Post Date-Night Contentment

Days 6-8

I’m in a great mood today. My husband, Jer, and I had our Valentine’s Day date last night. The twins were with their mom, and my ex-husband, Willow’s Dadoo, took her for the night, so Jer and I hit Five Guys for some gluten-filled hamburgers and fries. Then we went to Barnes and Noble and spent about an hour wandering care-free through the store. It’s what we did on our first date and we would have spent far more time there if we hadn’t had a very hyper Monster Babby with us. Afterwards we came home and bathed the baby (word of warning, the floor at B&N is REALLY dirty), then watched an episode of The Tudors.  All in all, it was a fabulous night. 

Also, I’m excited to say that Willow’s diarrhea has completely cleared up on the new diet. Yes, I know. You were on pins and needles waiting to hear that, weren’t you? We also haven’t had any problems with tummy aches in days. Dinners go fairly smoothly now, instead of being a string of complaints and half-eaten meals. Best of all, we’ve found a new gluten-free recipe that is absolutely divine. I’m going to share it here. It’s from Wheat-Free Recipes & Menus by Carol Fenster, Ph.D., pg 112.

Chicken Breasts and Mushrooms

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

3/4 cup dried gluten-free bread crumbs

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

2 tablespoons brown rice flour

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms

1/2 cup shredded provolone or Muenster cheese (or nondairy cheese of your choice)

1/2 cup dry white wine

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

1.                   Rinse the chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Cut into thin slices.

2.                   Combine the bread crumbs (a good way to use up your leftover gluten-free bread), thyme, and flour in a pie plate. Dip the chicken pieces into the eggs, then the crumb mixture. Season with salt and pepper.

3.                   Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch-square baking dish.

4.                   Heat the oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken and sauté on both sides until golden brown.

5.                   Arrange the chicken in a single layer in the prepared baking dish, top with the mushrooms and sprinkle the cheese on top. Pour in the wine. Bake for 30 to 40 minute or until the cheese melts and the liquid bubbles. Before serving, drizzle the lemon juice over the casserole.

We used the Muenster cheese. I left out the pepper (I’m not a fan) and we used maybe a quarter of the lemon juice that it says to use. I’d definitely recommend this to anyone.

Another recipe we’ve used is one that we’ve always enjoyed and it only required one adjustment: buying gluten-free Worcestershire sauce. We used Lea and Perrin’s. This recipe is from The Compleat(sic) I Hate To Cook Book by Peg Bracken, pg 237.

Simpleburgers

Mix some chopped onion, salt and pepper with a pound of ground beef and fry some patties. Keep them hot somewhere and to the fat remaining in the pan, add:

1/2 cup cream

3 tablespoons gluten-free Worcestershire sauce

Stir it up, simmer a minute, then put the patties on a platter and pour the sauce on top.

Personally, we like to add sautéed mushrooms in the sauce. They’re fabulous with this recipe. We serve it with brown rice and steamed veggies. 

I found that a great way to make lunches for Willow to take to daycare is to simply use leftovers from the night before. It’s far less hassle than putting together sandwiches or packing hot dogs, and often there’s enough for her to have two days worth of lunch. Then I just have to worry about making sure she has snacks to eat. 

We’ve added a couple of things to her snack list. One of them we found at Sam’s Club. They’re called “Veggie Straws”. They’re organic, gluten-free, have 0 trans-fat and taste like potato chips. Monster Babby loves them too and has been gobbling them up any time I give him a few.  We also bought some GF Cinnamon Chex to replace Willow’s beloved Cinnamon Toast Crunch. 

The adjustments to our cooking habits are going well. We have certain pans set aside purely for cooking gluten-free meals. We’re also going to branch out a bit more with our veggies. We bought an acorn squash and are looking forward to having that this weekend. I’d cook it sooner, but Jer is going to be out for the next three nights. He’s attending the Life, The Universe and Everything conference at BYU. I’d have loved to go with him, but not with the Monster Babby in tow. I’ll attend next year though, when we can leave the little tyke with a sitter. 

I finished watching the Avatar: The Last Airbender series. It’s fantastic. Seriously, if you enjoy anime, or just really great story-telling, watch it. It’s everything cartoons should be and then some. Netflix has all three seasons available for instant play. I even picked up a Manga about the character Prince Zuko last night and am anxious to read it. 

For those of you who adore the trashy urban-fantasy romance novel subgenre, I’m really enjoying Desire Unchained by Larissa Ione. It’s the second book in the Demonica series. I read the first one when I was pregnant with Erik and had been meaning to get the rest of them ever since. In fact, now that the vacuuming and dinner are done, I think I’ll go spend some time curled up with my Nook.

Valentine's Day

Days 2-5

I’m not sure if it’s the stress of constant worry and research or if I’m just not getting enough sleep, but I feel like a slight breeze could knock me over right now. I know the sleep is at least partially to blame, because I’ve had some very odd dreams the last few nights. 

Friday morning started off well though. Willow was more than happy to eat the cereal, and the lunch I packed for her was the same as the day before except that I switched the rice crispy bar to chocolate flavor.

Early in the day, Tina called me to ask about some Frigo string cheese she was giving to the kids. It turned out that it’s safe. You have to watch cheeses and dairy products I’ve found. Some of them have dyes or preservatives in them that aren’t gluten free. Just tonight I had to run out and buy a different brand of sour cream because the kind I had on hand contained modified food starch. It’s possible it was still safe, but I couldn’t verify it for certain. I purchased Daisy Sour Cream instead since the only ingredient listed is grade A cultured cream. 

When I picked Willow up from daycare, she had eaten everything I’d packed for her. Tina and I discussed a few more items, like the yogurt she gives to the kids. She had given Willow some salad earlier but no salad dressing. She told me which kinds she had on hand: Hidden Valley Ranch and Heinz Salad Vinegar. I couldn’t find anything conclusive online for the Hidden Valley so I’ve nixed it for now, and the Heinz contained malt vinegar, so that also had to go. However, Trix Yoplait yogurt cups are safe!

For dinner, we went with the Harmon’s bratwursts and sauerkraut cooked in Redbridge beer. Willow will get a baked potato on the side while the rest of us will have pirogies. (Hence the grocery run for some new sour cream.) 

I don’t want to make this a blow-by-blow listing of every meal , so I’ll just hit the highlights of the weekend. Saturday night I had to run to the store to find some Teriyaki sauce that I’d read was gluten free. I found it and glanced over the ingredients and didn’t notice anything wrong. I took it home and it was after my husband had poured it over our chicken and veggie stir-fry that he noticed what I had missed. “Natural Flavors (including malted barley extract)”. I’d completely missed it. Luckily we still had some of the GF chicken nuggets in the freezer, so Willow had that instead.

Sunday morning, we had Bob’s Red Mill pancakes. I’d heard mixed reviews on these but was very pleasantly surprised. They were wonderful and all of the kids, even baby Erik (aka Monster Babby, misspelling intentional) gobbled them up. I’d definitely recommend them though you’ll probably need to add a bit extra milk. 

Sunday was a bad day for me though. The stress of the kids, work, the poor sleep and the constant worrying over what Willow was eating had finally worn on me too much and I ended up snapping at Willow pretty severely because she insisted on asking me to do something for her even though I’d repeatedly asked her to go to her sisters for help. Apparently my wonderful husband realized how bad off I was and took Monster Babby and Willow downstairs so I could sleep a couple more hours. 

I spent a great deal of time Sunday planning out a menu for the entire week. It was very stressful, partially because I was doing it at my Mother-in-Law’s house and all four of our children and their 5 cousins (all boys) were there, wreaking havoc. I was amazed I made it through the visit without snapping. 

We went shopping for all the items we needed that evening and found some Udi’s GF bread in the freezer section. $5.19 for a very small loaf. I was shocked. I don’t think bread will be making a very big appearance in our meals for a while, at least, not until I learn to make my own. 

For her daycare Valentine’s Day party today, I decided to get M&M’s. This was her first party and she was very excited about it. We went through the holiday section at the store and she ooh’ed and aah’ed at all of the plush toys, roses and balloons. When we got home tonight, I went through the bag and took out all of the unsafe candies and replaced them with little packs of M&M’s. There were only 5 that needed replacing, including some no-brand lip gloss that she’d really wanted to wear.

And that’s the thing that’s been killing me over the past several days: You have to watch EVERYTHING. Foods, drinks, lip glosses, lotions, medicines, vitamins…it’s daunting when you’re first starting out. The incident with the teriyaki sauce upset me more than I’d have expected. It truly helps to have a spouse or other family member watching out for you. My mother is also on the look-out, sometimes calling me from the grocery store to tell me about an item she just found, or emailing me information she found online. 

Also, I decided to put down the book I was reading, Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen. It’s a fantastic book and I want to read it very badly, but not right now. There’s nothing relaxing about it. I usually read to get away from life and that book actually makes things far more real. I’ll pick it up again later, once I’ve got some experience with this new diet under my belt. Until then, my escape will be a trashy, urban-fantasy/romance novel. In other words, my usual vice. I’m also watching the cartoon series of Avatar: The Last Airbender. If you’ve seen the movie, don’t judge the cartoon by it. The cartoon is far better; the characters are more developed, the story line is more coherent, and the special effects don’t bore you to death. I’m on the third season and will be watching some more tonight before bed.

My Gluten-Free Adventure

Ever since Willow was a baby, she’s had a lot of diarrhea. At the age of three, she started complaining about tummy aches, usually around dinner time. When I was young, I’d had heartburn quite frequently, so I tried asking her to describe the pain. Only once did she ever seem to be describing heartburn, and a Tums cleared it right up that time. But the nightly tummy aches persisted. We talked to the doctor about it and she had us test the diarrhea, but none of the tests found anything. The doctor suggested that sometimes children complain when they find it gets them attention, so we tried giving her a placebo (an orange tic-tac). Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. Conversations with her doctor always suggested different things, and we tried everything she came up with. 

When she was three and a half years old, we decided to take her off lactose.  This was the first thing that seemed to make a truly positive difference. After a few months on soy milk, we started buying Lactaid and her diarrhea greatly improved…but the stomach aches kept on coming. We tried Tums and children’s Pepto Bismol tablets, but nothing seemed to help consistently. I had to face it. She was probably gluten-intolerant, like her father.

She's four and a half now. Last week we had her tested for Celiacs Disease. This is only one form of gluten-intolerance though, and it’s also the only one they can test for by drawing blood, so when the test came back negative I had only two choices left: put my daughter through an endoscopy or change her diet radically. It was a pretty simple choice.

So I dug into the internet, contacted my friends on Facebook, got in touch with my mother who had done a little experimenting with gluten-free recipes when I was married to Willow’s father. I started putting together a plan to switch Willow to a gluten-free diet and set the date for February 10^th. I hit the local grocery store the night before to pick up items for her breakfasts and lunches. I could only hope that I would be able to get her to eat whatever I found.

Day 1

Willow woke up early this morning and went downstairs to watch Despicable Me while her sisters prepared for school. I’d had a rough night sleeping. Researching this new diet has caused me a bit of stress and I’d spent the whole night dreaming about it. I’d even realized, while dreaming, that I wasn’t sure that Willow’s Lactaid tablets were gluten free. So upon waking, I headed straight for the internet and my phone. While waiting on hold for the Lactaid Customer Service rep, I did a quick Google search. Both my search and the rep verified that the tablets are safe. Next step: Get Willow to try a new cereal.

Willow isn’t an overly picky eater, but it’s difficult to get her to try something for the first time, especially at 7:30 in the morning. I showed her the cereal box of Koala Crispies (cocoa flavor). She wasn’t interested. I opened it and pulled out a few grains and explained they taste like chocolate. She cried, “No! I don’t want it.” I put some in my mouth and told her how yummy they were. Still she shook her head as tears filled her eyes. 

I sat her on my lap. “Remember how last night we talked about the new foods we’re making for you now? They’re going to make your tummy feel all better. Don’t you want your tummy to stop hurting?”

“No. I want my cereal and milk,” she cried.

“I know honey, but that cereal is making your tummy hurt. This kind is super yummy. Will you please try it? For mommy?”

“Noooooo.”

Not sure what to do next, I just held her in my arms as she cried for her Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Finally, inspiration hit. A while back, I had started a bed-time trend that I’d soon come to regret. To ward off bad dreams, Willow’s Barbie and an Elmo doll both talk to her every night and promise to help her have happy dreams. Of course, now Willow can’t sleep without them and the conversations have become a bit repetitive and annoying to me. But they work. Maybe Barbie and Elmo could convince her to try the new cereal. I asked, “Do you think you could try it if Barbie and Elmo like it?”

Her eyes lifted to mine and the slightest little nod of the head was my answer. 

“Run upstairs and get them then and I’ll get your bowl ready.” 

She returned with them a moment later and I held out a spoonful of the new cereal for Elmo. For some odd reason Elmo and Barbie always seem to side with Mommy, so naturally, Elmo loved the new cereal! He raved about how good it was and how Willow should try it. Next it was Barbie’s turn. Barbie has very good manners and stated that the cereal was “just lovely”. Willow was finally willing to give it a shot. I poured some milk in, gave her a Lactaid, and held up a spoonful for her. 

The suspense was killing me as she chewed it slowly, but then her eyes lit up, she smiled up at me and said, “Mommy! I like it!”  SUCCESS!

She ate the rest of the bowl rather greedily, and asked for a second helping. (I’d only given her a tiny amount for the first bowl.) After finishing the second bowl, it was time to explain lunch to her.

I pulled out the lunchbox that I’d packed for her the night before. Inside was a gluten-free hotdog, some Heinz Ketchup, an apple cut into small chunks, an EnviroKids Crispy Rice bar (peanut butter flavor), and some Almond Nut Thins (cheddar cheese flavor). I also grabbed a banana, just in case she didn’t like something in the lunch.

“This is your special lunch to eat at daycare today. None of the other kids get to eat this. It’s specially made just for you.” I pointed out the different items. “Tina will let you know when you can eat each one.” Willow took this news very well and wanted to carry the lunchbox (a Buffy the Vampire Slayer collectible that was an old Valentines Day gift to me from her father) out to the car.

Tina, her daycare provider, was outside when we got there. I explained the items to her and told her that I expected Willow would love the rice crispy bar, but worried she might not like the crackers much. Those were her snacks for morning and afternoon. The banana was there for backup if she didn’t like one of them. I wasn’t worried about the hotdog and apple. Willow loves those.

I went to work and spent some time talking to a coworker that has a daughter with Celiacs. She was extremely helpful and generously offered some recipes as well as her cell phone number in case I ever need some advice. In between work projects, I also Googled several food items I had around the household to see if they were safe, as well as checking on some of Willow’s favorite candies. After all, the Valentine’s Day party is coming up soon.

Part way through the day, I also received a call from the local grocery store, Harmons. Yesterday I had emailed them to ask if their bratwursts were gluten-free. Instead of emailing me back, they called me personally to let me know that yes, all of their brats and sausages are gluten-free. I was impressed with the customer service and thrilled with the news because Willow adores both brats and sausage. 

When I went to pick up Willow, the day had gone very smoothly, though not as I’d anticipated. Turns out Willow loved the crackers and devoured them during morning snack time, but in the afternoon she only took three bites of the peanut butter rice crispy bar and didn’t want the rest. She always loved peanut butter granola bars, so I was rather surprised. Tina and I discussed future meal ideas. I’ll keep providing meals for a while as Tina and I both learn more about gluten intolerance, but we found that a lot of what Tina serves will be perfectly safe. She uses a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables for the kids.

Planning dinner was a bit more stressful.  We hadn’t given quite as much thought to it the day before and were winging it. We decided to have Parson’s Ham, which is ham covered in rice and cheese, and garnished with peaches with brown sugar on them. A phone conversation with a good friend of mine helped me decide the rice should be fine, even though I couldn’t guarantee there wasn’t cross-contamination with other products in the packaging plant. However, after researching the ham, I found we couldn’t guarantee it was safe for Willow. I had purchased some gluten-free chicken nuggets last night and eventually decided to give her those with some rice and peaches on the side. It worked out splendidly. She ate every bit of it and was still hungry for more. She also got to have some Breyer’s Neopolitan ice cream. But the best part of all was that Willow never once complained of a tummy ache and even told me her tummy felt just fine.

My husband had done some shopping earlier in the evening and had come home with Redbridge beer, which is gluten-free. The same friend that helped me with the rice, suggested it to us. We plan to use it for cooking bratwurst and sauerkraut. He tried it and was impressed with the flavor. Brats and sauerkraut are on the menu for tomorrow night. 

Finally it was time for bed and one last worry reared its head.  What about the toothpaste? Thankfully, yet another Google search helped us determine that all Crest toothpastes are gluten-free. Day one was done…unless you count the hour long bedtime routine of reading, brushing hair and having the nightly Elmo/Barbie discussion. We’re currently reading Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. It’s a fantastic book and I highly recommend it.  

There have been moments over the past couple of days when this has all felt extremely overwhelming. The trouble over the breakfast cereal this morning almost had me in tears. I keep wondering what types of things Willow will have to do without in life and how I can make that easier on her.  I couldn’t be more grateful for all of the friends and family that have offered me their help in taking this on. My daughter’s health is worth everything to me.