What do I do when I'm visiting a friend????
Back in the days BC (before celiac), I never even gave it a second thought if someone invited me over for lunch or dinner or out to a restaurant! I would whip something fun up to take with me and I would enjoy munching on whatever everyone else had brought or I could order anything off of any menu at any restaurant and never worry about the consequences.
But, then everything changed AD (after diagnosis)! Suddenly, everything was a threat and I was terrified to eat anything that I hadn't personally cooked. My world became very small and isolated and more depressed as I contemplated a lifetime of solitude in order to avoid nasty celiac symptoms. I understood all too well that every small bite of gluten was dangerous and the damage done by that one bite was permanent!!
This is a fact that most people do not understand: if you are gluten intolerant, you will suffer for a few hours if you ingest gluten, but then, you'll feel fine again. However, if you have celiac disease, every tiny morsel of gluten that you ingest not only makes you deathly ill for weeks or months, but causes irreparable damage to your body! By the time I was diagnosed at age 35, it turns out that I'd been an active celiac for over 30 years and the damage to my body was enormous!! There was not a single organ system in my entire body that was functioning properly and the doctors weren't even sure that I would live. Changing to a gluten-free diet stopped the acute symptoms, but the long-term chronic illnesses caused by the 3 decades of malnutrition cannot be erased.
How, you ask, could I go for so long without a diagnosis??? Well, my friend, even in today's gluten conscious world, the average diagnosis time for a celiac is still 2-5 years, minimum. When I was a child and teenager and young adult and so sick all the time, the doctors just continually told me that it was in my head, or it was hormonal, or I was too stressed, or it was just because I was a woman....and the list goes on and on. They gave me drugs to deal with symptoms, but could never find a cause. It wasn't until I was practically on death's door that I was sent to a doctor who was determined to find the cause, no matter what! 4 months of testing almost killed me LOL...but, he found it. And now, while I still struggle mightily with the damage done, I eat an exclusively GF diet and can prevent any further damage to my system. My numbers are good again and my body functions pretty darn well considering all the things that are wrong with it.
What does all this have to do with visiting a friend....I'm getting there, sorry. As I said earlier, in the days BC, I never had to worry about it. But, once I was diagnosed, and terrified to go anywhere else to eat, I realized I had a problem. My husband was constantly pushing me to tell people who invited us over about my condition so they could have something that I could eat. I always, and still do, feel very uncomfortable about that and HATE doing it!! For years, I just refused to say anything and would stick something in my purse that I could pull out and eat if there was nothing available for me. But, that caused problems too because it hurt people's feelings and I was trying to avoid that very problem!! Then, I finally started telling people that I had to eat GF and the responses have been very interesting. Most people feel bad for me (which is not what I'm going for!), and will ask what they can make that I can eat. Some people will rescind the invitation because they don't want to deal with it. Some will ask me to bring something for myself, which I'm okay with. Others will ask if I'll bring a dish to share, which I'm also okay with. I ALWAYS volunteer to bring something--usually a dessert because I find that that's the most intimidating dish for people to try and make GF. I'm not sure that I've found the perfect solution to this problem...I'm not even sure that there is one! But, I don't want to spend my life isolated from my friends, so I put myself out there. I do not, however, eat anything that contains gluten just to avoid hurting someone's feelings because it's not worth it to me to injure myself.
The other day, some new friends of ours invited us for dinner and I went through the whole spiel about needing to eat GF. She immediately listed off some things and asked if I could eat them--we planned a menu right on the spot! I volunteered to bring dessert and the offer was accepted. Turned out I had a really busy day that day and had to come up with something quick from what I had on-hand, since I didn't have any time to run to the store (which the closest one is 10 miles, so its not a real quick trip :)
I decided to use my "go-to" cake recipe and pump it up, so to speak. I was in a serious chocolatey mood---as usual--but didn't just want gooey chocolate. So, I went a little "nutty" and decided to make an Almond Joy cake---definitely the right answer! Here's the recipe:
Almond Joy Cake
4 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 tsp almond extract
1/4 cup safflower oil
1/4 cup EACH: brown rice flour, tapioca flour, and coconut flour
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 cup sweetened coconut
1 cup slivered almonds
1 cup dark chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 375. Grease a 9" round cake pan. Beat eggs, sugar, and maple syrup at high speed with an electric mixer for about 5 minutes, or until light yellow and fluffy. Add extract, oil, flours, and xanthan gum. Beat until smooth. Stir in coconut, almonds, and chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for about 30 minutes, or until cake tests done. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes; remove from pan and cool completely.
To make glaze:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
3 oz dark chocolate
dash of almond extract
In a small pan, heat whipping cream and bring to a soft boil. Melt chocolate in the cream, stirring until completely incorporated. Splash in the extract and stir. Cool for about 15 minutes before pouring over cake. It will continue to set as it cools.
Optional: Toast almond halves and arrange on top of cake.
This cake is so rich and yummy!! It was the perfect ending to a wonderful meal with friends. Don't isolate yourselves, my celiac friends!! Get out there and enjoy--it can be done, I promise. All you need is a little preparation and taking a bit of care and you'll be able to still enjoy parties and get-togethers and lunches and dinners and brunches and...well, you get the idea :)
But, then everything changed AD (after diagnosis)! Suddenly, everything was a threat and I was terrified to eat anything that I hadn't personally cooked. My world became very small and isolated and more depressed as I contemplated a lifetime of solitude in order to avoid nasty celiac symptoms. I understood all too well that every small bite of gluten was dangerous and the damage done by that one bite was permanent!!
This is a fact that most people do not understand: if you are gluten intolerant, you will suffer for a few hours if you ingest gluten, but then, you'll feel fine again. However, if you have celiac disease, every tiny morsel of gluten that you ingest not only makes you deathly ill for weeks or months, but causes irreparable damage to your body! By the time I was diagnosed at age 35, it turns out that I'd been an active celiac for over 30 years and the damage to my body was enormous!! There was not a single organ system in my entire body that was functioning properly and the doctors weren't even sure that I would live. Changing to a gluten-free diet stopped the acute symptoms, but the long-term chronic illnesses caused by the 3 decades of malnutrition cannot be erased.
How, you ask, could I go for so long without a diagnosis??? Well, my friend, even in today's gluten conscious world, the average diagnosis time for a celiac is still 2-5 years, minimum. When I was a child and teenager and young adult and so sick all the time, the doctors just continually told me that it was in my head, or it was hormonal, or I was too stressed, or it was just because I was a woman....and the list goes on and on. They gave me drugs to deal with symptoms, but could never find a cause. It wasn't until I was practically on death's door that I was sent to a doctor who was determined to find the cause, no matter what! 4 months of testing almost killed me LOL...but, he found it. And now, while I still struggle mightily with the damage done, I eat an exclusively GF diet and can prevent any further damage to my system. My numbers are good again and my body functions pretty darn well considering all the things that are wrong with it.
What does all this have to do with visiting a friend....I'm getting there, sorry. As I said earlier, in the days BC, I never had to worry about it. But, once I was diagnosed, and terrified to go anywhere else to eat, I realized I had a problem. My husband was constantly pushing me to tell people who invited us over about my condition so they could have something that I could eat. I always, and still do, feel very uncomfortable about that and HATE doing it!! For years, I just refused to say anything and would stick something in my purse that I could pull out and eat if there was nothing available for me. But, that caused problems too because it hurt people's feelings and I was trying to avoid that very problem!! Then, I finally started telling people that I had to eat GF and the responses have been very interesting. Most people feel bad for me (which is not what I'm going for!), and will ask what they can make that I can eat. Some people will rescind the invitation because they don't want to deal with it. Some will ask me to bring something for myself, which I'm okay with. Others will ask if I'll bring a dish to share, which I'm also okay with. I ALWAYS volunteer to bring something--usually a dessert because I find that that's the most intimidating dish for people to try and make GF. I'm not sure that I've found the perfect solution to this problem...I'm not even sure that there is one! But, I don't want to spend my life isolated from my friends, so I put myself out there. I do not, however, eat anything that contains gluten just to avoid hurting someone's feelings because it's not worth it to me to injure myself.
The other day, some new friends of ours invited us for dinner and I went through the whole spiel about needing to eat GF. She immediately listed off some things and asked if I could eat them--we planned a menu right on the spot! I volunteered to bring dessert and the offer was accepted. Turned out I had a really busy day that day and had to come up with something quick from what I had on-hand, since I didn't have any time to run to the store (which the closest one is 10 miles, so its not a real quick trip :)
I decided to use my "go-to" cake recipe and pump it up, so to speak. I was in a serious chocolatey mood---as usual--but didn't just want gooey chocolate. So, I went a little "nutty" and decided to make an Almond Joy cake---definitely the right answer! Here's the recipe:
4 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 tsp almond extract
1/4 cup safflower oil
1/4 cup EACH: brown rice flour, tapioca flour, and coconut flour
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 cup sweetened coconut
1 cup slivered almonds
1 cup dark chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 375. Grease a 9" round cake pan. Beat eggs, sugar, and maple syrup at high speed with an electric mixer for about 5 minutes, or until light yellow and fluffy. Add extract, oil, flours, and xanthan gum. Beat until smooth. Stir in coconut, almonds, and chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for about 30 minutes, or until cake tests done. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes; remove from pan and cool completely.
To make glaze:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
3 oz dark chocolate
dash of almond extract
In a small pan, heat whipping cream and bring to a soft boil. Melt chocolate in the cream, stirring until completely incorporated. Splash in the extract and stir. Cool for about 15 minutes before pouring over cake. It will continue to set as it cools.
Optional: Toast almond halves and arrange on top of cake.
This cake is so rich and yummy!! It was the perfect ending to a wonderful meal with friends. Don't isolate yourselves, my celiac friends!! Get out there and enjoy--it can be done, I promise. All you need is a little preparation and taking a bit of care and you'll be able to still enjoy parties and get-togethers and lunches and dinners and brunches and...well, you get the idea :)
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