Missing chocolate no more

I am a lover of chocolate. When I am on a dairy/gluten/egg free diet while breastfeeding I miss my chocolate. I don't particularly love lollies/candy and they don't particularly hit the spot after dinner. Also a lot of the soft lollies (like snakes/jelly babies etc) have wheat starch in them. So, when I saw this at the supermarket I grabbed it - mint chocolate is my favourite as well! This is delicious! You can slightly taste the "soy-ness" of the chocolate but the mint helps cover it well while not being overbearing (another brand of allergen-free mint chocolate tends to be a bit crazy on the mint). I now feel I can keep up the dairy-free part of the diet quite easily with this as a treat every now and then. All I have to do is make sure I don't eat it all at once...

Snack Search

I did the grocery shopping today for the first time in a little while. My husband has been braving the Saturday supermarket rush since the little Miss was born - what a legend. My aim (as well as getting our weekly food) was to find some yummy and healthy snacks for me. Since I am breastfeeding I am super hungry and especially because a wheat and dairy free diet tends to have a higher Glycaemic Index - you get hungry quicker! I bought quite a few things but here are two that I have tried since coming home and think are great:

Freedom Foods Ancient Grains Super Bar

photo from here

You can tell it's good for you but the syrup makes you feel like it's a treat. Miss 3 also tried it and wanted one for herself (I told her she could have one when she's older and so she decided it would be when she was 4!). A box of 6 cost me $4.39 which is expensive but if you consider how much a chocolate bar costs (oh if only I could have a chocolate bar!), it's actually good value.

Woolworths Macro Free From Moroccan Pumpkin Dip
I do love hommus but to have another option is exciting! My friend from church told me about this range, so I looked out for it and chose this one. I had it on some rice cakes with lettuce (from our vegie patch!), cucumber and tomato for lunch. Delicious. I'm looking forward to trying the avocado one - it could work well with tacos or something when I can't get a good avocado.

The quest continues with Sweet Potato Fries

Well, I went off dairy a week ago and even after 5 days there wasn't much difference in her rash. It was a little better but we were also using hydrocortisone cream and serious moisturisers on her so that it didn't get too awful. So 2 days ago, I went off wheat. And already it is looking better. I was hoping to not have to go off wheat since Miss 3 is back on wheat these days (although more on that in another post) but it looks like wheat might be the main culprit for Miss 0's reaction at the moment. So I have been seeking yummy lunches and here is one easy and delicious recipe that I'm enjoying this week that I got from Bill Granger's 'Every Day'.

Sweet Potato Fries (serves 1)
1/3-1/2 sweet potato (depends on its size and your appetite), peeled and cut into batons
a generous shake of paprika
a little shake of cayenne pepper (your preference as to how much heat you want really)
salt (again, to taste)
a couple of tablespoons olive oil

ready to go in the oven

Preheat oven to 230C. Toss the batons in all the other ingredients. Place on a baking tray in a single layer and bake, stirring occasionally, for 30min or until golden brown. Bill recommends serving with lime wedges (which I am trying today and it is great!). I used to like them with mayonaise but that's out at the moment...

I'm no food stylist and I have a new baby so you are just going to have to cope with these pics - they were super yummy and filling though and that's what counts :)

PS - sweet potatoes are also known as kumara and yam depending where you live

And so it begins again

Beginnings of her rash

Well, almost to the day that my first daughter started showing her eczema, my second daughter has developed it as well. So instead of waiting for it to get completely awful, I have removed dairy from my diet. Dairy is the worst of my older daughter's allergies and also the one I consume the most (we still have some wheat free meals and rarely have egg but I always add dairy to everyone else's meals if I can). So, by doing that I hope I can reduce her eczema. If it doesn't reduce enough then I'll look to remove wheat and egg completely. Here we go!

Another one to love

So tiny and perfect.

We recently welcomed another little girl into our family and although we are exhausted, we are all in love with her and look forward to getting to know her as she grows.

Lots of people might (secretly) wonder why we'd have another since the risk of food allergy is high but we don't feel it is a reason that should stop us having kids - we are much better at managing it these days anyway. How could you not have more when they are so gorgeous! (that's just my opinion!)

I plan to keep breastfeeding and will restrict my diet appropriately should this little one show signs of food allergy and I'll blog about it as I go. Breastfeeding is a far better food especially if they have allergies. We do pray that she'll be spared of them though!