Two Recipes, One Meal

Today I'm going to give two recipes that make up a fine filling dinner - chicken stir fry with cauliflower rice. The way I've heaped them on the plate probably doesn't do justice to the meal. I would suggest presenting them as two halves on the plate rather than one on top of the other so that you can see everything that's gone into the dishes. In the photo I have the chicken stir fry on top of the 'rice'. You will have to make two batches of the cauliflower rice to even up the number of servings as one batch only makes two servings. I served mine on a plate but a bowl is also fine.

Fried Rice

2 servings

Ingredients:
1 medium cauliflower head
2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
2 tbsp gluten free soy sauce or Bragg's liquid aminos
diced half courgette/zucchini
quarter onion, finely chopped
1 large carrot finely chopped (or half a medium sized or 2 small)
1 crushed garlic clove
2 finely sliced spring onions/scallions to serve

Utensils:
food processor
thin, flexible spatula for stir frying

Method:
Pulse the cauliflower in a food processor to a rice-like texture.
Put the pumpkin seeds in a dry frying pan set over a medium heat and toast until browned. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
In the same pan, add the sesame oil, soy sauce, courgette and onion. sauté until the onions have browned. Add the carrot, garlic and cauliflower rice and stir fry until the cauliflower rice has softened, which should take approximately 4-5 minutes. Remove from the heat and divide between bowls. Top each serving with the pumpkin seeds and spring onions/scallions.

Credit: Plant-based Paleo by Jenna Zoe

Chicken Stir Fry

4 servings as part of a meal with the 'rice'

Notes: To roast raw cashews drizzle them with a small bit of oil and stir to coat, pre heat oven to 175C (350F), put the cashews on a baking sheet and spread out to a single layer, place in the oven for 15 minutes. I usually do this the day before to save time.
You may as well use the toasted sesame oil for this dish if you already have it out for the cauliflower rice. Other than that, any good cooking oil that works well with a high temperature hob setting will do.
Cornstarch probably works better than coconut flour if you can get a safe one but coconut flour is more convenient for me.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp oil
[aromatics]
2 tbsp minced ginger*
quarter tsp pepper
[chicken]
450g (1lb) diced chicken breast
[marinade]
1 tbsp minced garlic
1.5 tsp coconut flour
1 tsp gluten free soy sauce
1 tsp Japanese (because it's normally gluten free) rice wine or dry sherry
0.75 tsp sea or Himalayan salt
[vegetables]
125g (1 cup) sugar snap peas
1 cubed red bell pepper
60g (half cup) whole roasted cashews
[sauce]
60 ml (quarter cup) chicken broth
1 tsp gluten free soy sauce
2 tbsp rice wine or sherry

Utensils:
a whisk
a thin, flexible spatula for stir frying
a wok or stir fry pan

Method:
Cut up ingredients as instructed. Place the aromatics on a small plate nearest to the wok. Place the chicken and marinade ingredients together in a bowl. Stir to combine and mix until no dry coconut flour can be seen. Add a teaspoon of oil to the chicken and stir to combine to help prevent the chicken sticking to the wok. Place the bowl next in line to the aromatics. Put the vegetables on a plate, sprinkle with salt and place next in line to the chicken. Whisk together the sauce ingredients in a bowl and place next in line to the vegetables.
Set the hob to high and place the wok on it. After about 30 seconds start flicking droplets of water on the pan to determine when it is hot enough, making sure not to overheat it. As soon as the droplets evaporate within 1 to 2 seconds of contact the wok is hot enough.
Pick up the wok from the hob and swirl 1 tablespoon of the oil around it to coat the bottom and sides.
Put the wok back on the hob and add the aromatics. Stir the aromatics for 10 seconds or until fragrant.
Push the aromatics up the sides of the wok. Carefully add the chicken and spread evenly in one layer at the base of the wok. It should sizzle on contact. If it doesn't the wok was not hot enough.
Cook the chicken undisturbed for about a minute, allowing it to sear.
Stir fry the chicken constantly for about another minute and mix with the aromatics, or until the chicken is lightly browned but not yet cooked through.
Swirl the remaining tablespoon of oil into the wok and add the vegetables.
Stir fry for about a minute more.
Pour the sauce in around the sides of the wok instead of the centre to prevent cooling the pan and lowering the cooking temperature. Stir fry for about a further minute or until the chicken is just cooked through.

*See the tip in this post to speed things up with the ginger:
https://myautoimmuneblog.blogspot.com/2019/12/chicken-ratatouille-with-twist.html

Credit: This is my adaptation of a recipe I found on a website called "the kitchn".

Meal Planning and Preparation - A Fairly Detailed Look

I wasn't sure what I was going to write about today before I sat down to write. But I thought I could kind of continue on the theme from last week in a way. I can talk about meal planning and preparation. I read through last week's post and it's not a direct continuation but it can be the next step on from that.
The job I was in last year was part-time from Monday to Wednesday so I planned and prepared my meals to eliminate as much preparation and cooking time as possible on those days. I continued that trend after I finished that job to give myself time for other things, such as this blog. I switched lunch to supper and moved dinner from the evening to the afternoon when I finished that job. On Saturday I plan my meals for the next four days and make a shopping list. I have an app on my phone called Google Keep that you can use for notes and lists. I have a long list of groceries that I can tick and untick as needed on the app so I don't have to write a list every week. I decide what I'm going to do for my main meals and have "fruit" on the list. I usually decide on the way to the shop or in the shop what fruit that will be. I try to vary the fruit every week. Breakfast is usually soup (usually shop bought but home made when I can) with SuperValu gluten free bread (easiest to tolerate because no dairy and best value for money), Pure brand alternative to butter or dairy spread (no dairy or gluten) and Violife "cheese" (again, no dairy or gluten). I normally have the fruit mid to late morning between breakfast and dinner. I normally use recipes from The Paleo Diet Cookbook, Plant-based Paleo and The Healthy Gut Cookbook when planning dinners and the ingredients from that, that I wouldn't have left in the kitchen, go on the list. Sometimes the recipe is a meal in itself and sometimes I mix a vegetable dish from one book with a meat dish from another. I have a few individual recipes from online that are printed out as well. This week, for example, I used a chicken stir-fry recipe from online with a cauliflower rice recipe from Plant-based Paleo as one meal. I try to make supper quick & easy. Normally SuperValu bread rolls with Pure spread, Violife "cheese" slices and baby spinach or lettuce and something like a pork chop or a turkey stake for meat. Occasionally though I'll have gluten free sausages with black puddings and white puddings. Once I have the list done I do my grocery shopping.
On Sunday I prepare and cook four portions of each meal before mealtimes. I have one for that particular meal and store the extra portions in tupperware in the fridge for the next few days. Two reasons for four portions: 1) most of the recipes in the cookbooks are for four servings and 2) I'm prepping and cooking on Sunday so that I wouldn't have to Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Typically, it's only the soup I'd warm before eating from Monday to Wednesday. I don't bother to heat the other meals as they're already cooked and I want to save time. It's easy for me to do things this way because I'm single and living alone. It would be more complicated doing this with a partner and/or family to think about.
If I've nothing for a Thursday breakfast on Wednesday evening I'll go to the shop for something. Otherwise I might have something left over that I can rustle up a quick breakfast with. I generally don't plan meals as much from Thursday to Saturday but some planning does go into them. Instead of a proper dinner on Thursdays, I find I snack when I'm out and about doing grocery shopping for the rest of the week. Sometimes I might treat myself to eating out for lunch if the finances allow for it. I get something quick and easy for suppers from Thursday to Saturday.  I didn't tell my dietitian the last day that I normally get gluten free pizzas for Friday and Saturday breakfast because she wouldn't approve. I don't recommend it for everyone. I normally go to yoga on one of those days (usually Friday) and it's a twenty minute walk to the class so that's my justification for it. Dinner is something easy to rustle up. Typically canned fish and baby spinach which don't require any cooking and a large sweet potato and a root vegetable which can be steamed in ten minutes on two layers of the same steamer pot. This way I'm doing proper cooking only one or two days a week and heating or steaming one or two items other days, cutting down on my cooking time considerably.
My budget has improved a bit too because I'm not buying quick and easy packaged and processed foods every day for meals. But I have something coming up this weekend which means I'll be away Saturday and most of Sunday. I'll have to plan around that and perhaps look at quick and easy alternatives for food next week as a result. I have gotten into a good routine with planning and meal prep but I won't let the disruption of it next week bother me. I'll just get back to it again the following week. I hope this can help and give ideas to anyone who's struggling to find the time to cook proper meals and might not be eating healthily because of it. Just work on planning and preparing meals, get into a routine so that it feels normal and don't let it get you down if the routine is disrupted. Just get back into the routine at the start of the next cycle.
It turns out I wrote a lot after not being sure what to write about before I sat down.

Adapting To Coeliac Disease

I haven't talked much about coeliac disease on the blog lately. But a recent post on the facebook group Coeliac Experiences prompted me to do it today. Someone new to the group had just found out they were coeliac and was looking for advice on adapting to a gluten free diet. So I commented my advice which I'll give here also, but in a bit more detail.
First of all, when you receive a positive blood test, you need to keep eating as you normally would as much as possible until your biopsy so that you don't receive a false negative and end up being diagnosed with a gluten allergy or gluten intolerance rather than full on coeliac disease. Once the diagnosis is confirmed you'll get medical advice and should get an appointment with a dietitian. You need to avoid cross contamination and become a very picky eater, especially if you're living with non-coeliacs. Make sure you have utensils and food prep space separate from others. Clean utensils and prep area before and after preparing food if you're around non-coeliacs. In my experience, the best thing you can do is try to eat unprocessed fruit, vegetables and meat and avoid processed food as much as possible. It's not always easy to do that but nowadays there are plenty of gluten free alternatives to what would be classed as "normal" foods (bread, cereal etc.) but the portions are smaller and the prices are higher. Stay away from anything that has oats in it even if it's labelled gluten free. A coeliac gut cannot handle oats until it is fully healed and then only gradually introduce so-called "gluten free" oats to see if you can tolerate them. Most coeliacs cannot handle oats at all, I'm told. I'm one of them. I don't eat oats. Gut healing can take from six months to a year even without accidental ingestion or cross contamination.
I would advise trying to avoid all grains including corn (maize), sorghum, millet and even rice to help the gut heal and then a gradual reintroduction to see what can and can't be tolerated. Grains have cross reactive proteins similar to the gluten proteins in the grains we coeliacs have to avoid. One of the biggest helps to me from Coeliac Experiences facebook group was when I felt like I'd been glutened but couldn't figure out how and someone suggested that it sounded like a sugar overload to them. That was a revelation and started me using the group as my coeliac support group. Basically too much sugary foods inflame the gut to the point where you think you got glutened even if you didn't.
That's another thing you should do. Get yourself a into support group, whether it be an online one or physically meeting up with other coeliacs. You can build up experience dealing with it and all help each other out with advice from shared experiences. Then you'll cope almost as if you haven't got the disease at all when you get used to it. A support group will make that process easier and quicker.
Another big help for me was giving up dairy. Coeliacs are lactose intolerant in the early stages and the proteins in dairy are sticky like gluten producing a slight inflammatory reaction as well - known as cross reactivity, which I mentioned with grains earlier. Dietitians in Ireland, in my experience, will tell you that you need dairy for calcium but we are actually biologically evolved to live without dairy after we've been weaned. Cruciferous, leafy green vegetables are a good source of calcium. There is a little bit of dairy in my diet because certain foods might have a minor dairy ingredient but I don't drink milk or eat things like ice cream or cheese. I have a low dairy tolerance as long as I'm not eating specifically dairy products. I use ghee alright in cooking sometimes but that's mainly the fat from butter with the protein and sugar mostly eliminated. The fat is ok as part of a healthy diet. It's the protein and sugar (lactose) that are tough on the gut. Anyway, like other stuff, eliminate it early and when you start to feel better reintroduce it gradually. If, as with other reintroductions, you find you can't tolerate it even after a healed gut just leave it out and look for a healthy alternative if you can.
I should stress that when you are shopping for food you need to read the ingredients and labels of EVERY packaged food you get BEFORE purchasing them. A "free from" aisle in a shop or supermarket doesn't necessarily mean gluten free. It can also have food that is dairy free or sugar free yet still be harmful to coeliacs because of containing grains or being cross contaminated at the place it's produced. I bought a product one time, read the ingredients and allergens before purchase and there was nothing unsafe listed. I got home and read the rest of the label and noticed something on the opposite end of the label to the ingredients and allergens. It said it was produced in an area that handles grains containing gluten. Luckily I didn't open the product so I was able to take it back and get a refund. If it doesn't say gluten free on the packet it's best not to buy it. If in doubt, leave it out!
Don't eat out until you've got used to a gluten free diet. Then research places and ask for advice from other coeliacs before you eat out. Eventually you'll have a few trustworthy places that you can go to with friends. A smart establishment knows that if a group of people contains a coeliac and went to their place, it's most likely the coeliac that chose their place because it's safe. It's good business for them to attract as many customers as possible, so they do well to cater for coeliacs.
It's a lot to take in but if you stick with it you'll be a lot healthier and living a normal life in a relatively short time. You'll get used to it and get into a routine of knowing what you can and can't eat. Eventually the only times you'll be conscious of it is when you're grocery shopping, around other people with food, eating out and discussing your health with a medical professional. You'll be doing everything as normal apart from that. Coeliac disease is controlled by diet and lifestyle. You don't have to take any medication for it. So, as autoimmune diseases go, it's not the worst one to get. One more piece of advice before I go. Try to focus on what you can eat as much as possible to try and avoid getting overwhelmed by what can't eat.

Dietitian, Tennis Elbow and Glucojuice

I went to the dietitian as planned on Thursday. I could have gone over my diet with her in more detail than I did but the way the appointment went and the way the conversation went meant I went with the flow and didn't give her the full story. I'm 82.7kg in clothes and shoes. That's 2.7kg over weight. She said it was ok to keep eating gluten free bread but cut down on things like sausages and black and white puddings and the Dr. Coy's chocolates. She said brown bread is better because it has more fibre. Generally more fibre will help with my weight apparently. I didn't tell her I'd be using animal fat and ghee in cooking this week but I know she'd frown upon me using them. I told her how my sugars were trending high lately and she said bringing my weight down would help bring my sugars down. Because of my weight and blood sugar levels, she wants to see me sooner than six months. I have an appointment with the diabetic nurse in April so the dietitian made one for May. At the end of the appointment I asked her about weight gain and insulin resistance. She said that the reason I need more insulin is because there's more of me there. Funny, but it makes sense!
I had to collect my diabetes prescriptions from the doctor yesterday so as I was going there I made an appointment to see him about a niggling irritation in one of my joints. There was a medical student there and the doctor asked if it was ok to see her first. Since it wasn't serious I agreed. We went to an examination room and the doctor said he'd join us after a while. I told her about a niggling pain in my elbow and she examined my arm and it's flexibility. I didn't feel any pain while she was doing that. The doctor came in and asked her about me and what she did to check me. He spoke some medical terms to her that I didn't understand. Then he asked me to stand up, reach out my arm straight in front palm down and resist him pushing it down. I instantly felt the twinge I was telling them about. You can't beat experience. He knew what it was before testing my arm and the test confirmed it. The medical student tested every range of motion except what the doctor tested. It gives me faith in the diagnostic experience of my doctor. The diagnosis is tennis elbow. A repetitive strain injury. He gave me a prescription for anti-inflammatories and a cream to rub on the area should things get too painful (but I don't expect it to). He also gave me a print out of exercises to do that will help and told me to get a strap specially designed for tennis elbow at the pharmacy. I was thinking how inflammation is a problem for people with autoimmune diseases and even though I don't know what caused my tennis elbow, I'm not surprised that it's a type of inflammation in one of the nerves around the elbow.
The diabetic nurse recommended Glucojuice in October instead of that glucogel I have. I finally got it put on the prescription at the doctor yesterday and collected it today. I already have the lift glucose tablets but it's handy to have these as well. I have been trending high, like I said, so I don't think they'll be used anytime soon but obviously it's best to have them just in case.