Dear wheat and dairy, we had a good run...

I took Ella to our naturopath, suspecting a food allergy. She has the typical symptoms of a dairy allergy - runny nose, fussy, and constantly want to eat more and more dairy products.

Well, she is allergic to dairy and wheat. I never would have suspected wheat. She rarely eats any and usually turns it down when it's offered.

After a day and a half wheat/dairy-free she has gotten over her just-wont-quit cough, is much less whiney, and has lost her normal babyish bowel movements. Just like that. No more raw cheese, yogurt or butter. So, it's a total diet overhaul (again). It's ok, it's not like I'm busy or anything. Bring it on.

Seth has been gluten/dairy free for a few years now. He is typically uninterested in the food I make, so I never really changed our meals that much. Now it is time for all of us to officially go gluten/dairy free. I've been scouring cookbooks and blogs looking for some new recipes to try. It seems that everything gluten free is full of white rice flour, potato starch and sugar. Most dairy free items are full of sweetened rice milk and "vegan buttery sticks". Yuck all around. I'm not about to switch my family over to nutrient poor, super sweetened food...just in the name of gluten/dairy free living.

I will be playing around with different ingredients, and I'm sure it will all keep changing. For now, I will start with these substitutions:

Butter: coconut oil or ghee

Milk: coconut milk or homemade sprouted almond milk (in my spare time, right?)

Wheat: almond flour, coconut flour



Snack Time

Ella usually asks for chunks of raw cheese or yogurt for snack time. Yesterday I gave her a plate of celery sticks, yellow pepper strips and a Polyface hotdog. She ate the entire thing and then asked for orange. No problem, little lady. Instead of turning to dairy products or muffins for snack time, I will be making an effort to turn to fruit and vegetables. I started a short list of snacks yesterday. I plan on (in my spare time, right?) taking a photo of each snack and labeling it. Each day I will put out a few pictures of what we have in the house, and the kids can pick what they would like.




Here is my list, so far...


Gluten/dairy free snacks

- mini muffin quiche (eggs, spinach, red pepper, and onion mixed together and cooked in a mini muffin tin)
- mini muffin crab cakes (crab meat, eggs, mayo, veggies and spices mixed together and cooked in a mini muffin tin)
- almond flour muffins from the freezer
- fruit and veggies cut into fun shapes
- hard boiled eggs cooked in these funky little numbers
- applesauce
- larabars
- coconut milk yogurt cups
- chocolate avocado pudding (this is seriously amazing)
- banana ice cream (this too)
- mini quesadillas (brown rice tortilla, refried beans, guacamole, cooked in a skillet with ghee)


Any other ideas?