My youngest niece (11) in Oregon has recently been diagnosed with celiac disease. It's been really

J

joe

Well-known member
difficult for my brother and sister-in-law; they truly thought she was losing her mind. After the switch to a gluten-free diet they say she has periods of being her former delightful self amidst the crying jags, so they are hopeful. It is supposed to take a while, and they are living day by day. Poor girl!

They have tickets to come down to California tomorrow and tomorrow is when they will decide whether or not to use them. They won't be staying with me, and Thanksgiving dinner is at another brother's house, but I want to do something for her if they do come. I've been asked to make lemon tarts for dessert and I've already decided to make an additional gluten-free dessert, Julia's almond-meringue layers with orange buttercream, that everyone can enjoy (rather than a crustless lemon tart that would single her out).

In the past, she and I have made crepes together, and I want to be armed with a gluten-free crepe batter recipe in case we get a chance over the weekend. I found this one from Gluten Free Girl which looks promising, but if anyone has made them I'd love to hear. It's a longshot that we would get to it this weekend but I do plan to visit them this spring.

http://glutenfreegirl.com/2011/04/gluten-free-crepes/

 
Tell them to take heart.We have friends who deal with this

and also really really youngsters (from 3 to now 14). It can be limiting,but approached positively, could be informative, particularly with someone like you willing to show the way for cooking/baking. Good job.

 
we've been through this

one of our daughters developed severe food allergies her freshman year of college. after dozens of tests from blood to brain and psychological, and doctors in several states we finally found that the root cause had been undiagnosed Lyme Disease. Fighting the Lyme has helped with related symptoms. Might be worth looking into.

 
Thanks everyone, for now they've decided not to make the trip so my gluten-free desserts can wait.

My brother says her endoscopy showed very severe celiac: "Marsh score 3c. Doc said 3c is the worst and she is more like a 3d. Leave it to an over-achiever." So this is going to take a long time to reverse.

I'd still love any info on gluten-free crepes for the future.

 
GF sister's favorites from my Box O'Joy last year were: Chex-mix and Faux-reo's

Chex-mix: follow standard recipe (checking on peanuts since some folks can't tolerate those either) and just use the GF Chex cereal.

Faux-reo's: Rather than make from scratch, I used a boxed GF brownie mix and made it without any rising agent (so butter and milk, I think?--no egg), using a scoop to make individual cookies. They bake up nice and flat. Then the filling was butter, a bit of Crisco & powdered sugar (see link). Fill & chill. Sarah said it was the best GF cookie she's had yet.

Oh, just remembered, I threw in some Dyslexic sauce for half the filling batch and whipped until fluffy. Ya, that was good too.

http://bravetart.com/recipes/FauxreosGF

 
Thanks! I usually send them peanut brittle at Christmas but these would be different

and if she likes them, easy for her to duplicate.

 
At 11, I cried over everything anyway. It gets better. A couple resources I'd point you to

is my friend Nicole just released a fabulous book called "Flourless." It's being sold at Anthropology so I got a chance to check it out there (haven't bought a copy yet.) What I appreciated about it was the absence of funky flours and such. She makes good use out of almond flour, but that's about as exotic as it gets, from what I remember. I found that very refreshing. It's a stunning book and well worth a look. I want to dive into the recipes and the fact that it's gluten free is just a side bonus.

Also, several of my gluten-free friends swear by the recipes on this site. www.artofglutenfreebaking.com

http://www.amazon.com/Flourless-Recipes-Naturally-Gluten-Free-Desserts/dp/1452119554/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417059231&sr=8-1&keywords=flourless+cookbook

 
unfortunately even at Costco Almond Flour is expensive

I'm happy they carry it but I look at it every trip and have to pass it up.

 
TJs carries almond flour. Art of Gluten Free Baking is definitely a good source

There are a lot more if you need them. Also, Cooks Illustrated has just published a GF cookbook. She is so lucky that in this day and age there are so many options.

 
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