New foods; New blog focus

Since moving back stateside many things have happened: stopped blogging, went back to Germany, drove across Germany, came back to the US, drove across the US and moved to Southern California. Oh and began a gluten free diet for the newly diagnosed German Celiac who has joined me in my adventures to Cali.

This self diagnosis (soon to be confirmed by a Dr hopefully- or not hopefully?) of Celiac disease came after many trial and error diets. Then one day it simply hit me- so many gluten free options out there, the symptoms are quite the same- German, you may have Celiac disease. And thus began our gluten and lactose free diet.

I thought I had hit the jackpot, I had finally diagnosed him after months and months of pain. Then I realized MY pain and frustration was just beginning. I was overly excited to be moving to the US- I would finally have all the necessary ingredients to make my favorite dishes, quick dishes, crock-pot dishes that I could not find in German grocery stores.... the realization quickly hit that nearly all of these recipes were not gluten free and thus began my search for a new cookbook and weekly menu.

So now that's what I'm going to *try* to dedicate the blog to: our weekly struggle to find tasty, easy, and inexpensive gluten free meals and snacks. Most of our meals will also be lactose free because after a while Celiac Disease begins to destroy the villi in the intestine which also cause dairy products to be indigestible as well. With time and corrected diet this can be reversed, also there are pills containing enzymes which help break down the lactose that you can take. So although dairy can be in our foods, we still try to avoid it.

If you have any suggestions, well wishes, pointers, recipes or even questions please feel free to pass them on! We need all the help we can get!