Still here

Yes, I am still here. It's been 2 months of boring, gluten free eating. Not really, but it has become almost second nature to our family. There was the time when we ordered pizza and didn't even consider that S couldn't eat it until we excitedly told the kids and S started in with tears. There was also the time that we went to a restaurant with a gluten free menu and she turned the tears on as the rest of us devoured garlic cheddar biscuits. Yes, we can be insensitive at times, but it is a part of life she will have to get used to, and we shelter her from it 95% of the time. Other than those sad times, we've gotten quite used to removing glutens from our S's diet, making sure she has great choices when we eat them, and trying to be prepared for most circumstances. Is it easy? No, but it is doable, which is more than I thought possible a few months ago.

I decided today to make a better effort at getting my 3 year old on the GF diet. She's been having some tummy issues and she is so hyper, I am hoping this might help. I have completely slacked with her on previous attempts, because honestly, it's hard to constantly watch what she eats. The girl loves getting treats, and people love to feed her. She is tiny, and has these big eyes that you can't resist. I may have to hang a sign around her sweet neck saying "don't feed the child". Seriously, it's much easier to tell an 11 year old she can't eat something and trust her. We just got back on the wagon today, and she already ate regular pizza. Oh well, tomorrow is a new day and we'll try to do better. All the kids are on board, so it should be a little easier, right?!

New Year's Resolutions?

I am not one of those people that typically makes New Year's resolutions. I am quite simply horrible at goal setting. Actually, that's not quite true, it's not the goal setting that I necessarily have trouble with, it's the follow up involved later on to see if I've accomplished those goals. I've learn to accept my limitations and just don't set them, it's easier that way. But, this year - I set goals! They aren't goals that I need to chart and track my progress, but rather small changes that I hope to make in my life. One of those is to eat more healthy foods. I am doing it for my husband's benefit as well. He's been practically begging me to cook more healthy foods for a long time, and honestly, I just fall back to lazy things again. I have a particular fondness for fried vegetables. :) Anyway, in pursuit of that goal, I've been researching raw food and whole food recipes. Do you know the most amazing thing in all this? The recipes for these amazing foods are gluten free naturally. No substituting rice flours to make them seem like the real thing. We also gave in and purchased a dehydrator. I cannot wait to try it! I will be making a ton of snacks for my gluten girl - and affordable, ridiculously healthy ones at that!

A Christmas GIft

We celebrated Christmas with some of our sweet friends last night. I still can't believe today is Christmas eve. What an amazing time we've had this year! Anyway, we were blessed with perhaps the best present a gluten intolerant girl can receive - food! Lots and lots of sweet snacks and even fluffy, delicious bread! Can you imagine the time spent for someone that has no food allergies to go through recipes and ingredients to make these goodies? We are truly blessed. I can't say that the fudge lasted more than a couple of hours, my kids literally inhaled the sweet stuff. If you have someone in your life that has recently been diagnosed, might I suggest giving them a batch of goodies? I think the joy will be immeasurable - especially at a time of year where food tends to be everywhere.

Merry Christmas to all!

Oatmeal!

We've recently discovered, quite by accident, that my girl can eat oats! I made some chocolate drop cookies for a bible study and she couldn't resist trying one. Then two, and a ton more. We waited and waited for her tell tale belly ache but it never appeared. Since then we've eaten tons more with no issues. Thank you, Lord! This has opened up a new world of food for her, and made my life much easier. We are now eating oatmeal for breakfast most mornings instead of the same boring cereal day after day. I also made some granola to have as an alternative. Box cereals contain so much sugar and other ingredients that I am at a loss about, so this makes me a happy mommy to be feeding them all something healthy that happens to be gluten free.

There's an app for that!

I don't have an iphone. I really don't even want one. I do, however, really, really, really want an itouch. Now, I want one even more. A friend of mine has the iphone and showed me the most amazing app. It's called "red laser". All you have to do "scan" the bar code of any food by taking a picture with the camera and it will pull up tons of information on the product, including any allergens. Can you imagine how much easier this would make my grocery shopping? If there was a food in question I could just scan and know if it was safe for my girl to eat. Simply amazing.

Christmas baking party

My gluten girl asked me to have a Christmas party for her friends. We are doing a bunch of fun activities, but she wanted some time just for them. I was not so keen on the idea. I could only think of the work that would go into it, as well as the huge issue of food and what to make. She loves to cook, so we knew we wanted to make it a baking day. The question was, what on earth can we bake that is gluten free and easy enough for all the kids? I finally agreed and told the kids they could each invite 2 friends. That may not seem like much, but when you consider I have 5 daughters the numbers really start adding up!

I frantically searched for a couple of days, and finally decided on Peppermint Meringue cookies. We made them a couple of years ago as gifts and they were delicious. I also found some easy ornaments they could all make together with very little help from me.

The big day arrived with the girls eagerly anticipating their friends' arrival. I had a friend coming over as well so we could work on some of our Christmas craft gifts. Wouldn't you know that after all my careful planning the girls wanted nothing to do with baking or crafting? I ended up making tons of caramel popcorn and Peppermint cookies, all devoured by the girls who didn't lift a finger to help! At least they were all safe gluten free goodies! Our guests didn't even think about the foods being GF, which was one of the best parts for me! I want my girl to enjoy all the fun things she did before, without worry of them being an alternative.

Dining out

We recently went out for a family Christmas shopping day and decided to brave the waters of a restaurant that claims to have a gluten free menu. It's only the second time we've done this so it was a bit intimidating and we weren't sure what to expect. We were all tired and didn't really want to take a chance on getting sick, so we were thankful for this option. I requested their menu upon arriving and they had a copy ready for my girl to browse. We all placed our orders, and I requested that her salad be delivered during appetizers so she wouldn't feel left out of the feeding frenzy her sisters were involved in with the bowl of chips and salsa. It took 20 minutes for the salad to be brought to our table. It was delivered with big crunchy croutons on top. I know, this may not seem like a big deal to some, but to a little girl that's been anxiously awaiting her salad it was almost enough to bring her to tears. We sent it back and the salad was replaced very quickly. The rest of the meal went without incident, and we all enjoyed the delicious food - even more so knowing it was a healthy option. The moral of this story? Even when a restaurant claims gluten free foods, you can't trust the servers to understand the intolerance and have to ensure your desires are followed. It can still be a pleasant experience, and even better, we didn't have to do the dishes after our 5 little piggies!