If you follow me on Facebook then you have a good idea of all the hoopla that's been running me around these past 3 weeks like an even more insane mom than I already was! Rota Virus hit the kids while away for the week. Or a stomach bug that resembled it but not as bad as some horror stories I've heard or as bad as my step dad got it after we left. Two pipe breaks at the house. The sound of jet engines is still raging in our basement as the professionals continue their drying process and making their best efforts to not pull drywall out. To be honest, I wouldn't mind it getting redone!
On the plus side of things, our new fur baby has finally arrived! Nellie is as sweet as they come and also quite scared/skidish. She still won't eat much, 10 days later, and hides in our bedroom most of the time. She's afraid of Craig, really she's afraid of anyone but me! I guess the crazy kids running and yelling and mom running and yelling after them and our crazy boxer barking at anything or anyone that comes within 100 feet of our home and all these contractors in and out like a revolving door this past week... she's not quite sure what to make of this mad house! Hopefully she gets more comfortable soon. She's quite precious.
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| Getting used to her big brother Apollo! |
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| Smelling good after her first grooming! |
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| Bonding with Rylie. She sleeps with Caleb :) |
Probably the most impacting part of our lives though has been some new diets! We saw the holistic doctor everyone kept recommending to me. He did muscle testing on the kids and I. Yes, I'm aware that modern medicine thinks this is nonsense and many would call him a "quack". That's another post for another day! Anyway, I've been on an antifungal and no nightshades diet while the kids are enjoying dairy and gluten free foods for two weeks.
My son also had his allergist appointment and it turns out that "quack" was right with at least part of it.... the boy is in fact allergic to dairy... and eggs, tomato, some outside mold spore and possibly cats and ragweed. Everything was mild to moderate (eggs being the moderate) so nothing to really worry about. He can probably get him off his prilosec and get his eczema cleared up if we avoid these things when possible, which was my goal.
So basically I've been like Betty Crocker on speed these past couple weeks and THAT is worth posting about. I would not call myself a cook by any stretch of the word. As a matter of fact I avoid it when possible. But, in my quest for us all to eat and live "cleaner" I'm doing my best. I also have been quite proud of myself with some of the things I've made, via recipe and even my own ideas, so I thought I'd share with you all! Or more pat my own back, but who's to say you won't enjoy some of this delicious foods too?!
I jumped right in with gluten free blueberry pancakes hoping to start these diets off with a bang. Technically I shouldn't have eaten them since the flour had potato starch in it (potatoes are nightshades) but I haven't been perfect on this adventure, that's for sure! This one was simple. I bought some gluten and dairy free pancake mix at the store and made it to recipe. Just added some frozen organic blueberries in there and cooked them using coconut oil. Kids gobbled them right up! Actually, Rylie has been eating much better these past two weeks and Caleb finally drinks milk since we swtiched to vanilla almond milk. Which means he needs to potty train A-sap because this boy is going through diapers like a newborn now that he finally drinks! I'm not complaining though. I'm just happy I finally found things that don't hurt their little bellies.
Tonight was make your own pizza night. Always a fun one for the kiddos! I got gluten and dairy free pizza crust and we made our own dough because all the store bought ones had egg. We substituted flax seed meal for egg so Caleb could enjoy it too. We mixed it all together with the electric mixer, a favorite part for Rylie! It was a bit more sticky than pizza dough should be but we just sprinkled some of our gluten/dairy free all purpose flour on the pizza pan and my hands and it turned out pretty good. Even with the veggie mozzarella cheese. The boy ate two pieces! He must miss his tomatoes. I'm hoping that allowing some of the foods he's allergic to in moderation will keep the reflux and eczema at bay as they've been notably better over the past week. I mean, every kid deserve to eat pizza, even if it isn't the tasty clog your arteries kind :) Anyway, here was the final product! Sadly, again, I can't enjoy because we put yeast in the crust but I did steal a taste.
Since I can't eat vinegar it's made eating salad's challenging. I was thinking of how sick I was of simply using lemon juice and olive oil so while I cut some strawberries for the kids lunch I had a brilliant idea! I pureed what was left of the strawberries, added some lemon juice and used that as my dressing. So good. Then I added some raw honey to what was left, blended it again and poured that onto our new popsicle molds... since we were down to one strawberry pop left. Mmmm Mmmmmm. Too bad I can't eat any sugar on my antifungal diet so I can't have them either, but I snuck a bite in. Have to make sure what the kids eat is good, right? The perks of being the mom :) If your kids are like mine and love treats, these will make you feel good about what you're giving them. (these ones are not mine but from the recipe linked below)
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| Give them a try! |
I've been the muffin momma, moreso than usual I should say. I make 3 batches in 10 days! It's my salvation when I'm craving bread products (obviously no yeast is part of antifungal!) Sadly, the last batch turned out nasty as I only had 3 instead of 4 bananas but since they were pretty big I thought it might work. Not so much. But, these recipes are good, when made right and not overcooked! AND, you can make them gluten free! I used oat flour for each of them and the gluten/dairy free all purpose flour for the ones I was down a banana. Maybe they didn't turn out well because of the different flour?
This morning I made walnut kale pesto. Only 5 ingredients and it passed the husband taste test effortlessly, despite him being quite skeptical. I asked if I should freeze some and he said "nah, it won't lat long." I think I'll try it on pasta for dinner tomorrow, maybe with some crackers or carrots for snack. The possibilities are endless! The best part is this is one you can make extra and freeze so you don't have to be Better Crocker every single day. I'm determined to eat this not so tasty on its own superfood as much as possible and this article gives many yummy looking ways to achieve that goal! Here's my first one...
Last but certainly not least are these insanely delicious treats. They taste like dessert but can be eaten for breakfast or snack or whenever your heart desires! I've made them three times now in less than 2 weeks. The last time (last night) I doubled up the recipe. The kids aren't interested in the way they look so they won't even try them which was fine by me because I ate them all myself with no problem! I used walnuts the first two times before I realized it said substitute almonds or pecans if you can't find hazelnuts (which I couldn't). These are to die for, in my opinion. I didn't drizzle with the coconut milk because as some of you may know, I despise coconut. Which sucks given it is so good for so many things. I'd imagine if you like coconut, adding that little touch would be truly heavenly though.
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| Here's the easy recipe, try them yourself! |
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| Mine! |
And this is the reason for my long absence! I promise not to leave you all hanging for such an extended time again but I think all this deserves a free pass for this one time, right?! Well, I'm off to find a chocolate zuchini bread recipe we all can enjoy! Back to our "quack" doc that has helped ease my chronic pain when no one else could, relieve Caleb's eczema and we are just about fully off of prilosec in this house...all in two weeks. If we don't test sensitive to any of these things anymore we should be able to just focus on the dairy and egg free for Caleb but I think I may stick with the gluten free as much as we can afford to since something about all this clearly is helping.
Let me know if you try any of these recipes. I'd be interested to hear if everyone else likes them too! If you have any to share please post in the comments for all to enjoy. And feel free to share this with your friends.
Namaste.
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Namaste!
Jaci