Gluten free help

[bringonyourwreckingball]

Dd2 is gluten intolerant- not coeliac but too much gluten sends her eczema and digestive issues into overdrive. We’re about to get into GCSEs so I am keen to minimise gluten as much as possible to help her feel well. Can you hit me with your best gluten free products, recipes, tips etc? She’s fairly unfussy and loves fruit and veg

Almost all of lidl sausages are gf now. Sausages don't need wheat in them anyway. Posher sausages have always been mainly gf.

If you are gluten intolerant then a little bit is likely to be OK. My dp can't have pizza, bread and pastry but is OK with crackers, sauces made with flour, Yorkshire puds etc

A coeliac is completely different to someone with an intolerance. They can feel extremely unwell just front slight cross contamination
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@WinkyTinky do you have coeliac disease? If so I’d say a hard no, definitely not worth it. Even if you don’t get symptoms then it will still be doing damage to your intestines.

Try this as a snack: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/brazilian-cheese-bread-pao-de-queijo The texture is similar to choux buns, and you can use a sharp Cheddar or Red Leicester rather than Parmesan.

Buy soft corn tortillas, grate on some melting cheese, and slide them under the grill for a minute. Top with smashed avocado seasoned with lime juice or a tiny sprinkle of chilli flakes - delicious.

GF baking often uses Philadelphia or soured cream rather than butter as the GF flours behave better with less butter. Even so it's usually a good idea to let a GF biscuit or cake mixture rest before baking to let the flour granules hydrate. GF cakes are prone to falling in the centre - I bake them in two or three smaller pans rather than the size recommended in the recipe, and watch them carefully to avoid overbaking.

GF baking can also be high in fat when ground almonds or hazelnuts are used instead of or along with GF flours. The flavour can be very good, and aside from a very slightly gritty texture you may never know that a biscuit or cake is GF.

Most of the GF pastas don't expand as much as wheat pastas when boiled. They're dire if overcooked so aim for al dente.

https://www.sainsburysmagazine.co.uk/recipes/baking/carrot-cake-cookies These went over well with those with coeliac in my family. I reduced the sugar by about 10% and didn't add a glaze at family's request, and I thought they were tasty.

@Twotooto No I don't think I am coeliac at all, I just feel better without wheat. So bearing this in mind, can I be a bit less strict with my diet, that's what I'm asking I guess?

My DP has recently become gluten free and we have found cooking meals that wouldn’t normally contain gluten is way better and easier than replacements.

Anything you would normally have with pasta just replace with rice.

Fajitas- old El Paso do corn tortillas which are good.

Roast dinners with homemade gravy (I would use cornflour anyway)

Omelettes

Jacket potato’s

The other thing we have started doing is having a probiotic drink in the morning (the biomel ones). These have been amazing and whilst expensive I think they are worth it for a couple of weeks if you need a bit of a digestive reset.

I made this courgette tart last night which converted to gluten free really well:

https://www.bylena.com/recipe/1558/Italian-Zucchini-Scarpaccia/

Only you can answer that depending on how having the odd bit of wheat makes you feel and whether you think the odd sandwich is worth it. I would suggest having at look at the symptom checker on the coeliac UK website as the symptoms are so variable by person and not everyone who is coeliac gets really sick. I was speaking to someone recently who was diagnosed via a health screening blood test, who had never considered coeliac disease as her symptoms where quite ‘non-typical’.

Masa harina to make authentic Mexican tacos, so much better than the wheat version (old El Paso also do street food tacos made from this for when you can’t be bothered, not as good as home made but good enough). Masa harina also is a lovely coating for chicken thighs etc, much tastier than flour. Also agree with previous poster about cornflour yorkshires, really good. Pasta wise, I like Tesco spaghetti, morrisons for other shapes, but ideally Italian brands ( they are definitely harder to get since brexit).