It’s getting harder to feed people these days. More and more people have food allergies or special diets.

On Thanksgiving we served 21 people, including one person with a nut allergy, one vegetarian, two vegans and one paleo. It wasn’t too difficult to accommodate all those different diets once I looked up what people on the paleo diet actually eat.

While most of those diets are lifestyle choices, the peanut allergy is serious. A mistake could have landed that young man in the hospital or even killed him.

Now we have a new allergy to worry about. Our oldest daughter, Jessica, has been having digestive issues for quite a while. She suspected celiac disease, but put off getting tested because she really did not want that diagnosis. A third blood test has confirmed that she does indeed have celiac disease.

The thought of giving up bread and regular pasta has left her bereft, but give it up she must.

Celiac disease is a serious genetic autoimmune disorder. When people with the disease eat gluten found in wheat, rye and barley, their immune system responds by damaging the villi in their small intestine.

In a healthy person the villi are like little fingers with an extended surface for the absorption of nutrients. In people who have untreated celiac disease, the villi flatten and don’t absorb nutrients properly. This can lead to malnutrition and a host of other problems.

There is currently not a cure for people with celiac disease. Their only recourse is to 100 percent avoid all products with gluten for the rest of their life. Jess is not alone.

The University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center estimates that about three million Americans have celiac disease and about 97 percent of them are undiagnosed.

Even without a diagnosis of celiac, a lot of people have jumped on the gluten-free bandwagon. This has been both good news and bad news for those with celiac disease.

There are more gluten-free products available now than ever before. Unfortunately, a lot of those products are highly processed foods that contain way too much salt and sugar as well as unnatural additives. Label reading is imperative.

The bad news is that the gluten-free fad is causing some chefs and servers to take claims of gluten allergies less seriously. A friend whose daughter has had celiac disease for many years said that her daughter is frequently “glutened” in restaurants even when she tells the server she has a gluten allergy.

One of the other common problems in restaurants is accidental cross-contamination of ingredients when products that are gluten-free are cooked on the same grill or in the same fryolator as gluten products.

Even though more restaurants have gluten-free menu options, a person with celiac disease has to ask questions about how the food is kept and cooked separately.

Cooking whole foods without gluten at home is the safest and healthiest option. Since Jess and her family will be joining us for 10 days over the Christmas break, we’ve been testing gluten-free recipes.

For a recent dinner of eggplant parmesan (which can be made with rice flour and gluten-free panko crumbs), we made spiralized white potatoes instead of pasta. I wouldn’t say they actually tasted much like pasta, but they were extremely delicious!

There will be a gluten-free cookbook and a spiralizer under the giant Christmas tree we found in Rhode Island (finally success!), so she will have the tools she needs to stay healthy and eat well.

I’ll also be testing recipes and sending her the best ones. I plan to give her a copy of this recipe along with her new spiralizer because I know she will love it.


Serves 2

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 3 cloves garlic, rough chopped 2 medium potatoes, peeled 2 teaspoon fresh rosemary Salt and pepper to taste 2 tablespoons fresh grated Romano cheese

Heat olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add chopped garlic and cook until garlic is tender and fragrant, about 2 minutes. Strain garlic out of the oil and discard. Spiralize the two potatoes and pat them dry with paper towels. In a medium bowl, toss the potato spirals with the garlic scented oil, rosemary, salt and pepper. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Lay potato spirals in a single layer on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Roast for 12 minutes, until they are tender and beginning to brown. Take the baking sheet out of the oven and turn oven up to broil. Sprinkle the Romano over the top of the potatoes and broil for 1 to 2 minutes until cheese is melted and potatoes are golden brown.