Here at chez Jorth, we have a sneaking suspicion that Master Galumph may be gluten intolerant. Once my initial moment of panic had passed (gluten intolerant? But we live on gluten-based carbs! What in the blazes am I going to feed you all? squawk! splutter! yelp!) I decided to get all scientific on this problem. Only just stopping short of retrieving my lab coat and safety glasses from the cupboard, I sat down and figured out our hypothesis:
Galumph is gluten intolerant.
Hmm. This didn't look very impressive. I mentally scolded myself: "Jorthy! Four years of science at uni, and that's the best that you can do?", so to make things look a little more official I added underneath:
This supposition is made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation.
There! That big fat HECS bill wasn't totally wasted! Now that my hypothesis was in order, and my lab coat and safety glasses were on alert in the cupboard, ready to adorn my person if I happened to rap three times on the cupboard door, I was ready to prove or disprove my statement by means of an experiment. Excuse me whilst I run around the room looking all mad-professorey, rubbing hands together in glee and cackling in a disturbing manner. Potentially whilst wearing my lab coat.
It sounds exciting, doesn't it? A food-based experiment, right inside my own kitchen! You can almost smell the Bunsen burners flaming away! In actuality, all it really means is that for the next two weeks gluten in any way, shape or form is forbidden from entering our house, and if outside our place of residence, it is forbidden from entering the Galumph's mouth, and we'll see if that improves things. (Did you hear that, mister? NO BAKERY TREATS!) In the spirit of things, I've written out a menu plan featuring everything but gluten, and also invented this gluten-free minestrone, which I have to say was so darn tasty that we all had two helpings.
Minestrone with quinoa
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 leek, white part only finely sliced
1 carrot, peeled and finely diced
1 zucchini, finely diced
800g tin of crushed tomatoes
400g tin of red kidney beans, rinsed well
3/4 cup quinoa, washed well
4 cups of water
1 - Heat the olive oil over a medium-low heat in a large saucepan, and saute the leek and carrot until soft. Add the zucchini, tomatoes, beans and stock and bring to the boil.
2 - Add the quinoa, turn down the heat and let the soup simmer for 20 minutes. Season with freshly cracked black pepper and serve.
Sounds like a yummy meal for my gluten-free dinner table! Just a quick question, have you ruled out coeliac disease first? To do the medical tests for coeliac disease you need to be on a fairly gluten-heavy diet. Sometimes people eliminate gluten, feel fantastic and then no-way do they want to reintroduce gluten in order to have the tests done. If Galumph does have coeliac disease, and eliminates gluten before having the tests, you may never know.
ReplyDeleteI took my own self-administered test last year. However, I read you have to be off gluten for a bit longer, like a month, before you can really see if there is any improvement.
ReplyDeleteOh, and there are many delicious gluten-free desserts out there, including cupcakes and brownies, so don't scare the Galumph like that. ;)
I am also probably gluten intolerant, so I know what you're going through. I just wanted to mention, which you probably already know, that there are many great food blogs out there with excellent gluten-free recipes and cooking ideas (some are not gluten-free blogs, per se, but label recipes gluten free when they are). Examples are the Gluten-Free girl, canelle et vanille http://www.cannellevanille.com/ (she was a pastry chef who went gluten-free), My New Roots (mynewroots.blogspot.com). Good luck!
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