If you are like me, and suddenly find that a member of your family needs to be on a gluten-free diet, you look at your cupboards, your soy sauce, your packaged food, your recipes - you realize that wheat is everywhere and in everything.

My daughter needs to have a trial period of 3 weeks gluten/dairy-free. This will allow her to see if she feels any different without wheat or dairy, but also to create a controlled situation.

After the trial period is over and her body is cleared of wheat/dairy, she will then go back on wheat for a day. If her body has a strong reaction - this will tell her that yes indeed - wheat is an irritant.

So what to do for 3 weeks and how to do it without replacing everything in the kitchen? My first suggestion is to make this a family affair. If we are all eating the same food, and there are not "temptations" in the refrigerator, it will be much easier for my daughter not to cheat.

It will also make life easier for the cook - by not having to come up with 2 or 3 menus for each meal. This also means that meals should be as familiar as possible. Don't go out and buy a cookbook that is filled with recipes that look like they came from another planet.

I remember coming home from college and trying to convince my farm family that they should become vegetarian.  "Awful falafel" was my father's description of one of the dishes.

My second suggestion is to eat very simply and eat food in it's original form. Vegetables, grains such as quinoa & rice, beans, and lean meats such as chicken, beef, wild game, etc.

Meals created with "real" foods are filling and can easily be turned into soups, wraps, and next-day lunches.  Rice spaghetti and other pastas are very good.  Remember to always check labels on condiments.

It is surprising how many flavorings include wheat. Braggs Liquid Amino Acids is gluten free, and a perfect replacement for soy sauce. Using spices in their pure form may give your meal a less exotic flavor compared to packaged flavorings, ---- but if you're going to do it, you might as well do it well!!

My third and last suggestion is to figure out what to do about anything that requires flour. If I continue to use recipes that are familiar to the family - I will have a lot less grumbling.

The flavor or texture might be slightly different, but there is a certain comfort in knowing that we haven't become food orphans!! Start out simply - cookies or recipes that don't have flour as the primary ingredient.  

If it turns out this needs to be a permanent change in food preparation, there will  be plenty of time to experiment and look for wonderful gluten-free variations.

By using these suggestions, suddenly my trip to the store became much more manageable.

I looked for a few gluten-free products just to carry my daughter over the next few days, but I primarily looked for the 5 or 6 ingredients you will see in the following recipes.

By pre-mixing flours in ziploc bags, when I want to make a recipe, I just scoop out the required amount of flour - and see what happens to my recipe.

Following this article, you will find a variety of flour substitute recipes and a glossary of the various ingredients.

I'm embarking on this 3 week period with curiosity now, instead of dread. If you have any words of wisdom to share on this subject, I hope you'll join us on the forum or on our facebook Page.

GLUTEN-FREE FLOUR RECIPES

Gluten Free Flour Mixture I (Jules Shepard)
Can be used as all-purpose flour. Measure into Ziploc, for shaking
1 Cup corn starch
1 Cup Potato starch
1 Cup sweet or rice flour
1/2 Cup finely ground corn flour (doesn't feel gritty)
1 Cup tapioca starch (can substitute 1/2 cup potato starch & 1/2 cup amaranth flour) very similar to corn starch and potato starch
1Tbsp + 1tsp xanthum gum Seal ziploc bag and mix by shaking. 

Gluten-Free Flour Mixture II (Allrecipes.com)
1/4 cup soy flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup brown rice flour

Gluten-Free Flour Mixture III (Allrecipes.com)
6 cups white rice flour (Brown rice flour works well for most recipes. Sweet white rice flour is good for desserts.)
2 cups potato starch
1 cup tapioca flour

Gluten-Free Flour Mixture IV
Sorghum Flour. A good flour to use as a base for flour mixes.
4 cups Sorghum flour
2 2/3 cups Tapioca flour
2 2/3 cups Potato starch
1 cup Gabanzo+fava bean flour
Keep this in the freezer and measure out what is needed for each recipe. Don't forget xanthan or guar gum. Use one teaspoon for each cup of flour mixture used. Also double the amount of leavening agent used and increase cooktime by about 10 minutes.

WHAT IS GLUTEN? GLUTEN SUBSTITUTES?
To successfully implement gluten-free cooking, it's important to understand what gluten is. Wheat flour contains gluten, which keeps cookies, cakes and pies from getting crumbly and falling apart. It is what makes baked goods have a light texture because it traps pockets of air. In order to help retain this structure when using flours substitutes, gluten substitutes must be added to a gluten-free flour mixture. For each cup of gluten-free flour mix, add at least 1 teaspoon of gluten substitute. Here are three very good substitutes for gluten.

• Xanthum Gum - The dried cell coat of a microorganism called Zanthomonas campestris. It is formulated in a laboratory setting. This works well as a gluten substitution in yeast breads along with other baked goods.
  

• Guar Gum - A powder that comes from the seed of the plant Cyamopsis tetragonolobus. It is an excellent gluten substitute.
  

• Pre-gel Starch - An acceptable gluten substitute. It helps keep baked goods from being too crumbly.

GLOSSARY OF INGREDIENTS - Substitution is the key. Experiment with different flours and feel free to substitute if you don't have one of the ingredients.

Corn Flour - milled from corn and can be blended with cornmeal to make cornbread or muffins. It is excellent for waffles or pancakes.

Cornmeal - ground corn that comes from either yellow or white meal. This is often combined with flours for baking.

It has a stronger corn flavor that is delicious in pancakes, waffles, or simple white cakes.

Cornstarch - a refined starch that comes from corn. It is mostly used as a clear thickening agent for puddings, gravys, fruit sauces and Asian cooking. It is also used in combination with other flours for baking.

Potato Starch Flour - a thickening agent that is perfect for cream-based soups and sauces. Mix a little with water first, then substitute potato starch flour for flour in your recipe, but cut the amount in half.

Rice Flour (white) - An excellent basic flour for gluten-free baking.

It is milled from polished white rice. Because it has such a bland flavor it doesn't impart any flavors. It works well with other flours.

White rice flour is available in most health food stores, but also in Asian markets. At the Asian markets it is sold in different textures. The one that works the best is called fine textured white rice flour.

You can also grind your own flours from the grains.

Rice Flour(brown)- made from unpolished brown rice. It has more food value because it contains bran. Use it in breads, muffins, and cookies.

Soy Flour - a nutty tasting flour with a high protein and fat content.

It is best used in combination with other flours and for baking brownies, or any baked goods with nuts or fruit.

Tapioca Flour - a light, white, very smooth flour that comes from the cassava root.

It makes baked goods impart a nice chewy taste. Use it in recipes where a chewy texture would be desirable. It would work nicely in bread recipes such as white bread or French bread and can be easily combined with cornstarch and soy flour.

If you can't find tapioca flour, you can buy tapioca pearls and grind them in your spice or coffee grinder, or a larger blender such as the Vita-Mix.

Resources: betterbatter.org, youtube(Jules Shepard), allrecipes.com