A bit about me and why I am writing this blog...

For years I suffered from tummy problems and about eighteen months ago they were so severe it was impacting my day-to-day life. I had been diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome and felt pretty hopeless as all the advice/medication given by the doctor did not help at all. It was then I made the decision to cut out wheat from my diet. Much to my amazement within three days I was cured! Since then on the odd occasion I have eaten wheat the effects have been apparent within a few hours. I don't have to go into too much detail, anyone who is allergic/intolerant to wheat will know the symptoms well!

I am lucky that I have a real passion for cooking and always cooked meals from scratch anyway, therefore the only big changes to my diet were cutting out bread (I always ate sandwiches at lunchtime), eating wheat-free pasta and no more shop bought biscuits! Initially cutting out bread was a nightmare and a few tears were shed. I don't mind making my own bread but the specialist wheat-free bread making flours do not, in my opinion, make bread that tastes like normal bread! They always have a sweet, almost cake-like taste and the texture is not doughy and bread-like at all.

My other problem I have is with wheat/gluten free cook books, especially ones for baking. Yes they have lovely looking cakes but often plain or self-raising flour is replaced by a combination of five or six flours, often ones which are not available on the high street (for example amaranth flour).

I have therefore been experimenting with my own recipes and adapting them to make them as easy as possible. I want to share them with you and hopefully you too can enjoy some lovely but simple recipes.

One thing to note before starting is I often use Spelt Flour (both white and wholemeal) in many recipes. I have found that I can tolerate this so long as don't each too much of it (for example I don't eat spelt bread and pasta at the same time). Your intolerance may be different to mine but it's worth trying as many people with wheat allergy or wheat intolerance can tolerate spelt. Spelt flour is closely related to common wheat and is not suitable for people with coeliac disease. It is becoming more available in the UK and can be found in many specialist food shops.

I hope to many of you this blog is helpful. I can't guarantee how often I will write in it as with a full-time job, three boys and a baby on the way life is pretty hectic, but I will try where I can and share my tips and tricks of living with a wheat intolerance.

A last note - these recipes are suitable for anyone, you can't tell the difference...honest! I had a housewarming party recently for thirty people and we had a proper meal with tons of lovely wheat free salads, pasta salads and deserts, each as simple and tasty as the next :-)

So if you chose to make any of these recipes don't just make them exclusively for yourself (although the oaty choc chip cookies you might not want to share!), they are suitable as part of any family meal. In addition to being wheat-free, I like to think most of my recipes are healthy (well apart from the gooey chocolatey ones).

Enjoy and feel free to add your own experiences :-)

Nic