Gluten Free Playdough

Now that we are GF, I need to provide Austin some playdough that he can take to school with him. Why does he need GF playdough one might ask - well most of time playdough gets under your nails when you use it and kids stick their hands in their mouth. So I set out on a search for the perfect recipe on google. I found a basic recipe on several sites but when I tried it out, it was very sticky and was not at all like real playdough, even after adding a couple more spoonfuls of the rice flour. So I started searching some more and found the basic recipe but tweaked a little to make the perfect playdough. One mom even commmented that it was better to use than real playdough and I have to agree. So here is the recipe courtesy of http://www.vydor.net/playdough.html

Ingredients:

1/2 cup rice flour

1/2 cup corn starch

1/2 cup salt

2 tsp cream of tartar (we used McCormicks)

1 cup hot water

1 tsp cooking oil

food coloring

Mix all ingredients together in a saucepan. Cook on low heat for 5 minutes or until dough starts to form a ball. Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes. Scoop into a large bowl and add at least 1/4 cup more rice flour and 1/4 cup corn starch. Kneed until well mixed and no longer sticky. Store in an airtight container. If it gets dry, add a few drops of water. If it is too sticky, add a little more cornstarch and rice flour in equal parts.

And if you are really feeling creative, my friend had a great suggestion. Instead of storing it in a ziploc or tupperware container, you could wash out the old playdough containers, take off the label, and then create your own labels on the computer.

The Long But Hopeful Year Ahead

We finally got all of Austin's test results back in and had a long but informative visit with his doctor. Unfortunately, not only are we having to be GFCF again but we are having to be SF/NF/TF/SF/SF and the list goes on... His IGG test came back with several possible intolerances and for now we are cutting them out of his diet and will try to add them back in one at a time in a few months to see which ones are actually causing a problem. We will stay GFCF for a year before doing any challenge with those foods. Additionally we are starting a few supplaments, mostly vitamins to help with deficiencies but some other things as well. We don't expect for him to be recovered any time soon but we do hope to get some of his gut issues healed therefore making him feel better inside and out.