Victoria Cauwels serves gluten-free homemade chocolate cake to her son, Jeffrey, 3 1/2, who gets severely ill from products with gluten.By Lori EhdeWhen Victoria Cauwels makes a meal for her family of four, she rarely opens a can or box, because those products that make cooking easy are the same ones that make her family sick.Nearly a year ago, her husband, Chad, was diagnosed with celiac disease, and soon after, 3 1/2-year-old Jeffrey, was also diagnosed.Cauwels herself isn’t sensitive to gluten, and it’s too early to tell if 2-year-old Kristina will be, but with half her family affected she said it’s easier to commit to gluten-free eating at home.And that’s no small commitment, considering the majority of food on the market is processed with ingredients containing gluten."We work a little harder to make supper, but it’s easier than living with sick people all the time," Cauwels said. A meal tha might take a typical person 15 minutes to prepare from freezer to microwave often takes Cauwels at least an hour, because she has to recreate the ingredient list without help from Campbell’s or Kraft.For example, hot dishes often call for a can of cream of chicken soup or mushroom soup, but those are thickened with wheat products.So Cauwels has her own dried soup mix that she prepares separately to add to the hot dish."You don’t have to throw away your old cookbooks," Cauwels said. "Pretty much anything can be modified. I got so hungry for Tator Tot hot dish, of all things, so I figured out a way to make it work."While she approaches it all with a cheerful attitude, she knows the lifestyle isn’t for everyone."It’s a big commitment, and some people would actually rather be sick than decide to make the commitment," Cauwels said."It was hard for me, too, but I decided that’s the way it is and to get over it."Many celiacs find it easier to simply buy gluten-free products, but they’re expensive. A loaf of gluten-free bread, for example, costs $5, compared with the average $1.50 wheat loaf.The Little Buying Club on the Prairie is a local organic foods group that pools member orders to buy products in bulk at lower prices.It has been a good resource for local gluten-free families, but Cauwels, a stay-at-home mom, has invested a lot of time experimenting with recipes.One week, she made seven batches of bread, experimenting with different combinations of water and flours to get the right consistency. "The bread I make now can be eaten as bread (as opposed to toast). It’s soft enough now," she said.When she gets it right, she shares her recipes and tips with her friends in the support group. Monday night, several group members met for a "flour mixing meeting," where they mixed bulk quantities of pancake flour, all-purpose mix, the "Featherlight Mix" and cream soup base mix.They’re made from bean, rice, tapioca and potato flours.While Cauwels made the lifestyle change for her family, she said it’s helped her as well."We’re all gluten-free here," she said. "I feel immensely better. We eat more fruits and vegetables now."
