Bird and Little Bird

Thursday Afternoon in February.

Purple potatoes with roasted quinoa, garlic and cranberry bean gratin. In the oven as I type. 

 

Baby toes in baby socks.  With fuzzy pants.  Sigh.

 

 

We stayed after school for a few minutes to help collect and empty sap buckets at the sugar house.  At home, there was homework.  And, the Ostheimer/Playmobil mashup is still in full effect on the living room floor. 

 

 

A soft and furry companion, sitting in the late afternoon sunshine.

 

 

Bare branches and visiting chickadees near the bird feeder out back.  We are expecting our first real and proper snow in a very long time tonight into tomorrow.  I'm trying not to get too excited, but Mariam and I are both very hopeful just the same. 

 

The Corn Tortilla Project.

As we have ventured farther down the road of gluten-free living, various little challenges have arisen.  No surprise there, I suppose.  However, it was a little unexpected when corn tortillas, generally a big time staple at our house, temporarily became a no-go.  Corn, being corn, is naturally gluten-free.  But, after being advised by various gastreonterologists about the importance of maintaining a strictly gluten-free environment for Mariam, we found ourselves needing to read labels on everything, even products that were seemingly safe.  And it turns out that a corn tortilla that is both semi-decent and guaranteed to be free from any and all traces of gluten is not to be found in the greater Burlington area.  Thus the humble brilliance of the tortilla press arrived at our house.

 

Making corn tortillas turns out to be surprisingly simple, which is a good thing, since we have been eating them like it is our job.  The biggest challenge in the whole operation was probably just assembling what we needed.  We couldn't get guaranteed gluten-free masa locally, so we had to order it online.  And the press came from Amazon as well, since none of our local kitchen shops had them in stock when we were looking.  We'd love to find a cast iron one, but apparently they are few and far between and so far, we haven't had much luck.

 

We've been using a combination of 2 cups masa, 1 1/2 cups of hot water and a teaspoon of salt for each batch of tortillas.  This seems to yield a dough that is stiff but still workable and that forms and presses well.  Letting it sit for an hour or more after mixing up the batter is important to getting good results, so I would definitely recommend doing that. 

 

The basic process goes something like this: mix up the dough in the proportions mentioned above.  Let it sit for an hour at room temperature. Then, make a golf ball sized ball of dough and place it between two sheets of wax paper in the center of the press.  Close the press and press down hard enough on the handle to really flatten out the dough.  Open it back up, peel off the top sheet of wax paper and then gently peel the tortilla off of the bottom sheet.  Toss the tortilla into a dry skillet and cook it over medium-low heat, turning once about half way through and taking it off when it begins to brown just slightly.  You can reuse the same wax paper to make the rest of the tortillas from your batch of dough.

 

And as always, easy and good continue to be a stellar combination.

Procrastination Baking.

 

 

 

There isn't anything quite like having lots and lots of things that you absolutely must get done very soon to make a person decide to bake doughnuts instead.

Just saying.

In My Experimental Kitchen.

So, the verdict is officially in and indeed, Mariam's biopsy results were positive.  Kiddo has celiac disease, and life is going gluten-free from here on out.  Because of the possible (and significant) effects of cross-contamination, all three of us are giving up the gluten, and the last week or so has been all about clearing cupboards and auditing the refrigerator. 

Now, love of bread is not a trivial thing around here.  Dan often gets teased about the fact that he doesn't even write "bread" on the grocery list.  He calls it as he sees it and writes "toast."  I know that some families adapt to gluten-free living by giving up a lot of the grains they previously ate and taking a more paleo approach, but I think that isn't going to work for us.  At least not right off the bat.  We need replacement baking and we need it in an immediate way. 

So, I've been doing my best.  I managed a pretty good loaf of sandwich bread this weekend, from a recipe that I found in this book.  One of the things that the author recommends is finding a gluten-free flour blend that already includes xantham, and we've been experimenting with the Better Batter blend.  So far, it seems to work remarkably well.  I also think that it is very cool that the company makes a point of offering financial assistance for low-income families who need to go gluten-free.  Grassroots activism around making healthy food available for all is good, good stuff in my humble opinion.

 

Another great discovery that I made last week is Easy Eats, an online magazine that has a lot of great resources around gluten-free cooking and living.  I made a batch of cinnamon rolls from a recipe I got there over the weekend and they turned out very well, despite my relative ineptitude with the tricky/sticky nature of gluten-free flours.  I also used a bread recipe from there to make a basic bread for use in my stuffing on Thanksgiving, and from what I hear from the folks who ate said stuffing, it was indistinguishable from the real deal.  So that's kind of awesome.

 

Of course, as of tomorrow I will be thirty-eight weeks pregnant.  Which is a lot of weeks of pregnant.  Depending on how things go in the pretty immediate future, we could all be eating gluten-free cereal for every meal very, very soon.

Sparkle Snow Dough.

We haven't actually had much in the way of snow here in Vermont just yet.  A few flakes here and there, but nothing like what the rest of the east coast has had.  Still, I like a snowy winter as much as the next girl (well, for the first few months anyway) and I'm starting to feel a little itchy for snowman building season to start in earnest.  In the meantime, working on the winter issue of Alphabet Glue has me thinking about winter crafts and activities, particularly the sort that are good for keeping small hands busy.  This afternoon, I decided that in honor of the last couple of days of dark skies and cold wind, I would whip up a batch of snow colored sparkly playdough. 

I used my favorite no-cook playdough recipe, which you can find in the archives here.  But instead of adding food coloring, we added in about a quarter cup of silver glitter.  Honestly, I think next time we'll add even more, but I wanted to conserve my glitter resources a bit because they are needed for a couple of Alphabet Glue projects that I haven't photographed yet.  Even with the rationed glitter, sparkle dough turned out to be a big hit with Mariam.  I'm always kind of amazed at how she can outgrow winter coats, shoes and even once favorite picture books, but a fresh batch of playdough always seems to fit just right. 

In the Meantime.

I was hoping to show you some finished projects this afternoon, but a sudden change in the weather here has resulted in a day so dark that it is almost as if it has been night since about two this afternoon.  Not the best conditions for snapping a decent photo.  So, since I received so many supportive and helpful comments and emails from you all about this post, I thought that I would share a bit about where we're at with things now.

We did have an appointment with a pediatric gastroenterologist last Friday (we got in quickly because of a cancellation) and it was really helpful.  The doctor was very, very good with Mariam, and with us as well, and in the end, we decided to follow his recommendation to schedule her for an endoscopy.  The procedure is scheduled for this coming Tuesday.  I realize that it is a bit of a stretch to go from additional blood work to an intestinal biopsy in such a short time, but I think that the reasoning behind the decision is pretty solid.  Essentially, it comes down to a couple of things.

First, we had to consider the important difference between celiac disease and a wheat or gluten allergy.  While many people confuse the two (I will admit to having previously been one of them) celiac is very different from a gluten allergy in some pretty important ways.  The biggest of which is the fact that celiac is actually not a food allergy at all.  It is an autoimmune disease which, if left untreated, can result in some really scary long term effects.  Such as lymphoma or colon cancer.  Obviously, I want none of that around here.  The other consideration was the fact that celiac can only be definitively diagnosed by intestinal biopsy.  We could do a hundred blood tests, but in order to be certain, we would need to do the biopsy at some point.  And if we make dietary shifts ahead of time, we render the results of any future biopsy inaccurate.  It made the most sense to all of us to just keep her on her current diet, and to schedule the endoscopy for as soon as possible.  If we were just looking at an allergy, I might have made different choices here.  But celiac is not something that you grow out of, or that gets better if you don't make the necessary changes and make them permanent.  Knowing as much as possible now can only make life healthier and better for her later.

So, that's where we are now.  Kind of a strange place to be, honestly.  For lack of a better word, it feels a little bit creepy to be feeding her things like pancakes knowing that the gluten in them could be making her sick.  But, it would be even crazier to take her off gluten now and risk compromising the test that could tell us what is actually going on and allow us to make informed decisions about the rest of her life.  There is, of course, the possibility that the initial blood test was a false positive, but I haven't been able to determine just how likely that is.  I suspect it is because no one really knows.

Whatever the outcome of all of this, I'm certainly looking forward to having some answers soon.

 

Making Coconut Milk.

I use coconut milk often enough in baking and cooking that I try to always keep a can or three on hand.  Except that lately I've been forgetting to do that, and seem to find myself without it when I'd like to throw a bit into a batch of lentils or a pot of tofu curry.  Well, do you know what turns out to be remarkably fast and easy?  Making coconut milk from scratch.  I've been using the technique from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything, but I've seen essentially the same recipe with the same proportions in a couple other books that I have hanging around the shelves, so I'm assuming this is pretty standard business.  Give it a try!

Coconut Milk

2 cups shredded, unsweetened coconut

2 cups water

Put the coconut into a blender.  Bring the water to a boil and pour it over the coconut.  Blend on a high speed for about thirty to forty seconds, then turn the blender off and let the mixture rest for ten minutes or more.  Strain through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl or large liquid measuring cup, pressing down on the mixture with the back of a spoon to extract all of the liquid.  This should yield between one and half and two cups of coconut milk. 

On Going Gluten-Free.

I know that I've mentioned in the past that we are a food allergy family.  Dan has a serious allergy to tree nuts (not to mention various other things like blue cheese), and his mom has celiac disease.  Because of the genetic component, Dan is supposed to be tested for celiac annually, but so far has always tested negative.  It was originally suggested to us by someone (I can't remember who) that Mariam also be tested annually, but we've in the past we've met resistance from our pediatricians when we asked about testing.  The prevailing opinion of her doctors so far has been that she doesn't have any severe symptoms and she isn't a first-degree relative of someone who has celiac.

When we switched pediatricians about this time last year (for a number of reasons) the new doctor's office noticed, as we have, that Mariam is really small for her age.  Her height is probably just a bit below average, but her weight is considerably lower than that.  In the last two and a half years, she's gained about five pounds total and at almost eight years old, is just above forty pounds.  The new doctor suggested that if she was still tiny in a year's time, we could go ahead and do the celiac test.  And, last week we did. 

Here's where it gets a little complicated.  I won't bore you all with technical details and test acronyms, but essentially, there are about four different blood tests which are commonly used in a particular order in the diagnosis of celiac.  That is, if I have any understanding of what's going on here, which I might very well not.  But Dan does, so that helps.  Mariam was supposed to be given two of the four tests, but for some reason, results only came back on one.  On that test, a value of four or less is negative for celiac, a value of nine or above is positive.  Mariam's result was an 8.4, or what the Mayo Clinic (who ran the test) calls a "weak positive." 

What does this mean? Well, that's the part that comes next.  Mariam's is basically a positive result, but the fact that the result from the other test never appeared isn't super helpful when it comes to making a solid diagnosis.  Which means that more tests are needed.  The nurse practitioner who called with the results wants to talk to a pediatric gastroenterologist before ordering the next set of tests, which is slightly maddening because they are a very clear next step as far as anyone else can tell.  Plus, she works part time, so getting in touch with a specialist and then getting tests ordered if she gets the okay will take until at least the middle of next week, if not longer.  Blood samples are sent to Mayo for testing, which takes an additional week.  So, right now, there isn't any real certainty.  But in all likelihood, Mariam has celiac disease. 

I'm pushing for us to have any necessary follow up appointments or additional testing done as soon as possible.  Knowing that we are having a new baby in about six weeks makes me especially motivated; I don't want to be in the beginning stages of a major family diet shift just as we're welcoming a newborn.  A bit much all at once, you know? But it could still be a number of weeks before we have concrete answers to this little puzzle.  And, we can't make any dietary changes for Mariam until after the next round of tests are complete or we risk false negative results which could further confuse the situation.  I think it goes without saying that further confusion is not really an appealing option.

So, we wait.  I won't say anything about waiting patiently.  Just waiting.  And while we do, I could definitely use help finding resources related to going gluten-free.  I'm more than aware that the internet is overflowing with potential sources for information on gluten-free living.  But, there is more there than I feel like I even want to attempt navigating on my own right now.  I would love to have some help knowing where to begin and what resources are worthwhile.  I'm especially concerned with the fact that we will need to have our household be both gluten-free and nut-free since so many gluten-free recipes (especially baking) seem to include nuts. If you have a favorite gluten-free cookbook, blog, website or magazine recommendation, I'd love to know about it.  Especially anything that covers the basics of this whole business. 

I think what I am trying to say here is this: help?!?

The Mug Mystery.

So here's something a little curious...

About a month ago, Dan and I were emptying the dishwasher when one of the two of us suddenly noticed that all the coffee/tea mugs we expected to find inside were indeed, not there at all.  Since they weren't in the cupboard that morning when we needed them, we assumed that they must be in the dishwasher.  But, they weren't.  Actually, for that matter, they weren't anywhere.  They had apparently disappeared.  Basically overnight. 

I know what you're thinking and yes, at first I too assumed that Dan was unintentionally hiding them in his messy office.  He is in a glorious phase of medical school where 27 hour hospital shifts are common and he doesn't spend all that much time sleeping even on the days when they aren't.  Three or four hours here or there.  So it stood to reason that because he is generally too tired to know what on earth is going on around him, he might very well have forgotten a bunch of tea mugs that he had used in the middle of the night and not put back in the kitchen.  Nope.  A thorough office search uncovered only one mug, leaving the tally of still missing mugs at four.  Well, we think it's four.  It might actually be one or two more that that.  Super weird, no?

Many weeks later, we still haven't found them.  There were thoughts that maybe they were put away in the wrong place or that there was some other sensible explaination, but considering that they haven't yet turned up, I am doubtful.  So, it remains a mystery, the whereabouts of the missing mugs. 

I'm starting to suspect the cat. 

Squash-Based Meal Planning.

I realize that there is plenty of talk around the interwebs right now about how fall is Apple Season.  This is, of course, more than true in Vermont where we have been eating apples at nearly every meal for the last few weeks.  I am unabashedly in love with all things apple, so this is a good, good thing.  However, fall is also the official season of another much beloved agricultural goodie; winter squash.  Winter squash, really, is an abbreviated term for "happiness with a peel on the outside."

We've been especially fond of delicata and butternut for the last few years, in part because they are both so adaptable and can be easily served so very many ways.  Annie 2.0 and I planted a ton of both varieties in our shared community garden plot this year, but alas, they were lost in the post-Irene flooding along with everything else.  Plus, our super wet spring and summer had already made the plants very tempremental.  So, we are dependent on the local produce aisles and farmer's market for fufillment of our fall squash needs this year.  Somehow, I think we'll make do.

 

Carmelized Delicata Squash

One delicata squash

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon brown sugar

a pinch of salt

 

Rinse the squash and cut it in half lengthwise.  Scoop out the seeds and then cut each half of the squash into half-moon shaped pieces about 1/2 inch wide. Heat the olive oil over medium heat and then add the squash.  Let the squash cook in the oil, and every few minutes give it a stir to make sure that it is browning evenly.  About ten minutes in, add the brown sugar.  Continue cooking the squash until it is brown and a bit crunchy on the outside and the flesh and peel are soft.