Your Vote is Needed..

As I said previously, I am trying very hard to content of my various blogs separate...

But I am absolutely passionate about the Lend4Health concept that I have gotten involved in, so I am making an exception for any and all things related to Lend4Health. Please read this post on my OurTravelsInBiomedLand blog..

[more recipes soon.. I promise.. things have been crazy busy here, so I've stuck to my tried and true recipes and haven't had much time for new kitchen chemistry..)

Not Much Time..

for posting recipes or trying new things in the kitchen. Lots of other stuff happening that needs my full attention, so when it comes to kitchen chemistry, I'm *coasting* on the "tried and true" this week. I may actually take the easy way out and get Thai take-out from a local restaurant tonite. They have been absolutely awesome in learning the boys' dietary challenges and respecting my instructions regarding food preparation and contamination.

I don't advocate for eating foods not prepared in your own kitchen when you have children with complicated food issues like mine. It is a risky proposition. But I've been getting food (sticky rice, chicken satay, chicken coconut soup - no soy, no peanut sauce, no peanut oils, no MSG, no ginger, no garlic, etc etc etc) for close to 3 years now, and I have never ever had a problem.

Allergy Grocery Fresh Baked Goods

I am soooo disappointed..

I am currently on the Allergy Grocery mail order web site (as I need to restock a few flour mixes I use frequently), and I got so excited when I saw their announcement for their new fresh baked goods with a picture of a pile of gorgeous looking bagels.

So of course I immediately drilled down into the ingredients, begging the Universe that, just for once, all ingredients used would be a match with the boys dietary requirements.

See, Potatey doesn't really miss bread at all.. he never really was exposed to breads much. But Salamander does remember (and miss) our Sunday morning breakfast jaunts to the local bagel place (this was before Potatey was born and before I realized the extent of Salamander's digestive issues), and I would have so much liked to be able to surprise him with a bagel treat.

But alas.. no such luck. Here are the ingredients:
White rice flour, non GMO modified tapioca starch, water, GF yeast, unrefined cane sugar, non GMO canola oil, guar gum, salt.

While the fact that yeast is used is not ideal, we have gotten to a point that the boys digestive systems can now handle a little yeast on a very infrequent basis. Canola oil however continues to be absolute poison for Salamander. Why, oh why could they not have used safflower or sunflower oil.... Ya think I should write them and ask that question?

Match Me If You Can...

I had made myself the promise that I wasn't going to mix the purposes of my two blogs up. But as I am getting a sense that I may be getting hits here that I am not getting on my main blog, I am going to make an exception. And the only reason is that I feel very strongly about this particular cause. So if you dropped in here directly, please check out this post on my other blog.

And match me if you can...

So Sorry..

for not having posted any new recipes. Not that I don't have more stuff to put up, I just haven't had the time (it's one thing to put a quick, rambling, blog post, but quite another to put up a recipe that can actually be replicated!!).

That being said, Salamander did thoroughly enjoy a few twists I made last night to his dinner salad.

I replaced the lettuce with baby spinach
And I added pignolia nuts
(and I had ran out of grapes, but he wasn't missing them at all)

The grin that broke out on his face, when he discovered the pignolia nuts, was priceless.

And oh, yes, I DID make chocolate cupcakes using this mix from Cherrybrook Kitchen (Potatey was in hog heaven.. ).

On Seafood....

I am sure many are going to crinch in horror, but yes, I DO feed my boys fish.

No shellfish though.. off limits for Salamander, and momma doesn't do too good with it either.. which is really too bad, as I LOVED steamed muscles at one point in my life. I also ate fish and seafood through pretty much my entire pregnancy with Salamander (hey, he's from the years when obgyns recommended that you ate tuna fish at least once a week - and I was friggin' clueless) .. until the last trimester that was, when out of the blue, the smell of Friday's clam chowder in the work cafeteria made me run faster than any 7 month pregnant woman should be running... interesting eh?

Anyway, back to fish. My boys will have wild caught Salmon probably once a month. I will NOT feed them farmraised fish. On occasion, they'll also eat flounder, cod fish, or mahi mahi.

Yes, yes.. more recipes need to go up. I have stacks and stacks of notes, but no time to type them all out!! I did do some more work on our 'problem foods' list and on the list of books that helped me a lot in figuring out the boys' diets.

I hope to be able to wrap up on a paying work project tomorrow mid day, and get a few school related things taken care of tomorrow afternoon (I need to get the boys' art supplies to their schools.. ART SUPPLIES CAN BE HIDDEN SOURCE OF FOOD ALLERGENS). If all goes according to plan (bwahahahahaha.. does it ever??), I should have some time on Friday to just *play* with this blog...

Stay tuned (and I appreciate your patience)