Meet Our Authors

Debbie Caterson, author of “Gluten-Free Meals – Mix and Match” Volumes I and II and “Inspiration Mixes Cookbook”

“I come from a long line of bakers. My Great Grandfather was an apprentice baker in Germany before migrating to the United States. His recipes have been handed down for generations for all of us to enjoy. Especially his bread recipes and the delicious cinnamon rolls.

We grew up poor but rich in spirit and like many were survivors. My first home was a box car on the side of the railroad tracks. It had an outhouse and one bedroom, a small kitchen and living room. My Dad worked for the railroad at the time and was offered this place to live for free. My Dad promised my mom that they could save a lot of money to buy a home later, which they did.

My Mother was very creative and fixed it up. She took fruit grates and made cupboards out of them. She sewed curtains to cover up the fronts not to expose dishes and food supplies. My parents moved in the box car when my oldest brother was turning one. I came 2 ½ years later. We moved into a home when my mom was expecting my sister Cathy.

Everyone baked back then. Not to mention canning. Our home was always full of great smells from baked goods, fresh strawberry jam and my favorite homemade bread smothered with real butter we made. We had our milk delivered in glass jars with the heavy cream floating to the top, which of course we made the butter from, or for ice cream or whip cream.

I do have to say the canning wasn’t always a pleasant smell, but the outcomes were amazing. Mom made the best dill pickles ever. We would sit down and eat a quart for a snack fighting over how much of the pickle juice we each got when all the pickles were gone. After my mother died, I searched for her recipe to no avail. Years later I found it handwritten in an envelope of recipes I had not gone through.

I had stomach issues growing up. I didn’t like milk or whip cream but loved my mom’s homemade ice cream made with real cream and didn’t affect my stomach. My Mother told me I had her father’s stomach. My Grandfather suffered a lot with stomach issues and seemed to think beer was helping. My Grandmother did not drink so it was always a bone of contention between them. He also drank a lot of baking soda and water to help things along. He died in his 80s from colon cancer. I wonder now if he was Celiac.

When my grandmother died at almost 98 years old, we all remembered her amazing cinnamon rolls. In fact, my son at age 4 named her “The Cinnamon Roll Grandma.” And that was what both our children called her from that moment on. It was a recipe from her father, my Great Grandfather from Germany.

I have to say I was never that good of a cook or baker. My siblings made fun of the many things I attempted to make. Like my mother, my sister could make anything. She was fondly referred to as a cupboard cook. I needed a recipe, which in the end didn’t always help. I never gave up and managed to make both my grandmothers and my Mothers German cinnamon rolls with great success. It took a whole day to make them.

When my grandson Sean was born, he had a lot of ear infections, and dermatitis which his doctor told his parents they were bathing him too much? He was healthy in every other way, but when he was around 15 months old his development started to slow down, and eventually stopped looking at us, stopped speaking, and was diagnosed with Autism at 18 months.

None of the doctors we saw seemed to have a clue on what to do, and even suggested with his increased behavioral issues to consider an institution. He began banging his head against the wall, had terrible melt downs sometimes lasting 45 minutes. Then someone told us about an autistic specialist that could help. My daughter called him but he wouldn’t see Sean until he was off gluten and casein for 3 months. Two words we had never heard of. We received a lot of help from this doctor educating us on what he could eat. With the diet change and within a very short period of time, his behavior issues just disappeared along with his ear infections and dermatitis.

Sean struggled with eating the prepared gluten free breads from the market (they were pretty dry and tasteless), everything seemed to have an after taste. I bought cookbooks and tried making things from scratch with the same outcome. My sister suggested we make some jiffy mixes, use our family recipes substituting gluten free flours for the wheat. This took some time, but we found that our baking turned out great. Family and friends said we should sell them, which later became our business Inspiration Mixes (est. 2009), inspired by my grandson Sean.

Sean’s journey with diet and how that affected his autism is how I discovered my own gluten and casein intolerance. My stomach issues like my grandfather were simply due to diet.

Sean is now a teenager and writes children’s books. “Sean Get Lost in the Jungle” and “Sean and Scout go on an Adventure”, sold on amazon. He has an amazing imagination and continues to write children’s story.

I created the cookbook to share with others knowing how hard it is to made great gluten free food. This cookbook is dedicated to my mother, Jo Ann, who was an amazing cook and baked the most amazing pastries. From cinnamon rolls to decorative pastries, to 7 course gourmet meals, she was a master and an artisan! We all looked forward to the holidays and finding a place at her table to share grace and her wonderful creations.

This has been a labor of love for me. Creating great tasting food like my mother did.

Proceeds from the cookbook are donated to the Option Institute, The Son Rise Program for scholarships like my daughter received for an amazing in-home program for autistic children that really helped Sean.

Bon appétit!”