A Slightly Indulgent Introduction

    When my family gets together the days usually revolve entirely around preparing, eating, and discussing food. (Family outings are fun and everything, but the real attraction is lunch!) The majority of the time after one meal is spent planning and prepping for the next, with the six siblings, spouses, and parents crammed into the kitchen to create divinely delicious dishes. Someone once summed us up rather neatly by saying, "We eat to live. YOU live to eat!"

    I was diagnosed with Celiac disease in July '10 and figured I should just throw in the towel and call it quits. Gluten was basically my life... Noodles most of all, along with breads and pastries and cookies and gravy and creamy soups... I was really a gluten glutton, and so, apparently, was every company to ever process food. The stuff is ubiquitous!

    I eventually got over the shock and for a short while even resigned myself to wildly inferior substitutes for breads and the like, thinking there was nothing better. But, well, that didn't last long... Food Life is too good! You can't just let these wonderful food opportunities pass you by because of a disease! These things can be circumvented and there is better. I WILL eat a piece of homemade bread one day and think it's completely and utterly delightful.

   I don't know much about cooking or baking, having never done much of it before, but I do know good food. Determination and a whole lot of flour will have to make up for the rest!