Let’s start the blog with the show notes for this Episode –

This week is another solo episode where I reflect on the top six things I’ve learned from my two years of producing the podcast.  I briefly look at my motivation for starting the podcast and I try and sum up many of the positive and sometimes challenging experiences I’ve had.  Celiac disease and the gluten free diet can be complex and effect different people in different ways.  I’ve tried to understand this over my two years, and I’ve been able to identify some things that were truly new to me.

I have many different interviews scheduled for the first couple of months of 2020, and if there is anything you’d like me to cover, please email me at acdnceliacpodcast@gmail.com.

Sue’s Websites and Social Media –

Podcast https://acanadianceliacpodcast.libsyn.com

Podcast Blog – https://www.acanadianceliacblog.com

Facebook – @acanadianceliacpodcast

Twitter – CeliacPodcastCA

Email – acdnceliacpodcast@gmail.com

Baking Website – https://www.suesglutenfreebaking.com

Instagram – @suesgfbaking

YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUVGfpD4eJwwSc_YjkGagza06yYe3ApzL

     (search Sues Gluten Free Baking)

Email – sue@suesglutenfreebaking.com

Other Podcast – Gluten Free Weigh In – https://glutenfreeweighin.libsyn.com

My Thoughts –

I’ve never been one to shy away from a challenge.  Maybe a physical challenge – running a race, or hiking a hill, but not a “project” challenge.  I suppose setting up and operating a gluten free bakery was such a challenge, and so was producing the baking show on YourTV. 

For both these challenges, I had to learn how to operate a commercial bakery, and later, how to bake in front of a camera.  The learning curves were steep, but I enjoyed both the learning and the execution.

I suppose, it was then a natural evolution to want to go back to school and learn more about media.  I attended Loyalist College for 18 months and received two certificates which gave me more confidence in my skills with this so-called new media.  A podcast was the logical next challenge.

I positioned myself where I could seek help from some very knowledgeable people, and I took advantage of it.  The idea of a podcast, leveraging my new-found education along with my life experience and bundling that into something where I could talk to interesting people, and share with others, seemed the right challenge to take on.

Since starting the podcast, I have been privileged to work with the Canadian Celiac Association to help them get their message out, I’ve spoken with many well-respected health care professionals, been invited to numerous gluten free events, and most interestingly of all, met so many people with unique stories. 

I have enjoyed every episode of the podcast and look forward to the continuing challenge of sharing what I learn with my listeners.  Thanks for listening, it wouldn’t be a podcast without you.

Let’s start the blog with the show notes for this Episode –

This week I go solo with a show that takes a deep dive into Christmas baking.  When I operated a gluten free bakery, this was our busiest time of the year.  We had procedures in place to make a large amount of a variety of foods.  Once the bakery closed and I went on to produce two seasons of my gluten free baking show on our local cable channel, I first had to shrink the recipes down to home kitchen size.  You can find the recipes on my website at www.suesglutenfreebaking.com.  Most of the recipes are in shows 5 www.suesglutenfreebaking.com/christmas-5 and 6 www.suesglutenfreebaking.com/christmas-6, which all have youtube video links to the show segments.

I talk about kitchen tips to get and stay organized as well as recipes for cakes, cookies, squares and breads.  I also add in a favourite Christmas morning recipe.

Stuffed French Toast

8-10 sturdy slices of gluten free bread, cubed

1 ½ – 2  8 oz pkgs of cream cheese, cubed

Beat together –

12 eggs, 2 cups milk & 1/3 cup of maple syrup

Place ½ of the bread cubes in an ungreased 9” x 13” baking pan, add the cubes of cream cheese, then top with the remaining bread.  Pour the liquid over the bread mixture, cover and refrigerate over night.  In the morning, bake at 375°for 45 minutes.  You can also add cinnamon nutmeg or raisins to the mix.

This recipe was always a hit in our home on Christmas morning.  If you have questions regarding your Christmas baking, I’ll do my best to answer.  You can email me at acdnceliacpodcast@gmail.com.

Sue’s Websites and Social Media –

Podcast https://acanadianceliacpodcast.libsyn.com

Podcast Blog – https://www.acanadianceliacblog.com

Facebook – @acanadianceliacpodcast

Twitter – CeliacPodcastCA

Email – acdnceliacpodcast@gmail.com

Baking Website – https://www.suesglutenfreebaking.com

Instagram – @suesgfbaking

YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUVGfpD4eJwwSc_YjkGagza06yYe3ApzL

     (search Sues Gluten Free Baking)

Email – sue@suesglutenfreebaking.com

Other Podcast – Gluten Free Weigh In – https://glutenfreeweighin.libsyn.com

My Thoughts –

On the rare occasions when I do a solo show, it’s more difficult to write about my thoughts, as I have usually said everything I wanted to say in the podcast.  One thing did come to mind as I was writing the show notes for this podcast.  When I decided to produce a baking show for our local YourTV cable channel, I first had to re-develop the recipes to fit a home kitchen.

Writing this brought back many happy and frustrating memories.  It should be simple, I’m good with math, why should shrinking a recipe from making 200 cookies to making just 24 be so difficult.  Well it was. 

Originally, the recipes I used to start my bakery, came from my home kitchen.  Once I “expanded” the quantities, I also refined the ingredients and amounts, so it wasn’t easy to go backwards.  Also, in a commercial bakery many ingredients are measured by weight, but in our home kitchens, we use cups and tablespoons.  To this end, I have a weight equivalency table on my website in the recipe section.  In other parts of the world, weighing dry ingredients is the norm, but not in North America.  This was my biggest hurdle.

One other hurdle was eggs.  In the bakery, we often used packaged liquid egg whites, along with whole eggs.  Using one dozen eggs in a commercial recipe and having to divide by 4 for a home quanity is easy, but using one dozen eggs and having to divide by 5.3 is much more difficult. 

Each of the recipes had to be tested and re-tested.  The only one that sometimes still causes an issue is the shortbread recipes.  There are dry ingredients and butter.  I can often be heavy handed in my cup measuring of flours, which, for these cookies requires extra butter to be added.  It’s easy for me, because I know how the dough should look and feel, but it’s more difficult for the novice baker.

Converting recipes, both from wheat to gluten free and from commercial size to home kitchen size is a trip down mathematics lane.  Good thing I enjoy math, and baking.

Let’s start the blog with the show notes for this Episode –

This week I have my monthly catch-up with Ellen Bayens of theceliacscene.com.  Here’s the list of articles we chatted about.

The first is an article Ellen wrote for the CCA with a straight shooting approach to the holidays and owning the diet.

How to Handle the Holidays

Next is a Facebook share that triggered a huge response and 100 ‘shares’ and counting.

11 Things People With Celiac Disease Do That Seem ‘High Maintenance,’ but Actually Aren’t

 We also looked at the following studies –

Study Suggests Gluten-Free Diet Does Not Help Autistic Children
Atopic Dermatitis and Celiac Disease – Are They Connected? I also mentioned about my plans for next week’s podcast episode to focus on the holiday recipes from my television baking show.  You can find those recipes on the show website at www.suesglutenfreebaking.com.

Sue’s Websites and Social Media –

Podcast https://acanadianceliacpodcast.libsyn.com

Podcast Blog – https://www.acanadianceliacblog.com

Facebook – @acanadianceliacpodcast

Twitter – CeliacPodcastCA

Email – acdnceliacpodcast@gmail.com

Baking Website – https://www.suesglutenfreebaking.com

Instagram – @suesgfbaking

YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUVGfpD4eJwwSc_YjkGagza06yYe3ApzL

     (search Sues Gluten Free Baking)

Email – sue@suesglutenfreebaking.com

Other Podcast – Gluten Free Weigh In – https://glutenfreeweighin.libsyn.com

My Thoughts –

I often stay on a call after I finish recording an interview and this always happens when I record with Ellen.  We can talk endlessly about celiac disease, our involvement in the celiac community and the people we have met through that community.  While we were talking this past week, I couldn’t help but think about something I learned a couple of years ago while studying communications – “The Curse of Knowledge”.  I was compelled to ask Ellen if she was familiar with the term, as it is something I find often effects the content in our podcasts.

“The Curse of Knowledge” is loosely defined as the inability to put yourself in the situation of someone who does not know information that you find common, simple or primary to a subject.  In our case, it can be difficult to speak about celiac disease and the gluten free diet from the point of view of someone newly diagnosed, or someone who is finding their way with a variety of resources. 

As an example, in this week’s podcast we talked about wiping down a counter.  It may not occur to someone new to the diet that this is important.  Yes, it’s important to keep a clean kitchen, but why is it so important for us as a part of staying healthy on our diet.  It can be difficult to speak to an audience with a spectrum of knowledge.  Our topic, a medical condition and a complicated diet, fall under that spectrum.  Here’s to our continuing efforts to thwart “the curse”.