An Introduction

Hi, I'm Kathi. I am the mother of a 6 1/2 year old son named Andy.

In March of 2003, at 3 years of age Andy was diagnosed with Autism. In December of that same year, Celiac Disease was added to that. There are many children like Andy that have both autism and celiac disease - there are also many children (and adults) that have just one or the other.

Many parents of children "on the spectrum" decide to try a gluten free and casein free diet without a diagnosis of celiac. I can only speak to both disorders at once because that is how I know them.

Early on we made the decision to make our entire household GFCF - not everyone can afford or chooses to do that. For us, it was an easier decision than having to keep two sets of dishes and cooking utensils as well as things like toasters. I personally also suffer from a dairy allergy and was not able to stay away from dairy until we had to take it away from our son - the diet has been good for me.

In the beginning it seemed hard, but it gets easier over time. I have helped several other moms with the diet - and while I am glad to help - I thought it might be easier to create a blog that will document what we actually buy and eat to help others see how to do it as well.

I am blessed with a child that is very understanding of his diet - he has had infractions that have given him a very bad tummy ache and some very uncomfortable rashes as well as behavior that none of us like - as a result, he questions all food set before him away from home.

I hope to share recipes as well as take pictures of actual items that we use so you can see what you are looking for in the store.

I am also am lucky that I have always cooked a lot of our food from scratch so having to make a lot of his foods has not been that difficult for me.

I hope that others find this useful.

Welcome to our GFCF world.