Halfway through my 7th grade year, I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease which is essentially a severe form of gluten intolerance. Eating gluten with Celiac severely harms your small intestines meaning I had to cut it out of my life.
Being diagnosed caused a huge change for my family. Probably like most kids my age my favorite foods were chicken fingers and different forms of bread, so being told that I had to stop eating those cold turkey was quite the adjustment. I remember eating my favorite foods for the last time – ugh I miss you glazed donuts – and then looking to find new replacements for those favorites (sorry but I have yet to find a half as good replacement for a glazed donut).
Luckily for me, right now is the best time to be gluten-free. There are so many options for things to eat and many restaurants have started offering gluten-free bread and pasta to their customers. So I’m still able to enjoy my favorite type of food – Italian!
I’m probably luckier than most when it comes to gluten-free home-cooked meals because my mom has made it a top priority to turn my previous favorite dishes into gluten-free options that taste just as good. She spent a lot of time at Barnes & Noble looking for cookbooks and scouring the internet for the best gluten-free baker blogs. Today I’m going to share some of our findings.
Her favorite book by far is America’s Test Kitchen: The How Can It Be Gluten-Free Cookbook. She swears by this and frankly so do I. Their recipe for gluten-free flour makes not only the best gluten-free pancakes but arguably the best pancakes in general. We’ve had other friends and family taste these pancakes and they can’t believe that they are gluten-free. America’s Test Kitchen not only has recipe books on baked goods but savory dishes as well. It is a must-check out.
My favorite source for baking is a creator named Kat from The Loopy Whisk website. Any gluten-free pastry or baked goods that you can think of are on this website. It has detailed step-by-step photos and instructions. Not only that but it contains explanations for why each ingredient was picked over another possible option and explains how each one helps the dish or pastry taste the best it possibly can.
Finally, a creator I just recently started getting into is Chef Kelly Scott on TikTok (@kellyscleankitchen). Chef Kelly also has Celiac Disease and she teaches kitchen basics, which I find incredibly helpful. Her videos are very well-edited and explanatory making it easy to follow at home.
As someone who loves to cook and bake but who also has a severe gluten allergy it’s great to have so many resources at the tips of my fingers to help me create and find recipes that I will love (and my friends and family who aren’t gluten-free will also love!).