It all started with a box of Glutino pancake mix. I'd been more than happy with my Incredible Edible for Kids waffle recipe but was feeling lazy and the picture on the Glutino box just looked so inviting... so I bought it.

We made the pancakes and you seriously cannot tell them from the wheat version. They're delicious.

So we decided to reduce the milk in the recipe (you can sub fruit juice or water so says the recipe on the side of the box BTW) by 3Tbsp and substitute in 3Tbsp of maple syrup into the mixture.

Make the pancakes the size of a piece of bread (6" or so) and let them cool on a rack. The next morning, make up sandwiches with spreadable cream cheese and two slices of blackforest ham (bought).

These sandwiches are so so so so good. They're good cold. They're especially good warmed up for 20 seconds in the microwave. I took one to work yesterday and it was all I could think about all morning (of course I probably shouldn't have skipped breakfast!)

I could seriously eat them every day.

Hope someone else will try them - and I of course highly recommend the glutino pancake mix but I'm sure any pancake recipe that you love would be good - just put a little maple syrup into the mix and don't make the pancakes too thick.

mamatide

Mamatide: Thanks so much for sharing your recipe---it sounds delicious. I love anything with cream cheese .

My mom started making pancake sandwiches for me as well...I forget which mix we use (bobs, maybe?) and I do love them. We add some buttermilk to it, which makes it scrumptious.

Now I'm hungry

Aha! I've been looking for the pancake mix that takes juice. That must be it! I made some that had orange juice in it and it was soooo good! Thanks!

Speaking of alteratives for bread... the other day my closets were getting bare and so I took some mashed potato flakes (Wal-Mart brand), mixed them with some water, added an egg, then put it like a patty in a frying pan. Cooked it up, put a piece of cheese on it, folded it in half and cooked it for a little longer to melt the cheese. Best grilled cheese "sandwich" I've had in a long time!

OK - everyone's recipes sound wonderful but all seem to have things in them that I can't eat like cream cheese...how can a celiac eat cream cheese?...anyway, today I finally tried a gluten-free pancake mix, added egg substitute, soymilk and canola oil according to directions - couldn't wait because I really miss my pancakes...it kinda looked like a shiny tortilla...and was kinda crispy on the outside and not thoroughly cooked on the inside ... Also since I don't like maple syrup and think regular syrups bother me because of preservatives (although I love syrup), I just had butter and strawberries on it. It wasn't exactly tasty, unfortunately...I'm getting very frustrated. After losing 18 lbs. I really cannot afford to lose any more - I'm down to 110. I know some people wish they could accomplish this...but for me it's not good. Yesterday I thought I ate all gluten-free foods and late afternoon I got all the yukky stuff and was miserable all night long - layed in bed with a heating pad on my stomach...yuk! It's difficult to have more than a couple good days in a row even when I only eat "safe" foods, it seems...If anyone could help, it'd be great. All I can eat is chicken, veggies, fruit and gluten-free bread. I'm also lactose intolerant...and right now...not very tolerant of any of this...getting pretty depressed. Thanks for your help! KarenDianne

Hi KarenDiane,

First of all, I'm so sorry you're frustrated with the diet. My daughter has been gluten-free for a year now, and it took her 8 or 9 months before she could tolerate lactose (secondary lactose intolerance is common in Celiac patients because the same part of the intestine that processes lactose is the part that is commonly damaged by the gluten). But she could tolerate milk that had been treated with lacteez.

If you are experiencing difficulty with lactose, for whatever reason, you probably shouldn't be putting butter on your pancakes, I guess.

Before buying the mix I mentioned above, I previously used a recipe in the incredible edible gluten free for kids book (I'd be happy to email you the recipe) for waffles and we often used warmed up raspberry jam instead of maple syrup so that might be an idea. Or buy frozen raspberries, thaw and whirl them in a blender for instant raspberry sauce - you can even mix it right into the pancakes or waffle batter so that the taste is right inside.

If you're still feeling awful at the end of the day, you might also consider your cooking utensils or cooking environment. When my daughter continued to have intermittent reactions despite gluten-free foods and ingredients being used in my kitchen I dug a little deeper and got rid of the wheat-containing shampoos, the old t-fal pans, the colandars (strainers), the cutting boards and we finally achieved pain-free status.

But before we got there, we had to really un-learn a lot of old habits. Like the morning I was putting brown sugar on my daughter's gluten-free corn flakes cereal and poked into a slice of bread that was in the brown sugar - an old trick I'd used forEVER to keep the brown sugar from getting hard... DOH. I felt so bad.

Please persevere. Be a gluten detective. Post your questions here - I'm probably not the best person to answer your questions because I only have my own and my daughter's experience to draw upon - I live in a town of 10,000 people and doctors still tell me my daughter is the only case of Celiac they've ever seen so I've done this all on my own, through research, reading, trial and error, and alot of patience.

Many hugs...

mamatide