Pizza again... and Raven

Finally happy with pizza! I brought ready made pizza bases from the Gluten Free Shop in Moonah. It was Life Style Bakery: Basil and Garlic. Definately use these from now on! YUMMO! There was two of these size, so not the feed the hordes, but one pizza is definately enough for an adult.
Poor Raven has stopped eating most things, he says he feels sick from eating nearly everything, and going by his bloat and lethargy/paleness I'm not surprised!
He has another appointment to bleed him take more tests before his next appointment at the hospital to see the paed. We're narrowing in but he's suffering for it, sadly, and if he eats the guts out of his sandwhiches and leaves his bread, will this botch his results? We'll see I guess. I feel for the little man, poor guy!

Raven and Dante, a bit of Labyrinth

Just a small post here.
I'm so annoyed at our GP, it took about 18 months from when he decided Raven needed observation and yesterday's phone call from the Paed at the hospital. He's tested a strong positive to an autoimmune disease. He's needing to do more tests to get an exact diagnosis. This is all under the month we finally got in to see him and all the screwing around GP did before referring him. Obviously suspecting Coeliac's Disease, I certainly don't want him to have something worse and yes, came as a shock.

I was expecting it, but it still comes as a complete shock. It totally meant I couldn't concentrate on the lessons I was currently doing with the children, I was really upset.

I'm annoyed at my GP for wasting time with Raven... I'm more annoyed about how he's handling Dante. He said to us if he's still got the big D after settling down after Flagyl, he'd get the blood screening tests done for Coeliacs. Dante is bleeding from the bottom and he tells us he wants to put him onto another form of antibiotics, he's just not sure which ones and he might have an answer next week and he doesn't want to the do the blood tests til after that.

I know and see how Dante is suffering. He's lost a whole lot of weight it's frightening. He's started to avoid eating. He has black circles under his eyes and he appears pale often. This is not right, and the advice I've recieved from other people is go to another GP and fast! I'm swayed. I wonder if I can sway Andrew too, he's already annoyed about the way he's handled my anti-depressant/forced weaning. Neither Monika and I are ready, but he is trying to push me to stop. I've decided not to on the grounds neither of us want to, and I'd rather go off anti-depressants than give up breastfeeding just because my GP finds it unnatural and unnecessary.

Then there is Labyrinth. She's begun to see a psychiatrist for her behavioural issues. He's only taken her background so far, but through the extensive research I've found on the net, it seems she could have coeliac disease too, just manifesting it completely differently and without the gastrointestinal symptoms. The ones that fit are: pyschosocial underdevelopment, her insatiable appetite, fatigue, depression, frustration, low self esteem, anger, academic problems. Obviously it could be pointing to another problem entirely, but its hard to know at this stage, the psychiatrist seems pretty good and he is aware that I believe it may be organic in origin.

As for myself, no change. I've got the flu but that's about it. Brain fogs and memory problems plague my life.

Gluten Free Choc Chip Cookies & update

This is the Gluten Free version of the Choc Chip Cookie recipe on my Quasior's HomeSchool Blog! It ends up being nicer than the gluten version, maybe a bit drier but they still melt in the mouth, or maybe it's just been so long ago I can't remember the difference. Anyway its a step by step recipe:

Gluten Free Choc Chip Cookies

Step 1: Cut up 125 grams of butter (nuttlex or butter substitute should be OK for the dairy intolerant) into squares so they'll melt fast in the microwave. (Easy to double/quadrupile/multiply recipe accordingly). They will probably be done in 30 secs.
Step 2: Add into the melted butter 1/2 cup of soft brown sugar and whisk lots. Then add a whisked up 1 egg into the mixture (should be cool enough by now). When it looks like syrupy caramel like above its good.
Step 2: Into another bowl have 3/4 cup each of Orgran All purpose flour/Self Raising Flour, nicely mixed.
Step 3: Gradually add wet mix to dry until it resembles next photo.

Step 4: Fold into mixture your Gluten Free Choc Chips or choc chip substitutes. It will look like below photo.
Step 5: Gently roll the mix into balls that are then gently pushed onto the tray so they look like these below. (Yes, its a pizza tray... I like it because of the widdle holes the warm air can move up through).
Step 6: Put in a non-fan forced oven at 180 C and bake for 10-12 minutes. This is important. The softer and more melty in your mouth you want is you take it out earlier. For example, these two cookies look the same on the upside. If you want a softer buscuit take out a full 2 minutes earlier.

On the underside of the cookies reveals the difference. The darker golden brown means its crunchier and drier, the lighter colour is still cooked its just softer and more moist. Its personal preference really. I prefer the lighter colour or next to no colour.

Again, if your preferences are like my mothers, then you'll want to leave them in for another 4 or so minutes. They should have a good go at breaking teeth at that stage. Her buscuits are frightfully heavy and dense. Some are the equivilent to small rocks. And she eats them. In saying that, she makes very nice slices, biscotti and truffles, only the biscotti is safe from gluten however.

The update is not so good actually. I've been stunted in my quest to lose weight, and my depression is a problem. I've got sleep issues. I've got joint pain. I've got bloating and pain. Lots of these I can pin on two reasons: Gluten sneaking in and/or an unidentified dietry sensitivity, and my anti-depressant/breastfeeding issues. Oh, that and it's winter. I have bad times during winter = want to stay away from people and stay rugged up and in bed all the time. I must be related to bears. (I know that is double meaning and I mean it)!

In other family concerns: Raven has finally been consulted by the paed at the RHH. He seems to feel he has both constipation and diahrea at the same time. He put him through the tests, stool and blood, and will be looking at possible markers for Coeliac Disease amongst a myriad of other possibilites. He won't find any nasty parasites though, not after being put through the rigours of Flagyl quite recently. He finds it concerning that there are such marked levels of intense growth in short periods and large periods of no or slow growth. We won't find out the results until mid way through July.

Dante still has the big D after the Flagyl incident. Monika has had constant D since the Flagyl too. Kai is silent, and Labyrinth always says she's fine (although her behaviour/attention span needs attention so she's going to a psychiatrist soon... but what if it's a digestive concern only manifesting in behavioural type symptoms?)

I'll update as I need to or add in recipes soon. I've been doing some baking/cooking so I'll at least add recipes.