Ideas for Lunches; Thoughts from Camille

Finding gluten-free lunch items can be tricky.  We found that it worked well to make a large batch of gluten-free muffins.  Brown rice flour goes stale quickly, so we froze leftover muffins the same day that we made them.  Our children with celiac disease took several muffins in a bag, along with a protein source (like pistachios), carrots, apples, etc.  They also often took a sandwich with gluten-free rice bread.  Some other ideas for lunches are found in this photo. You can find a recipe for pumpkin muffins and rice bread in my cookbook.

In several weeks, I hope to add a PayPal link so that you can order cookbooks directly from me.  My cookbooks make great gift ideas for Christmas and birthdays. :)

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Here are some thoughts from my daughter-in-law, Camille.  She is so supportive of our son and his diet.  We appreciate her dedication and love.

Hello readers! My dear mother-in-law asked me to write a couple blog posts from my perspective on being married to someone with celiac disease. So here is the first take. I'll introduce myself a little bit. My name is Camille. I'm 22, from Utah , and have been happily married for almost a year and a half. I recently graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Studio Art from BYU-Idaho. I am almost as passionate about food as I am art (because cooking is an art in itself). 

I grew up in a home that was blessed with not having any really serious food allergies, and my mom delicious bread (though Susan does have really good recipes herself in her cookbook) so I’ve eaten my fair share of gluten. I knew a couple people who had celiac disease, and high-gluten sensitivities, which made me pretty aware of the disease, but I had no idea that when I met the young man who became my husband, I would have to change my whole way of cooking. 

When I started dating my husband and found out that he and some of his family had celiac disease, my immediate reaction was compassion towards them. I couldn’t imagine having to give up such a common ingredient found in our daily diet. I realized that if this relationship led to marriage, there would be a lot of sacrifices that I personally would have to make. And I have. It is hard not being able to make some of my favorite recipes because I simply haven’t found a way to adapt them…yet. I love baking, but still haven’t mastered making some gluten-free concoctions. In the midst of trying to adjust however, I have had a wonderful adventure! 

There is something exciting to me about figuring out how to alter recipes to make them edible to those who can’t have gluten. I love my husband’s excitement when I try something new or recreate a recipe and he thinks it tastes amazing. 

I’m no cooking or gluten-free pro yet though, so a huge lifesaver to me has been Susan’s recipe book. It is full of delicious recipes that I can easily make. A lot of the recipes are dishes new to me, so it has been fun to explore. There are other recipes that are familiar, making the gluten-free lifestyle more comfortable. Whenever I have friends asking for gluten-free recipes, I always recommend her book. 

Stay tuned for my next guest post and happy eating!

Love,

Camile