Gluten, Dairy and Peanut....Oh My!

I love that so many people are catching on to the sustainable food era.  I love using local produce and meats when I can and trying to create a meal with seasonal ingredients I can pick up at the farmers market.  I never thought about this when I was younger, never tried my hand at making baby food when the older girls were little and had no idea how much I love food, entertaining and cooking for other people until the last 6 or 7 years.  It used to be that I LOVED getting to sleep in on a Saturday morning once the teenage girls got old enough to sleep in or watch cartoons  and now I can't wait to jump out of bed and head to the Farmer's Market in our small town....I peruse and push the stroller the first time around usually and look at what each booth has to offer and then go back for a second round to pick the things I love the best....and NOW, this year our local farmers have included grass fed beef and lamb, fresh eggs  and free range chicken.  There are things I go the the regular store for or I need to pick up at our natural food markets to complete the meals but Saturdays have become my inspiration for the week to come.  My understanding is if I made it down to Fayetteville that I could actually go three times a week and it's a bigger farmer's market....I will be trying this once it is no longer 102 degrees out though.  My children's food allergies have become a sense of well being for me, I know that eating all that over processed food is not healthy...I get it but sometimes you just want easy....
Easy has not been in my vocabulary for about 2 and a half years now.  Bringing home our sweet baby angel, Isabelle, and all her issues with being positive for cocaine and an allergy to dairy right off the bat after having adopted Noah right before and having his first three weeks with us screaming because of his dairy allergy and then the ongoing saga with what is Izzy allergic to this week.............who wouldn't run screaming? :)  Food should not be scary!  Food should be loved, and enjoyed and this is what happens when you tell me my kids can't eat:
I research, I expirament, I make until it's right.....not all things are success the first time around, some not even the second or third....but I WILL perservere.  Isabelle WILL be able to eat a buttermilk biscuit that is dairy and gluten free and will not make her sick!  She will be able to have a "mock" peanut butter and jelly sandwich if she chooses because all the other kids in school are taking them for lunch.  She will be a normal and healthier child because of what I create for her. 
I was talking with someone today who told me that they have been eliminating gluten, caffiene, dairy, sugar and yeast from their diet because these over processed things are making them sick then this weekend they cheated and had a sandwich and felt terrible because of it: I have learned one thing, when you know what food tastes like and you have to eliminate something because of an allergy......the first few months are hard.  You still remember what these things taste like.  And usually trying an elimination diet you are still expiramenting and alot of the food tastes terrible....so you crave the other even more.  It DOES get easier.  There comes a time when you are just tired of being sick from eating the wrong thing.  There is a time when you say it just isn't worth it anymore.  Krispy Kreme?  You haven't tasted one of my gfree cinnamon doughnut muffins or Glutino's version of a glazed doughnut OR one of my homemade doughnuts with apple pie spice glaze for the fall....but this didn't come overnight.  You can ask the family there have been some terrible outcomes to this new way of cooking.  It is like a chemistry class....without gluten the chemical make up of things is drastically different and you HAVE to find the right combination of flours/starches/dairy alternatives and so on.  One tiny slip and your biscuit is a cracker.....Totally done that before.  SO, my goal is to take my amazing celiac business partner/dear friend and my wonderful guinea pig family and create until it comes out right.  In the end, I hope I can share with everyone else and make their lives a little easier in the long run.  it can be very depressing to have to do an overhaul of food in your life, especially if you are older and know what there is missing.  I want to make it a sustainable, healthy meal that makes you not afraid to eat or cook....stay tuned!