Eating Gluten Free isn't as bad as you think

My Name is Jessica also known as the Diva Chef GF (gluten free). I have recently started a Blog to promote the lost art of domestication along with my recipes for the gluten free people of the world. I have recently published a cookbook called “Ennnjoyyy Don’t Forget To Bend Your Elbows” Sharing my families secret recipes, along with the stories and traditions that I grew up with. I am also in the process of writing 2 more cookbooks “Dahliahdi The Cookies” (all of my families baked goods and pastry recipes) and my favorite piece of all “Cooking Against The Grain.”
Cooking Against The Grain is a collection of my favorite recipes turned gluten free. Recipes such as, Homemade Pasta and Raviolis, Fried Chicken, Pizza, Bread Crumbs, Coney Island Corndog Batter, Salad Dressings, and so much more. I’m a full-blooded Sicilian and have been recently diagnosed with Celiacs Disease. When I heard that I could never have pasta, bread, or Grandmas cookies ever again, it was the worst possible thing I had ever heard. So I took the positive initiative and attitude and started to play around with all my recipes and altering them to be gluten free. My recipes are extremely tasty and easy to follow. So if you’re new to the gluten free community or not new at all, I think you will find my recipes hopeful in that they don’t taste like cardboard, look like space food or smell of a weird egg scent, if you eat GF products you now what I mean. Check out my book, try my recipes and enjoy!

A Family That Eats Together Stays Together

"Do you wanna get married someday and have a family, with a nice house and babies? Well you have to learn how to cook and clean” and that we did. Monica and I would watch grandma cook and she would explain things to us as she was doing them. She would also tell us about how Aunty Fay and Aunty Caryn would come home after school, and peel the potatoes or get the vegetables ready for dinner. She would tell us about how it was their responsibility to do so, and we should learn from our Aunts. This was one of the first memories I have of my grandmother, and although cooking and cleaning really doesn't hold water when it comes to relationships now a days, I still like to think it does.
I am a domesticated woman because of the women and men in my life. A lot of women my age can cook a little bit but are better at ordering out or making reservations. I say to them, how are you ever going to have a family if you can't cook. They tell me that cooking, really doesn't have anything to do with a good family structure, I disagree.
I was taught to cook at a very early age, I could tell you how to make Beef Cutlets by the time I was six and just kept learning from there. When my sisters were born I tried to help cook all the time and I remember when I cooked my first big meal...The Big Bird, it was a full turkey dinner with all the fixings. I was so proud of myself and I could see my mom was just as proud. Or the time I made Chicken Parmesan and I watched my father taste it, knowing that he was, and always will be, my biggest critic. He looked at my mother and said, "she's got it, she's got the cooking gene" and then he said "good job Jootz" and we continued on with dinner as we did every night of the week.
Throughout my whole childhood and young adult life it was mandatory that I be home for dinner every night, no matter what. Of course there where times when I didn't want to or my parents let me stay at a friends house for dinner but for the most part I really enjoyed dinner with the family. We would cook dinner and eat at a table that was set by either myself or my sisters, fork on the left on top of a folded napkin, knife closest to the plate, the spoon next to it, and the glass cup to the right of the plate.
There were a few rules we had to follow; first rule was no TV on during dinner. The second was no one was to answer the phone or take phone calls during dinner, and the most important rule was to use your table manners and etiquette. We learned how to cut our meat and to chew with our mouths closed, things of that nature. Now did we follow those rules all the time, not so much but at leaste we could all laugh about it.
After dinner we had to help clean up which we hated to do, but we did. The funny part is, is that we didn't even have to wash the dishes because we had a dishwasher, which I now know is a luxury. During dinner we would be asked about our day, what we did and how we were. Now don't get the wrong idea, we where no "leave it to beaver family”, some of the best times at the table were when we were doing things we were not suppose to. The best is when my sisters or I would burp really loud and my parents would try not to laugh but they couldn't help it or when we would bring up inappropriate topics to freak my dad out at the table, and he would just look at us shake his head and try not to laugh but most of the time he had to laugh a little. Then there were times that someone’s feelings would get hurt and they would run away from the table crying or block their ears, makes noises, and yell I'm not listening bla bla bla. We had serious conversations and happy ones to.
I guess the point I am trying to make is that we were all together sharing moments as a family for as little as a half hour or as long as 2 hours, the point is dinner time was some of the best times I had growing up, and still till this day when I come home we eat together as a family at the table. A family that eats together stays together!