A Blogger A Day: Tasty Eats at Home

Name: Alta Mantsch
Lives in: Wylie, TX

Blogs at: tastyeatsathome.wordpress.com
Tweets at: www.twitter.com/tastyeatsathome
Like her at: www.facebook.com/TastyEatsAtHome
On the bookshelf: No books by Alta yet, but Tasty Eats at Home is included in the Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook.

Why we’re fans: I came across Alta’s blog through a post on Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free. That day, Alta’s blog was about Cutting Down Cross-Contamination in a Shared Kitchen. It addressed real concerns that real families have, and it offered a lot of helpful tips. That’s pretty much what you’ll find no matter what day you swing by Alta’s blog: Good food, good photos, and advice you should heed because it’s all from experience.

Alta Mantsch

Alta’s Story: My dad is a diagnosed celiac. My sister, brother, and I are all gluten intolerant – discovered it through elimination diet. Through further elimination testing, I discovered I also cannot digest dairy.

According to Alta: A funny story now, but not so much when I was in the middle of it: We were vacationing in Fredericksburg, TX, and opted to stay in a little cottage built in the 20s on about 300 acres of land. The cottage had a full kitchen, so we planned on cooking a lot of our meals, saving money and saving me from possible cross-contamination by eating out at too many restaurants. Or so I thought. After suffering for a few days from bad digestive issues and not feeling well, it dawned on me what the culprit was – the fridge and freezer, which were partially stocked. The freezer had a small bag of wheat flour in it. I’d ignored it, as it’s not like I would use it. Well, that bag was stored directly above the bucket that held ice – the ice I’d been using in glasses of water over the past few days. Turns out, the bag of wheat flour had a hole in it, and there was flour in the ice bucket. I felt like such a dolt for not thinking of that possibility, and despite my efforts to ensure safe food, I’d been making myself sick for days with water! Needless to say, I took the liberty of throwing away that flour and thoroughly washing the ice bucket. I won’t make that mistake again!

A taste of Tasty Eats at Home:

• Slow-Cooker Pot Roast: This is one of my most popular posts. It’s a great recipe that needs very little actual work in order to make a stellar dish – definitely a bonus.
• Vegetarian Bean and Pumpkin Chili: This is the recipe that was published in the Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook. It’s another slow cooker dish, so it’s easy, and it’s definitely budget-friendly.
• Vegan and Gluten-Free Cheesecake with Blueberry Compote: This is my favorite dessert. This recipe meant a lot to me because it was an innovative and delicious way to still be able to enjoy cheesecake, even though I was dairy-free!

For more of NFCA’s Celiac Awareness Month celebration, visit www.CeliacCentral.org/awarenessmonth.

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