Allergy-free Eating - Post #4

Okay - I still have LOTS of packaged foods to introduce here, but I decided that I should start mixing in good recipes when I make them.  It also will provide the opportunity to highlight some good ingredients.

This weekend, I made 2 meals "from scratch".  Friday night, we had brinner (breakfast for dinner), of homemade chocolate chip waffles, and bacon with fruit and juice.  This is a BIG crowd pleaser.  I got the waffle recipe from this AMAZING cookbook, Babycakes Covers the Classics.  This isn't the cupcake / donut maker babycakes (I was confused at first, too).  This is the cookbook of a woman who has a vegan New York City bakery.  I picked up the cookbook on a recommendation at Williams Sonoma, and I am SO SO happy I did.

I have, thanks to this cookbook, been able to make home made waffles using the belgian waffle maker my mom bought me *right* before our diagnosis, AND cinnamon rolls - another favorite we had been missing.

The waffle recipe is very easy, and not overly time consuming.  Here are the ingredients - I think this is everything:

The key ingredients to point out that have become staples for us:

- Bob's Red Mill GF flours.  One thing I have learned is that bulk flours will not work for GF.  The reason is in the way they are transported and stored.  There is basically bulk wheat floating through the air as they do these things, which would obviously be a problem for people with wheat / gluten allergies.  In the cookbook, the author goes so far as to say that Bob's is the ONLY flour to use on her recipes.  She is so confident in it.  I have to say it has produced really good results every time I have used it.

- Coconut oil.  We have long been using coconut oil but it is almost exclusively the oil used in baking.  I'm not sure what property it has that helps GF foods work, but we know it also has terrific health benefits.

- Xanthan gum.  This weird little ingredient has been on food labels forever, and I've wondered before what it is (Why did I always imagine something more like bubble gum?  And why did I accept that it was in our food with out knowing?!).  Anyway, it is a powder, and is imperative when you cook with GF flours.  Somehow helps everything work with out the wheat protein

- GF baking powder.  I had no idea there was a difference?!  Some baking powders are, some aren't.  Read the label.

- Again our fab-o Enjoy Life mini chips

- Rice Milk - I'll run you through our milk-substitute opinions in a later post!

Here is the recipe:

1/4 C melted coconut oil (more for oiling the waffle iron, or use vegan cooking spray)

1 1/2 C Bob's  All Purpose GF Baking Flour

1 C Brown Rice Flour (Bob's!)

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3/4 tsp xanthan gum

2 1/2 cups rice milk

3 tbsp agave nectar

1 tbsp vanilla extract

Preheat waffle maker (per mfg instruction).  Brush with oil or spray.

In a medium bowl whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and xanthan gum.  Add the rice milk, coco oil, agave nectar, and vanilla and stir until combined.  Add chocolate chips if desired.

Pour 1/3 to 1/2 cup of batter onto waffle iron and bake per mfg instructions.

Ta-da!

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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