GLUTEN FOR PUNISHMENT

Food Storage Analyzer

2009-11-06T08:38:00.000-08:00

Food Storage Analyzer

According to the Food Storage Analyzer, we have 24.55 days of food in our house. That is not including our frozen meat and milk, fresh eggs, and home canned meat. Also, there werent enough choices on the store bought canned goods.
I looked at the Add More Items option, but you have to know the calories, etc, and since this meat is not store bought it would have been too time consuming to figure all that out. Rabbit, deer, and goat meat are not your average freezer foods!
It was interesting to see how long SOME of this food will last us, and I am sure this would be a more helpful tool for those who have a more average pantry and freezer.

BABESIA

2009-11-03T08:27:00.000-08:00

Doc sent me an ebook about Babesia.

Wow.

"The notion of "Lyme Disease" is a 1970's notion, since deer ticks and other vectors like fleas, dust mites, pet saliva, and flies carry a wide range of infections.
...the concept of acquiring a single deer tick bite is wrong. Still more flawed is the notion that any painless deer tick bite will deliver only one infection. Deer ticks and other infectious ticks never carry one infection in their saliva or stomach."

It's really long, so if you are interested, click on the link above.

Why I'm Gluten-Free (by Kyria)

2009-07-09T19:22:00.000-07:00

(and how to start if you need to be gf too)

Gluten is not dangerous for everyone, but it seems like daily more and more people are being diagnosed as celiac or at least gluten intolerant. My daughter and I have a gluten allergy. We don't have celiac disease, but if we had not stopped ingesting gluten, it would have become that. I will never forget the first few months of my daughter's life. She colicked almost non-stop and we were both exhausted. I ate cream of wheat for breakfast almost daily, thinking I was being so healthy. She was getting it in the breast milk. I drank a lot of colic tea which helped ease her symptoms, but poor baby! I had no idea that what I ate was causing her intestinal pain!
Oh, how I wish I had known then to check for common food allergens. But I didn't and she was twelve before my doctor discovered the allergy in both of us. However, even after the diagnosis it took me awhile to fully accept it and take steps to change our lifestyle. We went through a period of mourning for what we could no longer have. I kept cheating, thinking that once in a while wouldn't hurt. But it's not like other things. When you are allergic to something, it is poison to your system. For us, it takes about 5 days to clear our system. Five days in which we have some horrible symptoms, some of them physical like stomach cramps and bloating, and some of it mental, like inability to think clearly, make simple decisions, or learn anything new. Each of those five days, I wake up depressed, thinking “what's the use?”. I fight with my husband if he forgets to leave me alone for the duration. Nothing is rational.
But when I'm completely gluten free, ah, the blessed relief! Not only am I in my right mind (for the first time in years, really), but I have more energy and more stamina. And my home is peaceful! I don't feel a need to pick fights, my daughter is able to handle her brother's teasing without a total meltdown, it's incredible! I can finally dream for the future and take steps to make those dreams a reality.
So now that I've experienced the results of being gluten-free, I will never intentionally poison my body again. That's what gluten is to me and my daughter. It's a poison. My doctor says if I had continued to put it into my body, it would have led to complications that include serious illness and even death. Our symptoms included brain fog, stomach cramps and bloating, diarrhea, skin rash and a serious personality switch. It was not pretty! Nowadays, if I suddenly go insane and irrational, we start a scavenger hunt to find out what I ate that poisoned me. Then we hunker down for five days and wait it out. Peace and quiet and not much interaction with the family helps me get through it without being just waaay too ugly to my precious loved ones.
There are incredibly informative websites all over the internet giving you all the information you could ever need about this subject. If you've just been diagnosed, or if you suspect you may be gluten intolerant, Karina has written an excellent article to read first. Then you may want to browse the rest of her blog, since it's all excellent. You'll find that most people who blog or maintain a website related to gluten free living have many links to other people doing the same thing. So there is no end to helpful advice and recipes out there, but read Karina's article first because she has some very important points, the main one being that you shouldn't try to eat gf breads and pastas in the first two weeks of your new life. This is because your taste buds have a memory. You have to let them forget the taste of gluten, then they will be able to appreciate all the new foods you'll be introducing to your palate. After you've stuck to very basic foods for a couple of weeks, you can start branching out and trying new things. There are some fantastic mixes in the health food stores nowadays. The gluten free industry is really starting to explode. There are wonderful cook books available also. Recipes abound online. One of my favorite sites is called A Year of Slow Cooking. When I was still dealing with brain fog, it was so nice to be able to prepare delicious meals in my Crock Pot with little effort.
If you've been diagnosed as gluten intolerant in some way, be encouraged. It's normal to mourn your losses, but don't get stuck there. As soon as your system gets clear, you'll feel so much better that life and your future will once again look bright.

2009-07-08T04:01:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated this blog in so long because up until March of this year things were finally going smoothly with Mooky's health. Relatively smoothly.

We still have periods of time (3-7 days each) when he will be sick with fatigue, depression, brain fog and stomach problems and we are positive he didn't eat any gluten, soy, nuts, etc. Basically we have just learned to deal with it.

On March 15, 2009 Erinn got a fever. What followed was a week of ear infection, sore throat, cough, and congestion. At the end of that week all the symptoms except the fever went away.

She has had that low grade fever every day since then... and it has now been nearly 4 months! She had a lot of intestinal issues as well, which were gradually worsening. So, now Erinn is gluten free too!

Donut Holes

2008-03-20T09:47:00.000-07:00

1 cup water
1/3 c. butter
1 c potato starch flour
1 TBSP sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3 eggs
oil for frying
Cinnamon/Xylitol for coating donuts afterwards.

Heat water and butter until boiling. Remove from heat.
Stir the combined dry ingredients into the butter/water all at once.
Continue stirring until the mixture forms a ball and pulls away from sides of pan.
Then use an electric mixer or stick blender to beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well.
Fry in hot oil. We dropped half teaspoon amounts of the batter in, because they double in size. If you make them too big they will be gooey in the centers.
Drain on paper towels and coat with cinnamon sugar, or cinnamon xylitol.

We really liked these a lot, but we rarely eat anything so greasy and we all agreed that we couldn't eat these donuts very often.

Gluten Free Gingerbread

2008-01-01T18:28:00.001-08:00

The kids tried several different gingerbread recipes, and this is the one that tasted the best, and made the best gingerbread house walls with the least crumbling.

3/4 c shortening (we used real butter from Mad Cow's cream)
1 c sugar
1 egg
1/2 c molasses
2 1/4 c sorghum flour mix
1/2 tsp xantham gum
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp salt

Cream shortening, sugar, egg, molasses. Combine the dry ingredients, then add to creamed mixture. Chill dough thoroughly. We then flattened it all over the cookie sheet to make our walls, but you could cut out shapes, or whatever.

GI

2007-12-04T16:47:00.001-08:00

Thursday we are going to the GI doctor in Austin. Three hours away.
I spent the day today printing up a summary of Mooky's last 17 months of misery. I also called the doctor in Kerrville whose nurse told me they couldn't fax Mooky's medical records to the GI because we hadn't signed a release! So, they faxed the release form to Kris at work, he signed it, and faxed it back. Then I called them to verify that they got it and asked them again to fax Mooky's medical records to the new doc. "Ok, no problem, please give us 2 weeks to get that done."
WHAT????????????????
I nicely explained that it needs to be done today or tomorrow and PLEASE do it. "Well, we're understaffed so I can't promise anything."
Talk about frustrating.

I feel such a heavy load of sadness right now for how difficult this is for Mooky. I guess typing it all up today really made it clear to me. I know that the Lord is in charge, and He has a wonderful plan for Mooky's life. And He can bring good from this. It's just hard for a parent to see their child suffer. It could be so much worse, and I hope it's not. I feel uneasy about what we may eventually find out through this new doctor... but there again, the Lord will get us through it.

I'm at a point where I am once again struggling with what to feed the boy... and struggling to keep his hunger at bay. He used to love to cook. Said he would be a professional chef one day. But, he hasn't done much cooking at all in the past year or so. Rare are the days when he feels good enough to spend that much time on his feet, and expend that much mental energy.

It's 7 PM right now and he is already in bed. That is very normal for him. If he feels nauseous in the night he will get up and sneak quietly into our room so as not to wake us up, and silently go in our bathroom and close the door. He will put a towel at the bottom of the door to cover up the crack of light that "might wake us up". Then, he will take a long shower until all the hot water is gone and hopefully his nausea will be gone too. Then, it's back to bed until 6 am or maybe 7 if he feels really bad.

The main thing to remember is that it could be worse!! And I am thankful it is not.

Mooky

2007-11-27T04:29:00.000-08:00

The week of November 18 was a really hard week for Mooky. I am positive he did not have any sugar, gluten, soy, high fructose corn syrup, or msg. And yet, he was very fatigued with a lot of stomach pain, nausea and D.
He had a totally GF Thanksgiving meal on Thursday and Saturday, and then ate some ice cream with wheat in it. WHY do they put wheat in ice cream anyway? (Not that it matters.) It was his own fault because I gave him the responsibility for reading the label and he ate it anyway. He's FIFTEEN for crying out loud! Plenty old enough to handle that responsibility. And we are making an effort to not be the Food Police. He is having to take more responsibility and take the consequences as well. So, Sunday and Monday he was extra extra extra miserable, and still isn't feeling much better today. He admitted that it wasn't worth it, and wished he hadn't done it, so I suppose that is progress. "I suppose", because I am not convinced that he won't do it again if the opportunity presents itself.
BTW, both kids are perfectly capable of spotting gluten and soy in food labels. They can pronounce most of the difficult words you find on the labels (and know what each one is) and when we go grocery shopping they read labels on everything we buy. Outloud. We get some mighty strange looks at times! :o)

Results of the Pie Experiment

2007-11-22T13:34:00.001-08:00

Erinn: 10 stars for great taste!
Mooky: 10 stars, and a 2 hour stomach ache,
and the dreaded you-know-what. :o(

The pie was delicious, and thanks again to legendaryabundance for the recipe! Even though Mooky got a bad stomach ache from it, he loved it, and as far as pies go it is a wonderful alternative to one with sugar in it. Today Erinn and I made a pumpkin pie sweetened with a little honey and a little sucanat. It's still in the oven, but it tasted great uncooked. :o)

Mooky has a really bad reaction when he eats sweet potatoes so I searched all over Kerrville for some kind of squash that I could use in place of sweet potatoes. All I could find was butternut squash. I cooked it with butter and sucanat and he didn't even realize it wasn't sweet potatoes until Erinn told him. So, that was a hit!

We had a great gluten free Thanksgiving dinner. Mooky said the dressing was "a miracle". LOL
Too bad we can't have turkey sandwiches for supper... oh well! Things could be a lot worse.

Apple Pie!

2007-11-19T18:35:00.000-08:00

Thanks to legendaryabundance for this recipe!!! We made it today and it was a big hit. The kids were very happy with the sweetness of it.

No Sugar Apple Pie SUBMITTED BY: Carolyn Contains no artificial sweeteners!"

INGREDIENTS
2 (9 inch) pie shell
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 (12 fluid ounce) can unsweetened apple juice concentrate, thawed
6 cups sliced green apples

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a small bowl whisk together cornstarch, cinnamon, and 1/3 cup of the apple juice concentrate. Set aside.
In a large saucepan simmer apples with remaining apple juice concentrate until apples are tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in cornstarch mixture and continue to simmer until thickened. Remove from heat.
Spoon apple mixture into pastry-lined pie plate. Cover with top crust. Seal and flute edges. Cut steam vents in top.
Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.

Erinn cut a beautiful star in the GF pie crust, recipe below. We are going to make this again for Thanksgiving!

The BEST EVER GF pie crust!

1 cup Sorghum flour mix*
1 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 tsp salt
1 TBSP granulated sugar

Combine all ingredients and pat into two pie pans. Bake at 350* for 20 minutes or so.

*Sorghum flour mix:
7 parts sorghum flour
2 parts potato starch
1 part tapioca flour

Sugar Free Pie Recipes

2007-11-19T04:04:00.000-08:00

All my searches for sugar free pie recipes turn up nothing but recipes that use artificial sweeteners. Grrrr.
I am looking for a recipe that uses either fruit juice concentrate and/or honey.
Apple pie in particular! Anybody got any ideas?

Pizza Rice Casserole

2007-11-10T15:21:00.000-08:00

I found this gluten free recipe at http://www.homesteadblogger.com/quiverfull/ and I cant wait to try it!

Pizza Rice Casserole
Crystal Miller

2 cups cooked brown rice
1 ½ cups cottage cheese
1 lb. sausage or hamburger or a combo of both
1 onion, chopped
1 -14oz can diced tomatoes
1 -8oz can tomato sauce
2 t Italian seasonings
½ t salt
Mozzarella cheese
Optional:
Pepperoni
Black olives, sliced

Combine cooked rice and cottage cheese and spread into the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Cook sausage and onions until sausage is done and onions are soft. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, Italian seasonings and salt. Spread this over the top of the rice. If you want to use the optional items layer those on top of the sausage/tomato mixture. Top with mozzarella cheese (as much or as little as desired). Bake at 325 for 30 minutes or until all is bubbly and hot and cheese has melted.

Fish Fry

2007-11-04T14:32:00.000-08:00

Harper had a fish fry on Saturday to benefit the volunteer fire dept. Kris had gotten a deer out at Doss on Saturday morning so he wanted to meet me in Harper so I could bring the ice chests
home. Otherwise the meat would have sat in the ice chests until Monday.
His dad decided to ride with him and so we all ate lunch at the fish fry. The fish was "breaded" with only corn meal and spices, so that was gluten free, but they served hush puppies as well.
Mooky thought they were just made with corn meal and so he ate one. I didn't think to warn him about them until after he had eaten it. I dont know what they were made with, but the chances are good that there was some white flour in there.
So, that night he was totally wiped out, pale, exhausted and just plain awful. The question is, was it the hush puppies, or was it from going to town two days in a row?

GF Pineapple Upside-down Cake

2007-10-31T04:08:00.000-07:00

Mooky made a delicious pineapple upside-down cake for his birthday yesterday. It tasted great right out of the oven. As you can see in the second picture, we all had a little taste right when it came out. That way, if the recipe had not converted well to GF we would still have time to make a diferent cake. Three hours later when we finally got around to eating it, I thought it was a bit too dry tasting, but Mooky didn't seem to notice! He liked it so much that he didn't even eat any ice cream. Earlier in the day he ate some of the Kinni-Toos cookies and said they were great. He also had a Kinnikinnick donut at breakfast, which was good.
So, basically he had a lot of sugar, and by evening he was REALLY feeling the effects.

the First Gluten Free Birthday

2007-10-29T08:55:00.000-07:00

Last year at this time, Mooky was sick, and we were trying to eat more healthily. Organic, whole grains, less sugar, etc. He wanted a "cake made from a mix" for his birthday and since the birthday kid always gets to choose, we bought an organic cake mix at the health food store.
We didn't find out he was gluten intolerant until a few weeks later... Needless to say his cake made him sick! Nanay, Alex, (and Gabby?) came to the birthday party and Alex ended up with a terrible headache. It would be some time before we found out she was gluten intolerant as well. She blamed her headache on me! "Every time I go to Rachel's house, it makes me sick." (Or something like that.) But Nanay said, "No, every time you travel anywhere you get headaches."
So, even though we have been through several gluten free holidays, this is Mooky's first gluten free birthday. The only thing I am worried about is the cake.

The birthday menu:
Kinnikinnick donuts for breakfast.
A huge fruit salad for snacks throughout the day.
Pizza for lunch.
Chicken fried venison tenderloin, mashed potatoes and gravy, and green beans for supper.
Pineapple upside down cake with white chocolate chips, and ice cream for dessert. Cookies and Cream ice cream! I bought K-Toos for him to put in his ice cream.

I sure hope the cake turns out good since we are simply converting the regular recipe to gluten free. The amount of sugar in that menu is more than we have had all month!

Corn pasta

2007-10-25T04:22:00.000-07:00

I found some Boles Corn pasta at the health food store last month and finally got around to trying it out last night.
It was a nice change from rice pasta! Mooky actually ate a good sized serving of it.

Our first ever order from Kinnikinnick arrived yesterday. Erinn was SO excited to see what I ordered for Mooky's birthday! She helped me get it all unpacked and hidden in the back of the freezer. I just need to remember to take it out the night before because it's BREAKFAST STUFF!

Cayenne pepper

2007-10-25T04:01:00.000-07:00

Sometimes my kids amaze me. I suppose I should be used to them by now... :o)
Yesterday for lunch I diced up potatoes, onions, zuchhini and squash really small until I had a whole pan full, and added the last chicken breast (diced). Sauteed it all in olive oil, and added salt. It was a little blah so I added some cayenne pepper.
I handed Erinn her plate and she took it with a look of "VEGETABLES?" on her face. (She despises zucchini and squash plain.) But she ended up liking it a lot and even getting seconds.
Mooky said it was too spicy, but he liked it ok. Usually he LOVES that type of thing for lunch, so I was surprised at his lack of enthusiasm.
Within an hour he had a HORRIBLE stomach ache and diarrhea. We're pretty sure it was the cayenne pepper.
Bummer.

Chinese food

2007-10-23T07:08:00.000-07:00

We love Chinese food, but it's pretty darn hard to make without gluten, and even harder without soy. So, since Mooky hadn't eaten any soy in a while, and technically he's allowed to have it every four days, we went for it. (BIG mistake.) I made fried rice to go with it, and Mooky ate some bean noodles with the vegetables as a topping.

It tasted great, but unfortunately Mooky got a BAD stomach ache that lasted for days. So, the good thing about this whole experience (besides the taste) was that we decided to get Mooky TOTALLY off of soy.

Gluten Free Brownies!

2007-10-17T05:26:00.000-07:00

These are EXCELLENT, and we may even use this recipe as a chocolate cake for Mooky's birthday. Kris even liked these.

BROWNIES

2 sticks butter, melted
3/4 cup cocoa
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup gluten free flour mixture (I used the sorghum flour blend.)
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350. Whisk cocoa into melted butter. Stir in sugar. Add eggs one at a time, stirring well after each. Stir in vanilla. Add flour, xanthan gum, and salt. Stir in chocolate chips.
Grease the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Pour in batter. Bake for 25-35 minutes.

As good as OREOS?

2007-10-17T05:21:00.000-07:00

Made by Kinnikinnick, as supposedly as good as Oreos. (Hmmm, seems pretty unlikely, BUT Kinnikinnick does a GREAT job on flavour!) And usually, this kind of thing is not only out of our budget, but also NOT the kind of snack I would buy for the kids.
However, we have a birthday coming up, and the birthday boy would LOVE "cookies and cream" ice cream. So, I am going to order a package of these, and maybe the vanilla flavor as well. But, it's a surprise so don't tell him!

Gluten Free Recipes that WE like!

2007-10-16T14:32:00.001-07:00

This is a place for me to post our favorite gluten free recipes. Send me yours and I will post them here too.