My Sister, Negative Blood Test but Testing a Gluten-Free Diet Anyway

It turns out that my sister, who swore she would never try a gluten-free diet, is giving it a try. I don't know what all of her symptoms are, I just know she has not been feeling well and the doctors tell her she is just fine. She had a blood test for Celiac, some allergy, and her thyroid and all came up perfectly normal. They just assume that means there is nothing wrong but with the way she feels I'm sure she would tell you otherwise. I was looking up information on Celiac.com and found that a lot of people who are gluten-intolerant but don't have Celiac end up with negative blood tests. And my son also had a negative test result and he is extremely sensitive to it. So she has decided to try the gluten-free diet to see if it makes a difference. I hope she doesn't have it, but at the same time it would be a relief for her to find out what's wrong and be able to find a solution to it.

UPDATE: My sister has been feeling much better on a GF diet. She did a trial for a few weeks and then ate gluten again--not a good result. Of course, real results are complicated by the fact that she is in the first trimester of pregnancy so morning sickness doesn't really help. But she was convinced enough to avoid all her favorite foods. People just don't go on a GF diet because it's fun, you know? If you really do feel better it is worth it!

Just an Update

I just wanted to update since I haven't posted in awhile.

The kids are doing very well as am I. It is amazing how much better I feel after going gluten-free. It is even more amazing to see how much Barrett is progressing since we supposedly discovered all of his intolerances.

Abbie is also doing very well on whole milk. It is a relief to see that she is not really bothered by the dairy. I still try to keep her away from soy as much as possible. I will let her decide whether or not to eat soy when she is old enough to connect the effects of what she eats with her symptoms. We've been tempted to test her on gluten again but every time we go to give her some we get a really bad feeling about it and pull back. I hesitate because I must have gone through my whole life with an intolerance and never known it. I don't really want to take that risk with her.

And as a side note--I am loving the Earth Balance soy-free butter. It has made life 10 time easier!

"New Cereal"

I went grocery shopping yesterday and just for fun I read the ingredients on all the non-wheat containing cereals again. I discovered that the new boxes of Kix cereal and Honey Kix no longer contain oat flour. I was so happy to discover that! The honey Kix has caramel coloring and I called to make sure it did not contain gluten and it's good to go. Hooray! More selection! They do not test specifically for gluten content, but I'm willing to risk it.

Seizures?

I don't want to sound paranoid, I'm not that concerned about it at this point, but I wanted to write it down.

Last Saturday at a social gathering Barrett exercised such great self-control for the most part. I was very proud of him. He was hovering over the cookies and cheese crackers with such longing, but he would just look up at me and say, "Those will make you sick." However, you can only expect so much self-control for a two year old. After about 30 minutes he snuck under the table and was eating the crumbs of some smashed cheese crackers.

We saw the usual contamination symptoms: stomach ache, diarrhea, diaper rash (his poor swollen legs!), runny nose/cough, bloating, meltdowns, etc. But I also noticed times when he would just stare off into space an appear not to be aware of anything for several seconds. Then he would just go on as if nothing had interrupted what he was doing. Just yesterday he had been crying because he got a sliver in his foot. My husband was holding him and then he just stopped for several seconds and was staring into space. I was snapping my fingers right in front of his eyes and he wouldn't blink or anything.

I don't want to jump to the conclusion that these are seizures, but the certainly could be. It's something that I am going to watch closely and keep in mind though. I'm not sure if there is a link between that and celiac or not. If anyone knows anything about it though, please comment! (It only seems to happen if he is contaminated).

Confusing Contamination

I have no idea what caused it this time, but both kids ended up with the strange-smelling, undigested diapers, bloating, and had trouble sleeping. Barrett was a major basketcase as well and niether one would eat much for a few days. It started a few days ago after we had a casserole for dinner that had sweet potato, carrot, cinnamon, pineapple, molasses, and brown sugar. It didn't really peak until we had pancakes and sausage for dinner last night though. It could have been cross contamination in the pancakes, or it could have been the sausage. The ingredients looked okay but you just never know. Perhaps I was too lax with the ingredient listed "flavorings". In fact, it probably was something in that because the worst part of the contamination was today. That's when the diapers started smelling strange anyway. I guess I should have been more careful. It's just that sausage is so nice and fattening...

Product Review: Pamela's Bread Mix, Palm Oil Shortening

I tried Pamela's bread mix for the first time yesterday. I used half the small bag to make a small pizza for myself and some bread sticks for my kids. It actually tasted good! Not like the sawdust-pizza I had been making from scratch. I didn't follow the directions quite right but it still had a good texture and taste. It doesn't have any of the allergens my kids can't have in the ingredients although it is made on the same equipment where milk is processed. I haven't seen a reaction in anyone. I assume, knowing who they are, the Pamela's company cleans their equipment fairly well between processing. Then today I made a pie crust out of the rest and it worked really well. I actually like doing crust better with gluten-free mixes because it's easier to patch mistakes. (Unfortunately my pie didn't really turn out, but once I figure out a dairy-free recipe that works well I'll post it.)



Also, I used the Spectrum Organic 100% Palm Oil Shortening for the first time in my pie crust. I substituted it for both butter and shortening and it worked out well and tasted fine. I did add about 1/2 tsp imitation butter flavor but I don't think it was necessary. Anyway, it looks like it will be a fine substitute for regular shortening and as far as I can tell it doesn't behave strangely.
Doesn't that look wonderful? The crust was. Too bad the rest totally didn't work. I think I failed on the egg-replacer part of it.

Gluten-Free Shepherd's Pie

3 large potatoes or 6 small, cubed
1/4 c sour cream
Milked to desired consitency
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tbsp butter or margarine (optional)
fresh chopped chives to taste

1lb ground beef
1/2 onion, chopped

1 14.5 oz can green beans

1 60z can tomato paste
abt 6 oz water
1/2 tsp powdered celery seed
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp parsley
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

1 cup shredded cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350. Peel, chop, and boil potatoes for about 20 minutes or until tender

2. Cook ground beef and onion together. Place in bottom of a casserole dish. Spread green beans over meat.

3. While beef is cooking slowly stir one can of water into the tomato paste in a small bowl. Add celery seed, onion and garlic powder, parsley, salt and pepper. Pour over top of beans and meat.

4. When potatoes are cooked drain them. Add sour cream and/or butter and milk and mash until smooth and creamy. Stir in garlic and chives. Spread evenly over top of bean and meat mixture. Top with cheese.

5. Cover with foil and bake until warmed through (about 30 min)

*tip-for a cleaner pan, line the pan with aluminum foil before filling it.

**If you want an easier version, replace the tomato paste mixture with a can of Amy's gluten-free tomato soup.

Diary/soy free version:

Mash potatoes with canola oil, rice milk (or soy) add imitation butter flavoring if desired, and leave out sour cream. Also leave out the cheese on top of the casserole. Sorry, it's not quite as exciting. If you can think of anything good to put in it to make up for the cheese please leave a comment!