Thanking my gluten-free support team

Although I do all the gluten-free blog writing on this site, much of what I write about would never exist without the wonderful support I get from my own gluten-free "support team", being, my family, friends, and fellow gluten-free foodies.

Most of the gluten-free recipes I publish on this blog are a direct result of the hard work of my wife, and occasionally my daughter. Even though they can both eat anything they want, they invest quite a bit of time into making delicious new gluten free recipes for me. And, so far, they have not tired of it. In fact, the recipes just seem to keep coming and I can eat nearly any kind of food imaginable - all gluten-free now thanks to their efforts.

Today is a perfect example of the work that I so absolutely appreciate and admire. Laura has been recently working at perfecting a recipe to submit to a national baking contest. She's going to take on, head to head, some of the best bakers out there, and even more impressive, she's going to attempt to compete against those "real" (wheat & gluten containing) recipes using gluten-free versions. I have full faith and confidence in her.

My wife has entered her GF creations into "normal" baking contests before and won, though on a regional scale. Going after a national win is certainly ambitious, but it will not surprise me if she can work her way into the finals with some of her creations. I've tasted the food produced for one of her planned entries, and I think it is nearly perfect. And, although I'd love to publish this particular recipe, needless to say, it's off-limits for me at the moment. :)

Another person that has been incredibly helpful is my mother. When I first went wheat-free after correlating wheat-consumption with health problems (prior to learning what Celiac was, and that gluten was the real issue), my mother created a chocolate cake using oat flour. That cake helped convince me that wheat-free didn't mean I could not enjoy my desserts. And, it was one of the early inspirations for all of the gluten-free recipes that would follow, and for the tasty glutenfree treats that would ultimately make it into my Gluten-Free Desserts book.

Now, my mother has stepped up to help with the book-sales effort. In fact, she is my top salesperson outside of the books I sell myself and over the web. Hardly a day goes by without me receiving an Email about how she sold another book here, and another one there. She has this uncanny ability to root out people with Celiac, gluten intolerance, wheat-intolerance, and the like. And, she loves to talk to people about the condition, which leads to her finding even more Celiacs as she goes.

My mother has sold my book to libraries, health-food stores, compounding pharmacies, and quite a few individuals over the past couple months, and she is amazingly effective at it. Who would have guessed? Her pre-retirement career was that of being a registered nurse ever since graduating college. It must be all that experience of interacting with the vast array of different personalities among her patients (and doctors) over the years that now makes this all come naturally to her. I can not thank her enough for being such a great mom, and salesperson to boot!

Other family members and friends have certainly helped me out with ideas and recipes over the past few years. My fellow gluten-free blog-writers and readers, including a group that collectively refers to themselves as "foodies", have also been a tremendous source of inspiration to keep me moving forward in the pursuit of the perfect gluten-free foods, and a life that is quite enjoyable and satisfying - just gluten-free. This gluten-free community on the Internet just keeps growing, and with it there is just so much great information available for both the newly diagnosed Celiacs and those of us that have been living without gluten for quite some time. I am thankful for everything all of you have done to help myself, and everyone else living gluten-free, lead a normal life.