Soup-er Trooper

To quote my husband, “soup is not a meal”. Now, I shall disagree with him - soup is a meal and a very good one at that. In fact, meat, vegetables, potatoes, pasta, noodles or rice, all combine into one tasty, complete meal. I can understand why some people are suspicious of soup if all they have tried are the thin tinned varieties; a bowl of hearty, homemade soup is a quite different experience. One to be enjoyed!

My all-time favourites are influenced heavily by my mother and grandmother and by the coffee shop I worked in during my teens. Lentil and bacon, chunky leek and potato, chicken noodle, Cullen Skink, vegetable, Cock-a-Leekie and cream of broccoli soup all succeed in making me feel comforted and satisfied. I am convinced that soup has restorative properties, leek and potato has cured many a hangover in my life and chicken noodle is the only thing I want when I have a cold. Even if the effects are just psychological, it works for me.

Thanks to the rubbish weather we’ve been having this week; I have been revisiting the wonderful world of soup. Despite having no hangover, I have made leek and potato soup. I like to leave some big chunks of potato in there so that I can mash it with my spoon as I eat! The coffee shop I worked in always had big chunks of potato in their soup and squashing them was a good way to pass the time while it cooled enough to eat it. The Husband and I attempted to have a BBQ on Sunday, it was rained off but I cooked everything inside and we ate with our friends in the living room. So much for all the outdoor furniture we borrowed for the occasion! However, there were chicken wings left over – chicken wings make brilliant stock so I used them to make a Thai-inspired chicken noodle soup that deserves mention.

Thai Chicken Noodle Soup

2 spring onions, finely sliced

2 chicken skinless, boneless thighs, sliced into thin strips

1 tsp thai green curry paste

1 tsp nam pla (thai fish sauce)

4ooml chicken stock

1 lime leaf

a bundle of thin rice noodles

Add the thai green curry paste to a saucepan with a little oil and saute until the fragrance start to come out of the spices, add the chicken and brown. Then add the fish sauce, lime leaf and chicken stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Meanwhile pour boiling water over the rice noodles and leave for 5 minutes until soft. Divide the noodles between 2 bowl and sprinkle in the spring onion. pour over the chicken and broth. If it needs seasoning, use gluten free tamari to add saltiness.

On the topic of noodles, Annabel Karmel has a range of baby food (you can buy it online or at Boots) and she produces gluten-free mini pasta stars that are brilliant in soups. I use them in minestrone and in some chicken noodle soup. They’re worth a try.

Rollercoaster Ride

Well, as you can clearly see, I've been out of the picture for a while.

This Crohn's flare-up has had so many ups and downs that I can't quite keep up with it! It's eaten up half of my year without me realising it, and the story is not over yet. I had 3 Infliximab infusions between March and May, came off Methotrexate and started back on Azathioprine, but these last couple of weeks have been downhill again. I know that this relapse was caused by stress which makes it all the more infuriating to think that it could have been avoided by certain people having more consideration, especially about my Coeliacs. Anyway... My wonderful consultant is arranging another infusion for next week to nip this in the bud and I'm confident that the end (of the flare-up) is nigh.

Emotions-wise, this flare-up has really taken it's toll. I'm having trouble staying positive about things and my already shakey self-esteem has taken a hit. While some catwalk models make a career out of looking emaiciated, pale and miserable, I have found that it makes me feel awkward in social situtions - like everyone is feeling sorry for me and that does damage to my confidence. Fortunately, I'm filling out gradually (I found a pair of trousers in my wardrobe that were too tight!! Yay!) and as my iron level build up I am looking less like Casper the Friendly Ghost.

I've been so tired that most days I just come home from work and go to bed. I'm trying to eat well to build up my energy levels, but when I'm in a flare-up it's the last thing I want to do. It's a vicious cycle really, because if I don't eat then I have no energy to heal, so I stay sick. At the moment I'm just eating what I know my stomach will be able to process, I'll work on variety later. I did find find a great book called "What to Eat With IBD" by Tracie Dalessandro, she's a dietitian who has Crohn's Disease so she gives sound advice that is managable for someone with active IBD. I especially found the advice on vitamins and minerals very helpful, it helped me to work out where I might be lacking and what I can do about it. Even though I've had Crohn's for 13 years and have consulted quite a few dietitians, I still found the book a really useful guide.