Challenge Updates

Spotty forehead

It has been a while since I posted but my household was in the grips of illness. We've had my 2 older children with a terrible flu which had my son admitted to hospital with suspected meningicoccal (when the hospital suggested it I freaked! Thankfully it was only a flu!) and both of them sporting temperatures soaring to 40 degrees celsius without Panadol and Nurofen tagteaming for over a week. Quite stressful. Then we had interstate guests arrive who unknowingly brought a gastro bug with them and that felled half the household in domino form. I was thankful that God granted my prayers for protection of Miss 3 who was still in the grips of the flu and wouldn't have coped with gastro as well. Little Miss 3months was protected too and what a relief that was!

In the midst of the illnesses, we had a visit to our new allergy specialist (since we've moved interstate) and it was encouraging to see Miss 3's allergies diminishing and the promise of a baked egg challenge and maybe even a baked milk or even normal milk challenge on the agenda. We await her blood test results to see when and what will be tested. Master 5's peanut/treenut allergies continue to skin test strongly and we will go for a desensitisation program eventually (to reduce the chance of death, not to be able to eat it) but not for a good few years. I was able to briefly chat to him about Miss 3months and my current diet and what I should be doing. He said that I should not be avoiding anything "just in case" but if it was creating a reaction in her then I could avoid it. When I mentioned the dairy challenge I did, he recommended doing another to confirm a reaction rather than just going off one which could have been caused by something else.

So, I have done a dairy and an egg challenge since I last posted and I am pretty pleased to say that it seems dairy is ok. Her face has coped a lot better and there is no nappy rash and nothing on her torso. So I am going to stay on dairy for a while and see how she goes! (Yay chocolate!) For the egg challenge I had one fried egg (with a runny yolk - yay for not being pregnant!) two mornings in a row and watched how she went. The first day didn't really show much but by the second she had some spots developing on her forehead. It certainly wasn't a big reaction but her skin quality was compromised. So, I've stopped egg to get her skin clear again and then we'll do another challenge. Maybe I'll eat pavlova next time (yum!). It was nice to know that I could potentially eat egg and not get a big reaction from her.

Wheat is the final frontier. Stay tuned.

Sorbet Treat

Sorbet is a winner for dairy free desserts and Weis now make dairy free Sorbet Bars. Before they only had their cream topped ones but now there are two options.

Our friends bought these for Miss 3 and I to have instead of the dairy dessert everyone else had and we thought they were delicious.

Breakfast alone!

Good morning!

Friday mornings are a bit of a luxury for me. Granted it is 8:11am and I already have one load of washing out on the line and another on the go, but I have been able to sit and eat my breakfast (and a cup of tea!) on my own and in peace. My amazing husband takes our two older kids to school on Friday mornings so I can stay at home with our sleeping baby. So we have a whirlwind of getting ready quickly but it is very worthwhile! My kids love spending the time with Daddy before school and the little miss doesn't get her sleeps mucked up. And I get a little de-stress. Lovely.

So my breakfast this morning is a little creation of mine. I have to note that it isn't nut-free - almonds are ok in our house since we have done a successful challenge on them with the allergy specialist - but you could easily just leave them out.

small handful of almonds - roughly chopped (I use my Tupperware Turbo Chopper - easy!)
1/2 cup 'Grainfull Flakes' by freelicious
1/2 cup (or more - these are the cheap ones!) 'Skippy Corn Flakes' by Sanitarium
A sprinkling of sweetened dried cranberries
Rice milk (I use one that is protein enriched with chickpeas)

The Grainful Flakes are unlike any gluten free flake I've had before - crunchy and yet not hard on the teeth - very much like 'normal' cereal flakes. The only thing I don't like about them is the price - over $7 for 300g. So I was excited to notice that Sanitarium's corn flakes don't have gluten in them (the more popular brand contains barley) and by adding them, I don't use up the other flakes as quickly. It's a great way to start my morning.

Easy lunch ideas for a hungry Mummy

Salmon and radish salad - see below for recipe :)

When you are breastfeeding you tend to be very hungry and when you are on a restricted diet as well you are even hungrier! It's very important to eat well to ensure your health as well as your baby's, so having some things in the cupboard/freezer helps you to do that. Otherwise you end up eating rice crackers or something without much goodness in it.

Here are some good things to have in your pantry or freezer for times when you need a quick but yummy and nutritious lunch:

- Tinned salmon - I loved red salmon but it's quite expensive. I buy a few of the little tins when they are on special. Salmon with the bones left in is a good source of calcium as well as omega 3 oils - both important for breastfeeding mummies.

- Tinned tuna - lots of the flavoured ones are safe to eat but always check the labels.

- Brown Rice Cakes - buy the thick ones and they make a great substitute for a sandwich. And because they are made of brown rice they have a lower GI. You can top them with hummus/dairy & egg free dip, lettuce and a tin of tuna/salmon - yum - or avocado or even just butter and a spread.

- Soup - this will be something you need to make yourself. I tend to make a batch of vegetable soup each week which serves as a meal for all of us and then I freeze the leftovers in single serves and defrost one for my lunch. That gives me at least 3 healthy lunches with minimal effort.

- Leftover meats or sliced ham etc - good to have in the fridge to put on a rice cake or eat in a salad. A dietician I saw with my older daughter recommended having protein in each main meal as it helps you fill up and gives you energy.

- Canned legumes - my favourites are lentils and cannelini beans, but chick peas, butter beans and more are also great. Add them to a bowl of salad. A simple salad is leaves of oakleaf or butter lettuce plus half a can of tinned lentils (drained and rinsed) and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar - delicious!

- And for a special treat every now and then - Hash Browns. I buy a 1kg bag of them and keep them in the freezer. I will get out 2 to cook in the oven as part of my lunch. I love them and feel like I've had a special treat even though they aren't that bad for you. My kids have cotttoned on to them now and so I have promised them some on the weekend!

I've just finished eating the salad I created for lunch today pictured above and it was great - I grabbed some butter lettuce and a radish out of our vegie patch and added a small tin of red salmon and half an avocado. Yum!

The Dairy Challenge

When I started removing allergens from my diet this time around I started with dairy rather than getting rid of everything at once. It didn't make a discernable difference so I decided to do a dairy challenge once my Little Miss's skin had cleared completely.

day 4 with me on dairy - see the lumps starting on her neck? The cheek leaves a bit to be desired too really.

 I started dairy 4 days ago and boy it was great to be back on! I enjoyed every moment - full cream milk, chocolate galore, yoghurt, ice cream - yum! And her skin went unexpectedly well but each day her skin didn't seem as flawless as the one before and today she started showing little bumps on her neck that made me remember what her skin looked like before. So I believe that she has a dairy allergy but that she doesn't react as strongly as she does to wheat and therefore I'm going to eliminate dairy from my diet again. At least I know that I can have a little dairy if necessary (eg going out for dinner on a rare occasion etc) and not have it affect her too much. But back to everything free for a little while until we try egg. Looking forward to her skin looking like this again:

Just before I ate the first bite of chocolate!

The best allergen free cake I've tasted! Carrot Cake with Lemon Icing

Yum!

It was my birthday last week and I wanted to have a cake and I wanted it to be yummy. I'd discovered a recipe on this blog and this blog a while ago that I'd passed onto a friend but not tried myself. She tried it and said it was great and so I set about making it for my birthday (my husband would have liked to make it but I had more time than him so I was happy to). Here's what I did:

Carrot Cake
2 cups gluten free plain flour (I used FG Roberts brand - NB it has soy in it for those concerned) 
1 cup of white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp of salt 
2 tsp of gluten free baking powder 
1/2 tsp of bicarb soda 
2 tsp of cinnamon 
3 cups grated carrots 
3/4 cup of canola oil 
1/2 cup of orange juice
1/2 cup of raisins (I think I might leave these out next time but they are better than sultanas I reckon)
1/2 cup shredded coconut (I don't think dessicated would be as nice for texture)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease a square or round pan with canola oil and line the base with baking paper cut to size (I think it would come out easily anyway but I wasn't going to risk it!).
Mix all the dry ingredients together then add the carrots, oil and orange juice. Mix with a wooden spoon until well combined. Fold in raisins and coconut. Pour mixture into cake pan and cook in oven for about 45mins or until a knife in the centre comes out clean. My oven is so slow it took a lot longer.

I also made an icing for it which I kept separate in order just to drizzle over the slices so I could freeze the rest of the cake more easily.


Lemon Icing
1 freshly squeezed lemon
3/4 -1 1/2 cups of gluten free icing sugar (depends on the juiciness of your lemon really!)

Make it up to your preferred consistency. I left it as a drizzle. The icing is quite sweet and the cake is very nice without it but the lemon flavour adds another dimension to the flavours and makes it look pretty.

I am going to make it into muffins next time. And I'm going to be looking out for more vegan recipes that I can adapt to be gluten free as well.

Skin update

My little one is 8 weeks old now. She is smiling and starting to sleep longer at night - she is such a delight. She's still learning to get to sleep on her own in the day time - much prefers Mummy's cuddles but at least she has the hang of nighttime.

I am currently not eating gluten, dairy or egg. Her skin is AMAZING. It is so smooth and perfect (well as perfect as possible really) and SO much better than a few weeks ago.Going off wheat made the biggest difference but her skin still had some eczema on her cheeks so I went off gluten completely. In a few days her skin stopped developing eczema and after about a week had healed to beautiful smooth skin. Love those cheeks!

Here are some before and after pics:

12 May

12 May

31 May

The plan now is to challenge dairy and then egg. The reason being that I went off dairy first but it didn't seem to make a difference to her skin. I need to find out if there is an allergy that was just being hidden by the strong allergy to wheat or if she isn't allergic. Same with egg. I hardly eat egg due to Miss 3's allergy and so I will have one once we are through the dairy and see what happens with it.