Day 23: Eggs

Finally back home and ready to start cooking again! I stole a recipe from my cousin's blog. Her blog also inspired me to start taking pictures of the food I cook. Let's see if I will actually have time to post them. So anyway, she made mini egg quiches in a muffin tin without a crust and I thought "Hey! Theses are GF without trying and maybe my kid will eat them since they look like a muffin." Well, that didn't exactly happen. I scrambled 10 eggs and added salt and pepper and about 3 tbs of milk.

I made 5 for me with broccoli and ham and 5 for my hubby with jalapenos and ham. I also made 2 plain ones for Daniel with the hope that he would eat them.
Well, he took one look at them and whimpered a little and said "Blueberry?" He wouldn't even allow the plate to be near him. We did make him try a bite and he didn't spit it out. Then I defrosted him a GF blueberry muffin from the freezer which he enjoyed greatly : ) As you can see in the picture, I also added cheese to two of the muffins. I wanted to try that Daiya cheese again. It actually tasted really good in this dish: creamy and cheesey. But the smell still bothered me.

For lunch today I decided to try hot dogs. I haven't bought hot dogs in almost a year because I don't care for them much, my husband won't touch them, and Daniel decided he wouldn't eat them anymore. At the last birthday party we went to though, Simon LOVED them! So I thought I would try again and, what-do-you-know, he ate a whole hot dog and then some! I made sure they were "premium" with no nitrates, fillers, etc.

Day 20, 21, and 22: The rest of the Vacation

Day 20:
The rest of our vacation went by way too fast after what happened (see my previous post). Hospital food has a reputation for a reason. I ate some nasty scrambled eggs and soggy bacon that morning and when my husband got in he brought me some fruit and a bag of chips (yeah!). I tried not to think about whether or not the food was contaminated with milk or gluten because I didn't really care at that point. For lunch I made a tuna sandwich and for dinner we ate eggs and pancakes. I think Daniel lived on pancakes that day. We made the Bisquick brand of GF pancakes and they were wonderful: so light and fluffy. Regular pancakes won't ever taste as good anymore. I also decided to get creative that evening and made some pizza crust from a mix. We are Lebanese and one of our breakfast traditions is to eat Mana Eash. Basically it is olive oil mixed with a mixture of spices (sumac, thyme, oregano, and a few others) and spread onto pita bread or dough and baked. Since we were with my parents at the beach I really wanted some so that is why I made the crust. Delicious! The package made enough dough for two crusts (the second one was left in the oven a wee bit too long and turned into a giant cracker) and tasted a little bland by itself. If I make it again, i will definitely season the dough before baking.

Day 21:
For breakfast we ate Mana Eash and bacon! My mom bought the Applegate Farms bacon that is certified GF and it was sooo good. In fact, all the meat she bought-bacon, sausage, and turkey - was all Applegate Farms and really good. For lunch my husband and I had a very long overdue date. We get a date about every 6 months so we really enjoy our time away. We decided to go to PF Changs because they had a pretty large GF menu. I will say, that it was my favorite meal of the past 3 weeks of my life. We split the Chicken Lettuce Wraps and the Beef and Broccoli. They even have dessert on their menu which would have been nice if we hadn't also stopped eating dairy. While I was at the hospital, my husband and brother found a bakery that sold GF cookies and bought a couple for me and Daniel. They were made with egg whites, cocoa, nuts and sugar. Wow. I will be making these in the future. For dinner that night we had a Lebanese dish called Grape Leaves (the link is for the picture, not for the recipe). Pretty much a leaf from a grape vine is stuffed with a mixture of rice, meat, tomato and spices and rolled up and cooked. Delicious and GF without even trying. We feasted on those and salad that night. My son, of course, ate either PB or Pancakes or Bell Peppers again.

Day 22:
We enjoyed our last morning at the beach and then headed home. Being GF has really helped us to not eat out at all. I just can't even allow myself to walk into a fast food place and smell french fries knowing that I probably could not eat them. So me and and my poor husband munched on popcorn while the kids slept in the back. Not much to write about here about food today because we really didn't eat anything.

I will post pictures on this blog one day. I promise.

Day 19: Baby Carrots are not for Babies

This was the lesson I learned on Day 18. However, the lesson needed to sink in even further because at 7:30 this morning, Simon was not doing well. He was acting very lethargic and clingy. He did not have his usual pep. I called my pediatrician and she recommended going to the ER just in case he aspirated during his choking episode. I had no reservations about bringing him so I guess it was my mother's intuition that made me feel something was not right. We checked into the small hospital out here at the beach and after a series of x-rays the doctor came in with the bad news: one of his lungs looked blocked and was not exhaling completely. The only way to test this was to do a Flouroscopy so they could actually see his lungs moving. And sure enough the left lung was not moving. On these xrays they could actually see anything in the lung, but they assumed something was there. My husband and mother met us before Simon and I left in the ambulance and brought me some GF-CF food to get me through the next few hours. I hadn't really eaten breakfast and now I would be in the ambulance during lunchtime.

We arrived at the hospital in Pensacola, Florida 2 hours later. They put us in our room in the ER and then NO ONE came back into that room for almost 1 1/2 hours! When you are alone in a hospital with a baby, there is not much you can get done. I couldn't leave him to go to the bathroom, get on the computer, go yell at nurses, etc. because I had to stay with him the whole time. Finally the doctor showed up and after seeing his xray, called the specialist. My parents showed up around the same time the specialist showed up. Let me just say that Dr. Pennington's bedside manner was not the best. Pretty much the first thing he said when he walked in the room was "This is a very dangerous surgery and there is a chance your son can die." Well, that is not exactly the most comforting thing a doctor can tell you so you can put your trust in him. So me and my mom both started crying at that point. That was the first time I lost it and it didn't stop until the procedure was almost over. The doctor said they would put him to sleep and then insert a scope down his throat so they could see what was blocking his lung. Then he would attempt to take it out.

After the procedure that doctor with the wonderful bedside manner, briefly stuck his head into the recovery room and said he didn't see anything there. The only thing he found was some really thick mucus that he sucked out and that hopefully will prevent any pneumonia for happening later. He still wanted us to stay the night to monitor him and make sure he didn't get a fever or anything. So finally at 7:30, Simon and I went to our room for the night. My mother got me a salad from Subway (which was ok, but apparantly the person making the salad had no clue what it meant to make a GF salad and cut the meat on the same board as the meat. My mother made him recut it on some paper.) and some fruit. Then we attempted to sleep for the night.

Back at the condo, Daniel was living on his typical diet of pancakes and pb&j sandwiches and missing his mommy.

Day 18: Vacation!!

As I type this tonight, I am sitting in a lovely condo watching "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" with my family. We have already taken a dip in the pool and the ocean. We also celebrated my birthday tonight! Yes, I am 29 now! Yikes! My mom picked up a delicious GF-CF cake from Truly Free bakery. It was so yummy and so wonderful to eat chocolate cake!!

The car ride was rather uneventful which is good considering we usually have horrible car rides to the beach. I think that was a birthday gift from my sons: good behavior in the car. I packed a picnic lunch and we ate at the Florida rest stop. I used the leftover chicken that I bought for dinner last night and made wraps with rice tortillas, lettuce, tomato, and guacamole! We also had an assortment of chips and fruit. I found some GF-CF animal cookies and me and Daniel had a few of those for dessert. He, of course, had a PB and J sandwich : )

For dinner tonight, and as a birthday treat, we had T-Bone steak, London Broil, roasted potatoes, and green beans. The condo we are staying at did not have any steak sauces that were Gf-CF so we made our own with ketchup and Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce (the only GF one).

On a side note, while eating baby carrots, I picked my son Simon up to put him in his high chair and he started choking on the carrot. He was obviously having trouble breathing, but could still cough and was screaming and crying while coughing and gagging. We tried back blows, Heimlic, everything, but nothing worked. I told my husband to grab the keys and we were going to drive to the ER. Once I got downstairs (we were on the 14th floor) I realized he could breathe and cough so I should let him just get it out himself. But it had been more than 5 minutes at this point. Finally we got in the car. We couldn't find the keys to our van, so we had my mom's car to drive. I sat in the back with Simon on my lap. He just kept coughing while Sam drove, and once we had driven for about 5 minutes, he finally coughed out that dang carrot and promptly fell asleep. I will say that his life flashed before my eyes and I have never been so worried in my life. Poor little guy is sleeping peacefully now, but just remember to always be careful with little ones and food.

Day 16 and Day 17: Busy Busy Busy

Well, I haven't posted in a couple days because I have been up late cleaning my whole house and packing for 4 people. We left this morning for Destin, Florida and are having lots of fun. So here is a quick recap of the last two days.

What we ate: pretty much we cleaned out the fridge and ate all the leftovers and made lots of salads. I bought a rotisserie chicken to help eat some of the leftover mashed potatoes and salad fixins. Then I deboned the leftover meat and packed it for our car ride (more of that in our next post).

Traveling GF-CF is going to be a challenge. Going out to eat at all the lovely restaurants is one of my favorite things to do. But looking at their menus are not inspiring. Who wants to eat food that isn't covered in cheese or sauce? There really were not any fast food places I wanted to stop at either, just to eat a salad or a plain hamburger patty. So I am packing a picnic lunch and everything else: PB, jelly, tortillas, butter, bread. Lots to think about. I don't think anyone could survive on this diet if they are not good planners.

Day 15: Another Day, Another Salad

Mondays are always tough. But this Monday we had to wake up extra early and be out of the house by 7:15 to take Daniel to get some bloodwork done. This was a fasting blood test so we had to get there really early. As was expected, he was not happy, but Old McDonald saved the day again and it calmed him down enough for them to get what they needed. Another breakthrough today at school, other than going peepee in the potty for the first time there, he also sang a song with a little girl. Granted she WAS singing Old McDonald, but usually he will not allow anyone else to sing it. But this time, he joined in! I wish it was on camera. That is the sad thing about school, you can't see what your kid is doing and I feel like I am missing some precious moments...sniffle.

For dinner tonight I made salads. My lovely fruity spinach salad that I adore. And a "normal" salad with lots of veggies in it. One thing I have missed about salads is the croutons. I haven't found any GF croutons yet so I decided to make my own. I followed this recipe and they turned out great! They made that "other" salad a little better. Oh, and the brownies are about 1/3 of the way gone thanks to my constant nibbling all day!

What did we eat today:
Breakfast
GF "frosted flakes" (daniel)
Fruit; GF krispie rice bar (me)

Lunch
Blueberry muffin; banana chips; rice chips; fruit chews (Daniel)
Tuna salad on Sesame crackers; Cape Cod BBQ chips; Fruit (me)

Dinner
PB and J on corn tortillas; bell pepper; Apple Slices; a bite of plain grilled chicken!!! (daniel)
Two different salads with grilled chicken and homemade croutons(me)

Snacks/Dessert
Brownies; Strawberries; pretzels

Day 14: Potluck

Today I made Gluten-Free brownies! Yum-o! Betty Crocker GF brownies are fantastic. Way better than their regular version. They tasted like they were made out of dark chocolate and were moist and chewy. Hmm, maybe I need to go get another piece....

So, Happy Father's Day to my wonderful hubby and the best dad ever! For breakfast I made him pancakes (straight from the freezer and into the toaster oven) and bacon. Then we went to visit my parents who live an hour away from us. They watched the kids while we went to church and actually got to listen to the Homily for a change. Then we all went swimming at my aunt's house and had a potluck.

So this was our first experience with eating at someone else's house while on the diet. I brought brownies so I didn't have to worry about being deprived of dessert. I also brought fruit salad so I knew there would be something Daniel would eat. I was lucky that the two people bringing half of the food were my mother and grandmother and they knew about the diet. My mom left the feta cheese off the salad and we used a balsamic vinaigrette. My grandmother roasted the potatoes instead of mashing them. I pulled out a few ears of corn before they all got drenched in butter. So for the most part I ate everything served! The main course was a delicious brisket that my aunt and uncle prepared. My uncle said he used Cajun Injector to marinate the meat. At the time I did not know if it contained gluten but I figured it was fairly safe. I just looked it up, and it looks safe so I made a good call. So our first outing with family turned out well with minimal effort to make people aware of what was going on. The main question I got tonight: how do you make GF brownies? Answer: from a Betty Crocker Mix!

What did we eat today:
Breakfast
Pancakes, Bacon, Bananas (both of us)

Lunch
Pretzels, Banana Chips, PB and J of GF bread; Apple Slices (daniel)
Mac and Cheese (I was not too thrilled with it. It tasted like something the cafeteria used to serve at school...beef stroganoff, without the beef) and Chicken Tenders (which were very good). The overpowering taste of the mac was too much for me so I added peas and the chicken tenders to it and it made it taste a little less intense. My mother also bought some Plantain Chips which were pretty good too (me)

Dinner
Fruit; Chips; GF rice krispie bar; (daniel)
Brisket; roasted potatoes and carrots; corn on the cob; salad; fruit (me)

Snacks/Desserts
BROWNIES!!;

Day 13: An Easy Eat-Out

Today we decided to have an early Father's Day meal at home since tomorrow we will be celebrating with my family. Sam went through the ads and found a NY Strip steak on sale at the grocery store that wasn't the closest to our house. The baby was asleep and the grass needed cutting, so Daniel and I went on a "mommy and Daniel date" to the grocery store. He really likes our "dates" and talks about them often. I always try to do something special when we go on our dates and not just go to the grocery store. Usually we stop at a few garage sales on our way to our destination and I let him pick out a new toy or something. Today I decided he needed a smoothie (one of his favorite things to eat as long as it is not home-made)! I checked out the Smoothie King site to see if any of their drinks were Gf-Cf and sure enough there are a lot! I was so excited to see this! Now I have an option while driving around that doesn't involve asking for special requests. Unfortunately most of the smoothies are the Snack ones so they don't have much protein in them. But I think that is because the others have Whey protein in them. Maybe the soy protein can be substituted to make it GF? My cousin's husband used to work at SK, so maybe I can ask him that question. Regardless, yeah for lots of yummy choices. We had the Berry Punch, btw, and it was delicious! I even added soy protein for $1 so he could get a little in for lunch.

So since I went to a different store than I usually shop at, I decided to check out their GF items. Their frozen GF was mainly waffles, but they did have blueberry muffins! This will make Daniel very happy on his way to school this week. They weren't cheap though $6 for 6, but at least I don't have to figure out how to bake them. They also had the Betty Crocker Cake mixes for $1 less than Winn-Dixie so I bought a few of those. And now Rice Krispies has started making a GF version of their cereal!! I now have plans to make some yummy bars so I can have an easy grab-and-go breakfast! Instead of marshmallows (which are not gf-cf) I will use corn syrup and/or honey to glue them together. More on that once I figure it out!

Once we made it home it was time to cook up our yummy Father's Day lunch. My wonderful husband went to light up the grill only to find he was out of propane so we busted out the George Foreman Grill. He made his own seasoning for the steak since the one we usually use is a blend with unknown ingredients in it. He used salt, pepper, garlic, onion, paprika, thyme, oregano, and brown sugar. It was pretty tasty! Then I attempted my first from scratch mashed potatoes in quite some time. I don't think I boiled them long enough because it was pretty grainy. But since good mashed potatoes have a lot in them, I tried to add a lot of flavor using safe ingredients: dairy free margarine, almond milk, progresso chicken broth, salt and garlic. I didn't love them, because of the texture, but Sam and Simon both did! We also boiled some corn-on-the-cob! Happy Early Father's Day honey!

What we ate today:
Breakfast
Cereal, Pancake with strawberry jelly; bacon (Daniel)
Eggs; bacon; Pancake with jelly (makes a good toast substitute) (me)

Lunch
Berry Punch Smoothie; Cheetos brand Puff Corn (lovely substitute for cheetos of dairy free diet); (daniel)
Steak, Mashed Potatoes, Corn on the Cob (me)

Dinner
Bell Pepper; PB and J on Corn Tortilla; Chips; half banana (Daniel)
Leftover Soup; PB on Celery; Chips (Me)

Snacks
GF Cupcakes; Apple slices; Pretzels

Day 12: An Experiment

So after thinking yesterday about the whole "casein in breastmilk" thing, today I decided to not let Daniel nurse all day. Sure enough, he did much better today: more interactive, more talkative, better eye-contact, and he ate more. He did do a lot of begging, but at least I know that it is the casein more than the gluten that is effecting him.

In other news, we are going on vacation in less than a week so I started working on the menu for that. At least our condo has a kitchen and we do not have to eat out every single meal, but I already know it is going to be hard. We love to eat out at the beach, so I tried to make a menu full of fancy things like steak, shrimp, and grilled fish so we will not miss the restaurants. But, I know we will. Oh, and the lovely Donut Hole. What a fantastic tradition of picking up a dozen random donuts and eating them all in one afternoon! Sheesh, now I am making myself depressed. My birthday will also be celebrated there so I am getting my mom to pick up a GF cake at Truly Free Bakery. They have a fabulous assortment of cakes and breads so I will be looking over their menu this weekend to make my selection!!

What did we eat today:
Breakfast
Waffles/Pancakes and Blueberries (both of us)

Lunch
Rice Cake and PB; Grapes; Snap Pea Crisps (Daniel)
Celery with PB and raisins; Cape Cod BBQ chips; oranges (me)

Dinner
Bell Peppers; PB on Sesame crackers; Grapes; Chips (daniel)
Spinach Salad with Grilled Chicken, mandarin oranges, dried blueberries, sunflower seeds with Raspberry Vinaigrette (me)

Snacks
Trail Mix; Fruit; Pretzels

Day 11: Eye-Contact

This week at school, Daniel's teacher has been writing that he needs to work on his eye-contact. We have also noticed that his eye-contact has gotten worse since last week as well as his interactions with us during playtime. I started thinking about this because his first week of school, she raved about how good his eye-contact was. Last week, we thought this diet was helping and now we are not seeing as many results as we did before. He is also still having "bathroom" issues that I thought would clear up once we got rid of the dairy. So what does that mean?

The only two solutions I can come up with are 1) There is something else in his diet that is bothering him or 2) The breast milk is bothering him somehow. I read briefly on another site that breast milk does contain casein. So does that mean it has it regardless of what I am eating? Two weeks ago Daniel was pretty sick and did not nurse for 4 days. Then either Tuesday or Wednesday (his 2nd or 3rd day of school) he started begging for it again and I let him. So maybe the good few days of school was because of that? So now my dilemma is whether or not to force this if I am unsure of the results. Most of my family would say YES (they, as most of you, think he is too old to be breastfeeding). Me and my husband, however, both see that he needs it at some deep emotional level and with Autism, that level is rare. So, I am torn. I guess I will wait a while and talk to the new doctor we will be visiting in July. She takes a more holistic approach to autism and I am curious about what she thinks is going on with him. We have lots of blood work to do in preparation for that appointment and I am not looking forward to that.

On a food related note: I am having lots of trouble with breakfast. Usually, on school days, I spend most of the morning feeding the kids, getting them dressed, packing the car, and trying to get out the door. That doesn't usually leave much time for me to eat breakfast. I used to run out the door with a Pop-Tart, but those days are over. I need to figure out how to make some sort of bar I can easily eat in the morning in the car. Maybe I will work on that this weekend...


What did we eat today:
Breakfast
Waffle, PB (daniel)
Grapes; 2nd half of my Larabar (me)

Lunch
Rice Cereal bar; grapes; fruit chews; Gf pretzels (Daniel)
Nectarine; Ham sandwich (on some fabulous "french" bread I found in the GF section of Whole Foods); pretzels (me)

Dinner
PB on rice cake; Bell Peppers; French Fries (daniel)
Manwich (yes, the kind from the can is GF) with ground turkey on the same bread mentioned above; cut veggies; frozen french fries (me)

Snacks
fruit; Jell-O chocolate pudding (made with Almond Milk- for some reason did not get firm...maybe because the milk is different?)

Day 10:First time through the Drive-thru

I spent most of my morning running errands and by the time 12:00 rolled around I was starving. I thought McDonalds would be a good choice since I knew they had salads, unlike Sonic. Well they have 4, but there are no pictures or descriptions on the drive-thru. The lady at the other end of the intercom informed me that all but the side salad had cheese. So I really didn't have a choice but to get that (a small bowl of lettuce with two grape tomatoes and 4 shreds of carrot) with a Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing (which was pretty good). So looking at the McD's Gluten-free menu I could probably have eaten the Apple dippers, the side salad, or a plain beef patty with some random sauce. So I guess I did pretty good. It is a shame that their chicken is not Gluten-free. Sonic had the same problem. So what exactly is in their chicken....

What did we eat today:
Breakfast
Peanut Butter Puffs; OJ (daniel)
Chex Mix, raisins, nuts; grape juice (me)

Lunch
PB&J on GF bread; GF pretzels; Strawberries; Fruit Chews (Daniel)
McDonalds Side Salad; small bag of potato chips; Celery with PB and raisins (Me)

Dinner
Rice Cereal Bar; Bell Pepper; Sunflower Seeds (daniel)
Clean out the fridge night!! Lots of random food from last week that was still lingering in my fridge (me)

Snacks
Lindy's Italian Ice; Watermelon; Larabar

Day 9: Food for thought

Today was a tough day as far as food cravings went. I wanted to cheat on this diet so badly. It took all my willpower to not eat a big hunk of cheese out of the refrigerator! So I ate some Tater Tots instead! That helped. And tonight, I ate a cupcake (GF of course!).

Tonight for dinner I made Caramelized Pork Chops! Here is the recipe:
*Saute pork chops in pan with minced garlic, salt, and pepper
*Mix together: 2 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs orange juice
1 tbs (blackstrap) molasses
* Pour over cooked pork chops and cook 2-5 more minutes until pork is caramelized and sauce is thick.

Now, not related to GF-CF. I was reading this blog today. The author did an amazing job helping young children understand what autism really is. It really touched me to read the way she describes her son and his differences. If you read it, be sure you read the next few blog posts where she goes into more details about his sensory issues, echolalic speech, and other issues.

What we ate today:
Breakfast
Waffle with PB; Blueberries (both of us)

Lunch
Watermelon; one of 3 chicken nuggets (I guess he didn't really like them as much as I thought) (daniel)
Egg and Ham omelet in a tortilla; watermelon (me)

Dinner
Grapes; Bell Pepper; Rice Cake with PB (daniel)
Caramelized Pork Chop; Sweet Potatoes; Salad (me)

Snacks
Tater Tots; Snack Mix

Day 8: Grocery Shopping

Woops! I forgot to post yesterday, so I will pretend it is yesterday and not write in the past tense.

Today was a pretty easy day. I finished my menu for the week and hit the grocery store. One of my neighbors and I swap kids on grocery shopping day so I dropped the baby off at her house after Daniel went to school. Good thing I didn't have Simon with me though because I was at the grocery store way too long. It takes almost 2 minutes per item now because I have to read so many labels. Since I was buying so many items that were not labeled "gluten free" I had to pay lots of attention. I learned that "light" salad dressing has more junk and/or MSG in it than the regular version. I found that Progresso chicken broth is the only one at Winn Dixie that is Gluten Free. I also found some yummy Gf-CF snacks in the "organic" section of the store that I intend to try this week.

For dinner tonight I made Chicken Taco Soup in the crock-pot. I usually make taco soup with ground beef, but I wanted something a bit lighter. The recipe was so easy and so yummy. I pretty much followed it exclusively except used one can of plain diced tomatoes so it wouldn't be too spicy : )

What did we eat today:
Breakfast
Peanut Butter Cereal; Juice (Daniel)
Chex Cereal; Almond Milk (me)

Lunch
PB and J on GF bread; Snap Pea Crisps; Fruit Chews; Apple (Daniel)
Leftover Stir-Fry; Watermelon (me)

Dinner
Not much- leftovers from lunch and bell peppers (Daniel)

Chicken Taco Soup (me)

Day 7: We survived one week

Yeah! We made it! I didn't actually think it would happen, but it did. I am proud of myself for sticking to a diet for a week. Granted I am doing it for my son and he is a very big motivator. Like I have mentioned before, we have noticed some changes like increases in eye contact and communication. Nothing too dramatic, but to those that see him the most often, there is something different. So, I guess that means we will be sticking with the diet for at least one more week... :)

So, how did today go? Party #2 went much better than I thought. After all, there was pizza. It was definately harder for me than it was for Daniel. We sat him down right before we went into the party room and explained that he couldn't have pizza because it made his tummy hurt. Then I gave him a bag of Fritos and he was good to go. He sat happily in the midst of those pizza-eating children and crunched away! Me on the other hand, I sat next to my husband and drooled all over his hand as he brought that wonderful slice to his mouth....then I made him get another slice (because it was mine, technically) and watched him eat that too. Can you tell what my favorite food is? When it was time for cake, once again, I whipped out my yummy GF-CF cupcakes and we were both very happy.

What did we eat today:
Breakfast
GF-CF Pancakes (delicious! with a very ripe banana mashed and mixed into the batter), Bacon, watermelon (both of us!!)

Lunch
Apples; Kettle Corn; Fritos (Daniel)
Rice Tortilla with Ham, Spinach, and semi-melted Daiya Cheese (tried it again and still wasn't thrilled); Kettle Corn; Watermelon (me)

Dinner
Trail Mix (Chex, popcorn, nuts, raisins); Tater Tots (Both of us)

Snacks
Snap Pea Crisps; Fruit Chews; GF-CF cupcake

Day 6: Birthday Part #1

Today we went to my cousin's daughter's 6th birthday party. It was a lovely little party with lots of giggling girls, water slides, and pinatas! Daniel wanted to get in the pool of the waterslide right away. He got right in the water and started to play. He didn't interact with any of the kids, but he was NEAR them. At his own party, he stayed inside while the rest of the kids were outside, so this is huge.

As for eating at the party, that went well too. We read the ingredients on the box of burgers and hot dog packages and everything was safe. There were two bags of Fritos and one bag of Lays left so we grabbed those quick! And I brought along my two Gf-Cf cupcakes and Daniel and I sat on the porch and ate those while the other guests sat at the table. It worked great! And that cupcake sure tasted SCRUMPTIOUS after a whole week for not eating chocolate or dessert!

What we ate today:
Breakfast
Bacon; GF Waffle with PB (Daniel)
Bacon; Fried eggs; Almond Milk and OJ

Lunch
Banana Chips; Nuts; Fritos; Bell Pepper; Ketchup (that he licked off the Hot Dog) (daniel)
Two Hamburger patties with lettuce, tomato, BBQ sauce; Veggies; Lays Potato Chips (me)

Dinner
PB and J on GF Bread; Watermelon (Daniel)
Tuna on Sesame Rice Crackers; Kettle Corn; Watermelon (Jeanna)

Snacks
Nuts; Banana Chips; GF-CF Cupcake

Day 5: Bummed

Well today was a great day, until about 5 minutes ago. I was reading another blog today and now I am bummed. The site said that to be Gluten free you can't use the same pans (unless they are stainless steel) or use the same toaster, peanut butter, etc. as you did before. The contamination factor is huge with Gluten Free, but I thought simply wiping/ washing those items would be good enough. Apparently not. Also, my husband uses the same PB as we do, so does that mean all the PB is contaminated? So have we been gluten free this week?

Well, even if we haven't been completely gluten free, it has got to be making some difference, right? We saw a friend today who sometimes babysits for Daniel. She was very impressed with the amount of eye contact and interaction she saw. So, progress is being made even if we aren't doing everything right. ( I guess I can go buy a cheap frying pan and single toaster and start labeling the PB as GF.)

This weekend we have two birthday parties to go to. So now, the next challenge: how to keep my kid from eating gluten and casein at the party without being a party pooper. I called the two moms and asked what they are serving. Party #1 is having hotdogs, burgers, chips, fruit, cake, ice cream. Party #2 is having pizza, cake, and ice cream. Party #1 should be easy. I asked her to save the hot dog package so I can read the label. Most chips are ok and fruit is good. Party #2 will be harder with the pizza, but I will just try to distract my son during that part and maybe bring him out of the room. I made some GF-CF cupcakes tonight and will bring a few to each party. My son is young enough and non-observant enough to not really care if his cake doesn't look like the other kids cake. He just wants cake! As for ice cream, I could bring my own Italian Ice if I can transport it without it melting. So, we will see how it goes.

What did we eat today:
Breakfast
GF French Toast with PB; blueberries; OJ (Daniel)
GF Waffle with PB; blueberries; Rice Cake with PB (cause one waffle wasn't enough and I was still hungry : ) (Me)

Lunch
Rice Cake with PB; banana; strawberries (Daniel)
Leftover Tacos (Me)

Dinner
2 Chicken Nuggets; Bell Pepper; Banana Chips (Daniel)
Stir-Fry: Leftover Grilled Chicken (from Wednesday); Broccoli, Snap Peas, Carrots, Bell Pepper; White Rice; GF Teriyaki Sauce

Snacks
Lindy's Italian Ice (our new after dinner "Ice Cream" treat)

Day 4: Running Around

Today was one of those days where I was out of the house all day long. Daniel had his first speech therapy session today bright and early at 8:00am, so my breakfast was eaten out of a ziploc baggie. Then we went to school 15 minutes late. Simon and I then ran lots of errands until Daniel was out of school at 12:30. Since we left so early I didn't have time to pack a lunch for me and the kids, so of course, I didn't get a lunch. I went to Walgreens for one of my errands and searched the shelves for something I could eat. I found the most wonderful thing: Kettle Corn! Sweet, light, crunchy! I was in heaven. I also bought lots of different kinds of nuts and some ground Flax seed (the main reason I went to the store. BOGO!)

While waiting for Daniel to get out of school I stopped at Sonic to get a drink. I looked through their menu only to discover that they had absolutely nothing on it that I could eat. They have removed all of their salads, so the only thing I could get would be a piece of grilled chicken and I wasn't paying $3.50 for that! (side note: I just looked at Sonic Allergen menu and saw that I could get any meat EXCEPT chicken and have been gluten free. Their tots and fries are also gluten free but they do not promise they are not fried in shared oil with things that do contain gluten). Unfortunately the Sonic parking lot is adjacent to Daniel's school so I will probably be sitting in it quite a lot while drinking a Cherry Coke.

During the dinner hour, I scheduled a massage so I was not home for another meal. I fixed Daniel a plate of food to eat in the car and I headed out. Any other month of my life I would have pulled into my second drive-thru of the day and ordered a really big burger or chicken sandwich. But not this month! No, I just sipped on my water and headed home at 7:00pm and enjoyed a nice salad : )

What did we eat today:
Breakfast
GF French Toast (found it in the freezer from our GF attempt 5 months ago) with PB; Orange Juice (Daniel)
One ziploc bag full of Chex cereal and raisins; Fruit Juice (me)

Lunch
PB&J on GF bread; Snap pea crisps; Banana Chips; Juice (Daniel)
Kettle Corn; Lots of mixed nuts; Banana; Cherry Coke (me)

Dinner
Strawberries; Peanut Butter Cereal; Mixed Nuts; Bell Pepper (Daniel)
Spinach -Strawberry salad with vinaigrette, craisins, and sunflower seeds; Tostitos; (me)

Snack
Rice Chex and Chocolate Almond Milk (let me just say that this is the best thing ever!); Skittles

Day 3: Our first outing

Today we decided to go to the zoo! The New Orleans Zoo was having a special members-only event where all concessions were discounted and rides/train were free. Since I had to pick my husband up from work again and we were almost there anyway, we decided to go. Then I realized I am not quite knowledgeable enough with this diet yet to brave a concession stand. So I packed me and Daniel a nice, healthy dinner to-go (and my hubby got to enjoy his first glutenful meal of the week).

Daniel had been requestion "Mom-donalds", AKA Chicken nuggets, for a few days now so I thought I would make him a batch. They turned out pretty good! I used my meat mallet and really tenderized the chicken. Then I cut the chicken into nugget sized pieces, dipped in egg, then in Glutino coating (corn meal) and fried them. I don't normally fry things for my kids, but I really wanted him to like these and I wanted to make sure they were crunchy. I won't say that he loved them as much as he loved Tyson, but he did eat two out of three of them!






What we ate today:
Breakfast
Peanut Butter Cereal, Orange Juice (Daniel)
Gluten-Free Cereal Bar; Smoothie (blueberry, peach, almond milk, OJ, honey, a little walnut oil) (there is a great blog that talks about how to make a smoothie with 4 simple ingredients) (me)

Lunch
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich; Snappea Crisps; Not much of his apple; and fruit snacks (which I just found out that Kelloggs brand are not Gf-Cf! oops!) (Daniel)
Refried beans and Tostitos Chips; Cherries; Mixed Nuts, Raisins, and Chex Mix mix (me)

Dinner
Chicken Nuggets; banana chips; Fritos Corn chips; Bell Peppers (Daniel)
Grilled Chicken in a Rice Tortilla; Fritos Corn chips; Banana Chips; Cucumber (me)

Snacks
Italian Ice; actually some of my lunch and Daniel's lunch were also our snacks today.

Day 2: Temper Tantrums

Today was a wee bit tougher than yesterday. I think Daniel may be suspecting that things are a bit different. He asked for chicken nuggets a few times today and threw a big fit because I didn't have any. (I plan to make them this week, but hadn't quite made it that far yet). He also refuses to drink anything but juice at the moment and isn't eating much fruit other than apples. He absolutely loves the "panda bear cereal" (gf peanut butter puffs) and asked for it all day long. I did give in 3 times, but it was paired with other things that were healthy.

One thing my husband and I have both noticed these past two days is the increase in temper tantrums. I know tantrums are common in 2 and 3 year olds, but Daniel was never one to throw lots of them. Maybe 2 or 3 week, but not 2 or 3 a day! Many of the tamtrums are related to me attempting to potty train him, but it is still high. Could this be related to the diet? Maybe he is becoming more aware of his surroundings and therefore feels he can complain about them?

Our day was pretty typical other than driving my husband to work this morning (again.Darn car!). So here was our menu:

Breakfast
Peanut Butter Panda Puffs; Orange juice (Daniel)
Chex; Almond Milk (me)
Lunch
Rice Cake with Peanut Butter; Strawberries;
Ham, Spinach, and Tomato on Rice Tortilla; Potato Chips; Cherries; Sweet Tea (me)
Dinner
Tostitos Chips, Refried Beans, Bell Peppers, Corn Tortilla with honey (Daniel)
Corn Tortilla Tacos (homemade seasoning), black beans, corn, Daiya Vegan Cheese (not a huge fan...kinda stinky) (me)
Snacks
Lots of Peanut Butter Puffs; Sunflower Seeds; Apple Slices
Mixed Nuts, Raisins,

Day 1: Thinking about chocolate

That is what I am doing right now as I type this. " What is something sweet that I can put in my mouth that will curb my urge." I have already eaten a Popsicle and that didn't help (probably because it was strawberry...).

Other than my usual 8:30pm cravings for chocolate, the day went really well! I am very proud of myself for actually doing this for one whole day and not cheating one bit. It was a well-planned day. I can't say that every day will be like this, but at least for today, it was a success!

Last night, after I cleaned the kitchen (a miracle in itself), I packed Daniel's lunch, Sam's lunch, and my snacks for the day. I knew I would get hungry in between meals, so I packed one container of fruit and one container of vegetables. This helped so much at 11:00 and 3:30 when I was really hungry and ready to scarf down potato chips.

Daniel started his first day of school today (first day in Metairie instead of Baton Rouge) and he did great. The teacher commented on how great his eye-contact was and that he followed all her directions. I have noticed better eye-contact this week. I can't necessarily say it is do to the diet since today was the official start day, but he was really sick this past week and ate nothing but popsicles and juice (so he was almost gf-cf for 4 days). He did eat 4 chicken nuggets on Saturday so that messed up any pattern, but maybe having less is helping?

So, what did we eat today? Here it is:
Breakfast
Peanut Butter Panda Puffs and juice (Daniel)
Honey Nut Chex and Almond Milk (me)

Lunch
Peanut butter and jelly sandwich on GF bread, an apple, Snap Pea Crisps, Kellogg's fruit chews (not really sure if Gf-Cf, but the label seems ok) (Daniel)
Tuna (canned chunk light, w/Hellman's mayo, yellow mustard) on Glutino crackers, Wavy Lays potato chips, strawberries, and Pepsi (me)

Dinner
Homemade French fries (baked with olive oil), bell peppers, 3 Glutino crackers with PB (because he didn't eat many fries becausehe didn't think they looked right) (Daniel)
Chuck Roast (in crockpot) with potatoes, carrots, and onions. Spinach and strawberry salad (w/sunflower seeds, craisins, apples) Kraft raspberry vinaigrette dressing (me)

Snacks
Cherries, Baby Carrots, Rice Cake w/PB, Chocolate Almond Milk, and Popsicle (man I eat a lot!)


So overall, a fairly healthy day (aside from the chips and Pepsi). Now to prepare for tomorrow!

Tomorrow is D-Day!

No, really it is. June 6. But in our house it has a new meaning. We will officially be Gf-Cf tomorrow. I have spent the last few days preparing and thinking and making lists. My pantry is reorganized with one lone shelf with the food only Sam can eat. My menu has been made for the week. Our snacks have been planned and packed (at least the ones for tomorrow). And I think I have gotten my fill of cheese, pizza, bread,, and chocolate. ; )

Today I went to Whole Foods and spent over $100 on random things to get us through the month. My main challenge was finding things other than bread to eat for lunch . A tiny loaf of Gf-Cf bread is almost $5! So I found some crackers and tortillas that hopefully will substitute. It was challenging and time consuming. There are so many labels to read and even though they have a GF section of the store, there are still other Gf items hidden all over the store. So, when the time comes to go to Whole Foods for the first time, please leave your kiddos at home!

I have found a great website that helps solve the mystery of what packaged foods are safe and what aren't. If you play around on the site there are other lists for sauces, condiments, and other foods (the one linked is for meats and snacks).

So, at least for this week, I will post what we ate each day and what we struggled with. Right now it seems as though life is already messing with my plan because i was gonna use my crockpot tomorrow but it looks like i won't be home much in the morning to get it ready...so we will see what happens. Here goes nothing!

4 Days to Go: Lunches and Dinners

My children have been pretty sick for the past two days so I didn't get to post last night. I barely have time to post today, but I will just write briefly about what I have been doing. On day 6 I worked on breakfasts and snacks. So day 5 was dedicated to simple lunches and today, day 4, to dinners. I am trying not to change our diet too much the first week because I get so much comfort from my simple lunch : a sandwich, chips or popcorn, fruit, and something sweet. I am going to have to find a gf-cf bread that I like in order to survive this month. My son only eats peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, so having some type of bread is going to be important. There are many people out there who make their own bread. But for my 30 day experiment, I am going to try to avoid that unless I use a prepackaged mix. If the diet does work for my son, then I will invest in buying all those different flours and learning how to make a nice loaf of bread.

As far as dinners go it seems a lot easier. Meat, potatoes/rice, veggie. Just make your own seasonings instead of packages and you should be good to go. I plan on making a roast with potatoes and carrots (all gf-cf with no substitutions), stir-fry (since rice-based dishes are easy and you just need the special soy sauce), and tacos (with a homemade seasoning and corn or rice tortillas). My biggest challenge will be to recreate the perfect Tyson chicken nugget. My plan right now is to "bang up" the chicken a little so is is really soft and roll in GF bread crumbs and bake them. Hopefully if the meat is soft enough the kiddos won't even know the difference.

6 more days (posted a day late)

There is a lot to do to prepare a kitchen so you can start GF-CF. Today I reorganized the shelves in my pantry. One shelf has all the GF-CF stuff on it, the other has all the stuff we need to finish eating this week! (Or donate to the food bank.) I didn't have much in my house that was GF-CF. Some raisins, canned fruit, some potato chips. I guess I need to start grocery shopping so we won't starve! That was the other thing I worked on today. I started planning my menu for next week. I started with breakfast and snacks today writing down every single ingredient I would need to make it. I am keeping it simple this month though so i am not making things that need a lot of substitutions. For the first week we will be eating a lot of cereal and eggs. Snacks will consist of Gf-CF chips and fruit and veggies. I love to munch on things throughout the day so I know I need to have lots of options so I don't go crazy.

The other thing we did today was eat a lot of junk! I have this overwhelming desire to eat as much junk as possible because I know I won't get it again for another month. mmmm, s'mores.