From Family Favorite to Gut Friendly: My Gluten-Free Cooking Journey

From Crumbs to Confidence: Our Family’s Gluten-Free Journey

I still remember the moment it all changed. My daughter’s breakfast bagel had just popped up from the toaster when her doctor called with the results: celiac disease. She burst into tears—and honestly, I wasn’t far behind.

As a lifelong cook and someone who was running a cottage bakery out of my home, I felt like I’d been tossed into a world where everything I knew about feeding my family had to be rewritten. Gluten was in everything. Learning how to cook differently wasn’t just hard—it was overwhelming. I was terrified of cross-contamination, confused by ingredient lists, the fact that gluten wasn’t listed as a top allergen and constantly worried someone in the house would leave crumbs in the butter.

But slowly… I learned.

I learned how to swap out ingredients. I learned how to scrub down my kitchen like a surgeon. I learned which brands we could trust (and which ones snuck gluten in where it didn’t belong). I even learned to adapt almost every recipe I knew and loved—because spoiler alert: nearly anything can be made gluten-free with the right tweaks.

It wasn’t always pretty. There was mushy pasta, gritty muffins, and a few tears along the way (mostly mine). But over time, I got the hang of it. I became obsessed with continuing to feed my family the meals that they loved while adapting them to be GF. If queen sourdough over here can figure it out? So can you.

If you or someone you love is navigating a new diagnosis, or choosing a gluten-free lifestyle for any reason at all—please know that it gets easier. You’ll gain confidence. You’ll find your rhythm. And you’ll feed your family well, I promise.

Let’s navigate gluten-free living together.
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