Made In Leeds Interview About My Gluten-free Family Recipe Book ‘Can I Eat It?’

I am a mum of 3 young children aged 6 and under and am a passionate home cook with an unwavering goal to create inspiring gluten-free food for my family. My interview with MADE In Leeds went live last night. Keep your eyes peeled in the Book-It List on Freeview: 8 and Virgin Media: 159 from 6th November, Sky: 117 from 24th November. Watch the interview here: (The playback quality is not the best unfortunately!)

At the age of 18 months William was diagnosed with coeliac disease. From the moment you get the diagnosis, a strict gluten-free diet must be followed, with no compromise. This is a  life-long disease and not something that he will grow out of. We were due to attend a children’s birthday party the very next day which reaffirmed how quickly we needed to change his diet and ultimately our families lifestyle. It was both daunting and stressful in terms of what changes needed to be made.

I felt there was a very limited number of recipes aimed at young children living with the disease that would also appeal to non-coeliac members of the family. It took a good six months before we really got to grips with what he could eat and couldn’t eat (and we are still learning). I wished that in the moment William was diagnosed, there had been a recipe book to guide us through the first six months. There just wasn’t such a book available, so I decided to write one to help others in the same situation.

The recipes evolved over a period of time allowing us to truly understand what kind of recipes worked for a newly diagnosed family and what areas of his life were important to cover so that he did not miss out or feel different.

‘Can I Eat It?‘ is designed to allow families to eat inspiring food together regardless of this auto-immune disease and help families through the early days after diagnosis.

The title of the book was an easy decision as it is something William says over and over on a daily basis to make sure he isn’t going to eat something that will hurt him. I wanted to be able to answer “yes” every time.

‘Can I Eat It?’ includes information about coeliac disease, my top 20 cupboard essentials to get you started, family main meals, desserts, tasty snacks, school lunch box ideas and party treats (which for a child is an integral part of their busy little lives).

Whilst the majority of people that write recipe books work with a team of skilled people, ‘Can I Eat It?‘ is entirely my own creation. I planned my recipes, made them, fine tuned them, tested them on many guinea pigs, created the food styling, photographed them, designed my book, created the e-book and finally my website. My book was written whilst juggling our 3 young children and running our own business so usually one or more of the children were clinging on to my ankles or trying to remove parts of the recipes as I photographed them! You can imagine the stress levels!