Celia's Sausage Pie

 

Here’s what I just finished off for my lunch.

Celia has made these for years and find that they freeze well and are a very quick meal to warm up in the AGA after we get home late.

She starts by baking some of Musks gluten-free sausages in the oven with an onion or two. You can add anything else you like at this point. Peppers? At the same time she boils and mashes some potatoes.

She then takes a large lasagne type dish and chops the sausages and onions, then mixes them with baked beans and a good helping of pickle. This is the one change she’s made over the years, in that the BB and pickle are now gluten-free.

The mashed potato is then spread over the top and then grated cheese is sprinkled on top. It can now be successfully frozen, kept in a fridge until needed or cooked immediately for about twenty minutes in the oven.

I’ve just reheated Friday’s remnants in a microwave for lunch. It goes well with tomato sauce too!

Additives

 

We also had a chicken thing last night from Marks which was OK, but not brilliant.

The interesting thing was that it had a big label on it saying no additives.

It seems to me that Marks may be reacting to both everybody’s fears and also making sure that they are squeaky clean with respect to the new labelling regulations.

It’s probably a sensible decision, as we are only one of several groups who worry about our food. And often the more money you have, the more picky you get.

Marks and Spencer's Gluten Free Fish Cakes

 

Celia has just bought some GF fish cakes at Marks and Spencer. They are under the Gastropub label. Sound naff but will try and eat them tomorrow!

It looks like they are using potato starch for the crust on the outside.

Corn Flakes

 

In Waitrose you can get Good Earth Corn Flakes and Maple Syrup Corn Flakes. The Corn Flakes are I think £1.29 for 375 grams, whereas Waitrose charge about the same for 500 grams.

I’ve changed and I think they taste better!

Strangely, they are not on the Waitrose web site.

Paint Allergy

 

When I was a undiagnosed coeliac child, I was suffering badly and one of the things the doctor said was that I was allergic to the lead paint then common in houses. So my father burnt it all off and replaced it with the new lead-free paints. Whether it made any difference, I can’t remember, but it was probably at the time, I grew out of the worst effects of the disease.

However, we’ve just had the kitchen painted and for the last few days, I’ve been suffering again.

Does anybody else suffer from fresh paint?

Flu Jabs

 

I’ve just been reading NHS Direct about flu jabs.

I managed to get a free one last year as Celia was undergoing cancer treatment and the GP felt that she didn’t want me to get flu at the time.

But on the NHS Direct web site it says, “You can get a free flu jab if you have a lowered immune system due to disease or treatment such as steroid medication or cancer treatment.”

Does a coeliac have a lowered enough immune system?

Has anyone tried that one on their GP?