Monthly Archives: September 2014

When your kid is sick all the time…..

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Pneumonia. Again. No, it wasn’t the last one that didn’t go away, its a NEW one. A FRIGGIN NEW ONE LESS THEN A MONTH AFTER THE LAST ONE!

I carry on, I do, I clean, cook, comfort, give meds, check oxygen levels and massage her back and cook some more and clean some more, and try not to worry and carry on…….

Horrible evenings with low oxygen levels, I pack bags and cry a little in my bedroom or the bathroom, the older kid cries and asks what will happen to HIM if celiac kid goes to hospital again and I carry on and comfort and cook and clean a little.

People tell me Im so brave and strong and all that other bullshit and I just want to scream because Im not strong at all, I didnt choose this, it chose us and I don’t have an option ‘a’ and ‘b’ where b is ‘lie on floor and do nothing’, so I carry on, that doesn’t make me strong, it makes me a mum. It makes me Celiac kids mum. And at times, I feel like this is it, this is our life, because it seems like we never get a break from it no matter what we do.

Im so tired, tired of doctors and tired of second opinions and people, PEOPLE! The ones who knows someone who knows someone who’s cousin had a kid like bla bla bla and have we tried bla bla bla….. I know these people are just trying to help but Im so freaking TIRED of all of it. Its not like we have sat on our bums and not done whatever we can to try to change this… we moved country for crying out loud!

I carry on, I try to live, I plan things and know they will probably be cancelled one way or another anyway, I clean , I cook, I carry on and in my head Im screaming at the top of my lungs because it is just so fucking UNFAIR all this shit, and how the hell can a 5 year old girl have had what, 9 ( or more ? )  pneumonias and I don’t know how many upper respiratory infections and bronchiolitis??? People DIE from pneumonias!! I am not strong, I break inside every time she is sick, how many times can you have pneumonia and actually be ok at the end of it? How many times can your oxygen levels drop THAT low with your heart having to beat extra hard and fast to make up for it and still be ok?

I am so tired. Not tired like I can sleep a bit and fix it, not even pregnant drewling on your chin kindof tired, but utterly exhausted, and if there was an option b to lie on the floor and just lie there forever and ever I would probably choose that……

But instead… I choose option a…. I carry on, I clean and cook, and cry a little in the bathroom.

Tomorrow allergist appointment and ‘normal’ dr. appointment, and off we go and carry on and bla bla bla….

Linda

Beef in paprika and tomato sauce

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Another quick and easy staple dinner recipe. Change it up using different veggies.

I used:

  • half an onion (I have kids remember! Use more if you like)
  • 1 green paprika
  • beef, I used two nice steaks and cut them, but you can buy the ready made stroganoff pieces if you like. (NOT braising beef as it takes ages)
  • passata, I used about 250g

If you are serving this with rice then the sauce takes about the same time as a pot of basmati rice to cook, so get the rice going then make the sauce 🙂

Frying pan on hot, add olive oil (extra virgin obviously, never fry in any other olive oil) then pop the beef in (don’t wait to heat the olive oil as it ruins the oils flavour). Add salt & pepper. Once the beef has sealed (that means its gone a nice brown on all sides) add your onions and paprika and turn the heat down to medium. Once the onion has gone soft add your passata and a teeny bit of water, if you like you can add half a stock cube at this point, I usually do, but no need. If you do, make sure its organic and gluten free!

Simmer the sauce until the paprika is soft but not soggy, if you have that rice going then the sauce should be done around the time you drain the rice 🙂

The kids eat this with Rice, I eat mine with some cabbage, or on its own to make it LCHF.

Enjoy 🙂

Linda

Easy Peasy Orange chicken (that doesn’t taste of orange!)

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Im bad at writing recipes, but good at cooking, so here we go, Im continuing with easy simple stuff that anyone can make 🙂 Real food baby, its the way to go. And real food doesn’t have to be hard at all!

Ideally to make a gourmet meal of chicken you should marinade, but hey, Im a busy mum of 2, running a gluten free house and I hardly have time to shower some days let alone think ahead to marinade stuff in advance! So, keeping it simple here. My kids love and adore this chicken, and so does anyone else that eats it, and its so super simple!

I used:

  • 4 good size chicken thighs (you can use drumsticks or whatever you like)
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • half an orange

Pop your Chicken in an oven pan, salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Then squeeze the juice of half an orange on top. Bung it in the oven 175º degrees for 45 minutes.

Thats it. Like really. I mean it 😉

This particular batch Im keeping in the fridge (juices from pan included) to make a quick dinner with after sons football game tomorrow. you could serve it as is with rice and veggies and a sauce or use it for salads or lunch boxes, anything goes.

Enjoy 🙂

Linda

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EPI!

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Gimme an E, gimme a P, gimme an I, what do we have? EPI!!!

Do I sound exited? Thats because I am, cheerleader kind of exited with high leg kicks!

For ages now whenever I say we are gluten free, people ask if we do all our shopping in Epi. Im like… ehhhm, no I go to a few places. Then in my head I think I should visit Epi one day, but I didnt get around to it, we are fine, and how good can it really BE?

Let me tell you how good it can be! So good that my eyes went all shiny and I almost had to cry a happy tear and Im pretty sure the staff were viewing me with great suspicion walking around with my giant smile and shiny eyes.

Walking in to Epi is like walking in to gluten free heaven, or like I described it to hubby, like a mixture between the best spinneys and organic foods and cafe but cheaper and BETTER (Dubai ppl will understand). The jams are all high end good jams, there are tahinis galore, most organic, no other shop in Wroclaw has a choice of 10 tahinis, and they have sunflower seed butter (insert cheerleadery star jumps here)!

Then you get to the gluten free bread section, and its the size of a normal bread section, and part of you is so happy its crazy and the other part a bit disappointed because where are the biscuits and flours…?

Then you get stuck at the freezer section that has a whole freezer just with gluten free! Fish fingers, mini pizzas, lasagne etc. Onwards to the cheese and milk section and they have a ton of lactose free / dairy free cheese and milk and butters.

And meats! Poland might be the country of cold cuts and sausages, but finding gluten free ham and sausages here can be very very difficult. No problem in Epi, daughter and hubby will be happy, they are real sausage lovers.

Then.. then you get to the biscuit section, and there is a giant gluten free section, and flours galore and choice! Isn’t that what we all miss the most? To be able to choose between several things rather then having to buy whatever is there?

I also found organic potatoes (woop woop) and several kinds of organic gluten free drinking chocolate.

Is it expensive… well yes, but buying gluten free and organic stuff is expensive anywhere so actually I don’t think it was that bad.

Will I go back to Epi? HELL YES! I might even move in if they let me!

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-Linda

Epi is near Arkady Wroclawski (actually just across the road) and has its own parking, parking is free if you spend money so show your car park card at the till.

They are open 8am-10pm every day except Sunday when they are open 10am-4pm.

http://www.epi.com.pl/site/

Autumn soup

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1622014_726987724021811_5018130055690459151_nThe leaves are turning orange here in Poland and its gorgeous. Everywhere you turn there are gorgeous fall veggies to be seen. My kids always eat well when I give them soup so what a great opportunity to make some!

Im not one for following a recipe, and when I cook I never measure or remember how I made something, if you are needing precise recipes then all I can do is apologise! Dollops and drops and a bit of is the way to go (unless you are baking). So here we go.

I used :

  • 2 large carrots
  • 1 small pumpkin
  • 1 white onion
  • 1 yellow onion
  • 1 gluten free organic stock cube
  • water
  • red lentils (you don’t need lentils, I like to add them for some extra dimension and nutrition)

Clean up your pumpkin discarding the inner bits and seeds and the peel (obviously). Peel the carrots and onions. Chop everything roughly (the pieces can be pretty big, it doesn’t matter). Make sure the onions kindof stay together or they will burn. Pop everything in a roasting tray and drizzle with a  generous amount of olive oil, add salt & pepper.

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Now, pop it all in the oven, 175º degrees for 45 minutes.

Once its ready take it out and discard any black onion bits. Add everything to a large pot. Add your water and stock cube, you want to just cover the veggies. You can always add more water later if you want. IMG_9577

Bring your soup to a boil. Once its boiling you can add your red lentils, I just use around a handful two. lower the temp and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Now its time for that trusty hand mixer to do its job again, get it in there and whizz until everything is nice and smooth with no bits. Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed. I leave my soup nice and thick and freeze in portion sizes, then I just add a bit more water when I reheat.

This soup is a fab way to use up leftover veggies from a roast dinner, just don’t add the potatoes 😉

-Linda

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Cauliflower Mash (LCHF staple)

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My kids absolutely love cauliflower mash, at first I would have it as a main for me as Im on LCHF (Low carb high fat), and give the kids only a small bit as a veggie along with their starch (rice, potato etc), but then I realised how much they love it, so now we all eat it in a full portion. The kids even like to eat it on its own with cheese on top! RESULT for mummy!

So, although this is so simple and basic, I have had several people ask me how to make it, so here goes 🙂

You need, one cauliflower, butter, cream, salt and pepper (yeah, thats really it!)

Clean the cauliflower up and cut it in to 4 (or less) pieces. Boil in a large pot of water with some salt added. When the cauliflower is ready, drain it in a colander and pop the cauliflower back in the pot. Add a big dollop of butter, if you are an LCHF’er like me, then you know what big means, lol, if you are your average person, then just whatever is big to you, don’t be shy 😉 Add some salt & pepper.

Get your hand mixer/blender in the pot and work it baby!

When everything is mashed and smooth add a teeny dollop of cream, and whizz a bit more. I cant say how much cream as I don’t know how big your cauliflower is, but a few table spoons is more then enough, if you add to much you will have soup.

Thats it, khalas! You are done 🙂

(this dish reheats well, so make a big batch and keep leftovers in the fridge for up to 2 days)

-Linda

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3 pneumonias in 9 months

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I mean seriously, enough already???!!! How many steroids and breathing aids do we need to use for all this crap to stop??!! Poor Celiac kid just cant catch a break, why??!! If I could take all these pneumonias from her and have them instead I would, only I don’t know how anyone who’s had 3 pneumonias in 9 months can even function?? Yeah, so the pneumonia came before my post earlier (I didn’t want to rain on my own parade), and we caught it so super early she was able to continue with school with just one day off, but still, she must be absolutely exhausted! How can anyone grow and live and function when all their energy goes to fighting bloomin’ pneumonias? On top of the pneumonias poor kiddo now has bone pain from having been on steroids so long. Can we take her off the steroids? No, because then we would be looking at more pneumonias then 3 in 9 months… we cant win here, and poor kid can hardly walk down the stairs properly because her legs hurt! Im tired of seeing doctors and getting second opinions, and Im even more tired of every bloody doctor having a different opinion, who are we supposed to believe? This is our child’s life we are talking about! Now the latest dr. didn’t want to prescribe the tablet that really helps her, because she wants her to see another allergist, another doctor says she can take the tablet long term no problem, yet another says it should only be used short term. So who am I supposed to believe? I know the tablet helps her, I know that, because every time she comes off it she gets sick, so just prescribe it please! I don’t want my kid to be on every medication under the sun, but we need to stop these pneumonias! Not all people with pneumonia survive so seriously just give us the darn tablets! Never mind then the money we fork out on all these doctors visits… bah… its very very lucky we can afford to, not all are so fortunate.

Anyway, rant over. If anyone knows of an exellent paediatric pulminologist in Wroclaw or nearby, please let me know!

-Linda

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I am home ALONE!!!

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7caxrn5MiHOME ALONE!!!! I mean really ALONE!!! I know mums will understand after the long summer break, but imagine then that the last time I was home alone was April!

I am not going to clean, or empty the dishwasher, or fold laundry. Im going to sit / lie / veg around and do absolutely nothing! I am home alone baby, yeah!!

So here I am (alone – just incase you didn’t catch that part!). Not stressed in the slightest, because Celiac kiddo is at school with her brother, and today I wont go in for snack time or lunch, because they’ve got it all under as much control as they possibly can.

I keep promising myself I will put my school letter up, but by now schools have already started so I guess Im yet again to late. I will be starting a new section on the blog called stuff, check there in the future for the school letter and other goodies. The fact that I am sitting here, not stressed, is all to do with the school letter and preparations. About Celiac kid being prepared and every adult in school knowing what she can / cant do.

Sure, its a bit of work, but the payback is tenfold. HOME ALONE BABY! (yeah!!)

-Linda