Are you new to gluten-free? Don't despair!

First of all, welcome to your new adventure! You may be thinking that having to avoid gluten is more of a punishment than an adventure, I know that is how my family and I felt in the beginning too. Trust me though, when I tell you that it IS an adventure that CAN be fun and quite tasty.

Over the past few years I have talked to more people that are avoiding gluten than I ever dreamed I would. It seems to be something that is very prevalent in just about every area of the US and around the world. I know that for my family, having an issue with gluten seemed like such a strange notion in the beginning. There didn't seem to be many people that even truly knew what gluten was. Now it is everywhere, being gluten intolerant is becoming a more common problem it seems.

When my son's doctor first recommended that we take the step to avoid gluten, I was totally lost! If you haven't read my blog post on the beginning of our journey and how we finally got to where we are, I would recommend checking it out. You'll get a much more thorough account of our journey from feeling totally lost to being gluten-free and loving it! The short of it is, however, that it was a process of being willing to try new things and also be willing to try some foods and recipes that we really weren't sure of. Some worked, some didn't, but we never would have known if we hadn't been willing to try.

My cooking background was based on cooking from scratch and making whatever I could make on my own. Buying mixes was something that I just didn't do often. My cooking style has changed little with our gluten-free ways. That being said, you certainly do not have to cook from scratch to prepare good gluten-free food!

There are so many amazing ingredients to work with when you are cooking and baking gluten-free. I have made some of my best recipes since cutting gluten from our diet. Angel food cake was always one of my favorites when gluten was the furthest thing from my mind. I can honestly tell you that my angel food cake made with gluten-free flours is so much better than it's gluten-loaded cousin.

Now, I have made many dishes from scratch and a few mixes that I felt were a total waste of time and ingredients. Not everything I've made has been wonderful or even worth the effort of eating, let alone making. I have seen many failures over the years. On this gluten-free journey you will have failures, you will buy products that are as tasty as the box they come in and you will learn what products are just OK.

Don't loose heart, there are as many, if not more products that are absolutely amazing. The ones that are not are becoming fewer and farther between. Cooks are finding ways to use gluten-free ingredients to produce very tasty and often better dishes than they ever could with gluten-rich flours. We have so many wonderful recipes here on Gling, tried and true! Recipes from real cooks, just like you.

There are some amazing products out there that are ready made. At our local gluten-free specialty market they sell a cookie that I always buy as a special treat for myself. It is the best snicker doodle I have had in years. There are also amazing breads, pastas, cake mixes and flour blends available. Even our local grocery store is carrying more and more gluten-free products.

One of our local coffee shops sells scones that are gluten-free and everyone loves them. In fact, they are not even marked as gluten-free so even customers that are totally able to have wheat flour order them and have no idea. They are just good scones. I don't know about you, but I think that is pretty cool!

My best advice to you, if you are new to the gluten-free world is to not despair! You are not going to be stuck eating rice cakes and have to forever miss your favorite foods. Just be willing to fail, be willing to ask questions and be willing to try new things. The gluten-free world is growing, it's becoming more mainstream and you are not alone.

Gling was created to give us all a place to go to learn, find amazing recipes, network with others that share this journey and get the latest news about this growing issue. This community of people has so much to offer everyone from the newbie to the expert on living gluten-free. The most exciting part is that it is not just for people that can't have gluten, but also for anyone that has a food issue at all! Corn, rice, soy, dairy, egg, foul...the list goes on.

While I may not be the most knowledgeable on the topic, I have lived it. I have spent the past several years feeding my family, quite well I might add, a completely gluten-free diet. We are not starving and we enjoy better versions of our old favorites every day. You can too and I am here to help in any way I can. Drop my a note, send me an email, leave a comment or a question. I will do all I can to help. If I am not able to give you the answers, we'll find them together.

Welcome to the adventure!