baby in 1954 he arranged for me to be seen by him. I was put on to various trial diets to ‘cure’ the allergy (including a period of grated raw liver and goats milk 3 x daily) and was declared ‘cured’ by 10-12 years old. Coeliac was barely mentioned after that and feeling unwell was frowned upon, considered as attention-seeking. Years of recurrent ill health, problems with conceiving, lack of energy later( my then Dutch GP told me I was only ill through stressing too much because all women do and that I should go for lots of walks to de-stress – the worst thing being that I was so sick I actually believed him!). I was only re-diagnosed by chance with coeliac about 13/14 years ago and it was discovered that I also have the hereditary gene.
The girls left home at around about the same time and I lost interest in food and cooking. Oh, I ate, but there was no passion just necessity, the things I used to like being out of reach and cooking for one didn’t inspire me. It has only been relatively recently that I can take pleasure in eating what I cook, I rarely buy specific gf products and live ‘simply’. Holland is slowly, very slowly, bringing in specific gf food but nowhere near the choice you have in both the USA and the UK.
On the hereditary gene side, I am the only one in the entire family to date who has coeliac but lots of other family members have eczema, hay fever, asthma – even reuma -etc which my internist says are all linked on the same gene. It may be worth trying a gf diet for those ailments to see if the symptoms or attacks lessen.
Your enthousiasm for life, food and cooking, gf or not, is heart warming and inspiring. Thanks.
Claire
Thank you so much for creating this website and sharing your story. Your website is wonderfully done and the pictures are so beautiful. Thank you!
Just finished reading GFG & Chef – love it! I am especially appreciative for the dairy free suggestions and look forward to utilizing the recipes throughout the year and for years to come.
Be well, Kel
Shauna – I just got your GFG book on Friday (anxiously awaiting for the cookbook to be delivered!) and I CANNOT PUT IT DOWN!!! Your writing is so amazing.
I am a true lover of food…good quality food. But I for so many years of my life was stuck stuffing my face with things that I thought were fulfilling my needs. Nasty processed nutrition-less food. I fell into the wrath of a compulsive overeating disorder, have struggled a life-long battle with weight (started my website to be a public confessional for my weight loss journey), and was diagnosed with Celiac Disease about 2 months ago after 12 years of intense digestive turmoil.
I’ve been in an intense “mourning” for the things I can no longer have, but your book has helped me have an amazing epiphany! I have found myself in tears reading through your explanations on why GF is so un-restrictive – and what amazing food options and possibilities I have before me now!
Thank you so much for your blog! Thank you so much for being so much more than a site on how to “substitute” more bad food for the bad food I was already eating. And thank you for opening my eyes to what an amazing culinary journey I have before me!
You are truly an inspiration.
Kindest Regards,
Hannah Hayes
Thank you for your wonderful story!!
I have had ‘stomach issues” all my life!!! I would have diarrhea, then constipation, with bloating, belching, and gas passing. I was hospitalized many times in my younger years, and even put on a diet of jarred baby food at one point!!
I was always told I have a “nervous” stomach!! 2 weeks ago, I was in sooo uch pain, that I went to the doctor AGAIN!! He once again, didn’t know what was wrong with me. (He took some blood (but not a celiac test) and told me he was going to test for crohn’s or ulcerative colitis. I told him I have been tested NUEROUS TIMES for these 2 diseases, I DON’T have them!!! Anyway, to amke a long story short, I started googling my symptoms, and malabsorption symptoms on the internet. On a whim, I found celiac. No one that I know of has this in my family.
I have started myself on a gluten free diet, and have been gluten free for 1 week so far. I can NOT believe how AMAZING I feel!!! I have NEVER EVER felt this good!!! I used to live on baking soda and tums!!!
Anyway, after being on a gluten free diet for 1 week, my husband wanted to celebrate by having pancakes for breakfast…(I don’t even like them that much!!!) anyway, I googled a gluten free pancake recipe that used corn meal in place of flour. I must say they were DELICIOUS!! However…About 30 minutes after eating them, I wound up in the bathroom…I was in the bathroom for most of the day!! I was soooo disheartened!! I couldn’t iaging what I had done wrong!! Then…I googled corn meal…I had NO IDEA that all corn meal was not gluten free!!!!! As I said, this is my FIRST WEEK at this!!! Anyway, I feel better today and I am back to living gluten free…EVEN without a diagnosis!!! I KNOW WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME!!!
Thank you thank you for this website!!! This is a new journey for me, and I am trying as hard as I can!! Oh, and I really do feel so much better!!! I read online that you HAVE to eat gluten in order to get the blood test and see if it is positive. I NEVER want to eat gluten again, so I do NOT need a blood test to tell me I am gluten intolerant!!!
Hi Michelle,
Thanks for sharing your story! I’m glad you are feeling better.
Trader Joe’s has some wonderful GF products. In fact, they recently gave me a list that is 7 pages long of all their GF products. In addition to many GF products, their rice pasta is wonderful.
You might consider trying Red’s brand rice flour for pancakes. You can get it at Walmart, Meijer, etc. I’m using it and I promise you; you will not notice a difference in texture or taste. Enjoy and be well! Pam
We found out that we have a celiac in the house at the end of March, 2011. We all went off of gluten and our son started feeling better almost immediately. Even though the gastroenterologist said she was 99.9% sure he had celiac disease based on his extraordinarily high transglutamase antibody levels, she wanted our son to be put back on gluten for 4 weeks just so she could get a biopsy of his intestines. We refused and our primary care physician agreed and backed us up in the decision. It has truly been an adventure learning all about what he/we can and cannot eat.
Ever since that day, the one recipe that I am dismayed to not be able to make is the Williamsburg ginger bread cookies made with whole wheat flour. http://www.history.org/almanack/life/food/ginger.cfm We love the simplicity of the cookie and absolutely adore the texture the whole wheat adds. Would either of you help me re-create this cookie, please? I just don’t know what to use. Thanks!
You’re an inspiration Shauna! You made me understand in a delicious way how to live gluten-free.
Hi Shauna, my name is Pam. I live near Indianapolis in Indiana. I just found your site and am so grateful to hear your story of break through, determination, love, health and happiness! You are a true inspiration! Nearly five months ago, I was diagnosed with the autoimmune disorder (Hashimoto’s) am being treated for celiacs. It was so enlightening for me to learn that my autoimmune system was attacking my thyroid because the cellular properties of the thyroid gland are nearly identical to that of gluten. I was thrilled. Finally, some answers! My thyroid had not been functioning regularly for who knows how long; impacting my pituitary and hormone production. My body was completely out of balance with an over production of cortisol and adrenaline contributing to my weight gain, fatigue and mental fogginess. Back in December, 2010, I completely hit a brick wall and could no longer deny the fact I wasn’t thriving in life. I felt hopeless; depressed, low energy and experienced severe mental fogginess that really scared me. I had no idea what was going on with; very similar to your story. I’m an identical triplet and my sister, Paula, has also battled similar symptoms over a longer period of time; feeling depressed, bloated, runny nose and very low energy. For over 10 years she has been prescribed medication for her underactive Thyroid. She has also been taking an allergy medication, that quite frankly didn’t help when she ate gluten. She too has gone gluten free and is seeking holistic treatment with the intent of bringing her body back into balance and going off of the medications. My other sister, Patty, is just now starting to experience autoimmune issues and is feeling immediate symptoms when she eats gluten. What a blessing to be able to be an example and to educate her now so that she can make informed choices that lead to health & wellness.
Having been gluten free for a few months has caused a radical shift in my energy level and mental clarity and I FEEL GREAT! In addition to my diet, my holistic doctors prescribed a natural supplementation protocol where I take purified fish oil (a high concentation of EPA & DHA is key), 10,000 IU’s of liquid vitamin D 2x/day & natural plan extracts that are clinically proven to reduce free radical damage.
Much like you and Danny, my sisters and I are having a great time in the kitchen where my sis, Paula, is a creative and wonderful cook. She’s showing me how to prepare delicious polenta, brown rice and brown rice pasta dishes. And, she has an amazing recipe for a phenomenal brown rice flour pizza crust. I look forward to reading your books and enjoying the recipes you’ve shared.
Shauna, thanks again to you and all your contributors for your stories! Pam
I need help picking out a scale so that I can master all of these fantastic recipes! Any suggestions?
Dear Shauna,
I picked up both “Gluten Free Girl” and “Gluten Free Girl and the Chef” from my local library, and after reading the first four chapters of Gluten Free Girl, and reading a sampling (meaning, opening to random pages) of Gluten Free Girl and the Chef, I am compelled to buy both for my very own, as never has a book about anything gluten-free grabbed me from the get-go likes yours did.
My gluten-free journey began not with stomach and fatigue, but with chronic, debilitating eczema (atopic dermatitis, to be specific). I can’t remember any time growing up when I didn’t itch – I was always broken out with weeping, crusted, usually-infected-from-scratching rashes that oftentimes kept me from going to school out of humiliation. So many things triggered the rashes – food dyes, zinc oxide, and aloe were discovered early on, followed by fragrances in laundry soap, fabric softener, and animal hair later – yet no matter what I tried, or what my parents tried, I was never wholly clear.
In 2009, I made a decision to start eating better and shed the excess weight that I had carried for over a decade, since the birth of my girls (now 13-1/2 and almost 12). I noticed that the elimination of the junk food, the fast food, and the processed food helped my skin quite a bit, though not to the point of clearing it up. Then, in July 2010, we went to Orlando for a combination dance competition/vacation. To cut costs, we ate tons of sandwiches, wraps, Kashi-type bars, and pasta. When we came back after a week, I was in the grips of the worst flare I’d had in years – and the thing that kept popping in my head was an old RAST test I had done 12 years earlier, just after my oldest was born, that showed a slight, but significant, elevation in wheat antibodies. At the time, I had already tried an elimination diet that was a wretched failure, so I blew off the test results, yet those numbers lingered in the back of my mind all those years.
When I saw my doctor to get treated for the flare, I mentioned that old test result, and he said (and this is as near a quote as I can recall) “give gluten-free a try, see how it works for you” – the standard response to most every eczema treatment out there. So, I did – and within 10 days, my skin cleared up. And, most amazing of all, for the first time ever, it STAYED clear after the cycle of cortisone was finished. I was floored – was this the answer after over 40 years of suffering??
As the months passed, I found I could eat less and less gluten (I found out the hard way it was truly the gluten, and not just wheat, after eating a granola cereal and getting itchy right after), to the point that now I can’t even handle cross contamination. I plan to talk to my doctor about possible testing for celiac, since now I get not only itchy, but full-on sick when I get glutenated.
I cannot thank you enough for sharing your story, and your recipes, with the world. You’ve inspired me to try my hand at my own creations, and not be afraid to cook new things. Tonight I made a wonderful salmon glazed with honey and an orange muscat champagne vinegar I found, but was chicken to try using until I read your book. Now, I want to try making my own gluten-free things, and not rely on the overpriced prepackaged things that half the time taste terrible. You have truly opened my eyes to the possibilities of food. Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart.
Just a quick comment: the Orange Muscat Champagne Vinegar from Trader Joe’s isn’t strictly gluten-free. After suspecting it was making me sick, I tested it with EZ Gluten test strips (which are sensitive down to 10 ppm) and it came up positive.
Thank you SO much for this website!! I started eating gluten-free a little over a year ago and thought I had to give up my love for baked things – especially pie. I come from New England. Pie is a sacred part of life. Now, every time I feel the hankering to turn my oven on, my first stop is Gluten Free Girl and the Chef. I’ve sent a bunch of my friends here too. It makes me so happy when I see a “new to gluten-free” friend asking for help that I can send them here for delicious recipes with complete confidence that they will be very happy with the resulting deliciousness! Please keep up the great work (although it will prolly take me years to get through all the recipes you’ve already posted!!)!!
-Maria
After battling our own health problems and starting on our own healing journey, my husband took a job in our local health food store. From that experience, in dealing with hurting/seeking people, we have combined my husband’s hobby of home-roasting coffee with healthy alternatives. Thus John’s Java was born; our home-based business that takes organic (naturally gluten-free) coffee beans, roasts them in small batches, and flavors them with organic, gluten-free, kosher, vegan flavorings. Now more people can enjoy “the coffee ritual” in a healthier way. If you are interested in knowing more or buying some of our coffee, please visit John’s Java on Facebook (www.facebook.com/pages/Johns-Java/215569401798166). Thanks so much for all of your work in helping people, we’d like to too.
Does the “Chef” have a restaurant right now? We are coming to Seattle in September and would like to enjoy one of his gluten free meals…………Marilyn
Marilyn, he is cooking at The Hardware Store on Vashon Island, where we live. He loves it there. They have a gluten-free menu as well. If you want him to cook for you, he works from Saturdays through Wednesdays at dinner!
Just heard you on What’s Hot on 55krc. Passed along the links to this site as well as The Sensitive Epicure and the podcast to my friend. Her 5 year old was diagnosed two years ago. He is very good about making sure that the foods he eats are safe; his grandpa needs to listen better to him.
Anyway, I just stopped by to say thank you.
Thank you,
Mike
is there any way to get the ingredients in american measurements?? too much of a hassle this way! help!!!
lori
Well, grams are American too. They don’t know a nationality. Here’s why we use them http://glutenfreegirl.com/why-we-dont-use-cups-in-our-recipes/
Thank you for your blog! I can’t wait to get back to your home page and see what all is here! I almost cried when I read your comments above. I’ve been gluten-free for several years – doctors could find no cause for my health issues and I was diagnosed with MS, Myasthenia Gravis, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue, Rheumatoid Arthritis. After I stopped eating gluten, my health improved greatly. But, I noticed when I ate corn products I suffered from fatigue and joint pain. So, I included corn in my ban. It was amazing. I lost weight and regained my health! When I returned to my doctor he wanted to know what I had done and I told him. Of course, he didn’t believe me! AND – he ordered the blood test for gluten sensitivity – just to be sure. It came back negative (because I wasn’t eating gluten!). The doctor suggested I go back on gluten and corn and then be tested again. What? Does he think I’m crazy? Thank you so much for creating this website!
Hi…I am just learning about celiac because I am wondering if I might have it. I am so confused by all the testing, all the different blood tests and skin biopsies and intestinal biopsies. When you said you had the blood test, which one was it? Did you have the intestinal biopsy? I suppose I could try eliminating gluten and see how I feel but am looking everywhere for information on testing for when I talk to my doctor. Thank you.
Shauna,
Your amazing story inspires me to no end. Reading your journey, I can relate, especailly about doctors. I am currently dealing with the frustration that is uneducated doctors. I want to go see a naturopath, but not sure how to choose who to see. Is there any particular type of naturopath you would recommend? Are there different types? I’m not sure. Right now I am looking at seeing a dietician. Not sure how to go about this. Any advice?
Keep doing what you are doing – we love you!
Vanessa
Hi,
Thank you so much for writing this blog.. I’ve been fighting Rhumatoid Arthritis for over 10 years with many ups and downs but I am now determined that with my new Gluten Free regime and other foods I am cutting out I can control this disease. In 2 wks I have felt like I have more energy and less pain in my body. I at times struggle to find the fun in being gluten free as I Loooooove sweet foods but thanks to you I am gonna read on and find new yummy things to make.
Best Wishes
Christine Chellew Liverpool England
Have a dear friend living on Vashon, and will try to stop in the restaurant when we are on the island the next time…enjoy your blog, recipes and outlook on life
Shauna,
Thank you sharing your story. Seems like it has touched a lot of people and made a difference, what more to ask for in telling a story! I’m currently enrolled in a writing class, and part of our assignment was to research some blogs and post answers. So this response is part of an assignment, I’ll be graded on this.
That aside, I’m REALLY glad I found your site. My husband has celiac disease, and I can relate to your struggles of being diagnosed. He became very anemic, which is what finally prompted the diagnosis. It took a long time of being pretty sick, which affected quality of life a lot, before diagnosis. Good news is that it’s a pretty simple fix as far as treating chronic disease goes. We have 2 daughters, we aren’t a completely GF family, but have found that cooking and eating without gluten is so much healthier, and has brought us to using many more fresh ingredients.
Neither of us are chefs, and possibly not even much of cooks (life is so busy), but I am really trying to learn how to cook GF. I’m probably going to buy both of your books. I was raised in a very traditional cooking home, everything from scratch, and flour was a basic. I’m always looking for ideas. Thanks for the strawberry shortcake recipe, I might get brave enough to try it with the girls. We live in Wisconsin, so I can relate to the June strawberry frenzy. This site is now bookmarked as a fav. Thanks again!
I really love your blog. My fiance has a gluten allergy, so I do appreciate the content.
Would you be willing to exchange links? I am relatively new to the blogging world, but I do believe my website (www.blindbiker.com) has great nutritional content and a great niche.
I accidentally stumbled upon your blog and it caught my interest since I’m trying out gluten free life for the time being. I love baking and cooking and I took it as a challenge to learn more. I’ve been gluten-free for almost 2 months now and there’s no complaining. Even though I might not realle need to eat gluten free, I might stick with it for longer time because I’ve noticed it also being a good way to lose weight naturally without dieting.
I found a couple of baking recipes by Grace Cheetham (a book called The Best Gluten_free, Wheat-Free& Dairy-free recipes) where she used chick pea flour and I was wondering have you tried it? I baked mixing chick pea flour, rice flour and Quinoa flour which I used instead of buckwheat since I dislike the taste of buckwheat. Anyways now I’m looking for more recipes with chick pea flour and I was being hopefull I could find something here?
I’m so sorry to hear how much you had to suffer before discovering you had celiacs. My doctor tested me for it immediately when I told her my symptoms and I had no idea what it even was! I’m suddenly seeing more gluten free things on the market, when before, I never saw anything.
Shauna,
You are Julia Child to us! God Bless you!
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE ME SOME GLUTEN FREE GIRL!!!!! your daugther is a beauty and your blog is great, I follow you in tweeter I think you are wonderful, I dont cook NOTHING gluten free, but after I started reading your blog IM IN LOVE and Im ready to try new things and one of them will be gluten free items, motivational
I cried when I read your story. Its overwhelming to listen to someone who “gets it” — simply change names and many of our stories are the same. I have been diagnosed as wheat intolerant and have yet to finish the full spectrum of gluten tests, but know by how I am feeling that I am happy to have nailed the root cause. This was in April 2011, I am of Italian decent and I live in Minnesota — the heartland of wheat mills like General Mills. Yikes!
I travel for a living, and while I consider myself a “foodie”, I am challenged by being truly satiated. While the GF food products out there are safe, they are not all tasty. I go away hungry from meals and dream of locking myself in a Krispy Kreme factory…
While I want to educate how serious this unrecognized disease is, I am tired of explaning to people that this is not a diet fad. I am even more incensed at the continued ignorance of the medical and restaurant communities.
Add me to the legion of good foot soldiers who will support your broadcast efforts and strengthen the collective GF Voice!
Thanks to my Seattle friends who led me to your site. And thanks to you!
Teri
I think other site proprietors should take this web site as an model, very clean and great user friendly style and design, let alone the content. You’re an expert in this topic!
This was such an incredible narrative. Congratulations! Can’t wait to read the book!
Gluten Free Girl, I love this website!
I’m work at Sir Kensington’s, where we make delicious gourmet ketchup made from gluten-free ingredients.
I would love to send you some! Is there a good address to reach you? Shoot me an e-mail, daphne at sirkensingtons dot com.
I don’t know quite what to say. I’m sitting here in my room with tears in my eyes. It started when I saw the picture of you — the first one — where you were eating gluten and were so terribly sick.
It reminded me of my Samuel.
My sweet little boy, who at 16 months old was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. He was dying in front of me. Fading away, bit by bit, and the doctors ignored it. Didn’t listen to my cries and pleas for help. Wouldn’t run a celiac panel when I asked for allergy testing — even when I asked them. “Too rare,” they told me. Didn’t recognize that his body was starving. Shutting down. Even in the ER when his body temp was only 96.2 degrees they thought I was the paranoid mother. They put iv’s in him, drew blood, and he just lay on the cot staring blankly ahead. They told me he was good natured. I told him he was sick. I asked them to draw for Celiac Disease. Again, they told me it was too rare, but since they were already drawing they’d throw it in. The resident was going to discharge me. She told me that my breastfeeding him was why he was so hungry and that I should go home and quit nursing him and feed him good whole grains and milk. That would have put him in a coma. I found that out two days later. The breastmilk was the only nutrition my 16 month old was getting.
He was losing a pound a week.
He tried to drink some apple juice. And screamed. He was in too much pain. Finally the admitted him only to send a GI doctor who told me he was probably just constipated. I knew better. He is the seventh child of mine. I know when a baby is ill. Finally, the next day the doctor comes in and tells me that his celiac panel was extremely elevated (duh) and I became the “genius mom who knew.” They begged me to not quit breastfeeding because they were terrified they were going to have to feed him with a feeding tube.
His biopsy showed that he was absorbing almost nothing. Lactase which should be above 25 for normal — anything below 15 is way too low — Samuel’s lactase was at 1.2. They were so scared. I was angry. How could they be so blind?
He ended up in the hospital less than a week later in Celiac Crisis. Again — the doctors didn’t know how to treat him. It took 2 months of being gluten free for him to thrive again. Now he’s amazing. He’s gained weight. He’s only been sick once.
Even the Pediatric Immunologist agreed that all of Samuel’s illnesses — fevers of 104 ever 18 days for 5 days was directly linked to Celiac Disease. And that he, bless this man, will test children with recurrent fevers automatically for Celiac Disease. Thanks to Samuel’s story.
More doctors need to be aware. When I read your story and the struggle it makes me so angry and frustrated that these doctors don’t know. I get multiple emails a week from mothers whose children are suffering — and they’ve read Samuel’s story — and they tell the doctors — and the docs still won’t test. I don’t understand. I don’t understand.
Now that I’ve written a book as a comment I’ll get to my thank you to you.
I’ve been following you on twitter for quite awhile. And I’ve been blessed. In those early months after Samuel was diagnosed I’d read your tweets and tell myself that I am not in this alone. So for that — thank you.
I am grateful for your voice for gluten free food and for Celiac Disease. And yes, I too, don’t really care for the word Disease after it.
Thank you deeply.
Rachel
@finding_joy
Just to let you know how much I just enjoyed reading this. You are truly blessed, lady!
I’m so glad I found your blog – I’ve just began a GF diet and I’ve found it to be overwhelming, confusing, and mostly not delicious! I have hope – and I love hearing about your passion for GF food – and that you enjoy your food! I can’t wait to keep reading!
Hi Shauna! I just found out a month ago that I have Celiac Disease….AND a slew of food allergies to boot (CORN, peanuts, sesame seeds, and shrimp). I’m so overwhelmed with replacing all of these things with safe alternatives. If it were *just* the gluten that I had to replace, it wouldn’t be that bad….but with the corn allergy, I’m feeling completely lost. So many gf items have corn it it…corn starch, corn syrup, corn meal, vinegar, etc. etc (can you tell that the corn allergy is really ticking me off more than anything!! Yikes. I LOVE to cook…so I’m hoping that with time and some good recipes I’ll be able to get back to enjoying food again. I look forward to reading your blog! Cheers!
Susan, if you bake for yourself, and bake by weight as our recipes from the last two years are in, you can completely avoid corn. You don’t have to worry!
Bella vita. Your story has brought encouragement and inspiration to me.
I don’t have celiac disease but I do have an acute sensitivity to gluten; and a slew of other sensitivities/allergies for that matter, including dairy, soy, peanut, and the list goes on. After seeing a naturalist doctor, I have resorted to a raw foods/juicing diet. In moderation though…. I LOVE food and still satisfy my sweet tooth with the occasional GF chocolate chip cookie or coconut milk ice cream. =) I have to admit, as equally blessed as I feel, living a “restrictive” diet can sometimes be tiring. I’m a college student, working two jobs, and as much as I love to cook and try new recipes, it’s very rare that I have the time to do so. Reading your story has rekindled the passion I have for food and nutrition. I will certainly be getting your book soon and am looking forward to what it has to offer. Thank you for your efforts with this blog and your books. I believe you are probably reaching more lives than you realize. Keep it up, and God bless!
hi there! i have just found out that i need to eat gluten free, and i am on day 8.
when i met with my doctor, he wanted to know how i feel. i told him that i feel fine about it, in general, but that i REALLY love italy and want to go back and i’m just not sure how i would eat there. I LOVED reading about your time in italy on this post–what great encouragement for me! thanks so much! i cannot wait to learn the tricks of the trade from you! thanks for sharing!
Without an intestinal biopsy that shows the abnormalities of celiac disease, you cannot be diagnosed with celiac disease. (I know I have said this already but it is a key point to hammer home.)
Even if you feel better on a gluten-free diet, this does not mean you have celiac disease. One study showed that only 36 percent of patients who felt better on a gluten-free diet actually had celiac disease.
http://consults.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/12/confirming-a-diagnosis-of-celiac-disease/?apage=2#comments
Hi Shauna! I’m about to go in for the above mentioned biopsy… can you tell me what your experiences were when you had yours done? Did it hurt? Were you sedated? How long between when you had your biopsy, and when you were given the official diagnosis? Thanks in advance for answering!!
To clarify, the top part is from the linked website, my question is below it. Thanks!
Shauna,
I stumbled across your blog looking for gluten free recipes today. I was diagnosed 2 weeks ago and just started the gluten free lifestyle. What I was most astonished by on your blog are your before and after pictures. I am having the same experience, skin-wise. (I was actually diagnosed due to terrible sores that started popping up around the fourth of July. I spent the whole vacation inside thinking it was the sun! Unfortunately, it was probably the daily pancakes.)
I’m looking forward to reading your cookbook and your blog.
Lynne
Hello!
Love that your husband and mine are both named Danny!!! In March our 6yo was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. He presents with no gastro symptoms…his are purely neuro-psych (many doctors would diagnose him with ADD or ADHD). He has never liked pasta, bread, doughnuts, cake, etc.
These past few months have been filled with a huge learning curve for “Danny”and me. But, we have also educated everyone who comes in contact with our “Brenny”. I presented the principal, teacher, school nurse with a powerpoint presentation about Gluten and Celiac last spring. No one in the school district knew anything about Celiac Disease.
Thank you for what you and your wonderful husband are doing to promote “Gluten-free Living”. I am a nurse and I am working on educating others in our area.
Thanks,
Liz
Hi Shauna,
I am new to your blog and am really impressed and inspired by this piece – I am also gluten free (most of the time) and have spent my life pondering about food, working with food, and trying to find a way to share my passion with others. I also love to write and have started my own blog about an NPO I am working on – reading this piece has inspired me to reach out to more food bloggers as I am also in the process of re-teaching myself to truly love food, slow down, and let life take me where it’s meant to go. Thank you for the great read tonight and for the reminder that there are people cultivating true giving and support!
Shira
This is the best gluten free site I’ve seen yet!! Since being diagnosed with autoimmune disease I’ve so much about the connection between thyroid and Celiac. I’m easing my way into a gluten free diet.
Hi Shauna,
I am a big fan:) I love your books and your blog. You are a beautiful writer and person who inspires and gives hope to many people. My husband found your blog years ago and recommended it to me. Since then, I have always recommended both your site and your books to people who are newly diagnosed. As well, I promote both in my book, “Gluten Toxicity”.
My husband and I are going on a second honeymoon in October. We will be staying for 1 night in Seattle, then flying to Belize for 1 week. We have been raising 3 daughters for almost 13 years and have never taken a vacation away by ourselves so this is a very special trip:)
Could you tell me where your restaurant is located. I can’t think of a better place to enjoy the first GF meal of our trip:)
Best regards,
Shelly Stuart
This is such an inspiring story Shauna. To be completely honest, I have never considered eating gluten free. Vegan/ Vegetarian has been my main focus has been my main focus, but this site has been an eye opener. Thanks so much.
I love your site. Your writing and photography are so beautiful but even better is your philosophy of eating well and looking after yourself.
I suffered from food allergies and intolerances for years with no clue about what was wrong with me – I had my allergy testing done, which told me I was sensitive to prawns, rye, grasses and cod – but which didn’t explain why my mouth got itchy when I ate bananas and melon or why my stomach was always bloated and uncomfortable. It wasn’t until I was 29 years old on my honeymoon in Thailand, eating no gluten and minimal dairy, that I realised I had never had a properly functioning digestion system before.
Congratulations on the wonderful work you do. You’re a constant inspiration.
All the best
Christina
you write poetry! beautiful! Thank you for your reminders to be alive!!!
I read your New Orleans post after someone retweeted a link. I’m sorry there are so many unpleasant people in the world and, though I’ve never encountered you before, I encourage you to keep going and keep loving life. Your way. I wish you and your family much joy and many blessings and I hope Thr trolls stay under the bridge.
Len.
Hi Gluten Free Girl,
I was diagnosed 2 years ago and like you have never looked back. It is actually so easy to eat Gluten Free these days and the health benefits are amazing. I have 4 children and they eat predominantly GF too. They are used to checking labels for me (as my eyesight isn’t what it used to be either), and we call GF food ‘ Girl Friendly’ .
Lovely to share stories,
Maria
Came over here from babble, and you make me feel like my dreams can come true:
Thank you for this.
Love your recipes, love your blog and your joie de vivre!
Don’t let the trolls get you down. They’re just unhappy people trying to make others as miserable as they are.
I just moved into a shared house with a roommate who eats gluten-free, and thought I’d take a look at your blog just to try to understand her diet a bit better. Reading this section has accomplished that, but also made me feel inspired and so much better about life in general. I’m trying to learn to treat myself well and surround myself with people who do the same, reading this makes me realize that it is possible to feel good and be myself.
And I may just have to get that cookbook for my housemate this Christmas!
Beautiful story, brought me to tears, beautifully written. I am so inspired that you advocated for yourself to get the test you need! I have some sort of undiagnosed nerve disorder that has plagued me for two years. I can’t drive and have a lot of pain. The doctors never want to test me for anything. Everything that has been checked off the list, every test that has been done, has been because I have asked for it. It’s a struggle for me because I am a very shy person. Thanks for inspiring me today to never give up the fight to figure this out!
Hi GF Girl! Just spent quite awhile looking over your site and amazing photos…read your story…maybe that’s part of my problem too, tired, depressed…but at forefront, my daughter, Chloe, 12, probably has CD, awaiting biopsy results…also diabetic since 5, trying to get GF info, ideas, inspired. You and the Chef are AMAZING…ARTISTS…I’m an artist inside, but feel overwhelmed with life and my 2 daughters to let it come back out after 12 years…just trying to survive…meanwhile, looking for a bread pudding recipe to use up the Schar white bread that Chloe doesn’t like, that I spent too much money to throw away…any ideas? Or should I just make bread crumbs or croutons? Will learn much from you two!! Thanks, WM
Shauna,
I’m not a blogger, I’m a reader, a reader who rarely comments on blogs, so I wasn’t exactly sure where to post this.
I just read your article about your recent trip to New Orleans. I cried. I understand why didn’t write about this before. I am a firm believer in not giving strength or energy to the negative. I am also a firm beliver in the truth, and I think it needed to be told.
I applaud you for the courage it must have taken to type those words and I hope that putting them out there also freed you from them.
And for the record, when I see your face and the face of your beautiful chef on this site, it warms my heart to see such love. I thank you for the site. It has helped me (health related) in my quest to eat gluten-free, with the occassional onion bagel hiccup, and it has helped me (soul related) to watch a family so full of love for one another live life to the fullest.
I wish you continued love, success and positive feedback.
Hi Shauna,
I am brand new to the world of blogging and just came across yours! I am not a writer and my husband is not a chef, but I been gluten free for almost 5 years now and have a amazing husband who keeps our home GF and cooks wonderful GF meals. I wish that I had found you many years ago but I had been given the impression as well that this was a rare condition. Its comforting to know that we are not alone and can still eat delicious foods and enjoy life. I too am alive!!
Bella
What an amazing story…and SO similar to mine! I am 34 and have had the two procedures done, though not at the same time! This week I had an emergency colonoscopy because I have been so sick for about 5 weeks. I’ve not kept any food in my system at all plus I’m exhausted, have anxiety, bronchial issues, depression, etc. The doctor finally did a celiac test this week saying “it’s really rare, but let’s just check…” The results don’t come back until next week so now I’m just waiting. I have a feeling it will be positive just because my story is so eerily similar to yours. I have always had digestion issues along with a lot of other symptoms. I went on a low carb diet about 6 years ago, no breads, pastas, etc. Pretty much gluten free on accident and I felt AMAZING after only a couple of days! I wasn’t sick anymore, I had energy, I had color in my face again…it was great. Unfortunately I came off of the diet not realizing that the diet was why I was feeling so much better. Now I look back at that and think “wow, you would think I would have taken a hint”. Thanks for sharing your story, especially for those of us still searching for answers.
Kristina,
I’m gluten intolerant, not celiac, but have the same symptoms as celiac. Go gluten-free to try it even if the biopsy is negative. (As mine was.) If you’re someone who wants a test – as I did – I used Enterolab.com for a gluten intolerant confirmation.
Shannon
I just read “Gluten-free Girl” from cover to cover. You are a wonderful writer. (This from a fellow writer.) I love your attitude. I just learned I’m gluten intolerant and was morning the loss of the food I enjoyed. You smacked me back (in a good way) and showed me that I could enjoy new foods even more. I’m even looking forward to exploring baking, my hobby, with new flours. And now Quinoa is a favorite food. Who knew you could cook something that tastes similar to brown rice in only 15 minutes?
Thank you. Shannon
I love your blog and am just about to order your cookbook! Reading about your struggle to get diagnosed literally made me cry this morning only because it made me feel so much less alone. I’ve been sick (yup, “terminal”) for roughly 10 months now and don’t feel like I will ever get better. No one can give me an exact reason as to why I have every symptom of Celiac but not the disease itself but we are still doing tests… and waiting…. I’ve been gluten free for about 5 months now and started feeling better within the first 3 days of not eating gluten. Regardless of what the outcome is with all of my doctors and tests, I will NEVER go back to eating gluten. Thank you so much for this blog
Shauna I must say that you and I have quite a few things in common and I have truly enjoyed reading about your journey in life. Although, I would like to ask you what type of surgery you had for your fibroids? I have surgery scheduled next month for a very large uterine fibroid which has caused me a great deal of grief to say the least. I plan to have a child after the removal and would like to know what method you had done, since you were able to bear a child after your surgery…
Once again thank you for sharing your life with all of us and I hope to hear from you soon. And my compliments to the Chef also.
God Bless your family. Ciao…
Hi, there. I’m from Australia I read your stories all about glutenfree foods. thanks for your effort to publish such inspiring experience how to cook gf foods. I’ll be travelling to LA next year . I’m thinking of buying gluten free foods there.
I hope you can refer to me which shops in Los angeles would be available to buy Gluten free foods. As I’m searching over internet but I might try to ask you since you’re from U.SA.
Thank you and good luck for your book.
Wow! I just read about your website from Ilona Andrews. She mentioned you received nasty emails which came as a shock that bloggers actually receive hate mail. I had to check out your website and I’m a bit befuddled as you are writing about FOOD. Well, just goes to show hateful people will find anything to pick on.
Your story is very inspirational. You have a lovely family and a great website. Pretty nifty!
I just read your book (the love story) and this part of your website and they have really made me feel hopeful. I have a horribly restricted diet because I have rosacea that seems only to get worse with time. While it’s not a life-threatening disease for which I am grateful, it does take a toll over the years, especially in an emotional sense.
So I stay away from a bunch of foods, including gluten, soy, all warming spices, alcohol (except for 6 oz. of white wine in a sitting – although I probably shouldn’t have that either but hey, I’m weak), nuts and seeds, any food beyond small amounts with high concentrated fat (even good fat such as in olives), all dairy including goat and sheep, sugar, citrus, any high-histamine foods (such as strawberries, avocadoes and canned fish), and nightshade plants (including tomatoes).
It seems like a lot, doesn’t it. But what’s left is something you pretty much said in your book: fresh meats, eggs, fish, lots of plants including herbs, legumes, and whole non-gluten grains. It’s great to eat healthfully, but it’s a challenge keeping foods on hand that I can snack on in a pinch, or that I can prepare for meals every day. I marked a ton of recipes in your book that I can use either as is or by adjusting (including adjustments the book itself suggests). Like the black cod in black rice flour, can’t wait for that one.
Maybe even more important, the book and website are very inspiring for me to make my own way and not give up on food. You’re a wonderful writer and a generous person to share so much of your knowledge and life. Thank you!
wow! i adore you! you are absolutely divine! i cannnnnnoooott believe that i have only just come across your website! i cannot believe that you have the passion i have!
i am inspired by your story..!
mine isnt as extreme as yours, but my gluten intake meant that i couldnt breathe! …this as you can imagine, had quite an impact on my life!
so i am very pleased to share that i am gluten free and enjoy every moment of it. [sometimes i like watching people eat things i cant have, so that i can gauge how tasty it is purely by their facial expressions!]
moral of the story… THANK YOU! thank you for sharing your love and passion of food and your glorious family with the world!
i am soo excited to get into my kitchen!
bliss n blessings, love and light, mel; another gfg.
I love your website, and I love your story. I’m a youth director, and I was recently transferred to a new church where one of my girls has celiac. I’m so excited that I’ll be able to make her food for birthdays and youth retreats. Thank you so much for what you have done here!
Your book inspires me so much!!! I love trying new recipes and feeling so much better.
I stumbled upon your blog while searching for corn tortilla recipes. What a small world….I great up in Bothell, WA and worked in the kitchen of Camp Sealth for a few years where I vividly remember the gluten free times during camp. Children with Celiac disease would attend camp and they even brought in certified chefs trained to cook gluten free meals & ensure the kitchen was free of gluten to prevent cross contamination.
Sounds like you’re doing great and I’m so glad you have found relief to what was such a puzzle!
-Ginger
Thank you for sharing your story. I was just diagnosed with Celiac a month ago. I actually started crying when it was confirmed. I wasn’t crying because I was sad.. I was extremely happy to finally figure out what was going on with my body. For the last 7 years, I have been extremely sick, tired and depressed. Every doctor that I went to diagnosed me with depression or anxiety or IBS,. One Gastroenterologist thought Crohn’s disease. After my colonoscopy and EGD came clean- I went into severe depression. No-one could tell me why I was so tired and sick all the time. I think my husband was getting frustrated to because I never wanted to do anything but stay in the house. FINALLY- my mom did some research online and suggested I try Gluten-Free. At first, I blew her off. I didn’t want to go gluten free, I liked food way too much. But after her nagging me everyday and asking me if I got sick that day… I gave in. I started gluten free 2 months ago and I have never felt better. I’m not tired. I do not get sick daily or ever really, and I am HAPPY. I am still learning about Gluten free foods and my “disease”. I bought Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s book “The G Free Diet” and it suggested your website. First thing I’ve done is read your story and again was brought to tears. Someone actually knows exactly what I’ve gone through all these years. It was hard for my mom and husband to truly understand what was going on with me. They just kept telling me that I need to get out of my funk. They didn’t understand that I was truly sick and unknowingly poisoning my body everyday. I am definitely going to check out your book. I’m looking forward to learning more. Thank you!
I’m new to gluten free, and after only 2 weeks I notice a HUGE difference in the way I feel. It’s incredible! Thanks for offering such wonderful resources for newbies like me. I am going to bookmark your site and come back to if daily.
I see that you list companies you trust and love on the side of your blog. Have you heard of Eena Kadeena? I ran into the owners at the Beaverton Farmer’s Market and was shocked at how absolutely delicious their recipes are. Especially the pancakes! http://www.eenakadeena.com
I’m new to gluten free, my husband was recently diagonsed with Celiac. Out of everything I’ve researched, I love your site! Thank you!!
Shauna, thank you, I love your heart and your writing.
Would you consider also asking the creator for healing? I’ve heard so many amazing testimonies out of Christian churches in the Pacific North West. They’ll pray for you holistically, lovingly, as a person who is more than a diagnosis, and they’re not in it for the money. I know writing about it is your livelihood but I hate to see your diet become even more limited and your life be in danger. You can still teach us so much about how to cope if we’re not healed instantly!
Churches or groups of churches have set up healing ministries in different locations to make it easier for people to access them. I have heard of celiac being healed. (Still praying for mine
Check out specific healing ministries – you can search for them here: http://healingrooms.com/index.php?src=location. There are several in Washington State.
with love,
VB
Thank you for sharing your story. You’re an inspiration!
Shauna,
I feel as though I know you after reading your introductory story! Thank you for sharing. You are inspiring! I am a self-diagnosed sufferer of celiac. I have been gluten-free for a month now and will not go back…even to “take a break and eat Pizza Hut”
. I do not want to suffer again!
I stumbled across your website and it will now become a part of my daily regime.
Can’t wait to check out your & Daniel’s book.
“La Dolce Vita, senza glutine”
chris
Hi Shauna,
Thank you for sharing your story! It is amazing how universal it is, and how sad. Many years ago, as we were trying to find a diagnosis for my daughter who was one, we experimented with a Gluten Free diet. This gave me the appreciation for what it would be like to have Celiac Disease. The food was horrible at the time and I was very sad for her. Turns out, she didn’t have Celiac at all but the experience stayed with me and as our business grew, I knew it was important to have our products certified Gluten Free! I have a family sausage business and I would love to send you samples of Mulay’s Sausage for you and the Chef to try! It is GREAT in sausage stuffing for Thanksgiving… a family tradition. I am also interested in advertising on your site, however… the link is not working. If you can have somone get in touch with me, I will send you samples and check out the advertising options. I love to spread the word about great products and resources too.
Thanks for your work and congratulations on living a beautful GF life.
Loree Mulay Weisman
We LOVE you. Thank you so much for all you do
Hi Shauna,
Me and my mom found out that we had to live gluten free in the summer and now our lives are full and pain free. I also have allergies to milk and soy and have symptoms of IBS so eating things like veggies and fruit on an empty stomach and such is a no no. I want other newly diagnosed people to know it is possible for this change to be nothing but joy and a chance at creativity. As soon as i went gluten free it was easy for me to never look back. I never found a huge difference in tastse or texture of gluten free foods. I do not crave wheat and it is not hard grocery shopping for me, it is just fun, like a threasure hunt
i bought my own icecream maker and rice maker and when going to restaurants i know that most likely i can order chicken veggies and rice and not fret over the menu. I was in seattle in august at the Tulalip Casino at the buffet and was so sure i saw you! Were you there or do you just have a twin?
I have also found great ways to cope with telling others no to their food and ppl who just dont get it. It is just so selfish of some people to get more frustrated with your body then you are! Ive read both of Heathers books for IBS, easily found if you type in heather and ibs in google, and she is just awesome and has great advice. She taught me that it is okay to tell ppl who even care about you in the slightest YOU have to go out of your way for me and look out for me, when you are say eating at their house for dinner and they get frustrated. You have the right to ask for support. I say look, it is a lot more simple than you think you are just making yourself stressed for no reason. Look at me, i do this everyday with a smile on my face so you can just relax, i do not control my body. And if they dont, dont hang around this person anymore. They dont deserve your friendship and are sellfish people.
Thank you for spreading the message that this is not the end of the world!
Dear Shauna
I just stumbled upon your website, and I am thrilled!
I have been eating 100% GF for about a year now. I am not sure whether I am just gluten intolerant or coeliac (my research suggests intolerance though) but I have not had the courage to get tested for Coeliac as it requires ingesting it for 6 weeks – I can’t put my body through that! I am just glad that living in the UK now there are so many options for buying and cooking GF, and it’s not much more expensive than regular foods. I had a very happy moment to discover GF fishfingers and crumbed chicken nuggets at the supermarket the other day – some of the things I had probably missed the most since changing my diet!Where I am originally from in South Africa, some GF foods are about twice the price as normal food (example a pack of GF pasta is about $5.60 vs regular spagetti $2.75!) no variety and hardly any choices, besides only being available in health shops (which are few and far between).
I am sure everyone can agree the massive difference it makes to how you feel on a daily basis just by cutting out gluten. Besides not being bloated or gassy, the health benefits are great too, it diminishes the temptation to grab a freshly baked pastry from the bakery near your house on your way home for dinner just because they’ve just come out the oven and smell soooo goood and you just couldn’t resist! Or grabbing a croissant with your morning coffee even though you’ve already had breakfast you’ll just have a quick croissant cos it goes nicely with a cuppa. I have managed to shed 8 of the 12 kg’s I had piled on since my digestive system went all weird – just by changing to a GF diet!
Eating GF encourages us to use fresh ingredients and experiment more, which is something I love to do, and I am now even more pleased to have discovered your site and books. I can’t wait to try them! You also become more aware of what goes into each dish, which can only benefit your body and make you more likely to make healthier choices!
Luckily my boyfriend is open to eating GF with me, he never complains and cooks and shops GF just to keep me happy, what a gem, I am very lucky!
Really looking forward to discovering more about you and your books!
Love your story! My husband has celiac. Your website is a gift! Thank you!
Your website is awesome! Thank you for allowing me to sink in so deeply to the joy of food. Your writing is an inspiration and encouragement to enjoy all aspects of life – just because WE CAN.
I grew up a baker, but not a cook. That was until I met my husband at age 34. Then he taught me. I became an exceptional cook, as he says. And I loved doing it. Then earlier this year, at the age of 40, I discovered that although I didn’t have celiac disease, I did have a gluten intolerance. And so there went (I thought) everything I knew about food. Or at least pizza, pasta, and bread. However, I realized that it is actually pretty easy to eat gluten free, and I am so much healthier as a result. And I still love cooking. I do love my bread and sweets, though, so my baking had to have a makeover. Enter all the different types of flour, hours of research on websites such as yours, and long discussions with a close friend who has been gluten free for years and is a superb cook and baker. I actually have her to thank for introducing me to you, your wealth of knowledge and experience, and your delicious recipes.
Anyway, I wanted you to know that today I tried my hand for the first time at converting a recipe – my mother’s recipe for congo bars, that I grew up with and that was completely non-negotiable as far as I was concerned in terms of what recipes I had to be able to keep. And I would say that it came out pretty good. Not exactly the same as the original, of course, but it kept the character and joy of the original, which is what I was hoping for. I want to run the recipe by you, tell you what happened, and ask you what you might do to change a couple of things. May I?
Here is the original recipe:
2 1/2 C all purpose flour
1 T baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick butter
1 box light brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 12-oz pkg chocolate chips
Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Melt the butter, then take off heat and stir in sugar until well combined.
Add and combine eggs into butter/sugar one at a time.
Pour over dry ingredients and mix well.
Fold in chips.
Bake in greased/floured 13×9 pan, 25-30 mins at 350.
The only change I made was to switch out the flour. I used your flour mix formula (unfortunately I didn’t write down what I did so I don’t remember exactly what flours and how much are in my mix – note to self for next time!) and evenly exchanged weight for weight. 2 and 1/2 cups of all purpose flour weighs 359 grams on my kitchen scale, so I used 359 grams of my mix and then followed the original recipe exactly after that.
The result was a slightly more liquid batter prior to baking (the original is thicker like a cookie batter). I decided not to adjust it any further but just go ahead and see how it turned out after being baked. After 35 minutes in the oven it yielded a gorgeous crusty top with a softer texture in the center, although the crumb was very similar to what I am used to. The one thing that surprised me is that the chips all sank to the bottom. Is there any way to avoid that? I guess that is my biggest question.
The best part: warm, gooey congo bars straight out of the oven with a glass of milk, tasted just like mom used to make. I have been waiting for this for 6 months, and it was so worth it!
Thanks for letting me share, and if you have time to respond I’d love that!
Here’s to a long, healthy life filled with fun and good food!
Beth,
I would suspect the weight-for-weight substitution for the runniness. The reason I say that is that many of the substitutes we use for wheat flour have a higher oil content (coconut flour, almond flour), and therefore are heavier per cup.
I would try using a volume substitution, cup for cup rather than gram for gram, & try it again.
That should result in using more flour than your 359 grams, which will thicken up the batter & hold the chips in place.
This post really opened my eyes to what celiac disease is, and what it means to be gluten-free for life. Not a very common condition over here in our country, but you’ve just shared a very very inspiring real life story.
Keep it up.
Shauna,
Your “About Me” section looked a lot like the story I have been giving my doctors over the last few months. Inconclusive tests (including colonoscopy and endoscopy on the same day!) and a diganosis of IBS, GERD, PCOS, hypothyroidism and a myriad of symptoms led my doctor to allow me to try a G-Free diet last week. I have been to 3 different doctors at 6 separate times in the last month and a half, and I am fed up! With referrals to an IBS Clinic, thyroid checks and a sleep study in the next few weeks, I am just so underwhelmed by the help I’ve been given. This is my 3rd consecutive day of being completely G-Free (after weaning myself off gluten gradually last week) and I already notice a difference in my energy level, mood and general clarity. No aches and pains, stomach or GI problems. No heartburn. No headaches. I didn’t have to go to sleep when I got home from work for the first time in 2 months last night! I stayed up with my boyfriend and watched TV. The fogginess in my head is fading. I am convinced! Your story was beautifully written and completely relatable to me. My boyfriend is “My Chef” and he made me a G-Free Acorn Squash Soup for me to eat for dinner tonight. He’s going to start learning to make a lot more G-Free dishes, and I can’t wait to show him your web site for help! Thank you!
Emily
Dear Shauna,
I have to admit I never paid your work much attention in the years since I have been gluten-free. Frankly, my opinion was that gf baking was complicated enough without having to sub-out eggs and dairy, so I’ve only worked with recipes that were already dairy and egg-free, which really means I don’t bake a lot.
This has all changed today. Well, I’m still dairy and egg-free, and I haven’t started baking a lot today (I’ve been reading your blog and haven’t even eaten breakfast yet). What’s won me over is the baking-without-gums revolution. I haven’t baked enough to care about gums at all, but one of my cousins is lamenting the price of xanthan gum, so I started researching decent substitutes that worked with all her allergies. You’re basically rocking our worlds, literally, as if you were the ocean and we were tiny capsizing boats.
I have one request – can you organize all your gum-free recipes to one place? That would make navigating your recipes so much easier.
Thank you, Luci. I’m so happy I can help. I will try to categorize them. But I will also be doing a post soon about psyllium as a direct replacement. Just use the same amount as you would have with xanthan or guar gum!
Shauna:
I love your story and the fated meeting with your husband to be after learning of celiac. Plus, how wonderfully he embraced your dietary needs. It sounds like a perfect match for the two of you. Thank you for sharing!
I am amazed by the difference in your before and after pictures. Wow!
My life has also been transformed after going gluten-free. Thanks for your recipes and inspiration. I love great food too!!
Shauna I absolutely adore your philosophy towards food and the general outlook you have on life. Since I was diagnosed with my gluten intolerance, my perspective on food has changed severely. When I was first diagnosed I was eating a lot of manufactured, gluten free food and was really distressed by it all. Being a teen, I had some but very minimal say over the groceries in my house. Now that I have grown, I find I am eating mainly fresh, natural foods, so I am no longer need to concern myself with substitutes.
My boyfriend and I have recently moved out of home and into our very own place, and have made a pact that we will never sacrifice good food, regardless of our financial turmoil. You are constantly inspiring me to try a new twist on my old faithful vegies, and even though we’re Australian and I sometimes find myself googling meals or dips you talk about, I thank you a million times over for the new lease you have given to my stomach and my kitchen.
EXCELLENT page! My first time here and I’m so inspired! I’m going to follow you….Your face and words are so vibrant…healthful… You have a wonderful testimony, Be blessed! oxMelanie
Reading your story makes me want to fall in love with food again.
While not severely sensitive to wheat, my husband’s doctor has recommended we give up wheat to alleviate the inflammation in my husband’s joints. I am just beginning my journey and it feels daunting. Your website gives me hope.
I adore your book and you! I’m so glad you wrote it.
I just made your blue cheese cheesecake and it’s cooling in the fridge for
tomorrow.
If I’m ever in Seattle, I’ll try to find the restaurant Danny is working at!
Robyne
I just cried reading this. You have put into words my feeling of so many years of misdiagnosis.
Two years ago (almost to this day) I woke up from a colonoscopy being asked by my doctor, “Do you want the good, the bad, or the ugly.” There was no “ugly” (no colon cancer) – but I had Crohn’s. A disease my doctor is convinced was the result of untreated Celiac (diagnosed another six months later) and 35 year of essentially ingesting a poison.
My two daughters have now been diagnosed – thank god we got it early. (Great kudos to my GI doc for insisting all three of my children get tested!)
So excited to find you…I’ll be in touch about the “Gluten Free Ratio Rally”
I am reading your book now. I found it in Whole Foods!! I consider myself a foodie and am devasted at recently being diagnosed with celiac. Your book is fun to read, enlightening and encouraging! I have yet to experience all the symptoms you have described. I guess I’m still in the early stages but my mother and brother have it so I got tested. I just at a PB&J on Udi’s bread…it wasn’t so bad! I think the hardest thing for me is going out to eat. I consider that one of my main hobbies! oh and beer. I love beer!
That was THE most beautiful story I’ve ever heard and I’m glad that you’ve finally found life after illness. I’m in the process of looking for answers to an immense brain-fog and other random ailments that I’m experiencing. Your story gives me hope.. Thank You Shauna ! God Bless You and Your Family.
Shauna, of course I had all the same emotions as others reading your story and internalized it as well. While not diagnosed as coeliac, giving up gluten 2 years ago at a GI doctor’s suggestion helped my over active bowel alot, but still didn’t cure the recurrent bent-over-in pain episodes and seriously embarrassing gas moments. One Dr attributed it to adhesions from a long ago hysterectomy along with IBS; another said I was lactose intolerant – just substitute soy milk. It helped, but still not enough. (turned out I’m actually totally dairy intolerant and that soy milk sent me running as well!). There was improvement but the final road to health was between using a careful nutritionist who studied my food diary over a period of several months, and a thoughtful internist who noticed that fats seemed hard for me to absorb and put me on a pancreatic enzyme. Wow, what a difference. I’ve learned to call restaurants before dining out and if there’s no cooperation with my multi-food barriers, I just don’t eat there; I beg friends to let me bring my own meal, that hopefully my good company is sufficient (I also can’t tolerate alcohol, coffee, gassy veggies, carbonated beverages – my husband says I do best on toothpicks and water but actually I’m comfortable with, almost challenged by, well-studied and carefully prepared foods and am now sharp, active and doing well at 73 years of age.) But travel! what a discouraging situation. Canada is wonderful, full of G-F, D-F choices but looked at a trip to So America and even the tour company told me not to bother, not in their vocabulary. My question is: you were successful in Italy but it doesn’t sound as though you have all the intolerances I do; how would you proceed if you had to avoid dairy, soy, etc., etc., and couldn’t read the labels? Have any of your readers found they could survive in Germany, Austria, France on such a limited diet? Advice would be welcomed. Keep up your wonderful work – you are an inspiration.
Hi Shauna,
I had never read the whole bio section of you and D and L. Such an awesomely wonderful story. You look so much better. So healthy and so vibrant. Crazy how one seemingly benign thing can make such a difference in your health.
My GF and LF (yup, she’s lactose intolerant too) vegan weekend is going well. I think she’s loving it so far.
I think she has found an acceptance here for her food intolerances that she doesn’t have at home. She’s only 18yrs old and her own mother won’t cook for her. She has done her own meal prep for 3 years now.
My family has adopted a GF, mostly vegan, meal plan all weekend long and save for regular toast for us, and GF for her. It ISN’T hard. You just have to know where to look.
I had seen here that you had an advert for Udi’s so I bought her that. I purchased some LF buttery spread for her along with a few other things. She was so happy to find soy yogurt, GF bread, etc in the fridge!! She told my daughter (her university dorm mum) how INCLUDED she feels in our family.
Right now they’re making bread pudding and rice pudding– both GF and LF– for a bedtime snack. TEENAGERS!!!
Anyhow, the reason I’m writing is to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for doing what you do and educating people. I really appreciate it, and I think my new adopted child, Michelle, does too. She has your web address too, and I expect she will be following a number of your recipes.
Much love,
Elizabeth (Betasig67 on twitter.com)
Hi, we are just starting gluten free all the way and keep stumbling upon your page
It’s wonderful. I was wondering if you cook any of your desserts sugar free? I’ve read through a bunch of them and they have sugar. We use honey as our sugar, or a date syrup.
I stumbled across your website by accident today. I also found out that i have celiac disease today. coincidence? I think not. You’ve completely changed my outlook on this hand I’ve been dealt, and I’m no longer dreading having to make the switch to a gluten-free lifestyle. thank you for sharing your story.
This is such an incredibly powerful story and it will be SUCH an inspiration to my patients when I share it with them!! I recently started my own blog on using food to heal and nearly immediately when I entered the “blogosphere,” my sister (another blogger) has been telling me to come look at your site. All I can say is: Wow.
Note: my husband (whom I adore) will be shocked that I can share my feelings so succinctly!:-)
I myself have been gluten-free for about 7 months–I’m also a vegan, sugar-free person so I’ll be really interested in looking through your cookbooks to see if there is anything I can eat! I’m definitely at the very least going to sign up for your blog!
Your story is why I started writing a blog–more physicians need to know about the ability we have to change a person’s life by prescribing a diet instead of a pill.
I’ll look forward to following your blog and wish you all the best!!
Shauna,
It’s a blustery November night here in Seattle, and I’ve been curled here reading and browsing recipes, thinking about the holidays, for so long that the fire’s burned down and even the dog has wandered off to bed. Thanks for all the sweet and savory! We discovered my oldest son’s gluten issues in 2008 just before his 5th birthday, and I am so grateful. At that time, we were living abroad and your words and recipes sustained me in a country where the standard response to gluten free was “so rye bread is ok, right?” followed immediately by a fiercely knit brow and genuine concern over the health of a child who is consistently denied bread.
Not everyone in our house needs the GF diet, but over the years, we find ourselves gravitating to gluten-free across the board. Food IS best when shared, and it’s just not fun to eat that crunchy/chewy sourdough when it’s making my sparkly freckle-faced boy feel left out. I loved reading somewhere along the way tonight about Danny’s approach to the menu at the Hardware Store. I’ve had a little crush on Vashon for years, and the Hardware Store has played it’s part. Now to realize it’s gluten free– we may just move out there yet.
So we start the holiday baking tomorrow (we distribute/mail early in the season)– with all the helpful little fingers that want to taste after each addition to the mixing bowl– and the only people that will even notice that everything is gluten-free are the ones that need to pay attention for their own health. Peppermint bark, english toffee, meringues, and your sugar cookies–yum. Maybe the tea cakes, because gramma always made those. And our homemade version of a spiced maple syrup we found once years ago at the Vashon Thriftway. Crazy good, and it’s just cinnamon sticks simmered in syrup. Makes me wonder if you’ve tried a gluten-free Dutchbaby? It’s on standard rotation in our house, but if dressed with spiced syrup, a little creme fraiche and some sauteed apple– it goes from basic to heaven on a plate, the perfect blend of complex and homey. Wishing you and yours a wonder-ful holiday season! We sure appreciate your place in our kitchen! Happy eating!
Pamela, thank you! That Dutch baby sounds ridiculously good. I must try that soon. I hope you have a wonderful holiday.
Read your words while searching for a gluten free recipe for Thanksgiving dinner because I have a daughter with celiac. Today, as we went around the table to tell what we were thankful for, I mentioned your website. I’m so thankful there are resources such as yours out there and that we are able to feed our daughter (and our whole family) healthy, tasty and gluten-free food. And I’m grateful it only took us 2 years to find out it was gluten that was making her so desperately ill. I didn’t know the average diagnosis was 11 years. Just one more thing to be grateful for! Thank you.
I would just like to thank you for your beautifully honest and heart-felt words. Your words and recipes are appealing to all kinds of eaters and praises the adventure of eating in a way that makes us feel good.
Thank you. I just finished the book that I was reluctant to read because I’ve been in denial. Thank you for writing it. Thank you for sharing your personal life with strangers like me. Thank you also for including the story about Yes and the Chef. I’m delighted to see you are now a family of 3. Congratulations.
I just wanted to say that your story mimmicked mine in so many ways!
Its amazing how since I had to move and find another doctor that the one internalist I found had no clue what celiac was!
I just wanted to say that you and your family are remarkable and I so enjoy your recipes!
Reading through your blogs and seeing that living gluten free doesnt have to be such a challenge is an awesome feeling!
Thank you so very much for the great stories and even more the great recipes.
Carlene Wilson
I LOVE your website and am putting your new cookbook on my list for Christmas giftery! Thank YOU (and the Chef!).
One question…I have this amazing gluten-filled tasty, buttery, pastry wreath I want to make non-gluten. Have you experimented with yeasted pastry-dough at all? If so…any tips/hints/tricks? Thank you!
Sure! I make that kind of pastry often. Take the original recipe, sub 140 grams of your favorite gf flour mix for every 1 cup of gluten flour in there, and play! You might need a bit of psyllium husk or chia seed to help with the elasticity. Other than that, you’re good!
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You have helped me believe that I will once again be able to enjoy food. Your blog and cookbooks have been an inspiration to me. My 3 year old daughter and I were diagnosed 6 months ago and it has been a struggle for the chef in me to figure out fun, palette pleasing meals to cook. I was also thrilled to read your blog on the art supplies, my daughter is going to be so excited to learn she can paint again without me obsessively washing her hands every 5 minutes. Because I can’t say it enough…thank you!
Dear gluten free girl, I have to tell you that with your website and books you manage to make people feel good. I have a nineteen year old boy who is celiac, and yes you do have so many recipes, but do you have one for chinese spring rolls, cause my son really used to love them. I did find on the net, various recipes, but none are like the actual ones, cause they are made from rice
Thanks and regards
Marthy
Is Mona’s gluten-free gingerbread mix available still? I was searching online for a mix for my niece who on top of being type 1 diabetic was diagnosed with celiac disease. She loves gingerbread cookies and after searching, your article from Dec. 2006 appeared raving about the gingerbread mix. I can’t seem to find it online though. Do you know if it’s still available or has a different name? Thanks.
Mona’s has gone out of business, sadly.
Shauna, thank you for writing about Celiac’s and how being gluten-free is not a curse, but rather an exciting adventure in the world of food….good food!! Two years ago I was diagnosed and within one week of eating gluten-free I was a new person. I could actually get out of bed in the morning feeling good and pain free. The muscle and joint pain that I had lived with for so long, vanished…gone….yippee!! It took me several months to get a balanced gluten free diet under control (I lost almost fifty pounds before gaining control). Thankfully, my wife and I both love to cook and my wife embraced gluten free living immediately. We now cook and bake exclusively gluten free, we have several large gatherings each year of family and friends (120+) and everyone raves about the food and they don’t realize that it is totally gluten free!! Thanks again….
Oh my gosh. The peanut butter cookies? FANTASTIC.
I’d suggest reading Wheat Belly, by William Davis, MD. He’s a cardiologist in Milwaukee. In a very readable way, he explains the benefits of eliminating wheat (or what we call “wheat”) from our diet, and those benefits go far beyond celiac disease.
I just came across your website today and WOW I felt I was reading my own story . I too have been sick for years with all the same things you have listed. I was told by my doctor that it was all in my head and that at my age I needed to accept that I would have some aches and pains. I had heard about celiac and wanted him to test me for it but he would not. I decided to go gluten free about three and a half years ago. But with cooking for a family of seven and being on a low budget, I have made poor eating choices many times. But I still saw huge changes in my health and with my health improving, I have been able to get a job, something I had given up on many years ago. I am an Educational Assistant in a Middle School and am loving it. AND the extra cash flow helps too.
Thank you for your inspiration and God Bless,
Tina
Happy New Year to you! I’m a Celiac vegetarian; diagnosed in 2004. I viewed my diagnosis as an opportunity; a challenge. There’s lots of resources and foods out there for folks like us. I congratulate you on the positive way your experience has played out.
Hey Shauna and The Chef!
) i saw it… YOU said it!
I love what I’ve read here and SO appreciate not only your writing style but the information. First things first… (I just realized this weekend with the help of my parents that I probably have Celiac.) I’m 39.
You mean I CAN have Pizza again?!?!?!
My folks have been distressed with my weight loss and near refusal to eat and my temper. Since leaving after the holidays…returning home, I didn’t want to eat anything but I had some Pringles (only foodstuff I had before leaving –what wants to eat?) and was bed ridden for 2 days – reluctantly I read the label –after — i couldn’t believe it. I will have NO problem sticking to it! I am GRATEFUL to know your story. I will buy the books! I am moving to be with my family who will help me. Your friends and family were GREAT in understanding. I can’t articulate HOW sick I am to friends and family. My parents are finally getting it. I wasn’t sure how much worse this thing could get. Baby food… U’re very strong and a bright light! Everyone has been on my arse to work. Lol. I too am lucky and now grateful and HOPEFUL to be here! PS. I was already aware of my “lactose intolerance” and bananas. I began to think it was food in general. I am so psyched and inspired by your meeting your husband and the combination. Now that..is something special and inspiring. Oh… the idea of food though! I am looking forward to normalcy! That line he gave you about being HIS muse, lol! Wow. Not just the idea, but the words… hmm. Great combo!
Shauna, thank you for publishing this blog. I was directed to it by a friend after my husband’s doctor suggested a gluten-free diet to see if it would help with his autoimmune disease. We’re already a dairy-free family and that is going well, but I felt at a loss for how to cook and bake amazing gluten-free dishes.
Thank you so much for helping to make this new journey much more pleasant and tasty
What a fun site to read. I have been gluten free since 2007 after over 20 years of bouncing from dr. to dr. What has been a blessing for me, is my husbands interest in cooking which developed after his horrible accident in 2005. My dietary needs must exclude all: pork, nitrates, nitrites, sulfates, sulfites, gluten, and all hidden forms of msg. His allergies include wheat, watermelon, strawberries, and pesticides. Foods with pesticides on them will close up his throat so nothing goes up or down. Scary.
We use the Bobs Red Mill GF baking blend for most of our cooking. This year I tackled doughnuts, cinnamon rolls and sour dough breads. MMMM it is a lot of fun when you have success in the kitchen. And I agree with you about using Demarle Silpats and bakeware. So much easier rolling out pie dough, cinnamon rolls, ect…. David started taking pictures too, but his are not as pretty as yours. As my kids are also gluten intolerant and live over a thousand miles from us, my hubby posted his own blog site with our family favorites converted to GF. One of my favorite breakfast meals includes Impossible Quiche, baked in a Demarle baking form. Soooo pretty and so delicious. I make my own bisquick and just follow the original Bisquick recipe for impossible quiche. Fortunately I don’t have a problem with milk or eggs.
His blog site is http://dlsylvester.blogspot.com
Because I was having so much success with the Bobs Red Mill flours, I convinced our Gluten free group, to start ordering from our Cash and Carry store. They now carry Bobs, 25 pound bags of the GF baking blend for wholesale prices. Sure beats driving from Spokane to Portland to buy the 25 pound bags.
If you are traveling to Spokane, my favorite place to eat, Hu Hot Mongolian grill. They have all ingredients listed where all can read them, tell the cooks you have allergies, and they get out brand new scrubbers and scrub a whole section of the grill sparkling clean. When you hand them your bowls, they have fresh clean spatulas to be dedicated to your order only. Never once have I had a problem with cross contamination with the cooking surface. Only problem, I often get too much food, and they don’t allow you to take your left overs out. They seem to love catering to those of us with allergies.
Wish we had more places like that here in eastern WA.
I really LOVE your blog and your story. I am a critical care nurse and you would think that I would have been able to find someone willing to test me for celiac. I gave up when I felt so sick, so fatigued and so much pain and no answers. at that time I had a 3 month wait to see a rheumatologist and my chiropractor suggested I try going gluten free for at least 6 months. My 19 year old (at the time) daughter and I both went gluten free. My daughter’s out of control anxiety chest pain and palpitations were gone immediately, her IBS like symptoms were gone within 2 weeks. For me, the IBS like symptoms and anxiety were gone within 2 weeks and the fatigue lifted within a month. My intense generalized musculoskeletal pain began lifting within a month and were gone within 3 months. I don’t need the test because I don’t need anybody to tell me what I already know.
I really love this site, love your writing and love the variety and breadth of your recipes. This is a fantastic find for me. thank you.
Shuana,
looking forward to reading the blog. I am actually not alergic to gletun but was recently diagnosed with diabetes so am keen to find alternative foods that contain low carbs to eat.
Will be reading your blog am hoping to find some receipes for my family.
Regards. John.
Hi Gluten Free Team! I love your energy.
Question, how do you guys alter or suggestions for people that are Celiac Plus. Allergic not only to gluten, but the Zein in Corn, Rice, Soy & Quinoa (the worst ones), legumes (yes, all beans are out!)
I have been baking with tapioca, potato, arrowroot… and would love to hear what do you guys suggest.
Thank you!
Thank you for sharing so much of yourself while you educate your readers. I am the ‘Omi’ (aka Grammy) to beautiful children with celiac disease. You shorten the learning curve and help me have fun creating dinner parties that accommodate the feistest of appetites! My first visit to you was today, but I’m already a loyal fan!
Dear gluten-free girl,
I am 19 years old, living with not one autoimmune disease, but three. I was diagnosed with celiacs 7 years ago. Reading your blog reminds me a lot of myself. I’m very happy that you are in good health now. I still have the fear of everytime I eat I will get sick. A feeling not many Americans know. Scared to eat, for fear of poisoning yourself. I really do believe that celiacs will be the death of me, because I also have crohns which is in the small intestine and had my large intestine removed. As cynical as that sounds, I call it realistic. But your blog has helped me realize that it can be controlled with diet and there’s still hope. Thank you for that!
Wow..you are truly and inspiration. Looking at your picture before and after you confirmed you had Celiacs reminded me of how horrible you can actually feel and look. Until the realization that you can help yourself and discover great food in the process!!! I also have Hashimotos Thyroid autoimmune..which can be associated with Celiacs. But no one ever told me until I was so sick, joints swelled up and body ached all over. Finally I have an answer and cant wait to get your cookbook, because the recipes are making my mouth water right now!!! Great Blog…I am looking forward to reading you when you come back from your peaceful moment!!
Hello
I was reading your blog. I am new to GF living… All your food looks so delicious. But, when I looked at the recipes for some GF treats, the measurements are in grams. Any chance of putting out some recipes with “cups” for measurements?
Your writing is poignant GFG! Uplifted me right out of a belly of despair I’d felt for the last few days. I don’t think I have celiac but I do know I have an inflammatory condition. I ‘ve changed my diet a whole lot over the last several years and experience a marked difference in my energy level and digestion… however, I am completely GF until right now! That’s it! I mean it! And I’ll be praying for a Chef of my very own to walk into my life very soon that I can be head over heals with. Thanks for being such a lovely shining light.
– Housesitting in Santa Fe, New Mexico
Thank you so much for this. I have fought with doctors for years… I am not celiac (negative blood test and biopsy) and was put on medication after medication, suffering horrific side effects and my quality of life was severely diminished. I would argue the side effects of the meds and would be told by doctor after doctor – “It’s not from the meds..” Well, I’m not a doctor – nor do I play one on tv – but I’m also not stupid. If I didn’t have this symptom before taking the pills… got it while taking the pills… and it ended after I stopped taking the pills… call me crazy but I THINK IT’S THE PILLS… Found a holistic chiropractor who did food sensitivity testing and I tested positive for wheat and oats. The halleluiah chorus broke out – it hadn’t occured to me to just stop eating wheat on my own. With in two weeks of quitting wheat, I lost seven pounds and my skin cleared, brain fogged dissolved, severe reflux ended and I felt ALIVE. What is it with doctors not wanting to acknowledge their patients? I loved my doctor – but have been on the hunt for a new one since last May when this all came to a head. Peace and all good things – and thank you, again!
Shauna, wow……your story is amazing!! I am considering starting (trying) a gluten free diet for myself and my 19 month old son. I don’t feel we necessarily have celiac, but perhaps we each have an intolerance. He has what I believe to be “allergic shiners”…I have already replaced milk with almond milk but that doesn’t seem to help. I constantly have back pain, and bloating, and lack energy. I’m kind of grasping at straws, but from what I’ve read, this may be worth a shot. I’m going to check out your recipes, and keep up with your blog, but do you have any insight or suggestions as to what types of “kid stuff” I can make? Thank you!
Just found your site, loved reading your info as to how you arrived where you are. While I do not have celiac disease, I do have Hashimoto’s or hypothyroidism, I am wondering if any of you out there or if you yourself, Shauna, have heard or experience w/ people w/ my condition having a change in their health once going gluten free? Just getting started on my journey! Thank you.
Dear Shauna, Thank you for sharing your beautiful story. It brought tears to my eyes. You really have a knack with words and are an inspiration for so many. I love how Danny made his restaurant completely gluten-free for you! Within the integrative world, celiac and all types of gluten intolerance are well-known. Thank you for helping show everyone how to eat wonderful, healthy, gluten-free food! Lucky for me, I stumbled upon your site while looking for a granola recipe. Best to you and your family, Arlene Dijamco, MD
just poppin’ in to say that I am attonished that you had to endure all your life like that…
and happy that you are healthy and happy now!
I am portuguese, and in my country all babies are tested at 4-7 days old to see if they are celiac. The nurse just takes a little drop of blood, they cry a bit (a lot!), and it’s all free.
I am so sorry for you
warm wishes,
catarina
Dear Shauna, I just began reading your book, and I suddenly burst into tears. I can’t even really say why it hit me like that. After having GERD, I was diagnosed w/ a weak stomach valve and had esophageal surgery. Though it’s been more than a year, it’s been a very intense recovery process, and I hate to say it, but I’m not much better off than I was before! Practically everything I eat makes my stomach swell up like a little balloon. I’ve spent nights laying awake, curled up on my left side, in order to relieve the pressure! I tested negative for Celiac’s disease, but am now on a journey to try to get gluten out of my diet. I said to myself recently, why haven’t I heard about a person’s face flushing red as they eat when one is gluten intolerant? It seems to happen to me a lot when I eat! I noticed it had happened to you (in your book).
In the last year, I’ve also developed very dark circles under my eyes. Do you think this is a Gluten symptom? I’m so happy for you that you are now healthy, it makes me want it even more for myself! There are trips I want to go on, but I don’t feel well enough to leave home! Thanks!
Shauna-
This is the most intriguing, honest, comedic and well written blog I have come across since my search in finding “that blog”! I am so excited to read through the entire “gluten free girl and the chef”. Don’t ever stop writing this blog. I beg you. Never stop.
Sincerely and with shared compassion,
Bobbie Sue
Oh my gosh,
Your story was like a gathering wave. I smiled, cried and my heart just bloomed at your story of you and The Chef! Thank you for putting your emotion into your writing so gracefully! I love that you showed the thing that hurt you for so long…the thing you were determind to uncover, despite the long wait for diagnosis…that that thing gave you your words, your man and your daughter…and you gave them (and US) you. Your joy at reaching through the darkness and finding such fun and fulfilment is tangiable.
(applause) thank you GFG and TC
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