Many people with Celiac disease develop additional food issues due to the fact that they are eating rice every single day. Many parents of children with autism who use the gluten-free, casein-free diet as a dietary intervention have also noticed additional food allergies with their children. The section on rotation diets and food families can be informative and helpful to these individuals. Because we as a family use a rotation diet, you will find recipes that are rice-free since we only eat rice every fourth day.
Saving time and money is of interest to many people and I have included ideas on how to do both on page 81. If you are new to allergies or have developed new food allergies since your initial diagnosis, you may find value in the chapter on Avoiding Common Food Allergens, as well as the chapters on Special Ingredients & Products and Technical Know-How for Special Cooking.
The number of gluten-free and dairy-free commercially available products has expanded enormously over the past eight years. This is a big bonus for those of us managing food allergies. Add to that the new food labeling law that went into effect in 2006 and life is really much easier than it was years ago.
Whatever your level of expertise, from beginner to advanced, I am sure you will find value in the information and recipes contained within these pages. One question that comes up frequently is what is my background relative to food allergies and cooking and baking.
My Expertise & Training in Food Allergies
I have a lifetime of personal experience with food allergies starting with myself and my anaphylactic allergy to nuts of any kind and coconut, and continuing with my three food allergic children. My first son, Luke, had food allergies from birth which I did not realize until it was time to wean him from breast milk. Our second child, Noah, displayed dramatic symptoms from food allergies as an infant and by the time he was six months old we knew that wheat was a problem. Later we would find out that gluten was problematic as was dairy of any kind, eggs, tree-nuts, peanuts, soy, and several other foods. We quickly entered the world of gluten-free, dairy-free, and allergy-free cooking and baking.
Over the years, I have helped many people learn how to cook and bake gluten-free and dairy-free foods. I taught baking classes at a local kitchen store for Celiacs and parents of children with autism. And I have helped train restaurant owners in gluten-free, dairy-free, and allergen-free baking and cooking.
My paternal grandmother, Nan Lundy, taught me to bake wheat bread when I was about twelve or thirteen years old. She was an excellent baker and was known to many for her delicious treats. My grandmother made great bread, sweet rolls, cookies and she was a good teacher. My maternal grandmother, Jo Holcombe, was also an excellent cook, and shared many of her recipes with me over the years. So, I started early with my exposure to baking and cooking. My mother, Jean Holcombe Gottas, who is also a great cook, supported my kitchen adventures by getting me involved with 4-H and the wonderful cooking programs they had available during the same time frame. I began collecting family recipes at this time as it was a natural expression of learning to bake and cook. I collected recipes from family, from co-workers at Peoples National Bank when I worked there, and pretty much everywhere I went. Some of the recipes included in this cookbook are family favorites that I have converted and altered to meet our allergy needs. Others I invented out of necessity. My role model in the gluten-free world of baking is Bette Hagman who is the author of many cookbooks and a pioneer in this arena.
I met Bette Hagman when I was newly into baking gluten-free. We got acquainted and have become friends over the years. I admire, respect, trust and like her very, very much. I highly recommend her cookbooks however they are not dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free or peanut-free. I admire Bette so much that I had “Official Member of the Bette Hagman Fan Club” t-shirts made up, with her permission, of course. So, Bette has been a friend, a support and an inspiration to me for several years.
My third child, Anne, was really the cause of this cookbook. She is our Super Allergy Girl™. Her list of food allergies includes milk, eggs (whites and yolks), gluten, peanuts, tree nuts, some fruits and vegetables, fish, seafood and many other foods. I was forced to create recipes to meet her expansive food allergies and this cookbook is the result. I’ve had to learn most of my lessons by making mistakes. I’d love to be able to contribute to you by helping you avoid the same mistakes, and for you to be able to make great foods free of your food allergens. Unfortunately, there will never be a cookbook to meet every single food allergy person’s needs because we are all different in our food allergies. I wish you the very best in your efforts to make delicious foods free of the allergens that you need to avoid.
In addition to the recipes this cookbook contains over 100 pages of information that deals with special diet issues.
Some of the topics included are: how to save money on expensive products and ingredients; how to save time when baking for people with food allergies and special allergy ingredients and kitchen tools that can be purchased to make life easier.
The author, Lisa Lundy, has taught gluten free and allergy free baking classes, and has provided consultations with restaurants and a New York City Bakery. She has been active in the local Celiac and Autism communities for many years.
Lisa Lundy is a dynamic public speaker credentialed by Toastmasters International to the Advanced Toastmaster Silver and Competent Leader level. She has a B.S. Degree from Penn State University. She has been anaphylactic to tree nuts and coconut her whole life and is now the mother to three food allergy children.
