Fast Friday Nights

Friday night – at last the end of the week. The day when the last thing you feel like doing is standing in the kitchen for hours to create something elaborate. You’re tired from picking up the kids late from {insert your child’s choice of soccer, dance, karate, swimming, or pole dancing lessons here...}.

It is important to have some great quick and easy dishes in your regular repertoire that you can put together as if on autopilot. One of my autopilot dishes is Creamy Chicken Pasta with Mushrooms and Bacon. I could probably cook it blindfolded with one hand behind my back standing on one leg - though chopping the ingredients up in this yoga position would be a blood sport.

Think about those dishes that you have probably cooked for years. Things you can easily just throw together in 20 minutes or less. Make a list. Think about how you could convert a few of them into gluten free versions. Is it just matter of using GF stock cubes? Changing the pasta from wheat to rice and/or corn? Thickening the sauces with GF cornflour instead of standard plain flour?  Once you have started to transform your pantry items on hand from “gluten full” to “gluten free”, you may be surprised at just how easy re-jigging your mother’s favourite beef casserole recipe may be.

A Tale of Two Meat Counters - Buyers Beware

In the last week I have had two shopping experiences I wanted to share...

The first - on Wednesday I needed some prosciutto to dress up a much loved pasta dish that hubby had requested specially - a Creamy Chicken Pasta with Mushrooms and Bacon. I stopped at the Super IGA in Ashmore briefly before going to pick up Cate from swim training.

I usually love shopping here as they have a very good selection of pre-packaged gluten free goods that are always cheaper than Woolworth's and health food supermarkets such as Mrs Flannery's. In December they had the most awesome little GF Christmas Cakes in the bakery section for around $6. Libby loved them. After Christmas they were reduced to $2 so I bought about about 8 and froze them to use later, cut up in school lunches. Just couldn't go past them at that price...Anyway back to the cold meat...

There was no prepackaged prosciutto left so I headed to the deli to buy the 6 slices I needed. I don't know about you but I am normally a bit distracted after placing my order. I am usually daydreaming about the next item I want to buy and what I'm going to create with it; or checking out the specials, rather than watching what the deli staff are doing in the back.

Lunch at Shi-Loh Jamaican Cafe Restaurant

My friend Maria and I decided to catch up for lunch last Thursday and I was keen to try this place. Having driven past the cafe many times I was intrigued by what Jamaican food might offer. With neither of us having been lucky enough to visit Jamaica in person, we figured the cafe was our next closest thing.

The place wasn’t busy as we were there mid week for lunch. The décor was colourful and cheerful and we were made to feel immediately welcome by our hosts. The feeling was fun and the reggae background music made me feel instantly relaxed and in a holiday mood.

The menu was simple but inviting and some great value lunch specials ranging in price from $10 - $14 were on offer.

To my great relief the mention of my gluten intolerance was meet by enthusiasm and understanding by the staff. Everything is made fresh and from scratch. The food is healthy, delicious and I could have almost my free choice of the menu except for a few dishes.

Welcome to my blog!

For years I couldn’t work out what was making me feel unwell. Every since I was a small child I have suffered from severe stomach pain, fatigue, depression and intestinal problems. Countless doctors had been unable to shed any light on the root cause of my strange and varied list of ailments. Many times over the years I was told I had ‘lowered immunity’ and was just plain ‘run down’.

It was only when searching for answers to my daughter's learning difficulties that I came upon the answer. My youngest daughter was really struggling at school. My husband Chris and I had relentless pursued many paths of investigation to help her including all the usual hearing, sight and mental processing tests. The professional verdict of her child psychologist was ADHD of the inattentive kind. At no stage did it even occur to me, nor her teachers or doctors, that food intolerances might be at play.