Allergy-free Eating - Post #2

Before I get to the goods, I want to share an overall food allergy update.

I am proud to report that we have been free of *the sickies* for the longest time I can really remember (we did get pink eye, but we came into contact with kids that had pink eye, and well, it's pink eye). Our kids have never been super sickies, however, runny noses used to be pretty common for us. 

This summer no matter how late we push the bedtimes, how hard we play, how many germs we expose them to, etc etc., they just don't seem to get "run down".  I have to believe that this is at least in part related to better gut health. Makes me happy, and makes me believe that we are making the right decisions.

The kids have even gotten to have some 'cheats' recently. Pizza on vacation turned out to be a poor decision. My Girl got pretty emotionally volatile, and my Baby started screaming in the night. Both occurred immediately following the exposure. It is pretty wild.

However, my Bigs both had a 'cheat' cookie in Iowa, and both rode it out fine. I'm so happy.

 Okay, so my next item (still working through packaged foods) is the entire line of Ian's allergy-free foods. (www.iansnaturalfoods.com)
These are frozen "kid foods" (very few families I know dare to try to live with out some variation of a frozen nugget or pizza).

When you consider the fact that there are NO restaurants where you can take you child to get a gluten/dairy/egg free chicken nugget that I am aware of (unless they serve these - or the 1 other brand we know of!) - it is quite a good thing to be able to let them have them once in a while at home. Again, they want to feel normal.

We buy the Ian's brand chicken nuggets regularly, and on occasion have the mini corn dogs, pizza, fries, or 'meals' (nuggets, fries, corn, and cake).

Ian's has a really nice website, where you can click boxes to select your allergies, and they will point you to the foods that will work for you. Their products are a bit more challenging to find, and we almost buy them exclusively at the co-op. Whole Foods carries some, and the 'normal' grocery store *might* carry something, but it is very rare to see something at a chain store.

(PS - Before you go judging me, imagine going home today and throwing out 100% of the things in your cupboards, fridge, and freezer and starting anew with strange products / brands you have never heard of. Oh, and you have to feed your kids dinner tonight.)

I also have a great home made chicken nugget recipe, which I've made several times. The kids love it! I'll share that in a future post, when I'm running through recipes.

That's it for now!