Today I Bought A Noodle Maker

...doesn't sound like the kind of news that someone would rush home to "blog" about. In fact, the thing is about as low maintenance as a French Poodle (no offense, but I know one who thinks he's human).

To make some quinoa flour noodles, the machine requires molding the dough, threading and winding, winding backwards if the dough gets stuck and dusting with flour if the dough is too moist to wind through. Then there's the very precarious job of lifting the noodle ever-so-gingerly so as not to break it. By 4:00 I balled up the dough, tore it into peices and made the most delicious dumpling soup ever.

As I stood in my kitchen, grappling with the inanimate machine, I realized that the moment was a replay of events in my life from six years ago - a labor of love, later worth every frustrating moment. As a baby, our son was diagnosed with allegies to wheat, rice, barley, egg, milk, soy, peanut, tree nuts and green peas. Yup. Green peas. And later diagnosed wtih Autism. Determined to make the perfect apple bread, pancakes, pizza, chicken nuggets and pasta dishes without those ingredients, I camped out in the kitchen until the 17th loaf of whatever finally came out stuck together and at least looking edible, scribbling corrections in different color ink on a piece of scratch paper every time a failed loaf got dumped in the can. Then, re-writing the recipe and keeping it in a grey Sketchers shoebox - a box filled to capacity with recipes, feeding instructions, notes and shopping tips for my son so someone could feed the kid, just in case I died.

And so it began. About three years and five shoe boxes later (small baby shoeboxes). At the urging of friends and family who saw some value in this collection of alternative recipes, I started typing them up and collecting them in a three-ring folder- much easier for people to find stuff in case I died. Then, when my ever-so- wise sister-in-law sat me down and advised me to publish a food allergy cookbook, I finally got it and said, "Oh, okay."

My cookbooks, "Balancing the Bowl" offer delicious, family-friendly recipes ranging from sesame-ginger chicken to pizza and apple bread. Edition 1 is for those who suffer from multiple food allergies, Edition 2 is completely gluten-free and casein-free and it discusses the link between diet, autism and development - it is suitable for those wishing to use dietary intervention to treat autism. Our son's autism improved dramatically through the use of diet, detoxification and vitamin supplements... check out my books at www.susandelaine.com or http://www.balancingthebowl.com/

So, on my way back to Linens and Things to return the noodle maker, I stopped at the grocery store and discovered shelves and shelves of quinoa spaghetti, elbows, shells and whatever. A little disapointed that they didn't have the lasagna version that I was trying to make, I headed over to the customer sevice desk to inquire about it...my point being, if you can't make it, special order it.