Getting Started

In the last 2 weeks I have had a couple of people ask how I started our Gluten/ Casein Free journey. I will tell you, it wasn't easy and there were many tears but this is how we made it.

Step one 4 us: we actually went off Casein first. It was less scary since my son did not drink milk. I started testing what alternatives he would eat best and what tasted best in each different recipe. Conclusion: I use rice milk most, but also use soy and coconut, depends on the taste you want. Rice milk is the most bland. Coconut has the most flavor and is good in oriental stuff.

Step two 4 us: I found a flour that I liked...Grandpa's Kitchen blend is my favorite. I know that many people have their own blend but for now I am still at the easy phase. I have too much on my plate and not enough storage to keep that many flours so a blend works for me. (even if it is more expensive)

Step three 4 us: Figure out your favorite meals. I decided to take what my son liked and try to adapt a recipe to make it gluten free. Like....Chicken and Rice I found a gluten free chicken bouillon added a flour thickener and wallah. I did this with numerous muffin/ bread recipes because we love the breads. Which some my find sad but we have a three great muffin recipes we love. Pumpkin muffins, zucchini muffins, and banana bread muffins

Step four 4 us: Add a meal a week until you feel that you have a good working menu.
I asked around and found there are so many more people eating gluten free diets than I ever imagined. The stores that you buy from can be helpful, just don't take what they say as gospel, I have been given wrong information before, but it is a good starting point.

If you are taking gluten and casein out of your diet to help with behavior I would recommend starting slow. I did the best I could and gradually took everything away. I think it took us 3 or 4 weeks to figure it out, and much longer to be perfect. I kept finding things that had gluten in them that I was previously unaware had gluten in them.

Be careful and be educated. I went to numerous websites and read lots of books. Good luck in your journey!