A’s tummy troubles started soon after a family trip to Spain over the holidays.  We ate like Kings, went everywhere together, discovered the joys of tapas and siesta, and got out of our heads for a few short, glorious days.

We ate everything and anything, and I was particularly proud of A’s adventurous palette. He has never held a fear of food or a typical childish reaction to the weird, unusual or texturally challenging.  He declared his fave Spanish tapas to be the stewed octopus and the fried baby cuttlefish.  No shrinking violet foodie, this one.

We all got sick on the way home, with AG vomiting on me from Newfoundland to Calgary.  Not fun, but as a mom, vomit becomes NBD.   A’s troubles continued, and it took a clinic doctor to look at him and order the battery of tests that would trigger the “Ah HA” tTg marker.  While not high, it was high enough to start us on our journey.

We went gluten-free.  We turned our pantry upside-down, and bought strange and wonderful substances like sorghum flour and xantham gum.  Any secret chem lab dreams were realized.

The docs said we had to keep him on gluten until the penultimate endoscopy.  I was told in no uncertain terms to continue to poison my child in order to achieve an accurate reading on his villi.  Intellectually I understood this.  As a Mom, I knee-jerked back the other way.

We began gluten challenges:  daily introductions of gluten in measured amounts that would ensure accurate test results.  Amounts were large enough to trigger a reaction, and small enough to not cause undue pain.  We kept it fun.  Doughnuts, California rolls, and fun treats became the markers.  All the things I knew in my heart he would soon have to give up forever.

In the meantime, we started to learn to cook again, from the ground up.    In the spirit of our recent Spanish trip, I was delighted to understand that traditional Paella is naturally gluten-free.  So we got pretty good at that.   I soon realized that Paella is one of the most versatile dishes ever, that you can make (as we discovered in Spain) hundreds of different ways.

We were on our way, at the beginning of the road to a GF diet.  This was a pretty delicious start, and a reassuring one, too.

Buen Provecho!

I swear I wouldn’t do it.  I swear I would put down my keyboard, and actively choose not to add to the internet chatter in the blogosphere.  I wouldn’t get caught up or pulled back in.

Things change.

I have always written when seeking out a source of comfort, an outlet and a friend. Topics change over the years, but the one thing that has consistently blown up my personal instagram and facebook feeds are family, travel and food.  To say we have a healthy cooking competition in our house is to downplay a deep abiding passion for finding that next great dish, making it our own, and most importantly nourishing my family with food.  My husband and I are constantly planning, dissecting, measuring and tasting our way to the next delicious morsel.

Things change again.

Our son was recently diagnosed with Celiac disease after months of agonizing gastro-intestinal issues, behavioral challenges and personality shifts.  Since his diagnosis, we have gone gluten-free in the house.  Our aim now is to re-learn how to cook, heal his gut and understand how to make delicious food that won’t harm our son.

This is our journey through going gluten free, raising a family, and more broadly just trying to make it through the day-to-day.

Thanks for listening.