About Me

So, this is me, or at least my likeness, (IF you add chubby cheeks and crazy naturally curly hair):





I'm Jackie and up until January of 2016, I, along with my husband and 2 kids, was living what most would consider a "normal" life: I worked at a great paying job, I traveled for work about once a month, spent money frivolously (see aforementioned great paying job), and my family dined out at least 2-3 times a week without a care in the world. Then reality struck - we found out that our 12-year-old son has Type 1 diabetes. I have a pretty extensive family history of Type 1, so this should not have been but a shock, but you could have knocked me over with a feather. This kind of stuff just doesn't happen to me, and certainly not my kids...am I right? Well, it did and it was a wake up call for sure. So as my husband fought his denial and I listened to coworkers, friends and even family suggest that I just change his diet (if only it were that easy), I stressed about what to do next. How could I possibly travel to places like Japan for work while worrying about my son's blood sugar and whether or not his father was handling things alright? I was torn. Well then reality slapped me right in the face again and basically made the decision for me - 2 months after my son's Type 1 diagnosis we found out that our 9 year-old daughter has Celiac Disease. After meeting with her Pediatric Gastroenterologist and a dietician, we of course learned that there is more to going gluten-free than just avoiding wheat, so that brings me to where I am at now:


I am a stay-at-home mom of 2 kids who is still learning the best way to raise my Celiac daughter to be gluten free. She is 100% gluten free, while I am about 80-90% and my son and husband are about 70% gluten free. ALL of our dinners are made gluten free. When I quit my job we started living on a budget. A real budget, not just one we pretend to be on to impress people. So every Sunday morning I sit down and plan out our menu for the week and then I grocery shop according to that menu.


I decided to start this blog as a way to share my weekly menus because I see so many people new to the GF way of life have no idea how to start. I make real food that kids eat (with the exception of the fish nights - in which case my daughter gets frozen GF fish sticks). It is not diet food and it is not fancy. It's real food that is typically easy to make.