Going Gluten Free- an update

We've been gluten free for several months now and I thought some readers might be interested to know how it's going.  I wrote about the start of this journey here

I have taken all gluten out of my diet virtually all of the time.  I have loads more energy, have stopped falling asleep on the lounge in the evening and have lost several kilograms.  I am still eating raw muesli for breakfast, because oats contain a slightly different kind of gluten which some people, including me, can tolerate.  At first I found that I craved bread and got really hungry without it, but that passed and now I don't really miss it.  I did try to make gluten free bread quite a bit at first, and I found that too much bread type foods even with other grains would make me feel bloated and tired.

My son, 12, is also gluten free almost all of the time. He has less issues with bouts of nausea and other bowel problems.  The most amazing thing is that he is happier!  I didn't realise that food can impact on emotions so much.

Both my son and I have noticed that if we do have gluten now we react to it noticeably.  Nathan can eat two lollies containing gluten and immediately feel nauseus.  I react to wine unless it is organic.  I probably always had a reaction but now I can detect it.  

My husband has greatly reduced the gluten in his diet.  He has found that he has more energy, particularly in the afternoon when he would usually have quite an energy slump.  Did you know that the old song about baked beans and flatulence is wrong?  Or at least it doesn't tell the whole story, because it is really gluten that causes all that wind :)

My daughters still have gluten but again much less than they used to.  

It has been a difficult change to get used to but it is getting easier all the time.  The main challenges for us were replacing bread for lunches and also cutting back on pasta.  Lunch now tends to be salads with eggs, cheese, veges and nuts to help fill us up.  It is harder if we need to be out and about as I find I need to be really organised to make sure I have something that we can take out with us.  We eat more meat than we used to as we needed to replace bread and pasta with something filling.

I have slightly given up on gluten free bread because it just isn't the same and tends to disappoint.  I think the key is to not try to recreate wheat based foods without wheat as it just doesn't work very well.  I have found and tweaked a good recipe for gluten free pizza dough and I'm happy to report that it makes a really tasty pizza.  The secret is buckwheat (which has nothing to do with wheat- not sure how it got it's name!) which I really like the taste of.

Packaged gluten free foods are expensive and full of additives so I avoid buying them, although at first I did buy some just to try to help get through the initial stages of our dietary changes. I experimented with different flours to find the ones we liked. I mix our own gluten free flour mix which we use for baking, pancakes and any recipe that calls for plain flour.  It is like a wholemeal flour in that it is heavier than a white flour.

150g tapioca flour

150g potato starch

200g brown rice flour

200g buckwheat flour

150g millet flour

150g quinoa flour 

So, is it worth the trouble?  Definitely yes.  I need to be more organised for breakfast and lunch, but as I gather a new repertoire of GF recipes it is getting easier.  The results for Nathan and myself in particular have been significant. 

I recommend anyone considering removing gluten from their diet to give it a go. You have nothing to lose and it may be a life changing decision.

Gluten-free is good for you: fad or fact?

For the past few years I have been gradually changing our family diet. We now eat food made from scratch, lots of home-grown veges, organic milk, mostly organic meat. I avoid additives and preservatives in food.  I run a food co-op, through which we buy organic flours, rice etc. We make our own bread, based on Cydi O'Meara's Super Mix recipe, fresh everyday from organic ingredients.  We now use home-made soap, green cleaners, less chemicals.

So, I should be feeling healthier than ever, right? Wrong.

For the last 18 months at least I have just "felt unwell".  I think I haven't looked very well either.  I have felt tired, lethargic, occasionally nauseus for no reason, and bloated.  Last Christmas I started having cramping and other bowel issues as well, so I went to the doctor and was checked for various problems including bowel cancer.  Apparently there was nothing wrong with me, except borderline anaemia (for which there was no apparent cause either).  With such vague symptoms it was hard to convince the doctor there was any illness to be checked out.  Despite seeing two different doctors, neither suggested that diet could be a cause or tested me for gluten intolerance.

Meanwhile, I kept reading about gluten-free diets, paleo diets, dairy-free diets. Some of my friends follow various diets like these too.  Now, I am quite skeptical when it comes to diets and usually just dismiss them. I prefer to stick to eveything in moderation, a balanced diet and exercise.  But one day I realised that I felt much worse in the afternoons, after lunch.  I had an "aha" moment - it must be the bread.  Such healthy bread though, it was hard to believe that it was causing health troubles.

I figured I had nothing to lose, so I embarked on a more or less gluten free diet for a week.  The effect was almost instantaneous.  Suddenly, I just "felt well". No bloating, heaps of energy, no nausea.  When my husband got home from work each day he said he could tell if I had eaten bread or pasta or other gluten filled food, just by looking at me.  I went from falling asleep on the lounge at 8pm to knitting by the fire at midnight.

Obviously, the whole gluten-free diet deserved more attention!  My 11 year old son has always had vague bouts of nausea and diahorrea- nothing serious enough or specific enough to warrant medical intervention, but niggling away in the background.  I switched him to gluten-free too. Among other results, he became more cheerful!

Thus began my research into gluten and it's effects on the body (and mind).  Switching to a gluten-free diet is not simple, and packaged products that are "gluten-free" are not therefore additive-free, preservative-free or healthy.  They are also heavy on packaging and heavy on the wallet.  The last thing I wanted to do was go back to expensive, packaged food. 

Next: learning more about the effect of grains and gluten, and can I still eat pizza?

Going the whole hog

Well half a hog actually.  We have been wanting to try curing and smoking our own ham and bacon for a really long time. We bought books about it, even read them, but that's as far as it went.  Then I came across an opportunity to buy free-range, heritage breed, almost organic pork in bulk, and before we could say "Charcuterie" we had about 30kgs of pork to deal with.

Thus began a steep learning curve. I started by unpacking the boxful of unidentified lumps of meat and sorting them into three piles.  One: Ham and Hocks.  Two: Chops.  So far, so good. Three: Unknown Other Bits.  Unfortunately pile three was the biggest pile.  Enter our savior - this book:

I found a diagram of a pig cut into it's various pieces and we set about trying to match our lumps to the cuts in the picture and therefore decide what to do with them.

Then it was onto to the curing.  The first thing to decide was whether or not to use pink salt (curing salt/sodium nitrite).  The info and debate out there about this additive is confusing.  Those for it say that it is essential to prevent the risk of potentially life-threatening botulism poisoning and to create a ham/bacon flavour and colour.  Those against say that it is potentially a carcinogen.

We ended up going without it, and took care to always keep the meat either above or below the risky temperatures.

The bacon was dry cured in a salt/sugar mixture and then hot smoked in our BBQ.  We used cuttings from our Mariposa Plum for the smoke.  We chopped small pieces, placed them in foil and sat them over one burner.  The meat was placed at the other side of the BBQ and the lid closed.  It stayed there for several hours until the meat reached about 75 degrees Celsius in the centre.

Here's the bacon (pork belly) curing:

 And here it is after hot smoking:

It is as yummy as it looks.

We also made some pulled pork - first seasoning it and hot smoking it, then roasting it a second time. It took all day really to cook and tasted wonderful, but maybe not good enough to bother with again.  Here it is seasoned and ready to go and then finished and being shredded:

The ham and hocks were cured in brine and then hot smoked.  The photo below shows one of the hams and a piece of pork belly.

So would I do it again? Yes and no.  

Half a pig at once was quite a lot of meat to deal with and to find room for in the fridge as it cured, particularly the big ham as it cured in a large tub of brine.  I have said before that prosciutto, ham and bacon are the reason I could never go to a fully vegetarian diet, even though at least half our meals are vegetarian.  Handling large amounts of raw pork though, was well... a bit gross.  Off-putting.  It took me about a week to recover before I felt like eating any of it.  I think doing just some pork belly and one ham at a time would be more manageable.

Then there was the constant checking of the smoking process, including the desperate dash to the servo for a new gas bottle when we realised it had run out just a half hour into the smoking.  Next time we would be confident we weren't going to poison anyone, but this time we fed it to the Hubster first, just in case, then waited a few days. We figured he was the one with life insurance.

The taste of the ham and bacon? Sublime.  And that's why we'll be coming back for some more home-smoked goodness in future :)

Weekend baking

 The last few weekends I have been baking from recipes out of my Old Fashioned Favourites cookbook, and this weekend was no exception.  I have noticed a theme in these "old-fashioned recipes" - butter and sugar. Lots of it!

Firstly I baked Easter Biscuits.  As I read the recipe I realised that I know these as Currant Cakes.  My Grandma used to bake them, although she used lard rather than butter. Hers would come out melt-in-your-mouth crumbly and were terribly delicious straight from the oven.  You were never allowed to take one though, and if she caught you sneaking one off the tray she would shout "Gerrout" in her Yorkshire accent and perhaps swat at you with a tea towel. I remember asking Mum to get one for me.  Mine were almost as yummy as hers but not quite!

Here's the dough ready to roll out.  I used sultanas chopped up into smaller pieces because I didn't have currants but really wanted to cook this recipe :)

 Cutting the dough into rounds...

 Warm Currant Cakes sprinkled with sugar and ready to eat...

 I also baked what my recipe book called British Flapjacks.  These were easy and had just three ingredients - sugar, butter and rolled oats.  They came out crispy and a bit caramelised.  The children love them, but when I tried one I felt like I had a mouthful of butter. Of course, that's because I did have a mouthful of butter and sugar!  I think this recipe is one that I will leave to the past!

 Mum, if you are reading this - don't you think these are just like Grandmas?

Do you have baking recipes handed down from past generations?

warm, cosy, homeschool

Cold, windy, rainy weather today.  I remember going to school on days like this; my school had no heaters and it was often chilly and a bit miserable.

 

Today I was so glad to be home educating; my children snug, happy and warm here at home.

 

At the last minute I decided to throw together a chicken noodle soup to have with freshly baked bread as a warming winter lunch.  

 Some stock, pasta and chopped left-over roast chicken went into the pot, boiling for as long as the pasta took to cook. Almost instant warm lunch!

What quick, warm lunches do you make in winter?

Weekend Baking...and eating :)

After a bit of a sleep-in this morning and because I am not feeling completely well, I had a slow start to the day and didn't achieve much. Sometime after lunch, my desire to eat something yummier than some plain rice crackers (all I could find to snack on) overtook my desire to sit around and do not much more than read the newspaper.

I dug out the cookbooks for inspiration and, happily, gathered some momentum as I measured and mixed.  First up was an oat and choc chip slice, especially for the kids.  I have switched from using packaged choc chips and now use sweetened cacao nibs instead.

 Next a recipe for Butterscotch Curls in my Womens Weekly Old Fashioned Favourites cookbook took my fancy.  It calls for copious amounts of butter and sugar and so seemed completely appropriate for a cold and windy Saturday afternoon.

Here is the pan prepared with butter, sugar and pecans...

The dough rolled out ready to be smothered in more butter and sugar.

  

Cut into rounds and placed on top of the prepared base.

 

Ready to eat with a cup of tea :)

Weekend baking wouldn't be complete without some music to cook to and I was listening to Sometimes the Stars by The Audreys.

 

I may still quickly throw together a batch of vanilla icecream for the kids.  This is my easy recipe:

Blend 1/3 cup water, 2/3 cups sugar and 1 cup powdered milk in a blender.

Add 1 egg, approx 150ml cream, 1 teaspoon vanilla essence and enough milk to bring it up to 1 litre. Blend well.

Place in a sealed container and freeze for 30 minutes. Stir and pour into an icecream maker. Process in icecream maker for 30 minutes then return it to the freezer.

From the vege patch today...

We have only just got our vege patch back up and running after a long time of being without one. We had limited success with the last patch becuase of some large gum trees that were too close.


The new vege patch is in raised beds and gets sunshine most of the day.


The rocket is growing well.

  

The sugar snap peas have started to grow.  I had quite a few attempts to get the seeds to shoot, with this last lot successful. Can't wait for them to grow, they are one of my favourite veges :)

Pak choy gone to seed - it's so pretty I'm leaving it there, and hoping the flowers attract some predatory insects to help take care of the caterpillars.

 Pak choy and shallots picked and washed ready for tonights dinner of noodle and vege stirfry.

I also picked rocket ready to have for lunch with some scrambled eggs, tomato chutney and this yummy bread we made this morning.

What are you eating from the vege patch today?

Making me smile today...

 Our adorable puppy, Saffy.

 Knitting some more slippers. I hope to sit in the wonderful Autumn sun this afternoon and knit a few rows.

 Rediscovering a love of sewing clothes for myself. I love that I can make clothes that are "me." I have realised that I need to sew each pattern more than once so that I can tweek it here and there. That is the secret to successful sewing (for me) and creating clothes I really like to wear.

 The fabric for this skirt was designed and handprinted in Australia.

 Mmmm...leftover rice balls with freshly picked lemon for lunch. I did share some of these with the kids!

 Lili (6) has just discovered a love of writing to tell stories. She is unstoppable, writing almost constantly!  She has only just started to put words together herself and is loving her new-found ability to communicate this way.  I love that because we home school I get to share the joy of her discovery and that it enables her spend as much time as she wants practising.

And watching my lovely daughter Amy do her ballet lesson this morning. I forgot the camera :( but she really was a beautiful ballerina!
What's making you smile today?

Cooking, sewing, knitting...

  I love to make and create things, and I have had time in the last few weeks to spend some time doing just that.  I sewed these cute little booties for the new baby of our neice.  I thought a crocheted flower would just be the thing to finish them off but alas, my crochet skills began and ended at single crochet.  Thanks to the wonders of Youtube (is there anything you might want to learn that's not on there?) I now know how to double crochet and produce the pretty crocheted flowers on the booties. Add a sweet pearly button and I was quite pleased with how they turned out. I must admit that this pair were attempt number three, and my daughters' baby dolls now have really great booties.  :)

 

It could be said that I temporarily went a little crazy crocheting flowers. Here's one with a vintage leather button now adorning my beanie (the beanie is handmade, but not by me).  There are more on the slippers I knitted for Lili.

 

I knitted up another pair of slippers for myself too.  One cannot have too many pairs of soft, knitted slippers!

 

I have the sewing machine out, sewing some winter tops.  This one is finished and I have a stack of fabric ready to make a couple more.

 This morning I cooked this yummy slice.  It is relatively healthy and a favourite around here.  The recipe is adapted from one given to me; I'm not sure where the original recipe came from.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (80g) pepitas

3/4 cup (70g) dessicated coconut

1/2 cup (65g) wholemeal plain flour

1/4 cup (55g) raw sugar

1 cup (130g) traditional rolled oats

1/4 cup (40g) sesame seeds

1/2 cup (80g) sunflower kernals

1/2 cup (75g) sultanas

3/4 cup nuts - I used pecans, but walnuts or almonds are also nice

Mix together all the dry ingredients.

Mix 1 tablespoon honey with 120g melted butter and add to the dry ingredients with 2 lightly beaten eggs.

Mix well, then press firmly into a lined baking tray or dish. Bake in moderate oven til golden.  I use 180 degrees celcius in a fan-forced oven for about 12-15 minutes.

Yum!

Can you pass the Kyinkyinga please?

We sponsor some children through Compassion Australia, and this term we have been learning about the countries they live in - Ghana and India. To finish off the term we have been cooking meals from those countries for our family dinners.


Nathan especially enjoys the messy parts of cooking, and Amy and Lili love to get their hands dirty too...
It was difficult to find recipes specifically from Ghana, so we cooked recipes that were from West Africa generally, such as this Palava Sauce...


and Jollof Rice...
and these Kyinkyinga...
Tonight we cooked Indian, with these delicious Naan...


and this very yummy Maharashtrian Chicken Curry...

We probably won't be dinning West African style again, at least not with the recipes we tried, but the curry recipe has made it to the recipe book for sure!