A gluten-free lifestyle is not a walk in the park.
It's hard.
It's one of the most hardest things I've ever had to do in my life, so my intent with this gluten-free food and celiac lifestyle blog is to help you avoid most of the mistakes that hubby and I made when we first went gluten free.
I will show you how to lower your grocery bills and feed your entire family without going broke.
Gluten free food can be really expensive, but it doesn't have to be.
Hi. I'm Vickie Ewell.
When I first started blogging in 2007, blogs were a way for like-minded people to keep in touch, visit once in a while, and learn things from each other.
More than a diary, but less work than a complete, full-blown website, blogs were a way to communicate with people who had similar interests as your own.
For people like me who don't get out much, due to the vertigo, the slower pace of a blog was a nice way to feel connected without having to put on a front for others.
But today, that's no longer true.
In general, the average food blogger owns an expensive digital camera, lighting equipment, and some type of photo editing software. They spend a lot of time developing their photography talent, learning at which point in the cooking process to photograph a recipe, and what's the best angle to shoot from.
I will show you how to lower your grocery bills and feed your entire family without going broke.
Gluten free food can be really expensive, but it doesn't have to be.
Hi. I'm Vickie Ewell.
When I first started blogging in 2007, blogs were a way for like-minded people to keep in touch, visit once in a while, and learn things from each other.
More than a diary, but less work than a complete, full-blown website, blogs were a way to communicate with people who had similar interests as your own.
For people like me who don't get out much, due to the vertigo, the slower pace of a blog was a nice way to feel connected without having to put on a front for others.
But today, that's no longer true.
In general, the average food blogger owns an expensive digital camera, lighting equipment, and some type of photo editing software. They spend a lot of time developing their photography talent, learning at which point in the cooking process to photograph a recipe, and what's the best angle to shoot from.
I've even read that some of them take a blow-torch to help the recipe look more appetizing.
All of this practice teaches them where to shine the light, so the food will look its best, rather than display what the dish will actually look like when it hits your dinner table.
For today's food blogger, there's also cookbooks to write, new and exotic recipes to curate or develop, and giveaways to sponsor, as well as Instagram and Pinterest images to make and post.
Competition is the name of the game, so the finished dish isn't always something you would be willing to make yourself.
Mostly, because they have to keep all of those advertisers and sponsors happy, so they don't have to pay for the ingredients they use in their recipes. This means product reviews have to be objective, rather than honest, and they have to hustle traffic, so sponsors don't turn to their competitors.
You won't find much of that here.
I am not a professional photographer, so I often use images from Pixabay to illustrate a point or show a dish that I don't have an good enough image for. Even so, I never use images that do not match the finished dish.
I am a professional cook. Or was a professional cook is more accurate, now.
Cooking is what I do.
So, sometimes my photographs will turn out nicely, while other times they don't. I have no idea why.
When photos are my own, they aren't professionally doctored up because I don't know how to do that, either. What you see is what the food actually looks like.
I don't know a thing about lighting or editing a photograph.
I can crop a picture or export it from my free Picasa 3 image program, so it won't take up as much digital space, but I just own a cheap digital camera. And a Straight Talk cell phone.
I point and shoot. That's it.
I am also a freelance writer.
I got my start at the content farms and learned a lot of what I know through blogging for myself, taking on personal clients, and working as a ghostwriter for Textbroker and other sites.
I am not a social media butterfly.
I dislike much of what social media offers and stands for. It's too busy, and too fake for me, everyone is fighting for attention, so even though I have social media accounts, I'm rarely at most of them.
There really isn't any way to get out of this. Once you go gluten free, you really do have to learn how to cook all over again.
Hubby and I have been gluten free for over 12 years now, so much of what I do is automatic. I no longer have to give gluten-free food a lot of thought, but I haven't forgotten what it was like to find myself in the midst of a gluten-free nightmare.
Especially when I'm reacting to something and can't figure out what it is.
Since I was a professional cook and culinary specialist before going gluten free, it was extremely shocking to realize that nothing I knew how to do worked anymore. I was like an infant when it came to gluten-free cooking and baking, and I had to literally start all over from scratch.
All of my prior cooking experience, the techniques and tricks I'd spent my whole life learning, were suddenly obsolete.
There was new rules to learn, complex flour mixes to understand, and I felt pretty lost because even though there were hundreds of gluten-free websites back then, they all contradicted each other.
Since then, I've come to realize that the conflict and contradictions within the gluten-free community was an outgrowth of the variances in gluten sensitivity. But I didn't know that then.
I felt overwhelmed and confused.
What I've come to understand is that gluten-free information goes out of date fairly quickly, so getting the correct information for your particular situation can be a challenge. People afraid that their favorite products will disappear from the shelves are likely to cover up much of the truth about eating gluten free.
On top of that, the gluten-free recipes I tried all sucked, so I found the whole transformation experience frustrating and very expensive.
Advice in forums told me to just keep trying different gluten-free products until I found something we liked, but that was pretty insane, and expensive, so eventually, I reached a point where I said:
"No more. I'll figure this out myself."
Over the years, winging it took time, and a lot of trial and error, so the number one thing I've learned about gluten-free cooking is to just throw the crappy stuff away.
Honestly.
Today, hubby and I have reached the point where food is fantastic again, but it was a long time in coming.
While I do agree that taste is subjective, and we all won't like the same things, settling for less than the best is not an option. It's difficult enough to be gluten free without having to settle for food that's "just okay."
This is why you won't see me posting every single day here. I'm not interested in competing with other food bloggers for traffic.
I do have a lot of recipes that I've collected and revamped over the years, many of which I can no longer access because I saved them in Word format several years ago, and can no longer access those recipes.
All of this practice teaches them where to shine the light, so the food will look its best, rather than display what the dish will actually look like when it hits your dinner table.
For today's food blogger, there's also cookbooks to write, new and exotic recipes to curate or develop, and giveaways to sponsor, as well as Instagram and Pinterest images to make and post.
Competition is the name of the game, so the finished dish isn't always something you would be willing to make yourself.
Mostly, because they have to keep all of those advertisers and sponsors happy, so they don't have to pay for the ingredients they use in their recipes. This means product reviews have to be objective, rather than honest, and they have to hustle traffic, so sponsors don't turn to their competitors.
You won't find much of that here.
What We Are and What We are Not
I am not a professional photographer, so I often use images from Pixabay to illustrate a point or show a dish that I don't have an good enough image for. Even so, I never use images that do not match the finished dish.
I am a professional cook. Or was a professional cook is more accurate, now.
Cooking is what I do.
So, sometimes my photographs will turn out nicely, while other times they don't. I have no idea why.
When photos are my own, they aren't professionally doctored up because I don't know how to do that, either. What you see is what the food actually looks like.
I don't know a thing about lighting or editing a photograph.
I can crop a picture or export it from my free Picasa 3 image program, so it won't take up as much digital space, but I just own a cheap digital camera. And a Straight Talk cell phone.
I point and shoot. That's it.
I am also a freelance writer.
I got my start at the content farms and learned a lot of what I know through blogging for myself, taking on personal clients, and working as a ghostwriter for Textbroker and other sites.
I am not a social media butterfly.
I dislike much of what social media offers and stands for. It's too busy, and too fake for me, everyone is fighting for attention, so even though I have social media accounts, I'm rarely at most of them.
That may, or may not change in the future.
I do like Pinterest and find it can be quite inspiring, especially when it comes to creating new and inventive food ideas, so I took the time to learn how to make a decent Pinterest image and do hang out there when I'm taking a break from writing, or I am too dizzy to write.
I have vertigo, Graves Disease, borderline diabetes and a lot of other conditions that may or may not be associated with celiac disease. I have good days and bad days, which is why I don't blog or write every single day.
I prefer to keep things simple and do things the old-fashioned way, and that includes perfecting my gluten-free cooking to be the best that it can be.
I do like Pinterest and find it can be quite inspiring, especially when it comes to creating new and inventive food ideas, so I took the time to learn how to make a decent Pinterest image and do hang out there when I'm taking a break from writing, or I am too dizzy to write.
I have vertigo, Graves Disease, borderline diabetes and a lot of other conditions that may or may not be associated with celiac disease. I have good days and bad days, which is why I don't blog or write every single day.
I prefer to keep things simple and do things the old-fashioned way, and that includes perfecting my gluten-free cooking to be the best that it can be.
Here's the No. 1 Secret I've Learned About Gluten-Free Cooking
There really isn't any way to get out of this. Once you go gluten free, you really do have to learn how to cook all over again.
Hubby and I have been gluten free for over 12 years now, so much of what I do is automatic. I no longer have to give gluten-free food a lot of thought, but I haven't forgotten what it was like to find myself in the midst of a gluten-free nightmare.
Especially when I'm reacting to something and can't figure out what it is.
Since I was a professional cook and culinary specialist before going gluten free, it was extremely shocking to realize that nothing I knew how to do worked anymore. I was like an infant when it came to gluten-free cooking and baking, and I had to literally start all over from scratch.
All of my prior cooking experience, the techniques and tricks I'd spent my whole life learning, were suddenly obsolete.
There was new rules to learn, complex flour mixes to understand, and I felt pretty lost because even though there were hundreds of gluten-free websites back then, they all contradicted each other.
Since then, I've come to realize that the conflict and contradictions within the gluten-free community was an outgrowth of the variances in gluten sensitivity. But I didn't know that then.
I felt overwhelmed and confused.
What I've come to understand is that gluten-free information goes out of date fairly quickly, so getting the correct information for your particular situation can be a challenge. People afraid that their favorite products will disappear from the shelves are likely to cover up much of the truth about eating gluten free.
On top of that, the gluten-free recipes I tried all sucked, so I found the whole transformation experience frustrating and very expensive.
Advice in forums told me to just keep trying different gluten-free products until I found something we liked, but that was pretty insane, and expensive, so eventually, I reached a point where I said:
"No more. I'll figure this out myself."
Over the years, winging it took time, and a lot of trial and error, so the number one thing I've learned about gluten-free cooking is to just throw the crappy stuff away.
Honestly.
Cooking and tossing is the only way I was able to figure out what was wrong, what was correct, what was good, and what was just tolerable.
I wasn't looking for tolerable.
I wanted good, old-fashioned food -- REAL FOOD -- that was as good as, or better than, what we used to eat before, so I just kept trying until I succeeded.
I wasn't looking for tolerable.
I wanted good, old-fashioned food -- REAL FOOD -- that was as good as, or better than, what we used to eat before, so I just kept trying until I succeeded.
What You Can Expect From Us Here at Affordable Gluten Free
Today, hubby and I have reached the point where food is fantastic again, but it was a long time in coming.
While I do agree that taste is subjective, and we all won't like the same things, settling for less than the best is not an option. It's difficult enough to be gluten free without having to settle for food that's "just okay."
This is why you won't see me posting every single day here. I'm not interested in competing with other food bloggers for traffic.
I do have a lot of recipes that I've collected and revamped over the years, many of which I can no longer access because I saved them in Word format several years ago, and can no longer access those recipes.
Mostly, I'm interested in helping you avoid a lot of the cooking mistakes that I made when I was new to gluten-free cooking and baking.
I'm interested in converting common dishes and recipes that are simple and easy-to-make to be gluten free.
I'm also interested in helping you put real food on the table.
I'm interested in converting common dishes and recipes that are simple and easy-to-make to be gluten free.
I'm also interested in helping you put real food on the table.
Affordable food.
However, I'm only interested in publishing a recipe after I've made it the very best that it can be.
The recipe curation process can't be rushed. And since there is only two of us, the process takes a bit longer.
Gluten-free cooking, like all cooking, is a science and you need to get the science right. All the ingredients have to be in the correct proportions.
And even then, the composition of the flour mix you use, the brands of ingredients, the altitude you live at, and even the humidity on any given day will all affect the outcome of a recipe.
Substituting an ingredient or using a different brand that you already have on hand is a nice way to save money, but it may, or may not work out the same as the posted recipe.
You can't expect a recipe to always turn out if you change something, even if the change is relatively minor.
I can show you the shortcuts to affordable gluten free cooking.
I can teach you the principles you need to know to get your baked goods to be as close to the foods you used to eat as possible, but you'll have to do some of the tweaking for yourself.
What's available in my area might not be available in yours, and fine-tuning the recipe to fit your altitude and humidity is the only way to arrive at the best. Otherwise, you're at the mercy of my altitude and my relative humidity, which might not be identical or compatible with yours.
Not everything you cook will be that sensitive, so it's not really as bad as this sounds.
Lots of everyday dishes, such as enchiladas or a pot of chili, are already gluten free, or can be easily converted to be gluten free, and have no relationship to altitude or humidity. Cakes and cookies, for example, are much easier to duplicate than yeast breads.
Meat dishes, casseroles, and salads are simple and quick to convert, if you need to convert them at all.
For many recipes, you won't have to mess with that. They will already be gluten free or easy to make gluten free by simply switching to a safe brand or substituting one ingredient for another.
All of this doesn't mean that you have to follow my recipes exactly. I just want to be honest with you, so you'll understand what you're up against and the consequences for changing the ingredients or doing things differently than I do.
Some changes work the very first time and some changes do not. That's just the way it is.
However, I'm only interested in publishing a recipe after I've made it the very best that it can be.
The recipe curation process can't be rushed. And since there is only two of us, the process takes a bit longer.
Gluten-free cooking, like all cooking, is a science and you need to get the science right. All the ingredients have to be in the correct proportions.
And even then, the composition of the flour mix you use, the brands of ingredients, the altitude you live at, and even the humidity on any given day will all affect the outcome of a recipe.
Substituting an ingredient or using a different brand that you already have on hand is a nice way to save money, but it may, or may not work out the same as the posted recipe.
You can't expect a recipe to always turn out if you change something, even if the change is relatively minor.
I can show you the shortcuts to affordable gluten free cooking.
I can teach you the principles you need to know to get your baked goods to be as close to the foods you used to eat as possible, but you'll have to do some of the tweaking for yourself.
What's available in my area might not be available in yours, and fine-tuning the recipe to fit your altitude and humidity is the only way to arrive at the best. Otherwise, you're at the mercy of my altitude and my relative humidity, which might not be identical or compatible with yours.
Not everything you cook will be that sensitive, so it's not really as bad as this sounds.
Lots of everyday dishes, such as enchiladas or a pot of chili, are already gluten free, or can be easily converted to be gluten free, and have no relationship to altitude or humidity. Cakes and cookies, for example, are much easier to duplicate than yeast breads.
Meat dishes, casseroles, and salads are simple and quick to convert, if you need to convert them at all.
For many recipes, you won't have to mess with that. They will already be gluten free or easy to make gluten free by simply switching to a safe brand or substituting one ingredient for another.
All of this doesn't mean that you have to follow my recipes exactly. I just want to be honest with you, so you'll understand what you're up against and the consequences for changing the ingredients or doing things differently than I do.
Some changes work the very first time and some changes do not. That's just the way it is.
Got a question, or just want to chat? Drop us an email at:
Lavender.Rose27@yahoo.com
*Vickie Ewell is a culinary specialist, recipe developer, educator, content writer, and founder of several blogs -- the go-to resources for low carb and gluten free. With over 45 years of experience in low carb and other weight-loss diets, she lost 112 pounds tweaking the Atkins Diet. In 2009, she discovered she has celiac disease, quit her job as a cook for a boys' home, and turned her passion for research, writing, psychology, and cooking into a full-time career. Today, she shares her expertise, insights, research, and personal experience with intuitive eating, weight loss, celiac disease, self-empowerment, spiritual psychology, gluten-free cooking, and writing.
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