An Unlikely Adventure, A Worthy Cause: I Choose B

Let me start by saying, I love the idea of homeschooling. I think it is a great choice for a lot of kids. I have some amazing friends who homeschool and I admire them greatly! That said, I never thought I would be homeschooling any of my children.

I prepared for it, since B was born. I always wanted to be aware of my options and thought that homeschooling resources could be called on to supplement education as well as serve as the main source of education if the situation necessitated this (poor school system, moving around a lot, variable needs of my children). Now, as I am getting ready to dive head first very soon, I am still a bit surprised to have arrived here.

We have great schools in our area, and a large diversity in options. But after a brief start and a hasty finish this fall, we have come to the conclusion that B's needs right now are calling for a different path, a different setting. Homeschooling seems to be a wonderful step for my girl and it allows us to take reactions and other medical setbacks a bit more in stride with the help of an adaptable schedule. She is up and down quite a bit with symptoms and earlier this fall, had a lot of days when she was complaining of being in pain constantly. Nights of poor sleep and a variety of skin and GI symptoms brought me to the conclusion that we need to work with B a bit more, rather than try to get her to push through her pain to conform to a school setting right now. To some of you, it may sound a bit extreme, but to be honest, I felt like I had to choose between our initial intentions and between B's reality. And I choose B.

To help us on our journey, I have entered this amazing giveaway at a fabulous site, "Living Montessori Now":
http://livingmontessorinow.com/2012/11/29/huge-giveaway-alisons-montessori-products/

I hope we can win some of the great prizes to help with our home classroom! Whether we do or not, please keep posted for an upcoming post here about our schooling adventures and the variety of Montessori inspired workboxes and activities that we have integrated into our daily life. We are keeping it sensory with sensitivities in mind! See you soon!

Version 2.0-- Cornbread

A new version with a touch more nutrients and with a bit more of a moist texture! Enjoy!

Corny Preschooler Cornbread Ver. 2.0
2 cups masa (corn flour)
1 1/4cup dry polenta mix
3/4cup quinoa flakes
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 3/4cup coconut milk (or other safe milk)
1 cup canola oil
2 Tbsp honey/maple syrup/coconut nectar/corn syrup
3 Tbsp coconut vinegar (or other safe vinegar)

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare your pans--- eitehr use muffin liners for muffins or lightly oil a glass or metal baking dish. This recipe will make about 20 corn muffins or two 8inch circle pans of corn bread. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl. Once blended, add oil, milk, and honey. Blend well. Immediately before pouring batter into pans, add vinegar and mix until just blended. Pour batter into pans, filling until about 3/4 full. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golen brown and firm on top. Enjoy!

Its not common, but it IS possible. . . welcome to the FPIES Foundation's new website.

A little less than a year ago, I wrote this post below. After a year's worth of continued hard work and determination, I am happy to announce that The FPIES Foundation has taken things to the next level, expanding the Foundation's website and massively enhancing the tools available to families and medical professionals alike. As one of the foundaing members said, "no one needs to go through this alone" and The FPIES Foundation continues to deliver on this message, now offering even more diverse and useful tools to help families and medical professionals, from hospital to home, support the people who truly matter, the smallest of patients, our own little cutie pies. Here is that post from a year ago. Thank you for supporting us and helping us to help those in need. We will continue to deliver on our promise.

"It's not common, but it is possible"--- a statement far too many of us have heard and a statement that far too often leads to no answers and dead ends in our children's medical treatment and diagnosis. But today, this statement has a positive twist, as I am pleased to announce the launch of The FPIES Foundation.

It's not common that parents across the nation and often across the world can share the connections that we as FPIES parents share without ever meeting. But we do have these connections. Our stories are all different, but somehow all the same, and in our struggles, we have found unity, clarity, and comfort. Today, I invite you to visit The FPIES Foundation and to witness what these connections can build together. It is my belief that this Foundation will serve as a refuge for FPIES families and the doctors who support these families; a hub to find resources and support, all in the name of bettering the standards of care for the children diagnosed with FPIES. For your child and for my B-- for all of our children. It is not common, but truly, it is possible-- there is now a place that we all can call home.

Be sure to check out these features:

• An expanded toolbox
• A "Find a Doctor" feature
• An expanded FPIES Q&A
• And many many more!

Roadtrip Raspberry Breakfast Muffins

A quick one! Without the figs, they are B safe. We shall see if the figs are C safe, though we have had good luck with non-citrus fruits!

Roadtrip Muffins!
1 1/2 cup quinoa flakes
7/8 cup (14 Tbsp) sorghum flour
1/8 cup (2 Tbsp) millet flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
pinch of salt
2 Tbsp brown sugar/coconut sugar/maple sugar
2 Tbsp honey/maple syrup
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup coconut milk/safe milk
1 tsp vanilla (opt)
1 Tbsp coconut vinegar

1/2 cup mixed berries/berry of choice
OR
1/4 cup sliced figs and 1/4 cup chopped raspberries/blackberries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line 10 regular size muffin cups with papers. Mix all dry ingredients well with pastry blender. Add in honey, oil, milk and vanilla. Blend well until everything is mixed in evenly. Last, add the vinegar and stir until just blended-- do not overstir! It will get a little puffy and this is good! Fold in berries.

Fill muffin cups about 3/4 full--- these do not rise like wheat-based muffins. Bake for 20 minutes or until firm and slightly golden brown. Remove from pan immediately and cool on wire rack. Enjoy on the road or when someone brings you breakfast in bed. Here's hoping, right? Happy baking!

A Mama Top 10

Just a quick one-- here is my top ten list of recipes and foods that I am loving during my current elim diet. Hope I can help to share some info with those of you looking for new tasty options!

10. My new protein bars/pseudo cookies
9. Bridget's classic cornbread
8. Earth's Balance Coconut Spread
7. Homemade chocolate candy made in silicone molds---pop out a piece and go!
6. Sunflower seed butter and banana slices
5. Honey Kix-- my fortified snack food!
4. Safe Quinoa! I eat it with salmon and it is part of the bread recipe below!
3. New sandwich bread without the almonds of course! This is a great recipe blog-- please check it out!
2. Happy Heart Pancakes--- add chocolate chips (Enjoy Life of course!) or fruit to the mix for a truly delicious pancake!
1. English muffins Ok, so I don't follow her recipe fully--- I use completely different flours and I ditch the xanthan gum, but this is a great recipe to play with using your own or your child's own safe foods. They actually taste like english muffins!!! I used a combo of sorghum, quinoa and arrowroot instead of the suggested flours. This is also a great blog with recipes to check out and I love the title of her blog! And since you can't have english muffins without jam, I love the plain strawberry preserves from For the Love of June. These ladies are so awesome that my littlest girl has her middle name taken from one of these lovely ladies!

Hopefully there will be more at a later date, but until then, enjoy!

Elimination Diet Update and a Powerful New Recipe

Well, I have re-emerged from the puke and poop to post an update! I am happy to report that I *think* (watch me curse myself) that I have managed to control the more severe of C's reactions to my milk. Projectile poop as of two days ago has stopped, multiple puking moments have been curtailed, and her spit up has even decreased a little (added bonus!). She is also having more moments of being engaging, rather than being more despondent (within the realm of normal newborn of course!). We are still dealing with a lot of the silent reflux and can't seem to get that under control with diet changes and lifestyle changes (positioning, etc), so I am hoping we can figure that out a bit better soon.

My diet is the same as B's right now, without potatoes/mango, with salmon, green beans and the occasional red peppers (weird right?!). I have so very much respect for all of those TED mamas out there-- it is tricky being limited for sure! But at least I have some options, albeit tricky and needing to be homemade ones.

So today, in the wake of B's latest formula fail and our constant hunt for protein in her diet, I decided to yet again read labels and create something yummy that we could both eat daily that might help boost our collective protein intake (I have always been at my best on a low protein, high carb diet, so I kind of struggle with protein as well). This is super easy and dangerously tasty. I think it would be even better with melted chocolate on top, but hey-- that is me! I kind of think EVERYTHING is better with melted chocolate on top, but really, don't you all agree?

5 Ingredient (plus baking chemicals) Protein Power Granola Bars
1/3 cup quinoa flakes
1-2 Tbsp sorghum/millet/other flour (I used sorghum to get the protein amount)
2 Tbsp sunflower seed butter
1 Tbsp honey
1 tsp baking powder (soda would be fine here too)
1/2 Tbsp coconut milk
pinch of salt
dash of vanilla (opt)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl, mix all dry ingredients. Then blend in sunflower seed butter, honey, coconut milk and vanilla with a fork. Once well blended, press mixture into a prepared, greased glass dish. It should cover a 4x4 area, roughly, making four 1x4 granola bars. Bake for 12 minutes until edges are brown. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack. Slice when cool with a very sharp knife and enjoy!!! This entire recipe contains 10-12 grams of protein (with the sorghum version), according to the labels.

The Preschool Snack Pack

My baby B that you have all grown to know and love since she was a mere 10 months or so old is going to be a big preschool girl in the fall. My goodness, how the time has flown! We are so thrilled to have found a great preschool to send her to-- a Montessori school, my personal favorite in the realm of early childhood teaching methods! On top of the Montessori structure being a great match for my little explorer, they are also knowledgeable about food allergies and very willing to work with us to help B to have fun, educational, SAFE days!

The preschool provides snack for all of the small ones, but we are permitted to bring B's from home due to her restrictions. If you haven't been keeping track, she is top 8 free, FPIES common trigger free, vegan, free of several fruits and many more veggies, and also reacts to a handful of other things, such as cinnamon and latex (latex does not produce an FPIES response for her, of course). All in all, she has about 32 known trigger foods and about 19 safe foods/baking ingredients (like honey, etc). So if you have a little one in day care, preschool, etc with a lot of restrictions as well, it is my hope that maybe by us sharing our ideas for B's preschool snack packs, then perhaps you will also be able to use some of these ideas for your own little explorers. This will be yet another category on the blog-- so many subheadings!-- but I think it will be a very worthwhile one! I hope you enjoy!

To kick things off, here is a top ten list of snack pack ideas from some favorite websites and blogs!

Preschooler B's Top 10 Snack Pack Ideas for Preschool
1. Butterfly snack bags My MIL sent this link to me and I absolutely love this idea! It isn't a snack itself, but an awesome and fun way to package a snack for lunch boxes, snack packs, or party favors. Thanks, Gram, for the great idea!

2. Crackers  This is a great recipe for crackers-- you can mix and match a nice combination of flours/starches/seeds-- it is extremely versatile. The version I make for B uses quinoa flakes, sorghum flour, millet flour and arrowroot starch (and I also throw in a few tablespoons of honey--- a recipe can always use more honey, haha). She loves the crackers cut into shapes (I use bento box cookie cutters that I bought in Japan at the 100yen stores since they are small) and then made into sandwiches with sunflower seed butter inside.

3. Bento Boxes: Sometimes it is all about the packaging! I will be sewing a little snack pack bag for B when preschool starts, and in that bag, one of the many bentos that we bought in Japan will be filled with her treats.

4. Granola Bars: We have a few recipes on this blog for these-- fruit bars, sweet bars, protein-packed squares. What I love most about these, is they are very easy to grab and go--- you don't even have to defrost them before tossing them in the bag to go out and about. Perfect for preschoolers!

5. Fruit Salad and granola: Any combo of fruit is great, but I find that berries hold up a bit better than some other fruits. Pair a berry salad with a few tablespoons of sweet quinoa granola and you have a healthy and sweet snack to give those tiny feet extra energy to run around!

6. Yogurt Parfait: A variation of number 5, simply layer homemade coconut yogurt (I use a variation of this recipe), quinoa granola (see above), and fruit of choice. I prefer glass jars that I found on amazon, but these look like some great plastic jars. And of course, include a fun spoon/utensils!

7. Fruit Slices and Sunflower Seed Butter: This requires a bit of help from the preschool staff, as you don't want the slices to get brown and yucky before eating (If your LO is safe with lemon, you can always use lemon juice to preserve the color of sliced apples and pears. B reacts pretty severely to lemon, so not an option for her). We will send a pear, utensils needed to peel and slice it, and a little cup of sunflower seed butter (bento box to the rescue once more!).

8. Muffins and scones: There is a large assortment of these on this blog! And a nice addition in a snack pack with one of these baked goods is a tiny cup of sunflower seed butter, coconut manna (softened), maple syrup or honey.

9. Fruity Friends: Using colorful plastic lollipop sticks (you can find these at your local craft or baking store), skewer bite size chunks of fruits together. Depending on the fruit and on how industrious you are feeling, you can use fun cookie cutters to make the fruits into fun themed shapes. I like a combo of pineapple, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, and mango. Again, dipping sauce is always fun! I like a softened coconut manna or honey for this variety! In choosing fruit, keep in mind fruits that will retain their shape and color well, like berries, melons, some citrus, ans so on.

10. Jello Fruit Salad: If gelatin is safe, I really don't need to explain this one for you! Simply make the jello of your choice and stir a selection of fruit into the liquid before it gels. For those of you like us needing to avoiding gelatin, you can make this treat too, just with a bit of extra effort using agar agar. Simply select a fruit juice that is safe (we like Ceres brand mango juice) and cook in a saucepan with agar agar flakes on the stove top. You will need to make the juice pretty darn hot in order to break down the flakes but once the flakes have dissolved, you can pour the liquid into bowls/tupperware type cups (that can have lids). You will want the fruit to be already in the bowls before pouring in the liquid-- agar agar starts to set up rather quickly. Cover the bowls and refrigerate until ready to go! I like the ziploc brand 1/2cup lidded plastic containers. Perfect size for these kiddos! For instructions on navigating agar agar use, check out PETA's site.

Enjoy and please feel free to share your own favorites! We will be adding new ones throughout the fall!