about cassidy’s craveable creations
Welcome to Cassidy’s Craveable Creations, where you’ll find easy, tried-and-tested, kid-approved gluten free recipes that are mostly dairy free, Paleo and Keto.
I started this website in 2011 as a way to share gluten free recipes with my family because when we first started eating gluten free, it wasn’t as popular as it is today and there weren’t nearly as many gluten free resources or gluten free products available. I started by just posting a simple picture before dinner in poor lighting with the recipe written as if it were on a scrap piece of paper – basically for my mom and a couple of friends so they could have a few recipes to make for us. 😁
Since then, my blog has grown by leaps and bounds! I’ve been featured on numerous websites such as Daiya Foods and Grumpy’s Honeybunch, I’ve baked for local businesses, and my Keto Breads Cookbook has been featured on many allergy friendly websites such as Healthful Pursuit, Cook Eat Paleo, Tessa The Domestic Diva, and Gluten Free Easily, just to name a few.
I have a passion for healthy cooking and have personally seen the power that food has to transform your health. Even though I cook healthy and allergy-friendly, though, I believe the food can taste just as good as its original counterpart without any compromising on taste! All my recipes are kid-approved, simple enough for everyday life, and require no special equipment.
why paleo and keto?
I started cooking gluten free in June of 2009 to help my son who was diagnosed with Aspergers and Epilespy, and the change ended up helping, not only my son, but me with my Hashimoto’s and our entire family – so I’ve never looked back!
Like many children in the Autism spectrum my son, Lance, has trouble breaking down the proteins in gluten due to leaky gut. As a way to help heal his gut and control his symptoms we went gluten free and saw a vast improvement! In addition to going gluten free though, we also started eating mostly Paleo, which meant cutting out most dairy, grains, and processed sugar to further help his body heal.
As a way to control Lance’s seizures, we started the Keto diet, which is a low-carb, moderate protein, high fat diet. In addition to epilepsy, the Keto diet can also help with blood sugar regulation, weight loss, hormone regulation, epilepsy, brain disorders, autism, and more.
When researching the Keto diet I discovered that if you eat more carbs than are needed for energy – regardless if they come from “healthy” carbs or “junk food” carbs – they are stored in the body as glycogen, and eventually as triglycerides. High triglyceride levels are associated with many health problems such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity. This provided me with added reason not to over-feed my family with carbs, even if they are healthy!
However, having a 13 yr-old boy who’s starving all the time on a Keto diet is hard – really hard!!! We could never be as strict as needed (20-30 net carbs a day) for a long enough period of time to keep him seizure free. Even though we couldn’t do 20 to 30 net carbs a day though, following a modified Keto diet ( 50 – 70 net carbs a day) still helps him tremendously and is the diet we currently follow.
helpful resources for new readers
- Want to learn more about Keto? Visit my page, The Keto Diet: Everything You Need To Know
- Browse my Paleo Recipes or Keto Recipes
- Visit my Treating Autism page for more information on leaky gut, natural therapies for autism, and financial aid
- Grab a copy of my Keto Breads Cookbook
- Visit my store for Paleo & Keto Friendly ingredients and products
I can’t wait for you to try some of my recipes! Please leave me a comment to let me know how you liked them or post a picture to social media with #cassidyscraveablecreations or tag me @cassidyscraveablecreations so I can see what you made!!!
Someone shared one of your recipes on FB (the awesome dinner rolls). Thank you for sharing your recipes and your gift of trying new things (I certainly don’t have the knack for it nor do I want to…cooking isn’t fun for me so it’s much appreciated!).
I read your “about me” and kudos for you for taking charge of your family’s health and yours. I only share this with you because I care. Have you heard of Medical Medium? I think this will take yours and your family’s health to a whole new level. The fact you already cut out gluten, dairy, and soy is huge. The next step is lower the fats and excluding corn and eggs if you haven’t already. The word “paleo and Keto” caught my attention. Yes, people get results because they change their diet but after 10-15 years of being on a high protein/high fat diet, our livers will become sluggish and develop thick blood.
Medical Medium has a book called Thyroid Healing, which explains about Hashimoto’s. Check it out….lots of free info on his blog and free radio shows. Why not go for the gold? Thanks again for sharing your story and your recipes.
Hi Cassidy,
I loved hearing about your kids. I have 16 year old who has high functioning autism and a 12 year old who has classic autism. We follow a diet similar to yours despite the fact that most people think our diet is goofy. My son who is 12 got tested for food allergies when he was 7, and the tests showed he is very allergic to dairy and has a sensitivity to wheat. His stomach problems pretty much went away. He never has developed any major behavior problems, and his behavior specialist credits this to his diet along with the therapy. I wanted you to know that 5 years ago when we started this life style, your web site was one of the first ones we found. My kids absolutely love your pumpkin donuts. I don’t make them too often because they are so addictive! It is such a shame more doctors do not support this life style. It would help so many kids on the spectrum.
I wish diets for autism were more mainstream too, I think it would help so many kids! Thanks for the nice comment, I’m happy y’all like my pumpkin doughnuts 🙂 Thanks also for sharing about your kids, I’m happy diet has helped so much – I know it can be hard so kuddos to you and all you do for your kids!!!!
-Cassidy
Thanks for a marvelous posting! I seriously enjoyed reading it, you happen to be a great author.I will make sure to bookmark your blog and
definitely will come back very soon. I want to encourage one to continue your great job, have
a nice evening!
I just wanted to thank you for this website! I am recently diagnosed with hashimotos and diving in to paleo full force. Have you found that it helped your disease? Do you still have antibodies? Thanks!!!
Thank you – I hope you are liking my recipes!!! Yes, I have found that being Paleo really helps me. If I feel like my symptoms are flaring up I can usually go strict Paleo (or even whole30) for a week or so and I start feeling better. I don’t know if I still have antibodies or not because I haven’t been tested in quite awhile but overall I do pretty good now with more good days than bad. Also, I’m not a doctor and can’t tell you what’s right for you but I also take a supplement called GTA FORTE 2 and it helps tremendously also. Hope going Paleo works for you!!
Hugs,
Cassidy
Hi Cassidy! I found your website because I was looking for a Paleo vanilla pudding recipe. My 13 year old son has Hashimoto’s disease (he was just diagnosed when he was 12). He has not officially been diagnosed but he is also on the Autism spectrum. What was strange is that he developed a lot of autistic features with the onset of his autoimmune disease, such as hand flapping, (which I put together after his diagnosis of Hashimoto’s). My daughter has IBS and she is also gluten intolerant and allergic to nuts so the easiest thing is to just eat Paleo and a lot of AIP recipes. We tried going gluten and dairy free but my son was still getting sick a lot so we’re recommitting to a Paleo lifestyle. I’m looking forward to trying out your recipes and following your blog! Best of luck to you and your family. 🙂
Thanks Sharon, best of luck to you too! It seems unusual that your son was diagnosed with hashimoto’s so young and his autistic features set on after his autoimmune disease! I hope living a Paleo lifestlye helps and that you like my recipes. Making the switch to Paleo was a bit difficult at first but after awhile it becomes second nature 🙂
Best of luck again!
-Cassidy