FAQ

Here you will find the answers to our most frequently asked questions...

Why the focus on coeliac disease?

Although our site mainly focusses on coeliac disease we understand that many people are on a gluten free diet for other reasons such as gluten intolerance or sensitivity, for which our recipes are also suitable. We focus on coeliac disease purely because until my daughter was diagnosed we had no idea that it affected at least 1 in 100 people in the UK (equivalent to over 620,000) and that many go undiagnosed until later in life, so by focusing on it here we aim to help raise awareness as well as provide tasty recipes!

What allergens are excluded from your recipes?

All of our recipes are based around a strict gluten-fee diet, therefore as well as excluding wheat, rye and barley we also do not include oats or mustard powder in any of our recipes as these are almost always cross-contaminated when grown or processed. 

Where do you get your recipes from?

Many of our recipes are based on ones which have been in our family for over 70 years, my Nan was a fantastic cook, all we have done is update them a little and make any adjustments required to make them gluten-free, that can involve a surprising amount of tweaking for some of them though! Others we have come up with ourselves from scratch, adapted from old cookery books, or are based on recipe twists  inspired by TV cooking programs (I'm a big fan of Gino D'acampo).

What does your 'Difficulty rating' actually mean?

It is meant as a rough guide as to how difficult a recipe is to prepare, on a scale of 1 to 5, and is best interpreted as:

1. Easy - even an absolute beginner in the kitchen should be fine making this.
2. Fairly easy - beginners might want to read through it more carefully the first time they make it.
3. Average - beginners might need to make this a couple of times to perfect it.
4. Tricky - a little more experience may be required, beginners might need to make several attempts.
5. Difficult - can be difficult to perfect for all but the more experienced.

The main thing that increases the difficulty is that working with gluten-free flour can be very different to working with wheat flour, don't let it put you off though the rating is just their to give you an idea of what to expect!

What does your 'Child friendly' rating actually mean? 

I feel that for children on a gluten-free diet it is more important they learn to cook, although the range of off the shelf products is increasing their are still so many foods that aren't available to people on a gluten-free diet or that cost a ridiculous amount to buy pre-made (scotch pancakes / drop scones for example). Plus home-made always tastes better and as a rule that's even more true for most gluten-free foods. So I came up with the 'Child friendly' rating as a way of helping parents who have a child on a gluten free diet decide when their children might be ready to try different recipes for themselves, here is a guide as to what the numbers are intended to mean:

1. Experienced children aged 12+ might have trouble with this even with supervision and guidance.
2. Experienced children aged 12+ will probably manage this with supervision and guidance.
3. Children aged 10+ can probably manage this with supervision and guidance.
4. Children aged 5+ can probably manage this with supervision and guidance.
5. Suitable for parents to make with younger children, great introductions into cooking.