Macaroni and Menudo #2

In a true blending of cultures I created a new recipe. It's menudo, but without the large corn that I can't remember the name of, and with rice pasta and guess what? Zucchini. (I apologize for misspelling zucchini constantly.)

After the chicken soup I was starving, and menudo has some magic quality. I see why it's been a staple in Mexico for a very long time. It's filling in a deep, comforting way. I can't get enough of it, and yet, it seems to fill the void when I'm starving. It must have protein and calcium because during this phase I began to sleep a little better and some desperate inner place began to calm down.

It's just like chicken soup only you have to cut it up in edible pieces and then, later, you don't have to take it off the bone.

1. I used half a block of menudo. It comes in blocks. It's the lining of a cow's stomach. And that's true not just some odd saying in my head. But don't hold it against the menudo. It is truly a lovely food, nourishing and satisfying. If it comes in a block, it's generally clean and good quality. If you buy it in leaves, wash it real well. Cut it up, no easy task as it's slippery and rubbery and doesn't cut easily. Persevere. Pieces approximately one inch by one inch is the goal.

2. An onion, cut into chunks. 1 by 2 inches is fine

3. Lots and lots of garlic. I used 10 cloves, skinned

4. More squash, in my house, the other half of the chicken soup zucchini, cut into 1 by 2 chunks. In your house, more of any kind of squash, green, yellow, long or round. Wash well. Cut up.

5. Boil it for longer than chicken soup, 2 to 3 hours, add Tinkyada little rice dreams. They hold up to the boiling and have a nice shape.



When the noodles are soft serve portion number one. When it's in the bowl, I squeeze a whole lime and add salt. I don't believe this is a low cal meal, but I let myself eat what I wanted because I was going to eat something. I was just hungry all the time for a few days. It goes with the territory. It's phase two. So I figure this does little harm and does seem to help.

You don't have to make mac and menudo to get through phase 2. Though when Torin lived here for a year, recovering from the ravages of gluten, he loved it and ate it like it was going out of style. Any good quality vegetable and protein soup will do, and lots of it. Make another chicken soup. Just have lots of something on hand. It provides liquid, protein, and general nutrition.

I know that a recipe for a food you think to yourself you wouldn't eat on a bet may not be very useful. Still, it's what's happening here, so it's what I know. Phase three manana.

Six phases through a really bad gluten flare #1

Speaking unscientifically, based on my own experience and children I've worked with, during a significant autoimmune reaction to gluten several difficult physical and psychological reactions converge. Nausea, diahrea, depression, irrational emotions, tremendous fatigue, lack of appetite followed by great hunger. This is how I cope and recover. I can't swear that given the same amount of time that I wouldn't have recovered anyway, but this is how I get through it, and I feel like it helps me survive.

It has been explained to me that during a gluten reaction, the person with celiac disease needs five times the normal amount of protein to rebuild damaged tissue, but also it's likely the person has little appetite for anything but simple carbs and sugars. So, the food has to be appealing, easy to eat and digest and full of protein.

After a week of being sort of sick, and not eating properly, I was getting worse, more gluten and not enough nutrition, I knew it was time to call in the big guns. Chicken soup. It tastes wonderful, is always there and ready. I just leave it in the pot on the stove and keep heating it up until it's gone, about two days later. I try to stuff it with vegetables too, so it's balanced

I have giant round zuchinnis in my garden. They aren't supposed to be this big, but they're over grown. In my mind I say they're big as cow's heads. (No reason why.) And they cook up very soft and unobtrusive. So I used half a cow's head of zuchinni.

1. 3 chicken quarters, washed well, fat cut off

2. One large onion

3. Half a cow's head of zuchinni, cut into 1 X 2 inch chucks, or 6 normal sized squashes cut into 2 inch sections

4. Lots of garlic, about 8 cloves, whole, but skins off

That's it. Bring it to a boil and simmer for 1 and a half to 2 hours.

I did put it in the frig for awhile to let the fat collect at the top because it seemed a little greasy. When it's cold, the fat makes a layer on the top. I remove it with a spatula and put it in a baggy and throw it away. My grandma saved it in the frig for frying, but I don't.

I salt it in the bowl. Usually, I take a section, like a thigh and pick the chicken off it before putting it in the bowl, but not always. If people come and smell it and want some, unless they are children, I let them pick their own chicken off the bone. In that case I put the whole piece in the bowl.

You can make some brown rice and keep it to eat with the soup. You know, chicken soup with rice? Does anyone remember that old Carole King song, from the "Really Rosie" album? If the soup is hot, it will heat the rice in the bowl as you serve it. What could be better for a miserable, tired, unhappy person with celiac disease who is trying to recover from gluten exposure?

Be certain I did not eat any gluten on purpose. But I'm sensitive, and contamination is my downfall, some gluten on my hands from the shopping cart when I eat my lunch in the car. Or giving someone a hello kiss on the cheek right after they ate a sandwich. My daughter said it was probably the garlic powder. I stopped eating it and stopped getting worse, so maybe that was it.

In this case the saying is, "Make it and you will eat it." So, if you're sick, just do it.