Funky Food--Feeding Kids Allergic to Food

Dr. Suess Days

2012-02-02T11:20:00.001-08:00

There are days that I feel like standing in one spot, looking up at the sky and yelling, "I am here, I am here, I am here!". But rather than channeling my inner Who, I take a deep breath and fill ya'll in on my absence:

My eldest son, B is seven. Last summer he was diagnosed with a mild form of autism and an auditory processing delay. Much like L's stomach I have known since B was tiny that something wasn't quite right. This is why it took so very long to get a diagnosis. And just like L's eosinophilia, I have been spending most of my time online becoming an authority on auditory processing delays. It has been a more private struggle than learning to live with a child's food allergies. My tears are blessedly reserved for home rather than in the middle of the grocery store. I am still trying to find my path in being a mother to a child with autism. I am grateful that it is such a mild case. My darling child has no problem giving hugs, and telling his family that he loves them. But I am not grateful for how difficult this makes some aspects of life for him, anymore than I am grateful L will have to cope with some form of food allergies for the rest of his life.

My husband is about a year from finishing his PhD. This means the very real possibility of moving. Again. For the first time, this is not something I am excited about. We have moved five times since B was born. The difference this time, is that this place is more home than the others have been. We have always been blessed to have friends and sometimes family in the cities we've called home. But this time, everything fits. It's very "Goldilocks and the 3 Bears". The city is just the right size. We have just the right number of friends. The boys love their school. The Montessori school for E when she turns 3 is here. My favorite local restaurants and funky little shops.............Okay I could live without the crazy amount of dust that blows around.

To top it all off, I am still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. Unlike my brilliant husband, I don't have a "career" I can place an official title on. Nothing ever seems to fit quite right, very not "3 Bears". What do I want? I want to work from the time I drop the monkeys off at school until I pick them up at 2:40. I want to not think about work again until I drop the gang off at school the next day. I want to be able to call in with a sick kid. Again. And not have anyone upset by it. I want the fact that I can juggle three kids to be seen as an asset not as a potential drain of my time. I definitely don't want to be trapped at a desk all day long. Inside.

So where do I find this mythical job? I suppose a good starting place would be to pinpoint what I feel passionate about. I have a habit of finding something and learning everything I can about it, loving it, breathing it, until I can't stand to look at it for another second. I can convince myself and all those around me that this "next thing" is the right career path for me, regardless of what it is. Such a truly useful skill--being completely full of, well, it.

The only thing I have ever been able to sustain any level of interest in and passion for is my family. Perhaps having two children with such uniquely different challenges is what my skills should be used for. And who knows what fun little quirk E will have. Now to figure out a way to have this help pay the bills.......................

Oh, didn't I mention I have a cookbook being published?

Eat, Drink & Be Safe: Food Allergies and the Holidays: an Interview with Alicia Woodward, Editor of "Living Without"

2011-12-21T17:29:00.000-08:00

The holidays are a mine of potential food allergy, well, explosions. Parties, special recipes, or exotic foods, it's enough to make even the most savvy of parents want to encase their beloved child in an extra-large hamster bubble.

So I was thrilled to be able to interview Alicia Woodward, Editor of the magazine all about food allergies, "Living Without". (A perfect gift idea! Subscription to "Living Without"!) Here are her tips on enjoying the holiday's with food allergies.

Communicate. Call well before the party to alert your host to your food sensitivities. Be specific about your food “triggers,” clearly explaining what you can (and can’t) eat.
Embrace the potluck. Bring a favorite dish to the party. That way, there will definitely be something safe for you to eat.
Eat beforehand. Don’t arrive hungry, when you may eat something “risky” that you’d never try on a full belly. Snack at home so you won’t be disappointed, famished and irritated if there’s not much you can eat at the party.
Keep it simple. Stick to simple, whole foods – like plain fruit, vegetables and meats that haven’t been processed, coated or mixed. Avoid sauces, dips, marinated items, casseroles and desserts unless you know for sure what’s in them.
Go first. If the party is buffet-style, be the first in line to avoid any potential cross-contamination (e.g., scattered ingredients, mixed-up serving spoons.) Or ask your host if you can prepare a plate before the buffet starts.

Most of all Alicia left me with the reminder that advocating for your child or yourself doesn't end with doctors or schools. It's not over-reacting or rude to contact a hostess or refuse something at a party to protect your child or yourself. Sometimes I have a hard time wanting to do this. Especially around the holidays, I want L to have a "normal" Christmas party! But what I found is that he's not alone. By saying no to a goodie stacked onto his plate at his school party, I discovered another parent equally happy to remove her own daughter's contraband.

Happy Holidays ya'll! And make sure to check your local newstand for the December issue of "Living Without" or take a second for their website, both are stocked full of great ideas for surviving the holidays!

Food Donations for the Holidays

2011-11-08T09:29:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time I had a job. A fulltime job for over one consecutive year(it's impressive, I know). But more to the point, this job allowed me to have lunch with some really amazing people on a fairly regular basis under the guise of "work". Around this time of year, I was having lunch with one of those amazing people who happened to work for a non-profit that will be entirely left unnamed for reasons that will become apparent.

We were chatting about food donations. After all it was getting close to Thanksgiving, and there were various food drives going on all over town. Chatting, chatting, chatting and then suddenly she stops talking mid-sentence. She stopped because she was about to say:

"We really appreciate every donation. It's food and people need to eat." Pregnant pause insert here.

"Buuuuuuttttt?" said me.

"But, it would be nice if some people could donate those things they like to eat on Thanksgiving too." she confesses while cringing.

She was in a crappy position and right, it's not like she could start some sort of ad campaign that says, "Dusty cans at the back of the cupboard? Leave 'em at home and send the good stuff".

Well, she can't. Nothing's stopping me though.

Send the dusty cans but also buy two of a few of those staples you'll need on hand for your Thanksgiving recipes. Those recipes that make it special. Few times of year are harder on a family struggling financially than the holidays. So get the ingredients for a Green Bean Casserole or Pumpkin Pie. Toss in a few containers of spices, things like Poultry Seasoning, Dried Garlic, and Pumpkin Pie Spice. If you are feeling really generous add in a bottle of olive oil.

Imagine as a mom of a kiddo with food allergies how complicated cooking from food donations would be like. Even if you aren't donating a case of your favorite gluten-free baking mix, you can donate simple, whole ingredients that would be easier to cook with. Corn meal, flour, sugar, and chicken stock.

I was definitely guilty of donating those cans that my family refused to eat. But since that conversation I have done better. Never great mind you, but better. This year too.

The Halloween Fairy and Food Allergies

2011-11-02T09:55:00.000-07:00

This amazing fairy first appeared in my life after my eldest son's first Halloween. I was blown away by the volume of candy that my one year old came back from Trick-or Treating with. Although not so much a problem that year(expect for the fact that I ate it), I knew that this was a situation that would need a good solution.

Enter the Halloween Fairy.

My dear friend Shannon told me about this amazing creature. The Halloween Fairy comes during the night after you go trick-or-treating. She takes away the candy and leaves behind a cool toy. Depending on the house, sometimes the kiddo's can pick out a few favorite pieces of candy and leave the majority for the fairy to take away.

Six years and two more kids later and the Halloween Fairy is still going strong. She saves me the problem of having to explain to L why B gets to eat all his candy and he doesn't. With the added bonus of saving me from stealing 3/4 of the candy myself. I don't need the kind of pressure having 300 mini Snickers in a house causes on my will power.

I apologize for not getting this out prior to Halloween, but the good news is that the Halloween Fairy is very flexible. She makes house calls even after Oct. 31.

Happy Halloween!

Food Allergy Free Trick-or-Treating on Halloween

2011-09-27T10:27:00.000-07:00

There is nothing like a holiday or celebration to really highlight just how much having food allergies as a kid stinks. Halloween is definitely one of those. Not only can our kiddo's really not eat anything out of their candy bags but there are some of us who have munchkins that can't even go Trick-or-Treating because of a chance encounter with a peanut butter cup.

So I had an idea. And yes, I am the very FIRST person to ever think of this. So please sit down to admire my brilliance.

You did note the sarcasm right? I realize sometimes I think that it comes across but it doesn't and I don't want anyone actually believing that I think I'm the first person to come up with this. Not that I stole the idea from somewhere or something but I just figure that surely this has been done. You know?

Now that you have basked in my intellectual prowess we can move on to the idea.
Trick-or-Treating with no food.

Hit up Oriental Trading Company for a 50 gallon drum of those fun little prizes they give away at carnivals. Put those in the Trick-or-Treat bowls instead of candy. Families that want to participate in a Food Allergy Free Trick-or-Treat could post this sign on their doors. Organizations could use it too. How much fun would a Trunk-or-Treat be with only toys as giveaways instead of junk food? Parents with kids without food allergies would love this too! No month long debate about how many pieces of candy they can have every night. Instead a bag full of cheap toys to play with.

So please feel free to grab this poster from this blog post or send me an email at funkyfoodtrisha@yahoo.com and I will email you the jpeg. I am intending this poster to represent Trick-or-Treating that has NO food present. But people make mistakes so if you see this sign double check before you let your kiddo dive into the vat 'o goodies.

I do need to brag on my friend, Ronica Castro. She is an extremely talented graphic designer who did my new Funky Food logo(check out the Facebook Page) and she generously donated her time and skills to make me the Food Allergy Free Trick-or-Treat poster. Check out her webpage for more details on her business! ronicacastro.com

Want to do something special for your kiddo with food allergies? Try making homemade lollipops! They are crazy easy and can be made entirely out of cane sugar or honey.

Candy Recipe
Corn-free Corn Syrup Recipe
Candy Coloring Recipe

Foods that Cause Inflammation

2011-09-16T11:55:00.000-07:00

When L was under 3, we were still working hard to heal his tummy. Fortunately he wasn't sleeping much during this time period, so I had plenty of time to ponder our situation while pacing back and forth. Multiple times, each and every night.

I concluded that if food was causing his tummy to freak out, then food may also be what helps it to heal. So I set out to find all those foods that cause inflammation. Here's what I discovered:

Sugar is bad.
Very, very bad. Especially that pretty white kind that we bake with and is in practically everything. And in some things that it really doesn't need to be in. Like deli meat or hotdogs. Why on earth is there sugar in hotdogs?!?!? I was faced with a dilemma though. L couldn't eat a huge list of things but refined sugar wasn't one of them. Sugar is one of the least allergenic foods. So why shouldn't I let this kiddo eat his weight in Smarties? Because they cause inflammation. His little tummy was horribly inflamed. Adding sugar into that would only make it worse in the long run even if it satisfied his need to eat temporarily.

Fried Foods
I know you knew that one already. Don't fry stuff. It's bad for ya'll!

Trans Fats
Same deal as fried foods. The good news is that most of us are having to make everything from scratch anyway and trans fats hide in processed foods.

Red Meat
Okay, not all red meat. Just the cheap kind that's easy to find at the store. You want to avoid meat raised on a feed-lot. Find a local butcher and develop a relationship with him/her. You want grass-fed, organic, grazing, hang out in the grass, hormone-free, happy cow meat.

Oils
Again, not all oils. And most of the one's to avoid are probably on your "no" list anyway. Avoid polyunsaturated oils like grapeseed, safflower, and sunflower oils.

Refined Grains
This is that bag of flour on the shelf that reads "bleached". Again, here we are lucky having a house full of kids with food allergies. We are forced to by whole grains because the unique grains our kids can eat aren't typically processed. Buy the good stuff!

Coming soon(hopefully) the follow-up post to this one--Foods that Reduce Inflammation

The Birth of Josephine and My Special Friends

2011-08-25T10:19:00.000-07:00

Willow Tree Angel of Mine Figure

I rarely go off topic. It's pretty much my crazy children and food allergies. But this is so worth it.

I was part of a gaggle of women that got together for playdates when our oldest children were toddlers. We did everything together. Parks, museums and my favorite, playdates at our homes. They were mornings filled with little people running around, babies being passed mom to mom and mounds of macaroni and cheese, Earl Grey Tea, and friendship. Great stuff.

Years went by and one of those mom's, Tamara, decided she needed another baby. But she wasn't able to carry another baby(long story that is definitely hers to tell). She and her husband decided to explore surrogacy. Which is where something amazing happened. Our dear friend, Logan offered to be the surrogate.

Nine months, and a truly beautiful water birth later and I would like to introduce you to Josephine, and the two families who came together to bring her into this world! Congratulations to all!

Meet Josephine and my amazing friends!

Food Allergy School Lunches

2011-08-19T10:00:00.000-07:00

Here's where you should be seeing at least five gorgeous pictures depicting spectacular, creative lunches that I have lovingly put together for L's first week of school.

That, however would be an outrageous lie.

First because the turkey doesn't start school until next week. Second? Because when you are working with extremely limited ingredients the idea of coming up with a two week rotation of lunches is insane.

That's right. I said it. Insane. My hat is off to the host of mommy bloggers out there right now who are posting said gorgeous pictures of spectacular, creative lunches but let's get real here. Would you rather spend your time say reading a novel or hand cutting flowers into your child's sandwich?

There are no flower sandwiches at my house. Any shapes are accidental. We work on a two day rotation and veggies rarely make it to school. Mainly because there are only so many that travel well in a lunch box and those typically aren't in season during the school year.

Day 1: Sunbutter sandwich
Day 2: Turkey, cheese and crackers

Now I vary the fruit by what's in season or currently on his allergen list. He gets calcium enriched juice and a non-dairy yogurt(usually coconut milk). We load up on veggies at home so I try to convince myself that not serving veggies at school lunch on a regular basis won't leave him growing up stunted.

Here's the fun part: both boys have been eating this lunch at school for the past three years, and there have been zero complaints about the lack of variety.

That's right, zero. Not because they don't complain about what's being served, that's usually reserved for dinner time. So I know they are perfectly able to complain about their meals. I'm not entirely sure why they don't complain but it does reinforce my belief that we have convinced ourselves that children need fun lunches.

I figure if I'm going to have to make crackers, granola bars and bread by hand then I am relieving myself from creative lunch duty.

Love to all those going back to school soon! I'm off to read my novel.

Even Moms Whine Sometimes

2011-07-21T10:21:00.000-07:00

You know those days where you take your kids somewhere in public because you know that you are less likely to harm them in public? We've reached Day 652 of consecutive days just like that around here. We are lucky enough to live smack in the middle of the area being currently boiled alive by the heat. And there is little worse(okay fine plague, famine and war are much worse) than being stuck in the house with two boys ages 5 and 7 and their darling 1 yr old sister.

All day. Every day. Non-stop.

So I haven't been cooking. That's not true. I have been cooking but definitely not creating and I periodically write blog posts in my head about removing inflammation from your child's tummy but then have no motivation to get them into the actual blog. It's to hot to be motivated. It's to hot to do anything.

In between keeping E from eating her brothers Lego's and refereeing arguments about which Transformer is the fastest, strongest, I have been trying to preserve my sanity. This is hit and miss and mostly involves the drive-through where the lovely ladies hand me Dr. Pepper. Thank goodness I'm not allergic to corn!

Don't give up on me! Information about anti-inflammatory foods cometh. But this information is hinged on the current outdoor temperature. So start praying for rain and cold to hit the Mid-West!

Food Allergy Friendly Cupcakes with Kelapo Coconut Oil

2011-06-27T11:29:00.000-07:00

When I pulled these out of the oven I had to try one before they had time to cool or even be iced. This is one of the few recipes that took try after try to get right. So I was pretty dubious that this would be THE batch.

My first bite was good.

An hour later after they had cooled, they were still good.

After they were iced, they were still good. So I had my kids try them. Yup, still good. Husband? Yup, still good.

I don't think I've been this excited about a recipe in years. Maybe the granola bars. But this one is way more fun. How could cupcakes not be fun? Plus I love the simplicity of the ingredients. The oat and rice flours don't overwhelm the cupcake with their taste or texture like some flours can. Although I'm using coconut milk and coconut oil you don't taste the coconut unless you know it's in there. Instead they give the cupcake the perfect amount of moistness.

Allergen-Free Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups Oat Flour
1/2 cup Rice Flour
1 cup Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Cream of Tarter
2 tsp Baking Soda
1 T Ener-G Egg Replacer
1 cup Coconut Milk
3 T Kelapo Coconut Oil
1 T Vanilla
1/4 tsp vinegar

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line your muffin tin with cupcake liners. Whisk together your dry ingredients. Normally I'm pretty lazy about this step but you really need the ingredients evenly spread out. Toss in the wet ingredients and beat the snot out of 'em until you have a gorgeous smooth batter. Fill up the cupcake liners about 3/4 of the way. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and the tops are slightly golden. Let cool completely before you ice them with this:

Cupcake Icing

1 pound Corn-free Powdered Sugar
1/4 cup Coconut Milk

Blend ingredients. This makes a thinner icing, definitely not a buttercream. I used it in the photo above. I like it because it gives the cupcake a little something without reducing it to being simply the carrier of the icing.

Oh, a word about Kelapo Coconut Oil. The lovely people over at Kelapo sent me a jar of this gorgeous stuff to try out and tell ya'll what I thought of this product. It rocks. I love that it's shelf stable so I don't have to carve out tablespoons of it to cook. Instead it's this wonderful consistency---think slightly thicker than melted butter. This also makes me happy because then I can make things like these cupcakes without using my stand mixer. So much simpler! This is definitely going to be added to my Funky Food shelves.

Misdiagnosis of IBS, a Blessing in Disguise for Food Allergies

2011-06-24T11:35:00.000-07:00

Before L was diagnosed with eosinophilic gastroenteritis and food allergies he was handed a list of possible diagnosis'. At about nine months old he was diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. For the most part these misdiagnosis' were frustrating and a waste of money but IBS turned out to be a good stepping stone to healing L's tummy of his eos ulcers.

Since L was under a year, his doctor was unwilling to explore any of the medications used to treat IBS, so my only options for treatments were nutritional. Nutrition is one of those few instances I have had doctors tell me to hit the internet for information. Ironic isn't it? It also reminds me how little training most doctors have in nutrition. L hadn't reached his year birthday yet, so I still hadn't introduced him to all foods. This also proved to be a blessing as removing the offending foods was relatively simple. It also helped that he couldn't reach the cabinets or talk.

I won't go into the specifics of IBS but here are the basics for food treatment: Avoid insoluble fiber. No fried foods. No whole grains. No white sugar. No red meat. Very little other meat.

Fiber
Fiber plays a large role in IBS. You want to avoid insoluble fiber but eat plenty of soluble fiber. Soluble fiber helps the intestines and colon produce smooth, constant movements. Keeps everything soft and easy to pass. Insoluble fiber is good for people with "normal" digestive tracts. But for people with IBS it can cause extreme pain. So I removed insoluble fiber from L's diet.

Insoluble Fiber: whole grain foods, nuts, seeds, green beans, cauliflower, zucchini, celery, avocado's, banana's, skins of some fruits and vegetables
Soluble Fiber: legumes, oats, sweet potato's(no skin), insides of some fruits(apples, pears, papaya), psyllium seed husk, and carrots

Think BRAT Diet
If your child has ever had a stomach bug you know what the BRAT diet is. B-banana's, R-rice, A-applesauce, T-toast. This works here too. I figured the inside of L's digestive tract looked like someone had run a cheese grater through it. So every bite I gave him needed to be in it's simplest form and be extremely easy to digest. The IBS diet worked great for this too.

So what did he eat? Now remember this was before he was tested for food allergies so he would end up eating things he was allergic too. He ate sourdough bread, sweet potato's(no skin), jasmine rice, oatmeal, tofu, applesauce, pears(no skin), carrots(no skin), non-dairy yogurts, his Super Smoothie and thankfully was still breastfeeding. The breastmilk and Super Smoothie filled in nutritional gaps.

One of my favorite sources of soluble fiber was a product called Sprinkle Fiber. It's made of 100% acacia fiber which is really easy on tummies. It's also this really fine powder so you can whisk it into just about everything. It went great in his Super Smoothies.

But what does this have to do with controlling inflammation? A lot. Digestive tracts like our children have are a mess. They can have trouble absorbing nutrients, or even digesting the food in the first place. By feeding L these simple to digest foods, I was giving his GI tract a break. Yes, some of the foods he was eating turned out to be one's he was allergic too. But this was a place to start. He was eating whole, unprocessed, simple foods. And by accident, I was feeding him foods that help reduce inflammation and help heal digestive damage. More on that later.

My husband has taken the boys camping which means that naptime is really all mine for the first time in well, forever. So I'm going to get back to my watching of Scrubs. I love Netflix Instant. More soon on Food Allergies, Inflammation, and Eos!

Inflammation and Food Allergies

2011-06-20T10:55:00.000-07:00

When we got L's first endoscopy results I wasn't too surprised to see a picture of his stomach covered in ulcers. Sad, but not surprised. Frankly it was almost a relief to have something to blame for his constant crying and not sleeping. But between the ulcers and the eosinophilic gastroenteritis diagnosis I was left wondering, "now what"?

We were lucky. We didn't have to go down the path of G-tubes and elemental formula. The formula made L really sick but this left us with a problem. What do you feed a toddler with ulcers that's on a severely restricted diet? How do we get those ulcers healed and keep them from coming back? What caused the ulcers in the first place? I hoped his stress level at 15 months wasn't too high. It wasn't like he was enrolled in Latin classes or headed off to prep school.

We all know that kiddo's with food allergies have confused immune systems. They view certain foods as enemies that must be destroyed. The way the immune system deals with these enemies is to launch an inflammatory attack. It's this constant level of inflammation that led to L's ulcers. I always envisioned his digestive tract looking red, raw, and swollen. Something like my gums looked like after my wisdom teeth were cut out(TMI?). I figured that I could help by figuring out what I could do to reduce the inflammation in his digestive tract. These were my questions:

What foods reduce inflammation?
What foods cause inflammation?
What foods are easy to digest?
What foods are hard to digest?
What other factors cause inflammation in digestive tracts?
How do I get Starbucks(grande iced nonfat vanilla latte) or Sonic(medium vanilla Dr. Pepper) to deliver to my house?

As a mother of a sick child, I needed something to do. Some way to help this child I helped create heal. And frankly, I needed something to control. I couldn't make him stop crying. I couldn't make him sleep. I definitely couldn't make his eos disappear forever. But I could figure out what to feed this little monkey that would help stack the deck in his favor. Over the next few weeks(hopefully) I'm going to show ya'll the steps my sleep-deprived brain took in my attempt to feed L something, anything that would help his tummy heal.

Safety Tips for Children with Food Allergies by the ACAAI

2011-06-08T10:32:00.001-07:00

That would be the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. Whew, I'm proud that I managed to get that all typed out correctly! The lovely doctors over at the ACAAI wanted to share some of their favorite tips and advice with my Funky Food fans. Here's the first guest post installment:

Key Safety Tips for Children with Food Allergies

One in twenty-five children have a food allergy. There are currently an estimated three million children with food allergies in the United States alone.

Strict avoidance of the causative food is critical for avoiding an allergic reaction because trace amounts of the food allergen can be sufficient to trigger symptoms. People with food allergies can have serious or even life-threatening reactions after consuming certain foods.

So how do you keep kids with food allergies safe when they’re away from home? Dropping your child off at school, daycare, or camp means that you are giving up control over what food your child comes in contact with.

Here are some important ways to keep children with food allergies safe.

Teach Your Children Proper Safety
Keeping children with food allergies safe begins with your child. In addition to teaching your children to avoid foods that they are allergic to, show them how to wash their hands thoroughly before and after eating, and how to use an Epipen, which is an auto-Injector used for the emergency treatment of a severe allergic reaction, also known as Anaphylaxis. And remind your child to never share utensils or drinking straws with others, eat their friends’ snacks on the bus, or sample unusual foods brought into school for holiday parties.

Institutional Food Allergy Management Plan
Every institution that supports children, such as a school or a camp, should have a Food Allergy Management Plan. This plan includes policies regarding the use of food throughout the day and in various activities, where medications will be kept, and protocols for contacting emergency services and parents during a reaction. Institutions should also ensure that there is phone access in case of a severe allergic reaction that requires a call to 911.

Institution Staff Training
In addition to the institution’s management plan, education about food allergies and their treatment should be provided to every staff member that supervises children. This training should also include drills for food-allergic reactions in order to provide the staff with opportunities to practice implementing emergency plans and using the Epipen.

Avoid Cross Contact
Avoiding cross contact requires thoroughly cleaning utensils, cookware, glassware, storage containers, and other food preparation materials used with a food allergen before the item is used to prepare or serve "safe" meals. Washing food storage containers and dishes in a dishwasher or hand washing with hot water and liquid dish soap is generally adequate to remove food allergens.

Personalized Food Allergy Action Plan
Finally, every child who has any food allergies needs a personalized Food Allergy Action Plan. A personalized action plan should include a recent photo of the child, a list of their allergies, signs and symptoms the child might experience during an allergic reaction, appropriate treatment instructions from the child's doctor, and emergency contact information for the child's parents/caregivers and doctor (including cell phone numbers.) This plan should be reviewed and updated regularly to reflect changes in the child's allergies as well as the age-appropriateness of medication doses.

Guest Post by: Tom G.

Additional Resources
Food allergies in schools and camps:
http://www.uptodate.com/contents/food-allergy-in-schools-and-camps?source=search_result&selectedTitle=9%7E119

Food Allergy Treatment and Avoidance:
http://www.uptodate.com/contents/patient-information-food-allergy-treatment-and-avoidance?source=see_link

Food Allergen Avoidance:
http://www.uptodate.com/contents/food-allergen-avoidance?source=see_link

Food Allergies:
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/135959-overview

Anaphylaxis
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/135065-overview

Breastfeeding, EG and Food Allergies

2011-06-01T18:20:00.000-07:00

Breastfeeding a child with an eosinophilic condition or plain 'ol food allergies is not the "breast is the best" campaign the nursing relationship normally is. It's complicated, frustrating and down-right scary.

I nursed L until he was 2 1/2 and I truly believe it is why he did so well with his eosinophilia. But here's my deep dark secret. When you breastfeed a child with eosinophilia or food allergies as a good, responsible mother--you are supposed to go on the same diet they are on. I have heard stories of mothers' who drank elemental formula so they could continue breastfeeding their babies.

I ain't that mama.

I have smelled and tasted elemental formula. Care to guess what it smells liked? Vomit. It smells like vomit. Mainly because it's partially digested formula. And what does partially digested food smell like? Vomit.

So after not sleeping for more than 3 hours at a time for over a solid year, I was faced with a decision. Do I keep breastfeeding L and eat only his safe foods and drink his formula? Quit breastfeeding all together and put him on elemental formula?

As I mentioned above I was not going to drink that formula. There is a reason most children with eos conditions end up with feeding tubes. It's because they start refusing to drink this vile stuff. Since a feeding tube wasn't an option for good 'ol mom, I would have to actually drink it. I knew I was not that super mom.

Option B was to only eat his safe foods. This would have looked something like this:
Breakfast: Beef
Lunch: Beef with Broccoli
Dinner: Beef with a side of beef

Turns out I wasn't that mom either. I was already miserable enough trying to cope with a sick toddler, and keep up with his brother(only 20 months older) all while being chronically and seriously sleep-deprived. I couldn't live on 3 foods and try to function as a mother. Not without taking some major medications and I figured those probably weren't going to be good for him either.

The final option was to quit breastfeeding. But that wasn't really an option for L. We tried supplementing with the elemental formula. He had the worst reactions I have ever seen him have. He was writhing in pain. His doctors swore up and down that it was impossible to react to elemental formula. But it is possible. I watched it happen and threw away the rest of that expensive can. Elemental formula isn't a magic bullet. It's loaded with ingredients that L is allergic too. The theory is that because they've "digested" the proteins(allergy causing) it doesn't matter if you are allergic to any of the ingredients, you won't have an allergic reaction. This was not true in L's case. He had horrible reactions to it.

Turns out there was a Plan C. I adjusted my diet a bit but for the most part kept eating like I normally did. I figured that if L's doctors were willing to let him consume foods he was allergic to in his formula then it was better for him to have traces of allergens in my breastmilk than in that nasty formula. I still believe breastfeeding is what stood between him and being a truly sick little boy. It's not a magic bullet either, but in his case my instincts told me that it was the better alternative.

Oh, and the doctors? They don't agree with me at all. So don't go all rogue based on my account. But don't forget to listen to your own inner mom voice either. Oh, and give those sweet kiddo's an extra squeeze from me

Side Effects of Multiple Children

2011-05-17T18:16:00.000-07:00

Mainly that I have very little time to experiment with recipes right now. I've been working on this amazingly brilliant cupcake recipe lately. And I am this close(you can see my fingers right?) to having it perfect. I even figured out a way to make them without xantham gum for anyone reacting to the tiny amount of corn in it.

The problem?

Welp, every time I make a batch and they aren't quite right, I have to make another batch. And when you have three kids all under 6, that doesn't leave you with a lot of extra time on your hands for cooking mistakes. That and these ingredients can get expensive when you are just tossing it straight into the trash can.

So, bear with me. I'm here. Just busy breast-feeding, making countless granola bars, and desperately trying to sleep.

Oh, and hopefully learning Spanish. But that's another story. Thanks for your patience ya'll!

Wishing for Normal

2011-05-08T17:46:00.001-07:00

Even though L is doing so well there are moments that aren't. Last night he puked his guts up after eating at a friend's house. It was a party so he was allowed to cheat. He's cheated 100 times before with no troubles, or at the most a minor tummy ache cured with a cup of medicine juice. But last night my darling boy, threw up everything he had eaten.

Was it his EG? Food poisoning? Some random virus? I don't know. He's better today but I can't help but worry. Worry about the calories he lost by throwing up, and by not eating much today. Worry that my letting him cheat caused his EG to flare, damaging his small intestines and leading him into a spiral of new allergies and endoscopy's.

Tonight E, my 10 month old is having a hard time going to sleep as she has for the past few months. She has gas. Bubbles in her stomach that I can feel against the flat of my hand as I walk her back and forth across the floor of her tiny bedroom. As I pace I worry. Is it eos? What is she eating that is causing so much gas? What am I eating that is causing this?

It makes me tired. It makes me long for a household full of children whose biggest health challenge is cured by antibiotics and a dose of Tylenol.

Hope-Paige Allergy Alert Bracelet Winner

2011-05-06T18:34:00.001-07:00

Here you go! klwtmm you won! Please send me an email at funkyfoodtrisha@yahoo.com to claim your prize.

Thanks to Hope-Paige for allowing me to give away this lovely bracelet and to each of ya'll for entering.

Have a great weekend. E is actually sleeping so I'm heading to the same place!

Hidden Food Allergy Treasures

2011-05-03T17:43:00.000-07:00

Saturday I made an emergency run to our local grocery store. I don't do my weekly shopping there, it's smaller and doesn't have everything I want. So, it's saved for filling in those items I forgot to get.

This time I needed Rice Crispy's and Mucinex. The dudes were sick and I needed Rice Crispy Treats to survive what would turn into two straight weeks of sick kids.

But this trip also reminded me of a good food allergy trick. Always keep your eyes open at grocery stores, regardless of whether or not they are where you do your usual allergy-free shopping. Sometimes hidden treasures will appear.

Like the time I found an off-brand of rice flour that was significantly cheaper, in the Mexican food aisle. Or this last visit where I discovered dried coconut shreds with no added ingredients! I love reading the back of packages and finding nothing but the food name and maybe water. I did a happy dance right there in the middle of the cereal aisle.

That's the other lesson: these treasures won't always be where you think they should be. The coconut wasn't next to the other coconut shreds on the baking aisle. They were in the cereal aisle of all random places.

So my question for you: Have you ever stumbled across an allergy-free goodie where you didn't expect to find it?

Hope-Paige Allergy Alert Bracelet Giveaway!

2011-04-28T08:19:00.000-07:00

After the reality of L's condition set in and I got a little extra sleep a new worry started a regular rotation through my mind.

What if he was separated from me for a host of different reasons and couldn't tell the people who found him about his food allergies?

He was only 15 months at the time and looked perfectly healthy so I could only imagine that a caregiver would cover the basics first if he was placed in their care. A trip to the bathroom, and food. So I promptly went online and got him a children's medical alert bracelet. This was one of the few things about coping with L's eosinophilia that was easy to fix and brought immediate relief to a worry. Which was great because it freed up room for other thoughts circling in my momanoid brain.

Ya'll have met one our favorite Eos Buddies, Johnnie right? Since we already had a medical alert bracelet we had Hope Paige Designs send one to him. Check out his cuteness sporting his new Children's Rubber Green Pony Bracelet. His mom Autumn says, he loves it and wants to wear it everywhere. I love how kid friendly and practically indestructible it is!

Hope Paige Designs wants to give one of my readers that same peace of mind! Check out these gorgeous medical alert bracelets! To enter to win simply comment below telling a bit about your journey with food allergies with a link to the bracelet you would like to win. You can enter to win this way once.

Once not enough for you? You can enter to win daily by following me on Twitter, tweeting about the giveaway. Something like: “Funky Food Allergies @FunkyFoodTrisha is giving away an @hopepaigedesign bracelet and I want to win!” with a link to this post. Then leave me a comment to let me know your Twittering activities:)

This giveaway will run until May 5th at 11:59pm ET. The winner will be selected by using random.org and will be contacted and announced on or around May 6th. If the prize is not claimed within 48 hours of initial contact, I will randomly select another winner. Void where prohibited. No purchase necessary. Open to US.

Thanks to Hope Paige Designs, who supplied the items to facilitate this review and giveaway. I wasn't compensated in any way. In this post I share my thoughts and opinions of the item mentioned. Others may have a different experience or opinion.**Hope Paige Designs is a company that makes medical alert jewelry and medical identification bracelets that are functional and fashionable

Allergen-Free Roasted Cinnamon Nuts

2011-04-21T06:21:00.001-07:00

I know what you're thinking. How can they be allergen-free when they have nuts in them? Crazy Trisha.

I am in fact a little crazy; you can't be as chronically sleep deprived as I am and not have more than a few screws loose. But in this case I'm not entirely off my rocker.

I could go on with the cheesy looney tune sayings for quite some time but I'll spare you:)

There are tons of different kinds of nuts and most aren't members of the same plant family. This recipe will work with any nut or seed for that matter. So experiment and enjoy. My family loves this recipe and we like to give batches of these away at Christmas time as gifts. The boys teachers love 'em!

Plus they make your house smell good. I'm a tiny bit obsessed with my house smelling good. I'm pretty sure this stems from having three males living with me. Why do boys end up smelling so much worse at the end of the day than their female counterparts? Do you think they absorb all the potential stink in a room leaving the girls smelling like roses?

It's a mystery.

Roasted Cinnamon Nuts

Ingredients:
1/2 cup water
1 T Flaxseed Meal
4 cups Nuts/Seeds
1/2 cup Sugar
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Cinnamon

Combine the 1/2 cup water and flaxmeal, in a saucepan on your stovetop. Bring it to a boil. Then reduce the heat to low and cook it for about 5 minutes or until this mixture starts to look like an egg white. It's like magic really.

Preheat your oven to 250. Lightly grease a baking sheet with an oil or shortening. Then dump your nut/seeds into a bowl. Add in the flaxmeal mixture you just made, stirring to coat the nuts. Pour the remaining ingredients on top and stir to combine. Spread onto the baking sheet in an even layer and pop 'em into the oven. Bake for an hour, stirring every 20 minutes or so. Let cool and enjoy!

Crispy Spinach Chips

2011-04-18T06:43:00.000-07:00

Good intentions stink sometimes. I have had this idea for a cupcake recipe rattling through my brain for weeks. I've been able to make 2 batches and they still aren't where I want them too be. I figured out a way to make these gorgeous roasted cinnamon sugar nuts without the egg white the recipe calls for but haven't had the time to roast a batch.

I blame my children.

They keep demanding my attention! They insist on eating, having clean clothes, bathing and wouldn't you know! one is home sick from school. Thankfully they also keep giving out tons of kisses, hugs, and making me laugh.

The point being that something had to give, so it was the blog. But! I do have a recipe for you this gorgeous Monday morning. Another Eos Mama over at Mom-B whipped up a batch of Crispy Spinach Chips. I had about three tons of organic spinach in my fridge from a trip to the Farmers Market(did I mention I got a 2 gallon bag stuffed for $2??), so I had to try it out. They are every bit as addictive as Mom-B claimed!

Check 'em out and let me know what you think! Happy Monday ya'll!

Crispy Spinach Chip Recipe

Snacks and Treats, There's a Difference?

2011-04-11T06:52:00.001-07:00

Very much so. This particular difference has been a source of tongue biting for me since B started kindergarten last year. Up to this point I had been pretty much in charge of what entered the little dudes mouth so it was one of many things I had to hand over when he started school. Giving up control was not easy--I'm still having issues over that:)

The way snacks worked in kindergarten was that each student supplied snack one day a month for the entire class. It is quite the social situation as well. The kids know whose day it is and having the "cool snack" is important. So opting out and simply sending a snack specifically for my kiddo isn't a good option either. This is what we have to do for L but for his big brother it would be a huge change.

Here's the problem. Most parents don't agree with my definition of a healthy snack. Which is fine, this is their child, their house and I firmly believe it is their right to feed their child whatever they think is appropriate. It's when it starts impacting my child that it becomes an issue. And it's impacting my child. B has eaten more junk food since starting school that in the first five years of his life combined. Things like Oreo Sticks, Capri Sun(not 100% juice), Dorito's, fake cheese spread, and on and on and on. He comes home from school still starving and crashing hard from all the sugar. Not a pleasant creature. So he gets none of the benefits having a snack is supposed to provide with the added bonus of a sugar crash.

I figured that one school year of this was something we could grit our teeth and bear. But then first grade came around and yet again! we are dealing with daily snacks at school. So I asked around and discovered that this is going to continue through fifth grade! I'm not sure what to do about this, but decided that ya'll wouldn't mind a little venting:) So here goes........

Snack: A food source containing healthy fats, protein, and nutrients needed for healthy growing bodies. It is low in saturated fats, sugar and chemicals. Suggestions would be: granola bars, cheese sticks, nuts and dried fruit, yogurt, apples and nut/seed butter, etc. Drinks should be this crazy stuff you can get out of your tap, aka water.

Treats: Treats are great! We love 'em. But as Cookie Monster said, "They are a sometime food". Treats are typically higher in saturated fats(hmmm butter), sugar and sometimes chemicals(can you say, red food dye?). Suggestions would be: cookies, cakes, cupcakes, chips, fruit snacks, and almost any drink that comes in a cool container.

Snacks count. They are meant to help our kiddo's get a boost of energy to make it through the rest of their school day with the ability to learn and concentrate. I have heard the argument that snacks aren't a big deal, so it's fine to send a package of Cheese Its and Sprite for the kids to enjoy. This belief leaves me in a rotten situation. Either I started sending snacks with my boys everyday and they get left out of snack time or I bite my tongue and let them eat junk for another four years.

My question for you: How would you help change this view that "snacks don't count" at B's school?

And please tell me what to do. I hate being "that mom" so some advice on how to avoid getting handed the scarlet letter would be fabulous.

Allergen-Free Marshmallow Crispy Treats

2011-04-06T06:16:00.000-07:00

All the gooey, chewy goodness of Rice Crispy Treats but made for Funky Food Kids. Before you run for the car make sure you at least write down the ingredients list. It really is that exciting though so I can hardly blame you.

On a totally unrelated note:
My children thought it would be amusing too see how little sleep I could handle last night. So ha! I showed them! I am awake. I've brushed my teeth AND changed out of my pajama's. I can barely type because the longer I sit still at the computer the greater the chance I will simply pass out. Do you think my children get together before bedtime and set up some sort of wake-up schedule? Last night E woke up at 3am and didn't go back down until around 4am(a baby has important things to discuss at 3am) and then L woke up as soon as I laid back down. He's got a cough; thankfully my husband took care of L because I was hiding under my pillow.

Snore.

Onto Allergen-Free Marshmallow Crispy Treats!
Ingredients:
1/4 cup Jungle Shortening(whichever butter-like substance works for you)
1 cup Homemade Marshmallow Fluff
5 cups Crispy Rice Cereal(see substitutions below)

Melt Jungle Shortening in large saucepan over medium heat. Add in the homemade Marshmallow Fluff and stir to combine. Remove from heat and stir in the Crispy Rice Cereal. Pour onto parchment paper. Make sure to scrape the pan and eat gooey loveliness directly. Let cool and cut into desired shapes.

Crispy Rice Substitutions: Puffed Millet, Puffed Amaranth, Puffed Rice, or any crunchy cereal that fits your needs
Add in any of the following: Chopped Pecans, Sundrops, or Dairy-free Chocolate Chips

But wait a minute! This is an opportunity to create an Allergen-Free Birthday cupcake or cake! Check this out:

Oil two cake pans. Pour the hot Crispy Treat mixture into each pan. Press lightly into pan. Let cool and using a knife to loosen, dump out crispy cake onto a cake pan. Use some of your Homemade Icing to finish off this fun birthday cake! This also works great in those individual silicone baking cups, which is what I used for the picture above.

Enjoy!

Allergen Free Marshmallows

2011-04-04T08:58:00.000-07:00

Marshmallows are one of those foods that I didn't even consider as being an allergen problem until I went to grab a bag to make a batch of Rice Crispy Treats for L. I was so proud of myself for remembering how simple the ingredient list was for these little delights but duh, marshmallows have corn in them. As does just about everything.

I may still be a little bitter about this.

Thankfully Whole Foods came to the rescue as they so often do for those of us living with food allergies. They carried a corn syrup free marshmallow. Two problems. First the price--good grief, I mean a girl needs her marshmallow treats and you can't not share with your boys but I'm not sure they were worth the $6/bag I forked over that guilt ridden afternoon. The second problem is that lurking in that corn-syrup free label was corn; it was hiding in the powdered sugar, but it was still there. I just didn't realize it at the time. This was before my true awakening to how prevalent corn products are in our food supply.

I am totally still bitter about this. That and soy.

I tabled the marshmallow challenge until recently. Now that I have mastered the fine art of making corn-free corn syrup (okay it's not really an art, more like some pouring and stirring) I can dust off an old recipe I had for making homemade marshmallows. It's easy, I promise and much like making homemade yogurt there is something thrilling about making food you know none of your neighbors can.

And if you can make marshmallows, you can make Rice Crispy Treats, smores and fudge. Oh, yes, there will be fudge.

Ingredients:

4 packs Unflavored Gelatin(3 T plus 1 1/2 tsp)

3 cups Sugar

1 1/4 cups Corn-Free Corn Syrup

1/4 tsp Salt

2 tsp Vanilla Extract

1 1/2 cups Corn-Free Powdered Sugar

Candy Thermometer

Oil a 9X13 baking dish with Canola Oil, then line it with parchment paper allowing about 2 inches to drape over the sides, then oil the parchment paper. Trust me, marshmallows are sticky, you want too oil everything.

Toss Sugar, Corn-Free Corn Syrup, Salt and 3/4 cup Water into a saucepan. Stir to dissolve the sugar while bringing to a boil over high heat. Stop stirring and let the temperature reach 238 degrees.

While it’s cooking, put 3/4 cup cold water into your stand mixer and add the gelatin. Let it hang out for about 5 minutes. Using your whisk attachment, combine the syrup mixture with the gelatin. Beat on high until it’s really stiff—this will take awhile, maybe 10+minutes. Add in the vanilla.

Stop here if you only need marshmallow fluff. Pour into your well oiled, parchment lined, dish and smooth. Let cool until firm, about 3 hours.

“Flour” your countertop with some of your Homemade Powdered Sugar. Turn your newly made marshmallows onto the countertop, and yank off the parchment paper. Using an oiled knife or cookie cutters, cut the marshmallows into your desired shape. Roll each marshmallow in more of the Homemade Powdered Sugar. These will stay gorgeous for about 3 days so eat ‘em up!

Food Allergies and School

2011-03-28T06:25:00.000-07:00

There has been plenty of talk recently about the child allergic to peanuts in a Florida elementary school. The school is taking measures to protect her from a deadly reaction to peanuts by having all children wash their hands after lunch and a few other precautions. Parents of other kids in the school are not happy about this, to the point of picketing the school, claiming these precautions will take time away from their child's education. Naturally as a mom to a kid with food allergies I have a pretty strong opinion about this.

L is going into kindergarten next year at our local public elementary school. I will need to educate his teachers, and every other adult that comes into contact with him about his food allergies. Information will be left with the school nurse and the cafeteria about his needs. We are lucky in that he has not had an anaphylactic reaction to any food but if he does eat something he's reacting too, it can cause severe harm to his digestive tract. So it is still something that needs to be taken seriously. These are the precautions that need to be taken to keep this particular child safe in his environment, every child is different.

However, I can tell every adult he encounters not to give him food. I can put a sticker on his shoulder reminding every adult not to give him food. I can tell his classmates not to give him food. But he could still be given something he shouldn't eat. Substitutes happen. New students happen. Emergencies happen. I cannot predict every possible scenario that could place L in danger of eating something he shouldn't.

Instead he and the rest of our family talk frequently about food allergies. Nothing scary--I don't want the kid asking for a large hamster bubble for his 5th birthday. But some very matter-of-fact discussions about why he can't eat food that other people give him unless it's been okayed by his parents first. We are also quick to point out the foods his father and I can't eat for our own food allergies. Dad can't eat plums, but L can. I can't eat shellfish but L can. He thinks this is hilarious and loves to point out when he's eating them that we can't. I talk about what things I do to make sure I don't eat shellfish, since my reactions are anaphylactic. It's important that these precautions are simply part of his world. Nothing to be afraid of, or worry about but as much part of his day as looking both ways before crossing the street. Our greatest line of defense against L eating something he shouldn't is L. Not me. Not his teachers. And definitely not his fellow students. It's him.

Those parents picketing the school are overreacting. Big time. The precautions being performed are no big deal and frankly the kids having to do them probably wouldn't have thought twice about it until someone told them too. I would be willing to bet that her parents have taught her how to protect herself in her environment. And please hear me in saying that I completely support the steps this school has taken in protecting this little girl. Hand washing is not something worth picketing. Teachers not getting paid enough, the ridiculous standardized testing, or heck, the quality of food served in the cafeteria, that's something worth picketing. Would these parents be so upset if a service dog was allowed in for a child with a vision impairment or a new ramp installed for a child needing to use a wheel chair? Doubt it.

We do need to make our child's environment as safe for them as possible but accidents do happen. Our kids with food allergies need to be taught how to protect themselves in a world filled with food. What steps do you take to educate your child about their food allergies?

Popsicles

2011-03-24T09:36:00.000-07:00

More specifically "Tailor Made to Fit Your Kids Allergic Needs Popsicles". But then the title starts looking ridiculously long, and well you get the point.

A million years ago when my boys were little bitty I lived near one of my best friends. This recipe is inspired by one that her mom used when she was younger and now makes for her own kids. I tweaked it a bit to make it fit L. Both my boys love these popsicles as a treat or something to sooth a sore throat when they aren't feeling well. There are two kinds listed below. The first is my standard. I use these for hot summer days, or when the boys have colds. The second is also great for hot summer days but work really well if you have a kiddo with a stomach bug.

Summer's close so grab your favorite popsicle mold!

Allergen-Free Popsicle Recipe

3/4 Coconut Milk Yogurt(that you just made in your crockpot)
1/4 Apple Juice

To measure how much mixture you are going to need, either eyeball it or fill up each popsicle mold and pour it into a measuring cup. Then mix together your yogurt and apple juice. Pour into the molds and slap 'em into the freezer. Freeze and eat!

Funky Options:

Substitute any juice your little one can handle or if you feeling extra sneaky try adding in veggie or fruit purees. The photo above contains sweet potato puree!
Or if you are feeling really nice, add in several tablespoons of dairy-free chocolate syrup!

Popsicles Part II

Electrolyte Drink(Whole Foods 365 brand is corn-free)

Pour electrolyte drink into your popsicle molds and freeze. Easy, homemade "pedialyte" type popsicles, perfect for your kiddo with allergies or anyone not wanting to drink corn syrup!

Allergen Free Ice Cream Cupcakes

2011-03-20T08:55:00.000-07:00

First use some of the Coconut Milk Yogurt you just made or use your favorite store bought yogurt, or dairy-free ice cream(soften first) to fill each silicone cupcake liner.

Smooth the top of each ice cream cake, place on a small baking sheet or any flat surface in the freezer. Leave for several hours to freeze. If leaving overnight I would cover them first.

Once frozen, pop each one out of their liner(or leave them in, they are pretty cute), then top with some of our homemade icing and sprinkles!

When birthdays roll around, tension can start streaming in along side the list of confirmed RSVP's. Tension in creating an allergen-free cake or cupcakes that will be delicious. Even my best recipes have off days--something I may have made 100 times before can randomly come out dry and crumbly. Naturally the chances of this happening increase exponentially if it happens to be an event where other people beyond my immediate family members are attending.

And there is no quick trip to the grocery store to buy a cake. Cause they don't make one's that fit L's allergen list. So I put together an idea that is fail safe. A cake-free, dairy-free Ice Cream Cake. It's so fun that I can see non-allergen moms using them at their birthday parties!

Coconut Milk Yogurt in the Crockpot

2011-03-15T18:10:00.000-07:00

After reading all the comments on the original Rice Milk Yogurt Recipe page, I decided to try that recipe again and see what was going on. The batch of Rice Milk Yogurt did in fact turn into yogurt, but it was very, very thin. So I started doing research on what makes yogurt work and quickly regretted not paying better attention in chemistry and biology class.

Then again, no college classes should ever be offered at 8am. Ever.

What I discovered is way more involved than I really care to go into right now as my adorable daughter is finally sleeping after trying to pull all-nighters for 4 nights in a row and I want to hit the hay myself. She's gearing up for her own collegiate experience.

This recipe is pretty amazing if I do say so myself. It does contain gelatin which is made from beef. I'm going to try a different recipe without the gelatin sometime soon, so hang in there if you have beef allergies or are a vegan.

Coconut Milk Yogurt

6 cups Coconut Milk(approx 3 1/2 cans)
6 capsules probiotics(Jarrow has an Allergen Free Formula!)
or
1 cup Coconut Milk Yogurt(store bought)
3 envelopes Knox Gelatin

In a 4-quart Crockpot, pour the coconut milk. Now, turn the crockpot on low. Leave it for 2 1/2 hours. Still with me? Turn the crockpot off. Leave it for 3 more hours. Then pour out about 1 cup of the milk into a separate bowl. Add in your probiotics either as capsules or the store bought yogurt. Toss in the gelatin while you're at it, then stir gently. Pour the mixture into the crockpot and stir to combine. Then wrap up the crockpot in a couple large towels to maintain the correct temperature. Let sit overnight or at least 8 hours.

Go to bed.

The next morning you will find yogurt! But wait, it's still looks like, well, coconut milk--not thick, creamy yogurt. Trisha, what are you talking about!?!?! At least that was my reaction when I opened up my crockpot. It smelled like yogurt, it tasted like yogurt but it definitely was not creamy and thick. So pour it into a pitcher or bowl and place it into the fridge. This will give the gelatin a chance to works it's magic. An hour later and you will have rich, creamy, coconut milk yogurt.

Enjoy! and Goodnight!

Oh, and Stephanie? Over at Crockpot 365? Thank you for the inspiration for this recipe! You are still the Crockpot Goddess!

What to do with a 1/2 Gallon of Yogurt

Because seriously that's a ton 'o yogurt

1. Ice Cream Cupcakes
2. Popsicles
3. Muffins

Allergen Free Teething Biscuits

2011-03-09T09:28:00.000-08:00

You really can't find Funky Food friendly teething biscuits. And in the food manufacter's defense, it would be impossible. It's not like they could make individual batches of tailored made teething biscuits.............or could they?

Please?

Until that happens, I have one here that you can make to fit your little one's needs easily. E is teething like crazy, not terribly interested in baby food, and is related to her big brother, so I'm a bit paranoid about her trying out any of L's big three--wheat, soy or corn. So, she was tickled pink(she is really darn cute) when I handed her one of these yesterday.

And then again this morning.

I was tickled pink to get all the dishes into the dishwasher in one fell swoop. Having a teething, can't quite crawl, 8 months old does not allow for the satisfaction of project completion luckily she really is quite adorable.

Happy Baking!

Allergen-Free Teething Biscuits
1 cup Oat Flour(rice flour, sweet sorghum flour, buckwheat)
1 cup Infant Oatmeal Cereal(rice cereal, quinoa flakes)
1 Mashed Ripe Banana(applesauce, sweet potatoes, any fruit/veggie puree)
2 T Canola Oil(any other oil)
Several tablespoons of water

Preheat oven to 375. Stir wet ingredients together. Dump the dry stuff in and stir until combined. Drizzle one tablespoon of water at at time while kneading the dough. You are looking for a non-sticky consistency. If you add too much water, no worries, just sprinkle a little extra flour in. On a floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Using a pizza cutter or knife, cut into desired shape. I made long, rectangles just like the one's you can buy at the store. Because these are so thick it's going to take a good 45 minutes for them to get hard like a teething biscuit. Once baby is a little older you don't have to bake them so long, but as long as E is only sporting two micro-teeth, I want them hard as rocks so she spends more time gumming them, than actually getting bites off.

Corn-Free Corn Syrup

2011-02-28T13:29:00.000-08:00

Makes about as much sense as corn-free corn bread recipes right? Until you have a munchkin allergic to corn or maybe you're just trying to reduce the crazy amount of corn in our American diets. Then you quickly realize that there are three recipes that just can't be made without corn syrup or something just like it.

These realizations hit me this weekend when two things came together. A good friend's little guy is really sick and a craving for Rice Crispy Treats. Johnnie(read more about him here) has eosinophilia just like L but his is flaring horribly. So, out of a lack of really helpful things to do, I offered to make him a batch of lollipops. He can't eat anything right now, and a lollipop would at least give him something besides ice to put in his sweet mouth.

As for the Rice Crispy Treats--what can I say? I'm still breastfeeding my daughter and I needed some serious carbs. Both of these recipes require corn syrup. I can substitute honey in the lollipop recipe but Johnnie literally can't have anything but cane sugar right now. And we all know that corn-free marshmallows aren't cheap. Almost $6/8oz bag not cheap. Ouch! Even a severe Rice Crispy Treat craving doesn't justify that kind of decadence. Not when I could be spending that six bucks on good chocolate.

Back to kitchen! It is truly where the answers to most food allergy delimma's can be found. This answer is a snap. Okay it would be a snap if say, you weren't interrupted during the cane sugar syrup making process by your husband calling to see if you thought the boys should play soccer or your darling daughter not napping OR your adorable 6 yr old claiming he needed to come home from school with a tummy ache.

He has the nurse snowed. He did look pretty convincingly sick. Until he was informed he was spending the rest of the day on his bed reading quietly as he was obviously to sick to even watch TV. Guess who is cured and back at school today?

Any way. This is the Sugar Cane Syrup recipe. It is making a candy so you need to measure precisely and timing/temperature counts so follow the directions. But if like me, you mess up a bit, no worries. You can still use the syrup, it just won't be perfect.

Like me:)

2 cups Sugar
3/4 cups water
1/4 tsp Cream of Tarter
1/8 tsp Salt

In a big 'ol saucepan with a lid, combine the ingredients and bring them to a boil. Reduce the heat until you reach a simmer and cover for 3 minutes. Uncover and cook until it reaches "soft-ball" stage about 240 degrees. Cool and store in the fridge!

Helping Johnnie

2011-02-25T10:23:00.000-08:00

As ya'll know L has a rare digestive disease called Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis. Basically the cells that cause allergic reactions are in his digestive tract, where they don't belong. Anytime he eats something he's allergic to these cells over react and start to damage his stomach and small intestines. This can lead to a host of horrible conditions and ultimately without proper care these children can literally starve to death.

I always envision the typically good cells in his immune system slowly getting pulled over to The Dark Side. Eventually they get confused as to what they are supposed to be doing and start killing off the good guys.

Or maybe I've been subjected to a little too much "guy TV". Must watch Grey's Reruns to restore balance.

But I digress as usual.

We are lucky, L has a very mild form of EG. But his good friend Johnnie is not so lucky. Johnnie's mother, Autumn is one of Tulsa's finest. Although single, she signed up to be a foster mom. One of her first placements was 10 day old Johnnie and his 13 month old brother. They have been with her ever since and recently have become her permanent children. She has been dealing with Johnnie's Eosinophilia from the start. This condition is incredibly expensive to manage, the formula alone can run hundreds of dollars a month. His condition has recently worsened to the point that the doctors in Oklahoma can no longer help him. He has been accepted into the Eosinophilic Clinic at Cincinnati Children's Hospital but needs to live near it in order to receive the treatment he needs to stay alive.

Here's where ya'll come in. Even if you can't donate money, take a second of your time and please pass this page or the link below along to your family and friends. We need a bit of an internet miracle for this kiddo. Let's show this family what the Funky Food Family can do for one of our own!

If there is anything you can do to help this family get the resources they need to move to Ohio and save Johnnie's life, I know they would be so grateful, as would I.

This is a link to his FundRazr page:
http://bit.ly/hlfqjq

L's Tummy Update

2011-02-10T18:00:00.000-08:00

I just realized that I've posted two recipes but no update on L's endoscopy! Please chock this up to the holidays and life with three kids. Whew.

The endoscopy went great. I can't say enough good things about the GI's at Cook Children's in Fort Worth, Texas. Since we were coming in from out of state, they managed to get him into see the GI on day 1 and then have the endoscopy scheduled for the next day. The nursing staff helped me keep him happy and busy while we waited for him to be taken back for the endoscopy. He was a little nervous when we first went back on the surgical floor. But we landed the world's greatest male nurse. He walked L through each step of getting his clothes changed, to checking his blood pressure and finally the IV. Each step had something to do with super heroes. L's eyes were as big as saucers when he heard that the blood pressure cuff was really the way to check your super hero muscles. Good stuff.

He came through surgery with no problems. And his scope was clean. No eos cells present in his small intestines and no more ulcers. This doesn't mean he's free of eosinophilia. But it does mean that we are managing his illness the way his body needs. It also means that he has a very mild case, something I continue to be grateful for.

So, we are still cooking up Funky Food around here. Still giving him his medicine juice. And dreading breaking in a new school come this fall. More than anything else though, I'm so incredibly grateful that my little boy is happily sleeping in his monkey jammies with a tummy that doesn't hurt.

Love,
Trisha

Buckwheat Pancakes

2011-01-26T19:01:00.001-08:00

This morning I was faced with not one but two sick boys. Strep has infiltrated the household and brought with it throats that hurt. So when L asked for pancakes this morning, I reached for one of my favorite recipes. Plus they sounded good to my own sore throat.

Mom always gets sick too. Luckily I got mine out of the way over the weekend. A big "Thank You!" to the Daddy around here for taking care of the kiddo's so I could sleep.

Back to pancakes: I mill my own buckwheat which I have found to be better than the store bought version. Mainly because the store bought version is incredibly fine and tends to make these pancakes super dense. Ick. Milling your own buckwheat is a snap. I use a Vita-Mix but your blender or food processor should do the trick.

This was one of the first recipes I tried from my favorite cookbook, "The Allergy Self-Help Cookbook". It is a must for anyone trying to live on Funky Food!

Buckwheat Pancakes

1 1/2 cups buckwheat
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tarter
1 1/2 cups milk of choice or water
3 T oil of choice

Preheat nonstick skillet. Whisk together the dry ingredients. Add in the remaining ingredients and blend until combined. Pour spoonfuls onto the griddle and cook until the tops are bubble and edges are brown. Turn and cook until lightly brown. Eat!

Alternatives:
For other flours, try using 1 cup flour of choice(rice, teff, oat) and 1/2 starch(tapioca, arrowroot). The buckwheat does great without a starch but these other flours need a little help.

Cereal Nut/Seed Butter Bars

2010-12-21T17:10:00.000-08:00

I have got to come up with a better name for these........

About a billion years and two life-times ago, I lived in the dorms during my tenure as a college student. Oh, yes. It took about ten years to graduate--don't judge, college was and continues to be one of my favorite places. I digress. I lived in the traditional style dorms which in my opinion, are by far better than the suite style. Not having to clean your own bathroom outweighs any potential benefits of the suites. Plus there was a sense of community that would be hard to replicate unless you were forced out of your room and into the lounge. Every night a chorus of voices would start to cry "Dinner!" up and down the halls. Doors would start slamming and feet would pound the floor as we all made a mad dash for the elevator landing to join the group heading down for dinner in the cafeteria. And that's where I found these.

Oh, peanut buttery, cereal, chocolately goodness. How do I love thee? I could easily eat these for my entire dinner. They were that amazing. But it took me another 12 years to get motivated enough to find the recipe to make them myself. Why? Maybe I was just afraid that I would never be able to make them nearly as good as those culinary genius' in the dorm cafeteria.

Thankfully I was wrong to doubt myself. This recipe is perfect. The sticky part is that delightful chewy goodness found in a no-bake cookie but the cereal gives it an amazing crunch. It's also a versatile recipe making it perfect for our kiddo's eating Funky Food! Enjoy!

Cereal Nut/Seed Butter Bars

1 cup nut butter of choice(almond, sunbutter, pecan, etc)

1 cup honey(agave nectar, maple syrup, etc)

1 cup sugar

6 cups cereal(Cheerios, Rice Crispies, etc)

In a saucepan over medium heat, stir together the honey and sugar. Bring it to a boil until the sugar is dissolved. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the nut/seed butter. Then pour over the cereal in a large bowl, stirring to coat. Pour the mixture into a greased 9X10 baking dish. Mush out into the dish. Let cool and enjoy

Options:
Drizzle on some melted chocolate
Add in various candies

Acceptance

2010-11-18T18:19:00.000-08:00

When L was about 2 1/2 I took him to see a GI in the town we had just moved too. I wanted to establish care with the new doc in case we needed him. I had all L's files forwarded including the slides of the biopsy's the former GI had taken during L's endoscopy at 15 months. The new GI looked everything over and handed me a gift.

He said that L didn't have eosinophilic gastroenteritis.

I felt a tiny bit of hope light in my heart. Please God. Let this be true.

I called the former GI who stood by his diagnosis but I chose to believe the new doctor. Mainly because he was telling me what every mother of a chronically sick child wants to hear.

That he's fine.

Two years later and my prayers are different. I'm praying that by believing the new GI I haven't hurt my son. By not being more persistent I may have done damage to my darling child's intestines. Dear God, please help us because I'm scared. Scared to find out what the doctor will find in a little under two weeks when L's second endoscopy is performed.

L started throwing some pretty epic tantrums a couple weeks ago. Fits of rage fueled by pain. These tantrums are different from his usual stubborn nature. It's hard to explain. He usually goes off, does some yelling, and then comes back his happy self. The tantrums caused by him hurting escalate until he finally goes to bed that night. After one of those nights last week I called his former GI.

Without my asking too, they reread his biopsy slides, confirming that L does in fact have eosinophilic gastroenteritis. They took away my gift and handed me a truth instead. One that I'm still trying to hold on too. You see, I liked sitting on this fence. L didn't really have EG so I couldn't relate to the moms whose kids had it, and he didn't have severe allergic reactions to foods so I didn't belong with them either. Instead I could safely perch in between, happy to not have the kid sick enough to belong to either group.

And I still don't know. I don't know if or where we belong. All I know is that in two weeks, I will have to hand my precious 4 yr old child over to a nurse I just met, and turn my back, walk away and wait for the doctor to come and get me. From him I pray I will get a new gift, however painful it is to receive, my son back from surgery and with him a path we can take to keep him healthy and strong.

Cookbook Review--The Divvies Bakery Cookbook

2010-11-03T18:28:00.000-07:00

First off, Hello! It's been an entire year since I last posted, which is just craziness. A lot has happened. Let's see:

I had a baby! My daughter E is now 4 months old.
I am no longer working for tTownmoms.com. LONG story that really doesn't merit telling:)

And that's about it. I'm sure there were a few other things I managed to tuck into the rest of the year but more on that later. For now, I have the fun job of chatting about a new cookbook.

A no nuts, no eggs, no dairy but loaded with yumminess cookbook!

The Divvies Bakery released a cookbook. Not familiar with Divvies Bakery? Check out their great story here. This amazing mom didn't just start a blog, she opened her own bakery! And in her spare time(hehe) wrote a cookbook and started a line of her products that are now available to be shipped to your home!

Whew. I need a break just thinking about all the work this took.

Back to the cookbook: This one is chock full of good information. She provides you with lists of ingredients to keep on hand and what they do, as well as utensils that will make your life easier.

My favorite recipes were(pages dog-eared and everything) Cinnamon Buns and Choose-Your Own Mix-In Scones. These two yummy treats would make anyone happy to have for breakfast!

This cookbook delivers on it's promise to be nut, egg and dairy free so it relies heavily on soy and wheat. But no worries! Most of these recipes are tweakable using the know-how we "allergy mommies" have pulled together. I have to hit the natural foods store this weekend to replenish my GF flour supplies but hopefully I will have a gorgeous Funky Food version of the Mix-In Scone recipe for you next week!

Along with this gorgeous cookbook, I found two sugar cookies from Divvies Bakery tucked inside! Oh, the joy. They tasted exactly like their dairy/egg loaded cousins--any kiddo who is living life without dairy, nuts or eggs would never feel like they were doing without while eating one of these! Check out their website for more details to order your own: http://www.divvies.com/store/commerce.cgi?search=action&category=SUGC

I hope ya'll had a great year and with any luck we'll be chatting more often soon.

Thief

2009-10-11T18:59:00.000-07:00

I read. I always have, but as a child and then in the not so distant past I read books. Now I collect blogs as often if not more than their paper bound brothers. The emotions the blog posts illicit are intense and real but to often fleeting. A posting that brings me to tears is quickly lost in the oceanic proportions of the internet.

Yet, reading the posts that touch my heart are really no different than conversations had with true friends. They are even more fleeting, gone in seconds only to be misremembered by an imperfect mind. It's the feelings from that exchange that are remembered perfectly, and treasured.

So for that, tonight I am grateful. I have been working without a daily peace for months now. Through one of the blogs I frequent, whose author I am privileged to have met, I found it again. The rhythm of motherhood that allows us to care for our families while still feeling peaceful. To make mistakes, be flawed, and still be amazing mothers, wives and friends.

Thank you.

Butternut Squash Pasta Recipe

2009-09-30T18:37:00.000-07:00

Poor lonely spaghetti. I had planned tonight to be a pasta night, and usually I grab a quart of my frozen tomato sauce and 1/2 pound ground beef to pour over the whole wheat pasta. But tomato sauce just didn't sound good. Butternut squash did though.

I had this divine butternut squash lasagna at The Local Table in Tulsa so I googled "butternut squash pasta" recipes. I patched together a couple and came up with the following. It was heaven. Extremely filling but it had a very light yet rich flavor. Plus it was a perfect use for the butternut squash puree I put in the freezer last week.

Butternut Squash Pasta(makes 6 servings)

1 cup butternut squash puree

1 cup half and half(or any milk-like product)

3 cloves garlic diced

1/8 cup of fresh sage chopped(or 2 teaspoons dried)

1/4 pound sausage cooked

Salt and pepper

Whole Wheat Pasta of choice

Start your pasta water, and don't forget to add the pasta when it boils(not that I have ever done that). In a skillet saute your garlic and sage in a little extra virgin olive oil. When it starts to smell good pour in the butternut squash puree and combine. Whisk in the half and half until smooth and creamy. Salt and pepper to taste. As this cooks, it will condense a lot. I ended up whisking in 2 cups of the hot pasta water. Add in the sausage for the final step.

Serve over pasta and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

To make it allergy friendly:

Use buckwheat pasta or your favorite kind

Use rice milk, or almond milk in place of dairy

Other than that, this recipe is just perfect for our set!

Health Insurance

2009-09-28T19:22:00.000-07:00

L has been complaining about his stomach more than usual and it's been over a year since he's seen a gastroenterologist. Good grief, do they get longer titles the more they spend in school? I sat down with my notebook, a good pen and my trusty internet to start what I knew was going to be a long, long phone call.

I started with the Pediatric GI. In order to be seen, regardless of your health insurance plan, you have to have your child's previous medical history faxed over. Wait, this is normal, except, this group of doctors wants to see it BEFORE you can even schedule an appointment. The first available appointment? I landed a nice receptionist, so she fessed up and told me: not until December.

Since I've done this before, I knew there was probably a loophole. There was. You have to have the previous physician call to speak to the GI(cause Moms don't count), and then the new GI can decide whether or not your child should be fit into an appointment before December.

Whew. That was fun. Now onto the Pediatric Allergist. My new health insurance went into effect Sept. 1 but because of all the glorious red tape that is a large health insurance company, as of today we still don't have our health insurance cards containing those all important ID numbers. This tidbit of information is important for this next phone call.

After wading through the fun, fun list of "Press #1 for" I finally reach a person. The first question out of every one of these phone calls is, "What is your insurance provider". Never " how can I help you?". We get through every step, down to birthdays, previous physicians, and only then does she request the ID #'s. When I tell her that we don't have them yet, she explains that they can't even schedule an appointment until you have the ID#s. First available? November.

So when I hear people expressing worry about a govenment option for healthcare or any government involvement in the US healthcare, I want to laugh hysterically. Long waits to be seen? Got 'em. Loop holes or needing to "know" the right person? Oh, hell yes. Impossible red tape? That too.

The only people who don't experience these issues are healthy people. Mother's to children who will never have an illness worse than an ear infection or a cold. Adults who will sail through life nary a scratch until late in life. Good for you. I didn't have that child. I have a beautiful, passionate, brilliant little boy whose stomach is on fire and because of our health insurance system he won't be cared for until December.

Unless his mother dedicates many a morning on the phone; requesting files, sending faxes, pleading, manipulating, and even lying to get her child seen. Because I've done it before and I will keep doing it.

Why am I not picketing or testifying before Congress? Sorry. I'm on the phone.

Lunch at School

2009-09-22T18:35:00.000-07:00

I picked up L from school today only to discover from his teacher that he didn't eat much of his lunch today. Translation: he ate his orange, and drank his juice. He ate none of his almond butter and honey sandwhich on buckwheat/millet bread or his carrots(we're trying carrots until his allergy tests). At least he got plenty of Vitamin C.

He has not been loving my bread lately. Now when it's fresh out of the bread machine the whole family will devour it. Schmeared with some all-fruit jelly or apple butter, it will stand shoulder to shoulder with some of the best baguettes I've had. But by day two it's starting to dry out and get firm. Not hard but not a good bready texture.

So what's a mom to do? We have three major food rules at our house.
1. You don't have to eat anything you don't want too.
2. If you are hungry, you eat what's served.
3. No protests or bad opinions on what's being served.

I give these rules credit for producing such great eaters. Both boys will pretty much eat anything that's put in front of them and are very willing to try new things. So when L puts his foot down about a particular food there is usually a reason. We talked about it this afternoon and since he is loving my crackers, we will rely on those for awhile. Spread with almond butter, served with sliced turkey and cheese, my crackers do rock(blushing demurely). The recipe is here of course. My most recent batch was sorghum and hemp seeds. Hmmm, sneaky mom omega-3's.

And I'll tackle the bread dilemma again another day. I'm not ready to admit defeat in the face of allergen-free bread! Success will be mine!

I'm making cookies for L's class on Thursday. So make sure you check back in. The recipe will involve butternut squash, almond butter and millet. Those poor, poor children--they'll never even know.

Homemade Chicken Stock

2009-09-13T18:46:00.000-07:00

Before you officially check me off as the weirdest person on the planet, let me explain. Because for crying out loud! Who has time to make their own chicken stock? And, why on earth would you? It comes in these handy, dandy little packages at the store. Even Rachel Ray, queen goddess of all quick cooking, says that store bought stock is fine.
Much like all my funky food, my chicken stock story begins with L's food allergies. Chicken stock is great to cook with when you are trying to sneak nutrients into a limited diet. The problem is that ALL store bought chicken stock has carrots in it. L was allergic to carrots. What's a girl to do?

Make her own chicken stock, with much thanks to her amazing mother-in-law, that's what!

Carla's Homemade Chicken Stock Recipe
Take one chicken carcass toss it into a stockpot or crockpot
Add in veggies(celery, onions, garlic, etc)
Toss in some salt and/or any herbs and spices
Cover in water, put on the lid and bring to a simmer or turn on low.

Preferably let simmer or cook in the crockpot over-night. This is why I like using a crockpot, since leaving the stove on while I sleep makes me a teeny bit nervous.

When you wake up in the morning, pour the stock through a sieve, separating the gorgeous, golden liquid from the bones, and veggies. Then pour into quart-sized freezer bags, and freeze flat in the freezer.

Kids with food allergies often have limited diets which can make it hard to get all the nutrients, and calories in them that they need. This chicken stock can help. Use it to make rice, pour it over pasta with some olive oil, or as the base of a delicious soup.

We met with a nutritionist when L was about 2. The best thing I walked away from that consult with was information about L-glutamine. This brilliant amino-acid is actually given to cancer patients to help heal the damage done to their digestive tracts due to chemo and radiation. So we figured that if it helps cancer patients then surely it can help L's damaged digestive tract too. The problem is that L-glutamine isn't easy to find in large quantities except in meat, which is not easy to digest. The two best places I have found are celery and papaya. So I toss in an entire package of celery into this recipe!

No-Bake Cookies

2009-09-07T17:27:00.001-07:00

I don't know if it is the full moon or the urge to create something new but I HAD to make these cookies this evening. Childhood and No Bake Cookies really need to go together. They are typically one of the very first recipes we make with our mothers and then one of the first we try on our own. For food-allergy households this simple recipe is easy to convert to one that will work for you.

Making these I remembered an ingredient friend that had been tucked into the back of my cupboard. The Quinoa Flake. Getting all the essential amino acids into a kid can be hard but getting them in a restricted diet can be even harder. Quinoa Flakes can help with this. You can use them as a bread crumb replacement, substitute 1/4 cup to a bread or muffin recipe or make no-bake cookies!

No Bake Cookies

Bring to a Boil for 1 minute

1/2 cup butter or Jungle Shortening

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup cocoa or carob powder

1/2 cup milk of choice(coconut, rice, goat, soy, etc)

Take off heat and stir in:

1 tsp vanilla(beware lurking corn syrup!)

1/2 cup nut butter(sunbutter, almond, hemp, pecan, etc)

3 cups oats(Quinoa Flakes, barley flakes, cooked rice)

Drop teaspoonfuls onto wax paper. Let cool and eat! Sorry for the lack of picture--a darling 3 year old is busy throwing tantrums about bedtime. Must go attend!

Update--Back to Business

2009-08-30T11:14:00.000-07:00

Maybe the story I'm telling will continue in time. But it looks like Funky Food is truly back in business. In May I chunked his rotation diet out the door, along with every other rule except for no soy or corn. This was going great, no tummy trouble. Until last week. L started getting up a couple times a night again, and yesterday had his first tantrum caused by tummy pain in 6 months. These tantrums are different than his normal temper fits. Tummy pain tantrums appear from nowhere and are fueled by this well of frustration from a child fed up with being in pain.

We got up three times last night. Each time I would give him a little apple juice spiked with the calcium carbonate. Each time this would illicit some obscene belches and he would fall back to sleep. Poor little guy.

So this morning I began again. I went through my backstock of allergen ingredients, made a list and went to the grocery store for the second time this weekend. I loaded my cart with a melange of items only an allergen mama would recognize; to everyone else it must have looked like the recipe to create nothing. Applesauce, almonds and almond oil, oats, and honey.

Came home and made almond butter, granola bars, bread and crackers. And now I'm off to make my very first batch of basil pesto as my favorite brand started using sunflower oil instead of olive oil. So the recipe list will be lengthing again.

I'm trying not to think about it. Trying not to worry about the damage I may have caused to his stomach. To the hours I will spend every week baking and cooking. The appointments to the allergist and gastroenterologist. The conversations I will have with teachers, friends and strangers as to why he can't eat that.

And L. Why his brother can eat that and he can't. Separate snacks and treats at school. My baby.

Being a mother is hard. Being a mother to a child with any kind of special needs can be exhausting. So we begin again. Without hesitation or fail, because it's what we do. We're mothers.

Right?

It's just colic

2009-08-26T19:06:00.000-07:00

The first three months of L's life were not easy. He wouldn't sleep. Ever. Okay not entirely true, the child slept but for somewhere between 1 to 3 hours at time. And frequently it would take 4-5 tries to get him to sleep for that first hour. His body was stiff and he would cry-loudly unless I was holding him. And walking him. He hated the car, driving anywhere would just make him scream more.

I was getting desperate. I couldn't go anywhere with him without having to stop a half dozen times to get him to stop crying. I couldn't sleep because he was getting up all night long. I couldn't spend time with my 2 year old, B, because L was requiring all my attention. I was exhausted. So when he's three month check up came around I was ready.

I described his symptoms to the pediatrician. And please close your eyes for a moment and envision me. Three months postpartum, no sleep for 3 months, with two year old in hand. I was practically in the verge of tears. Got the image? Good deal. Now I'm telling this pediatrician that L isn't sleeping, that his stomach is rock hard, he's pulling his limbs up into his body and he cries all day everyday. Something is wrong with this child I say.

It's just colic.

Wow. Years of medical experience with small children and this mother's instincts are being tossed out the door like yesterdays trash. I got my two small children together, strapped them into their car seats and made it all the way home before I started crying.

Because I knew it wasn't colic. I fired that pedicatrician and scheduled an appointment with one of the doctors who shared the office. The one that wore long flowey skirts and who seemed to hurt for her patients. And promply pinned all my hopes on those skirts.

I was so tired. I needed help.

The Beginning of Funky Food

2009-08-24T17:58:00.000-07:00

Every mother of a child with food allergies has a story. A story of where she thinks her child's food allergies came from, how they were diagnosed and how they learned how to live with them. Sometimes these stories have an ending with the child growing out of the allergies. Sometimes not. This is our story.

L came a full month early. Being early wasn't good enough for him; he also wanted to be born now. I was to calm for the admitting nurse at the hospital to believe I was close to delivering. It wasn't until my midwife came, verified that I was a good eight cm dilated that things started moving. This wouldn't had been a problem, except I was Group B Strep Positive. I needed two large doses of antibiotics in my system before L was born or he would have to get them.

I didn't make it. L came with a thunder and roar that makes me laugh everytime I hear a doctor telling a mother to hold back a push. There was no waiting, this child was coming, hard and fast. He arrived a big baby for a 36 weeker at almost 7 pounds and 18 inches long. I don't even want to think about how huge he would've been at term.

The nurses wrapped him up, gave him his huge shot of antibiotics, smeared goo in his eyes and handed him to me. It happened so fast, I kept staring at him repeating, "I can't believe you're here." Sometime within his first 24 hours he would be given his first vaccines along with the already ingected antibiotics.

I knew something wasn't right with him from the start. He didn't sleep well, constantly waking because he was having a hard time breathing due to the mucous in his nose. He also wouldn't relax, he kept his limbs pulled into his body. The perfect picture of an infant having belly pain. I remember talking myself out of worry. "It's his first night, he was really early, and not all babies are the same." My first had been a textbook baby; eat, sleep, wake, poop, repeat. So maybe L was just going to be one of those more difficult babies.

I had no idea what I was talking about.

Menu Plan Monday Rotation Diet Week 11

2009-04-27T18:52:00.000-07:00

Monday--Almond Milk

Breakfast

Almond Meal Pancakes

Snack

Macadamia Nuts

Lunch

Almond Crackers, almond butter, raspberries

Snack

Almond Cookies

Dinner

Fish, french fries, raspberries

Tuesday--Hemp Milk

Breakfast

Oatmeal

Snack

Cashews and dried blueberries

Lunch

Oat bread, deli chicken, blueberries

Snack

Hemp milk pudding

Dinner

Chicken burritos, blueberry, asparagus

Wednesday--Goat Milk

Breakfast

Buckwheat pancakes

Snack

pecans

Lunch

Buckwheat bread, goat cheese, strawberry

Snack

Goat yogurt

Dinner

Buckwheat pasta, strawberry, green beans

Thursday--Coconut Milk

Breakfast

Millet Irish Soda Bread

Snack

Walnuts

Lunch

Millet bread, deli turkey, pineapple

Friday--Almond Milk

Breakfast

Almond pancakes

Snack

Brazil nuts, and raisins

Lunch

Almond crackers, almond butter, grapes

Snack

Almond cookies

Dinner

Hamburgers, grapes, broccoli

Saturday--Hemp Milk

Breakfast

Sorghum muffins

Snack

Macadamia nuts

Lunch

Sorghum bread, hemp butter, apples

Snack

Applesauce

Dinner

Pizza with chicken sausage, apples, green beans

Sunday--Goat Milk

Breakfast

Buckwheat pancakes

Snack

Pine nuts

Lunch

Buckwheat bread, goat cheese, blackberries

Snack

Goat yogurt

Dinner

Buckwheat pasta with pine nuts, basil and goat cheese, blackberries

It's week 11. And tonight's post although containing our Menu Plan Monday is going to go way off topic.

I have a hard time being still. Always have. It's almost physically impossible for me to sit back and let my life happen. I worry about not getting to do those things in life that I want to do. Having children was one of those things. It drove me mad that I needed to wait for a man to appear to finally be able to have my children. I know we live in a world equipped to hand unmarried women children in many different ways but I didn't want my babies to come that way.

I wanted a man with me that would be as excited about our baby as I was. I wanted the picture of him reading to my belly. And of his face when he met his son.

But the idea that I would have enough faith to sit back and wait. On the off chance that I met him. The what if's alone rung in my head on a daily basis. What if he appeared to late? What if I didn't meet him until I was in my late 30's or 40's? Would my chance at motherhood be wasted because I was patient and accepted my lot in life as it was?

Patience doesn't come easy for me and faith is a whole other issue that is hard for me to wrap my head around. The two really do go together. Maybe I will find faith when I learn patience.

It's hard still. To be still. In the past six months my father and mother-in-law both passed away unexpectedly. This does not encourage my quest for patience. To sit still. To hope for things to get better.

Instead it calls for action. Even if the action is to end something, a relationship, the last of the chocolate milk. Anything other than relaxing into the life I have. This great life. Because I am so scared that I am going to miss something by being still.

I joke that some women have biological clocks but I had a biological gong. It didn't tick, it reverberated across my body, shaking every pore with this crying need to hold my child. So now that I have two babies in our home, what's next?

Maybe patience and then faith.

Buckwheat Hemp Butter Cookies

2009-04-26T18:22:00.000-07:00

I swear these taste good. Not only good but "step away from the plate, those are ALL MINE" good. They remind me of peanut butter cookies, only not that sandy texture, more of a chewy texture. So very, very good.

Buckwheat Hemp Butter Cookies

3/4 cup hemp butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup applesauce

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp cream of tarter

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups buckwheat flour

1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 and grease baking sheet. Cream together hemp butter and sugars. Add in remaining ingredients and blend. Slowly add in 1 1/2 cups buckwheat flour and 1/4 tsp salt. Combine together. Drop teaspoonfuls onto greased baking sheet, slap 'em into the oven and bake for 8 minutes. Let cool slightly and enjoy!

Feeling nice? Press sundrops or chocolate chips onto the tops of cookies before baking!

Side note: I'm a little irritated at myself. Just discovered corn syrup lurking in my cabinet. It was hiding in the All-Natural Vanilla Extract. Not imitation vanilla flavoring--I don't buy that nastiness. But in the real deal. I was unhappy.

Strawberry Rhubarb Sorghum Muffins

2009-04-21T18:49:00.000-07:00

So first off, I wouldn't exactly lead with the full name of these muffins while handing them to the munchkin people. Rhubarb is one of those vegetables that illicits some rather unpleasant images in the minds of the uninitiated. For those who have been properly introduced to this funky food, there is no turning back. Once bitten, love is immediate and forever.

Rhubarb is a veggie, a gorgeous bright red veggie that is in season is early spring. It looks like a really long piece of brilliant red celery. When you buy it, treat it like you would celery. You don't want it to feel rubbery but crunchy and strong. Also don't just bite into a chunk raw. Please don't. You'll regret it. As with any veggie, as you cook it the natural sugars come out and it gets this fantastic sweet and sour flavor.

Rhubarb is loaded with vitamins and minerals. It's a great source of calcium, vitamin C, potassium, magnesium, Vitamin K, even a good punch of dietary fiber. For our kiddo's this type of nutrition hit is huge.

To prep: Wash, and chop into desired chunks. For these muffins I kept the chunks pretty small, about 1/4 inch. For a Rhubarb Pie you would probably want to go a bit bigger.

So stop buy your local health foods store or farmers market and leave with some gorgeous rhubarb. As your leaving notice the interested looks you'll get by other shoppers. It's envy. They're wondering what kind of secrets you have cooking up your sleeve. Just smile.

Strawberry Rhubarb Sorghum Muffin Recipe

**I've been making these with only sorghum flour lately and no starch. This makes for a very dry muffin but this is helped by the veggie/fruit addition and refrigerating them a bit before serving.

1 1/2 cup sorghum flour

1/2 cup tapioca starch

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp cream of tarter

2 tsp baking soda

Whisk together dry ingredients first and then add in wet.

1/4 cup applesauce

3 T extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups milk of choice

Fold in 1/4 cup chopped rhubarb and 1/4 cup chopped strawberries.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease muffin tin. Spoon into muffin tins and sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

These are fantastic. Sweet and tangy. Feel free to substitute your favorite flour. Millet, amaranth, buckwheat, oat, or rice would work great. I used hemp milk to make this batch but just about any liquid will work here.

Hope you love 'em as much as we did. And stay tuned for a Buckwheat Hempbutter Cookie Recipe!

Menu Plan Monday Rotation Diet Week 10

2009-04-19T19:21:00.001-07:00

I'm trying an experiment. I think L is having issues with quinoa. So we're taking a week off. I've also thrown out the cows milk and replaced it with goat again. Heard some disturbing research on cows milk, so no one is drinking it at our house now. My husband is thrilled to peaches!

The rhubarb was gorgeous at the store this morning so I grabbed some. This great and yet under appreciated veggie is a no-brainer for the funky food world. Check out later this week for a recipe for Sorghum Strawberry Rhubarb Muffins. I giggle a little just writing that. I can't help but feel a onery feeding my kids something that I never ate as a child.

It's not like I'm feeding him creamed spinach or boiled liver.

And on to Menu Plan Monday!!

Have a good week ya'll.

Monday--Coconut Milk

Breakfast

Millet Irish Soda Bread

Snack

Brazil Nuts

Lunch

Millet bread, deli turkey, raspberries

Snack

Coconut yogurt

Dinner

Turkey hotdogs, millet bread, raspberries and peas

Tuesday--Hemp Milk

Breakfast

Buckwheat pancakes

Snack

Dried blueberries and cashews

Lunch

Buckwheat bread, hemp butter, and blueberries

Snack

Buckwheat and hemp butter cookies(Watch for this recipe this week!!!!)

Dinner

Buckwheat pasta, blueberries and asparagus

Wednesday--Goat Milk

Breakfast

Sorghum Rhubarb Strawberry Muffins

Snack

Walnuts

Lunch

Sorghum bread, walnut butter, and strawberry

Snack

Goat yogurt

Dinner

Fish, french fries and strawberry

Thursday--Almond Milk

Breakfast

Almond pancakes(new recipe so please pray)

Snack

Macadamia nuts

Lunch

Almond crackers, deli ham, and pineapple

Snack

Almond cookies

Dinner

Pork something(any suggestions?), green beans and pineapple

Friday--Hemp Milk

Breakfast

Oatmeal

Snack

Brazil nuts and raisins

Lunch

Oat bread, hemp butter, and grapes

Snack

Chocolate hemp milk pudding

Dinner

Chicken pizza, peas and grapes

Saturday--Goat Milk

Breakfast

Buckwheat pancakes

Snack

Cashews

Lunch

Buckwheat bread, goat cheese, apples

Snack

Goat yogurt

Dinner

Beef(suggestions?), apples and cauliflower

Sunday--Coconut Milk

Breakfast

Millet Irish Soda Bread

Snack

Pecans

Lunch

Millet bread, pecan butter, and blackberries

Snack

Coconut yogurt

Dinner

Turkey(seriously I'm stumped for ideas), blackberries and broccoli

Surviving Food Allergies

2009-04-18T18:34:00.001-07:00

I met a lot of mom's today. And had more than one conversation about food allergies. We have all read that more and more children are receiving this diagnosis throughout the world. But those first few days after we get that diagnosis are down right paralyzing.

I remember my first trip to the grocery store after L got his first allergy test results back. Now every mom is different but I have all three tests run every time we do a batch of allergy testing. Since not every test tests for the same kinds of reactions I feel like I'm covering those bases this way. So I pawned off my kids on their father, and took two lists to the grocery store. The first was my grocery list. The second was the list of foods L couldn't eat. It was almost as long as the grocery list.

Just kidding. It was long though.

I spent three hours going through that store, reading and rereading every label on every product I needed to make dinner that week. And gave myself little pep talks throughout the store. People probably thought I was crazy but I figured a little whispering was better than full-out crying. Which was where I was quickly headed.

But I made it through that shopping trip and slowly but surely put together those recipes that worked for L and the rest of the family.

The problem is that L kept developing new allergies. Every six months I would take that little monkey in and pin his darling little body next to mine so the nurses could poke and tape up his back. And every time we came back with new offenders to add to the list. We would get back one or two, a large chunk would stay the same but losing new foods hurt. A lot.

After some deep breathing, several phone calls to girlfriends, my mother and God. I put together yet another pair of shopping lists. Ditched the kids with dad, and went through the grocery store again, muttering to myself and cursing the makers of gluten-free products and corn manufacturers. Now don't get me wrong, I love me some GF product making people and I know that they can't make every product fit my every changing allergic child. But do they have to put so many different grains in every product?

I digress.

I don't know if L is going to outgrow his allergies. I do know that he is developing anaphalactic reactions to certain foods and that scares me. So I try really, really hard not to think about it.

Because other than continuing to keep him healthy by feeding him this funky food, there is nothing I can do. So I will begin again each time he needs me too.

Because I am a mom. A good friend once told me, "That as a mother, there is always more. Anytime you think you have reached that point of exhaustion or giving up, you don't. Because there is always more. If you think there isn't more, you find a way to make more."

So even though my "more" may be used up, I reach out to my friends, my mother or that big guy upstairs and ask for more. Because as a mom, there is always more. Even if it doesn't begin with me, I have it to give to my babies. As do all mamas.

If you are a first time allergy mama, hang in there. You will find your bearings in this new world of child care. You will discover a whole new language, community and friends. We can keep these kids healthy because we can do it together.

Speaking of which, I am so ordering him a 3 year old sized hamster bubble. You know, the one's that hamsters run around in on the ground? Wouldn't that work great for our allergy kiddos? So if I can get a good deal, ya'll want to go in together for a bulk rate?

Oklahoma Women Bloggers Meet-Up

2009-04-15T19:04:00.000-07:00

I am so excited! I get to hang out with other women bloggers from Oklahoma. Just like being a mom, there is nothing like getting to hang out with people who truly get you! The trials and tribulations of being a blogger.

National Mom's Night Out for Oklahoma Women Bloggers

YOU ARE INVITED TO AN OKLAHOMA WOMEN BLOGGERS MEET UP!

What: A meet-up for female Oklahoma bloggers. You don’t have to be a mommy or a mommy blogger, you just need to blog!

When: May 7, 2009 from 6:30-9:30

Where: Tulsa! We aren’t advertising the site of the meet-up, though. If you can come to Tulsa on May 7 from 6:30-9:30, RSVP by sending a note to melanie.nelson@bloggingbasics101.com to let us know you’re planning to come, then we’ll send you more details. Please RSVP by May 1, 2009. We need a head count for the restaurant. TTownMoms.com is providing swag bags with computer goodies for all the bloggers attending! We'll also be having door prizes!

Cost: Right now, it’s $10/person (payable via PayPal). That will include pizza and soft drinks. Alcoholic beverages are on your own. We are working to find local sponsors who would like to defray the food and drink cost. If that happens, we’ll let you know!

We have limited seating so it’s first come, first served. However, we do have room for about 75 bloggers!

This blogger meet-up is part of the National Mom’s Night Out being hosted by Maria Bailey. You don’t have to be a mom or a mommy blogger to meet up with us, though! This party is all about meeting other Oklahoma women who share your passion: blogging!

We look forward to meeting you! It's going to be a great evening!

Sooooo, if you know an Okie woman blogger, please pass this along. I'll look forward to meeint ya'll!

Trisha

Menu Plan Monday Rotation Diet Week 9

2009-04-13T19:35:00.000-07:00

After a fantastic meeting with some other Oklahoma Mom Bloggers, I am motivated to not let this blog fall to the wayside simply because life is busy!

This little people are worth it. We have to keep coming up with new ways to keep them well fed. Because let's be honest, they are substantially less obnoxious when their tummies are happy.

I think L's still doing pretty well on the cow milk. He isn't drinking it straight but I have cooked with it a couple times and no more whining than usual. So for now, we'll keep with the cows milk.

Monday--Almond Milk

Breakfast

Buckwheat pancakes

Snack

Almonds

Lunch

Buckwheat bread, almond butter, and raspberry

Snack

Almond Cookies

Dinner

Pasta Salad, broccoli, raspberry

Tuesday--Cow Milk

Breakfast

Sorghum muffins

Snack

Pecans

Lunch

Sorghum bread, pecan butter, blueberries

Snack

Yogurt

Dinner

Beef fagita's, peas and blueberries

Wednesday--Hemp Milk

Breakfast

Quinoa

Snack

Brazil Nuts

Lunch

Quinoa crackers, chicken hotdogs, strawberry

Snack

Quinoa cookies

Dinner

Bbq chicken sandwiches, green beans, strawberry

Thursday--Coconut Milk

Breakfast

Irish Soda Bread

Snack

Cashews

Lunch

Millet bread, deli turkey, pineapple

Snack

Coconut yogurt

Dinner

Turkey sausage and potato hash, pineapples

Friday--Almond Milk

Breakfast

Buckwheat pancakes

Snack

Almond and raisins

Lunch

Buckwheat bread, almond butter, grapes

Snack

Almond cookies

Dinner

Fish, sweet potato french fries, grapes

Saturday--Cow Milk

Breakfast

Oatmeal

Snack

Walnuts

Lunch

Oat Bread, deli ham, apples

Snack

Yogurt

Dinner

Ground pork meat balls, asparagus, apples

Sunday--Hemp Milk

Breakfast

Quinoa

Snack

Macadamia nuts

Lunch

Quinoa crackers, hemp butter, black berries

Snack

Quinoa cookies

Dinner

Chicken pizza, broccoli, and black berries

Have a great week ya'll!

And if you are in the Tulsa area this weekend, stop by the Sand Spring Herbal Festival to hang out with tTownmoms!

Hemp--Wonder Food or Illegal Drug?

2009-04-11T16:42:00.000-07:00

I love hemp. L eats hemp butter, drinks hemp milk and hemp seeds. I put them in his crackers, breads, and use the milk to make pudding, pancakes or serve it straight. But anytime I mention that we eat hemp products, an eyebrow is usually raised. "Aren't you worried about him eating that?"

The answer is "NO!" Hemp is in the same plant family as marijuana. In the same way that wheat and millet are in the grass family. But hemp and marijuana are as different as wheat from millet. And you can most definitely NOT get high from hemp. Or you wouldn't be able to buy it in the store.

Hemp is a super seed. It's loaded with omega-3's and 6's. It's a dense source of fat and protein. It's laundry list of nutrients reads like the back of a vitamin bottle. For the list, read more here. Hemp Nutrient Laundry List

I highly recommend trying hemp if you are searching for a seed/nut alternative. It's made a huge difference in L's diet!

Favorite Hemp Recipes and Products

Hemp Milk

I use my soy milk maker to make this. But according to the package of hemp seeds you can make it in your blender. The instruction are on the package of Living Harvest Hemp Seeds.

Uses: Serve as a cow milk substitute.

Use to make pudding.

Use for added nutrients in pancakes, muffins or bread

Hemp Butter

Place 1 cup hemp seed in a food processor or blender. Add in a couple tablespoons of oil of choice. Blend. If to dry add more oil. If to wet, add more seeds.

Uses: Substitute for the P in a PB&J

Use to make granola bars

In place of butter in baking recipes

Hemp Seeds

These tiny nutrient packed seeds, I toss in everything that will hold still on hemp day. They go in crackers, breads, on top of oatmeal, in muffins. They are so good for L's digestive tract I want to get as much in him as possible.

Hemp Flour

Dump seeds into blender or food processor. Turn on.

Uses: Anywhere you would use flour, use hemp flour

No Blender? Here's another source for hemp flour.

Living Harvest is one brand of hemp products. I love their hemp seeds and their hemp milk is wonderful. My only complaint about the hemp milk is that it's sweetened with rice syrup. Can't anything be simple? According to their site, they are sending hemp ice cream to your stores soon. So check it out and let me know what you think.

Working fulltime is absorbing a lot of my time these days. My creativity that I usually channel into new recipes is being sucked into this new site. Once it's up and running I will be able to get back to helping you feed your kids but until then keep checking in.

Best Wishes,

Funky Food Trisha

Saturday Special

2009-04-10T21:29:00.001-07:00

Check in tomorrow for a Special Saturday post! Mainly to make up for the fact that this has been on the back burner lately.

But lavish amounts of attention promised for tomorrow.

Love,

Trisha

Mama's Own Allergic Reaction

2009-04-08T19:18:00.001-07:00

Oh god. I feel awful. I ate this absolutely yummy noodle bowl from a fairly large upscale chain restaurant. But there must have been something in it because I feel awful.

About twenty minutes after eating it, I felt bloated, and after 45 minutes fell asleep on the couch. I couldn't keep my eyes open. My entire body felt groggy, heavy, blechy.

And now. I still feel all bloated and tired. So, I'm brushing my teeth and going to bed.

And never, ever eating there again.

Menu Plan Monday Rotation Diet Week 8

2009-04-06T17:38:00.000-07:00

Wow. Two whole months of menu rotation. Whew. It is getting easier but I have to remind myself to slow down and double check because I make mistakes.

I will be posting again only three times this week. So check in on Wednesday and Friday.

Monday--Cow Milk(contains casein)

Breakfast

Oatmeal

Snack

Cashews

Lunch

Oat Bread, cashew butter, raspberry

Snack

Yogurt

Dinner

Hamburgers, asparagus, raspberry

Tuesday--Hemp Milk

Breakfast

Quinoa

Snack

Walnuts and dried blueberries

Lunch

Quinoa crackers, walnut butter, blueberries

Snack

Potato Chips

Dinner

Fish, french fries, blueberries

Wednesday--Coconut Milk

Breakfast

Millet Irish Soda Bread

Snack

Macademia nuts

Lunch

Millet Bread, deli turkey, papaya

Snack

Coconut Yogurt

Dinner

Roasted turkey, salad, papaya

Thursday--Almond Milk

Breakfast

Buckwheat Pancakes

Snack

Almonds

Lunch

Buckwheat bread, almond butter, strawberry

Snack

Almond Cookies

Dinner

Buckwheat pasta, broccoli, strawberry

Friday--Goat Milk

Breakfast

Sorghum Muffins

Snack

Pecans

Lunch

Sorghum bread, goat cheese, grapes

Snack

Goat yogurt

Dinner

Pork chops, green beans, grapes

Saturday--Hemp Milk

Breakfast

Quinoa

Snack

Brazil Nuts

Lunch

Chicken hotdogs, quinoa crackers, apples

Snack

Quinoa cookies

Dinner

Pizza, peas, apples

Sunday--Coconut Milk

Breakfast

Oatmeal

Snack

Cashews

Lunch

Oat Bread, cashew butter, blackberries

Snack

Coconut yogurt

Dinner

Fish, sweet potato, black berries

Almond Blueberry Cookie Bars Recipe

2009-04-04T07:05:00.001-07:00

I'm sorry! This new website is sucking a ton of my time right now but here I am on a Saturday morning getting this recipe up. As for the picture..........maybe later.

These bar cookies are incredibly simple, moist and the topping is crunchy. So good! You can make your own fruit filling or buy a jar of all-fruit jam. Which is what I did.

Almond Blueberry Cookie Bar Recipe

1 cup almond meal

1 cup buckwheat flour, or oatmeal, or whatever is in the cupboard

2/3 cups brown sugar

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 cup almond butter or regular butter

1 recipe for fruit filling or about 1 cup jam

Preheat oven to 350. Combine the dry ingredients and mix together. Using a pastry blender or a couple knifes, cut 3/4 cup of almond butter into the flour mixture. Reserve 1/2 cup of the crumb mixture.

Press remaining mixture into a greased 9X2X2 inch baking pan. Spread out the fruit filling or jam over the top.

Using the pastry blender, cut remaining almond butter into reserved mixture. It should resemble coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over the top of the fruit filling.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until topping is golden brown. Let cool, slice and serve. The options are endless, use different fruits, nut butters, soy butters, flours. You can make this fit just about any allergy.

Fruit Filling Recipe

In a saucepan combine 10 ounces of fruit, 2 T of water, 1 T lemon juice or apple cider vinegar and spices like cinnamon if you want. Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Simmer uncovered for about 8 minutes or until fruit is tender and you have a nice thick sauce.

Sage Culinary Studio and a Lamb Meatloaf Recipe

2009-04-01T20:17:00.000-07:00

First things first. There is this amazing new cooking school for kids near where I live in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Sage Culinary Studio is located in Brookside and is darling. They offer classes for children ages 3 and up. They even offer a Mommy and Me series. So cute!

I approached the owner, Catherine deCamp about a week ago about offering classes for mom's with kids that have food allergies. She immediately responded with enthusiasm and offered up that she had had several requests for such classes. She wanted to know if I would teach a series of classes this summer using some of my Funky Food Recipes.

Well, I'm on board. But the real question is, How about you? Any of my viewers interested in taking a fully hands-on class in cooking some funky food?

Check out the Sage Culinary Studio website and let me know what you think. In the mean time I hope you get a chance to try out this incredibly moist meatloaf. L doesn't usually eat meat but inhaled this one--hence the lack of pictures of the finished product. I was working late so missed it coming out of the oven.

Lamb Meatloaf Recipe

1 pound ground lamb

1/2 cup quinoa flakes

1/4 cup hemp seeds

4 T Italian Seasoning Blend

Large squeeze of ketchup

Preheat oven to 350. Mush ingredients together until combined. Press into greased loaf or mini loaf pan. I used the mini loaf pans to cut the cooking time. Cook until meat is no longer pink in the middle.

Elli Update!!

News on darling Elli and her mom's continuing struggle to keep her with her family. They really need our support and prayers!

Menu Plan Monday Rotation Diet Week 7

2009-03-28T17:47:00.000-07:00

My mini loaf bread's are a success for L and for me. I bake a pan of nine at a time and freeze the batch, pulling out two at a time when needed. Since I use one grain a day a batch last several weeks. As much as I love the crackers, the mini loaf's are proving to be much more time friendly as well as tasty.

This weekend has been all about hanging out with the boys and my husband. A surprise snow storm halted any plans for working in the yard or running errands. So, we spent the day playing in the snow and watching the newest kid movie at the theatre. The boys have only been to one other movie at the theatre so this is still a big treat. L was upset at the snowman they built in the front yard because it wouldn't talk to him or start moving around. It took me a minute to realize that he had Frosty the Snowman expectations. When he wouldn't cooperate, L wanted to push him over but thankfully, my husband rescued the silent snowman.

This was our first week with our new nanny. Well, nannies. Friday I had to have L's preschool teacher come fill in until our nanny could get there. I've told both girls about the rotation diet and his food allergies but this was the first time they had to give him lunch. I had to explain when I got home that it really wasn't okay to give him an apple on pear day. It just sounds dumb, even to me as I write this. But we do what we have to do, right?

You will notice that Thursday this week is cow milk day. L has never tested positive to dairy but had some rather gross reactions to it as an infant so I've kept him from the white stuff unless it was cheese or yogurt. But we going to give it a go since I've not made a decent batch of oat milk. This week I will be in training for my new job so I will be posting today, Wednesday and Friday. Things should settle down after that so with any luck and time I should be back to my normal five days a week of Funky Food.

Love,

Trisha

Monday--Hemp Milk

Breakfast

Quinoa

Snack

Cashew and dried blueberries

Lunch

Quinoa crackers, hemp butter, blueberries

Snack

Quinoa cookies

Dinner

Lamb Meatloaf, broccoli, blueberries

Tuesday--Coconut Milk

Breakfast

Sorghum Coconut Muffins

Snack

Walnuts

Lunch

Sorghum mini loaf, walnut butter, strawberry

Snack

Coconut Yogurt

Dinner

Fish, sweet potato, strawberry

Wednesday--Almond Milk

Breakfast

Buckwheat Pancakes

Snack

Almonds and raisins

Lunch

Buckwheat crackers, almond butter, grapes

Snack

Raisin almond cookie bars

Dinner

Buckwheat pasta, zucchini, grapes

Thursday--Cow Milk

Breakfast

Oatmeal

Snack

Macadamia nuts

Lunch

Oat mini loafs, deli roast beef, raspberry

Snack

Oatmeal raspberry cookie bars

Dinner

Meat balls, green beans, raspberries

Friday--Hemp Milk

Breakfast

Quinoa

Snack

Brazil Nuts

Lunch

Quinoa crackers, deli turkey, apples

Snack

Goat Yogurt(contains casein)

Dinner

Turkey chili, peas, apples

Saturday--Coconut Milk

Breakfast

Millet Irish Soda Bread

Snack

Pecans

Lunch

Millet mini loafs, pecan butter, pears

Snack

Coconut Milk Yogurt

Dinner

Chicken sausage pizza, broccoli, pears

Sunday--Almond Milk

Breakfast

Buckwheat pancakes

Snack

Pistachio's

Lunch

Buckwheat crackers, almond butter, blackberries

Snack

Almond cookies

Dinner

Bubble and Squeak(potato pancakes) spinach, blackberries

Sorghum Tortilla's and April, my friend not the month

2009-03-27T15:49:00.001-07:00

I survived the first week. More than survived. We all did really well. The boys coped through the new nanny and school. Andrew helped out and worked from home one day. I am loving this job and really feel like I may have finally found my niche.

April, one of my best friends, is pouting a tiny bit because I haven't been able to harass her in my normal daily manner so I promised to include more than three whole sentences about myself in today's post.

So there's like ten. Better?

The weather here is weird. It was warm enough for several weeks to lull me into the sense that it was safe to put in my garden. I know there's steps I can take to keep my baby plants safe during this cold weather but I haven't decided if I have the energy to take them. Any suggestions?

In the mean time here's another rotation diet recipe.

Sorghum Tortilla's Recipe

1/2 cup sorghum flour

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup water

Extra sorghum flour

Put a skillet on medium heat and heat up a couple tablespoons of oil. Mix flour and salt together. Pour in enough water to make a dough. Roll dough into 2 inch balls. Using the extra flour, pat the balls into small tortilla's about 4 inches across and 1/8 inch thick. Gently lift them into the skillet and toast on either side until brown. These are fragile until cooked so be careful. But this is a super easy and versatile addition to any allergy household.

Ya'll have a good weekend. Next week is going to be crazy--training, so I'll be posting Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Coconut Sorghum Muffins Recipe

2009-03-26T16:17:00.000-07:00

This week has been craziness. My first week of work, having to patch together more childcare than initially expected. Which should have been expected. But we've made it to Friday. I did all of my baking over the weekend except for these muffins. It's such a simple recipe and with the cold front that moved through it was nice to warm the house this afternoon with the smell of these muffins.

Coconut Sorghum Muffins

1 1/4 cup sorghum flour

1/2 cup tapioca starch

1/4 cup coconut flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp cream of tarter

2 tsp baking soda

Whisk together wet ingredients first and then add dry.

1/4 cup applesauce

3 T extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp vanilla

1 T molasses

1 1/4 cup coconut milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease muffin tin. Combine and stir gently until moistened. Don't overmix. Spoon into muffin cups and sprinkle with shredded coconut. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Yeast-Free Allergy Friendly Pizza Dough

2009-03-25T16:52:00.000-07:00

We've been having emergency pizza nights a couple times over the last few weeks. But since L is on this rotation diet I can't just whip up an extra batch of yeast dough on the fly. So I messed around with the cracker recipe and made a flat bread recipe that is super easy, tastes great and makes a perfect pizza in a pinch. This recipe makes one 6 inch pizza crust about 1/2 inch thick.

Skip the tomato sauce and use extra virgin olive oil to take out another allergen. Use your favorite cheese, goat cheese, rice, soy or almond cheese. Or, gasp, don't use cheese and pile on your favorite other toppings.

Pizza Dough Recipe

3/4 cup flour(quinoa, oat, amaranth, sorghum, buckwheat, millet)

1/4 cup tapioca starch

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

4 T extra virgin olive oil

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease baking sheet. Mix dry ingredients together and add in everything but water. Stir in the water. You are looking for a moist dough that easily forms a ball when kneaded. Add a little extra water if needed. Press onto baking sheet into whatever thickness desired. Before topping, bake for about 5 minutes. Then pull out and put your favorite toppings on, slide it back into the oven and enjoy when crust is slightly brown and toppings are bubbling.

The Perfect Papaya

2009-03-24T18:15:00.000-07:00

A ripe papaya is mostly yellow/orange in color, soft and smells great.

Don't bother buying a green one hoping it will ripen.

It won't.

After washing it, slice the papaya in half and scoop out the black seeds.

Chew a couple before a meal and help those digestive enzymes flow.

I wouldn't try this with a kid though.

They're black and slimy.

On second thought.

L might dig that.

Papaya skin is really thin. Slice it off with about 1/8 inch of the fruit with it.

Dice up and eat, blend, or freeze for later.

If you are going to freeze it, place it on a baking sheet first.

Then place it in the freezer on the baking sheet to freeze completely.

Finally, toss them into freezer bags.

If you dump them into freezer bags without freezing them first,

you'll have a large glob of papaya.

Not that I did this.

More than once.

If you've read my post on The Super Smoothie(please hear the music from Superman when you read that) you know about my obsession with papaya. I love them. Not just because they are a pretty good addition to a fruit salad but because they helped heal and continue to heal my baby's stomach.

Back before L was diagnosed with food allergies, he was given several different diagnosis. Colic, paranoid mother, and finally Irritable Bowel Syndrome. I immediately put him on an IBS diet including lots and lots of papaya smoothies. At 8 months old and on, L could be found sipping his smoothie at all times of the day. Knowing what I know now, I feel like this cold, heavy fluid felt really good on a tummy on fire.

In countries where papaya is native, mother's use it mashed with milk as their babies first food because the taste is so similar to breastmilk. This is great choice not only for the taste. Papaya is loaded with digestive enzymes, which help little tummies process those foods they may be having trouble with. It's also one of the few vegetable sources of L-Glutamine, an essential amino acid that helps repair digestive tract damage. A great source of vitamin C to boot!

It's also great for smoothies because it gives them such a smooth but thick texture, much like a banana. So toss several chunks into your blender along with your favorite milk and enjoy!

P.S.

First day of work was great! Met some wonderful people, filled out paperwork and got my official badges. Maybe tomorrow I'll get to work!!!!

Allergen-Friendly Crockpot Granola Recipe

2009-03-22T17:39:00.000-07:00

Last Christmas the oven in our house died. As it was the original that came with the house when it was built in the 1940's, it had lived a full life and it was time to go. The timing was awful though. It's the middle of winter and apparently that's when everyone's oven's decide to die because it took the oven replacement guy's five weeks to get us a new one!

What's a girl to do? We can't start eating salads, it's winter for crying out loud. And there's only so much pasta one can eat. Normally, I would shout hurrah! because it was the perfect excuse to eat out but between the economy and L's dietary needs that was impossible.

So I hit the internet looking for a recipe for cooking chicken in the crockpot. And I found her. Stephanie--The Crockpot Lady. For an entire year, she cooked every meal in her assortment of crockpots. She kept my family well fed during those five weeks of no oven. I haven't turned back on several of the recipes. Especially now that it's summer and I don't want my house heated up by my fancy, schmancy new oven.

Granola is a no-brainer for L's rotation diet. Except you can't find any on the market that only have a couple ingredients. They all have added flax seed, or nuts of some kind. Plus it's just fun to make it in the crockpot and it leaves my house smelling so good.

I've made a couple changes. First I've eliminated the fat and substituted applesauce. If you want the fat simply add in butter or your favorite oil. Second I suggest adding in whatever nut or seed fits in with the rotation diet day you'll be serving granola. Third I'm tossing in several tablespoonful's of molasses because I'm a tiny bit obsessed with L's calcium intake these days.

Whip up a batch of yogurt in your other crockpot and you'll have a perfect breakfast, thanks to Stephanie--The Crockpot Lady and Funky Food Trisha. Enjoy!

Crockpot Granola Recipe

5 cups oatmeal(make sure it's certified gluten-free)

1/4 cup applesauce or butter, oil

1/4 cup honey, agave nectar, maple syrup, cane syrup

3 T molasses

Several teaspoons of any or all of the following:

Cinnamon

Ginger

Nutmeg

Vanilla

Toss ingredients into a large crockpot and stir till combined. Cook on high for 3-4 hours but stir every 20-30 minutes. Vent lid with a wooden spoon or chopstick. About halfway through the cooking process is when you should throw in any coconut, nuts or seeds. I've had a batch burn the nuts long before the oats were toasted so I put mine in after a couple hours of cooking.

Once the oats are a golden brown, pour granola out on a baking sheet to cool. Store in a air-tight container and EAT!

What's the deal with Gluten-Free Oats?

The first time I saw these at Whole Foods, I wondered what sort of evil, merchandising empire was fleecing the general public now. Oatmeal doesn't have gluten in it. But after some research I discovered that oats aren't considered gluten-free because they are frequently contaminated by the gluten from wheat processed at the same plant on the same machines. Oops.

Thankfully for the GF community, the Gluten-Free Oats company has produced a certified gluten-free package of oatmeal.

Did you hear that? It was a sigh of relief from all us GF mama's!

Menu Plan Monday Rotation Diet Week 6

2009-03-22T13:19:00.000-07:00

Monday--Coconut Milk

Breakfast

Millet Irish Soda Bread

Snack

Raw Macadamia Nuts

Lunch

Roast beef sandwiches on millet mini loafs, strawberries

Snack

Millet Irish Soda Bread

Dinner

Beef Hamburgers on millet mini loafs, asparagus and strawberries

Tuesday--Almond Milk

Breakfast

Buckwheat pancakes

Snack

Raw Almonds

Lunch

Almond Butter, buckwheat crackers, fresh papaya

Snack

Almond Cookies

Dinner

Buckwheat pasta, zucchini, fresh papaya

Wednesday--Oat Milk

Breakfast

Oatmeal

Snack

Raw Pecans

Lunch

Pecan butter sandwiches on oat bread mini loafs, raspberries

Snack

Goat Cheese

Dinner

Fish, french fries, raspberries

Thursday--Hemp Milk

Breakfast

Quinoa

Snack

Cashews and raisins

Lunch

Quinoa crackers, deli turkey, grapes

Snack

Quinoa pudding

Dinner

Roasted turkey breast, broccoli, grapes

Friday--Coconut Milk

Breakfast

Sorghum muffins

Snack

Raw Walnuts

Lunch

Walnut butter sandwiches on sorghum mini loafs, pears

Snack

Sorghum muffins

Dinner

Chicken burrito's on sorghum tortilla's, green beans, pears

Saturday--Almond Milk

Breakfast

Buckwheat pancakes

Snack

Raw Pistachio's

Lunch

Almond butter, buckwheat crackers, apples

Snack

Almond Cookies

Dinner

Lamb meatloaf, peas, apples

Sunday--Oat Milk

Breakfast

Oat granola

Snack

Raw brazil nuts

Lunch

Oat bread mini loafs, turkey hotdogs, blackberries

Snack

Goat yogurt

Dinner

Turkey chili, sweet potato, black berries

This week the papaya's at Whole Foods looked gorgeous so I will be doing a post of my favorite allergy fruit, how to pick one, cut one and why it's such a great fruit for allergy kids. Also, keep an eye out for a granola recipe made in your crockpot! No heating up the kitchen this summer to enjoy this fantastic gluten-free, dairy-free, fat-free recipe. Unless you want the fat, at which point I will gladly tell you how to fatten it up!

Hope ya'll have a good week!

Chocolate Quinoa Hemp Milk Pudding

2009-03-20T16:58:00.000-07:00

This morning I spent on my knees in my garden putting tiny seeds into the ground, attempting to teach little one's the art of sowing seeds with as much patience as possible. In the grand tradition of our state the weather went from sweat shirts to shorts this morning. But we got our small plot planted, mulched and watered. Now for the waiting and weeding.

While I wait I decided to make pudding. Since tomorrow is quinoa and hemp milk day in our rotation diet I made quinoa pudding from hemp milk. To change things up, I tossed in some cocoa powder. It smelled so good.

If you are interested in making your own hemp milk but don't have a milk maker yet, Living Harvest Hemp Seeds has a recipe for making your own in a blender. It won't be as smooth unless you strain it through cheese cloth. But for pudding it should work fine. I know they're expensive but you only need 2 tablespoonfuls to make 4 cups of hemp milk.

Chocolate Pudding

2 cups cooked quinoa(I used my rice maker!)

4 cups hemp milk

1/2 cup sugar

2 T cocoa powder or carob powder

1/2 tsp vanilla(optional)

In a sauce pan combine milk, sugar, and cocoa powder and whisk until combined. Add cooked quinoa. Cook, uncovered for 30-40 minutes over medium heat, stirring frequently. The pudding is done when the quinoa and milk make a thick porridge. Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla. Spoon into a bowl and serve warm or refrigerate.

Hope ya'll have a great weekend and I will see you next week. Tune in for how my first day at work goes and hopefully the promised pita recipe.

Irish Soda Bread Recipe

2009-03-19T17:18:00.001-07:00

After a dinner at our favorite local Irish Pub, Kilkenney's, I thought this would be a good time to share a Irish Soda Bread Recipe.

I found this recipe on Karina's Kitchen's website and made a few minor modifications to make it work as a single grain and no egg recipe. Karina's site is amazing, and filled chock full of gluten-free recipes that are easily adapted to fit your own allergic needs.

It turned out fantastic. I even made a quick powdered sugar glaze to put on top of it. The boys had "breakfast cake" the next morning and have been talking about it ever since. Since I can't be bothered to wait thirty minutes for breakfast, I bake mine the night before. I also left out the currents and/or raisins. I am however considering adding in some chocolate chips next time.

Irish Soda Bread

1 1/2 cup millet

1/2 cup tapioca starch

1 3/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp cream of tarter

2 T sugar

1 tsp salt

2 tsp xantham gum

Mix together and form a well to pour in:

3/4 cup milk of choice(I used coconut)

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup apple sauce

5 T oil of choice( I used canola)

2 T honey

Preheat oven to 350 and grease 8 inch cake pan. Stir wet ingredients into dry until they form a smooth cake-like batter. Pour into cake pan and spread flat. Cut a X into the top of the batter--this is important as it will bring you good luck. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

We have company so I have to keep this short and sweet. But you should check in tomorrow because I think I may have a way to make allergen-friendly cake pops ala Bakerella.

Making Good--Millet Hamburger Buns

2009-03-18T10:02:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Laura, another dedicated mom, I was inspired to figure out hamburger buns. And thanks to an allergy mom blogger and a tiny modification I managed to make glorious hamburger buns! The recipe can also be turned into rolls, hotdogs buns, mini-bread loafs, etc.

I found the recipe at Our Gaggle of Girls blog. Such a great blog, please make sure to check it out! It's not only loaded with fantastic recipes but life with three girls. So cute.

These were so easy and turned out so well that I will be substituting them into the rotation diet in place of the multitudes of crackers my poor children have been bravely consuming. I did substitute applesauce for the eggs with fantastic success. I actually made a batch with the eggs and then with the applesauce and my taste-testers couldn't tell the difference! So far I have made this recipe with millet and oatmeal with smashing success. I'll keep you posted on the other grains and how they turn out.

Millet Hamburger Buns

1 cup water

2 T oil of choice(I used extra virgin olive oil)

1/2 cup applesauce or 3 eggs

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 3/4 cups millet

1 cup tapioca starch

2 1/2 tsp xantham gum

1 1/4 tsp salt

2 T sugar

2 tsp yeast

I used the dough cycle on my bread machine but you can use a stand mixer with the dough hook to make this dough. It will be very wet--more like a muffin/cake batter than bread dough so don't try to do this by hand. It won't work.

Once your dough is made, preheat your oven to 350. I made hamburger bun molds out of circles of aluminum foil but you can use english muffin molds or I found a hamburger bun pan and hotdog pans online.

Using a spoon drop several teaspoonfuls of the dough into each mold placed on a greased baking sheet. Bake for about 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool slightly before slicing. I've also baked these in a mini loaf pan and they turned out great!

Off with you! Go make hamburgers for dinner and surprise those Funky Food kids in your life with an All-American meal!

Promises Broken and a Love Story

2009-03-17T10:32:00.000-07:00

I know I tempted you with tales of great recipes for everyday this week but I lied.

Instead I am going to share with you my two current love affairs, happily coexisting in my house.

Love Story #1

The first is my rice maker. (What kind of girl did you think I was?) A couple years ago I went to the local Target and spent something like eight bucks on a rice maker/veggie steamer. I have since learned that this amazing machine not only makes perfect rice every time but makes perfect oatmeal, quinoa, barely, millet and amaranth. Without all the stirring!

My favorite trick.

When we're eating any of the above mentioned grains for breakfast I prep the night before. I pour the amount of grain called for by my rice maker into the bowl, and ask my husband to fill it with water and turn it on when he starts the coffee the next morning. This way when the kids and I finally get up, we have a hot, fresh breakfast waiting for us!

Did I mention the no stirring? Cause that's big. If you eat these grains on a regular basis or wanted to but didn't like all the early morning pot watching, then you really should skip a couple latte's at Starbucks and buy one.

Love Story #2

I have to brag on my husband a little bit here. I am starting my first fulltime job next week since I had our first son almost five years ago. I didn't plan on being a SAHM, it just happened. I even tried to go back to work the requisite six weeks after B was born. I made it all of 15 minutes before I quit.

My husband agreed to go without a new car, and a LARGE list of other items so I could stay home with our kiddo's. For the past five years this amazing man has kept us sheltered, clothed, fed, and unbelievably happy and safe. And he would have kept doing all these things indefinitely had I not stumbled across my dream job.

So, Andrew. I love you and really appreciate the sacrifices you made for our family. I am truly grateful and proud of what an amazing father and husband you are.

Love,

Isn't he cute?

A Sweet for the Beginning of the Week--Oatmeal Cookies

2009-03-16T17:28:00.000-07:00

I get a lot of my recipe starts from, "The Joy of Cooking". It reminds me of using a pattern to make a dress but choosing the material, thread and accessories. Or a blueprint. Anyway, these turned out great. Simple, crunchy, chewy, oatmeal cookiness.

Since we are doing the rotation diet most allergen-free recipes don't work. So, I was very excited that these single grain cookies worked so well. Feel free to substitute the applesauce for any pureed fruit. I've used applesauce as an egg substitute below.

Oatmeal Cookies

1 3/4 cups oat flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cream of tarter

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 pound butter, goat butter, Jungle Shortening, soy butter

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup applesauce

2 1/2 tsp vanilla

3 1/2 cups oatmeal

Preheat oven to 350 and pull out those silpat lined baking sheets. Cream together your wet ingredients. Toss in the dry, saving the oats for last. Drop in teaspoonfuls onto silpat lined or greased baking sheets. Bake for about 10 minutes or until golden brown. They will be fragile so let cool slightly before removing to a rack to cool completely.

Can't have butter?

Substitute

2 cups of applesauce(if you do this, either use eggs in place of the applesauce in the recipe above and or an egg substitute because I don't think the recipe will work if you use applesauce for both a butter and egg substitute) Please tell me that made sense.

Menu Plan Monday Rotation Diet Week 5

2009-03-15T17:21:00.000-07:00

I start work in about a week so I tried this weekend to get all my baking done. Whew. But I figured I should have a trial run to see if I could get it all done without living in the kitchen. I'm holding out hope I do better next weekend.

I also purchased a dry erase calendar to write my weekly menu on. I simply crossed out the days of the week since my week runs from Monday to Sunday and used the five weeks for my meal columns. This worked, unlike the baking.

And to help keep my crackers and snacks separate, I bought those stupid plastic snap-lock containers. Finding glass containers for this particular project was impossible. So I'll just have to settle for keeping my flours and grains in glass and the end products in plastic. What's a little BPA? I have to run back to Target though because I want these really cool dry erase labels. This way I can write what the contents of the container are without committing one container forever to one product.

Eat well and have a great week. Tune in later for some recipes I am ridiculously excited about: Irish Soda Bread, Hamburger Buns, Pita Bread, Quinoa Flake Coconut Crusted Tilapia and Oatmeal Cookies. But wait! That's one to many recipes for my week. Hmmmmm, maybe I'll do the oatmeal cookies as a Saturday Special.

Guess you'll have to check in and see.

Monday--Coconut Milk

Breakfast

Quinoa

Snack

Pecans

Lunch

Quinoa crackers, pecan butter, strawberries

Snack

Coconut Milk Yogurt

Dinner

Quinoa Flake/Coconut Fish, oven-fries, strawberries

Tuesday--Oat Milk

Breakfast

Oatmeal

Snack

Hazelnuts

Lunch

Chicken cubes, oat crackers, pineapple

Snack

Goat yogurt(contains casein)

Dinner

Chicken Nuggets, Asparagus, pineapple

Wednesday--Hemp Milk

Breakfast

Buckwheat Pancakes

Snack

Walnuts and dried blueberries

Lunch

Buckwheat crackers, hemp butter, blueberries

Snack

Buckwheat Pudding

Dinner

Buckwheat pasta with meat sauce, buckwheat rolls, zucchini, blueberries

Thursday--Almond Milk

Breakfast

Sorghum Muffins

Snack

Almonds

Lunch

Deli Turkey, sorghum crackers, grapes

Snack

Almond butter, sorghum crackers

Dinner

BBQ Shredded Turkey Sandwiches on sorghum buns, broccoli, grapes

Friday--Coconut Milk

Breakfast

Irish Soda Millet Bread

Snack

Macadamia Nuts

Lunch

Millet crackers, goat cheese(contains casein) apples

Snack

Coconut Milk Yogurt

Dinner

Gyro's on millet pita's, peas, apples

Saturday--Oat Milk

Breakfast

Oatmeal

Snack

Cashews

Lunch

Oat crackers, cashew butter, oranges

Snack

Oatmeal Cookies

Dinner

Baked Fish, sweet potato fries, oranges

Sunday--Hemp Milk

Breakfast

Quinoa

Snack

Brazil Nuts

Lunch

Deli Chicken, quinoa crackers, blackberries

Snack

Quinoa Pudding

Dinner

Roast chicken, green beans, blackberries

Children, Birth Parents and their Moms and Dads

2009-03-12T10:59:00.000-07:00

Saving Elli

I'd like you to meet three loved children. The little boy is Breon, he's five. Destiny is the big sister at age seven. And the little pigtailed baby is Elli, she's a year and a half.

I am having a really hard time not jumping to judgement. Who's right? Who's wrong? Who is the best parent for this baby girl? Who gets to decide?

The answers:

I wish--me, them, Jenn and Kameron, and again me.

Reality--The State of Texas Department of Child Protection Services

A Little Background

Jenn is my good friend Nikki's sister-in-law. Are you still with me? Two years ago Jenn and her husband Kameron adopted a brother and sister ages 5 and 7. This instant family was an instant love story. Jenn is a teacher for children with severe handicaps so jumping into parenting two school age children was a transition done more gracefully than I ever could. There family was complete, until........

CPS called to see if they would be interested in adopting the baby sister, Elli, of her children. After a couple hours loving thought, Jenn and Kameron said, "Yes!" The three siblings were together living under the same roof for the first time with two loving parents. Life was good.

Except, that the birth mother decided she wanted her baby back. Not all three kids. Just Elli. And CPS is trying to help the birth mother get her back. Here's where it gets complicated.

Life Unbelievable

The state of Texas is making Jenn and Kameron put their daughter on a plane every week to be flown to Austin, TX to have overnight visits with her birth mother. Elli is a year and a half. I know how thrown off my children are after a 3-day vacation so I can't even imagine how hard this must be on this child.

Slowly but surely CPS is granting the birth mother more and more visitations with Elli. According to Jenn's blog CPS has even admitted that, although they believe that Elli should be with her birth mother, they also believe that if that happens she will be taken away again by the state. What on earth!

Showing Support

Maintaining legal consul is getting expensive so please visit the link below and help this family fight for their daughter either through your comments, following the blog or donations.

Saving Elli

They really need all of our love and support. In support of this family I will be maintaining this post until next week's Menu Plan Monday. I will also be posting updates on this family at least once a month or if something big changes.

So, thank you for your help and for allowing one mother to help another.

Siblings and Lunchables

2009-03-11T13:12:00.000-07:00

Being the big brother to a kid with food allergies comes with it's own set of woes. Because I refuse to make two different meals at each and every meal, B ends up eating the same things L does. So when B and I went out on a Mommy and Me date last weekend, he was thrilled when I handed him a Lunchable for his dinner.

Thrilled isn't quite the word. Over-the-top excited. So excited it made me a little sad.

"Mom! This is what my friends at school eat!" "Watch, first you get the cracker, then the turkey, then the cheese."

Ouch.

So when I made crackers yesterday I dug out my smallest round cookie cutter and made scalloped edged round crackers. This morning I used the same cookie cutter to cut out perfectly round slices of deli turkey and cut squares of cheddar cheese. Sans the logo and packaging, B had a Lunchable to take to school. His whole face lit up when I showed him what he was taking for lunch.

I'm sure this will be requested many more times. Thank goodness it was easy!

Today was quinoa day, so I made these crackers using the cracker recipe I posted before with a slight modification.

Quinoa Cracker Recipe

1 cup quinoa flour

1/4 cup tapioca starch

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

4-6 T warm water

You can substitute literally any flour you can think of for the quinoa. Millet, buckwheat, amaranth, oat, the list could go on and on and on and on.

Instructions!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix flours well with salt. Add apple cider vinegar, hemp seeds, and oil. Mix until course, pebbled, mixture forms. Add water until dough comes together. Knead the dough until even textured and forms a ball, not sticky. Place half on parchment paper, flatten and cover with second piece of parchment paper. Roll out paper thin. Peel away top piece of parchment paper and slice into whatever shape floats your cracker eating fancy. Place on silpat lined baking sheet and bake for roughly 15 minutes.

This entire project took maybe 15 minutes to cooking not counting the part the oven did, of course. So don't shy away just because parchment paper is involved or because no one makes their own crackers. This was super easy and the outcome is amazing.

Store-Bought Cookies for Funky Food Kids

2009-03-10T17:58:00.000-07:00

Store bought cookies are an issue for our house as I'm sure they are in yours. Since L came down with his rice allergy I don't let him have cookies that have rice as the main ingredient. So I was thrilled to find this new box of cookies hiding low on the shelf at Whole Foods. Andean Dream Cookies are made of quinoa flour but taste great! I have always loved the nutritional content of quinoa but have found the flour to have such a strong flavor that I haven't had any luck baking with it. Well, these people have cracked the code.

I bought a box of the Cocoa/Orange Cookies. They are individually wrapped--great for lunches and for keeping me from eating the whole box in one sitting. They have a great crunch while still being moist. They come in Orange Essence, Chocolate Chip, Raisin and Spice, Coconut and of course Cocoa and Orange. Good store bought cookie! This company has in no way compensated me for this review.

All this cookie talk has inspired a hunger, so I am going to nab one of the remaining few.

See ya'll tomorrow.

Menu Plan Monday Rotation Diet Week 4

2009-03-07T19:06:00.000-08:00

We've made it through our first month of the rotation diet. It has gotten easier but I have found that by the weekend I am really tired of thinking about food. Especially when we want to go out to eat on the weekends. It's really hard not just to say, "screw it" and let him eat some wheat or a fruit different from his menu.

I'm trying some new recipes this week, so tune in later for the results. I'm really hoping the coconut and hemp milk yogurts work out.

And to make sure I don't get all comfortable with this diet, I've gotten an exciting job offer! I am going to be Lead Mom of my hometowns imoms website. Think facebook for Moms plus loaded with local fun things to do and resources.

Have a great week!

Monday--Oat milk

Breakfast

Buckwheat Pancakes

Snack

Cashews

Lunch

Buckwheat crackers, cashew butter, strawberries

Snack

Goat Yogurt(contains casein)

Dinner

Buckwheat pasta, baked squash, strawberries

Tuesday--Hemp milk

Breakfast

Country Quick Bread using Sorghum

Snack

Macadamia nuts

Lunch

Sorghum crackers, hemp butter, pineapples

Snack

Hemp Yogurt(cross those fingers!)

Dinner

Fish, french fries, pineapple

Wednesday--Almond Milk

Breakfast

Quinoa

Snack

Almonds and dried blueberries

Lunch

Deli turkey, quinoa crackers, blueberries

Snack

Almond cookies

Dinner

Baked cauliflower, oranges, turkey hotdogs

Thursday--Coconut Milk

Breakfast

Carob and coconut pancakes

Snack

Pecans and raisins

Lunch

Pecan butter, carob crackers, grapes

Snack

Coconut yogurt(more finger crossing)

Dinner

Peas, grapes and bakes coconut chicken breasts

Friday--Oat Milk

Breakfast

Oatmeal

Snack

Hazelnuts

Lunch

Cubed chicken breast, oat crackers and apples

Snack

Oatmeal cookies

Dinner

Asparagus, apples and sweet and sour meatballs

Saturday--Hemp Milk

Breakfast

Millet

Snack

Walnuts and cranberries

Lunch

Deli ham, millet crackers, and banana

Snack

Millet Pudding

Dinner

Pork chops, green beans, banana

Sunday--Almond Milk

Breakfast

Buckwheat biscuits

Snack

Brazil nuts

Lunch

Goat cheese(contains casein), buckwheat crackers, oranges

Snack

Goat Yogurt(contains casein)

Dinner

Crockpot turkey breast, broccoli, oranges

Why I Don't Create Recipes in the Morning

2009-03-06T10:26:00.001-08:00

It's coconut and teff day in the house of the rotating diet. But I used all my teff for making crackers, so I decided to wing a new recipe for a batch of pancakes. It was a disaster.

The batter just spread all over the skillet and wouldn't set up like a pancake and then I swear, it evaporated into thin air.

These are all that's left of the contraband Cheerio's the boys had for breakfast. Not everyday is a victory for the rotating diet. Better luck tomorrow.

It is Award Season After All

2009-03-05T12:09:00.000-08:00

Thankfully the horror that was the Oscar's doesn't have to continue here. There will be no singing and dancing. Although I do have a rather large crush on Hugh Jackman. I don't care what the critics said about "Australia" he was positively yummy in it. A moment of silence please to remember and admire the scene where he pours water all over his dirty, shirtless self.

A lovely new friend has nominated me for a blog award! Thank you Annette from Under the Loupe. She makes the most beautiful jewelry and has created a blog filled with her gorgeous works and also a little of life "down under". Check her out, buy some jewelry and feel stunning! It's award season after all.

First I'm to tell ya'll 7 things I love, then pass on the award to 7 blogs I love, and of course tag those blogs.

7 Things I love

1. My uniform--I live in blue jeans, t-shirts and tennis shoes. I vary the theme depending on the weather. If it's cold I wear a long sleeve t-shirt.

2. Historical Fiction--because I feel like I'm learning something even though I'm really avoiding laundry

3. Think Thin Peanut Butter Bars. So yummy.

4. Discovering recipes that work for my son and taste good. It feels like I've scored the winning goal, won the Pulitzer and the lottery. Okay, not that good but close.

5. L and B, my very sweet boys

6. My husband, of course.

7. My new khaki jacket with the mandarin collar, because I can throw it over my uniform and look put together.

Okay.

7 blogs I love

1. Yes They are All Mine

Rhen is a SAHM with six kids and one on the way. Did I mention she's only 32? So naturally she gets asked all the time if all those kids are hers. This blog is funny, informative and sweet. All good things.

2. The Allergic Kid

This website is filled with wonderful recipes for kids allergic to dairy and eggs.

3. See the Woods and the Trees

New to staying at home with her four year old--Toots, Leanne's blog covers her world and more. Definitely follow the antics of this passionate and intelligent child and her mommy.

4. We are that family

I know that everyone and their brother loves this site. But all awards ceremony's have to include at least one person so heavily bogged down by awards that they put in additional fireplaces to have a place to put them. So, this is mine. This site is a hilarious glimpse into the day to day life of an active, creative household of five. Drop by for some serious laughter and sweet tea.

5. Of Mice and raMen

A stay-at-home Malaysian mother blogs here and she finds the most amazing visual images. Take a minute to stop by and see today's post--pictures made by a man using what he found around his kitchen.

6. The Good, the Bad and the Food Allergies

Another SAHM trying to navigate the world of food allergic children one alternative recipe at a time. You'll find great recipes, tips and most of all laughter. Enjoy.

7. Loving Living Small

I hate cleaning house. Hate it. So the idea of living in anything bigger than our 1100 square foot house makes me cringe. So naturally, I love this blog. She has put together tons of tips for making the most out of a small space. Lots of links and pictures.

So, that's that. I hope you enjoyed the show and I'll be seeing you tomorrow night!

Applegate Farms

2009-03-04T17:19:00.000-08:00

Hotdogs and deli meat are natural additions to any child's diet when toddlerhood emerges. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure they have staffed our old "lunch ladies" from our elementary schools as official recipe makers. They hide everything in these products, corn-syrup, food dyes, soy, casein, etc. Reading the ingredients on the back of a deli meat package can make you almost glad you have a child with food allergies. We've been eating this stuff for years without even knowing it!

Applegate Farms solves this problem. They have a line of hotdogs, deli meats, sausages and other yummy meat products that are completely free of gluten, antibiotics, casein, and taste enhancers. Apparently they make their meat products out of meat. Instead of cheap fillers. What an idea!

We love their Organic Chicken Hotdogs. These are the only non-beef hotdogs that I have ever had that actually taste like the real deal. Since my husband and I are no longer 3 years old, we are watching our cholesterol, and these hotdogs help us to do just that. Plus L will eat three in one setting. And this from the kid that refuses to eat just about anything meat.

A new product I haven't sampled but will buy the second I see it at my local store, is Yogurt Cheese Slices. These are lactose free and contain live probiotic cultures!!! They do contain casein, cause it is cow milk cheese but how cool is it to find a lactose free cheese? That's sliced and ready for your sandwiches?!?!?

These products are a must for my rotation diet so I hope you enjoy them as well.

Forgotten Veggies

2009-03-03T11:38:00.000-08:00

After our first batch of allergy tests, vegetables took the greatest hit. Although we lost wheat and dairy, it was really the vegetables that I had the hardest time dealing with. What do you feed an 18 month old allergic to green beans, peas, squash, tomato's, carrots, potato's, sweet potato's and corn? Other than broccoli that's pretty much our entire veggie repertoire.

So I started looking around. Much like the great turnip discovery, parsnips were another veggie I'd heard about but never actually eaten much less cooked. What the heck is a parsnip anyway?

Parsnips are relatives of carrots so watch those kiddo's allergic to carrots. L was a little itchy last night so when the parsnip comes through our rotation again he'll be watched closely. So you can use parsnips like you would a carrot. Throw it in with your pot roast, make a parsnip cake instead of a carrot cake. It is richer in vitamins and minerals than the more familiar carrot.

Per 1 cup it has:

499 mg potassium

6.5 g fiber

1.6 g protein

38% Vitamin C

48% Calcium

4% Iron

6.6% Vitamin E

5.2% Zinc

6% Vitamin B6

94 mg Phosphorus

39 mg Magnesium

Wow! Pass those parsnips!

Welp, it turns out the English eat parsnips in plenty. The gorgeous Nigella Lawson has an easy and truly yummy roasted parsnip recipe. This recipe is not available on her home page. But I've copied it perfectly from my friend Andrea's copy of one of her cookbooks.

Roasted Parsnips

1 bag of parsnips

1/3 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 400. Peel parsnips. Slice them into rounds just like your favorite carrots. Throw them into a roasting pan. Pour olive oil over them and toss gently to coat. Drizzle maple syrup over the tops. Sprinkle with a little bit of salt. Cover and bake for 20 minutes or until fork tender.

Enjoy!

Menu Plan Monday Rotation Diet Week 3

2009-03-01T10:48:00.000-08:00

I'm still relying heavily on nuts to fill in those fat/protein gaps in the rotation diet. I don't know what people who are allergic to nuts do. That's not true, I do know. You look for alternatives.

I have switched from messing with single grain bread to crackers for the time being. I'm sure I'll get brave again and start getting that bread recipe down pat. But for now, the crackers are super easy to make, and the kids will eat them. Yahoo.

Have a great week!

Monday--Hemp Milk

Breakfast

Carob Pancakes

Snack

Hazelnuts and dried blueberries

Lunch

Hemp butter, carob crackers, blueberries

Snack

Carob muffins

Dinner

Sliced Ham, green beans, blueberries

Tuesday--Soy Milk

Breakfast

Quinoa

Snack

Soy nuts and apples

Lunch

Chicken cubes, apples, quinoa crackers

Snack

Soy Yogurt

Dinner

Chicken soup, apples, and broccoli

Wednesday--Oat Milk

Breakfast

Buckwheat pancakes

Snack

Cashews and dried cranberries

Lunch

Buckwheat crackers, cashew butter and strawberries

Snack

Cashews and dried cranberries

Dinner

Buckwheat pasta, strawberries, zucchini

Thursday--Goat Milk(contains casein)

Breakfast

Sorghum Muffins

Snack

Macadamia Nuts

Lunch

Goat cheese(contains casein), grapes, sweet potato chips

Snack

Sorghum Cupcakes for Landon's Birthday Party at preschool!!

Dinner

Fish, sweet potato french fries, grapes

Friday--Coconut Milk

Breakfast

Coconut Pancakes

Snack

Walnuts

Lunch

Sliced turkey, teff crackers, and oranges

Snack

Coconut Milk Yogurt

Dinner

Roast turkey breast, parsnips and oranges

Saturday--Almond Milk

Breakfast

Oatmeal

Snack

Almonds and dried blueberries

Lunch

Oat crackers, almond butter, pineapples

Snack

Almond Cookies

Dinner

Meatballs, asparagus, pineapples

Sunday--Pumpkin Milk

Breakfast

Barley(contains gluten)

Snack

Pumpkin Seeds

Lunch

Chicken Hotdogs, barley crackers,(contains gluten) pears

Snack

Barley Pudding(contains gluten)

Dinner

Chicken hotdogs, french fries, pears

Turkey Meatloaf Recipe

2009-02-27T18:15:00.000-08:00

Ahhhhhh, meatloaf. There is something so American and comforting about meatloaf. Very idealized 1954. Wait a sec while I remove my heels and adjust my pearls. Actually I wish we still wore those skirts, you know, the one's with the tight waists and A-line poofiness? They would hide my "birthin" hips very nicely.

But I digress. Back to meatloaf. The biggest issue at my house for making meatloaf is filler and sticker-togetherer. Also known as bread crumbs and eggs. You can obviously make your own bread crumbs using the recipe I posted a couple days ago but if you are in a hurry or forgot to whip up a batch of stale bread then you can grab your handy, dandy box of Quinoa Flakes.

Quinoa is a grain in the same family as amaranth and it has the same nutritional qualities that I love too. But it's a strong tasting grain when it's ground into flour. Very, very strong. I love quinoa grains cooked into a oatmeal like breakfast or a nice cold quinoa salad. But quinoa bread? Not so much. Instead I use the Quinoa Flakes in place of bread crumbs. All the nutritional punch of quinoa without the strong flavor. I've been known to throw these into all kinds of things--pancakes, cookies, meatballs, basically anything that will hold still and is wet enough to add a little something too.

You can also serve these as per the directions on the box. Think Malt-O-Meal for the gluten-free crowd.

Back to meatloaf. These work great. So mush some ground turkey, beef, pork, chicken, whatever you have in the fridge and toss in a couple handfuls of Quinoa Flakes. And in place of eggs(sticker togetherer) I throw in a couple tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Perfection!

Turkey Meatloaf Recipe

1 pound ground turkey

Quinoa Flakes

Italian Seasonings

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Preheat oven to 325 and grease your favorite meatloaf pan. I made mine in a mini loaf pan this time. Mush together the ground turkey, several tablespoonsful of the Italian Seasonings, 2-3 tablespoons of evoo and a couple good handfuls of Quinoa Flakes. Press into your loaf pan and bake for an hour to an hour and a half.

I don't like exact meatloaf recipes. Meatloaf was designed to be a "throw whatever's handy into a loaf pan and bake it", kind of meal. The breadcrumbs were added to make the meat stretch and the egg was to keep it moist and stuck together since adding the breadcrumbs would make it dry. It you have a lot of people coming over use more Quinoa Flakes and evoo. Have an onion laying around? Some garlic? Like ketchup in yours?

You get the picture.

Have a great weekend and see ya'll next week.

Pudding for All

2009-02-26T17:18:00.000-08:00

Beyond the fact that this pudding is creamy and delicious, it's also versatile. Perfect for families with food allergies, especially those dealing with a rotation diet. Since it calls for a grain and a milk, use whatever grain or milk your little person does well with.

I love this recipe but I truly despise making grains on my stove top. A simple rice cooker remedied my hatred for grain production. Any rice cooker will make any rice-like grain perfectly every time, and without all the constant stirring and attention stove-top rice requires.

Milk suggestions:

Almond

Oat

Hemp

Rice

Soy

Coconut

Pumpkin

Goat(contains casein)

Grain suggestions:

Millet

Quinoa

Rice

Barley(contains gluten)

Buckwheat

Teff

Amaranth

Oats

Pudding Recipe(modified from The Joy of Cooking)

4 cups milk of choice

1/2 cup sugar of choice

2 cups cooked grain of choice

1/2 tsp vanilla(optional)

Combine milk, sugar and cooked grain in a pan over medium heat. Cook, uncovered, over medium heat for 30-40 minutes, stirring frequently. The pudding is done when the rice and milk make a thick porridge. Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla. Spoon into bowls and serve warm or refrigerate. Feel free to sprinkle on some cinnamon!

A snack rich in calcium, fiber and protein!

Sorghum Cracker Recipe

2009-02-25T09:35:00.000-08:00

L did not really like the buckwheat bread I made him for his lunch yesterday. I really need to work on my bread recipe. Or steal someone else's. But these crackers are a huge hit. Perfect to go with the sliced turkey I sent with him to preschool today.

I've modified this recipe from DaringtoThrive's blog which is filled with some really yummy recipes that are gluten-free.

Sorghum Cracker Recipe

3/4 cups sorghum flour

1/4 cup hemp seeds

1/4 cup tapioca starch

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

4-6 T warm water

2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

You can use just about any flour, seed combination you can think of. Amaranth and sunflower seeds. Buckwheat and sesame. Wheat and peanut--JUST KIDDING!!!!!

Hope ya'll had a good day!

I Make Milk!

2009-02-24T09:13:00.000-08:00

Picture from the Soyabella Website

Vanna was not available.

Maybe next time.

After breastfeeding for several years this title amused me. My husband claims I have the humor of a pre-teen but it's funny right? I recently purchased a soymilk maker to add to my already crowded collection of kitchen gadgets. I feel completely justified for my collection because I use every last one of them every week. So ttttthhhhhhpppppptttt, darling husband.

I broke down and bought the soymilk maker because we were buying almond, soy and rice milk every week from the expensive natural grocery store, including those lunch box size milks that are crazy expensive but really handy. Since L was starting his rotation diet, I figured that now was a good time to buy the new toy.

I was ridiculously excited when the box arrived. You can buy this through several different websites but I chose good 'ol Target. But my joy was quickly doused when I discovered that finding raw soy beans was not going to be as easy as I thought. The great super-power of natural foods stores, Whole Foods didn't have them. They couldn't even order them out of their special order book. I knew I should have ordered them online........

But I called a local natural food store and they had some! Natural Farms had just bought some organic soy beans from a local farmer. So not only was I buying what I needed from a local shop but from a local farmer. Double whammy!!! And the price was amazing, .99/pound!

Home again, I read the instructions and was halted again in my soy milk making process because I needed to soak the beans. At least I read the instructions.

Three hours later and I was ready to make soy milk. I filled the measuring cup with my roughly 8 ounces of soaked beans. Attached the grinder cup filled with soaked soy beans to the grinder/heating element, filled up my pot with water to the appropriate mark, plugged it in and turned it on. 15 minutes and some noisy grinding later and I had creamy, fresh soy milk!

So far I've made soy, rice, almond, hemp, and oat milk. I'm still figuring out the oat milk--it's really, really thick. But a couple teaspoons full of sugar and vanilla and this stuff tastes like what you buy at the store!!! And for way less money. Plus no more running out and the going back to the store. I just make more!

The math:

One pound of soy beans makes a little over four batches of soy milk or 16 cups of soy milk! That's one gallon of soy milk for a dollar.

The Soyabella is $99.99. I can buy three, half-gallon containers of Silk at Sam's for $6.50. So I need to make my own soy milk about fifty times to pay this off.

Every week I make:

1/2 gallon of soy milk

1 quart almond milk

1/2 gallon rice milk

1 quart hemp milk

1 quart oat milk

1 quart coconut milk

That's two gallons of milk a week. I figure this new toy will be paid off by before, well, I'm done doing math. This is more math than I usually do in a month.

The only flaw in this plan is how to enrich it. Thanks to the internet that was quickly solved. I bought powdered calcium and magnesium blend. Since my kids take a multivitamin a day and we don't live in the Arctic, they are covered for Vitamin's D and A.

For the kids lunches, I bought two new Super Man Funtainers from Thermos and have been sending the boys milk to school in those. Saving the environment and my pocketbook one glass of rice, soy, almond, oat, hemp milk at a time!

Menu Plan Monday Rotation Diet Week 2 and The World's Most Amazing Almond Cookie Recipe EVER!!!!

2009-02-21T12:10:00.000-08:00

L has officially failed rice. It was not pretty. So rice has been removed from the weekly diet and replaced with Coconut milk. We are still using soy but will be watching him closely on that day. Blech.

On a happier note I made some truly amazing cookies yesterday! Did I mention they are not just gluten-free but grain-free, dairy-free, egg-free and peanut-free?!?!?!?! My husband loved them so much, he threatened to take the bag of cookies with him to work this morning. Thankfully, he chose not to. The boys had these for snacks today and I officially am, "Mommy of the Year". Thank you very much.

Almond Cookie Recipe

3/4 cup almond butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup applesauce(or any fruit puree)

1 tsp vanilla(keep with the theme and try almond extract)

1/4 tsp cream of tarter

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups almond meal

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350. Cream almond butter and sugars together. Add in applesauce and vanilla. Blend in almond meal and remaining ingredients. This dough should be cookie dough consistency but will be sticky. Roll teaspoon size balls with your hands and then roll them in more sugar and cinnamon. I used turbinado because it's so pretty. Place on silpat lined baking sheet and press with fork to flatten out a little. Bake for 8 minutes or until brown around the edges.

These are so good! Fabulously chewy and crunchy all at the same time. And perfect for almond day on the rotation diet! Hold on I need to go have another cookie.

Beware, although these have no butter, they are still loaded with fat! The good kind, but fat nonetheless.

FYI: Almonds part of the Plum family and not related to any other nut. Cool huh?

FYI #2: Almond meal is insanely expensive, $12.99/pound. Instead hit your favorite Sam's or Costco type store and buy a 50 gallon drum of raw almonds. Toss handfuls into your food processor and bingo: almond meal. Add a little oil and bingo: almond butter. Aren't we brilliant??!??

Monday--Almond Milk

Breakfast

Teff Muffins

Snack

Almond Cookies

Lunch

Almond butter, teff bread, strawberry

Snack

Almond Cookies

Dinner

Fish, Sweet potato French Fries, strawberry

Tuesday--Oat Milk

Breakfast

Buckwheat pancakes

Snack

Walnuts and Oranges

Lunch

Walnut butter, oranges, and buckwheat bread

Snack

Buckwheat pancakes

Dinner

Lamb roast, zucchini, oranges

Wednesday--Hemp Milk

Breakfast

Sorghum pancakes

Snack

Hemp Butter and Sorghum Crackers

Lunch

Deli Turkey, Apples, Sorghum Crackers

Snack

Hazelnuts and apples

Dinner

Turkey chili, green beans and apples

Thursday--Soy Milk

Breakfast

Quinoa with cinnamon and sugar

Snack

Soy nuts and dried blueberries

Lunch

Quinoa Salad with peas, blueberries

Snack

Soy Yogurt

Dinner

Hamburgers, broccoli, blueberries

Friday--Goat Milk(contains casein)

Breakfast

Millet with cinnamon and sugar

Snack

Macadamia nuts

Lunch

Chicken Hotdogs, pears

Snack

Millet Pudding

Dinner

Chicken hotdogs, pears, asparagus

Saturday--Coconut Milk

Breakfast

Oatmeal

Snack

Coconut Milk Yogurt

Lunch

Pecan Butter Balls, grapes, oatmeal bread

Snack

Oatmeal Cookies

Dinner

Fish, French Fries, grapes

Sunday--Pumpkin Milk

Breakfast

Barley(contains gluten)

Snack

Pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries

Lunch

Cashew Butter, barley(contains gluten) bread, apples

Snack

Cashews and dried cranberries

Dinner

Turkey meatballs, banana's, and barley(contains gluten) bread

Chicken Salad Recipe--contains soy, sorry!

2009-02-20T14:08:00.001-08:00

I have a rare pass for a Girl's Night Out, and I still need to put on a little make-up so I'm keeping this short.

The mayo I'm using for this recipe is made from soy, which works perfect for soy day in the rotation. Feel free to use regular mayo, greek yogurt or leave it out. We're trialing soy today so please forgive this allergen addition to our usual allergen-free recipe site! This salad will be good no matter what!

Chicken Salad Recipe

2 cups diced chicken

1 cup soy mayo

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

4 tsp honey

Diced pear--optional

Mix together everything but chicken and pear until smooth. Pour over diced chicken and pears. Serve chilled alone, on tortilla's or bread. Perfect dinner for this sunny day.

Have a great weekend.

Alexander Ain't Got Nothing on Me

2009-02-19T17:17:00.000-08:00

A Mother's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Mother-in-law of a Very, Bad Day

I went to sleep with a kid in my bed

and woke up with a kid in my hair,

A trip to the mirror proved my fear,

now a shower I would have to take

to flatten the hair sticking up straight.

So begins,

My terrible, horrible, no good, mother-in-law of a very, bad day.

While making pancakes of hemp and oat

my husband decided the bear he should poke.

My reaction was simple, "Are you kidding me?"

But alas, no, this was a morning that nothing but a fight would remedy.

So continues,

My terrible, horrible, no good, mother-in-law of a very, bad day.

Two slices of oat bread I had

to make a sandwich of hemp butter for my lad.

But this was not to be

for my husband had eaten them, you see.

Because this was,

my terrible, horrible, no good, mother-in-law of a very, bad day.

My youngest whined in the pitch that causes my ear drums to lurch,

Oh, God let us make it to church!

"I don't like it!" referring to everything that passed his way,

His pants, his shoes, his lunch, his preschool day.

Yup,

It's a terrible, horrible, no good, mother-in-law of a very, bad day

The entire way to school his voice could be heard,

apparently doing an impression of a mina bird,

regardless of the volume level I kept turning up

to drown out the insolent and irritating pup.

What's a girl to do on a,

terrible, horrible, no good, mother-in-law of a very, bad day?

While waiting for school to start, a helpful mother states,

"I don't think he feels very good." Yet, I don't rise to the bait.

Instead, I cry and give in to this day.

Pack up the kid and go on our way.

For this it to be,

A terrible, horrible, no good, mother-in-law of a very, bad day.

On the way out I hear,

mothers' offering help in way of cheer.

"An allergist, a nutritionist, the internet", they chime,

What do they think, that I am an allergy neophyte?

Oh, that's right.

This is a terrible, horrible, no good, mother-in-law of a very, bad day.

Oh God, it's only ten AM.

I realize with a sardonic grin.

This is truly a terrible, horrible, no good, Cinderella's step-mother-in-law of a very, bad day.

Parenting Kids with Food Allergies

2009-02-18T18:10:00.000-08:00

So parenting is hard. Parenting kids with average issues is hard. But parenting children with health issues throws in a whole new barrel of monkeys. We don't have the option of not enforcing rules when it comes to their diets or medications. It's not like fudging a bedtime a little or "just this once" to an extra scoop of ice cream or another movie. A scoop of ice cream could mean a night up spent in pain for your child or even death.

This is to real. It's hard to not want to throw my own tantrum sometimes. Being a mom is hard enough without explaining to a 2 year old why he can't have cake at a birthday party or pizza at a friends house.

We have been a Love and Logic household since I met my friend Logan and her two darling but spirited daughters. Something about the peace in that household made me beg for whatever drug she was giving her children. Instead of the bottle of whiskey I was pretty sure she was spiking their milk cups with, she handed my her copy of "Parenting with Love and Logic".

Secretly I was hoping for the whiskey.

This parenting style has seen us through some challenging child fazes but while looking for some advice on their website, I stumbled across a book that had just been released. "Parenting Children with Special Health Issues" is something that every doctor needs to hand to parents coping with a child with any sort of long-term or severe health issues. It gives you the tools to really help that child deal with the day-to-day living that comes with chronic health issues.

So, no more battles on medication taking, or off-limit foods. Not that L doesn't test it out every once in a while, or that I don't wimp out occasionally either. But, along with this book, some God-given grace and a pound of good chocolate(mine not L's) L will be a healthy man who knows how to feed himself in a way that will keep him healthy and strong, even when mom's not there.

Some of the examples given can seem harsh when you live with a two year old. Just remember that age-appropriate applies here too. So don't hand over the medication responsibility to a five year old or let a three year old plan his entire diet for the week. But a five year old could choose which pills to take first and a three year old could decide which day to have his chicken hotdogs.

Hope this helps but let's get back to something we can control. COOKING!

Beef and Rice Recipe(modified from Rachel Ray's Thirty Minute Meals)

**since we haven't used a nightshade family food the addition of tomato's to the rotation is ok

2 cups beefstock(check for hidden veggies or just make your own)

1 3/4 cups water

2 cups uncooked brown rice

1 T oil

1 pound ground beef

1 diced onion

4 cloves garlic

2 cups tomato sauce

1/4 tsp cloves

2 tsp cumin

Heat beef stock and water to a full boil. Add rice, reduce heat and cover pot. Cook 20 minutes. Meanwhile, heat oil in large skillet. Brown ground beef. Add in chopped veggies and cook 5-7 minutes. Add tomato sauce, cloves and cumin. Bring mixture to a bubble, reduce heat to low, add rice and eat!

Allergen Note:

I'm not completely sure this is connected but L was bouncing off the walls this evening and he hasn't had rice in six months. We'll see if he's more mellow on the hemp milk tomorrow.

What? I can't use whiskey.

Survived Day One

2009-02-17T17:50:00.001-08:00

L, "I want pears."

Me,"You can have apples!"(please note uplifted tone of voice)

L,"I WANT PEARS!"(please note incredibly irritated whine)

Repeat.

Thank goodness for Love and Logic parenting. It felt really funny telling a kid asking for a healthy snack, "no" and then offering them a seemingly connected but different snack. But that's our life right now.

This evening as I was attempting to find some motivation to make breadcrumbs, the second night in a row so I could make chicken tenders, I started wondering something. Do my readers think that I've always been interested in cooking and cooking from scratch at that?

Because the answer is no. After my first son was born, I did take a large interest in what he ate. We bought organic when we could. Avoided trans fats and high fructose corn syrup. Basically stuck to real food--no fancy packaging. But I was not making yogurt, or my own breadcrumbs. That is what Whole Foods is for!

And the way I cook now didn't happen overnight either. I have slowly but surely added a new step to my cooking life as I could. Got a little extra sleep? Started baking bread. Kids can dress themselves? Make my own rice milk. So take it one recipe at a time until before you know it, you'll be milking a goat in your backyard between kneading your buckwheat bread.

I'm sure you are also wondering why tonight's Chicken Strips look an awful lot like chicken hotdogs. Yeah. I was tired. So L got the same meal for dinner as he had for lunch and thankfully because he's two, he was delighted by the chance to eat more hotdogs.

We'll make buckwheat coated chicken strips another night.

Chicken Strips Recipe

Chicken sliced into strips(use whatever you have around, and enough to feed those little people around your ankles)

Almond milk(cause it's almond milk day)

Buckwheat breadcrumbs(see yesterdays post for breadcrumb recipe)

Spices of choice(Italian spices, or paprika, or salt and pepper)

Preheat oven to 425. Coat chicken strips with almond milk. To contain the mess, you can put the breadcrumbs in a ziploc bag along with the spices. Put a couple strips in at a time and practice your Shake and Bake imitation. Spread coated chicken strips on greased baking sheet in a single layer. Bake for 8 minutes, then flip over and bake for another 8 minutes.

Yum. But for another day.