I'm in love!

I don't normally peruse the organic section of the grocery store while I'm there but for some reason I decided to just browse the other day. I think I should do that more often! I found butter!! Well, not really butter but a "buttery spread" that tastes just like margarine!

When I saw it I thought "how good could this be?" but decided to give it a try anyway. I can't tell you how awesome it has been to have a delicious butter substitute to put on veggies and potatoes! OMG! Potatoes! A baked potato just isn't as good without butter. I've been eating it for a few days now with no reaction from Mini whatsoever!

Anyway, it's called Earth Balance and you have to be sure to get the red container because that's the one that's soy free too!

Home Fries

I've loved these for a very long time but it's been a while since I've made them. For some reason they just popped into my head when I opened the pantry and saw potatoes this morning. Thankfully, they're dairy, soy, etc. free!

1 Tbsp. oil
2 medium red potatoes
1 small onion
salt, pepper to taste

Heat oil in medium pan over medium high heat. Chop potatoes and onion into cubes and cook in oil until tender.

The photo above (I actually remembered to take a picture this time!) uses 2 medium red potatoes and was plenty for me for breakfast but I usually have a pretty healthy appetite!

Fried Squash

Here's an easy one and it's allergy friendly unless you're allergic to corn! Even if you are allergic to corn you could use flour instead of cornmeal.... if you're allergic to both this probably isn't the recipe for you.

I never measure so I'm just going to tell you the ingredients and process.

What you'll need:
yellow summer squash
yellow cornmeal
onion powder
garlic powder
salt & pepper
oil (I use canola)

Place cornmeal (enough to coat however much squash you use), onion powder, garlic powder, salt & pepper (to taste) in a gallon zip top bag. Chop the squash roughly into 1 inch square pieces and place in bag. Shake bag to coat squash. Cook over medium high heat, turning squash occasionally, until golden brown and crispy.

That's it! It's so easy and soooo yummy! Even my toddler eats it!

I know I haven't updated this site in a while and that's because I haven't been real adventurous with cooking these days. I'm mostly sticking to fresh, bland foods for fear that the blood will come back! Since my last post I've also cut out tomatoes after noticing that every time I ate spaghetti (with "safe" sauce, ground turkey and rice pasta) Mini would have tummy problems and I would notice a couple of diapers with small specks of blood. The only thing it could be is the spaghetti sauce so I decided to play it safe and just stay away from all things tomato for a while. Overall, she is a very happy girl. The blood comes and goes with more good days than bad but she's not having the daily screaming fits that her brother had.

We've also started supplementing with some formula because she was having weight gain issues (poor girl's pants were falling down and we've started calling her Skinny Mini). We've been giving her one bottle a day of Alimentum and, so far, she's doing OK with it. Happily, as of her weight check today, she's finally gaining an adequate amount of weight!

So that's the update on Mini's GI issues but the real reason I wanted to post is because I've found an awesome website for food sensitivity issues. Go check out http://www.befreeforme.com/ . I can't tell you the plethora of information on this site. It even has a recipes section and when I told it to search recipes that were gluten free, nut free, dairy free, soy free and shellfish free, it came up with OVER 100 recipes! How awesome is that?!?! Seriously, go check it out. I hope you're as excited and amazed as I am!

Are we in the clear??

I'm happy to report today that we are on day 5 of no blood in Mini's stool. Perhaps we've finally found the magic combination of "what not to eat"! I don't think that fish, nuts or eggs were the culprit, though so I'll try adding those in gradually in the next week or so and see how she does.

On another note... I have an example for you of how you can never be too careful! Since I can't eat beef I've been eating lots of chicken and pork. I recently saw in my local grocery store's sale ad that they had whole frozen turkeys on sale for something like half off. I thought "why not" and bought one. I got a 14 pound turkey for a little over $8.00. I like turkey a lot and so does the hubby so I figured I'd bake it this weekend, hubby could have some turkey sandwiches and then I could make a turkey and rice soup! I was very excited about all of this food! I took the turkey out of the fridge last night to see how big it was and there it was.... what I had failed to notice in the grocery store: "Preseasoned with Real Creamery Butter!" Now, I know most people put butter on turkey before baking it so it gets that nice, golden brown color but have you ever seen a turkey that already comes with butter?

Now I have a 14 pound turkey for my husband so I called my parents and invited them to dinner! 

Lesson learned: ALWAYS read the label even when you think there's no way an item will contain an "off limits" ingredient!

A tip for you...

I've been putting my salad dressing in a baby food jar and taking it with me wherever I go. That way I would always have an option if I got hungry while out and about because, let's face it, eating out with so many dietary restrictions is damn near impossible.

The only problem with this is the baby food jar leaked every time. So, I started putting the baby food jar filled with salad dressing in a zip top bag. This stopped dressing from getting all over everything in the diaper bag but then I was left with a slippery baby food jar and had a hard time getting it opened to actually use the dressing!

The other night, as DH and I were getting ready to go out to dinner (yay for date night!) I was tearing my kitchen apart looking for something to put my salad dressing in that wouldn't leak. Then, all of a sudden, it was like a lightbulb went off in my head and my eyes landed on this:

Yes, that is a Medela breast milk storage bottle! It's small enough to fit in my purse and the best part is that it's designed to carry breast milk... a liquid.... so, essentially, it's designed not to leak!

It worked like a charm! Hooray!! Now that I think about it, I guess you could also use breast milk storage bags too!

Hmmmm

I would love to post some yummy new recipe for you today but I have to say, I've kept it pretty simple lately. Mostly stuff like plain turkey burgers and chicken breasts with fresh veggies and potatoes. I do have some pork chops in the freezer though so maybe I'll come up with some sort of sauce for those soon....I'm ready for some flavor!

An update on Mini, now: She was doing great. We even had a normal poop the other day. That night DH and I went to dinner at Outback Steak House. I had a grilled chicken breast with just salt and pepper, a baked sweet potato with brown sugar and cinnamon and a salad with my "safe" salad dressing that I brought from home. And a glass of Chardonnay as a treat. The next morning Allie had a screaming fit. Something she doesn't normally do. She screamed and nursed for about a half hour before she finally conked out and slept for a while. When she woke up a couple of hours later she was better and nursed happily. She finally pooped about an hour after nursing. She didn't scream or even seem to struggle when she pooped but I wasn't surprised to find blood in her diaper, just based on her behavior earlier. Sure enough, after having a normal diaper the previous day, there was more blood in her stool than I've ever seen. Probably TIM but normally I have to really look and I find tiny little specks. This diaper had threads of blood. And not just one, there were quite a few!

This may be a long shot but perhaps there was some sort of cross-contamination? Like maybe they threw my chicken on the grill right after they took a big, juicy steak off?  I don't know.... I'm really reaching these days! But I plan to discuss it with the doctor next week when we go in for her weight check. I also plan to ask about seeing a pediatric allergist. I've read that they can pinpoint the problem a lot of the times with some simple, non-invasive tests. It's worth checking out....

Bye-bye wheat!

So I've now added wheat to the list of things that I can't eat (dairy, soy, nuts, eggs, fish, beef, wheat). I took Mini to the doctor yesterday for her 2 month shots and the doctor wasn't real pleased with her weight gain. It was on the very low end of acceptable so she has to go back in two weeks for a weight check.

Last time we saw the doctor I asked him about wheat. My husband's sister has a wheat allergy so I thought it might be a possibility. His response at that time was that he didn't know of wheat being a cause for blood in the stool of a breastfed baby. I brought it up again as that is the only one of the top 8 allergens that I was still eating.... and eating a lot of wheat I was! I didn't realize how many bagels with apple butter or jelly that I ate! I just cut wheat yesterday and I already miss my bagels and my Raisin Bran! I will have to go to the store this afternoon and stock up on Rice Chex or some other rice cereal. 

My pediatrician asked what that would leave me eating, to which I responded "turkey, chicken, pork, fresh fruits and veggies, rice and potatoes." I think he realized that I had thought this out and he told me to give it a try. I sure hope the blood in her stool goes away soon so I can start to add a few of these items back into my diet!

Oatmeal Cookies

If you're like me, one of the things you miss the most is cookies. I discovered that Oreo cookies don't contain dairy... but they do contain soy. I was devastated! This is my mom's recipe for oatmeal cookies but I substitute oil for butter and they're fantastic!

2 sticks butter (I use 1 cup oil)
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups old fashioned oats (not quick oats)
1 cup raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Combine butter (oil in my case), brown sugar, white sugar, eggs and vanilla (wet ingredients). Mix well. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt (dry ingredients). Mix well. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well. Stir in oats and raisins. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto a greased cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes.

I can't eat these now that I've cut eggs but thoroughly enjoyed them the last time I had to restrict my diet!

Tomato Sauerkraut Casserole

I know this sounds disgusting but it's delicious, I promise! My mom made this for me yesterday. She got the recipe from one of the ladies in her sewing group and it's the only way my mom will go anywhere near sauerkraut!

1 can sauerkraut, drained
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1/2 cup sugar
4 pieces of bacon, chopped

Combine the sauerkraut, tomatoes and sugar in a casserole or baking dish. Stir well. Top with the chopped bacon and cook for 2 hours at 300 degrees.

So easy! However, you might want to skip the bacon if your little one is sensitive to milk derivatives.
I apologize for not having a picture. I didn't take my camera with me to my mom's house yesterday and I can't find a picture online anywhere.

De Ja Vu

Well, it looks like we're traveling down the same road with Mini as we did with Monkey. As I posted last time, I cut dairy and soy back on January 23, 2010. She was doing better but all of a sudden she started thrashing around and crying out again about a week ago. She had mucousy poops for a few days and then, on Monday, I found a tiny speck of blood in her diaper. All I could do is groan. I feel like the nightmare has begun again.

That night DH and I discussed our next course of action and decided to give her regular, plain old cow's milk based formula. Our rationale is that, theoretically, since I've already cut dairy and soy, dairy shouldn't be the problem. Perhaps it was something else that I was eating...although I had no idea what it could possibly be. So we gave her formula. She did some crying that evening but nothing too terrible. The next day, the rash that was on her face spread to her entire body so I called the pediatrician. The nurse told me to stop giving her milk based formula and switch her to soy. So I gave her a soy bottle around 5:30 Tuesday evening. At 7:00 PM she was screaming her head off and it took me over an hour to calm her down by trying to nurse her. She would nurse for about 30 seconds and then unlatch and scream. It was the exact same behavior that Monkey displayed at the height of his discomfort.

So Wednesday morning I took her to the doctor to discuss all of this with him. He determined that the rash on her face was an oil gland infection and had nothing to do with the milk based formula. By the time I got her to his office it had 99% cleared up from the rest of her body. He, and I, decided it was best for me to keep breastfeeding. He said it could take six weeks to see results after cutting diary from my diet and to keep with it (it has only been 5 weeks as of tomorrow). He also said the only other things he could think of to cut from my diet were fish, eggs and nuts. I told him that DH's sister has a wheat intolerance and he said that he didn't know of wheat being something that would cause blood in the stool. So, for now, my diet is limited a little further. In addition to staying away from dairy and soy I've also cut fish, eggs and nuts.

She hasn't had any more screaming fits since the one after the soy bottle but she also hasn't pooped in 3 days. So now it's just a lot of wiggling and gas. I'm anxious for her to make another dirty diaper so I can inspect it. It's sad that I've spent a good portion of the past two years inspecting poopy diapers but we do what we have to for our kids, right?

Fish!

PHOTO TAKEN FROM WWW.STARKISTSEASATIONS.COM

I grew up on the coast and still live there so frozen fish isn't something that's ever really appealed to me. Actually, I've only started buying fish at the grocery store recently but I've always bought fresh fish. The problem with that is that I like to eat it the day I buy it so that means we rarely had fish!

In an effort to incorporate more fish into our diet I thought I would try frozen fish fillets. Now, most of them are breaded which, on a dairy and soy free diet, is a no-no. But, I did find these by StarKist. They're called Seasations and come in several varieties but the only one that was dairy and soy free was the Mediterranean Tomato & Basil so I picked it up.

A few nights later I was pleasantly surprised! Not only was it delicious but super easy too. Just a few minutes in the microwave and it was done! Even my DH and toddler liked it. Well, Monkey wouldn't eat much of the actual fish but loved the sauce and dipped everything else on his plate in it!

Long time no post!

So I've kind of let this little project fall by the wayside. What can I say? Life just gets in the way sometimes. Let me catch you up.

First, our son (we were calling him Monkey, remember?) is doing very well. He is now 20 months old and I'm happy to say he is eating a normal, non-restricted diet. Yep, you read that right... he no longer has a sensitivity to dairy or soy! I can't tell you what a relief it is. Not only does he not have to deal with these issues for the rest of his life, we were spending over $300 a month for his Neocate formula! So how did this come about? Our gastroenterologist told us to try reintroducing dairy and soy around 18 months. So when he was 17 months old we gave him a sippy cup of whole milk. And he loved it. The first few days he had some loose stools, and we were a little worried, but he didn't seem to be hurting so we pushed through and his system adjusted to the change. Once we were in the clear and confident that he was doing okay on all things dairy we moved on to soy. This was a little rougher. He had some screaming fits but not as often as he used to. I'd say once a week he would act like his tummy was bothering him. This went on for a few weeks but eventually worked itself out.

Second, we have now welcomed another family member! Our daughter, we'll call her Mini (because she's a miniature version of me!), was born on January 8, 2010. Maybe we're more paranoid than the average parent because of what we went through with our son but she has displayed some of the same behaviors that Monkey displayed when he was a tiny thing. So, we decided that I would go ahead and cut dairy and soy from my diet as a precaution. Hopefully, if she does have these same issues, cutting dairy and soy from my diet early enough will prevent the blood in the stool and also allow me to breastfeed longer than six months. I've been off of dairy and soy almost 4 weeks now and she's doing better. Her bowel movements and gas don't seem to cause her any more discomfort. She still grunts and squirms and turns red but at least she's not crying out sharply. This past weekend, though, her sharp cries returned and we were all scratching our heads. That's when I remembered the only thing I hadn't read the label on was a can of roasted cashews that I had been snacking on.... a lot. Sure enough, they contained soybean oil. I didn't read the label because I'd eaten cashews, and made sure they didn't contain soy or dairy, in the past. But this was a different brand... so that makes all the difference!

So there you are, you're all caught up! When I discover new and exciting things to ingest I'll be sure to post about it. I've found that going dairy and soy free has been much easier this time around because I've already done all the research and label reading... but I'm always on the lookout for new things to eat!