Gluten Free Anniversary

We have a few anniversaries to honour in December, first Toby moved here in December from Hong Kong 6 years ago and its also been 2 years of blogging at this address. Although I blogged for years at aprevious site. It also marks my first anniversary of being gluten free. I did go on and off a gluten free diet a few times last year but got my final coeliac biopsy results and committed to being gluten free in Dec last year.

I thought it might be helpful for those who have recently found out they are coeliac or gluten intolerant to talk about my experience. I was miserable when I got my first blood test results, friends and family tried to be supportive by saying focus on what you can eat, how lucky you are to know what was causing issues etc. In the beginning I couldn't be 100% positive about it, I was grieving all those foods I could never eat again like crumpets, amazing sourdough bread, and so much more. I'm happy to report that was a phase and I didn't stay being grumpy about it. It's so much easier now that I have a routine at home, recipes all sorted, friends who make amazing gluten free dishes and know half a dozen restaurants where I frequent. However, I do on rare occasions get cravings and miss the convenience of take away sandwiches but being gluten free just means being a bit more organised about meals.

I've strict about the gluten free diet. I've been glutened a couple of times this year with sometimes small amounts of gluten and its not pretty, my stomach bloats so much that I look pregnant,  I have horrible sharp pain on one side (generally left) and other bowel related issues that I'm sure you don't want to hear about on a food blog. It generally takes me about 24-48 hours of feeling horrible and up to a week til I feel back to normal. The longer I'm gluten free the worse the symptoms seem to get. Thankfully it has only happened a few times. I know some people cheat because they don't have many symptoms but its so not worth the possible long term health issues such as bowel cancer. I also find it easier, because I start to forget how amazing gluteny crumpets, pastry, bread etc can be. So don't do it guys!

I'm definitely felt healthier this year, not just stomach and bowel related but also with less colds and other viruses and my body seems to be able to fight viruses and infections better. I've also had more energy. My body is finally been able to absorb vitamins and minerals properly but with that have also come a small amount of weight gain. Although that might be a coincidence or my age as many people report weight loss after going gluten free.

I found the process of going gluten free so much easier thanks to a couple of coeliac friends who talked me through it, talked to me about good brands, answered so many questions about ingredients and just  agreed that it can be bit shit sometimes. So I'm more than happy to answer any gluten free/coeliac questions, not from a nutrition standpoint of course but in terms of the above. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email.

Here is some advice which I found useful in the beginning and which people often get confused about:

• There is wheat in regular soy sauce.
• Spelt products are NOT gluten free.
• Most buckwheat noodles contain regular wheat.
• Most fresh rice noodles contain wheat, but dried varieties are generally fine.
• Barley is part of the gluten family, everyone forgets about this one.
• There is barley in some brands of soy milk and some miso paste.
• Products can contain wheat and still be labelled gluten free as it depends on the way the wheat is processed. So the gluten free label overrides everything else.
• In Australia, caramel and glucose syrup derived from wheat are gluten free as no gluten remains after processing it. Does this apply in other countries too?
• Basically the only alcohol you need to avoid is beer, ale, lager, stout and Guinness. Although spirits may be derived from wheat, rye or barley they are distilled in such a way that there is generally no gluten remaining in the final products.
• If any ingredient in a product is derived from wheat, rye, barley or oats, then this must be declared on the label in Australia. 
• Watch out for for wheat in some corn starch and icing sugar varities.
• Check out Coeliac Australia website for more details: http://www.coeliac.org.au/coeliac-disease/index.html 

We have a few anniversaries to honour in December, first Toby moved here in December from Hong Kong 6 years ago and its also been 2 years of blogging at this address. Although I blogged for years at aprevious site. It also marks my first anniversary of being gluten free. I did go on and off a gluten free diet a few times last year but got my final coeliac biopsy results and committed to being gluten free in Dec last year.

I thought it might be helpful for those who have recently found out they are coeliac or gluten intolerant to talk about my experience. I was miserable when I got my first blood test results, friends and family tried to be supportive by saying focus on what you can eat, how lucky you are to know what was causing issues etc. In the beginning I couldn't be 100% positive about it, I was grieving all those foods I could never eat again like crumpets, amazing sourdough bread, and so much more. I'm happy to report that was a phase and I didn't stay being grumpy about it. It's so much easier now that I have a routine at home, recipes all sorted, friends who make amazing gluten free dishes and know half a dozen restaurants where I frequent. However, I do on rare occasions get cravings and miss the convenience of take away sandwiches but being gluten free just means being a bit more organised about meals.

I've strict about the gluten free diet. I've been glutened a couple of times this year with sometimes small amounts of gluten and its not pretty, my stomach bloats so much that I look pregnant,  I have horrible sharp pain on one side (generally left) and other bowel related issues that I'm sure you don't want to hear about on a food blog. It generally takes me about 24-48 hours of feeling horrible and up to a week til I feel back to normal. The longer I'm gluten free the worse the symptoms seem to get. Thankfully it has only happened a few times. I know some people cheat because they don't have many symptoms but its so not worth the possible long term health issues such as bowel cancer. I also find it easier, because I start to forget how amazing gluteny crumpets, pastry, bread etc can be. So don't do it guys!

I'm definitely felt healthier this year, not just stomach and bowel related but also with less colds and other viruses and my body seems to be able to fight viruses and infections better. I've also had more energy. My body is finally been able to absorb vitamins and minerals properly but with that have also come a small amount of weight gain. Although that might be a coincidence or my age as many people report weight loss after going gluten free.

I found the process of going gluten free so much easier thanks to a couple of coeliac friends who talked me through it, talked to me about good brands, answered so many questions about ingredients and just  agreed that it can be bit shit sometimes. So I'm more than happy to answer any gluten free/coeliac questions, not from a nutrition standpoint of course but in terms of the above. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email.

Here is some advice which I found useful in the beginning and which people often get confused about:

• There is wheat in regular soy sauce.
• Spelt products are NOT gluten free.
• Most buckwheat noodles contain regular wheat.
• Most fresh rice noodles contain wheat, but dried varieties are generally fine.
• Barley is part of the gluten family, everyone forgets about this one.
• There is barley in some brands of soy milk and some miso paste.
• Products can contain wheat and still be labelled gluten free as it depends on the way the wheat is processed. So the gluten free label overrides everything else.
• In Australia, caramel and glucose syrup derived from wheat are gluten free as no gluten remains after processing it. Does this apply in other countries too?
• Basically the only alcohol you need to avoid is beer, ale, lager, stout and Guinness. Although spirits may be derived from wheat, rye or barley they are distilled in such a way that there is generally no gluten remaining in the final products.
• If any ingredient in a product is derived from wheat, rye, barley or oats, then this must be declared on the label in Australia. 
• Watch out for for wheat in some corn starch and icing sugar varities.
• Check out Coeliac Australia website for more details: http://www.coeliac.org.au/coeliac-disease/index.html 

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Don't Stop Eating Gluten ....

I'm writing this post because I have had a few conversations with people both online and offline lately where they suspect that they have coeliacs disease or are gluten intolerant or they test positive to the coeliac blood test and they state that they will trial going gluten free.

So my response is DON'T STOP EATING GLUTEN NOW!!!!!

Eat lots of gluten and have all of the coeliac tests first including the biopsy. The general consensus is that you need to eat at least four slices of wheat based bread (or equivalent) each day for 6 weeks prior to the biopsy. It's important to know properly because it's a serious autoimmune disease which can lead to other health problems including malabsorption of nutrients, osteoporosis, infertility, miscarriage and small bowel cancer. Also, if you are not eating enough gluten you might get a false positive for the blood test or the biopsy.

The other thing is if you simply decide that you are gluten intolerant without getting tested you could be doing some damage. Since most gluten intolerant people are not as strict about avoiding gluten as you need to be with coeliacs disease. Imagine spending a lifetime eating tiny bits of gluten and then find out you have caused other issues.

Also I'm trying to save others from the situation I was in where I went g/f for a few months didn't feel better then returned to eating gluten and felt worse than I ever had. I then spent a few months feeling really horrible, had horrible fatigue and was constantly sick. I wished someone warned me and then I would have just continued eating gluten.

For more info, see the Coeliac Society of Australia's info here. Rant over, hope you all know it was well meaning!

I'm writing this post because I have had a few conversations with people both online and offline lately where they suspect that they have coeliacs disease or are gluten intolerant or they test positive to the coeliac blood test and they state that they will trial going gluten free.

So my response is DON'T STOP EATING GLUTEN NOW!!!!!

Eat lots of gluten and have all of the coeliac tests first including the biopsy. The general consensus is that you need to eat at least four slices of wheat based bread (or equivalent) each day for 6 weeks prior to the biopsy. It's important to know properly because it's a serious autoimmune disease which can lead to other health problems including malabsorption of nutrients, osteoporosis, infertility, miscarriage and small bowel cancer. Also, if you are not eating enough gluten you might get a false positive for the blood test or the biopsy.

The other thing is if you simply decide that you are gluten intolerant without getting tested you could be doing some damage. Since most gluten intolerant people are not as strict about avoiding gluten as you need to be with coeliacs disease. Imagine spending a lifetime eating tiny bits of gluten and then find out you have caused other issues.

Also I'm trying to save others from the situation I was in where I went g/f for a few months didn't feel better then returned to eating gluten and felt worse than I ever had. I then spent a few months feeling really horrible, had horrible fatigue and was constantly sick. I wished someone warned me and then I would have just continued eating gluten.

For more info, see the Coeliac Society of Australia's info here. Rant over, hope you all know it was well meaning!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Coeliac Diagnosis Confirmed

I found out on Monday night that the biopsy confirmed that I have coeliac's disease. If you haven't been following my blog for a while you might not be aware that most of this year has consisted of me trying to find out. I actually had another biopsy at the start of the year which didn't show anything. I then ate gluten free for months before another specialist insisted that they test again.

The strange thing is that when I was eating gluten initially there was no obvious side affects. It wasn't like I ate bread or even gluteny mock meat and felt sick. I just some random bad days. Also when I went gluten free for a few months I didn't really feel much better. But when I returned to eating gluten for the second biopsy I spend most of the month feeling bloated at random times and sometimes for days at a time and just feeling really blahhh. Also almost the entire time I had a cold or nausea, or some sort of minor things wrong with my health. So I suspected that I had it but wasn't sure if it was just placebo effects.

I still haven't ruled out fructose malabsorption, but my specialist suggested that I wait 6 months and then if I am still not feeling better have the test which is fine with me!

My specialist can't explain why the biopsy results  changed, since they were only about 6 months later. But he did say that someone people have negative biopsies and then years later they have another biopsy and have it. Almost like people are pre-coeliac or something. I have mixed feelings about it, it's good to finally have an answer to what's wrong. Also after eating gluten free for a while I know that I can do it. But I'm a little disappointed too because I do have to be strict forever to prevent some serious health problems in the future. And eating out is a little inconvenient most of the time. Also, I'm not sure how I will be able to eat in Hong Kong, when we return to visit Toby's family since most of the vegetarian restaurants are based around gluteny products and wheat is in soy sauce and most sauces. Anyone know of other vegetarian coeliac who have travelled to Asia and managed to eat out?

So from now all of the recipes on here will be gluten free again. Although I still have a few gluteny restaurant reviews to get through first.

I joined the coeliac society straight away, and received this pack which also includes some optional extras that I paid for like the gluten free travel guide. I'm most looking forward to using the Coles discount card. Unfortunately it does contain a few items which aren't vegan like the bread and chocolate biscuits. So if you want them please let me know.

I found out on Monday night that the biopsy confirmed that I have coeliac's disease. If you haven't been following my blog for a while you might not be aware that most of this year has consisted of me trying to find out. I actually had another biopsy at the start of the year which didn't show anything. I then ate gluten free for months before another specialist insisted that they test again.

The strange thing is that when I was eating gluten initially there was no obvious side affects. It wasn't like I ate bread or even gluteny mock meat and felt sick. I just some random bad days. Also when I went gluten free for a few months I didn't really feel much better. But when I returned to eating gluten for the second biopsy I spend most of the month feeling bloated at random times and sometimes for days at a time and just feeling really blahhh. Also almost the entire time I had a cold or nausea, or some sort of minor things wrong with my health. So I suspected that I had it but wasn't sure if it was just placebo effects.

I still haven't ruled out fructose malabsorption, but my specialist suggested that I wait 6 months and then if I am still not feeling better have the test which is fine with me!

My specialist can't explain why the biopsy results  changed, since they were only about 6 months later. But he did say that someone people have negative biopsies and then years later they have another biopsy and have it. Almost like people are pre-coeliac or something. I have mixed feelings about it, it's good to finally have an answer to what's wrong. Also after eating gluten free for a while I know that I can do it. But I'm a little disappointed too because I do have to be strict forever to prevent some serious health problems in the future. And eating out is a little inconvenient most of the time. Also, I'm not sure how I will be able to eat in Hong Kong, when we return to visit Toby's family since most of the vegetarian restaurants are based around gluteny products and wheat is in soy sauce and most sauces. Anyone know of other vegetarian coeliac who have travelled to Asia and managed to eat out?

So from now all of the recipes on here will be gluten free again. Although I still have a few gluteny restaurant reviews to get through first.

I joined the coeliac society straight away, and received this pack which also includes some optional extras that I paid for like the gluten free travel guide. I'm most looking forward to using the Coles discount card. Unfortunately it does contain a few items which aren't vegan like the bread and chocolate biscuits. So if you want them please let me know.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Coeliac Results and Possible Fructose Malabsorption

This is probably boring for some of you so feel free to skip over this post but I might be helpful for anyone else struggling with the complex coeliac testing or even for just for me to get a better handle on it..

• So first I tested positive to the coeliac antibodies (200+)
• I then had negative biopsy which is considered by many to be the "gold standard" for diagnosing coeliac disease so typically that would be enough to say that I don't have coeliac disease since it means that my intestine looks like a normal intestine instead of a typical coeliac one. However it was negative for me but my specialist wasn't convinced so requested that I go gluten free for 6-8 weeks and re-test my coeliac antibodies and do the gene test.
• My coeliac antibody test did go down from the original 200+ to 90 after eating gluten free which suggested that reducing gluten was having an effect on the test. Although I don't know if that is a conventional way of testing, I haven't found anything about it online at least, so not sure how effective it is.
  
• I then tested positive to the following coeliac gene test HLA DQA1*05, and HLA DQB1*02 but not to DQb1*0302 (DQ8).
  

This is the confusing part. And this is my rough understanding from lots of googling:

• If you test negative to all of the gene tests then you don't have coeliac disease (which is what I was hoping for). But a positive test result does not automatically mean that you have coeliacs disease, although .90% of coeliac disease patients have both HLA DQA1*05, and HLA DQB1*02.
• So it looks like I might have coeliac disease but the negative biopsy doesn't make any sense. Although I've read on coeliac forums that sometimes people have negative biopsies and years later get tested and have positive results.

Today I went to see another specialist who suggested that I try the fructose free diet for a week to see if that helps because I'm still getting sick and I have noticed that sometimes it is after fruit. He also suggested that I return to eating gluten free so that I can have another biopsy. Although I still don't understand how a second biopsy would be different and I hate the idea of having another procedure so close to the previous one. I also had a bone density scan today because low bone density is common in untreated coeliacs.

I'm confused. I might try the fructose free diet first and then decide about returning to eating gluten and the second biopsy. Don't get me wrong, I would love to eat gluten again, but to start eating it only to stop again would be worse I think. It took me a while to adjust the first time around. Besides I've already got a new toaster, sifter etc and de-glutened my house.

My new fructose free diet means no fructose foods as well as other foods that are considered 'windy' so no:

1. apples, pears, mango, paw paw, watermelon, dates, figs, lychee, quince, persimmon nashi fruit
2. onions, leek, asparagus, artichokes
   
3. broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts, & legumes (due to their 'wind producing' rather than fructose content)
4. no dried fruit/fruit juice
5. no honey (or agave), sorbitol, mannitol & xylitol and sugar free gums

The specialist explained that if I do have fructose malabsorption issues it's not as strict as being coeliac so I would be able to include small amounts of fructose.

But how does a vegetarian survive for a week without the 'wind producing' legumes like chickpeas, lentils?

I might start the fructose free diet next week when I'm finished this week's food co-op box which included cabbage and broccoli.

This is probably boring for some of you so feel free to skip over this post but I might be helpful for anyone else struggling with the complex coeliac testing or even for just for me to get a better handle on it..

• So first I tested positive to the coeliac antibodies (200+)
• I then had negative biopsy which is considered by many to be the "gold standard" for diagnosing coeliac disease so typically that would be enough to say that I don't have coeliac disease since it means that my intestine looks like a normal intestine instead of a typical coeliac one. However it was negative for me but my specialist wasn't convinced so requested that I go gluten free for 6-8 weeks and re-test my coeliac antibodies and do the gene test.
• My coeliac antibody test did go down from the original 200+ to 90 after eating gluten free which suggested that reducing gluten was having an effect on the test. Although I don't know if that is a conventional way of testing, I haven't found anything about it online at least, so not sure how effective it is.
  
• I then tested positive to the following coeliac gene test HLA DQA1*05, and HLA DQB1*02 but not to DQb1*0302 (DQ8).
  

This is the confusing part. And this is my rough understanding from lots of googling:

• If you test negative to all of the gene tests then you don't have coeliac disease (which is what I was hoping for). But a positive test result does not automatically mean that you have coeliacs disease, although .90% of coeliac disease patients have both HLA DQA1*05, and HLA DQB1*02.
• So it looks like I might have coeliac disease but the negative biopsy doesn't make any sense. Although I've read on coeliac forums that sometimes people have negative biopsies and years later get tested and have positive results.

Today I went to see another specialist who suggested that I try the fructose free diet for a week to see if that helps because I'm still getting sick and I have noticed that sometimes it is after fruit. He also suggested that I return to eating gluten free so that I can have another biopsy. Although I still don't understand how a second biopsy would be different and I hate the idea of having another procedure so close to the previous one. I also had a bone density scan today because low bone density is common in untreated coeliacs.

I'm confused. I might try the fructose free diet first and then decide about returning to eating gluten and the second biopsy. Don't get me wrong, I would love to eat gluten again, but to start eating it only to stop again would be worse I think. It took me a while to adjust the first time around. Besides I've already got a new toaster, sifter etc and de-glutened my house.

My new fructose free diet means no fructose foods as well as other foods that are considered 'windy' so no:

1. apples, pears, mango, paw paw, watermelon, dates, figs, lychee, quince, persimmon nashi fruit
2. onions, leek, asparagus, artichokes
   
3. broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts, & legumes (due to their 'wind producing' rather than fructose content)
4. no dried fruit/fruit juice
5. no honey (or agave), sorbitol, mannitol & xylitol and sugar free gums

The specialist explained that if I do have fructose malabsorption issues it's not as strict as being coeliac so I would be able to include small amounts of fructose.

But how does a vegetarian survive for a week without the 'wind producing' legumes like chickpeas, lentils?

I might start the fructose free diet next week when I'm finished this week's food co-op box which included cabbage and broccoli.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Coeliac stuff, sun dried tomato pesto and costco

* So according to my specialist my coeliac antibodies levels are impressively high, I wonder if it was all those years of eating gluten based mockmeats, especially during my year in Hong Kong.
* The specialist said that I can eat gluten up until my biopsy in a couple of weeks time, which is awesome because I have been seeing it as a chance to say goodbye to all of my gluteny favourite foods except since I stopped eating it, I have been really really really sick whenever I eat it, I can finally see the link between my health problems and gluten. I might actually voluntarily stop beforehand because I want to be well.
* People with coeliac's disease often have issues with the absorption of vitamins and minerals, that can lead to other problems like osteoporosis, which is why constant low iron or b12, is often a sign that you should tested for coeliac disease, although most doctors seem to be pretty oblivious. I've always had low iron, even in my pre-vegan years and stomach related issues for years, and despite seeing several specialists and doctors I was never tested, until now. I was a little nervous about getting the results of my calcium, b12 etc knowing that my body might not be absorbing them either. Also, i've been vegan for 6-7 years and have been a pretty slack vegan when it comes to taking vitamins/minerals and am a bit of a junk vegan as you can probably tell from this blog. But, my calcium, b12, creatinine, potassium, are all ok. Yay!!!!! The only low ones are my iron (which is up from it's normally low place thanks to the expensive but effective red iron) and my vitamin d which is slightly low. I'm off to get some deva multivitamins though now from here and I might even try to get more sun.
* I'm having a gluten free vegan potluck on 26th Feb fri night in Brunswick, if you are interested in coming, email me at inthemoodfornoodles (at) gmail (dot) (com)

I got to go to Costo on the weekend with a member and come back a little poorer but with lots of bulk items like gluten free museli bars, tinned tomatoes, a giant jar of sundried tomatoes, a bag of almonds, 1kg of cherries (more on that later), maple syrup, frozen blueberries and 4 blocks or organic dark chocolate. It was awesome, and I restrained myself from buying giant bags of american potato chips, giant size hommous and lots more.

Anyway on to the food we made, I've started my first trial with gluten free pasta. Toby made the sundried tomato pesto from ppk, which is super easy, we ignored the advice and used the jar kind and eliminated the first step, we also used regular almonds instead of silvered and it didn't seem to make a difference.


Ingredients
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes (not the kind in a jar)
2 cloves garlic
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast or vegan parmesan
1/4 cup slivered almonds
Fresh ground pepper and a dash of salt

Directions
In a sauce pan soak sundried tomatoes in boiling water til covered by an inch. Leave to soak for 10-15 minutes til soft.
In a blender or food processor combine the sundried tomatoes and its soaking water, garlic, olive oil, slivered almonds, nutritional yeast or vegan parmesan, fresh ground pepper and a dash of salt. Process til smooth.

He then added the pesto to the pasta and mixed over low heat. We tried the Orgran vegetable rice pasta spirals. I was half expecting the pasta to be a little like cardboard, like wholewheat pasta, but it was actually alright. Maybe not quite as smooth as regular pasta, but really ok. I can still have comforting pasta carbs, yay!

As for the pesto, it was super quick to made, tasty and we will definitely make it again. Toby added cannellini beans to this dish, but it really does need some veggies too, we just didn't have any.

We added nooch to the top (instead of putting it in the pesto itself).

* So according to my specialist my coeliac antibodies levels are impressively high, I wonder if it was all those years of eating gluten based mockmeats, especially during my year in Hong Kong.
* The specialist said that I can eat gluten up until my biopsy in a couple of weeks time, which is awesome because I have been seeing it as a chance to say goodbye to all of my gluteny favourite foods except since I stopped eating it, I have been really really really sick whenever I eat it, I can finally see the link between my health problems and gluten. I might actually voluntarily stop beforehand because I want to be well.
* People with coeliac's disease often have issues with the absorption of vitamins and minerals, that can lead to other problems like osteoporosis, which is why constant low iron or b12, is often a sign that you should tested for coeliac disease, although most doctors seem to be pretty oblivious. I've always had low iron, even in my pre-vegan years and stomach related issues for years, and despite seeing several specialists and doctors I was never tested, until now. I was a little nervous about getting the results of my calcium, b12 etc knowing that my body might not be absorbing them either. Also, i've been vegan for 6-7 years and have been a pretty slack vegan when it comes to taking vitamins/minerals and am a bit of a junk vegan as you can probably tell from this blog. But, my calcium, b12, creatinine, potassium, are all ok. Yay!!!!! The only low ones are my iron (which is up from it's normally low place thanks to the expensive but effective red iron) and my vitamin d which is slightly low. I'm off to get some deva multivitamins though now from here and I might even try to get more sun.
* I'm having a gluten free vegan potluck on 26th Feb fri night in Brunswick, if you are interested in coming, email me at inthemoodfornoodles (at) gmail (dot) (com)

I got to go to Costo on the weekend with a member and come back a little poorer but with lots of bulk items like gluten free museli bars, tinned tomatoes, a giant jar of sundried tomatoes, a bag of almonds, 1kg of cherries (more on that later), maple syrup, frozen blueberries and 4 blocks or organic dark chocolate. It was awesome, and I restrained myself from buying giant bags of american potato chips, giant size hommous and lots more.

Anyway on to the food we made, I've started my first trial with gluten free pasta. Toby made the sundried tomato pesto from ppk, which is super easy, we ignored the advice and used the jar kind and eliminated the first step, we also used regular almonds instead of silvered and it didn't seem to make a difference.


Ingredients
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes (not the kind in a jar)
2 cloves garlic
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast or vegan parmesan
1/4 cup slivered almonds
Fresh ground pepper and a dash of salt

Directions
In a sauce pan soak sundried tomatoes in boiling water til covered by an inch. Leave to soak for 10-15 minutes til soft.
In a blender or food processor combine the sundried tomatoes and its soaking water, garlic, olive oil, slivered almonds, nutritional yeast or vegan parmesan, fresh ground pepper and a dash of salt. Process til smooth.

He then added the pesto to the pasta and mixed over low heat. We tried the Orgran vegetable rice pasta spirals. I was half expecting the pasta to be a little like cardboard, like wholewheat pasta, but it was actually alright. Maybe not quite as smooth as regular pasta, but really ok. I can still have comforting pasta carbs, yay!

As for the pesto, it was super quick to made, tasty and we will definitely make it again. Toby added cannellini beans to this dish, but it really does need some veggies too, we just didn't have any.

We added nooch to the top (instead of putting it in the pesto itself).

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

cream buns and really really realy bad news for me

I got my test results back today and I tested positive for coeliac disease. The doctor has sent me to a specialist so I'm not quite sure the extend of it but am pretty devastated right now.

I mean it's great that I don't have something serious, but bread is one of my major comfort foods. I just keeping thinking of more and more things that I can't eat like falafel, dumplings, my favourite mock meats, lebanese pizza, regular soy sauce etc. I have toast every single morning for breakfast and from what I have heard and the few I have tried, most g/f breads seem to suck.

I've been running around the house checking that things are g/f like Cheezly, thank god!

I'm still not sure what I can and can't eat but Lena has already been super helpful as I've asked her a thousand questions and discovered some interesting things like I need to be careful that my soymilk doesn't have barley in it, I didn't even know that barley was a gluten based product.

Even though I made g/f recipes lots of times like rice, nachos, and rice noodles I am feeling really stuck right now and just want to eat bread so if you have any awesome gluten free vegan recipes or blogs please share!

In other sad news for me, I just discovered that la panella sells yummy vegan cream buns, the cream is a little hard and almost icing like in texture, but they are pretty tasty and super sweet, just my type of dessert!

I got my test results back today and I tested positive for coeliac disease. The doctor has sent me to a specialist so I'm not quite sure the extend of it but am pretty devastated right now.

I mean it's great that I don't have something serious, but bread is one of my major comfort foods. I just keeping thinking of more and more things that I can't eat like falafel, dumplings, my favourite mock meats, lebanese pizza, regular soy sauce etc. I have toast every single morning for breakfast and from what I have heard and the few I have tried, most g/f breads seem to suck.

I've been running around the house checking that things are g/f like Cheezly, thank god!

I'm still not sure what I can and can't eat but Lena has already been super helpful as I've asked her a thousand questions and discovered some interesting things like I need to be careful that my soymilk doesn't have barley in it, I didn't even know that barley was a gluten based product.

Even though I made g/f recipes lots of times like rice, nachos, and rice noodles I am feeling really stuck right now and just want to eat bread so if you have any awesome gluten free vegan recipes or blogs please share!

In other sad news for me, I just discovered that la panella sells yummy vegan cream buns, the cream is a little hard and almost icing like in texture, but they are pretty tasty and super sweet, just my type of dessert!

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