Next!

To follow up on Libby's fructose is it? isn't it?...
It isn't!  Good news to be sure, but now we are going to test for lactose intolerance.  I understand that lactose intolerance is much more likely to be the culprit of her daily stomach aches, and while it will be wonderful to finally figure this out and give her some relief,  oh how I dread having another food group to circumvent!  Milk, cheese, butter...

I want to tell you about this little girl of ours.   This test was a 12 hour fast followed by a four hour long waiting game at Children's.  Blow into a tube attached to a baggie for the baseline measurement.  Come back in an hour.  Blow again.  Go, come back, blow.  Go, come back, blow.  Go, come back, blow and you're done!  A very long morning without food or drink, except small sips of water.  She hadn't eaten since 8pm the night before.  She spent the morning chatting, walking around the ground's of the hospital, reading a little, talking a lot.  Never once complaining.  Never once said she was hungry, thirsty, annoyed, pissed, sad, tired.  Now me?... I was all of those things.   But looking down at her genuinely happy, smiling little face and holding her hand throughout the day was the inspiration I needed to suck it up and go with the flow.  As we were sitting on the happy metal frogs that are strewn all over the grounds at Children's she looked at me and said, "Mommy, I just love hanging out with you."  And I you, little girl.

Like Celiacs isn't enough?!

Well, i never meant to be away for the entire summer... but there you are.  I was.  I was with my fun, energetic, amazing girls having a wonderful time.  No trips to the Grand Canyon or Europe.  No weeklong camps or time in front of the TV... just swimming and talking and laughing our way through the summer.  I always hate when they go back to school.  Honestly hate it!  My life is simply better with them present.  But thankfully they are both happy and settling into 3rd and 5th grade.  I am back to my life between the hours of 8 and 3.  There is always much to do and there never seems to be enough time.

Three weeks ago, Libby had the 3rd of her 6-month check ups and unfortunately (damn damn DAMN!) her numbers went up.  We started 18 months ago with a 140.  Her next was 67.  Her next one was a beautiful 3!!  And this last one was a 29.  WHY? HOW? Damn!!  I can't imagine being more vigilant.  I simply cannot be!  It's not possible.  Is it?

Here is where we are right now.  She has never actually had a day without a stomachache.  She lives like this.  It breaks my heart.  It infuriates her.  It baffles us all.  I asked about the possibility of her being fructose or lactose intolerant.  Her Dr. agrees that there is obviously something else going on besides 'just' having Celiac disease.  Like this child needs more to deal with.  So next week she will be tested for fructose intolerance.   What will it show?  That she now,  in addition to having her diet restricted to all things gluten free,  won't be able to eat all fruits and many vegetables!?  I can't imagine it.  If that comes back okay, then we go for the lactose.  Which evil do we hope for?  Libby herself is pulling for the lactose.  Never a big fan of milk.   The 'Big Picture' has never meant much to her.  Probably better that way as it can be pretty overwhelming.

So, I will let you know what we find out and where we go from here.

Thanks for listening!

Making it Clear

Just when you think you have it covered... you really don't.  We have a local sushi place in walking distance from our house.  Sabuku Sushi  http://sabukusushi.com  on Adams.  It is really very good.  The fish is amazingly fresh and the sushi chef is quite proud of this and does some pretty interesting rolls.   Now, for someone with Celiacs, sushi is a mixed bag of delight and possible disaster.  On Saturday we encountered both.

When Libby surprised us a few months ago and said she wanted to try (yet again) sushi we jumped at the chance.  Eleri has always liked fish and loves (gulp!) a good California roll.  Libby not so much.  Hugh and I had been to Sabuku twice before on our own.  Once when they first opened (not impressed) and then a few months ago (very impressed!).  It seems they needed a little time to get their bearings and service up to a professional level. We inquired as to whether they would/could accommodate allergies, in particular Celiacs and gluten intolerance.  We were told yes.  The chef was very sure of his commitment to providing for 'special' diets.

We took Libby and made a point of saying "Celiacs", "NO gluten" and all of the words that keep Libby safe.  She ordered a bowl of rice topped with sliced avocado and the server offered that maybe she could have an avocado and cucumber roll.  Absolutely!  They brought over a well marked vessel of tamari which is the Celiacs go-to because soy sauce contains gluten and is an absolute no-no.  Tamari is naturally GF.  They knew this.  Feeling good here.  Starting to relax.  Libby happy.  Eleri happy with her CA roll.  Hugh and I very happy eating our really, really fresh sushi.  So it became a safe restaurant for us.

Then came last Saturday.  Same routine.  Sit down.  Play with the maddeningly hard to use metal chopsticks.  Drink the lovely cucumber water they bring in a huge carafe to the table.  Then the never before seen server comes over.  He mumbles something we think is some sort of greeting.  We greet him back with a hearty "hmmmphjjl."  He smiles.  We smile.  I tell him about Libby's need to have her meal gluten free.  He smiles and nods.  I say twice  "this is a very serious allergy (thinking Celiac wouldn't mean much to him) and please be sure the chef knows." More hmmmphjjl-ing.

We order.  The rice bowls come finally and they look great.  We remind him about the tamari.  Then out come the girl's rolls... on the same plate!  Eleri's gluten laden CA roll (the crappy crab has gluten) and Libby's GF roll... sitting right next to each other.  I just stare at it.  I am trying to decide if this is okay.  It clearly is not from everything I read and what her doctor has said.  Cross contamination is just not worth the risk.

I call the server (generous term here) over and tell him the problem.  He is stumped.  I am getting annoyed.  He takes it back to the chef.  I can see the chef is a little annoyed as he pitches the roll in the trash.  Hugh is now really annoyed so up he gets and talks to the owner who happened to be there.  It didn't go especially well at first but only because Hugh's delivery was possibly a bit on the offensive and the owner's was a little on the defensive.  Both are understandable.

The chef looked over at me during this exchange, to where the girls and I sat a table, and said "it's no problem!" He said that now that he understood the severity, then he would use the separate board and knife he uses for gluten free rolls.  If he had known she had Celiacs, he would have been more vigilant.  Now everyone is looking at us.  ugh!  Libby keeps asking what is wrong.  This is precisely what we strive to avoid.  A scene that centers around one of our children. I quietly thanked the chef from my seat and he said 'just tell me next time.'  I said, again quietly, that I had indeed told the server.  Chef said "ok, if I had known then..." Again, I said, from my seat, that I did tell the server!  Then the owner came over to make it right.  Hugh apologized for his delivery and owner apologized for his initial reaction.  Everyone falling all over themselves making nice.   Libby just simply said  "why can't someone just tell me what is going on?"

Sweet little girl just wants to eat some rice!

As we walked out of the restaurant the chef looked up and smiled and said "next time i'll know!"  And next time I will make it very clear that we have a daughter who has Celiac disease.

What a Tart!

And I do mean WHAT A TART!

Goat Cheese and Basil Tart with Cheese Crust

I am always looking to create (or steal from someone else) a great recipe.  I'll be short and sweet today and just tell you that I made the most amazing GF savory tart last night with what I consider a minimal of effort.  This one is not mine but from a wonderful collection of GF recipes from Shauna at http://glutenfreegirl.com.  She is a wonderful blogger and a fellow (to Libby) Celiac.  This is by no means just a 'gluten free' tart.  It is absolutely delicious and would WOW anyone, gluten free or not.  I made a few tweaks (not that it needed it but I just have to do it) and here it is...

60 grams GF flour blend (I only now use the blend from http://glutenfreegirl.com)
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
40 grams almond meal/flour
1/2 teaspoon guar gum
2 cups finely grated hard cheese such as Romano or Parmesan 
4 tablespoons (57 grams) unsalted butter, frozen then cut into 1/2-inch bits or grated on lg box grater
2 tablespoons ice water   note~ Fill a small bowl or ramekin with filtered water, add a few ice cubes     before beginning and it will be nice and cold by the time you need it.
250 grams soft goat cheese (I used a honey Chèvre that I just found at our Farmer's Market)
10-12 basil leaves, rolled like a cigar and sliced thinly or just rip it into bits
2 large, ripe heirloom tomatoes, sliced thickly
Olive oil to sprinkle on just before serving
Sprinkling of lovely sea salt 

Preheat oven to 375

In a food processor, add the flour, salt, almond meal, guar gum, and cheese and pulse until blended.  Add the butter and quickly pulse until butter resembles small peas.  Remember, there is no gluten so you needn't be afraid of 'over working' the dough.  You do however, want to avoid over handling the dough because of the butter.  You want it to remain visible and as cold as possible.

Here is where restraint comes in to this wonderful process... the ice water.  Add only a tablespoon at a time and go slowly, adding it through the feed tube while pulsing.  This dough should be dry and never sticky.  It should come together when you pinch it between thumb and finger but not stick to your fingers.

Turn dough into a fluted removable bottomed pan, and pressing evenly, push dough up the sides and into bottom of the pan.  

Pop into freezer for maybe 30 mins.  15 if you are in a rush.  Overnight if you are a type A overachieving plan aheader.

Remove from freezer when you are ready to bake the shell and prick the bottom all over with a fork to prevent bubbling up while baking.  Bake for 15 mins and check to see if it is doing the naughty and bubbling up.  If it is, poke it a few more times.  Continue to bake 10-15 minutes more until nicely browned.  Cool in pan.

Mix the goat cheese and basil and a dash of sea salt together and spread carefully into the cooled baked shell.  Carefully as not to pull up bits of the crust.  Add sliced tomatoes on top of goat cheese and splash a bit of olive oil over the tomatoes and finish with a light sprinkle of sea salt.  

Optional~ Run the tart under the broiler a few times if desired to soften and warm up the tomatoes... depending on your mood.  It is equally delicious with the tomatoes au naturel.  My photo clearly shows the darkened edges of the 'run under the broiler'.  Next time i'll run faster!  The darker the crust though, the deeper and richer the flavor.

We four ate the entire thing with a simple butter lettuce salad for dinner last night.  The both of us, the tart and I,  were justifiably fawned over!  

Insteads

Fourth grade end-of-the-year party!  Bowling and pizza!!  Yay!!!  Well, it should be a Yay!!! but the pizza part makes it an Ugh!!! for Libby, and therefore for me.  And let's be honest, it really is all about me right?!     I know I know... but twelve years after eagerly saying  'I Do' and ten & eight years after joyously saying 'It's a girl!' I am sadly still trying to believe it's all about me.  I am tenacious if nothing else.

So i asked Libby what she would like instead of the cursed pizza.  Libby's whole existence is about 'insteads'.  It sucks.  So she decided on a salami sandwich from a new deli, Rubicon's on India, because we had been there before and they have GF rosemary focaccia that really is pretty decent.  As I was heading down the hill and trying to run through all of the potential hazards of ordering from a 'regular' place I was feeling pretty confident.  Clean hands, clean tray, clean knife, remind them NO free cookie...then it hit me!  What about the mayo and mustard!  Is it from a central vat type of container?  Is there a shared knife?  Ahhhhhhh!  I called Hugh in a panic and with his ever-so quick assessment of my possible oncoming hysteria, he told me to just ask them.  Just ask them??  Are you nuts??  More worry and angst is clearly needed here!  Ask them but then do what when they say yes, it's shared???  What then smart man, huh?!  I have to be at a bowling alley with lunch for your daughter, you know, like in 20 minutes!!  Then I started thinking about the other 'safe' sandwiches we've ordered in other places?  Dear God I was a mess by the time I burst through their doors.  Squeeze bottles.  They use squeeze bottles.  They.  Use.  Squeeze.  Bottles.  They also put down a separate clean piece of parchment, donned new gloves, washed the knives and they made my baby a GF sandwich using squeezed on condiments!  I took my GF salami sandwich and went bowling.  Have to remember to tell Hugh he was worried for nothing!

Breakfast of gluten free champions

Breakfast of gluten free champions

'What to have for breakfast' is so often what I wake up thinking.  Well, okay maybe not actually when I wake up, but it comes to mind pretty quickly after rolling out of bed.  Rolling is not to be confused with bouncing energetically!  I am not a bouncer.  A slow roller maybe...  

After rousing the girls from their coma-like slumber, I head downstairs to the wonderful smell of fresh brewed coffee with the anticipation that Matt and Anne will probably have some exciting news for me.  Or maybe Al will tell me Southern California is going to get rain for the next week. Now that is my idea of good news!   I stand staring at the small TV in the kitchen, cup in hand, and the slow realization dawns 1) Al has once again let me down and 2) the girls will be down in a few minutes and that I must figure out something for breakfast.  BUT ~what will they eat?   ~what haven't i made lately? ~and what do i actually have in the house that can be made into a healthy scrumptious breakfast that can be consumed in less than 2 minutes?!  Matt?  Anne?  Surely you Al???  Nothing.  It's all me.  Familiar ring to it.    




Eggs. Organic, free range eggs are a naturally gluten free friend. Versatile. Easy. Healthy within limits. And 


Libby loves her eggs. Particularly fond of poached, will accept basted, and not a big fan of scrambled, which are Eleri's favorite. So let's talk poached. There are books written about the perfect poached egg. Hungry publisher? It is not difficult to poach an egg. No special egg poacher needed. Just a pan with water at least 2 inches deep. Bring to a boil.  Add a bit of salt.  Some add a splash of vinegar but I have never found it overly helpful.  Take a spoon and with a quick circle motion create a gentle whirlpool and gently slip the egg (already cracked into a small bowl) into the center of the whirlpool.  Repeat with up to 3 or 4 eggs, depending on the diameter of your pan.  Don't crowd.  The whites may still start to feather away from the yolk but just gently scoop them back to the egg.  Simmer gently for about 3 minutes or turn off heat and cover pan for 5 minutes.  Adjust timing for a softer yolk, or a little longer for a firmer yolk.  Remove with a large slotted spoon and  ~ here is where my grandmother proved her worth in the kitchen past grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup ~ take the heel from a loaf of GF bread and slide the egg from spoon to heel.  It's a great absorber.  A folded paper towel works just as well but that just doesn't evoke nearly as many memories!

Okay... your GF toast should just be popping up about now, butter it with some lovely fresh salted butter and slip that beautiful egg on its new perch.  Give a light sprinkle of sea salt, a grind of pepper (as long as you aren't serving it to my children!!), maybe a shaving of nice parmesan and hide the ketchup bottle from Eleri and my mom.  Eeeewwwww... whatever!

 


  

i challenged

This post has absolutely nothing at all to do with being, or not being, gluten free but it has everything to do with why I haven't been blogging lately.
As this week draws blissfully to a close, all of my 'i' problems that have plagued me for the past two weeks seem to be closing as well. As my dependency on all things beginning with the letter 'i' increases, so does my awareness of how utterly ridiculous this is. I am speaking of my iPhone, iMac and iPad. All things 'i'. Two weeks ago my iMac began doing things it shouldn't. Things I definitely did not want it to be doing. I panicked and fretted (right Honey??!!) ) because I had never (yep, never!) backed up my hard drive and I have over 22,000 photos in iPhoto. See... another 'i'!  Every photo of the girls EVER taken... all in danger of 'poof!' going going gone! Around this time, my iPhone decided that it had had enough of being dropped, watered, gamed and texted to death and would just shut off whenever it was tired. Or angry? Thankfully my iPad is still happy and cooperating but I find the virtual keyboard just too annoyingly constraining  to use if you are long winded like I am.  And because I don't have an eternal connection to wifi (too cheap) I have to find a free spot to sit and blog. My two blogging attempts last week were coffee houses (but of course they were) but once i had ordered and squeezed into a table between two slightly smelly don't-talk-to-me-i'm-on-my-computer/phone comrades, I found out their wifi connection was down.  So I just sat and drank my espresso and wondered what the hell to do!  Walk, read, cook... no, I better sit and brood about what communications I was missing out on!

Hugh (above said 'Honey') whisked the iMac off to 'a guy' who said my hard drive was kaput  but that he could 'probably' save my photos. Probably????   Boy was it was a long week at our house!   The guy called one day and said I now had a new healthy hard drive and that my photos were comin' home!  Yippee!  Then a long lecture about backing this baby up. 'yeah yeah... i'm not stupid you know.  Oh wait, I'm sorry...what was that?  Not backing up in the first place was stupid.  Right.  Thank you.'

So apparently learning absolutely nothing from the past two weeks, I sit here in Cafe Calabria, drinking the best mocha in town and  blogging on my iPad with a still less than healthy iPhone at the ready and about to hit 'save' so i can rush home and tweak this post making it 'blog ready' on my big screen iMac.

Did i mention that i walked over here from my yoga class this morning?  Yep,  that's right!  Walked and yoga!  I'm finding a balance.  And as you would expect, I do not take any device, beyond a yoga mat, into the class.  So for one hour I am free, sane and wondering who's trying to reach me!

Trendy

A fairly seemless morning. Kids somewhat easily whisked off to school by hubby. Dog fed. Kitties fed. Fish fed. I'm pretty sure kids were fed. I grab my second cup of wonderfully strong coffee and pick up the morning's paper. So excited to see in the UT's Dining Out section of the Night + Day a full page article entitled Going Gluten Free. So far so good! Refill my cup, throw both legs up on the couch and read... Wait, what???? Re-read it. MUST be here somewhere. Where is the mention of cross-contamination in this article? I look again. Nothing! How can they print this without asking each restaurant how they handle cross contamination in their kitchens? But they did, and they didn't. Cross-contamination can be the difference between being truly gluten free or not. Safe or not safe. A separate grill? Colander? New pasta water in a GF only pot? Designated cutting boards, utensils and even possibly a separate prep area? These are all the basic, but crucial, elements to offering gluten free safe choices. This is obviously and understandably not possible in some, maybe even most, restaurants due to space restrictions, cost and a lack of honest interest to provide to a limited (but growing!) audience. It's tough. I get that. But please do not say 'gluten free' if you cannot go the extra mile it takes to avoid cross-contamination! It is simply not safe, or worth it. This author's intro states that 'since May is Celiac Awareness Month, here are some of our picks in San Diego.' Now that would lead a reasonable person to assume that these 'picks' are safe for Celiacs. Right? Well... I do know that one of the vendors listed in this article states on her labels that her products are GF. Presumably true. But she also states clearly on her labels that her products are made on either equipment that is shared with wheat or in a facility that processes wheat. I found this so surprising and disappointing. I actually stood in front of the owner at a farmer's market and introduced her to Libby and told her of her Celiac diagnosis. She never once disclosed the possible cross-contamination issue. She said her products were made for Libby! We bought some, only to read the label after we got home. I threw them away. Not worth the risk. For someone with Celiacs, shared equipment/facility is not a good or safe choice usually. As the doctors say, 'when in doubt, go without.' Celiacs is not trendy. It is not the next diet fad. It is a pain in the ass and not a choice. Restaurants are unfortunately jumping on the GF bandwagon way too quickly without doing the proper homework. Do YOUR homework before eating at any restaurant. Some do go the extra mile... most don't. Not yet anyway. Call, request, ask, ask again... about their safe practices. And please don't assume that someone who writes about 'Celiac Awareness Month' knows anything more about it than you do. I would venture a guess it's much less! Every restaurant we go to, with or without Libby, I ask the waitperson and then the manager about their GF options. I ask in detail. I wait for the key words. I wait to see what their attention to the conversation is. I will post a list of such restaurants in the coming weeks.

options

The option button on snacks and snacking got stuck in the OFF position when we went gluten free.  I say 'we' and I feel like an ass.   Because for me it IS an option.  For Libby, not so much!

They are always 'starving' when i pick them up at 3:00 and my stomach is always in knots.  I feel it coming at about 2:40.  The uneasiness and slight panic.  Then the anger at the overall inconvenience and then just the ever so slight sadness that creeps in at the very end.   Because now we must bypass our pre-celiac after school haunts... Con Pane, Bread & Cie and Bronx Pizza.  No more fish tacos at El Zarape or egg rolls from Saffron.  We now pass them by at breakneck speed because I mommy-hope that she won't notice.  She does of course.  And only sometimes now, she is sad and says how unfair it all is.  I drive faster.   

The option of course is to BYOS (bring your own snacks) for the car ride home, or on the way to ballet, or to Girls On The Run.  You can hear the groans, and if you look in the rearview really fast, see the eye rolls ~ BIG fan of those! ~  when I hand them that oh-so exciting bag of Glutino pretzels.  An apple... oh yay!   Rice cakes with almond butter...again?  Wow!  Ice cream?  Well okay but I have to check every last ingredient on the not so complete allergy-card they have.  Oh yeah, and I’ll have to be sure the 16 year old working behind the counter understands that they have to wash their hands BEFORE serving my daughter the sample.  Oh and clean scoops.  Must have clean scoops.  Oh but wait there’s more!  I’ll need you to mix that ice cream on a clean try as well.  Oh look, the 16 year old is super good at eye rolls too!

To end this on a more upbeat note ~ there are options and maybe not everyday, but every so often, we come across one more to add to our growing list.  I will put together a list of what we have found so far and would love to hear from you as to your GF options!

Egg Salad and beyond

My kids happen to love egg salad. It is a great GF food.  Now there are probably hundreds of ways to make egg salad and everyone you ask will have their own 'recipe' and they will swear it is the best. The kind their grandmother made, their mother, the corner deli. Some like it plain and some like it fancy. With relish (me!) With celery (not me!)  Dill pickled. Curried. Herbs (tarragon was made for eggs salad!) Mustard? Let your imaginations run free! You notice that I stay away from saying sandwich. For the obvious reasons we don't eat a lot of sandwiches anymore even though there are some pretty great GF breads out there now. Udi's and a local San Diego North County company called Johann's Bakery are the best of the bunch, in my opinion. But more on GF foods later.

 Here is our version of 'the best' egg salad unsandwich~

 Egg Salad Williams' style

Hard boiled eggs (4)
Organic mayonnaise (2 spoonfuls or to your liking)
Relish (1 teaspoon)
Avocado (1)
Course sea salt (to mix in and a grind more to finish on avo)
Rice THINS rice cakes (Wholefoods usually)

~Mash eggs coarsely
~Mix with mayo/relish
~Season with salt, and pepper if you like (I do, kids don't. So we don't add pepper!)
~Scoop onto rice thins
~Top with avocado slices
~Sprinkle with a bit of course salt and here is where I add my pepper

Really great lunch and so versatile, and as long as you go easy on the mayo... a healthy GF food.

off to a great start...

Have been trying to organize my thoughts on GF living for this blog and thinking of what to write (oops~BLOG) about and this morning I had to share something not at all related to food.  Maybe food for the soul?  As Hugh was driving the girls off to school this morning, Eleri, our 8 year old,  rolled down her window, started blowing kisses (Christina Aguilera style- fans of  The Voice?  Anyone?) and yelled out to me 'i'm overjoyed with love!'  And off they drove... and my day just got a whole lot brighter!

Lentils

A quick lesson on lentils.  They are lovely.  They are naturally gluten free.  Lesson over.  Thank you for coming. A bit more?  
Lentils are an incredibly versatile legume, very rich in protein and fiber.  They come in an array of colors which all have a slightly unique texture and appearance.  My favorites are:  

• Brown or Spanish pardina which hold together in cooking beautifully
• French green or puy lentils which are a bit more expensive but worth it
• Green, muddy colored which are the more common and can easily be purchased in bulk
• Black which are my at-the-moment favorites!  They resemble little tiny seed beads prior to cooking.
• Red which tend to mush up more quickly than the others, making them not my favorite but a clear winner with my youngest, Eleri.  

I should say a couple of things about cooking lentils.

~Do not salt while cooking.  It will only make them tough.  
~The pot needs a lid but it must be left ajar to allow steam to escape.
~20-30 minutes is usually enough to cook them.  The longer they cook, the softer they will be.  I personally like them firmer than the rest of the family so I strive to land somewhere in between al dente and mush.

Here is our weekly lentil dinner recipe (adapted from my dear friend Barbara)~

Lentils with Balsamic/Bacon/Avocado

2 cups lentils washed, picked over and drained

8 cups water or broth or combo of both

~Bring to a boil, turning down heat to low and simmer with the lid slightly ajar for 20-30 mins. Test to be sure the consistency is what you want  before draining.   Drain MOST of the water, leaving enough to keep them swimming but not drowning.

1 sweet Onion, diced 

4-5 Tomatoes, fresh (or tinned work fine-aim for organic whenever possible) cut into small chunks

Olive oil (Extra Virgin)

Balsamic vinegar

~saute onions in a splash of olive oil for 15 minutes on low.

~add tomatoes to onions and continue simmering for 15 minutes more.  Throw in a garlic clove if you feel like it.  Remove before serving if thrown in whole.

~add onions/tomatoes to cooked lentils and continue to cook over low heat.

~add glugs or splashes (up to you) of the balsamic and the same of the olive oil to the lentils and continue to simmer on low until you are ready to eat.  You may want to add more olive oil to create a nice coating and to keep them all comfy cozy in their pot.  Lentils are a cozy kind of food!

~add salt & pepper to your liking and stir the lentils around a bit.  

Bacon (either slab, sliced, pancetta) We like Brandt Beef, all Natural Cowboy beef bacon.  Amazing!

 ~cook the bacon until crispy and drain

Avocado

~cut into chunks

And there you have it.  Serve the lentils in large shallow bowls.  Top bacon and avocado!

I leave the olive oil and balsamic on the table so everyone can add a bit more if desired.  Libby actually pours the balsamic into a spoon and eats (drinks?)  it that way.  Eleri asks me to make them without any so... you never know.  Enjoy!

Love

Love

I love food.  I love reading about food.  I love eating food.  I love cooking food. I love serving food to my family. I love that my family loves food. Okay, especially my food.  I love that Libby is in the kitchen right now (home sick today)  creating her own recipe with GF Chex cereal with some concoction of cinnamon and sugar.  I didn't point out, thoughtful and supportive parent that I am, that Chex actually makes a cinnamon cereal but hey... she's happily engaged and creating a recipe for her page on the blog. When she got the diagnosis of Celiac Disease, I swear one of my first heart stabbing thoughts was 'she'll never eat another baguette in Paris!'  More sobbing!  A sensible friend asked "oh, were you planning another trip to Paris?"  I stammered 'well no, actually, no we aren't but...!'  So okay, maybe I was taking on a bit too much angst for the first week.  Now that we are almost a year into this,  I have a bit more clarity and a more positive nibble on reality.  While it is true, she cannot ever walk along the Seine and enjoy a baguette, she can walk though the streets of any town, village, city or countryside and enjoy her life.    There are alternatives.  There are options.  There are choices.  There will be love.  Love for food.  Love for travel.  Love for adventure.  Love for her wonderful, unexpectedly altered, life. And I go on cooking and creating and caring for my family.  And possibly planning another trip to Paris!

Vitamin E... the natural healer

Wednesday, April 18, 2012 Vitamin E... the natural healer Not so fast!  It is a wonderful natural healer UNLESS you have Celiac Disease.  A lover and a fighter all at the same time.  Damn you tiny golden capsules!    Most, but not all, vitamin E is derived from wheat germ.  WHEAT germ.  Really?  So the sticky goodness that I often apply to help in healing Libby's lips either from the constant fever blisters she gets, or from her biting the hell out of them because of the fever blisters... is not a good thing for her?  Heal the lips, hurt the gut. Just more ying and yang,  push and pull, one step forward~two steps back, nonsense in this 'find the gluten' game. A manual please, Mother Nature. Please read more about this yourselves to be sure,  and draw your own informed conclusions.  I've read studies where doctors say skin absorbs what is topically applied, others say it cannot unless 'engineered chemically to do just that (i.e. medicinal patches).'  I found these two interesting links today while trying to find more info on GF vitamins, lotions, shampoos etc. http://www.celiacchicks.com/products/vitamin-e.html http://www.greatcakessoapworks.com/handmade-soap-blog/index.php/how-much-does-the-skin-absorb/ Posted by Kel I Am at 10:51 PM 0 comments Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook

On a cold dark stormy night...

Weeeeellll... okay, it  actually didn't start out on one of those but I have just always loved that opening line!  Wow... after re-reading the below post I may have gone on a bit but it is the tale of the beginning so bear with me... and get a drink!


Here is where we started...  In Mexico.  Yep.  Mexico and a really bad case of Giardia.  Mine.  While having a lovely time down there with our dearest friends I became a smuggler.  A smuggler of hidden travelers.  Damn Border Patrol doesn't seem to care a bit about those though!  Nope.  Just a 'free to cross ma'am! Welcome home!!'  At least they could have shouted a hearty 'shame about those pesky intestinal critters you're harboring!'  Nada.


Anyway... In 2006,  I was finally (a miserable 3 weeks later and a glorious 18 lbs lighter)  diagnosed with Giardia, a nasty intestinal bug common to south of the border travelers.  During one of the routine tests, along with Giardia, I showed positive for Celiac Disease.  What? What the hell is that?  I was referred to a GI doctor who's appointment I cancelled twice and then made the stupid decision to just ignore the diagnosis, and go about living our Foodie lifestyle that we had been thoroughly enjoying for years.   My rationale?  I wasn't going to change my way of life or my family's just so I didn't get bloated and feel like my jeans had shrunk 2 sizes while i was sitting in the restaurant having dinner.  'Craziness' I said.  Not giving up my pasta.  My bread? no way!  NEVER did I hear how dangerous it was to think like this. NEVER!  Not a mention of the possible dangers of future stomach cancer, diabetes, thyroid disease, stunted growth, brittle bones to the point of early on-set osteoporosis... all possible if Celiacs is left 'untreated'.  Which of course means to completely STOP eating ANY and ALL gluten... for the rest of your life.   I had always had a 'funny stomach' and always lived like that.  No big deal.  


Jump ahead 5 years (March, 2011) to when I was sitting having margaritas one night with some friends and one of the women mentioned that another's 5 year old was just diagnosed with Celiacs.  Now my dear friend 'A' (haven't actually asked her yet if I can use her name so she will be just 'A' until she gives me the nod) looked across her salted margarita (me? I'm a NO-salt kinda drinker by the way) at me and said 'you know it's hereditary right?'  Ummmmm... 'no.'  Again... no doctor EVER told me this.  And we have a good doctor!


I had an honest to god Oprah moment and called the good doctor the next day and asked him to see Libby, then 8.  I said I wanted her checked for Celiacs.  A simple blood test.  Although Libby would NOT agree with that assessment.  He asked why.  See... I told you he is that good!  I said because for all of that year (3rd grade) and possibly the year prior, she has been miserable.  I was like Oprah on crack.  So many light bulbs were going off I thought the paparazzi had entered the room.  All of her complaints of tummy aches, constipation, diarrhea (and both at the same time!),  feelings of nausea (thank god for spell check), the beginnings of a cute little belly on her always slight frame, being afraid of (SO sorry my dearest) leaking bowels, the odd inability to focus at school, her being the next to shortest kid in class and generally just not feeling well, were ALL coming back to scream at me "BAD mommy. REALLY BAD mommy!!"  So he took the blood but assured me it was doubtful she had Celiacs.  A week later he wasn't so smug (actually he wasn't smug at all-he's just too handsome to be anything other than handsome, oh and a really good doctor) and told me she was indeed positive for Celiac Disease.  Of course I knew it.  I knew she had it from that first sip of my margarita.  Mommy intuition maybe but I knew what the outcome would be.  On the scale of 0-30 (30 being high) her count was a whopping 140!  Our girl was sick.  Seriously sick. 


I was devastated.  I sobbed.  My husband cried.  My mom and sister cursed and wept.  I sobbed some more.  I was scared.  I felt angry.  SO very angry.  Still am.  My friends expressed sympathy.  The good doctor expressed genuine surprise and amazing sympathy and compassion... at least i think that's what he was saying but through my racking sobs it's hard to be exact.  


But I couldn't bring myself to tell my sweet baby girl that it came back positive.  I just couldn't.  She knew Celiacs was what we were looking for, but hoping like hell it wasn't.  I had of course, during that very long week, Googled my arse off (my husband is from Wales but doesn't actually pronounce it as arse but it seems so much more 'friendly' doesn't it?) with searches on Celiacs, poured over every written word, and in-between-the-lines, like an über sleuth and so I was REALLY REALLY sure we didn't want a positive result.  So we kept it to ourselves for nearly 3 weeks. My husband (henceforth referred to as Hugh)  knew that I needed to be able to deal with it myself before being able to tell Libby, without completely falling apart before her lovely and trusting blue eyes. But how to positively convey to her the truth?  The truth being that her life was about to change drastically and a lifetime of 'going without' was to be her future.   We are such a food loving, cooking, restauranting (no love from spell ck on that one!)  family that I couldn't imagine how to tell her that that was over.  Remember now, this was in the beginning stages and my information has since grown and our world has widened since that miserable day.  A longer blog would ensue if I were to  mention the 'disease' aspect of this damn disease! Another day, another blog.   Hey, I like that... but probably not an original.


I wanted desperately to be able to tell her on my own terms and with a positive spin.  She is one of the most intuitive people I know (especially where I am concerned) and she kept suspiciously asking if Dr. M had called.  I was evasive at best but then one day she and I were walking alone in the park, after dropping my younger daughter Eleri, at ballet and I told her.  Just said it.  My voice got a little shaky and she put her sweet, soft hand on my arm, stopped me in my tracks, looked up right into my eyes and said "It's okay Mommy.  I'm going to be okay.  Don't cry."  I was a sobbing mess but was the proudest mommy (NOT to be confused with DMB's Proudest Monkey) on the planet at that very moment.  A referral to Children's Hospital came next and a fortuitous placement under the excellent care of Dr. Kimberly Newton, head of the Pediatric Celiac clinic at Rady's Children's hospital.  She did the required intestinal biopsy and without a doubt, confirmed that Libby had full blown Celiac Disease.   


Oh yeah, and I don't actually have Celiacs.  No siree.    False positive in 2006.  That happens.  Go on about your business.  New blood test and a biopsy to boot, you know~just to be sure... nope, we're sure.  Are you people kidding me?  She has it but I don't?!  I have never wanted to have anything more in my entire life than to have Celiacs so that Libby wouldn't be alone in this.  Alone with this.  Alone.  I actually contemplated telling  her that my results came back positive as well.  Actually, I can't swear I didn't tell her that before I snapped out of it and realized what a disservice I was doing to her, and to our relationship.  I wanted to walk this crappy road with her.  I wanted it to be our thing, together.  But it is hers.  Diagnosed in March, 2011~gluten free since May, 2011.  And better.  Not completely, yet, but certainly much better.  And me?  Just a 'funny tummy' apparently.


And this is what began our new life as a gluten free family .  So...


Another day, another blog!


~k