Wheat Free, Egg Free, Dairy Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is for Bearing.

Wheat Free, Egg Free, Dairy Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix:
1/2 c. water
1/4 c. flax seed meal

Cream:
1/2 c. dairy free margarine (We use Earth Balance Buttery Spread)
3/4 c. brown sugar

Add:
Flax seed blob from above
1 tsp vanilla

Mix until emulsified.

In a food processor or blender, combine:
2 c. rolled oats
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
3-4 Tbsp. Brewer's yeast

Process until fine and powdery.

Add:
1 c. semisweet dairy free chips
2 c. rolled oats

Add to flax/butter/sugar mixture.  Mix until combined.  Use large scoop to portion and flatten.  Bake 7-9 minutes or until the bottoms brown.  Leave on cookie sheet to cool.

False Alarm, Sort of...

As many of you know, my three year old is tiny.  He was born tiny due to insufficiency of the placenta.  The technical term for it is Small for Gestational Age (SGA).  It's caused by IntraUterine Growth Restriction (IUGR).  It's called IUGR if they catch it before the baby is born (which they didn't in his case.)

Here's some background.  He was only 19.5" when he was born, so he was small, but not too small.  Most of my kids are 21-22".  He hasn't grown much height wise, but we also suspected he had allergies.  At his three year well-child visit, the doctor turned on the lights and sirens because he had stopped growing!  That's when the allergy testing started followed closely by his no egg, no dairy, no wheat diet.

So, I've been measuring the little guy regularly lately.  I finally decided to plot the measurements on a curve along with measurements I've kept in his medical file from appointments past in Excel.  Apparently the growth charts at the doctor's office are only graphed according to well-child visits.  They don't include any other appointments.  He had a pre-operative appointment three and a half months before his three year well-child (the one where they set off the alarms on his growth) and part of that exam included a height check.  Low-and-behold, his height at that visit was .7" TALLER than his three year well-child visit height.  He didn't stop growing, he was measured incorrectly or the number was transcribed incorrectly.  So, while we know he is small, there was really no cause for the amount of alarm that was raised.

I will politely point that out to the doctor at his four year well-child visit in two months.  I will continue on with the no wheat, no dairy and no egg diet, but will be a little less worried that his diet was to blame for the blip.  In fact, since removing coconut from his diet entirely, he eczema is almost non-existent except for a small patch on below his buttock on his right thigh.  He's not wheezing nearly as much (he does on occasion.)  He's growing at a slow, but steady pace.

So we can stand down the red alert and remain at yellow alert for another two months.  Whew!

The new snack of choice

The three year old is making progress on trying new foods...not going on a food jag so much anymore.

His new favorite "snack" and meal is:  Sunbutter and Strawberry Jelly Pizza."  I use the Wheat Free, Egg Free, Dairy Free Brioche I adapted from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day.  I grab a egg sized portion of dough.  It gets rolled flat between two pieces of parchment paper and tossed, while on the parchment paper into a preheated 450 degree oven for five minutes.  I let it cool for a few minutes and add Sunbutter and Strawberry Jelly.  Yummy snack and it doesn't mess with his (or any of his siblings') allergies. 

Hooray!

By the way, we did try goat's milk last week.  He took one drink, declaring it "Yucky."  Then, he proceeded to break out into hives and wheeze a little.  I think we'll wait to introduce any type of animal milk to him for awhile.

I also have found two new things EVERYONE can snack on here:  Breakfast cookies made with GF All-purpose flour AND no-bake oatmeal cookies.  We have found that oatmeal does not bother him.  We have no issues with eczema, hives or wheezing when he has it and we've moved to eating it 5 days a week for breakfast.  Sometimes he has the Sunbutter and Strawberry Jelly Pizza for breakfast and other times he has something I make to match others' breakfast like GF/EF/DF pancakes, waffles or muffins. 

I fear admitting this, sure that Bearing will have words with me, but I have fallen in love with Gluten Free Bisquick.  I plan to reformulate my own version using brown rice flour since it's marginally better than white rice flour, but the boxed stuff, with a few alterations, makes pancakes, waffles and muffins he will actually eat.  Contrast that to the huge amounts of money I've spent on other mixes producing vile smelling rejects, GF Bisquick is cheaper (comparatively) and highly reliable.  A 3 cup box still runs almost as much as a 3lb box of regular Bisquick, but I wouldn't admit that why I know that ;-).  Through Amazon's Subscribe and Save, I can get the GF Bisquick for much cheaper than at the local Cub.

Honey, I sublimated the kids!

My husband came back from being out of town on business to this in our yard (see the banner picture up top!)

Thanks to RealMom at Caution: Moms at Play for the great idea and instructions.

My Daughter Got Her First Big Break!!!

Actually, two!  My eleven year old daughter's ulna and radius both broke today after taking a fall while ice skating.  She's got a great attitude, though.  She was the center of attention when she came home today with x-rays (to take to the pediatrician), a sling and a splinted arm.  Her arms is pretty swollen right now, so she can't get a cast until the swelling goes down.

Say a prayer for me because I will be her personal assistant at least until the cast is on next week.  Then we'll see how she does using her left instead of her right!

On a brighter note, the Mr. Willoughby that helped her in was dreamy! She didn't notice, but I did!

Thank you. I don't wish to be a Chinese mother.

 I had really hoped that this article was a hoax or tongue-in-cheek, but it wasn't.  Amy Chua, a professor at Yale Law School and author of many books releases a new book on Tuesday called Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. 

Chua lays out what she professes is the "secret of their success", that is the success of the Chinese mother at raising stereotypically successful kids.  Here's the gist of it.  Her girls are never allowed to:

• attend a sleepover
• have a playdate
• be in a school play
• complain about not being in a school play
• watch TV or play computer games
• choose their own extracurricular activities
• get any grade less than an A
• not be the No. 1 student in every subject except gym and drama
• play any instrument other than the piano or violin
• not play the piano or violin.

She lays out a plan of 2-3 hours a day of instrument practice, rote memorization and drills for hours on end and using name calling, threats and insults as a mechanism for incenting her girls to reach a goal.  She's generated almost 1300 comments at the time of this post.  Most of the comments are from Chinese Americans stating this is NOT how most Chinese mother's operate, yet there are plenty who say they do.

I can't agree with her methods.  I think teaching kids to enjoy working hard is important, but I also think play is also important.  Her methods lead to the generation of people who are good a doing what they are told, not thinking on their own.  I know of many families that pushed their kids VERY hard only to have a child commit suicide because they don't feel they can live with the pressure anymore.  I'm sure that is not the desire of the parent.  But, really, is their performance in school the ONLY thing that matters?

I pray for her daughters.

Picky Toddler/Gluten Free Rut!

My picky three year old who is wheat, dairy and egg free is driving me crazy.  We're into food jags these days where he will not try anything new.  Now, to be fair, I believe that those other foods really wreaked havoc on his digestive system, so he is probably understandably cautious with food.

The foods he's obsessing over lately are:
Rice noodles w/ spaghetti sauce
Dairy Free/Wheat Free macaroni and cheese (crazy, huh?)
Baked Beans
Chicken drumsticks baked with seasoning salt

I always try to make a meal for him that is similar to what we eat, but that isn't always possible.  We can pull it off most of the time, though.  Thanks to the GF/EF/DF Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a day, I have been able to make cinnamon rolls, french toast sticks and monkey bread with the sweet dough.  With the savory dough, I make bread, bread sticks, pita bread and pizza crust.  Strangely enough, he will eat it as pizza dough, but will not eat it as bread sticks, pita or bread.  I keep trying though.

Tomorrow tacos are on the menu for lunch.  Your guess is as good as mine as to whether he will eat them.  I did find a really good cheese substitute called Daiya that seems agreeable to him.  He doesn't care for the soy or rice cheese substitutes, but I can't blame them. They look like melted plastic when cooked in grilled cheese or pizza. 

I think we'll fall back on pizza tonight since some folks aren't home.  It's easy, thanks to the Artisan Bread dough (both his and the regular wheat).  Roll dough, add sauce, cheese and toppings.  Into a hot oven and pizza - nice and hot!

Stay warm!