Thursday, April 19, 2012

Lettuce wraps and a bump in the road


In an effort to lead a less chaotic lifestyle the hubs and I tried to get organised this week.  We have five offspring, three of which are definitely old enough to help out around the house.  They have/had designated chores that we needed them to do daily, to keep the family functioning (we were very LOW functioning so it was basic stuff).  However, there was not really a system in place and it often ended up being 10 or 11 at night when they finally got around to doing some of these things.  The hubs and I are also guilty of procrastinating, letting things slide and putting things off more often than we should.  I'm pretty sure it's a genetic disorder we have passed down to our kids :)

This last weekend we decided we were done with the chaos (at least temporarily, this isn't the first time we have felt like this) and we made a plan to get it under control.  We divided up the house amongst the five older family members (3 big kids and mum and dad) and tidied up.  Then the hubs pulled out my binder of 'go to' recipes and had the three older kids each choose one meal for dinner, this covered three nights so we asked them between them to try and pick two more.  This was much more effective then asking them an hour before dinner what they would like.  It seems at that time they never have an answer, well except for pizza, burgers or chinese take out :/  Which are certainly valid answers, but not entirely budget friendly when you are feeding 7 people! 

The hubs and I are on a strict Jared (subway) diet.  Trying to lose weight before our first vacation in over 4 years that is fast approaching!!  So while we have a meal plan all taken care of, the hubs is driving to Subway twice a day to get us 'diet' food.

The kids chose the following meals for this week's dinners

Monday:  Asian chicken (how's that for a non descriptive name)
Tuesday:  BBQ Beef Sandwiches
Wednesday: Sweet & Sour Chicken
Thursday:  Lettuce wraps adapted from The Pioneer Woman
Friday: Burgundy Beef over egg noodles

Even though the hubs and I have been strictly sticking to our Subway diet, I have sampled the food I was preparing, quality control is awfully important to me ;)  That was brought to a screeching halt today.  I never tried the lettuce wraps pictured below which was this evenings dinner.  The kids said it was good and gobbled up multiple helpings so I will take their word for it.


Today I went back for a follow up visit to my Allergist.  I haven't felt well, pretty much ever since I can remember.  I have suffered from eczema all of my life and mild stomach discomfort.  The symptoms have been getting worse as I get older and right now my eczema is extremely bad (for me) and getting worse.  I was/am feeling run down, generally feeling unwell, itchy, achey and have had stomach aches almost daily.  It got to the point that it got really old and I wanted answers.  Now that I have some I am not sure I still want them (jk.....sort of).  Food ALLERGY testing all came back negative.  Not a big surprise, nothing I eat makes me react instantly.  The issue I am having is a delayed reaction and the above symptoms I am experiencing are indicative of a food intolerance. 

I suspected wheat and egg yolk and I was correct, they both came back positive, but gluten (which I also suspected) came back negative.  I didn't suspect garlic and almonds, but they also came back as culprits.  What's the verdict?  I am to avoid wheat, egg yolk, garlic and almonds for 3 months and then have my blood drawn again to see if the numbers go down.   The next three months are going to be challenging.  Thankfully Subway has gluten free rolls now and according to the hubs (who is tasked with getting our food everyday) they take it quite seriously when making a gluten free sandwich.  They asked him if he was ordering gluten free because of a food allergy, when he answered it was for a food intolerance they wiped everything down, changed gloves and utensils and then pulled out the gluten free roll.  Good for you Subway!

So moving forward for the next three months, I will try to bake wheat free/egg yolk free treats.  This might prove to be interesting but I am up for the challenge.  I CAN DO THIS!  Right?  I wish almonds weren't a problem because almond meal makes a great flour substitute in some baked goods like cookies and tarts.  I'll figure it out, I have already been looking at ways to get through the next TWD challenge, Hungarian Shortbread!  Yikes!  I have some ideas though, no procrastinating on this one, I am making my shopping list tonight so I can try it well before May 8th :)  Wish me luck!

 

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