Gluten Free Family

After a few months of abdominal pains, loss of appetite, digestive issues, and having to visit the potty upwards of 10 to 12 times a day, we have a diagnosis of Celiac Disease for my husband that was obtained from a biopsy during a colonoscopy. 

My sister also has Celiac and though my blood tests are negative, I react terribly to gluten. My first colonoscopy will be next year, so ill get the biopsy then, and we'll find out if I also have Celiac, or if I have a very strong Gluten Intolerance of some other kind.

We have two kids who have what's called "chicken skin" on the backs of their arms. I just read the other day that this is an early sign of Celiac in children. Since Celiac is hereditary, the chances that the bumps on our kids arms are in fact indicators that the Mini's have some degree of a gluten sensitivity too is very high. 

So, here we go into a world of being an entire Gluten Free family. We're easing the kids into it though. I'm not a proponent of elimination diets if its not warranted, but on the same token, it's easier to get them use to this lifestyle early. 

The girl is a Mac-n-Cheesr fanatic, and the boy can eat his weight in chicken nuggets and PB&J. Replacing packaged foods laden with gluten with a non-gluten taste-a-like is expensive, so I don't want to go in that direction. 

I love to cook, as I'm sure you've seen, so this won't really be an issue for me, but I will need to gather ideas for things the kids will enjoy and that wont break the bank. I'm going to learn to make kid-friendly meals that I can quickly put together for lunches. It's funny to me that lunch seems to be my Achilles Heel. Breakfast is easy. Eggs or Chex cereal. Dinner is easy too. Meats, veggies, rice. But what do I make for the kids for lunch? I like salads, but they don't. I need ideas.