It's pizza. Baked goods, too, but mostly, it's pizza.

That's the No. 1 food celiac patients will tell you they miss on their gluten-free diets.

People with celiac disease, also known by the old-fashioned name sprue, or the more accurate but less appealing "leaky gut," don't absorb nutrients from foods. Sometimes they show symptoms such as weight loss, gas or diarrhea.

A blood test is the only way to confirm celiac disease, and diet is the only way to control it. There's no cure, and it's a chronic disease.

Glutens are part of the proteins found in wheat, barley and rye, among other grains, and they're off-limits to those with celiac disease. Other foods are on the banned list because they're closely associated with wheat. Oats are always "questionable" for celiac disease sufferers.

Food companies have slowly been adding gluten-free lines, with a small explosion in this field in the past five years. With a growing awareness of the disease — a report puts the number of celiac sufferers at 1 in every 133 people in the United States — gluten-free products are becoming more available.

A new labeling law is helping those with celiac disease identify products made with wheat. The top eight food allergens — milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, soy and wheat — must be spelled out in ingredient lists on all products manufactured in the United States. Before this, only a few labels would indicate the product as "gluten-free."

Phyllis Kessler of Palm Beach County, Fla., had to learn different ways of making certain foods because of her celiac disease. She found gluten-free bread crumbs online to use in her Fast and Easy Gluten-Free Meatballs. She thickens a chocolate pudding with cornstarch, and has perfected a buttermilk biscuit recipe that calls for brown rice flour, tapioca flour and potato starch.

"I add just a little xanthan gum," which also helps with the texture, she said. "I think they're really acceptable."

Xanthan gum is available at health-food stores; it's a food additive used to give a uniform "mouth feel" to foods and is a popular ingredient among celiac cooks.

Here is Kessler's biscuit recipe along with a few other gluten-free preparations.

Celiac resources

Gluten Free Pantry: Offers mail-order catalog, news, products, links to other gluten-free sites. www.glutenfree.com, (800) 291-8386.

www.celiac.com: Resources, support.

gfkitchen.server101.com: Recipes and mail-order sources for gluten-free products.

Buttermilk Biscuits

Phyllis Kessler, president of the Palm Beach County, Fla., Celiac Support Group, says she worked a long time to get the combination of flours just right to perfect the texture of these gluten-free buttermilk biscuits.

1 stick butter, cold

½ cup white or brown rice gluten-free flour

¼ cup potato starch

¼ cup tapioca flour

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon xanthan gum

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Sift all the dry ingredients together in a bowl.

Cut enough butter into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles small peas. Stir in enough buttermilk to form soft dough that holds it shape.

Place mixture on baking sheet that has been coated with cooking spray. Lay a sheet of waxed paper over mixture and press to 1-inch thickness and about a 6-inch square. Remove waxed paper and cut into 8 or 9 round biscuit shapes using 2-inch biscuit cutwter, or use the open end of a drinking glass.

Remove uncut portions and gently shape into 2-inch circles.

Bake 10-12 minutes or until browned. Makes about 10 biscuits.

Fast and Easy Gluten-Free Meatballs

1¼ pounds ground sirloin

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

½ cup gluten-free bread crumbs (dried, crushed)

2 large eggs

3 tablespoons dried parsley

1 teaspoon oregano

1 clove garlic

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Shape into small balls. (Note: they can be frozen at this point; freeze individually on a cookie sheet then pack in freezer bags.)

To cook, put meatballs on a cookie sheet that has been lightly oiled. Bake 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool 15 minutes.

Add meatballs to your tomato sauce and cook an additional 15 minutes or until the sauce is hot.

Apple Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

From "Gluten Free Baking" by Rebecca Reilly and Romulo Yanes (Simon & Schuster, $16)

1 cup rice flour or brown rice flour

1/3 cup potato starch

¼ cup almond flour

3 tablespoons tapioca starch

1 teaspoon Egg Replacer

½ teaspoon gluten-free baking powder

¼ teaspoon xanthan gum

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 stick unsalted butter

1¾ cups sugar

8 ounces cream cheese

1 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla

2 eggs

2 teaspoons cinnamon

3 cups peeled, thinly sliced Granny Smith apples

Gluten Free Pantry's Crisp and Crumble topping (available at www.glutenfree.com)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch springform pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper.

Mix together rice flour, potato starch, almond flour, tapioca starch, Egg Replacer, baking powder, xanthan gum and salt.

Cream the butter until white and fluffy. Add 1½ cups sugar and beat until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the cream cheese and vanilla. Add the eggs, one at a time. Slowly stir the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture.

Blend the remaining ¼ cup sugar and the cinnamon together. Toss the apples with 2 tablespoons of the cinnamon sugar. Fold the apples into the batter. Spoon into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the remaining sugar mix over the batter. Sprinkle gluten-free crumble evenly on top.

Bake 40-50 minutes or until completely done. Cool 10 minutes before removing sides of pan, then allow to cool completely.

Mock Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup butter flavor Crisco

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup sweet rice flour (found in Oriental markets)

½ cup white rice flour

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 cups of whole almonds, ground to an oatmeal consistency in a food processor or grinder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two cookie sheets and set aside.

Cream shortening, white and brown sugar. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, add vanilla and mix. In a separate bowl, blend the flours, salt and baking soda and stir into the creamed mixture. Add the almonds, stirring well to incorporate.

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes. Makes 6 dozen cookies.