Why Gluten Free? A Little Bit About Me....

First, just a little bit about me:

I grew up in Upper Michigan on a farm.  I loved baking and cooking from day one (well not quite THAT early, but almost!).  I'm so thankful for my mom who instilled that love of baking in me and always let me help her in the kitchen.  I still remember cutting out biscuits and how she would let me cut the circles again to make footballs and moons.  (What is it about biscuit or cookie cutters that makes them so much fun?)  :o)  My dad also encouraged me in my baking and cooking.  His favorite saying when he tried something was that I "needed more practice" (so he could have more goodies to eat).  :o)  

I started a cake decorating business in high school.  My parents paid for my first cake decorating class as a gift for my 12th birthday, and I absolutely loved it!  Two years later I went to the Wilton School of Cake Decorating near Chicago and went crazy making cakes for any occasion.

My sister Martha's 10th birthday cake.  

Decorating a cake for my cousin's wedding rehearsal dinner. 

My baking and cooking fun continued after high school.  I graduated from Northern Michigan University with an associate degree in food service management and worked at a five-diamond resort in Wisconsin.  It was there that I did a lot more studying on my own and learned more about baking science through creating new chocolates and extending the shelf life of chocolates for my job.

Chocolate fun

Chocolate creations for my job in Wisconsin--Strawberry Kiwi

The Lord moved me to Iowa through a job with chocolates that I thought would be a promotion and a good learning experience. That job didn't work out; but the Lord was faithful and provided a job with a grocery store as a cake designer. The extra hours that I found with only working a 40 hour work week allowed me the opportunity to start my own business making fine artisan chocolates--something I have wanted to do for a long time.

So Why Am I Gluten Free?

My dad found out almost a year ago that he has celiac disease.  My mom did a lot of research about celiac after that.  She actually mentioned at one point that I should get checked for celiac disease when I said something about being really tired.  I didn't think anything about it until she started mentioning other symptoms associated with celiac and realized that I had a lot of those same symptoms.  I finally saw a doctor in October of 2012 and had some allergy and blood tests done.  My blood test for celiac disease came back negative, but my dad's did as well.  The blood tests aren't known to be 100 percent accurate.  Under the guidance of my doctor, I then went completely gluten free and my symptoms immediately began to improve.  I ultimately had to go completely gluten and dairy free before my symptoms got better.  So, do I have celiac?  I don't know.  I assume I do, but I have not had the endoscope done to find out for sure.  I didn't feel it was necessary (nor did my doctor) because my stomach issues cleared up just from changing my diet and eliminating gluten and dairy.