Ironic Crisp

There is some incredible irony in this post.  My husband and I will be celebrating our 7th wedding anniversary next month.  We were good friends for 7 years before that but until we started going out there was one fruit I did not like.

 

Yes, that's right.  Cherries.  I did not like cherries.  Hubby did.  Guess who now likes cherries?

And in my first blog post after discovering our son's dairy, soy & corn allergies I am making a cherry crisp (more aptly called 'ironic crisp').

 

It really is yummy so let's get started!

 

I first made this crisp for our church's annual baptism and picnic.  I felt like it needed more topping so this time I made more topping.  I will tell the measurements I used as I go through but at the end I will put the web address of where I originally got the recipe from so you can check out her recipe, too.  It is slightly different but was the basic inspiration for my recipe.

 

 

2 cups pitted & sliced cherries (I used frozen), 1/3 cup sugar and 1/4 tsp almond extract

marinating together for 15 mins

 

 

For the topping, mix together 3/4 cup flour, 1/3 cup sugar, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1/4 lb. cold butter and a good sprinkle of cinnamon.

 

Don't those chunks of butter look delish?! 

 

How can I eat this if it has butter, you ask?  The allergy dr told us if a baked item is baked at 350 degrees for at least 40 mins then it is  ok to eat.  This crisp bakes at 350 for 1 hr!

 

 

Ready to bake!  And in case, you are wondering, it's possible to bake this crisp for 15 mins then put in the refrigerator while you and the kids run to Menards with hubby then finish baking when you return home.  Don't ask me how I know!

 

 

I was almost done and hubby brought me some of the So Delicious I mentioned in my previous post (chocolate coconut milk ice-cream) to finish up with.  Very sweet combination but all legal!

 

 

Here is the web address for the original recipe:

  http://www.peanutblossom.com/blog/2013/07/food-photography-cherry-crisp.html/

 

 

Please check out the original recipe as well!

 

And enjoy!

 

 

 

No dairy, no soy, no corn = no fun! Say What?!

Hey, Everyone!

It's been awhile since I blogged because life has gotten a little crazy. 

I don't write a lot about my kids but I have an 8-month-son that has spent most of his life dealing with eczema.  At first we thought it was just dry skin and our doctor told us a really good lotion to use.  We tried that.  Helped some but not completely.  After he spent a day at my mom's and it was better we thought it was possibly an environmental allergy.  So our doctor gave us a referral to an allergy doctor.

A little over a week ago my husband and I took our little man to his appointment.  They were great to work with and seemed genuinely thrilled to have such a cute little guy to work with.  They asked a lot of questions then explained the testing to us.  As they began to explain the process of putting test spots on his back and having to keep them there and not touch or disturb for 15 mins, it became very clear that it was a good thing we were both there.  If you're not familiar with allergy testing, they make two control spots on your back.  One is just salt water and it just makes the skin slightly red.  The other control is an antihistamine that will bubble up like a bug bite.  Then they have what looks kind of like a sticker that has the test serum on it and they touch those spots to your back and then you wait... They tested DS for dairy, soy, corn, indoor mold, outdoor mold and pet dander.  Hubby held DS on his tummy (like an airplane) and they allowed us to walk the hallways with him so I held DS's hands and talked about random/silly stuff while we walked the hospital hallways for 15 mins.  Before the test was even done, Hubby & I could tell by looking at the test spots that dairy was our big issue (it had bubbled up even bigger than the control spot!).  When the 15 mins was up the nurses came back and measured each spot and took the info to the doctor.  The official results came back as dairy being the main culprit but also lesser allergies to soy and corn, with corn being the least.  On the environmental side, indoor mold was the highest there with outdoor and cat dander being the others.  They were not as concerned about the environmental allergies since the dairy was so obvious.  However, they did encourage us to check under sinks to ensure we did not have any mold hiding anywhere, only take him outside after 3 PM and use All detergent after being around cats (otherwise, continue with my homemade laundry detergent).  So no dairy, no soy and no corn.  Life as I knew it was about to end!  For someone who's favorite foods are ice-cream, pizza and chocolate, I was handed a death sentence.  ok - not quite but I now had the daunting challenge to make some major changes in my cooking.  Why?  What difference does it make what my son is allergic to.  When he's still nursing, it makes a lot of difference!!  8 months is a good stretch of time, why not just switch to formula?  To be honest, I didn't even consider that at first.  I knew it was me that would have to change.  The allergy doctor did mention that if adjusting my diet didn't help we could switch to formula but she was very pro-breastfeeding.   After a few days, I started realizing that most people probably would just switch to formula and almost everyone I knew was probably wondering why I would torture myself when I could easily free myself from munchkin and continue to live a happy dairy-filled life. 

Let's look at the history... I grew up in a home where breast-feeding was the norm.  When I became pregnant with DD, it was a no-brainer; I would nurse for a year.  I wasn't going to go extreme and nurse for years & years (no offense to those that do; that's awesome if that's what you want to do but my goal was a year).  She latched on great and even though I had pain at first it was a wonderful, successful year.  When I got pregnant with DS, obviously I intended to nurse for a year.  As a second time mom, this would be a breeze.  And he had a great suck... if I could get him to latch.  I struggled every feeding in the hospital and thought they were crazy for letting me go home with a baby that couldn't eat.  After a couple frustrating days at home, in which hubby and I both had to work with him to get him to latch, I "gave up" and pumped so we could attend family Christmas without a screaming/crying newborn (and a crying mommy!).  I ended up spending several weeks exclusively pumping.  He drank great from a bottle so I resigned myself to making sure he got "the best"  (breast milk) the only way I could get it to him.  Hubby kept encouraging me to nurse and I resisted, all the while nervously wondering what would happen when I went back to work (I couldn't pump enough to stay ahead at that point in time).  Finally one night DS woke up hungry and I had no bottle in the fridge so out of desperation I tried nursing and what do you know?  He latched and nursed just fine!  I had a can of formula that was given at the hospital in all the freebie's that I sent to daycare for the days I might not have enough milk.  We never needed it and before long we had reached 6 months.  At the beginning I honestly didn't think we had would make it that far.  I was elated!  I have fought to be able to provide my baby with the best he could have.  I can't give that up now.  I have nothing against those who use formula.  Sometimes you have no choice but I will continue to fight for my child to nurse. 

So, a week later, what does this new lifestyle look like?  I was never a big milk drinker so that shouldn't be an issue, right?  Well, it's not just milk; it's diary.  SO, I tried almond milk, which actually isn't so bad and I've discovered that raisin bran with flaxseed, eaten with almond milk is really good and the chocolate almond milk?  Amazing!!  I have also tried rice milk ice-cream, which wasn't too bad but the chocolate coconut milk ice-cream is so yummy I may continue to eat it even after it's ok to back to dairy!!  The tricky thing is usually the non-diary alternative is soy and then seriously, who can live in Iowa and be allergic to corn??!!  Especially when it is in EVERY BLESSED THING!!!  So far I've been eating real basic (like hamburgers/fruit/veggies, pasta) but I'm hoping to branch out a little more.  My new favorite snack is Lay's Kettle Cooked chips with guacamole (Holy Guacamole brand).  My general rule of thumb is eliminate all dairy, most soy and all corn but not be as concerned with some of the things corn is in (like citric acid).  Has it worked?  Oh, my goodness, yes!!  I am craving pizza like you wouldn't believe but my baby boy's skin is already looked majorly improved! 

Besides the food changes, he is on an antihistamine and a med that is basically like Zantac.  Both of those are twice a day.  Then before bed he has to have a bath every night (I thought it would dry his skin out so I wasn't giving him full baths very often), grease him up in Aquafor (and on a 'one week on - one week off' schedule a steroid cream for the worst spots) and put him in long sleeved-footie pajamas to sleep.  I am blown away by how good his skin looks.  He always was a happy baby but now he doesn't scratch all the time! 

The good news is, the doctor said he should out-grow it by the time he's 3 so eventually we should be back to our normal eating in a few years!!  In the meantime, we may develop some healthier eating habits.  And the things I blog about will probably be slightly different as I can't eat all that super sweet, chocolatey stuff anymore.  But I have a really good cherry crisp recipe I can eat that I'm hoping to share with you tomorrow.

I hope this bog, although different from normal, has been interesting to you.  If you have any questions, feel free to ask and if any of you have dealt with these allergies, I'll take tips as well!

Good night, my readers!