The Back Story

Greetings, gluten free peeps!
Welcome to the first blog of The Bartlett Pair! We are a GF home bakery (for now) creating delish sweet & savory treats.  Well, sweet &/or savory...well actually sometimes it is both. 
Anyway- here is the story of how we got here...


My sister Amy & I grew up knowing that G'pa Bartlett "could not eat wheat".  As youngsters (Amy is 2 1/2 years older), we had no idea what that meant.  We just witnessed him eating raw onions, ground sirloin (with onions), baked potatoes, bananas and pasties* without the crust.  And let me tell you, not being able to eat my g'mas pasty* crust would truly feel like a form of punishment.  I really didn't care why he didn't, or couldn't, eat the crust, I was just excited because I sat to his left and benefitted from his scraps!  I doubt he ate much more than what I listed since he was of English descent and meat, potatoes and onions monopolize 98% of the food pyramid, give or take a percentage or two. 


Fast forward to the late 1980s.  Amy started mentioning that her stomach hurt and would have terrible stomach pains throughout most every day.  (sidenote)- I don't think I mentioned that we grew up in Butte, Montana where underaged drinking could have been a career.  So having stomach pain was usually the result of the kegger from the night before (end). 
In 1990, she left for college and the pain went with her.  Every time she came home, she was thinner and thinner.  Her hair started breaking off, her coloring was off and she just looked ill.  She would tell her doctor and nothing ever really came of it.  Finally, the pain was so overwhelming that she went to the campus infirmary in the middle of the night.  Again, no idea what was wrong.  She was malnutritioned and weak so they kept her overnight. Then G'pa Bartlett asked mom if they have tested her for sprue?  SPRUE?? What the heck is sprue?  Or as it is now called...Celiac. The doctor ran the tests and sure enough! She has Celiac Disease...there is no cure...she will have it forever and G'pa had it too.  The reason for the crustless pasty* all made sense now. 
I will never forget how helpless I felt.  I did not know what it was, what she was supposed to do or eat, if she would be alright??  Why didn't I have it?  G'pa had been living with Celiac for years so he and my G'ma became our educators.  (The Internet wasn't available until 1992, ya know.)
So that was just that.  Amy began living life as a gluten free gal. 
Amy now has three remarkable kiddos, two of which are Celiac as well.  Amy always makes sure that the girls never feel as though they are missing out on anything.  They tote their GF pizza to a pizza party and bring their own special GF cupcake to a birthday party.  She buys all the GF products and cooks and bakes as often as she can.
Amy & the girls love the classics- chocolate chip cookies, cakes, banana bread, etc.  I, however, am looking at the food and saying, "what else can we do to that?" or "I think that muffin is ready for a makeover."  We are thankful for all the products on the market to help GF living be possible and tasty! But it can be even better- and that is why The Bartlett Pair- Gluten Free Edibles was born. 
We will be at the Sunday Market at the Carousel each week from 11-3.  Last Sunday was so much fun and people really enjoyed the products.  We will change out a few items each week to get an idea for what the people want!!
Here is what we offered last week:
Pear and Cardamom Muffins
Chocolate & Caramel brownies
Monster Cookies
Parmesan and Herb Flatbread
Maple Glazed Chex & Pretzel mix with Bacon


Feel free to leave comments and/or suggestions!
Thank you for stopping by!
KB

*Pasty- Chunks of beef, potato and onion and a light seasoning of salt and pepper, wrapped in pastry glazed with milk or egg.  Originated in Cornwall, England.