Transforming Family Traditions with Gluten-Free Creativity

When my oldest son was diagnosed with celiac disease, my heart sank—not because of the diagnosis itself, but because of everything I feared he might miss out on. As a mom with celiac disease myself, I knew the challenges we were about to face. From navigating birthday parties and school lunches to mastering gluten-free cooking, I was determined to make sure my son didn’t have to give up the joy of childhood.

In this episode, I’ll take you through the early days of our gluten-free journey, including the challenges, my first big cooking success, and the lessons I learned along the way. I’ll also share practical tips, like how to save money on gluten-free ingredients and avoid cross-contamination.

Whether you or a loved one are celiac, gluten intolerant, or just starting your gluten-free lifestyle, this story will inspire and encourage you. Let’s tackle the barriers of gluten-free living together—one delicious dish at a time!

Transcript

Carrie Saunders: 0:00

Quick reminder before we get started on this episode. This podcast is based on my personal experiences and isn't medical advice. I still remember the moment that I got the results and my oldest son had celiac. My heart sank, but not for the reason you might think. I wasn't worried about the diagnosis itself. I was worried about everything he might miss out on. You see, I'd gotten the diagnosis myself just a year and a half earlier, so I knew what we were in for. As a mom, you can accept missing out on things, but when it's your child, everything changes. Welcome to the Gluten-Free Engineer Podcast. I'm your host, k Saunders.

Carrie Saunders: 0:39

In 2011, I was diagnosed with celiac disease, a moment that changed everything, but I was determined not to let it hold me back. With my two engineering degrees, I set out to reverse engineer the gluten-free lifestyle, breaking down recipes, safety tips, travel hacks and everything in between, to rebuild a life I love. Whether you have celiac disease, gluten intolerance or simply choose to live gluten-free, this podcast is for you. Join me each week as we simplify the gluten-free lifestyle, make it fun and prove that you don't have to miss out on anything.

Carrie Saunders: 1:12

My oldest was just 10 years old when we got the news that he had celiac. Like me, he was in fifth grade, the life of the classroom, always making friends and going to just about everyone's birthday parties. I'm sure you can imagine the thoughts going through my head. How will we handle him going to birthday parties now? How do we make sure he doesn't feel left out? No one else we knew in his class had the disease, and I was barely on this journey myself. I had only heard of celiac about a year and a half before when I was diagnosed. It wasn't something most people talked about in 2012. We had already figured out that I struggled greatly with cross-contamination. I worried about how he would handle that at school, during parties, in the lunchroom or at sleepovers. For his long-term health, I knew it was important to avoid gluten as much as possible. Little did we know that, as his body healed, even a small amount of gluten would trigger a strong reaction. Like most 10-year-olds in America, his favorite foods included cookies, cakes, waffles, bread, pasta and, of course, chicken nuggets. Right Now, don't get me wrong, he was a good eater and didn't have these foods all the time, but they were things that he did love.

Carrie Saunders: 2:31

After processing his diagnosis, I made a decision I wouldn't let celiac disease steal my child's childhood. As a person with two engineering degrees, I was determined to pull apart recipes, understand the science and art behind them and recreate gluten-free foods he loved. That's when the gluten-free engineer in me came out. The more I practiced, the better I got. And talk about practice, his diagnosis came right before Thanksgiving, throwing us into the deep end. We had to navigate two Thanksgiving gatherings and celebrations, five Christmas celebrations the next month, and then his birthday was in January. Talk about mom overwhelm and really wanting to make sure I protect my child on this new journey we had to do.

Carrie Saunders: 3:14

His favorite holiday dish is my curried chicken casserole. The gluten in this dish comes from cream of chicken soup and breadcrumbs that are on top of the casserole. I was on a mission to find a gluten-free cream of chicken soup for Thanksgiving. I wasn't experienced enough to make it from scratch back then, but here's a hint it's actually really easy and tastes better too, and that is to come in future episodes. But if you're celiac, when you're looking for substitute ingredients you must make sure they're certified gluten-free. Check for labels that don't say processed in a facility that also processes wheat to avoid cross-contamination. If you're gluten intolerant or choose to eat gluten-free. The process in a facility warning, though, might not bother you.

Carrie Saunders: 3:59

For the breadcrumbs, I came up with a money-saving trick. We all know how expensive gluten-free bread is, even before the price hikes after the pandemic, so we saved all the heels of our loaves of bread from early on in this gluten-free journey. No one really eats those anyway, I know, I don't. I didn't really like gluten bread heels, but gluten-free heels, I feel like, tasted even worse and the texture and dryness was even worse. So what did we do? We stuck them in our freezer. We saved them up and made breadcrumbs or croutons from them, depending upon what we were doing with our dishes. It was a great cost-saving hack and super easy to do too.

Carrie Saunders: 4:39

What resulted? A chicken curry casserole that you couldn't tell was gluten-free. It was my first major success. The kids even thought it was tastier than the original, and that's saying a lot, given it was a 10-year-old, an 8-year-old and a 4-year-old eating this. Am I right? So celiac doesn't have to mean missing out, or even if you're gluten intolerant or choose to be gluten-free, it doesn't mean you have to be missing out. It just means we need to do things a little differently, and that's okay.

Carrie Saunders: 5:12

In this podcast, I'll be breaking down the barriers of eating gluten-free. Whether you or a family member are celiac gluten intolerant or choose to be gluten-free, you're in the right place. We'll talk about everything from cooking recipes, gluten-free product reviews to dining out, travel strategies, celebrations and handling social situations. Most importantly, we'll focus on making gluten-free living fun, simple and enjoyable. As a busy mom of three, I had to adapt quickly and make gluten-free living easier for us. Now, with over 12 years of experience, I want to take what I've learned and help make it easier for you too. I want to take what I've learned and help make it easier for you, too.

Carrie Saunders: 5:58

Thank you for listening to this episode of the Gluten-Free Engineer. If you found value in this story, please share it with someone who might need encouragement on their own gluten-free journey. For more tips, recipes, resources and even links to my YouTube channel, head on over to theglutenfreeengineercom. It's your one-stop place to make gluten-free living simple, fun and full of flavor, and don't forget to subscribe so you never miss out on an episode. Here's to making gluten-free living simple, fun and delicious. Talk to you soon. The Gluten-Free Engineer podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only. I share my personal experiences and stories about living with celiac disease and navigating a gluten-free lifestyle. This podcast does not provide a medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional for medical questions, concerns or advice specific to your health.