Pots and Pans

We have a dishwasher which is very handy.
We wash the dishes we both use then put them in the dishwasher for extra cleaning and sanitation to banish all gluten and dairy particulates.
That being said....we each have our own set of pots and pans. It just makes life a little easier.

Emily has yellow-bottomed pots and I have red-bottomed ones. In the off chance that my food does not contain gluten or dairy I still use my own dishes because I usually don't think about the contents until after I have made the food and picking the red-bottomed ones comes naturally now.
Oh, and we each have our own utensils as well. Like wooden spoons and spatulas. Mostly because we both love cooking and convinced our parents to buy us things but also being intentional about the foods we are cooking of course.

Together

So obviously Emily has issues...I mean....limitations when it comes to foods. And she had a kitchen last year which made eating actually possible since campus food is not very accommodating to her. I have been in a dorm for the past three years and now I am psyched to have a kitchen!!! Em and I are so excited to be living together this summer and school year. But we knew we would have to be very careful about some foods and cooking surfaces. Don't worry, we are pretty good at compromising.

I'm special

Let's just say I have very special food needs. 'Special' is a nice word for high-maintenance...when it comes to eating, that is. 

Gluten-free

Dairy-free

 

One night last October, Erin and Annie were getting dinner at the Panera on campus and Erin picked up the bag of salt and vinegar chips (because Annie and I LOVE them and of course we'd want a bag) and so she began reading it because she was bored and goes "look Annie! They're gluten free!" Annie replies, "Thanks Erin...nobody cares."

Well, next day, I had a doctor appointment because of some major digestive issues I was having and getting fed up with. The doctor decided I probably had celiac disease and would need to completely cut gluten out of my diet. Cool. It's all Erin's fault. When I told Annie, she told me "I know a bag of chips you can eat!"

Oh, and the dairy thing: I've known for 4 years that I'm allergic to casein, a protein in milk, but I haven't cared because I can't see it or feel it. There's a very internal reaction that messes with my immune system and well, I just haven't cared. Now that we know I have celiac disease, we know that my small intestine is like 80% dead. It can be revived but that takes time and it takes a healthy, fully-functioning immune system. So, I need to stop poisoning my immune system with greek yogurt. 

These are the basic rules of my food lifestyle:

• No wheat, barley, or rye
• bread
• pasta
• pie/pizza crust
• cookies
• brownies
• pancakes
• cake
• waffles
• No milk
• cheese
• milk
• yogurt
• ice cream

It's not as hard as you might think, after you figure out that there's gluten in all sorts of sneaky things--soy sauce, salad dressing, grain-fed meat, lunchmeat, cereal, oats, shampoo, vitamins--but figuring out those things can take time, and a lot of trial&error. 

The hard part is...

missing oreos and not having anything close to a decent Gfree alternative

having an 'Annie' section and an 'Emily' section and a 'both of us section' in the kitchen

eating anywhere besides at home--restaurants, dinner parties, service trips, potlucks, etc.

always being asked "can you eat that?" or "can you eat there?"

feeling like my food issues run a lot of a relationship but having no way around it

feeling so much better that I'd never go back

mistakes--eating gluten isn't like 'whoops!,' it's painful and it makes me very sick