The Price of Organic Chicken

If you haven't heard, Whole Foods is having a pretty fantastic sale today on whole organic chickens ~ $1.99/lb!!!  This is a great deal, so if you have a Whole Foods in your area, it would be worth checking out.  But, if you have the time and a little bit of space, you could experience the joy of raising your own backyard flock for potentially less than this pretty fantastic sale price.  Our last flock came out at $1.80/lb just for the meat, not counting the fun we had chasing mob 2 around the yard plus knowing exactly where our food came from.

I know my preference.

And now a word from our sponsor...

Actually, I don't have any sponsors (at least not yet *hint, hint*).  I just thought that was a catchy little title to introduce a couple of products relating to the gluten-free or paleo/primal communities.  I am in no way affiliated with any of these companies nor do I receive any kind of compensation for making an "endorsement" on my lowly little blog.  I'm just a fan passing the news.

If you haven't seen Delight Gluten Free Magazine, it's worth a look.  In addition to a lovely print journal, they also offer an online copy you can access through your tablet or iPhone; the iPad edition is loaded with fabulous pictures & recipes, nice layout and easy to navigate copy.  If you'd like to give some of their recipes a trial run for free, I would recommend signing up for their free weekly e-newsletter.  I've been getting this for several months and have found the recipes to be appealing and fairly easy to recreate.  In edition, they don't spam your mailbox with lots of offers, just a tasteful (pun intended) once a week email.

Okay, a traditional bread company recommendation?  I know, I know, this one seems a little "out there" for a gluten free leaning blog especially since Panera has historically not identified themselves as gf.   Though happy to accomodate gf eaters, it's not been a driving goal of theirs (understandably - I mean come on, they're a BREAD bakery).  That said, it's recently come to my attention that Panera Bread has a secret, and if you eat paleo, primal or gluten-free, it's a very good secret.  Earlier this year, Panera rolled out their Hidden Menu full of whole food, low carb eats for both breakfast and lunch/dinner.  Honestly, Panera is one of my guilty pleasures, and when my mom & I are out and about I happily break my steadfast commitment to primal eating and chow down on a sandwich.  But this Hidden Menu, makes me so very, very happy as the food presented, in my humble opinion, outshines their regular options.  I mean who wouldn't want a Power Mediterranean Roasted Turkey Salad for lunch or a Power Breakfast Egg Bowl with Steak for breakfast?  Seriously nourishing eats!  Now you won't see these menu options posted in their bakery-cafes (thus why it's "hidden") but all you have to do is let them know you're ordering from the hidden menu and you're good to go.  For more information about Panera's Hidden Menu see this article or check out their pictorial display.

Planning for Chickens

Aren't these guys great?  Haven't you missed my ramblings on the wonders of the feathered fowl? It's been almost four months since my last treatise on the chicken and frankly, that's plenty long enough as there can never be too much discussion about this noble bird.  Plus we have chicken on the brain at our home since were planning for our spring order of meat chicks AND since youngest wants to raise hens for eggs.  Though he enjoys the raising of the meat birds, he does not favor their short stay with us and is looking for a more permanent feathery friend.  Actually he's hoping for several feathery friends and if he has his way, we'll go into the egg business on a serious scale.  That said, we're holding out at 3 hens, he's lobbying for at least 10, and I would guess the actual number will fall out somewhere around 5 or 6.  We'll keep you posted.

As a result of our chicken-y thoughts and conversations, I've been busily pinning on my Chicken Pinterest board - check it out to see a few of the coops and feeding systems youngest is considering for his future girls.  We're also debating pros and cons of various egg laying fowl, though in all likelihood the chosen breed will have more to do with what we can procure from our friends at Jenks Hatchery or from the local feed store.  Right now his top choices include Golden Nugget, silkie and Wynadotte - choices based almost completely on looks (the silkies are "soooo cute," the Wynadottes are "beau-TEE-full" and he likes the Nugget's name).  At almost 7 years old, I guess he already knows a good-looking girl when he sees one.  Also, just for fun, we're considering other possibilities for our meat chickens other than the trusty Cornish Cross.  At the top of the running is the Heritage White from Jenks which reaches market weight at around 9 weeks, just slightly longer than the Cornish Cross's 6-8 weeks.  We like that this bird thrives in the great outdoors, forages well, and harkens back to the Plymouth Rock breed.  I also really like the stunning Red Ranger but being it takes almost 12 weeks to reach market weight, we'll probably stick with the faster growing breeds.

So follow along as we embark on our new chicken adventure.

Glutened at the ER: A Cautionary Tale

Last Friday turned out to be a bit of a traumatic day in our household.  Youngest developed a killer headache mid-day and before the night was over, proceeded to throw-up twice and spike a 102.5F fever.  Our insurance's very helpful nurse help line advised us his symptoms warranted immediate medical attention and being as it was 8 p.m. on a Friday night this meant a trip to the ER.  This child takes us to the emergency room on a semi-regular basis, be it for swallowing coins as a toddler or for allowing his brother to smash his fingers with a 2x4 in some misguided experiment - all that to say, they have a file on him at our local hospital and are well aware of his gluten intolerance.  Even though his file says he has a gluten issue, I always make sure to over-emphasize this with the triage nurse when we're checking in and usually find I have to do a little educating on what this means for youngest.  After testing him for possible flu (negative) it was decided he might possibly be suffering from sinusitis, and we had some antibiotics, pain relievers and anti-nausea meds thrown at us.  This was our first mistake - personally, I am anti-antibiotic use unless they are truly warranted, but in our concern for our child we did not take a proactive enough stance and ask enough questions about whether he really needed them or not (we don't think he probably did).  Anyway, he was given antibiotics.  Here was our second mistake:  we assumed because his file clearly stated his gluten issues that any medications issued to us would be gluten-free.  Rookie-mistake, we really do know better. 

Over the weekend, youngest wasn't feeling his best and spent most of his time on the couch.  But by Monday he felt more like himself ... except for uncharacteristic tanturming, shrieking, crying and raging.  When the rages continued on Tuesday, we knew we were dealing with something other than just a sick kid (especially since he wasn't acting sick anymore) and started investigating possible causes.  The one variable consistent over the last several days was the antibiotic, so we looked at possible gluten-containing inactive ingredients.  Sure enough, pediatric azithromycin tablets contain pregelatinized starch, an additive that if not explicitly stated as being gluten-free is usually derived from gluten containing sources (see the list of ingredients here).  In addition to the gluten, these particular tablets are full of all kinds of lovely coloring agents such as red dye #40 lake, yellow dye #6 lake, and carmine (a reddish dye derived from insects using alum), dyes which may contribute to behavior issues in some children.  Upon further investigation, it's become scarily apparent to us how many prescription drugs are not gluten-free and additionally full of dyes, artificial sweeteners and long lists of chemical additives.

So the short of it is, we dropped the ball in monitoring youngest's gluten-free status and as a result, he reaped the consequences.  He's still working the gluten through his body, but we're hopeful that by the weekend he'll be back to his cheery self.  Poor kid.  This experience re-emphasized to us the need to advocate for yourself and your children in medical situations.  I don't blame the ER staff AT ALL for this - they have a lot going on at any one moment and to be that well versed in the various ingredients of any one medication is asking too much.  But as a consumer, it is my responsibility to ask questions and continue to ask until I'm satisfied with the answers. 

Next time, we would:

• question the need for any antibiotic or medication
• if medicine is required, ask if it's gluten-free
• ask again if it's gluten-free and ask to personally check the ingredient list before administering
• ask a third time if it's gluten-free and require someone to call the manufacturer to double-check before administering

The more we in the gluten-free community speak out and advocate for ourselves and our loved ones the more the word will get out to the medical and pharmaceutical communities that this issue needs addressing.