Two worlds - one kitchen.

The first is normal mom/grandma, you know the one. The one that you used to be.  Your kids are home and want a pizza - you throw one in the oven and then when it's done you grab a hot pad and pull it from the oven.  Of course your the tip of your thumb gets tomato sauce on it, and without realizing it you've touched the dough. The hot pad goes back into the drawer. 

​You place the pizza on it's the wooden cutting board and cut through it with your pizza cutter.  Crumbs from the crust explode all over the cutting board and counter. You grab a dishtowel from the oven door and wipe the crumbs into your hand and then toss them in the sink.  You shake out the towel over the sink.

If you're Celiac/gluten or corn intolerant, you may need to sit down before reading further because you've just gotten all shaky with the thought of all of the things that would put you over the edge in your world. 

This person looks at things differently. Let's see how many ways we need to adjust the above scenario for our special needs.

1) Throwing a pizza in the oven - on the rack?  Nope. Gluten from the crust would stick to the rack.  The pizza would have to be on a GF special stone, OR you might have a special GF (gluten-free) oven rack which is stored separately and used only with gluten free products. 

2) Grab a hot pad.  Yes, but you would not use your special GF hot pads.  Those are reserved for GF foods only.  You know how easy it is to contaminate things. If you used a regular hot pad with your GF foods, you know that you'd be asking for trouble.

3) Wooden Cutting Board - Nope. Wooden cutting boards and wooden spoons and utensils are a no-no for GF folks.  Gluten is very sticky and difficult to completely remove from wooden items.  Plastic or metal is a better choice. 

4) Grab a dishtowel - Yes, but not your GF towel.  Everyday dishtowels clean up gluten contaminated hands, counters, and dishes.  Your GF towel is used when you're wiping your hands, drying GF dishes, and areas that have not been contaminated by gluten.  It's your "safe" towel. It is stored in your GF cupboard or drawer.  It is not hung in the open where gluten dust and particles could reach it. 

It IS possible to LIVE gluten-free.  You need to keep alert to the possibility of cross-contamination, and be a gluten detective.  It takes extra work, but it's so worth it to be symptom free, isn't it?  

What would you do differently?  Share your comments so that others can benefit from your kitchen wisdom. 

Photo credit:  Flickr - sk8greek - Creative Commons 

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