Sometimes Celiac Disease Isn't Fun!

(Photo Credit)

Sometimes Celiac Disease isn't fun! I'm not wanting to use this blog to complain, at the same time I'm going to be honest. Life with Celiac isn't complete food drudgery. There is some really good gluten free food! Sometimes it's still hard to stick to the diet. The worst thing for me though is still sometimes having tummy issues even though I stick to the diet pretty well (*sighs* I did have one measly Teddy Graham last night, but usually that minute amount doesn't bother me). Right now I'm laying on the couch because I just don't feel good. I was able to go to camp and not have "issues" at all! But ever since I got home my system has just felt out of whack. Is that crazy or what?!

I was afraid that I'd accidentally eat something I shouldn't while at camp and get sick. Well, I did eat two hamburger patties that had wheat in them. Am I the only one that finds it strange that a hamburger patty would have wheat in it? But thankfully I didn't get sick :-) Everyone in the kitchen were so kind about making sure I had food to eat! Moma sent a lot of food for me to take and there were one or two meals that I could eat that the camp staff had prepared. I really don't like having to ask people to go out of their way, especially when they're busy, like working in a camp kitchen feeding over 200 people, to prepare food for me. I'm perfectly content preparing the food for myself because I know that I'm "picky." :-) At the same time, I feel so loved when someone goes out of their way to make sure I have gluten free food to eat!

Living with Celiac Disease has gotten easier over the years. Moma was diagnosed in 1996 and I was diagnosed six months to a year later. 15 years ago you couldn't just go to WalMart or Winn Dixie and find gluten free food. If you wanted gluten free packaged food you had to go to a health food store, and a lot of it wasn't good! We've tried our share of really bad gluten free food! Now, you can go to pretty much any grocery store and find a decent selection of gluten free items. Our WalMart has a small gluten free section in the baking aisle.

Awareness has really gone up! More and more people who have had health issues their whole life are now finding that the underlying cause was Celiac Disease. It runs in the family, so if you have a family member with Celiac, please get tested! My doctor didn't want to test me because he didn't think that it would be likely for more than one person in an immediate family to have Celiac. I'm thankful Moma insisted because I have it. Last year my brother was diagnosed. If your doctor doesn't want you to get tested, insist on it! If they still don't want to test you, change doctors!

Sometimes it's really hard when people just don't understand that Celiac Disease is an auto-immune disorder, that even though you stick to your diet, you still get sick easier and stay sick longer than a lot of people. It's been hard for me anyway. I've had friends judge me and tell me that I could get healthier if I wanted to, I just had to have the right mind set. If you're dealing with people like that, don't let them get you down! They might mean well, but they are speaking out of ignorance. Not everyone is going to understand what it's like. That's just part of life. We just have to take their comments and move on.

I know this post hasn't really had much direction. It's just been a bunch of random thoughts, but I hope that it has been encouraging to ya'll who have Celiac or know someone who has Celiac. In the future I do plan on doing posts on Celiac Disease with a bit more direction :-)

Here's some more information on Celiac Disease:

National Foundation For Celiac Awareness

Celiac Disease Foundation

Symptoms of Celiac Disease

The Best Book I've Read About Celiac Disease! Celiac Disease: A Hidden Epidemic

Spanish-Style Everything Rice

Last night we had Spanish-Style Everything Rice and a green salad. This is another great recipe from Rachel Ray! We loved it!

Spanish-Style Everything Rice

Ingredients

• 1 large red bell pepper
• 2 1/2 cups chicken stock
• A generous pinch saffron threads, about 24 (saffron was too expensive at our grocery store, so we didn't use it!)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup orzo pasta or broken pieces of thin spaghetti (we used broken pieces of gluten free spaghetti since my mom, brother and I all have Celiac disease)
• 1 cup long-grain rice
• A small handful golden raisins (we didn't do the raisins)
• 1 tablespoon EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1/2 pound Spanish chorizo, diced (couldn't find it at our Walmart, we used mild Cajun sausage)
• 1 large Spanish onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 fresh chili pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• 2 ribs celery, finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/4 cup large Spanish, pimiento-stuffed green olives, chopped (don't like olives, didn't use them)
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon sweet or smoked sweet paprika, a palmful
• 2 pinches cinnamon
• 1/2 cup green peas
• About 1/2 cup dry sherry (didn't use this either)
• 1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 1/2 cup dry-roasted Marcona almonds or toasted sliced almonds

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Yields: Serves 4-6

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Preparation

Char pepper over an open flame burner or under the broiler on high with oven door cracked to allow steam to escape. Once pepper is blackened all over, place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let cool to handle, then seed and chop.

Heat stock and add saffron to allow saffron to steep. Do not reduce.

In a saucepot, melt butter over medium heat. Add pasta and toast until deep golden brown and very nutty in aroma. Add rice, stir, add saffron stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook rice 16-18 minutes, until tender.

Meanwhile, place raisins in a small dish and cover with very hot water to reconstitute – use just enough water to cover raisins.

Heat a tablespoon EVOO over medium-high heat in a large skillet. To hot oil, add chorizo and brown at edges. Once rendered, remove to a plate to keep the chorizo from drying out.

Return pan to heat and to the hot drippings add onions, chili pepper, celery, garlic, olives, chopped roasted red pepper and season with salt, pepper, paprika and cinnamon, toss and cook to tender crisp, 5 minutes.

Add chorizo back to pan with peas and heat through. Stir in raisins and deglaze the pan with sherry.

Fluff rice and fold into chorizo, peppers and onions. Top with parsley and almonds and serve straight from skillet at table into shallow bowls

Bacon, Leek and Tomato Spaghetti

   Occasionally, we like to watch the Rachel Ray show. I really like the last half of the show better because that's when she cooks the meal :-) Anyway, a few weeks ago she made Bacon, Leek and Tomato Spaghetti; ya'll, this is good!!! Moma and I were saying that the smell and taste of canned spaghetti sauce just isn't appealing to us anymore, now that we've tasted this!

Ingredients

• 3 leeks (we've substituted green onions when we didn't have leeks on hand; I haven't tried it, but I think celery would be tasty in this recipe as well) 
• 2 tablespoons EVOO - Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 6 slices center-cut bacon, thinly sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, very thinly sliced or chopped
• Salt and pepper
• 1 28-ounce can Italian whole tomatoes in purée (fresh tomatoes work well too)
• 1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 1 pound spaghetti (we use Gluten Free)
• Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
• A handful of fresh basil, thinly sliced or chopped

Yields: Serves 4

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Preparation

Trim tough tops and root ends of the leeks. Halve them lengthwise and thinly slice. Fill sink or large bowl with water and wash leeks, separating layers and swishing them around in water. Dry in a salad spinner or on kitchen towel and reserve.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta.

Heat a deep skillet over medium-high heat with EVOO, 2 turns of the pan. Add bacon and crisp. Add reserved leeks and garlic, cook 2-3 minutes to soften. Season liberally with black pepper.

Add tomatoes and purée to pan and mash up tomatoes. Bring up to a simmer and let thicken over low heat while you cook pasta. Stir in parsley.

Salt pasta water and cook pasta to al dente. Drain pasta and toss with sauce for a minute or so. Serve in shallow bowls with cheese and basil on top.

Here's the link to the recipe on Rachel Ray's website