GlutenAway Blog

By: Laura McCutcheon (Taylor's Mom)

When it comes to GlutenAway, Taylor is the voice and driver of this blog and everything social media. In the past I haven’t contributed much when it comes to content unless it was something that I truly feel will benefit his followers – advice on parenting, social situations, etc.

In the past four years, I have had five people in my life try to commit suicide. Three with pills and two with a gun. This past week, someone I knew well and worked closely with took her own life. She was an incredible human being – giving, bright, driven and loved by so many. She was well known in the professional community. No one saw this coming. I am left shocked and saddened. Left wondering how I can help or if there is something that I can do.

Depression in general needs to be addressed in this country as a true medical condition. More importantly, the stigmatism behind mental health illnesses needs to be addressed and confronted head on. I thought if there's anything I can do, I can bring awareness to the connection between Celiac Disease, gluten sensitivities, and depression and help those who are diagnosed or coping with this illness. To help them know that they are not alone, that there is some scientific medical reasoning behind it, and that there is no shame in reaching out or talking to someone for help.

Chinese food has always been one of my favorites. Luckily it happens to be a food that is in most cases naturally gluten-free. You do sometimes have to worry about wheat noodles or soy sauce, but it is one food category that is very easy to convert with some gluten-free options. That being said, stir fry is a great dinner option you can make on the week nights that is both gluten-free and easy! One of my best friends, Alexis Wafer, happens to be vegetarian and someone who looks out for gluten-free options too. This recipe is given in full credit to her with a few gluten-free adaptions made by myself. Enjoy!

When you go to a party or host one, food will almost always be involved. Especially when Super Bowl Sunday comes around. You may have options or you may not! But I'm sure if you go to any party or get together and bring one of these dips, people will be impressed. Each one of these chip dips are naturally gluten-free and pretty easy to make. My personal favorite is the gluten-free dairy free Spinach Artichoke dip which is amazing but I promise you can't go wrong with any 4. Whether you want to use one of these dips for a party or you need to bring something for Super Bow Sunday, I know at least one of these dips will be an appetizer that everyone enjoys.

When's the last time you stepped foot into a McDonalds? Maybe a year? Maybe more? For me it's been over 5. (Besides the time I had to pee real bad on a road trip but hey, that doesn't count) We all stay away from most of the items on McDonalds' menu we know it's just something we can't have. Personally, I wouldn't want to eat any of that crap anyways because I know not one thing on their menu can be good for my health. That being said, that doesn't mean that there aren't a few things from their restaurant that would be tasty. When I look at the Egg McMuffin I think, "yea...that's definitely one of them." The only thing is that a McDonald's Egg McMuffin is filled with so much chemicals and perservatives, it really doesn't need to be that way! You can make your own Egg McMuffin that's just as good (if not better) and the best part is it can be 100% gluten-free and dairy free too.

I've traveled to quite a few places before in my 18 years of living but you'd be surprised to know that I haven't traveled to many places since going gluten-free. Sure, traveling around the U.S. is already considered hard enough as a celiac. But traveling to a country where people speak very little English is even harder. This past week my mom and now step-dad got married in Punta Cana as what I would call one of the most fun weeks of my life. The destination was perfect, the friends and family there was perfect, the entertainment was perfect. But when you're celiac, there's one thing that may matter to you most out of all when you travel. The food. Most of the time the food was amazing and I felt 100% safe! But other times I was left searching for food, feeling like I didn't have many options. By the end of the trip I learned that it's all about where you dine rather than the resort itself. That's why I'm here to help you know how to have a gluten-free paradise at the Hard Rock Punta Cana Hotel.

As you all know Christmas is one of the craziest times of year with tons of planning to do. Most people are probably worried about the right gifts to get or about family or traveling. But have you thought or prepared for your food? All families are different, some are very understanding that you can't have gluten, and some of course aren't. Either way you should be as prepared as possible with something to eat. Here are some of my favorite recipes that I have made or really want to try from some of my favorite bloggers!

By now you know that General Mills has recalled 1.8 million boxes of "gluten-free" cheerios due to the presence of wheat within their product. In case you've been living under a rock and haven't heard about this story yet, you can read the full recall, here.

I personally never tried the new "gluten-free" cheerios because of this very reason. I knew that something would go wrong sooner or later and I guarantee an incident like this will happen again. It's bound too. It truly sucks to see so many people get excited about a product like this, only to be glutened yet again. If you've read the process on how they make cheerios gluten-free, it makes zero sense. Not that I don't believe that their process works. But it makes zero sense as to how they can guarantee each box is under 20 ppm...the truth is, they can't.

I hate being the one to tell you this but Cheerios being gluten-free is not something we can trust. I'd love to tell you to go grab a box of Cheerios right now and get at it, but simply, it's not the truth. Cheerios can't be trusted because of this incident and unfortunately, it will not be the last.

Instead of continuing to eat Cheerios hoping that an incident like this won't happen again, why don't I offer you some awesome alternatives to Cheerios that you can ACTUALLY trust. See below :)

This is an awesome gluten-free recipe that I snagged from Enjoy Life Foods using their new gluten-free all purpose flour mix. All their new mixes are top 8 allergen free and have honestly made baking much easier as a gluten-free teen. I'd like to think that I'm a lot better at baking compared to most people my age, however, that doesn't mean I enjoy recipes with 100's of ingredients. That's really why I like Enjoy Life mixes so much because they make all recipes super easy to make. I'll be trying to include Enjoy Life mixes in my recipes a lot more this Fall, so make sure to check them out if you haven't yet. They are great if you want to avoid the top 8 allergies as well.

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