Announcements and Apologies

I would like to apologize for my lack of posting in the last few months, I am sorry.  I would also like to announce the reason for my lack of posts, on April 3, 2012, we welcomed Ellis Yung-Tsun into our lives!  I had a beautiful healthy baby boy, 6 lbs 8oz, 20 in.

Since his birth I have been in a total fog trying to keep up with his eating habits day and night, so typing on the computer has been hard to do.  Hopefully as he settles into a schedule and doesn't need to eat every 20 min (it just feels that way) I can get back to cooking with Ceci and posting our creations here.

We feel so fortunate to welcome Ellis into our family.  Thank you for your patience in this exciting time in our lives.

Timing is Everything

This last week I was contacted by an amazing woman, Heather, who has an incredible story to tell with a beautiful outlook on life.  She was so kind as to write a guest post for me, while it doesn't directly correlate to Celiac/Gluten Intolerance it does relate to handling what life gives you.  It also relates to being a mother, which is certainly a part of this blog, and always welcome here.  Please read, and please encourage your friends and family to read more of Heather's story and philosophy on her blog at http://www.mesothelioma.com/blog/authors/heather/.  A huge Thank You again to Heather for sharing her journey.

Heather and Family

Timing is Everything

By:  Heather Von St. James

Ineffable, funny sounding word, it’s an adjective with the definition of unable to be expressed in words. Most people can conjure up an adjective to describe any situation life puts in front of you. But alas, there is still one situation that can never be put into words to describe the feeling of it. Cancer, yes cancer, the real “C” word, which was introduced to me first hand on November 21, 2005, roughly four months after the birth of my one and only child. How’s that for timing? You’ll see that timing is a theme of this life episode.

Why would life do this anyone, to me!? Blessed with a new child to care for and now I’m to conquer the big C, malignant pleural mesothelioma to be exact. Why now? Why ever? But I wasn’t going to beat down by any disease. I’m strong, I’m now a Mother and I’ve got a life to live beyond my own. I turned cancer on its head and decided to not be the victim but to accept this challenge with my head held high. Being referred to one of world’s leading mesothelioma doctors, who was able to give me continued hope that I could beat this thing; kept the fire burning in me to beat it.

So did having a sense of humor about it, very important to this ordeal, I could only laugh when realizing that the date of my surgery to remove the tumor was on Groundhogs Day, 2006. We renamed Groundhogs Day, Lungleavin Day, since it was the day my lung left, and every year on the first weekend of February, we have a party to celebrate Lungleavin Day. No seeing any shadows this day. We celebrate the bright light of hope and life.

The big “C” is not so scary, in many ways I’ll be eternally grateful for this challenge that I overcame and lived though. My life has a bigger purpose now, more direction. I didn’t take the birth of my child for granted but there is a pureness to my love of motherhood now, because it could have easily been taken away from me. Proudly I’m now in a special club of beautiful and strong warriors, current battlers and survivors of cancer, their supporters and nurses and doctors who dedicate their lives to beating cancer and bringing more awareness to this disease.

In life, timing is everything. And now I simply approach each day with the joy of being alive and enjoying it, because any day could be your last. Cancer, you’re strong but I’m stronger and wish great strength to any other warriors battling cancer, call me, I’ve been there.

Family Affair Continues

Gramme, Grandpa Bud, Dad, Me and Ceci (June 2011)

The other night I got a fantastic voice mail on my phone from my Gramme, while all phone calls from grandmas are great, this one was exceptional.  When I was home in Oregon, about halfway through the visit my Dad got a phone call from his mom saying that she wanted to try a gluten free diet to see if it would help resolve some of her health concerns.  Tonight's phone call was to tell me she was feeling better than she has in years!  Can I just tell you that she sounded like a new woman!!!  I have to be a bit honest the family has been questioning grandma's lucidity the last few years, that was not the lady I heard on the phone tonight, I am so excited to see this change.

I called Gramme back today and had a long chat with her about how she was feeling and the changes she noticed from being on a GF diet.  I was blown away to hear that she was no longer suffering digestive problems like she had for years, and was feeling fantastic.  Gramme also told me that she had been to the Dr recently and the Dr had taken her off more than half of the 16 medications that she was taking less than a month ago!  Can you imagine!  16 medications per day!!  All that was cut in half from following a gluten free diet.  You can't imagine how excited I am that making a change in diet worked so well for her.

While I was home we had a visit with Gramme and Grandpa Bud where Gramme repeated the same story twice within 10 minutes and with almost the exact same wording each time.  This sadly is not uncommon, the whole family knows it happens and is concerned about why it's occurring.  It's intriguing from a celiac perspective because Tim has noticed that when I eat gluten I become tired, listless and unable to concentrate.  Now if I multiply those symptoms out by 76 years worth of tortured digestive and immune system, maybe there is a glimmer of what Gramme has gone through.

The gluten free diet was a bit of a rough start, Gramme was worried about switching over to a gf diet and the difficulty of having to read every single label and having to entirely reeducate herself.  I have to say I know it is tremendously daunting to start on a gf diet, but to do so at 76 years old is pretty frightening.  Dad and I wanted to do as much as we could to help, so we made a trip to whole foods to grab some easy introductory gluten free foods to bring over to Gramme.  A few days later Gramme was over to Mom and Dad's house for a party and had tons of questions about what was safe to eat and what wasn't.  I took a sheet of paper and on one side I labeled the top "safe to eat" and the other side was "not safe foods" and just started writing down as many things as I could think of on either side.  Gramme had several specific questions so I wrote those items in the appropriate columns, such as potato chips, chocolate covered raisins, rice, potatoes, and many more.

The fact that Gramme may have celiac is hugely interesting, because up until we realized my Dad suffers from Celiac I was alone in all this.  We've known that Celiac is a genetic disease, but no one else in the family had symptoms, so I was this little genetic anomaly that was just full of every recessive gene possible that didn't seem to affect anyone else.  Turns out I just had the least tolerance the earliest in life, as well as being the one with the greatest resources to discover what the heck was going on with my poor little body.  This is AMAZING!!  I'm normal in my family!  It comes from somewhere, I'm not weird!  (Ok, at least not regarding celiac.)

So the possible genetic path of celiac for us has been paternal grandma, Dad, Me, and now Ceci.  I'm the only one who has tested positive so far and the last time I tested positive was in 1997 via blood test.  I think the positive test is not the most important, it was something that Dr Vikki Petersen brought up in one of her youtube videos, don't get hung up on the positive or negative test, if a gluten free diet makes you feel better.  Dr Vikki Petersen also talks about the frequency of false positive tests in another video.

Recently I have realized that when Tim or I visit the Dr, we not only need to mention our medical history, we also need to discuss how Ceci's health concerns relate to us.  If your child or grandchild has a genetic illness, it would be wise to have the parents or grandparents tested.  Our family's medical history is not the only place to look for answers, we are connected through genetics and together we can find the answers to our illnesses.

White Rabbit Bakery

Duchess Gluten Free Cake from White Rabbit Bakery

For the last two weeks I have been visiting my parents out in Oregon where I grew up.  Usually I don't expect much from the world in regard to gluten free eating while I'm there, sometimes if we are lucky we are able to run to Bob's Red Mill.  This trip was vastly different!  My Mom took me for a brunch treat at White Rabbit Bakery, and I'm positive that when I stepped through the door I fell down the rabbit hole into a world of nonsense and make-believe!

It was fantastic!  First of all, the building the bakery resides in used to be an old antique shop, as many buildings are in Aurora Oregon.  I have vivid memories of my mom dragging me into this particular shop as a young tween/teenager, it was filled from floor to ceiling with all sorts of odd treasures.  There also used to be a particular dusty old smell to the place.  All that has more than disappeared!  The smell is some sort of sweet heaven mixed with cinnamon and coffee.  Here's where the bit of nonsense comes in, I'm positive someone picked up a bakery straight out of the Lower East Side of Manhattan and plopped it right into this building in Aurora Oregon.  Anyone who has ever driven through Aurora and managed not to blink knows it's the oddest little town FULL of antique shops and old man bars, so to find this amazing gem was truly a surprise.  I think the biggest moment of visual disbelief was when the adorably sweet lady, Becca, behind the counter let me know that there were more GF options in the case than regular items, WHERE AM I!?!?!?!  Each item was more enticing and beautiful than the last!

I ordered a Chocolate Chip Oat Scone (GF) and a cup of coffee, and sat down in the cute dining room with it's antique chairs and rustic wood tables.  The coffee came in a clay pottery mug, and my scone sat nicely on a plain white plate.  It was fantastic!  I admit the scone was a bit of work to chew, from the deliciously fibrous contents, lots of oats and Becca said they also use Amaranth flour, but it was worth every chew.  The hardest thing for me was to sit there watching the counter and see all the other delicious GF treats be sold off one by one, it gave me horrible anxiety!  I finally stood up and got a few things to go, Oscar one of the owners was a tremendous help and with that infectious smile, I might have bought the whole store if he had asked.  I took home a Plum Tart (GF), and two Her Majesty Cupcakes (GF), both gorgeous and you would never believe to look at them that they were GF.

I ate them on two separate days and even had dreams about how delicious they were!  Some how Emily the owner and head baker at White Rabbit has managed to suspend the laws of physics when it comes to baking without gluten!  I don't understand how she made such amazingly moist and tender cake, or a perfectly flaky dense delicious tart crust, it's nonsense!

Plum Tart Gluten Free

The Plum Tart was pretty, with sweet red plums baked into the top.  Oscar had told me it had almonds in it so I didn't dare share it with Ceci, but it was worth keeping it from her because it was Wonderful!  The crust was flaky and buttery and dense while the filling was sweet with a hint of lemon that paired perfectly with the sugary and slightly sour plums.  I wanted about 10 more of them after that.

Her Majesty Gluten Free Cupcake

The next day I took the Her Majesty Cupcake out of the fridge and finally noticed the cute leopard print liner it was in, I had been so distracted by the perfect top of the cupcake I never looked down to see the liner.  Her Majesty is a vanilla poppy seed cake, with a lemon curd and raspberry jam filling topped with vanilla butter cream frosting, and possibly a dash of heaven!  Light, fluffy and tender don't even begin to describe the poppy seed cake, and it could not have been a more perfect palate for the creamy and tart lemon curd, the sweet raspberry jam worked perfectly with all of it.  Finally the vanilla butter cream spoke directly to my heart and my stomach, I'm a huge frosting fan since it was all I ate at birthdays and weddings for most of my life.  The frosting was tremendously rich and buttery, I could have sat down with a tub of that and the raspberry jam and eaten all day.

The last thing I picked up at White Rabbit Bakery was a menu, and after the amazing success of the Her Majesty I just had to have a birthday cake!  After more than an hour of pouring over the menu I decided on the Duchess cake!  It didn't hurt my decision that Ceci calls me Duchess (from the Aristocats Movie). But I was so excited to try the Chocolate cake, with raspberry jam filling and more of that amazing vanilla butter cream frosting!  Tim placed the order for my birthday and spoke directly with Emily the baker/owner and said she was very accommodating even though we missed the 48 hours of notice.  She said she could have it ready by the next afternoon for us.

Cut section of Duchess cake

The last item I ate from the bakery was a Marionberry Sour cream Muffin (GF) that I tucked into my carry-on for our flight.  It got smashed in all the hassle of travel but that didn't alter the flavor at all, it was bursting with cinnamon and nutmeg and reminded me of holiday baking yet was perfect for a summer breakfast treat.  The Marionberries  made the muffin even more moist than just the tender muffin by itself.  I'd say it was the perfect treat to end my long flight home to NY.

I'm so sad that I'm now so far away from the bakery and won't be able to get more treats until we are out in Oregon again.  I'm so spoiled now, I have even less tolerance for bad texture or horrible tasting GF foods, after having Emily's beautiful creations there is no excuse to eat bad food!  If I had more regular access to White Rabbit I think I would end up like Alice in Wonderland when she eats the cakes, she grows bigger and bigger and bigger.  I would certainly not be getting taller from these cakes though!

I'm so inspired to work harder on my own recipes to make them even better in taste and texture.

To Emily, Oscar and all your staff;  please keep up all the hard and delicious work!  You are doing amazing things with gluten free flours!  You might want to consider writing a cook book for those of us who can't always make it into the bakery, or maybe shipping some of your amazing treats would be great.

Tim learned a new trick!

We are so lucky to have a very active library that offers tons of free classes.   Usually I only look at the kids classes for Ceci and I, but last month one caught my eye, a Mozzarella making class.  I told Tim to sign up for it since he is always excited to learn new cooking techniques, I figured this would be perfect for him.  Apparently during the class there was a reporter from the library newspaper who interviewed everyone.  The other day one of our favorite librarians told me that she saw Tim's picture in the Patch, of course it took me several days to get around to looking it up.  Thought I would share it with everyone, nothing fancy, just me being a proud wife!

Library Article about Mozzarella Class

Happy Mother's Day to Me!

I'm sure some of you have seen the photo from our Holiday Cookie Party and my tremendous mess of flours in all sorts of miss-matched containers.  That was all solved this weekend!  My Tupperware delivery arrived, and I was able to sort though all my flours and put them nice and neat into the cabinet.  I feel so much better looking into that pantry shelf now, no anxiety!  These were my Mother's Day present from my husband, even though I picked them out and ordered them.  Oh well, I still love him!  I think it might finally be time to throw away the lingering tub of wheat flour that has been in the cabinet forever.  I used to make separate batches of waffles, or cookies for myself and my husband, now I just make him eat GF, poor guy!  It would be torture except he prefers the GF stuff anyway.

Did I mention the Tupperware is liquid tight, air tight, and guaranteed for life?  That's what got me!  Now I won't ever have to worry about Ceci dropping a container while she is helping me bake, and no more haphazard Tetris inside the panty!

After the wonders of Tupperware!

Before

Where are you from?

my poor princess passed out at the dinner table after eating cake and ice cream for dinner

I'm just curious where you readers are from.  I've been watching my stats page for a while now and I see people visiting this page from so many incredible countries, and I just wonder what your gluten free stories are?  This is the first blog I've ever written and it's amazing to see the accessibility over the entire world.  Please leave a comment and introduce yourself, I'd love to know more about the people who know a little bit about me and my family.

Thanks,
Andrea

We are so Fortunate to have wonderful friends, and Gluten Free Cupcakes

Gluten Free Cupcake tower from Bobby's 1st birthday

Our family is so fortunate to have some very amazing friends who want to take care of Ceci and I and make us feel so special and loved.  We have had the good fortune of celebrating birthdays of our friends children lately and I was fully prepared to provide food and cake items for Ceci and I to eat at the parties.  I have been shut down on all accounts by some wonderful women who want to take care of us, it's been so nice to go to parties and not have to bring our own food.

At the beginning of the year we attended Joseph's birthday where his Mom, Bonnie went out of her way to find a bakery with gluten free cake and bought a few slices for Ceci and I to have at the party.  It was delicious it had layers of chocolate cake and chocolate mouse, and was coated with a rich chocolate gouache.  So good, but I think it was a bit rich for Ceci, no problem, more for me!  I think she was more excited about getting a cup of lemonade with her lunch anyway.  It was really nice to have a special piece of cake that I didn't have to bring to the party.

Last week we were invited to another birthday party for Bobby, and were told not to bring any food at all for ourselves.  I was unable to go to the party but Tim was happy to take Ceci and go celebrate the occasion.  Tim told me that Bobby's Mom, Jaime, made a huge pan of gluten free baked ziti, one of Ceci's favorite foods.  Ceci proceeded to consume two large portions all by herself, and probably would have tried to eat the entire pan if Tim hadn't kept an eye on her.  Jaime also made a beautiful cupcake tower of all gluten free cupcakes!  She used Cherrybrook Kitchen's Gluten Free Yellow Cake Mix for the cupcakes, which are also peanut free, a very happy thing for us.  The cake was nice, not to sweet which is perfect for a cake.  Jaime isn't quite sure of the brand of frosting she used, but that isn't the most important part.  The most important part is that Ceci LOVED them and has been talking about the beautiful cupcakes ever since and how much she liked eating the sprinkles.

We are so lucky to have friends who want to take care of us, work hard to build their awareness of gluten free food, and provide us with safe yummy things to eat.  I remember my mom bringing things to school and parties for me to eat because there was no other way.  We live in a very happy time, and are beyond fortunate to have the friends we do.  I can only hope that other people out there with celiac/gluten intolerance are so lucky, it's a wonderful feeling!

Gluten Free Cookie Swap and Gingerbread Houses

From top to bottom, left to right (GF Sugar Cookies, GF Pinoli Cookies, GF Chocolate Pudding Cookies,
GF Chocolate Peppermint Cookies, GF Coconut Macaroons, GF Vanilla Meringue)

A few years ago I hosted a Gingerbread house decorating party, like the ones my mom and her friend Sue would throw for us when we were kids.  That party was a great time, so last year I decided to throw a cookie swap instead because I didn't think I could make gingerbread houses for everyone with a busy toddler in the house.  The cookie swap was so much fun, we sat around chatting, having wine, and decorating sugar cookies.

This year I wanted to have a gluten free cookie swap, and I eventually got brave enough to produce two gluten free gingerbread houses for decorating.  The houses were intended for Ceci and her best buddy Brodie to decorate, which I knew would last about 10 minutes and then us parents got to play with all the candy.  We were able to also include the cookie swap as well, so I am left with dozens of cookies, a huge bag of candy, and a decorated gingerbread house.

Mountain of supplies to start cookie making process

I have decided I will not share or post the gingerbread recipe I used to make the houses, I was so disappointed with the result, I can't reccomend anyone else use it.  I also commited a few mistakes, so I shouldn't entirely blame the dough, but still there are easier ways.  I think next year we will go back to my strategy from 3 years ago, cardboard houses!  It's simple, sturdy and effective, just be wary of the boxes you use to create them.  You may think it's an odd suggestion, but consider, simply picking out the style of house you like, cut it out of the cardboard and hot glue it together, and you are ready to decorate.  Now to describe the gingerbread version, find a recipe, get ingredients, make dough, chill dough, roll out dough, cut out pieces, bake pieces, cool pieces, let pieces harden, reshape pieces that may have mutated during baking, make molten sugar, try not to burn yourself, race to dip pieces in molten sugar and put together, still trying not to burn yourself, try not to curse when you start breaking pieces or they don't fit together right, pray the whole thing doesn't collapse and then take a breath!  Did you get all that?  See why I'm considering revisiting the cardboard next year.  And lets face it who actually eats the house in the end, seriously, stale rock hard gingerbread?   There are a good many things I would prefer to consume before that.

That said, the houses turned out great, and so much fun to decorate, Ceci made a pretty serious attempt to decorate, I think it was only because she got to eat "Chocolate Chippies" during the process.  Sneaky little monkey!  I can't wait for next year when I can get another 2 minutes worth of decorating out of her.

For the cookie swap, abundance doesn't even begin to describe what happened!  I think the final count was 6 different types of cookies, everyone of them delicious and gluten free!  I made, coconut macaroons, sugar cookies, and chocolate peppermint cookies.  Sheri brought pinoli cookies and some chocolate pudding cookies made with gf bisquick, and Marlene brought meranges.  Seriously, I'm going to be in a sugar coma when this is over.  And I'm already planning for next year, because I can't wait!

New wrinkle in our lives

The largest welt is the site for peanuts (7x9mm)

Today we became members of a honestly somewhat undesirable club, Ceci was diagnosed with an allergy to peanuts today.  She tested positive to a scratch test, with a sizable welt to peanuts, but also reacted mildly to Cashew, Pistachio, Pecan, and Hazelnuts.  I now understand entirely why she has always turned her cute little button nose up at my delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  Honestly I have to laugh at myself a little though, keeping her gluten free was the easiest move, while the thought of becoming a nut free household has me a little anxious.  I seriously love peanut butter, I would and have eaten it everyday when left unchecked, but its the health of my child in question, so out it goes, without a second thought.  My anxiety is based in being able to thoroughly check all her food and keep a vigilant watch for any thing that could hurt her.  The doctor tells me that I don't have to worry about her reacting to it if it's in the house, that she can survive that, and the decision to go nut free is mine to make.

It all became clear last Wednesday after I gave Ceci two Reese's pieces and told her they were M&M's, not thinking anything of it until she had already eaten them.  I was eating a couple of Milk Duds and she asked for one, I knew that was a bad idea, so I reached into the bag of Reese's pieces for her.  She loves M&M's so I just oversimplified the situation and told her what she wanted to hear.  Moments after she ate them it hits me that she has actively avoided peanut butter her whole short life and I got worried.  I tried to assess her as the evening wore on, she started in with "my teeth hurt" almost immediately, which was odd, but she is getting her two year molars so I thought maybe she was right.  For the next hour and a half she made a horrible whimpering noise, was extra clingy, lethargic, and kept complaining her teeth hurt.  It wasn't until Tim got home that she finally told him her mouth hurt, then went to the bathroom where I thought she needed to pee.  I put her on the potty, where she proceeded to projectile vomit across the bathroom floor.  I regret having fed her a smoothie that afternoon.  It was everywhere, and I mean everywhere.  We acted quickly and efficiently and got everything cleaned including Ceci, and as I scrubbed fuchsia pink puke off the floor, the light bulb over my head clicked on with a 120 watt bulb!  Peanuts!  Holy Mackerel!!  It's peanuts!

About a month ago she got sick on the airplane as we were loading to go to Oregon, we had eaten Pad Thai for dinner that night.  The airport restaurant mixed peanuts into the dish, whereas the place we usually go to puts them on the side and she doesn't touch them.  Now we understand better what happened that night, and why she got sick.

It all makes sense now!  Both times she got sick, she was fine after she got the peanuts out of her body, with no problems afterward.  Now with those two experiences, I made an appointment with the allergist and got her checked.  I feel much better now knowing what she is allergic to and what we need to avoid.  So far if she can actually see or smell the peanuts she won't eat them, I have my fingers crossed that this little skill sticks with her for a very long time.  To be sure though we will continue reading labels and ingredient lists now checking for gluten sources and nut sources.  I will also work to keep my recipes nut free for her, and I know it won't be to hard because so many people already live with nut allergies and I can use their knowledge and experience to educate myself and our family.

If anyone has suggestions of helpful or educational websites, let me know, I'm very curious and in need of education on how to avoid nuts.

Gluten Free Gingerbread House Disaster

Does anyone know if there  is a Gingerbread version of "Habitat for Humanity"?  I think the Big Bad wolf has come and attacked my little house!  If this wasn't so funny to me it would be shameful!  I don't think I will be posting the recipe for this one until I work out some more kinks, fragile doesn't even begin to describe this one.

I was so excited to make Gingerbread houses for Christmas this year, Ceci is at a perfect age to enjoy helping decorate if only for a few minutes.  Then this happened!  I made the dough, cut out and baked all the pieces, cooled them and let them get "stale" so they wouldn't collapse.  I put the pieces away overnight and got them out this morning, making molten sugar for the glue.  I couldn't work fast enough, as the sugar got more difficult the pieces began to crumble more and this roof piece was the last to go on and obviously the most damaged.

At some point in my life I may learn to be less stubborn, but I don't know that it will be any time soon.  Gingerbread house making was a family tradition for my family growing up, we always went to the Arndt house and had so much fun.  I know it took Sue years of trial and error to perfect her recipes and techniques.  Why on earth I thought my learning curve would be any different is beyond me.  In the meantime I have Sheri bringing a box of regular Graham crackers tomorrow to make fake Gingerbread houses, they won't be GF, but it will be fun.  And even if this house does survive until the party it's current hideousness won't matter after it's covered in icing and candy.

I'll let you know if it makes it and post the pictures after we get them decorated.

At least half of one house looks presentable.

Recovery!  This is the side with the hole in the roof, no one would have ever known.

This is Ceci's side of the house, I did make the gingerbread girl for her.

Link For Gluten Free Thanksgiving

If you are someone with Celiac Disease, or eat gluten free, or are at all curious about gluten free food, you have to check out The Gluten Free Girl and the Chef.  She has some amazing ideas, including this week's post for a Gluten Free Thanksgiving, so many incredible recipes compiled in one place.  I can't wait to try some, I think the pumpkin scones are calling my name.  Hope you are all inspired to have a delicious Gluten Free Thanksgiving dinner!

Family Affair

What I neglected to mention in my Celiac Stories post is that my Dad, at the age of 54 discovered he has Celiac Disease too.  As much as I don't like someone else having to deal with Celiac Disease, at least we know where mine came from.  But now all those burger buns, and fish breading that he ate for me when I was a kid, aren't looking like it was the best idea.

I started this blog to help people work their way through the gluten free world, and I should mention my parents worked so hard to take care of me when I was little, that it is my inspiration and education to take care of myself and my daughter.  Today I'm happy to feature something Dad made, Beef Goulash from Ginger Lemon Girl.  I wish I could have come over for dinner because this looks AMAZING!  And I can guarantee that Ceci would have had a double portion!

Love you Dad!  Keep up the great work!

"Apple Picting"

Oct 2010

Seven Ponds Orchard Sept 2009, Me, MomE, and Ceci

This weekend we finally made it out East for Apple Picking, something I really enjoy and we started as a family tradition last year.  A few years ago I went on my first apple picking trip upstate with some friends and loved it!  It took me three years in between to get back out in the orchards.  Last year Ceci was 13 months old and my mom was visiting us and we decided it would be a great experience to share, going apple picking.  Tim and I did a lot of research to find an orchard that wasn't to far from our home and didn't require us to pay another $100 in gas in tolls to get to.  We found Seven Ponds Orchard, in Water Mill NY.  They offered a long list of different apple varieties, and seemed very family friendly.

It's more fun to pull the wagons, when you are little.

We drove out last year and were hooked, it was an easy drive, and simple to find, with the help of GPS (we would get lost in our driveway without it).  They offer radio fliers to haul kids and apples through the orchard, which didn't seem important at first, but I truly appreciated the wagon by the end of the trip.  The trees are all dwarf trees, making it easy for the kids to participate in the apple picking, I mean how many places can say that a 13 month old was able to reach and pick apples off the tree by herself?  We had such a great time and the wagon made the picking so easy that I ended up with nearly 60 pounds of apples last year!  That's right 60 pounds!  And I used all of it!  We picked Mutsu (one of my favorites), Honey crisp (my new favorite), and a few Red Delicious (not for me, don't prefer them at all.)

Enjoying an apple she picked herself (Sept 2009)

This year, my mom came to visit around the same time of year and we made a plan to go out to Seven Ponds again, sadly it poured down rain the day we planned to go.  It took us almost three more weeks to get out to the orchard for a lot of different reasons, but it was worth the wait because we were able to go with our family friends and had a fantastic day!  I came down with Laryngitis, but refused to give up our trip, I was also terribly afraid that there wouldn't be any apples left in 2 weeks.

At it again!  (Oct 2010)

We arrived at the orchard mid morning and after a pit stop for the two potty training kiddos got right to work.  The kids were super cute trying to haul the wagons through the orchard themselves.  It was a great time, even though I couldn't talk above a whisper.  I was happy to find all my favorite apples again and of course we have to taste test in the orchard, which is not allowed, oops!  Maybe next year we will have them weigh Ceci on the way in and on the way out and pay for the mass amount of apples she seems inspired to eat while we are there.  I also found a new delicious apple, Cameo, crispy, sweet, with a hint of tart, very nice for eating.  Tim tells me that at one point he turned around and the kids were holding hands walking down the aisle of the orchard together, does life get any sweeter?

I think we came out with about 25 pounds of apples this year, I managed some self control some how.  Now you ask what do I do with 25, or 60 pounds of apples?  Last year Tim bought me a peeler, corer slicer thing that suctions down to my stone counter and I ripped through the whole batch.  I put about 6-8  apples each in a gallon zip top freezer bag, labeled them and toss them in the freezer.  This year went really well, and I even got help from my favorite sous chef.  I do like to put one slice through the stack of apple so that the rings will separate from one another when I try to cook them.

My sweet little helper!

Sadly when you defrost them they release a lot of their juice making them inappropriate for some cooking applications.  I have used them with all the juice for pies, you just need to add in some cornstarch to thicken the juice into a nice syrup while baking, same goes for my Apple Brown Betty.  We made a lot of apple sauce last year as well, one of Ceci's favorite first foods, as well as a key ingredient in my favorite, Gluten Free Applesauce cake.

Be sure to keep an eye out as these recipes will be working their way into this blog over the next few months, as I make them and can snap some pictures of my offerings.  And if anyone has a Gluten Free recipe for Apple Strudel, please send it to me.  I'm inspired, but nervous to try it.

Sad day... lost recipe

Last spring we were invited to Sheri's house for dinner and she told me the dinner theme would be "bar food" so I offered to make Beer Ice Cream.  I had been inspired and waiting for an opportunity to make this, I had researched so many different recipes and finally found one that used whole eggs, which is my preference, partly to cut fat, and partly to limit waste of ingredients.  It was on a blog somewhere on the internet, from who knows where.  It originally used regular beer reduced down to a thick syrup, so it was a no brainer to swap out the beer for a gluten free one.

It came out better than I could have figured, deliciously creamy, but with a hint of the bitterness from the beer in the background.  I had puzzled about possible toppings for a while, wondering what goes with beer, then it dawned on me!  What doesn't go with beer!!  We put everything on it, I'm not kidding, I was inspired by "bar snacks" and went from there.  Crushed pretzels, stale popcorn, honey roasted peanuts, chocolate sauce, and carmel sauce, and finally a side of chocolate chip cookies.  You can see this was a healthy low fat dessert.

I went back to the computer the other day to dig out the bookmarked website where I had originally pulled the Beer Ice Cream recipe, only to find it missing.  The blog/website was shut down and the recipe completely missing.  My wonderful husband tried and tried and even went through the entire computer's internet history trying to find the recipe for me.  So sad!  But I do have the delicious memories, and some yummy pictures.  If anyone finds a recipe using whole eggs please let me know.

Gluten Free Halloween Candy List

Celiac.com has composed, and published a very extensive Gluten Free Candy List .  It is noted that many of the items listed are not certified gluten free, but they do not have gluten included in the ingredients.  I'm pretty excited and am considering using this list as my dining menu for the next few months.  Have I mentioned I love sugar!  In all it's fabulous forms?  I do, I would live on all things sweet if my body would let me.  Sadly I do have to eat vegetables and things from time to time to keep from weighing a billion pounds.  Hopefully this list is helpful to all you fellow sugar lovers, I hope your favorite candy made the list, and have a Happy Halloween!

Our Celiac Stories

Me around 3 years old, already living a happy gluten free life.

I'm a life long Gluten Intolerant, whose story is probably a little different than most people.  I was diagnosed  with Celiac disease around 18 months old, after my parents desperately struggled to figure out what was wrong with me and my digestive system.  I can only tell you the story as I remember my mom telling it to me, I don't remember any of this happening  as I was far too young, which I suppose is it's own blessing.  I can't imagine how my mom dealt with a toddler who could barely communicate that my stomach hurt.  

The story goes, that I was such an amazing child that I was talking, walking, and potty training at 9 months old, this gave the pediatrician the idea that I should start solid foods.  I was served Ritz crackers, mac and cheese, breads, and all sorts of yummy foods.  My parents started noticing problems after a month or two of eating all these foods.  One of my big symptoms in my Celiac experience was vomiting, my dad still has bad dreams of my projectile vomiting episodes.  Now what do you give a child with an upset stomach who is throwing up??  You got it!  Crackers!  You can guess how that ended.  As the months wore on my Mom describes my bowel movements changing drastically to the point where foods with gluten went through me completely undigested.  This whole experience was dotted with visits to all sorts of different doctors, most of whom had no idea what was wrong with me.  One even suggested I had the flu, or a stomach bug, and drinking Coca-cola would help me.  Fantastic!  Should she put it in my bottle too?  Bozo!  After months of frustration, and countless referrals I was seen at Oregon Health Sciences University, Doernbecher Children's Hospital (OHSU) by the wonderful Dr. Annie Terry, who quickly noted my symptoms and after a number of tests was able to diagnose me with Celiac Disease.  My mom was able to get me on a gluten free diet, and my digestive symptoms subsided quickly.  

Over the years, I remained on a gluten free diet, which was not easy for my mom. She came up with amazing things and hunted for recipes to make me feel special (in a nice way, not "special" weird).  You have to know that during the 1980's it was nearly impossible to find something labeled "gluten free", so she spent hours reading labels, and educating herself to save my tummy.  My dad was a huge help, always peeling breading off my fish and chips and taking buns off burgers for me when we went out to eat.  One of the greatest fortunes we had at the time was living with in driving distance of "Moore's" (flour mill).  Most of you know the most current evolution of "Moore's" as "Bob's Red Mill."  It was incredible to have such great access to rice flours and xanthum gum all those years when no one else was producing these items in large quantities.  

Somewhere around the time I started high school I was given a routine small bowel biopsy and the Dr determined that I "no longer had celiac."  This was great news to me, but my parents were skeptical, wondering how it could just disappear after all these years.  Looking back it was a blessing because with all the other awkward social issues of high school I no longer had to worry about my food choices.  I survived well until I got to my freshman year of college and started feeling ill again, when I got the student health center to administer the new blood test for celiac. I remember receiving the Dr's phone call telling me my celiac disease had resurfaced, while I had an oatmeal cookie half chewed in my mouth.  I believe I recall him saying "I think that should be your last cookie now."  I still laugh at that one.  I went back to my gluten free ways, without too much trouble. I lived off campus the last two years and had a rice cooker, that made life super easy.  After finishing grad school and starting my first job where I had amazing health insurance for the first time in years I wanted to get tested again.  I had, a blood test, a floroscopy, and a small bowl biopsy, all of which came back "negative."  This Dr said that with my history of multiple positive diagnoses and these new results he believes in "shades of grey," maybe I had taken such good care of myself for several years the damage was healed, but he was unwilling to believe the celiac was gone. 

At the time I was living in New York City, so I took this as a license to live it up!  Pizza, Bagels, Cookies, Cupcakes, Beer, you name it I ate it!  And enjoyed it.  Almost two years later I started feeling ill again and had to start back on a strict gluten free diet, which again wasn't much trouble since I can cook for myself.  My new challenge was teaching my new boyfriend and his family about gluten and how to avoid it.  He caught on quickly and we learned a lot of things along the way, like many soy sauces contain gluten, but some don't.  

That boyfriend is now my husband of almost 4 years, 2 years ago we had a gorgeous baby girl, who we decided to keep gluten free.  Not having a good way to test for Celiac at such a young age we figured it best to just avoid it all together.  I have to say, the advances in commercially available gluten free food has made it pretty easy to keep Cecilia gluten free.  At her 12 month check up we asked the Dr to perform a Celiac screen, since they were already drawing blood for other tests.  It came back negative with a very low number of antibodies, my mistake is we did not feed her any gluten in the days preceding the test, but in my opinion it gave us a base line.  Around 18 months old, she had a pretty good handle on her vocabulary and I decided it was time to start a home test of gluten intolerance, I replaced her snacks with the regular gluten versions and fed her what I could to challenge her stomach.  The first couple of days went well, and then her bowl movements changed and her attitude actually changed too, which is something my husband notes as my symptoms.  Ceci bawled one day when I couldn't pull up her favorite show on the DVR fast enough.  This is not my child!  We again requested a blood test, and waited for the results.  Our pediatrician was great, she called to let me know the result was negative, but combined with the physical and emotional symptoms she didn't know how to interpret it and would refer us to a Pediatric GI if I wanted.  I declined and to this day we keep Ceci gluten free, within a few days of returning to a gluten free diet her emotional symptoms subsided, but it took nearly three weeks for her bowels to heal. Maybe we will challenge her again in the future when she can communicate better, but for now we will eat Gluten free.

Good thing rice is gluten free because she LOVES it!