Allergy-free Eating - Post #3

Our family used to be HUGE on pasta.  We would eat whole wheat spaghetti at least once / week, and pasta was one of my favorite from-scratch things to make.  Needless to say, since we have stopped eating Gluten, the Kitchen-Aid pasta attachments have not gotten much use.

We have found with eliminating foods containing Gluten and Gliadin that many replacements are rice-based (at least in the packaged grocery realm).  Rice pastas (spaghetti, macaroni, penne types) taste "okay" but are VERY tricky to cook.  Another issue I have with straight rice pasta is insuring that we get enough variety in our diets.  I've read that by substituting another grain, you can actually develop allergies to that one from over-exposure (one of the many theories as to why we have wheat protein allergies to begin with -- too much of these things in the Standard American Diet (aka SAD)).

This multigrain pasta has become a staple:

In addition to the rice, it contains quinoa (super food!) and amaranth (another high protein good-for-you grain).  You have to be careful when cooking it that you use a large enough pot, or the noodles will break each other under their own weight (we found this out by trying to cook multiple boxes as once - they need space!).

Ron and I have been eating a lot of rice noodles pad-thai style (with chicken, thai spice / sauce, bean sprouts, etc).  These types of rice noodles are on the other hand EASY to cook.  The kids have grown to LOVE these noodles (a little less nutritional value in my opinion, but good to change things up).  They eat them plain or with marinara sauce.  You can of course buy them in the Pad Thai kit ala:

Or, you can buy just whatever ones you can find in your store plain ala:

There are a zillion brands.

This is how we do pasta.  Enjoy!

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!

Allergy-free Eating - Post #1

We have learned so much on our journey into the allergy free way of life, that I thought it was time I started officially sharing some product reviews to help others that are just beginning.

 First, some history on our situation. Our Cadel was diagnosed with allergies to gluten, wheat, gliadin, milk protein (casein), all dairy products, beef, and pineapple in early February 2012.

 As a result, our family did a complete 8 week elimination of all of these foods. Upon systematic reintroduction of each of these foods one at a time (with time between to "reset"), we found that the allergies extended to each of us. So we all are basically on the full elimination diet at all times.

The first thing we knew we had to replace was pancakes. Come on - you have to have priorities, people. Our goal here was to come up with some things to eat that Cadel would really love, so as to put the 'new diet' in the most positive light that we could. Success was quickly ours when we found this:

This was a WINNER.  Throw in a few of these:

and what you have is HAPPY kids.  We use almond milk in the pancake mix.  They sortof taste like cupcakes!

Both of these products are available at our co-op (http://www.lakewinds.com/store/index.aspx).  Many local grocers seem to carry the Cherrybrook Kitchen brand in cookies, cakes, etc., but the pancakes have been a bit harder to find.  Amazon carries them, if you can't find them locally.  The chocolate chips I've seen at our local big chain grocer (Cub Foods) as well as at Target!  These chocolate chips are minis, fyi.  If you prefer big chocolate chips, these are also endorsed by the Scherer family:

 Each of these products, at the time of this post, are also nut and soy free.  Our family doesn't have nut or soy allergies, however.   In any event I ALWAYS recommend reading labels, or doing some research as of course these things can change over time.

Here's to chocolate chip pancakes!

Things my mom did that ROCK:

• Grew me inside of her.  Seriously.   This is a big one, people.
• Raised me in the company of siblings.  LOVE my sisters!
• Played music in the house - ALL THE TIME.  Ala Simon and Garfunkel, Neil Diamond, Kenny Rogers, and sooo many more... 
• Cleaned the house every Saturday from 8am to noon.  And made us help.
• Made home cooked meals with dessert every night.
• Took us swimming - a lot.
• Came to every concert, ball game, honors ceremony, etc.
• Composted and recycled wa-ay before it was 'cool'.
• Told us to 'be good and stay together' every time we left her sight.
• Decorated the house for every holiday.
• Celebrated "Kids Day" (our made up holiday to offset Mother's Day - I kid you NOT).
• Survived raising 4 teenage girls with one teeny tiny bathroom in the house.
• Sliced bananas and sprinkled sugar on them
• Loved me unconditionally.
• Was one of the first people to hold each of her grand-babies - even though she lived in another state.
• Mailed birthday cards with confetti (often home made) in them.
• Baked cookies (and cakes, and bars...)

Happy Mother's Day to all of the awesome Moms, especially MINE.

Being Present.

Lately I've been starting to think about New Year's Resolutions. My first idea was to make a change to positively impact the environment (or, less negatively) for each member of our family. 5 actions over the next 12 months. Seems doable. I think I will do it.

However, as I was pondering the idea, I got the most recent bit of sad news from within my group of family and friends. This year has been exceedingly laden with sad / bad news. I remember the feeling of once being impervious to the big d's (death, disease, divorce). Suddenly I feel surrounded by them. My girlfriend, Twyla, and I were discussing last night why we think this is. My best guess is age. Ask anyone in their late 30s and older and they would likely know a handful of people currently grieving a loss, fighting a disease, or going through a divorce.

In any event, whatever the bad news coming from my circle, time and time again it has brought me to the same place. Be PRESENT. Be present in your relationships, and tell / show your spouse / partner / parent / sibling that you love them often. Be present with your children. Smell their heads, look in their eyes, and memorize who they are today because NOW is when you are lucky enough to get to be their parent. There are no guarantees. Be present in your life and do the things you want to do, because no one is making any promises about your own health and longevity, either. Be present, and be appreciative.

So I think my resolution is going to be a combo deal. I'm going to try to do the environment thing, because it is the right thing to do. But I'm also going to really really focus on ways to be present in my life and in the lives of those I love.

Sending love and healing to those of you who need it. I know you will do the same when I do.

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Reviving the Blog... Reflections on Birth

I'm reviving the Blog. I'm doing it. Now.

Our Blog started out about 10 years ago as a static web page. I believe the first post featured our dear friend Tom Godfrey smoking a cigarette while proselytizing the importance of a smoking ban. We've come a looo-ooong way, baby. (A house, 2 dogs, a marriage and THREE babies, to be specific.)

Our family pictures can now always be found on our Shutterfly page (www.scherercentral.shutterfly.com), and they won't be posted here, except when I just have to have a photo to back up my words. Here, you will be blessed with my musings as a mom, a wife, a corporate business and technology consultant and business owner, a pet owner, a reader, a gardener, a sister, an auntie, a daughter, a crazy-person, a friend, an avid photo-taker, a consumer of technology, pop culture, fashion, and more.

Let me begin with what is dominating my thoughts this week. OUR BABY GIRL IS TURNING ONE! Our last baby. One. Also, my awesome BFF from college, Terri Richardson Chaseley kindly recently reminded me and another amazing BFF from college, Kelly Schmuldt Foster, that our child-bearing years are over. And they went fast. I'll admit that one stung. That brings me to the following post... which focuses on child birth, and how we got to where we are.

Our first baby (our Ullrich Michael) was the result of a 72 hour labor with the dreams of a natural birth dashed by a cesarean section. That experience is remembered as a time of Me, Ron (my partner, not yet hubby!), and our awesome doula, Emme Corbeil (www.trilliummidwives.com) against the world. Ron and I learned so much, and this experience colored the rest of our child bearing years (There is that phrase again! Really? Over???!!!). We were in awe (okay, perhaps it was sleep deprivation shock) as Emme helped us understand and protect our rights. Rights such as:

• The right to be treated for maternal exhaustion more than 24 hours into your labor, without submitting to induction via pitocin.
• The right to fully understand our choices through the process, and to make informed decisions.(Who here didn’t know Ron is a badass? I’m here to tell you)
• The right for me to not be alone in the operating room while Ron was with our baby.
• The right to refuse formula feeding our almost ELEVEN pound newborn because the nurses didn't care for his recessed jaw's way of latching.

(PS - We also learned such awesome medical terms as ‘occiput posterior’ and ‘acynclitic’ – thanks Ulls.)

Our second baby (Our Cadel Alana) was born naturally (woot!) in the hospital - also known as VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). We had the great fortune of finding a group of midwives (the Park Nicollet Meadowbrook Midwives) who were backed by an awesome OB who all believed that natural birth after cesarean is not only possible, but in many cases the best option. For this birth we had what we thought at the time was the 'dream team' - Ron (now officially the hubby!), Emme, and the PN midwives. We delivered our Girl in 36 hours, which included 2 hours in transition (if you have ever been dilated to 9cm w/o pain meds, you know what I'm saying here). Takeaways:

• The first moments with your vaginally delivered baby are so much more tangible and memorable than with your c-section baby. Does this mean I love Cadel more than Ullrich? That notion is LUDICROUS - of course not. But I will always remember her birth more clearly than his, and I will always feel he and I missed out on a moment as I was strapped to a table with my guts hanging out.
• No matter how many babies you birth naturally, the hospital still treats you as a VBAC, and certain protocols (IV fluids, no food / drink, closely watching the clock, etc.) will apply.
• Narcotics do NOT work for me. Come on, who wouldn't try something in a 36 hour event?

(PS – New term learned with this experience? “Advanced Maternal Age” –seriously? Who, me?!)

When we found out we were pregnant with our third baby (AKA Miss Summer James), I thought long and hard about something Emme had suggested to me in one of her visits post-partum: based on what I learned in my experience with Cadel, and now that we really understood my labor pattern (long early labor, no use for meds) I should really consider a home birth for our 3rd. When we were 20 weeks along, and I had taken advantage of all of the testing and diagnostics available in western medicine for my own certainty that we had a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby, I made the decision to break up with my wonderful Park Nicollet Midwives, and have a home birth. Trillium Midwifery (Emme's practice) didn't have room for us in October of 2010, but Kim Garrett and her partners at Dearborn Midwifery (reco from Emme) did. In the end, we truly ended up with THE ACTUAL DREAM TEAM. Emme's schedule permitted her to be our doula. So at our birth we had: Ron, Emme, Kim, Jane, and Laura - WOW! These amazing women account for easily in the thousand if not thousands of births. (My hubby, not to brag, was also on his 3rd.) Lest the thousands comment makes these wonderful women sound old, please let me clarify that they are energetic, funny, hip women, who make me feel old (and we ALL know I'm a spring chicken, right?). I could go on and on about their accomplishments. Amazing. Women.

This brings me to not only my favorite child birth experience, but my FAVORITE DAY. Ever. In my life. I love the day I married my husband, and as cliché as it sounds, my very best friend. I love being a Mom, and treasure every day that I get to know my kids -- my Bigs and my Baby. I love Christmases, and first recitals, and amazing vacations, and first steps, and first lost teeth, and so many other moments. But to me, this day was so very amazing in a way that is likely to never be repeated. What characterized this day?

• An energy in myself that I hadn't yet tapped into until this point. The ability to talk and think clearly in my labor (beTWEEN contractions, of course!) and feel so so focused -- so much so that just a few hours before Summer joined us, Emme, who had been with me in all of my births questioned if I was even close enough to delivering to get into the birthing tub.
• The feeling that the hubby and I had accomplished something so incredibly special together. For the bulk of my 18-hour labor it was just the 2 of us. In the end, I nearly broke his arm as I pushed our baby out while laying on our bed. His name is on her birth certificate as the person who delivered her. Wow.
• Laying on the couch near the fire (our power went out mid-birth - she was welcomed to the world by candle light!) snuggling our beautiful healthy baby girl within an hour of her birth, and her proud big brother and sister quickly joining us at home with Grandma Scherer to meet baby sister and make complete our sweet family celebration.
• Peace, happiness, calm, quiet, beauty. All uninterrupted.
• Memories that remain so much more clear and tangible as time goes on because they took place in our home, where we are together as a family every day.

I feel so blessed to have had this joyful day one year ago. And even more so that Summer James is in our world now. Happy First Birthday to my amazing baby girl. Happy 'last first' to the whole Scherer family (PS - Ron, we SURVIVED!). Thank you to Emme, Jane, Kim and Laura. You women are amazing, and we feel lucky to know you.