Q&A: How to Navigate Being Gluten-Free and Vegetarian

An interview with Holly, gluten-free and vegetarian food blogger from Skinny Beets

I first connected with Holly, the founder of Skinny Beets, a few months ago on Instagram. (You can follow her here!) I’ve enjoyed getting to see her create all sorts of delicious recipes—all of which are both gluten-free and vegetarian. Her creations are mouthwatering and have inspired me to get back into the kitchen to try some new foods!

Recently, Holly interviewed me about my celiac journey for her blog, and I thought it would be fun to interview her for my newsletter as well. Check out our Q&A below, where Holly shares more about her family’s celiac journey, offers advice for navigating multiple dietary restrictions, and recommends a few of her yummy gluten-free and vegetarian recipes to get started with.

Holly, the founder of Skinny Beets, creates delicious gluten-free and vegetarian recipes, which she publishes on her website.

Q: Tell me a little bit about yourself and your relationship with celiac disease.

A: My relationship with celiac goes back to when I was working in the UK. I was first a grad student in northern England, then came back for work experience, married a Brit, and then worked full-time as a field archaeologist with the occasional museum position (nothing too exciting, most of it was showing people where to put their coats and giving the odd tour).

I had a co-worker who was celiac (it’s spelled “coeliac” over there but pronounced the same) and I remember thinking how restrictive her diet was and being thankful it was one of those things I didn’t have to deal with. 

Then, fast forward 10 years or so. My family moved back to the United States with me, my daughter enrolled at the local school, and her tummy was having problems adjusting. At first, we thought it was stress. Moving locations can have a huge impact, and with a new school and new schoolmates…well, it made sense it was just nerves—but just to be safe, we took her to the doctor.

Many, many doctor visits later and so many tests, we were recommended to a GI specialist who didn’t want to do an endoscopy. “Kids tummies sometimes just hurt, you know?” The doctor eventually said we could do the procedure but wrote down that it was at our request. 

After the endoscopy, she came out to tell us that it was indeed celiac disease and our daughter’s reaction was so bad that she had scalloping all along her esophagus. I was horrified at the damage but relieved to know what was really going on. We knew how to go gluten-free (or at least we thought so at first).

To keep her from running around too much after the procedure (she was just starting first grade), we booked into a sweet little hotel with a pool and made a family vacation of it. The hotel had a restaurant that said it catered to gluten-free needs. We thought it would be perfect. She’d have the time she needed to recover before school and not get bored at home, plus there was a restaurant to serve her gluten-free meals.

Except…they were “out” of gluten-free bread and didn’t know when they’d get more in. They refused to let us bring our own food in and said she could just eat the beef and not the bread (keeping in mind that our child had decided that year to not touch meat and go vegetarian). We were told “there was no real need” on our behalf to go out and get new food even though the supermarket across the street had gluten-free bread.

That trip was a trial. Eventually, we bought gluten-free food at the nearby grocery store and prepared things for her “on the sly” in our room, cursing the hoteliers under our breaths. That was still before we’d learned about cross-contact. To be honest, it was probably a good thing we didn’t eat with them as they didn’t seem to understand cross-contact either and we would have been harming our child by eating there.

When we got back to school, I made sure her teacher knew of her diagnosis. I showed her the images of the damage to her esophagus and said it was celiac disease and that she couldn’t have gluten. The teacher smiled and nodded and said all the right things.

Then the next week, she gave our daughter a pack of gluten crackers. It took us a while to figure out what had suddenly made our child sick again, but she eventually fessed up that the teacher had given her crackers and had told her that there was no gluten in them. When confronted with the principal in tow, the teacher got very irate and said she thought we were just “health freaks” and that it wasn’t a medical issue.

Three strikes from those who were supposed to have our backs—the medical specialist who didn’t want to bother with the endoscopy, the hotel that promised gluten-free but couldn’t deliver, then the teacher, who flat-out lied about the poison she’d fed our child. That was when we knew we’d have to watch everyone like a hawk and put in some strict procedures to keep our daughter safe. 

Then we found out about cross-contact and hidden gluten. I may have had a few mini-strokes that year…certainly a load of panic attacks every time I went grocery shopping. My husband and I learned to read every label, both sides to make sure something that said “gluten-free” didn’t also say “may contain traces of wheat.” By the end of the year, our daughter was better than we were at researching labels and advocating for her health.

It’s been six years since our daughter’s diagnosis and now living with celiac seems pretty normal. I re-learned how to make and bake all the things we used to make or buy, but of course, it’s now gluten-free, low sugar, and often low FODMAP.

In that time, we picked up an IBS diagnosis and a lactose intolerance too. It sounds impossible, but we actually enjoy our time in the kitchen and my daughter seems to really enjoy eating our kitchen creations.

Now I write those recipes for the Skinny Beets website and I know it’s something my daughter can go back to when she’s grown and wants to make something that we used to bake together. 

Holly and her daughter on holiday in the UK

Q: What was the most surprising thing you learned about celiac disease after your daughter's diagnosis?

A: Cross-contact. The doctor and nutritionist we were assigned had told us next to nothing. “Stay away from wheat, barley, and rye, eat gluten-free, look at some websites, here’s a list of some gluten-safe foods.” The list was a photocopy of a photocopy and barely legible. 

We learned which ketchups were safe, where to find gluten-free soy sauce, and you know…labels, labels, labels.

Q: Your daughter is both gluten-free and vegetarian. What is it like for your family to navigate multiple dietary restrictions—both at home and also outside the home? 

A: In short, we don’t eat much food from outside the house. I’m not saying it’s impossible—it's very possible! But with our restrictions, it’s just so much easier to whip up something at home. My daughter goes in and out of being vegetarian, but I do make sure my website is consistently vegetarian and gluten-free with options to make the recipe vegan if needed.

As her needs change, every week can be different—one day she’s fine with apricots, for instance, and the next, she can’t take any stone or dried fruit. The same goes for too much cheese or gluten-free cereal. But that’s down to her IBS, not celiac.

It sounds more complicated than it is—I love making meals at home and I can batch prep them and alter recipes as she needs them and if she’s having an IBS flareup. (Flaming Cheetos from school, though gluten-free, might have a lot to answer for, is all I’m saying. Hey, it’s my weakness too!)

I often have a weekly food planner up on the chalkboard (I painted half a wall with chalkboard paint because I love planning that way and I’m a total nerd) and she can let me know if she’s up for that particular meal or not. But…she knows she has to give me at least 24 hours’ notice and we must have the ingredients.

Most of the time I can accommodate. Sometimes, like when she wants ratatouille and I just don’t have the energy to get to the market to get squash and eggplant, we talk about other options. Then I’ll prep her request for the next week and she’ll have something to look forward to.

Q: What does a typical day of eating look like for your family? 

A: Breakfast is me getting up early and prepping a healthy meal—often a gluten-free waffle made with my favorite high protein grain mix of teff, flaxseed, and basic gluten-free flour, mixed with applesauce or blended berries, then topped with a gentle pour of pure maple syrup. My husband likes the same cereal each morning with his tea, and I tend to just have a coffee at work and have a larger brunch when I’m home alone and can also plan dinner.

Lunches are simple—a gluten-free sandwich for the girl with some fruit, sometimes a rice or pasta dish with veg.

Dinner is the big event and it can range from anything like homemade gluten-free pizza to our family favorite recipe of lentil burgers. We try to get as many family dinners in together and we all eat gluten-free at the table (except for my husband’s morning cereal, which he uses a special sponge to wash up after to avoid any kitchen cross-contact. He also has a dedicated spot for his “bad” cereal so it won’t touch anything else).

Wednesdays are often my bread-baking days—so those evenings we can enjoy warm, freshly baked gluten-free bread and it always tastes amazing.

Holly’s gluten-free sandwich bread

Q: Could you share a few tips you've learned for cooking and baking delicious items that are both gluten-free and vegetarian?

A: Absolutely! It’s easy to replace meat with high-protein beans, lentils, and nuts—and in my opinion, they taste better too! We love having lentil burgers at least once a week and we’ll often wrap them in lettuce to mix it up. They’re also good sliced and placed in a gluten-free pita pocket with vegan Greek yogurt, lettuce, and a dash of Tajin or gluten-free yeast flakes. 

A lot of traditional Mexican dishes can be easily made gluten-free and vegetarian at home and they’re pretty easy. Mission Tortillas does a great variety of gluten-free wraps and corn tortillas that you can fill with whatever your heart desires—but we like making our own tortillas a lot of nights and the taste when you make them yourself is incredible. Toast them and top them with shredded lettuce, cilantro, beans, chopped tomatoes, sprinkles of cheese, and whatever spicy sauces you love the most!

I was at first intimidated by baking gluten-free bread. I could bake the sweet stuff gluten-free pretty easily. You just needed to add some applesauce or olive oil to keep it moist and let the mixture sit for longer so the gluten-free grains can absorb the moisture (this is why factory-made gluten-free is so dry—they skip this step and overcompensate with extra sweeteners that are sickly).

But with gluten-free bread baking, there are so many differences. You can’t just sub the gluten-free flour and do all the same steps. It’s an art. A very finicky art but worth the patience and learning it takes to get it right. 

I am working on a gluten-free bread book that I hope to be able to release by the end of the year—but until then, you can pop by my website and have a look at some of the yeasted bread recipes. Start with basic gluten-free sandwich bread (so easy!!!) and then move on to gluten-free pita. The sky’s the limit after that!

Q: What advice would you give to other parents who are navigating a child's celiac diagnosis and potentially other dietary restrictions as well? 

A: Research, research, research. The doctors seem to not share much information unless prompted, but once prompted, they open up and share a lot (at least that’s what’s happened in our experience). Help friends and family understand by letting them know what the child can and can’t have and that if they’re unsure, just play it safe and don’t touch it.

There’s a lot of misunderstanding out there. No, it’s not OK to have a “cheat day,” it’s not a diet, and there are severe medical consequences for food accidents. But mostly, I’d like them to know that everything is going to be OK.

It might seem like too much to deal with at first, but there are others out there with the same issues and struggles and we’re all out to help each other. Take each day at a time and be joyful for the gluten-free wins as they come.

One of Holly’s gluten-free cookie creations

Q: Tell me more about what you offer on Skinny Beets and what you hope people will learn from your content.

A: Yes, absolutely! The website is a place to pick up some gluten-free and vegetarian recipes. Anything from seasonal cranberry sauce to full meal ideas for Thanksgiving and the like. The recipes tend to be low FODMAP (not all but most) and are easily made vegan with suggestions on the site.

We often swap out butter, milk, and sugar for delicious (and less IBS-triggering) coconut oil or coconut cream, nut milks, and pure maple syrup or date syrup. These swaps add so much more flavor and are heart-healthy as well as gluten-free and vegan. 

What I’d like people to learn from the website is how to really enjoy and indulge in some of the best food that is gluten-free-safe, vegetarian, and can be made in your own kitchen.

Q: Is there anything else you'd like readers to know about being gluten-free and vegetarian? 

A: Being gluten-free seems challenging at first, but the more you get into it, the more of a foodie you can become if you don’t just stick to pre-packaged (and overpriced) store-bought items. You will have such a new love and appreciation for good food.

As I’m not the one with celiac, I sometimes test out “normal” food to see if there’s anything I can make a gluten-free version of or to see if I can make the flavors more similar. But…every time I dip into that gluten world, I regret it. The flavor isn’t there. I know most people think it’s the opposite, but I find gluten food to be disappointing. Celiacs, you’re not missing what you think you are!

For vegetarians who are also gluten-free, I’m doing my best to make beautiful recipes for you. Most of my vegetarian friends in the UK rely on pre-processed foods like Cauldron and Linda McCartney Sausages, etc. These all have gluten in them and they’re still highly processed and unhealthy foods (sorry, Linda).

There’s a lot to learn from countries that eat vegetarian, like India! The use of lentils with spices and vegetables is amazing and I do want to add more Indian dishes to my website.

Enjoy creating things in the kitchen, enjoy spices and fresh herbs, and grow what you can if you want to take it to the next level. Your body will thank you for it in more ways than one. If you’re not veggie but gluten-free…enjoy the occasional plant-based meal and impress your veggie friends. 

And if you are interested in the gluten-free breads book, be sure to sign up for the newsletter on our website and you’ll be one of the first to know when it’s released.