Simsek Strikes

Should You Consider Going Gluten-Free for the New Year?

Before discovering Spencer's gluten intolerance, I knew nothing about gluten.  In fact, like most Americans, I regarded bread as one of the most benign, gentle foods imaginable.  It was bread that I ate when my stomach was upset, and bread that made most any meal complete.  I loved everything bread:  bagels, brochette,  French toast, sandwiches on whole wheat, fried eggs on toast, English muffins, fried dough...you name it, I loved it.  And I always assumed that it was loving me back.

But after seeing the massive transformation in Spencer's health after we removed the gluten, I began reading.  And reading more.  I recognized that several of Paulo's niggling health issues could be caused by gluten--anemia, elevated liver enzymes, skin irritations, geographic tongue.  I could go on, but you get the idea.  Sure enough, in spite of the fact that his doctor was initially convinced that there was NO WAY he was Celiac, Paulo tested off the charts for Celiac Disease. Since going gluten-free he is a new man, and it's wonderful to know that we caught a potentially life-threatening disease as early as we did.

In the last two years we've all gone gluten-free and, other than the normal colds and flus that come our way, we've never been healthier.  Initially, I didn't notice any symptoms myself and yet I feel immeasurably better gluten-free, too.  In fact, I credit my body's ability to cope with the last few year's chronic lack-of-sleep as well as it has to our improved diet.   

This year, my mother's doctor recommended that she leave out the gluten, and my father, who is now recovering from prostate cancer, discovered that he, too, is sensitive to gluten.  As a life-long athlete and all-around healthy man, the cancer caught him quite by surprise and he's beginning to investigate the relationship between diet and cancer with an eye to this new information.

But the crazy thing is just how oblivious we all were to this extremely common dietary risk!  Like most people, I believed that bread was a staple food and had a hard time believing that it could be so harmful to many, if not most people in one way or another, and the numbers are growing. I know better now, and you should too.  Gluten intolerance has increased 400% in the last 50 years, and is chronically undiagnosed.  99 percent of people with gluten intolerance credit something other than gluten for their ailments, and many doctors are sadly misinformed about the many ways in which gluten intolerance manifests itself.  According to the New England Journal of Medicine it is associated with 55 "diseases", including such well-known dangers as cancer, osteoporosis, lupus, epilepsy, depression, and yes, autism. (edited to add a partial list of the symptoms associated with gluten sensitivity, health issues associated with Celiac Disease, and other autoimmune conditions associated with Celiac Disease from Dummies.com--a good primer for the newbie!)

And the best part?  It is 100% treatable without drugs or side effects.

So if you are considering getting healthier in the New Year, or if you're just interested in knowing a little more, I encourage you to read this article.  As far as educating the uninformed, I think it's one of the best I've read in a while, and since I read a lot about Celiac Disease and gluten sensitivity, that's got to be worth something!

A Happy and Healthy New Year to You!

MamaBars: An Easy Version of a Pricey Snack

While shopping at the Portland Whole Foods Market, Paulo saw, and purchased, some delicious Larabar snack bars for me.  They had only three ingredients, were absolutely fabulous, and were crazy expensive.  That New England thing in my head kicked in and started saying "I bet you could make those yourself...three ingredients!  I can't be so hard.  I bet you could do it..."

So, prompted by the memory of that taste (and that annoying voice in my head), I put dates, cashews, and pistachios on the grocery list.  Today was Experiment  One, and I have to say it was such a success I am now going to share it with you.  Here goes:

You need:

One LARGE bag of dates
Pistachios
Cashews
a food processor
A mixing bowl
a rolling pin or a rectangular baking dish
parchment paper (wax paper would probably work, too)

What you do:

1.  Run the dates through the food processor.  If it starts to make groaning noises, smell hot, or belch smoke I recommend trying smaller handfuls.  These things are stiff, sticky, and hard on the machine.  (Mine may not forgive me for a while for abusing it with that first batch!)  Once a batch is well mooshed/diced/pulverized remove it to a bowl.  Continue this way until you have mooshed them all.

2.  Put the nuts in.  I went heavy on the pistachios, but you could do it however you like.  Let the processor chop them into a fine, nutty gravel.  Pour them in the bowl on top of the dates.

3.  Kneed the mixture thoroughly with your hands.  Seriously.  Get in there and really squish it up until it's all one gooey, sticky, nut-gravely ball.  Be ruthless.

4.  Gently flatten the ball on a sheet of parchment paper (or wax paper).  If you can, shape it into a bit of a rectangle.  It will be easier to cut evenly this way.  Once it's fairly well flattened and shaped, put a second layer of paper over the top and use the rolling pin (or, in my case, the flat bottom of a rectangular baking dish) to flatten the top to a uniform height.

5. Cut into bars, and pack into ziplock sandwich bags for a handy snack on the go!  That's it.

It was so easy and so cheap I had to share.  And mmmmmmmmmmmm, delicious!

What I'm Loving:: Homemade Meatballs

Nothing seems to please all of us lately like a big batch of homemade, gluten-free meatballs.  They're fun and easy to make, and they warm the body through and through.  And just when it didn't seem that a meal could get any better, Paulo got me a new Scanpan and it's absolutely perfect for browning meatballs.  Honestly, it's great for almost everything and no carcinogenic Teflon to worry about!

Amigo's: A Great Gluten-Free Find!

Dining out is a little more challenging now that life is gluten-free than it used to be when we were happy omnivores.  Luckily for us, Paulo has a special talent for ferreting out gluten free spots wherever we find ourselves, which makes travel just a bit easier.  (You should have seen the gluten-free pizzeria he found when we were in NYC this summer!!)  Of course, sometimes we stick to known chains for the sake of convenience: Uno's, PF Chang's, Legal Seafood, Smokey Bones, Outback, and Chili's are a few of the standards in GF dining. 

But this weekend he struck GF gold:  excellent GF Mexican food in a laid-back, family-friendly environment! The place is called Amigo's in Milford, New Hampshire. When we first pulled up we thought we'd been mistaken: it looked like an adult spot as opposed to a family restaurant.  There were little twinkly lights strung up inside and several tables of diners sipping drinks from large glasses.  The lighting was warm and quiet and it looked like there might be, you know, some ambience; something one learns to do without when dining out with little kids.  There were some intimate tables in the window and a quiet bar visible on the side.  

But it was family friendly, and every other kind of friendly.  The wait staff was warm and welcoming and knew their gluten-free menu well.  Apparently one of the owners is Celiac, too, which is why they had added the GF options. The menu itself had more GF options than we've seen almost anywhere, from appetizers, entrees, and sides, to sauces and desserts including a fabulous carrot cake with cream cheese frosting!  The pork enchiladas with ranchero sauce were to-die-for.  All the kids found things to eat and love from shrimp to tacos, fresh made guacamole and salsa and some mexican rice that Ellie couldn't get enough of.  The other diners were just as warm and friendly, striking up conversations with us and the kids and making us feel at home.  We all left full and happy and we will definitely be going back!

So, if you're looking for great GF Mexican in New Hampshire, look no further!  Trust me, it's worth the drive!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas...

...while visions of sugarplums danced in their heads.

Merry Christmas to All, and to All a Good Night!

Housebound :: Kids in the Kitchen

Well, we're housebound.  At least for a few days.  The brakes on the vans went out, and we have yet to figure out a system to fit all three children forward-facing in the Subaru.  So, at least until early next week when the van comes home from the garage, we're stuck here.

What do you do when when you can go anywhere further than walking-distance with three little ones?  Work hard to make each day a little more interesting, and brave the cold as much as possible.

So this week, in addition to more art projects than I can begin to enumerate, I enlisted Lexi's help in cooking dinner.  Specifically, making the meatloaf.  The idea of squishing her little fingers through achingly cold raw meat thrilled her.  This was certainly win-win, since it always makes my knuckles cry out in dismay so that I have to grit my teeth to get through it all.  Not Lexi, though!  She happily squished and turned and flipped and kneaded the mixture while singing a little song she was making up about cooking...it was fabulous.  I can see this becoming a regular event.  At least until such time as she decides it no-longer holds her interest and, like collecting the mail, it falls out of favor.  Look out, knuckles, that day will come before you're ready!

And, if you're interested in our gluten-free meatloaf recipe, here it is.  We simply substitute gluten-free bread crumbs for the regular kind and add an egg.  It's actually pretty good, and I say this as a life-long hater of meatloaf.  Even my dad, who doesn't typically eat gluten-free, wanted the recipe after tasting it!

Weekend Update

As promised, Saturday we took the children apple-picking at a nearby orchard.  Lousy blogger that I am, I forgot the camera.  But we had a lovely time.  At least, as lovely a time as a family of sickos can have!  The children bumped happily along as we pulled them over the rocks and fields in ancient red Radio Flyer wagons.  Ellie sat between her big sister's legs, slipping ever further forward until she was lying flat on her back with her head in Lexi's lap gazing at the treetops.  Even so, she was smiling and babbling happily.

At Paulo's recommendation we sought out the trees furthest from the entrance.  He figured, and rightly so, that most people were too lazy to walk that far and that we'd find some barely-picked trees.  The kids ran around excitedly pulling off as many low-hanging apples as they could carry before running back to the bag to deposit their goodies.  Ellie was happy to sit in the grass and pluck out as many fistfuls as possible.

In no time we had quite a bagful, and were ready for the bumpy ride back to the entrance to pick up some fresh cider and pay for our haul.  It was a great trip.

Early the next morning before the sun was up, Ellie found the bag in the kitchen and helped herself to a pre-breakfast apple. Who was I to say "no" to a sick baby who'd been up half the night?  Besides, I continue to be awed when she and her 8 teeth take on something so challenging.

Since then we've enjoyed a batch of home made applesauce and today I made a couple of gluten-free pies.  No, I wasn't brave enough to attempt gluten-free crust from scratch, but I think that was for the best.  I never mastered regular pie crust, and GF seems harder to work with!

Mmmmmmmm....

Unrelated:

Lex has been loving her new job as the family's official mail person.  She can't wait to go out "all by myself" and find out what's been delivered.  Every day it's a little adventure.  Personally, the sight of her thumbing through a toy catalogue by the mailbox, earnestly checking the street for cars, and carefully putting each piece of mail into her bag just makes my heart swell.  She's gone from zero to five so fast!

An Apple a Day...

Sometimes life just sits on your back and laughs while you wheeze.  The trick is getting just enough breath to laugh back. I think that today we've managed to do just that.

Today Lex's class was scheduled to take a trip to a local apple orchard to pick apples, watch a real cider press in action, and sample fresh cider.  Because I couldn't bring her (the school has no buses and parents are responsible for bringing their kids) I had arranged for her to ride with a classmate and his family: including his 4 month old sister.

But it wasn't to be.  The perfect, quiet, clear, crisp fall morning was punctured with sneezing, coughing, and a little girl's scratchy voice telling me that all was not well.  I waited until after breakfast to make my decision, by which time it was clear that everyone was getting sick.  Then I had to call the boy's mom and break the news to everybody:  there wasn't going to be any apple orchard trip today. I couldn't risk making their baby sick so that Lex could pick some apples.

There were a lot of tears.  And more tears.  It was a truly pitiful thing to behold.  Spencer hugged me as I hugged her to 'help'.  Paulo assured her that we'd make a family trip to an orchard, soon.  I promised her that we would get her some cider to try.  We looked up (and found) a great video of a real cider press in action on YouTube and watched it about six times.  We broke out a new box of tissues.

It turned out to be the right decision as everyone got snifflier as the day progressed.  And more  irritable.  The older two began to bicker and harass each other. From where I stood, it didn't look good for the day. It was time for me to divide-and-conquer.  So, I set up Spencer with a learning game on the PC and took Lexi downstairs with me (and the baby, of course) to make a mail bag for her.  She's decided that she's big enough to bring in the mail by herself, so it is now her new job.  But, because her hands are small and the mail is often big and messy, a bag was necessary.

Yes, we have dozens of bags.  Maybe more.  But this is a special new job and Nana was right: it deserves its own special new bag.  So Lex chose the material and I cut and pinned.  She helped sew several seams and trim the allowances before getting distracted by the magnetic pin cushion.  But I managed to finish the rest before the mail arrived and it's now waiting for its first trip to the mailbox whenever she wakes up from her nap.

  

It's far from perfect, but I've never made a bag before, had no pattern, and was basically winging it with available scraps.  Given all that, it's OK, and will at least work for its intended purpose.

Next, with all the sickos in this place it was time for some homemade chicken soup.  So we trotted off to the grocery store for the necessary supplies. 

It's been a while since I last made soup from scratch.  I'd forgotten how long the prep takes. There's a lot of chopping and slicing and dicing and peeling and rinsing involved.  It always looks so quick on TV, but that's because they have those miraculously pre-chopped and measured ingredients waiting for them in quaint little dishes.  What you don't see is the cooking-show intern who arrives at 5 a.m. to start chopping.  Or how much blood is lost in the process.  Because you know that the cute little hostess with the impossible-to-place accent didn't jeopardize her manicure wielding a knife for the last two hours.

Labor aside, it's worth it all when the house starts to fill up with the aroma of simmering homemade chicken stock.  I wish smell-o-vision came standard on this thing so that you could take a little sniff, too.  It smells like heaven.

So, at the end of the day we're still sick, but there's soup in the pot, a brand new bag, and the promise that Daddy will be home early tonight.  For once, I think we came out on top in spite of it all! 

Happy weekend, everyone!

Picnic

Summer hasn't felt a lot like summer this year.  We began optimistically with some hot days in the early weeks, but July brought a seemingly endless procession of rainy days and the pattern has stretched stubbornly through the first half of August as well.  "Mushroom walks" have become a ritual  with the kids as the endless damp has spawned hundreds of fascinating fungi in the yard and woods around the house.   We often take a camera or two to document all the crazy growth and both children have become cautious, sharp-eyed spotters. 

But in between the rain we've had a morning or two of sun, and it seems a shame not to make the most of whatever we can get.  In between cloud-bursts we've found yard picnics to be a welcome break from the monotony of life in the house or car.  After checking the sky, the forecast, and the ground (too wet and picnicking is a sloppy, uncomfortable affair) we hastily assemble sandwiches on crumbly gluten-free bread, slice fruits, portion out popcorn and raisins, and rush out with a blanket to find the perfect spot.  It has to be in the shade, but not  too shady, dry, free from mushrooms and flat.  And preferably new, as in not the same place we sat last time.  This last isn't always possible. 

Once we're set up it's as though I've taken them to the perfect playground or their favorite restaurant. There are smiles and giggles and sharing without complaint.  Everyone's sense of humor is restored and meals consumed without nagging or resistance.  It's not what I had envisioned for our late summer, but some days it's just enough to keep us sane!

The Portuguese Feast

I am probably the least qualified to write about the Feast as I am a new-comer myself.  But it is a family tradition for Paulo, and it has become a tradition for us all through him and his family. So, on the first weekend of August each year we travel down to New Bedford, Massachusetts to attend the Portuguese Feast--a giant Portuguese festival that seems to take up much of the north end of the city.  There are carnival rides,  music, performances, booths selling everything from sunglasses to Portuguese/English tee-shirts to rosaries and religious icons, and food.  Lots of food.

The big draw for Paulo, is what we call Meat On Sticks.  It is just that.  The men eagerly skewer huge squares of beef and veggies on giant spears that stand taller than they do.  These gargantuan kabobs are then doused in Madeira wine and beer (contraband gluten-free beer this year), salted, and cooked slowly over an enormous fire pit.

The rest of us, meanwhile, buy glasses of wine and bottles of water and set up the table with all the goodies that my in-laws pack.  Luckily the tables are under a canopy of grape vines instead of the baking sun, and far enough from the fire pits to catch a breeze.  But it's still hot.

Finally, triumphant, the men return with heaps of meat and we all gorge ourselves. Not a bad tradition, all in all, and this year my parents came again, this time with their good friends as well.   Paulo's family hosted in grand style, treating us all to the meat and bringing everything extra, including a fabulous homemade Portuguese potato salad and rolls for the gluten-eaters.  It was lovely to visit and share, and there was just enough time for the kids to ride a few rides before the heavens opened.

Madrinha, the family Matriarch and Lexi's namesake:

 

Cheers!