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Infant Recipe: Gluten-Free Coconut Raisin Pudding

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff Leave a Comment

In the market for some homemade infant baby food recipes? Here at Celiac-Disease.com, we’ve managed to locate a few recipes that can help parents who are looking for gluten-free baby foods they can make for their child at home. Enjoy!

Gluten-Free Coconut Raisin Pudding Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 1 small apple
  • 1 oz raisins
  • 4 tbsp unsweetened apple or orange juice
  • 1/2 oz desiccated coconut

Directions:

  1. Peel, core, and slice the apple.
  2. Put into a small saucepan with the juice and raisins and cook on a low ring for around 10 minutes or until the apple is soft.
  3. Take off the heat and stir in the coconut.
  4. Liquidise, cool, and serve.

Looking for more baby food recipes?  Check out our Gluten-Free Baby Foods Category!

Infant Recipe: Gluten-Free Chicken with Vegetables

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff Leave a Comment

Looking for homemade infant baby food recipes? Here at Celiac-Disease.com, we’ve managed to locate a few recipes that can help parents who are looking for gluten-free baby foods they can make for their child at home. Enjoy!

Gluten-Free Chicken with Vegetables Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 chicken breast
  • 1 tomato
  • 1 small potato
  • 1 slice carrot
  • 1 slice onion
  • 4 broccoli spears

Directions:

  1. Place the chicken, onion, carrot, and tomato into a saucepan.
  2. Cover with water and bring to a boil.
  3. Turn the heat down and simmer for around 45 minutes until the chicken is tender.
  4. Meanwhile, cut the potato in half and place it in a steamer, along with the broccoli, over a pan of boiling water.
  5. Steam for around 20 minutes.
  6. When the chicken is cooked, strain, reserving the stock. Skin the potato and add, the broccoli to the other ingredients.
  7. For young babies place in a liquidizer and blend until smooth.
  8. Add some of the stock to moisten if necessary.
  9. For older babies, you can puree the chicken, but just mash the vegetables, leaving some texture for the baby to explore.
  10. Cool and serve.

Looking for more baby food recipes?  Check out our Gluten-Free Baby Foods Category!

Is Celiac Disease a Hidden Epidemic?

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff

For most of us, the seriousness of Celiac Disease is very common knowledge, as most if not all of us either have it or have a family member with the disease. For most of the population, though, what Celiac Disease is and how serious it is truly isn’t common knowledge.

I’ve featured a number of great blog posts here at Celiac Disease, but those are usually from a doctor or someone suffering from the disease. Here is an excellently researched and written post over at Elya & Ellie Katz’s blog about Celiac Disease being a hidden epidemic, and it is written from the perspective of someone who has a family member that was recently diagnosed and is researching the disease.

Here is an excerpt:

This is a serious disease, and if it is in your immediate family, it is not something to ignore. It can lead to other illnesses that are even more deleterious. In children, it can trigger Juvenile Diabetes, something that ravages the health of the sufferer much more thoroughly and relentlessly than Adult Onset Diabetes. By the way, “Juvenile Diabetes” is more accurately called “Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitis,” or IDDM. IDDM can happen anytime in the adult years, though it is more common in children and young adults. Other illnesses that can be triggered by untreated CD, for your consideration:

  1. Alopecia Areata
  2. Anemia (can permanently affect children’s intelligence)
  3. Apthous Stomatitis (Canker Sores)
  4. Autism
  5. Birth defects (folic acid deficiency)
  6. Cancer (risk greatly increased in several types)
  7. Dementia
  8. Dermatitis Herpetiformis (very itchy skin condition)
  9. Dental Enamel Defects
  10. Depression
  11. Epilepsy
  12. Fibromyalgia Syndrome
  13. Hemorrhage, dangerous nosebleeds (due to vitamin K deficiency)
  14. Hyperthyroidism
  15. Hypothyroidism
  16. Infertility
  17. Irritability
  18. Lupus
  19. Migraines
  20. Multiple Sclerosis
  21. Neuropathy
  22. Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma
  23. Osteoporosis
  24. Schizophrenia
  25. Short Stature
  26. Unintended weight gain
  27. Unintended weight loss

And of course, those with CD often suffer from many gastrointestinal discomforts, such as chronic diarrhea, constipation (or alternating), bloating, nausea, and Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) to name a few.

Don’t have any symptoms? Don’t get too comfy. It’s a little complicated. There is something called “Asymptomatic CD”. You may not suffer from any significant symptoms and still have CD. So, you may ask, “If I have CD and don’t know it because it doesn’t bother me, so what’s the big deal?” I’ll tell you what the big deal is: If you have asymptomatic CD, you are still at greater risk than the general population for that long list of illnesses and complications I listed above, and more. Do remember, I have only provided a partial list.

Click over to check out their entire post!

Infant Recipe: Basic Baby Food

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff Leave a Comment

When dealing with Celiac Disease the best way to ensure the foods you eat are gluten-free is to make them yourself. This includes food for your youngest with Celiac as well. All that is required to quickly and easily prepare your baby’s meals is a blender or food processor for pureeing chopped foods.

This is not a specific recipe, rather it is a method for making basic baby food. For the youngest eater, you can make smooth, easy-to-swallow baby food. And as your child grows, you can change the consistency relatively easily. When starting your baby on solid foods remember to always introduce one food at a time, spacing a few days in between each new food. Doing this gives you the ability to take note of any adverse reactions to certain foods.

Making Homemade Baby Food

Ingredients:

  • Water, breast milk or prepared formula

Fruits:

  • Apples
  • Pears
  • Bananas
  • Papayas

Vegetables:

  • Carrots
  • Potatoes
  • Butternut squash
  • Sweet potatoes
  • Pumpkin
  • Rutabaga
  • Parsnips

Optional:

  • Rice Cereal

Directions:

  1. Choose your ingredient(s). Remember to start off using one at a time, but as your child successfully tries each ingredient you can mix and match (i.e. apple & banana or carrots & pumpkin) for new flavors.
  2. Cut your ingredient(s) into small, bite-size pieces. They will cook faster and be easier to puree.
  3. Cook your ingredient(s) by either steaming or baking until they are soft.
  4. Ripened bananas and papayas don’t require cooking, just peel and mash if using them.
  5. Once your ingredient(s) are soft, use a blender or food processor to puree them while adding water, breast milk, or formula.
  6. The consistency of the puree will depend on where your child is at regarding eating. Infants just starting out will need a thinner consistency whereas more seasoned eaters can have it thicker. Also, if you plan on adding rice cereal you will want the consistency thinner as the cereal will thicken it up.
  7. Once your food is pureed to the consistency you want, you can stir in some rice cereal if you choose to do so.

If you’d like to check out other recipe ideas, check out our gluten-free recipes page!

Is Gluten Absorbed Through Skin?

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff 2 Comments

As a quick follow-up post to my earlier post titled Do Disposable Diapers Contain Gluten, I received a comment from Nancy Lapid of About.com offering some information about the research she has done.

Over on About she answers the question, can gluten be absorbed through the skin:

Answer: No. Gluten molecules are too large to be absorbed through the skin. If you are having skin reactions to cosmetics or other products that contain gluten, it’s possible that you are having an allergic reaction to one or more of the product’s ingredients. Your doctor or a dermatologist can help you identify the cause.

Special issues in small children: Even though gluten can’t be absorbed through the skin, it’s best to avoid skin care products (or shampoos) that contain gluten if they are to be applied on a small child who might put the treated skin area or hair into his or her mouth.

Thanks Nancy for the clarification!   This is great news, as parents of children with Celiac have enough to worry about without adding diapers and skin products containing gluten to the list.