A few new products

So I had the opportunity to try a few new products over the weekend in the diary, soy, egg and nut free category!
1) Amy's rice noodle, no diary, mac and cheese- if its been ages since you've had the real thing, you might be able to convince yourself this is good, if not, I suggest a pass
2) Green's Cinnamon Babka (found at whole foods)- OMG!  yummy yummy yummy!

More products to come. I ordered a cherrytree kitchen cake mix today, will report on how it goes!
We are 4 weeks into our dietary restriction this week and baby girl is feeling better every day.  It has been three days since we have had a green or bloody stool and the smiles are coming more readily!  Will post more later!

Laid back nursing

For those of you who might have what my lactation consultant so tactfully put it as "lots of problems" with a baby, I thought I would share my experience with the "newfangled" laid back nursing which seems to be the latest trend.  My baby has an issue with sucking in air while nursing which produces really painful burbs and tummy gas.  Laid back nursing is essentially how it sounds; mom reclines on her back, baby lays tummy to tummy with mom and goes face down in the boob!  The benefits are supposedly many, and for me the main draw was the promise of a deeper latch with less air sucking. Well it was a bit tricky at first but I tried it last night and this morning.  It did indeed reduce the amount of air she was sucking in!  hooray!  and the baby seemed to be in some sort of euphoric heaven laying tummy to tummy and getting to nurse at the same time!  Drawbacks for me were that she nursed slowly, at a leisurely drowsy pace, and that as we shifted around it wasn't always easy to keep her nose clear for breathing. Defiantly a position you don't want to use if you might fall asleep. It also seemed to me that she didn't eat as much volume, so we actually finished up with a more traditional position for a few minutes.  All in all a win I would say.  For more information check this web page  http://www.biologicalnurturing.com/video/bn3clip.html

Dairy and Soy Free Brownies

Dairy free Soy free Brownies

Ingredients

1/2 cup Canola oil (or 1/2 cup Earth’s Balance Soy free spread melted)

1 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x9 inch baking pan.

2. In a medium bowl, mix together the oil, sugar, and vanilla. Beat in eggs. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt; gradually stir into the egg mixture until well blended. Stir in walnuts, if desired. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.

3. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the brownie begins to pull away from edges of pan. Let cool on a wire rack before cutting into squares.

Chocolate Cake!!

Going dairy and soy free for your little one means that you will have to make just about everything from scratch. As a chocoholic, I tried baking several dairy/soy free cakes and brownies. Most of them weren't worth the calories but this cake definitely is. You can even slice the cake and save the slices in wax paper in the freezer. I would defrost a piece every night after the kids went to bed- what a treat!

Dairy free/ Soy free Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

2 cups sugar

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup Cocoa Powder

1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup almond or rice milk

1/2 cup canola oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water

Directions

. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans. 


. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl.

. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes.

. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans. 


. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

. Cool completely.

CHOCOLATE FROSTING



1/2 cup Earth’s Balance soy free spread

2/3 cup Cocoa
Powder

3 cups powdered sugar


1/3 cup Almond or rice milk


1 teaspoon vanilla extract



Melt Spread. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency.
 Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla.

Going for the full Monty!

Today there were traces of blood in my two month old's diaper.  I am hoping that it is due to residual dairy and or soy protein in my system, but just in case I am going for the full Monty!  No dairy, soy, eggs or nuts!  Steamed veggies and chicken here I come!  Yikes!
On the bright side, I discovered that our local grocery delivery has started delivering bread from a local bakery!  Hooray!  Received three delicious loaves of fresh bread today with ingredient lists like; flour, water, yeast, honey, salt!!  How easy is that? If you have grocery delivery available in your area, check it out for a local bakery, or ask if they could add a local bakery to the suppliers list!  So worth it to be able to have bread without worrying about all the additives.  And it tastes better too; like home made and this working mom does not have time for home made! Thank you Spring Mill!
An additional product for the day is Amy's no cheese veggie pizza.  Really only good for eating at home as it requires the oven, but it was tasty and filling.  The caramelized onions really added a nice rich almost buttery flavor.  Way to go Amy!

in the beginning

This blog is the inspiration of two friends, Sherry and Sheri, who have four dear little ones combined who have experienced food hypersensitivites and allergies.  By creating this blog we want to provide a resource to others that are experiencing the same issues.  We plan to include some of our stories as well as personal favorite food products and recipe's. Please feel free to share yours as well!
Here's to happy babies!