When people first learn about the restrictive diet I must follow due to my celiac diagnosis, they often give one of the following responses: “That’s awful!” or “I can’t think of anything worse!” Even though the diet can be tricky, there are many worse diagnoses than celiac disease and I feel blessed to have my health back (most of the time) and a disease that I can control simply by my diet.

Instead of spending time thinking about the foods that I can no longer eat, I try to embrace the delicious items that I can enjoy that make me feel good!

My diagnosis has made me appreciate food more than I ever did, particularly now that I don’t live in fear of being sick every time I eat. David and I love being in the kitchen and we definitely keep a stocked pantry of naturally gluten free foods. I’m now a firm believer in getting quality foods and ingredients that will provide the most flavor.

Here are some of my favorite foods to have in the house:

Blanchard’s Coffee: There’s nothing I enjoy more than a lazy morning with a good cup(s) of coffee. I’ve definitely become a coffee snob and I love freshly roasted coffee. My favorite coffee brand is Blanchard’s Coffee. They’re located in Richmond, VA and they freshly roast all of their coffee. You can order their very reasonably priced coffee online or if you’re lucky enough to live in Richmond, they sell it in Ukrop’s. The flavor and aroma of Blanchard’s coffee puts Starbuck’s to shame! The Ethiopian Yergacheffe is my personal favorite.

Check out the Blanchard’s Coffee website: Blanchard’s Coffee

Blueberries: In the final stretch of winter, I long for the summer farmer’s markets and the fresh fruits and vegetables to be purchased! In the cold winter months, I’m still happy to splurge on a container of blueberries at the grocery store. While the flavor is not quite the same as local produce, I love any snack or meal with blueberries. Yogurt (I use Stonyfield Farms brand) and blueberries topped with granola is a favorite snack, but my all time favorite food with blueberries are pancakes.

I’m inspired to write today because of the blueberry pancakes David made this morning using Pamela’s Baking Mix. The pancakes are delicious and a perfect way to spend a morning on spring break! David has mastered the art of gluten free pancake making and today he made waffles for the first time as well. Of course we enjoyed Blanchard’s Coffee with the pancakes! (If we don’t have blueberries in the house when making pancakes, David adds bananas and chocolate chips to the mix.)

Aunt Ruby’s Peanuts: I love peanuts and I don’t know what I would do if peanuts weren’t gluten free! Aunt Ruby’s peanuts are crunchy, salty and very flavorful. This North Carolina company sells peanuts that are packed with yumminess! Their prices are very reasonable and you can freeze them so they last for a long time if you buy in bulk for the best prices. The Country Style peanuts are a staple cocktail hour snack for us.

Aunt Ruby’s: Aunt Ruby’s Peanuts

Feel free to share some of the many foods you enjoy! Remember, it’s not about what we can’t have; it’s about embracing all of the delicious food we can eat.

Check out this link about potential pills to help celiacs. Definitely interesting to think about. I think I’m in agreement with Glutenfree Chicago…I don’t mind not having the wheat but it would be nice to take a pill before going to restaurants just in case there’s contamination.

gluten-free chicago: pills fix everything!!

While the husband and I love to go out to dinner, we like to cook even more! Even since I was diagnosed with celiacs, we still use ‘normal’ cookbooks because there are so many delicious recipes out there that are naturally gluten free. Our three favorite cookbooks are,

- The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook (Ina Garten) The husband’s sister, Heidi, introduced us to the world of Barefoot! While all of her cookbooks are great, the original is our favorite. Her perfect roast chicken is so simple, easy and amazing! (Just skip the 2 tsp. of flour.)

- Super Natural Cooking (Heidi Swanson) Given to me by Heidi, this cookbook is vegetarian and uses many different (non-gluten grains) in its recipes. My personal favorite is the chunky lentil soup. It’s so hearty and perfect for the upcoming cold months. Serve it with GF corn bread and it’s a great dinner.

- The New Best Recipe (Cook’s Illustrated) The husband gave me this cookbook for Christmas last year and it has over 1,000 recipes. For example, the writers experiment with the best ways to make oven french fries and they tell you what the best method is. Lucky for us, the fries are GF and so good! You don’t even need a frier to make them!

Both of our lives are hectic and busy, so taking the time to prepare meals together is one of the things we like to do most. In this blog, I hope to share some of our favorite recipes with you in addition to just reviewing restaurants because for the celiac, eating at home is always the safest and most comfortable place to eat!

I’ve had a request to go through what exactly I say to restaurants when trying to explain my gluten-free needs. It can be scary, awkward and intimidating, but this is for our health, comfort and it will ultimately make the next celiac’s visit to that restaurant a little easier so it’s worth it…I promise!  The hope is that you’ll find places that you really feel comfortable and they can become places you frequent.  They’ll appreciate your business and work hard to meet your needs.  Remember, your requests are not silly.  This is not a fad diet or even a chosen lifestyle…it’s your health.

1: Always be polite and appreciative, BUT never apologetic. Not apologizing is tough, and I have trouble following my own rule here, but you should never apologize for a disease over which you have no control.

2: I ask, “Have you heard of gluten?” I can immediately gauge whether I’m going to attempt to eat anything here based on the confident “yes, we train all of our employees in food allergies” or the puzzled expression on the manager’s face.

3. If they know about gluten, but don’t have a special menu, I remind them where gluten can be found (wheat, rye and barley) and that I have a disease that requires me to abide by a strictly gluten free diet.

4. If they assure me that I can eat here, I then select a few dishes in my mind that I would be interested in eating and that possibly don’t contain gluten. I ask the manager about these specific dishes. (It can be overwhelming to both the manager and the celiac customer to ask about the entire menu).

5. If the waiter tells me those dishes are fine, I proceed to ask them about the less well known things gluten is found in: soy sauce, marinades, salad dressings, fryers that could be contaminated.

6. I also ask about how they prepare their food and what their kitchen is like. If they prepare everything on the same griddle, it’s likely to be contaminated. I’ve found that people are very honest about this. I’ve had waiters tell me that I probably shouldn’t eat at the restaurant because of the way they cook their food and that it’s a busy day for them in the kitchen so they don’t have the time to clean as well as the should. (This is why I tend to avoid Sunday brunch at restaurants and diners.)

7. Continue thanking them throughout the meal. A little bit of gratitude goes a long way. If the meal went particularly well.  I’ll even contact the restaurant the next day to thank them for accommodating me.  Tell your celiac friends about the restaurant as well.  We want to give these thoughtful establishments business and encourage them to continue being conscious chefs.

8. A word of warning: this can be a lengthy process, but it’s so worth it! None of us want to be a burden to the restaurant or the people we’re with, but the pain and damage it will do to our bodies if we don’t, is more important.

A final note: Never feel like you HAVE to eat something. Go with your gut…literally and figuratively. You can politely leave the restaurant at any time. If the meal arrives and you don’t feel comfortable, double check with them and if you still don’t feel safe, don’t eat it! I was at a restaurant in Portland, Oregon this summer and I had a bad feeling about the meal when it arrived, but I ate it anyways, and I regretted my decision to not double check for the next 3 days (including a cross country flight)!

So don’t avoid restaurants and dining experiences because you’re scared! There’s so much yummy food out there and just because you have celiacs, doesn’t mean you should miss out!

Welcome to my blog! Ever since I was diagnosed with Celiac’s Disease in August 2007, I’ve been telling myself that I would start a blog for foodies restricted to a gluten free diet. While there are websites that post gluten free restaurants, you typically only find Outback, which don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great that they have a gluten free menu! That being said, there are so many restaurants that are willing to accommodate gluten allergies that aren’t as well known as Outback. I live in Alexandria, VA (right outside of Washington, D.C.) so I’m particularly interested in finding and supporting restaurants in this area that are gluten free friendly. The Husband and I love food, whether cooking at home or going out to eat and we actually eat such better food now that I’ve been diagnosed. I hope that others will share on this website what restaurants they’ve been to that accomodate their gluten free needs.