Horrid Flagyl and GF Pizza

Pretty happy with the Pizza recipe and tonights was a great result. Just using the Orgran pre-mix Pizza/Pastry box.

Flagyl is causing problems already. We started Friday, gotta last until Friday next. I have the big D, as does Dante, Andrew and Raven, not to mention bloats and cramps and other unpleasantness. NOT looking forward to the continuation of this nasty drug. I am so over the Big D, let me tell you!

We've Begun...

It's the horrible anti-biotic week - we are all taking Flagyl because Dante had Entomeba Protozoan in his stool sample. The doctor will still screen for Coeliac's Disease though.

I've not been very well over the last few days. Just a flu and a bit of depression. Other than that I've been OK. Bit of Reflux which I thought was history so maybe a tiny bit of gluten snuck into the diet somewhere but didn't have me in fits of pain. Who knows? It's hard to tell at times.

I've certainly had energy today, putting in a garden bed. It was hot work but it certainly was achievable, and instead of being stuffed for the rest of the day I've been quite busy, not fatigued at all. I can feel it in my muscles which is a good thing! I have bursitus in my left shoulder so it copped it a bit. I'm still doing physio to get it back to some semblance of normalcy.

I'm not sure what I weigh at the moment either. I weighed the children the other day though, and Dante is still on the thinner side, but Raven seems to have put some weight on (or the incredibly bloating his tummy had - it was tight and painful for him. - Honestly it is so normal for him to be feeling that way that he doesn't seem to know much different. Poor bugger. He's got that appointment at the paeds coming up early June. It couldn't come fast enough for me.

Some good things though... I've been trying out different recipes for pancakes as I'm concerned about the cost of cereals (particularly when we got GF as a family). So I've tried the pre mixed versions of Organ and Freedom Foods. Andrew didn't like Orgran (Apple and Cinnamon mix, which I quite liked) and I didn't like Freedom Foods so I decided to check it out online. Well, some fantastic guy says he has a whole lot of pancake mix made up of a brand I don't much go on but I like the idea of it being made up and ready to go so it is just a matter of measuring X amount out and mixing in the wet ingredients. So, Andrew agreed and so now I am trying out different recipes.

Todays:
1/2 Cup Buckwheat
!/2 Cup All Purpose Gluten Free Flour (mostly maize)
1 tb GF Baking powder
1 egg
1/2 Cup Rice Milk
2 tb olive oil
ended up adding in another 1/2 Cup Buckwheat

blended it up and cooked on a medium heat. Incredibly light and fluffy and tasty, or so I thought. The children also loved it. Unfortunately Andrew decided he didn't so I'm going to give a different recipe a go. (I hope its just not his over refined personal tastes getting in the way, as I and my subjecting the children to various GF foods have developed ours.) I'm going a recipe including Quinoa flour next time. Yummy Quinoa... It's the main ingredient to my favourite breads. They stay fresh for up to 3 weeks, and don't have some of the problems that are inherent in many GF breads.
I'm also looking at baking breakfast cakes and rice or quinoa porridge too. I'm still considering alternative options to the sugar covered gluten containing ones.

Yeah, I'm guilty of being unable to eat in my allotted 100 Miles, Quinoa only grows in the Andes, and without rice where would my diet be??? I guess I'm doing the right thing and growing as much as I possible can though (or am attempting to).

Good with the not so good

So far it's been a huge benefit going Gluten Free. There are few problems associated with it, namely keeping regular (for heaven's sake though that's a huge change not having the big D for over a decade is an achievement). So, I've adopted rice bran into my diet. This has been a great help and although not perfect I feel that it is better than the alternatives.
I'm on anti-depressants that make me tired. I find it hard to struggle out of bed before 11 am in the mornings, NOT good when you consider my 5 children... and the B vitamins I have which is bringing my energy levels to near normal (if I remember them) is not nearly enough to combat a medication based issue. On top of this I don't sleep well, If I'm going to sleep like a log Monika will want to feed on and off all night. So, naturally this is a concern (and quite possibly not attributable to my CD condition/after affects.

The weather has been a deterrent to getting out of the house and going walking. (Slackness I know - but in the past if I got saturated I'd end up sick for a week). On the upside of this though, I no longer feel the cold like I used to. Putting this into perspective... during several months leading to and from winter I would be bone cold no matter what I wore, how many blankets were on or what heating was on. This was even the case during pregnancy where I would be so cold I would cuddle up to Andrew in the night and he'd tell me I'd woken him up because I felt like a block of ice. Here we are in the beginning of winter I am typing at my computer with a summer dress and feeling quite normal.

I'm reminded about how cold I probably would be because poor Dante suffers the cold like I used to before going GF. He's opposite in weight to me - underweight, but he's got the stomach pains and the big D constantly. I feel for him and we are all keen to get him diagnosed as quickly as possible, but things like finances and certain things are getting in the way... next week!

I'm also wishing I could be pregnant. My periods are back to what they should be but I'm not falling pregnant. Probably shouldn't even consider it but I love filling up my life with little uns. But maybe I am infertile permantly now, after all the months of nastiness. Not to mention Andrew has had half the snip. That's right- he had the snip but it was only half sucessful. All in all we used to be so fertile I'd look at him and fall pregnant... now we can't. I am certainly happy with my five prodigies, but can't help underneath to wish for more.

I guess here would be a good time to go another subject. We've been getting better and better with understanding how different flours work and how to mix it so it works. I've been cooking muffins and where I didn't like fruit mixed in before (prefering fresh or bottled) I don't mind it anymore. I still can't go dried fruits though, it just tastes/texture is so wrong to me. So that is a bit of an achievement. Andrew cooked me pancakes for my birthday brekkie yesterday, that was really yummy, light and fluffy - just perfect, even with the apple and cinnamon. I've also been experimenting with main meals. I do a satay sauce from scratch. Next time I make it I'll put the recipe/pic up. I make pizza/bread from scratch sometimes. I just love Quinoa bread that I buy pre-made and doesn't go stale any where near as quickly as most GF breads, actually, it rivals normal bread. I can't stand the taste or texture of cow's milk anymore. I'm a rice milk girl now (can't tolerate soy). I can have cheese/yogurt/chocolate in moderation, but really, I love goat and sheep cheeses and yogurts just as much. My palate has most definately changed and I think become enhanced due to my new diet. I'm happy. I'm also keen to learn new ways of doing things in the cooking/eating... it's far cheaper than buying it pre-done!

YAY for me. I now weigh 113 kg even with the lovely treats like birthday cake and extravagent brekkies for mother's day etc!