Simple healthy food that I obviously didn't feed to my son!
Today in the U.K. on BBC news they were talking about Crohns Disease. Great I thought, it's good to raise awareness about this terrible debilitating disease. Then I watched it!!! I am so angry about the lazy, sensationalist reporting. The rise in Crohns Disease in young people is down to them eating junk food?! Good sound bite but No, No, No!!! Experts still DO NOT KNOW what causes Crohns Disease, it may be hereditary or may be triggered by something, it is still NOT KNOWN!! Crohns was around long before junk food. Perhaps the rise in cases is due to better diagnosis?
My youngest son has Crohns Disease, and I can assure the BBC that he was not brought up on a diet of junk food, just healthy home cooked food and organic veg. He had appendicitis, which may have been the trigger for him going on to develop Crohns, but we just don't know. It is extremely insulting to Crohns sufferers to imply they brought it on themselves by eating junk food.
O.K. rant over and sorry for the excessive use of exclamation marks and capitals.
So on to the recipe. I found this easy recipe on Pinterest (from womensday.com), I just love Pinterest, I spend far too much time on there. I always cook too much rice, I am incapable of cooking small amounts, so this recipe is ideal for using up the leftovers. The recipe is in American cup measurements, which I found difficult to convert to oz, as they are by volume not weight and it varies for different food, but one cup of rice is about 5oz/ 140g. Add as much spinach as you wish, I used about 4 oz/120g. As you know I am not an 'exact' cook, I always play around with recipes to my own taste. This turned out lovely, so I wouldn't stress too much about weights and measures.
Heat oven to 350f, 180c 160c fan
Line a baking sheet
Heat 2 tsp oil in a skillet/frying pan
Add 1 cup/4 oz/120g frozen cut spinach (left to thaw) and 1 small onion chopped (I left out the garlic)
Cook until tender
Add 1 cup/5 oz/140g cooked rice, 1/4 cup/2 oz/55g of parmesan (or veggie equivalent) grated, 1 large egg and pepper.
Mix together and make into smallish balls. (makes about 8 - 10)
Place on baking sheet and cook for about 20 mins until firm.
I served mine with a homemade tomato and basil pasta sauce. Delicious
Chickpea xx
Those sort of comments make me fume too. My youngest has severe learning difficulties and couldn't talk when he started school. According to the media, speech problems like his are caused by bad parenting. According to one of his teachers there, who had also taught his older sister, it was all down to us mollycoddling him. Fast forward 10+ years and his sister is now at Cambridge University, despite only attending state schools, and my son is thriving at special school and chatting away non-stop. Guess we can't be such bad parents after all!!! Chin up Chickpea. Mum knows best! Tracy
ReplyDeleteThank you Tracy for your kind comment, it is much appreciated, the so called news report really did upset me yesterday. People with Crohns have a hard enough time without thoughtless, uninformed comments. The BBC have apparently taken onboard all the complaints, but too little too late. People only remember the headlines.
ReplyDeleteSo pleased to hear your children are doing so well. Yes indeed, mums do know best, you obviously did a brilliant job xx
I have three friends with Crones and all of them took years to diagnose. Only one of them really eats a lot of junk food.
ReplyDeleteThe one who eats the healthiest diet is the one who suffers the most. Go figure!
It is difficult to diagnose, it took many visits to the doctor, and insisting we get referred to a specialist before they diagnosed my son. Unfortunately once you have Crohns, lots of fruit and veg and healthy food can make symptoms worse for some people. Also some people with Crohns end up eating chocolate and having fizzy drinks etc. just to keep weight on. But as for saying it causes Crohns, that's insulting to all those people who were brought up on a good healthy diet and went on to get Crohns. It is a hugely complex disease with no known cause or cure. Lets just hope for your friends, my son and all the other sufferers they find a cure. xx
ReplyDelete