My three goals

I have never actually been diagnosed with celiac disease or even a wheat intolerance. Somehow when I was a child my parents never figured out that the reason I was sick was gluten, even after I got better only when they took me off dairy, corn, and wheat.

However, the fall after I turned 19, I was recommended by a friend that I might be allergic to gluten. It's intimidating to try to cut something as dominating as gluten out of your diet all at once, so I approached it in the easiest way possible. Whenever a meal time came around, I asked myself, can I make a meal that is totally gluten free? And as I began accumulating foods that I liked and could eat, I became more picky, taking out contaminated oats and foods that have been manufactured with wheat, until I was 100% gluten free and didn't even have to think about it anymore.

However, as many gluten-free citizens will tell you, finding baked goods gets tough. If you live in a pretty liberal town like me, it's not so hard to by pre-packaged gluten free cookies and even gluten free pizza, but these goodies are expensive and often leave something to be desired. You usually are conscious of the fact that what you are eating is extremely gluten free the entire time, and in my opinion, you should be able to forget your limitation and enjoy your food. In fact, I don't like to think of it as a limitation at all, and that, in part, is why I've started this blog.

I started baking and experimenting with gluten free foods the winter after I removed gluten from my diet when my wonderful roommates bought me a gluten free cook book. I have since remarked that that cook book and the two gigantic cookie sheets I received soon after, were the best presents I ever got. I owe a lot of my knowledge and best recipes to this book and I highly recommend it. It's called "You Won't Believe It's Gluten-Free!" and it's written by Roben Ryberg. (Get it on Amazon, not that I'm advertising, here).

There are three goals that I keep in mind when I am experimenting with gluten free food.

1. The ingredients are affordable.
2. The process is simple.
3. The product is delicious

It is my belief that 99% of all food containing gluten can be produced without it, while fullfilling these three goals. This blog will be dedicated to the recipes I use, the results, the possible improvements, and more importantly, my experiments with foods I have not found recipes for.

With luck, the first recipe (with pictures!) will be posted within the next day.