Gluten free, what exactly does that mean?

Adia's been gluten free for 6 months now and it's made a huge difference in her growth, personality and sleeping habits. She's a brand new kid without the never ending diaper rash, constant whining and lack of sleep, but what exactly does that mean? It means paying $4.25 for a small loaf of bread that comes vacuum sealed with a silica pack and once opened, must be stored in the freezer so it won't turn blue in a matter of hours. I kid you not, I've had it happen. It means reading every single label, multiple times to make sure there's no hidden "caramel coloring" or "malt flavoring" or "modified food starch". It's usually the malt that bites us in the ass. She can't have rice krispies or frosted flakes or crunch bars because of it. It drives me nuts when I can't buy her a cereal made out of corn or rice because they HAD to add malt flavoring to it. Luckily, there are other cereals she can eat. Cocoa Pebbles are one of them, but not Cocoa Krispies. Strange, I know. I have gluten free vanilla extract in my kitchen and gluten free bubble bath in my bathroom. (Adia likes to drink bathwater) I can even find gluten free mac and cheese (one of Adia's favorites) and the rice pasta isn't that bad either. The gluten free lasagna I made a few months ago tasted better than the regular kind.

We're lucky to have a grocery store nearby that also bakes gluten free cookies and scones. I've even seen cupcakes and brownies there. Adia likes the gluten free marionberry scone and chocolate chip cookies. We buy them every once in a while, but they're spendy and usually expired.

Avoiding gluten is similar to any other food intolerance or allergy, except Adia's not going to go into anaphalactic shock if she comes in contact with a speck of gluten. Instead, she'll have diarrhea, develop a blistering diaper rash and be incredibly cranky for a couple days. If it was long term exposure, however, the outcome could be much different.

When we go out to eat, I generally bring her own food from home. Now that she's getting older, she's not so happy about that. She wants what we're eating or her own meal. At places like P.F. Changs, that's a little easier. They have a gluten free menu. While the choices are limited, it does include the chicken lettuce wraps. Each time we've gone, I've ordered them, but Adia hasn't been too wild about them. We went to Red Robin yesterday and DiDi mentioned Adia's "wheat allergy". It seems to be much easier to call it a wheat allergy as opposed to gluten intolerance since gluten is left with many blank stares and "What?"s The manager brought us the wheat free/gluten free menu. He had alerted the kitchen too so they would thoroughly wash their hands before touching her food along with washing the area her food would be cooked in. Her fries would be unsalted (their seasoning contains gluten) and cooked in a separate fryer. He was so helpful that it will make eating there so much easier and safer for Adia.

While I do buy most of Adia's gluten free foods, like her crackers, bread, animal crackers, frozen waffles and, in the past, frozen pancakes, I'm starting to explore gluten free baking. I've made cupcakes and cookies using Cherrybrook Kitchen's gluten free mixes. They make great sugar cookies that are gluten, nut and egg free. Actually, all their mixes are nut and egg free. Today, for breakfast, I made gluten free pancakes. They turned out really delicious. The first batch I used plain yogurt. They were ok. They had a good texture, which is hard to achieve with gluten free foods. They were just too plain. For the next batch, we used raspberry flavored yogurt and the pancakes were delicious. Adia even approved them. I can't wait to make them again.

Gluten Free Pancakes from "The Wheat-Free Cook" by Jacqueline Mallorca
1/2 cup brown rice flour
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 large egg
1 T oil
1/2 cup fruit flavored yogurt (we used raspberry)

Combine dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients. Add to the dry ingredients and stir until smooth. The batter will look thick and puffy.

Heat a heavy nonstick skillet or griddle over medium-low heat, but do not grease it. Add the batter by the heaped tablespoons, spacing pancakes about 1 inch apart and flattening the batter a little. Cook until golden brown on both sides, 2 minutes or less.