I Broke.

After 17 years of being a diagnosed coeliac you would think that I'd be used to not being able to eat things. Most of the time it is manageable and after time it does get easier. Then there are those moments when you feel like you did when it all began. My moment was this weekend.

Brody and I went to do our usual weekend shopping. Fresh produce, milk, a quick stop to see what was new in the health food aisle.
He mentioned he felt like dessert so we went off to the chilled desserts section.

That is where it happened.
Not wanting the same old chocolate mousse I always get, I ventured to read the labels of the more interesting desserts.
One by one the options dwindled, when the last product went back on the shelf I felt deflated.

I spent a good few minutes cursing my bad fortune, wishing I didn't have Coeliac disease and then I cried a little before reaching out and grabbing the chocolate mousse.

We got home and I ordered myself a few things from the gluten free bakery so it wouldn't happen again. A few hours later I felt silly but it wasn't silly, it's the reality of what being diagnosed with coeliac disease is. Its hard but with the support of family, friends and even the beautiful people you can find in social media communities, it is better. 

Today my co-worker has gone out of her way to ask and buy me a gluten free muffin from a bakery around the corner, for our morning tea because she is always upset by the fact that I can never eat anything they bring in.

Just remember it isn't bad to have these moments, just make sure you don't let them get you down. Remember that there are more positive moments that you can focus on, like my co-worker today.

Ashlee. xx

Gluten Free 4 U Birthday Present

Many seasoned Coeliacs who live in Melbourne will know of the Gluten Free 4 U bakery, first established in Moorabbin; and then later opened up a store in Kew.

Contact Details

5 / 1-3 Bignell Road, Moorabbin VIC 3189                                1345 Burke Road, Kew VIC 3101

Phone: 03 9555 5175                                                                    Phone: 03 9817 6981                    

Being from the west of the state both of these stores are over forty minutes away making them hard to get to.
I had never been to the stores and have never gotten around to ordering anything for delivery however I desperately wanted to try some of their goodies. I got lucky when on the day before my party one of my friends (who has a partner on that side of town) mentioned that they would be in Moorabbin (in fact they were just around the corner from the store) for her partners university open day.
I quickly mentioned that there was a lovely Gluten free store over there that I wanted to try and she offered to stop by and pick me up some items as a birthday present.
I mentioned to her my love of cheese and bacon scrolls (my father used to give these to me when I was younger, even after I was diagnosed; before I could realize the full extent of the damage it was causing me) and that it had been two or so years since I had eaten one. (I had managed to get one from the now closed down gluten free store located in Keilor East, which happened to be right down the street from my at the time house).

She managed to find the last two fresh scrolls in the store. The first I ate cold, too excited to taste the delicious scroll to pop it in the microwave and warm it. I literally popped it into my mouth the second she handed me the bag; thanking her most ungracefully with a mouthful of crumbs. The second I had for breakfast the morning after my party, this one I did warm up slightly.

The scrolls were divine, they were cheesy without tasting artificial and the cheese added a softness to the scrolls. The second one was a bit tougher on the edges due to having sat in the bag overnight but once warmed it did soften considerably. It was heavenly to be able to bite into warm soft bread that tasted like actual bread. There was plenty of bacon pieces to keep me satisfied as well. I am not so patiently awaiting the next chance I will get to head down to Kew and try another scroll.




As a surprise she also bought me a $15 gluten free muffin tray. In the tray there were three different flavours of muffin; Chocolate, Chocolate Chip and Blueberry.

It's safe to say that the muffins didn't last til mid-week. I shared the first three with Brody for his comments on how it tasted (from a non-gluten free eater viewpoint). The second chocolate chip muffin I shared with my Mother. The chocolate muffin became my Tuesday morning breakfast and I devoured the second blueberry this morning for breakfast.

These muffins were moist and soft to eat. The chocolate had a bit of an overpowering taste of cocoa, a bit powdery and bitter. Not that I mind, I enjoy the sharp flavour of cocoa.

Blueberry Muffin

The blueberry was a fairly plain muffin and you didn't get much flavour other than unflavoured muffin mix until you hit a blueberry, the blueberries were juicy and popped slightly when you bit into them. They were sweet enough to forget about the plain muffin but not overly sickly sweet. If there
had been more blueberries or even just better dispersed through the muffin this would have easily been my favourite.




My favourite only by a small margin was the chocolate chip muffin. A pretty standard muffin flavour but the muffin was soft and moist with large quantities of chocolate chips scattered throughout. Whereas in the blueberry I could take a few bites of plain muffin with no berries, the chocolate chip was mouthful after mouthful of melty chocolate pieces and muffin.



An absolutely delicious birthday surprise. For those of you in the area of Moorabbin or Kew, who haven't already you should definitely pop in and try some of their goodies.

Ashlee xx

Don't forget to check us out on Facebook! 
I post real time photos on there and you can let me know if there are any products you have tried or would like me to try.

Please stop, you’re ruining my life!

No I’m not talking about my coeliacs, I’m talking about the mass wave of fad dieters.

A world becoming obsessed with eating healthy and clean eating is supposed to be a good thing, isn’t it?

To me and the many other coeliacs around the world it is ruining our lives. I’ve done many rants like this on my personal Facebook, they always end up with people telling me I am over reacting, but I’m not.

Being a part of an active community, I have several ‘health nuts’ let’s call them on my Facebook. For the past year I have had to see them put up posts and photos about their new Gluten free diets and I have to bite my tongue. I make my position on this subject extremely clear and am finally writing this post to explain in further detail why the gluten free fad diet is ruining my life.

I’d like to say before I start that I have nothing against those who are trying a gluten free diet for medical reasons. I personally know that you don’t have to be medically diagnosed to know something doesn’t agree with you. I can’t eat too many apples, they make me feel sick but I don’t have a fructose intolerance.

I also am not having a go at anyone who wants to live a healthy lifestyle. Eating right and exercising daily is important to your wellbeing not only physically but mentally as well. My problem is with those who treat gluten free like the next biggest weight loss secret, or a miracle diet that will keep them alive longer. It’s not; it is a horrific upheaval of lifestyle for most people.

Coeliacs, gluten intolerance and gluten-sensitivity are a life challenge that we have to get up and face everyday; it’s simple, we eat any amount of gluten and we end up incredibly ill. It costs us hundreds of more dollars than ‘normal’ people for us to eat. I pay $6AUD for a loaf of bread when my partner can buy one for $1AUD. I pay an extra $5AUD for pizza and on average have to pay an extra $3AUD in a restaurant for gluten free pasta. We can’t just go to the bakery and get a muffin. I have to travel across town buy meat pies, which cost $7AUD each!

The fact is that the Gluten free fad dieters belittle and hinder the problems we have to face.

You are probably asking how does it do that? Or  if more people are eating gluten-free, doesn’t that mean that a larger amount of gluten-free products will come out on the market, making it easier for you to eat?

Yes, yes it does but it creates its own whirl wind of problems; It’s simple. As the number of people cutting gluten out of their diet as part of the latest diet trend, thanks to celebrities and healthy living personalities increases, people forget that coeliacs is a larger issue. They forget that cross contamination like chopping my bread and normal bread on the same chopping board will leave me in bed for days because they don’t take me seriously anymore! When I ask for a gluten free option at a restaurant most waitresses roll their eyes believing I’m one of those fad dieters. How can I be sure that they aren’t just going to give me a normal meal and claim that it is gluten free? I’ve once had a chef when we complained that there was pasta in our GF rice dish tell me to take my complaint about my make up disease to some one who cares. This is what you are doing to us!

It has become so much harder to eat out at restaurants now then it was three or four years ago. Our gluten free options are being stuffed in the same display windows as the wheat filled food, sometimes touching meaning we can’t eat them due to cross contamination.  All  because no one thinks of Coeliacs as a life threatening allergy. It’s true that we don’t need an epi-pen and that our symptoms may not be instantaneous but our disease or allergy is serious. We are being belittled in the face of those wanting to be on trend and I’m sick of it.

Another result of these fad diets is that my bread is becoming harder to buy, the fad dieters are snapping it up because they think it is healthier for them. Please, I beg you to stick to the whole wheat breads instead of taking away the product that myself and others rely on as our only available option.

There are healthier ways to live and trust me it isn’t a gluten free diet because I am no super model and I have to eat that way. Please stop helping creating the illusion that coeliacs is a joke and help myself and the others out there that medically need to avoid gluten at all costs stay safe in the world.

This was a bit of a longwinded post but it is something that I am extremely passionate about. I am sorry if I have offended anyone but we can’t live in a world where our allergies are made a laughing stock.