martinimade

I know that I haven't been talking much about the Diva's Celiac disease as of late. This is a good turn of events. I seem too only talk about things that are causing some kind of emotional upheaval. Managing her, as matthew puts it, "self-hating small intestine," is something we do out of routine anymore. Given how quickly she's been growing and how generally healthy she's become, we are doing well.

Still, things sneak up on us. I've gotten blase about reading labels on foods that shouldn't contain gluten in the first place. Like in chicken broth. Or tomato soup. Or butterscotch chips. In every case, the discovery came as I was throwing the package out after putting the contents in something I was about to feed to her. In the case of the butterscotch chips, I also had to throw out a batch of frozen mini-cheesecakes* I'd tossed them in.

Yes, I know, my vigilance should be constant. Yes, yes, I could get around all of this by making every last thing from scratch. But, really, who has time to do this? While we don't eat that many packaged foods, we do eat some. Labeling laws have greatly improved, though, which makes it pretty dang easy to find the gluten --- if you can remember to check in the first place.

With the chicken broth (College Inn has gluten) and the soup (Campbell's does too), it was easy enough to find another brand. Not so much on the butterscotch chips but it's also not that big of an issue. The Diva's diet mostly consists of food in their natural states. Partly, this is because of the Celiac but, mostly, this is because she's a preschooler. Complicated food will be shunned, regardless of whether or not its gluten free.

*the mini-cheesecakes are one of her favorite treats and the thing we bring in when a kid in her class has a birthday. Essentially, the mini-cheesecakes, which I make in a muffin tin, are cream cheese, eggs, sugar and vanilla. If we're feeling kicky, we fling on some colored sugars or chocolate chips. I keep a bag of the 'cakes in the freezer, where they will happily sit until some kind of event calls for one. The Diva like them more than she ever liked cake, frankly.