Daily Life

Have you ever heard the Hippocrates quote, "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food."? You know where you keep yourself healthy with food and use it to cure whatever is wrong with you instead of turning to man made drugs. I'm all for it. And that may seem to be contrary to my typical food adverse self however drugs scare me because of the hidden food proteins contained in them! Okay so before I sound crazy if you aren't aware there are always other things in medicine. Preservatives, stabilizers, mixers, and especially for kids flavorings, etc. Those extras can be food proteins and although in most people aren't enough of the protein to cause a reaction it is enough for my kids and everyone with allergies should be aware! My one son was recently hospitalized for pneumonia and his antibiotic that he received via IV was working well until we switched him to the caplets to come home. He began reacting. The caplets contained lactose. My other son experienced

On this day of Thanksgiving I'm of course most thankful for the most precious gifts I have ever been given: my two sons.  They are my world. They are the reason I keep going. They are my everything. From the minute I even learned my first little bundle of joy existed it was pure love. And the moment I actually got to lay my eyes on him was  the.single.BEST.moment.of.my.life ! And all I've fought for ever since is to keep him/them in my life and give them the best lives possible. I read a blog where the author compared a parents' food allergy anxiety to that of a new parent bringing their first child home from the hospital and constantly keeping them within sight and checking to make sure they are still breathing. And that is exactly what it is like! It's like never.  EVER . loosing that feeling! As I sit here watching my baby breathe because he is fighting a food allergy reaction... It's comforting to me. I can see him easily consume air and know for a fact that a

I can still remember the first time we came to look at our house with our realtor. We walked in and immediately the unique layout was like a breath of fresh air saying this is your new home.  As we walked around and dreamt of the future we would build in the dwelling we also noticed some quirks of the current owners. They were labelers - every light switch had a label saying what it turned on and every outlet had a label as to what circuit breaker controlled it. Now this made sense to my OCD mind! I could see myself living here. Therefore it should be no surprise I did a lot of labeling to help manage our food allergies but I haven't done too much in a while because even that wasn't enough to quell my neurosis of the threat of anaphylaxis to my children in our own house.  I instead opted for a complete floor of physical separation between the kitchen where I prepare and store their food from the common foods they are allergic to that their father still stocks for himself.

Today was one of those days where my phone would not stop ringing… fortunately we were not in any hospitals or doctors but the schedulers for all kinds of doctors kept calling in preparation for a few big tests next week as well as struggling to attempt to set up logistics for some future traveling appointments that just aren’t coming together. One of the tasks they added to my to do list is to write the story for each of the boys down in a concise tale enlightening a new team of doctors to the boys’ health struggles over the past two to three years. Until I sat down to write it I didn’t realize how overwhelming and challenging and emotional it would be. I feel such a responsibility as their daily beholder and advocate to make sure I include all of the pertinent details while being brief enough to captivate and sustain their attention and conjure the appropriate level of concern without sounding like an overdramatic frantic alarmist in discussing the medical facts interlaced wit

I have done A LOT of experimenting with allergy-friendly cake recipes and have settled on Crazy Cakes as our standard crowd pleasing indulgence for special celebrations that most closely emulates the typical cake everyone is accustom to. You can see a few recipes and read more about them at this link( http://www.sweetlittlebluebird.com/2013/03/tried-true-tuesday-crazy-cake-no-eggs.html?m=1 ) but it stemmed from the resourceful baking without scarce dairy products during the depression. For additional convenience, the cakes can be mixed up directly in the pan you want to cook them in without an electric mixer and come out tasting like a good regular cake that even my toughest critics can't tell are vegan. We do have to substitute apple cider vinegar for the white vinegar to make them corn-free but I'll leave that rant for another post about how corn is in EVERYTHING and I have been whisked back to square one defining our  safes !! <end rant> On a separate occasion I su

My current song obsession is Jason Gray’s  Glow in the Dark .  It starts with the following verse: Sometimes the world feels like a mess Full of drama, full of stress And life puts a fist right in your ribs You can hide if you choose to And no one would even blame you Or you can let them see how you deal with it I’ve spent a year in a food allergy nightmare! The genesis a year ago was being taken out of Disney World with my son in an ambulance having a reaction to his birthday brownie! It has set off a deluge of unexplained or prolonged reactions, epinephrine injections, frantic rushes to the ER, and even multi-day hospitalizations. And for  BOTH  of my children. My world certainly feels like a huge mess!  Each blow took a little more of our  normal   lives away. And all I want to do a lot of the time is to hide and cry. I started out the year hopeful that I would return to blogging but I thought I would get back with my new attitude and a new year more because I tho

It's been a LONG time since my last post.  I wanted to be one of those happy and helpful bloggers that gave encouragement and helpful information to those dealing with food allergies. However, food allergies and life aren't always happy and sometimes they just plain stink. When your 3 year old has to leave Disney in an ambulance and a month later ended up back in the ER for an unknown anaphylactic reaction - there is nothing happy about that.  It's sad and scary and heartbreaking.  When he tells his grandparents when they are watching him that if he starts coughing in a certain way that they have to take him to the hospital for his allergies you realize the reality of food allergies.  They are a big responsibility and very stressful.  If you feel that way, you aren't the only one.  We've been dealing with this diagnosis for over 2 years now and there were periods where I thought I had things under control or I felt comfortable with the routines and precautions I hav

Chocolate chip cookies were always fun to make growing up. I've tried many recipes trying to get something that could pass with those not accustom to vegan baking and I finally have a favorite for our house! I've made them twice this week because the batch went so quickly! (Also the reason for lack of picture!) The recipe came on the back of the almond flour package but I tweaked it a little based on what I like.  I also made it with white whole wheat flour for those that aren't gluten free and they were also really good but I think I actually preferred the almond flour ones. Ingredients: 2 1/2 cups Almond flour 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted 1/2 cup agave 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup dairy free chocolate chips (I like the Enjoy Life ones) Combine dry ingredients and set aside. Mix together the wet ingredients. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Spoon onto a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 7-10 minutes. Makes about 2 dozen cook

Hope you are all having a very enjoyable and safe holiday season!  I know all too well the toll being diligent about food allergies can be when you are off routine and at other people's house or have other people potentially feeding your child with allergies.  I've been doing some research about how allergens can be present in the air!  We've probably all heard about nut-free tables at school and the extreme cases of airlines fighting with passengers about serving peanuts.  I can understand the nuts in the air but I'm surprised that particles of milk can also cause a reaction.  I saw it on Christmas Eve.  My son was helping set the table for dinner and asked that his 4 year old cousin sit next to him (how sweet!). His cousin was drinking milk and like kids do the milk spilled on the table. I was rushing around trying to not let my son touch it but without it ever touching him he started gagging like he was going to throw up. Whatever little particles might have been in

Today reminded me why I started this blog.  It was a frustrating day trying to prepare and get everything we needed to host our Christmas meals.  After my son's recent reaction to soy we are now having to go soy-free as well. For my baking this meant getting the Soy-Free Earth Balance 'butter' sticks, so I headed to WholeFoods. I was attempting a dairy-free, egg-free, soy-free, and gluten-free pound cake for Christmas Eve to accommodate all of the allergies.  The recipe came from a blog I like and even included a video tutorial so I thought it was a sure thing.  After navigating the busy stores and checking all my labels and getting rear ended with my baby in the car we where home safe and ready to do some baking.  I had some over ripe bananas so I figured I'd whip up a quick banana bread while I had all the baking stuff out.  I got that in the oven snd then started on the pound cake.  The pound cake was going well and easy to make.  I baked it and it rose nicely and br

Anyone else hosting a Christmas brunch?  These are perfect! Since I've had to start researching new recipes I've become more conscious of how to make things a little more healthy as well.  These are the best vegan waffles I've made so far and they are also the healthiest.  They were delicious and didn't stick to my waffle iron for a change! You can find the recipe here:   http://mywholefoodlife.com/2013/03/04/almond-joy-waffles/ However, I didn't have the oat flour on hand but I did have some coconut flour so I did a little substitution.  I added an extra 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup coconut flour. Since I used the coconut flour I doubled the egg.  The flax egg replacer she refers to is 3 TBLSP water and 1 TBLSP flax meal. You mix them together in a separate bowl and allow them to sit and become an egg like consistency before adding them.  Since I doubled the egg I put in 6 TBLSP water and 2 TBLSP flax meal.  Served warm with some maple syrup a

These were delicious!!  These also came from some recipes the nutritionist gave me for my son.  You would never know there was no dairy!  I altered the recipe a little as it called for some chilling and stuff I didn't have time for but they still came out fabulous. 2 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 1 cup sugar (plus some extra for coating) 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce 1/4 coconut oil (heated to liquid form) 1 lemon Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl beat the sugar, apple sauce, coconut oil, lemon zest, and lemon juice.  Add the dry ingredients all at once until begins to form a ball.  Roll in 1 1/2" balls and roll in a bowl of sugar.  Place on cookie sheet. Bake about 12 minutes until lightly browned.  Cool on wire rack.  Enjoy!!

Remember EpiPens expire and need to be renewed! Generally the expiration is about a year.   Please check your dates and if you do need some both EpiPen and Auvi-Q have a 0 copay coupon if you refill before the end of the year. Just click on the links to get them:  Auvi-Q  and  EpiPen . If you haven't heard of Auvi-Q yet it has the same function as an EpiPen but it comes in what I've found to be a much easier container to carry and put in your pocket and more importantly will actually talk you through how to administer it when you need to use it!  Thank goodness I haven't had to use it yet but I know my heart would be racing and I'd appreciate the verbal reminder of what to do and it even counts for how long you have to hold it. It also comes in a 2 pack and contains a trainer.  I make sure EVERYONE who is around my son is trained and understands when it should be given.  I also demonstrate and have them practice with putting the trainer against my son's thigh so eve

I used to love getting my Better Homes and Garden Magazine and trying out some recipes in it.  I stopped reading it for a while when we had to start strictly avoiding dairy because I was discouraged that so many of the recipes called for things that we couldn't have.  However, fast forward a year and I'm now reading the recipes and trying my own simple substitutions (and they are working)! Made these for a little dinner party the other night and they were a hit!  No one even knew they were dairy free. 3/4 cup + 2 TBSP coconut oil (Not melted) 1/2 cup sugar 1 TBSP lemon zest 1/2 tsp sea salt 2 1/2 tsp vanilla 2 cups white whole wheat flour Combine the lemon zest and sugar in a bowl and set aside. Add the solid coconut oil to the mixing bowl and 'cream'.  Slowly add in the lemon sugar mixture and salt and mix on medium for a minute. Add vanilla. Add all the flour at one time and mix on low until it forms into a ball.  Divide ball in half and wrap in saran wrap. Place i