Play Dough Sculpture

 Valerie dreams of being a sculptor.  Her Art during school time today consisted of lovingly crafting this mermaid and hair bow. 

She said the hair bow was big enough to fit in Jenny's hair. But then she quickly added "Of course not REALLY, Mom, but it's the right size."

Security

What makes you feel secure?  To know that your house has good locks on the doors and windows?  To know that when you put the key in the ignition, your car will start?  To know who loves you?
I think my children feel secure when I get cozy with them.  When I hug them and tell them not only that I love them, but I like them.

 Some days and weeks are hard.  Sometimes the mornings feel like a battleground, especially if any one of the children is short on sleep.  I admit that sometimes I do not enjoy my children.  When I am tired, I feel like I am tolerating them til I can put them in bed at night.  But if I keep my distance when my child throws a screaming tantrum, what does that say about my love for them? It says, "I'll love you when you behave like I want you to."   If I am most carefree when they're in bed, and they do not see me laugh and smile at them, I am withholding some of myself from them.

For one of my children, she feels secure when she knows what is going to happen.  She likes to know what we are going to eat and when. She likes to have her outfit picked out well before she actually needs to be dressed.  I think part of her desire to feel secure plays out in her desire to have control. Ever since she was tiny, I spent every waking moment making sure I knew where she was, what she was doing, and how she was feeling (if I could figure that out!). Now I realize I gradually have to loosen my control and teach her how to be okay with things not going as planned. Trouble is, I'm not even sure I've learned how to be that way! 

For the boys, they feel secure when they know they have food and lots of hugs . They don't like to be rushed and feel secure when I am calm and cheerful. 

For my toddler, security means I carry her as often as possible, and I lie down next to her for a few minutes before she goes to sleep.

 I'm glad growing up doesn't happen overnight. And I'm even more glad that there is Grace.

Renewed Vision

A few weeks ago, Mat and I were able to attend the Reliv Europe conference at Disneyland Paris. No, we did not see Mickey! I was asked to share my story with 1,000 very enthusiastic people from the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, France and the UK. 

My husband stood beside me as I told how 10 years ago I was too tired to contemplate climbing a mountain with him. Every day was a mountain, with migraine headaches, constant allergy symptoms, and a list of 15 foods I had to avoid. Within three months of drinking Reliv shakes, my health was totally transformed. I was able to climb a 12,000 foot snow pass with Mat, and I got choked up remem-bering what a big deal that was.  

Another highlight of the conference was the launch of a new product: Lunasin capsules. Reliv has always had powdered nutrition that feeds the body at the cell level, and now it has capsules containing Lunasin, the concentrated soy peptide that has now been proven to lower cholesterol, improve immunity, and reduce inflammation. Both of our dads struggle with their high cholesterol and had fathers who died of heart attacks. It is so encouraging to have something which offers hope of breaking this cycle.

I decided to start taking some capsules at the conference and was amazed to see my back pain, which started up during the past few months of stress and strain, disappear in just two days. I had been limping for weeks before, and even the chiropractor had not  been able to alleviate my discomfort.

Since the conference, I've been encouraged to start working consistently again, which means putting in an hour a day on the phone, sharing the company and products that have changed our lives so much. It's fun to see the kids take ownership too, as we paint a vision of where this business will take our family. While at Disneyland my husband was "drawn" into the Lego shop, and we invested in a set of "Reliv Legos," which the children play with while I work to make others aware of these life-changing products.

Chilly Weather Soup and Cornbread

Sometimes you just want a comforting soup and cornbread, and autumn in England certainly creates the need! This soup recipe was amazing and the only changes I made were using dairy-free margarine and coconut oil instead of butter. It was beautifully creamy. And everyone except our texture-phobic Jimmy loved it. 

This cornbread recipe is adapted from an old Mennonite cookbook called "More with Less"

Basic Cornbread
Combine the following dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl:

1 C. gluten-free flour
1 C. cornmeal
4 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
3T. brown sugar
1/2 t. xanthan gum

Make a well and add:

1 C. soy milk or coconut milk

1/4 C. oil

2 eggs (flax eggs work well here)

Spread (mix will be thick) into 8x8 pan, and bake at 375 degrees for 25 min.

Best eaten warm!

Moving...again!

This will be our seventh move in six years and although I am reeling a bit, I thought it might be good to share a system we are using that is helping everybody stay sane (at least where the packing is concerned!).

Mat, my husband, has named it the Jenga shelf system. 2"x28" wood pieces support sheets of plywood and the boxes slide into the temporary shelves. The shelving packs compactly and assembles quickly as boxes are unloaded from the moving truck. In the new house, this whole system is reused until gradually we have everything unpacked. While at our house here in Manchester, some boxes were never unpacked, so the shelves served as storage support.

All the boxes are numbered and coordinate with a master spreadsheet that is categorised. For instance, 2-K1 is Move number 2, kitchen box 1. Move number 1 was from Newcastle to Manchester just nine months ago.

Above is a screen shot of one page of the master spreadsheet.  This is such a help when you really need something, but don't want to unpack all the kitchen boxes to find it! This is also a great system for loft or garage storage when you want to keep things packed for a while.

I won't be doing much blogging for the next several weeks as our move is early next month and homeschooling and life must continue regardless of packing and unpacking. Stay tuned for pictures from our new location! You wouldn't waste a prayer on us if we come to mind in the next few weeks.

Roasted Garlic Dressing

This recipe is another adapted from the Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home cookbook.

Take one whole bulb garlic, wrap in tin foil, put in a 350 degree oven for 1 hr. Let cool.
Unwrap and squeeze out the softened cloves.

Place the following ingredients in a food processor:
roasted garlic cloves
1 C. olive oil
1/3 C. balsamic vinegar
1/3 C. water
1 t. salt
1/4 t. black pepper
1 T. Dijon mustard

Process until smooth!

Use as salad dressing, a condiment for baked potatoes, or as a marinade for meat.

Birthday Time Again!

I love making birthday cakes in this house, because they are safe for everyone to devour.

I also struggle to find a good cake recipe that will turn out not completely hard and flat!

Valerie wanted a Frozen party. (If you have not seen the movie, then you will not understand the novel idea of having a snowman made out of popcorn and marshmallows, and a truly frozen cake!)

 I had wanted to do a proper ice cream cake for Val, but after I made the cake, I realised that my cake pans were inches wider than the recipe, even though I doubled it (!)-- hence a flat cake. So Val was quite happy to have a crescent moon shaped cake which meant 4 layers, and more sorbet. The reason it was sorbet was partly because I could not get to the right store that sells soy ice cream, and partly because Val loves rainbows, and inside the cake it looked a bit rainbow-ish. We had a layer of cake, then a layer of raspberry jam, then a layer of mango sorbet, then the next layer of cake, and so on. Followed by white coconut butter cream frosting (which tastes really yummy with coconut oil and dairy free margarine), and detail blue icing from a tube, and spray silver for a great shimmer. 

For anyone who wants an easy gluten free treat for children, here is the link to popcorn balls

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/mallow-popcorn-balls-56900.aspx

And here is the link to the cake recipe:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/eggless_sponge_cake_70634

And the frosting: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/buttercream-coconut-cake-icing/

Isn't he cute?

Fluffy Vegan Pancakes

Saturday mornings would not be complete without pancakes (American style).

Here is my recipe for pancakes that everyone loves:

Whisk together the night before (if you are feeling organised!):

     1 1/2 C. fine cornmeal (aka maize flour)

     1 1/2 C. gluten free flour

     1 1/2 T. baking powder

     1/2-1 t. xanthan gum

      3 T. brown sugar 

     1 t. cinnamon (optional)

Mix in separate bowl:

     1/2 C. sunflower or canola/rapeseed oil

     2 chia eggs or flax eggs  

     2 1/2-3 C. soy milk or coconut milk

Stir all together until smooth.  If batter is still thick keep adding more milk until it is pourable.

Pour onto greased medium hot pan or griddle. 

Flip time! 

     Serve with maple syrup or berries or good old fashioned brown sugar and lemon juice!

Please Don't Feel Sorry For Us!

Did you know it's impossible to feel sorry for yourself and be thankful at the same time? In other words, when I am tempted to crawl under the covers and cry about the fact that Valerie is not able to be like other kids, I cannot, at that same moment, be grateful I have her as my daughter.

It came to me today, yet again, that there are so many opportunities to be thankful in the midst of plenty more occasions to be discouraged. The mental battle began when I started fixing dinner, or, more accurately, when I'm tried to decide what to fix for dinner. There's always a tiny part of me that wishes we could just eat Normal Food.

Normal Food is cheaper. Normal Food often tastes better. Normal Food is easier and faster to cook.

A good friend recently commented after I served him a strange combination of ingredients (and then apologized for it because I would like to serve him Normal Food just one time), "But what is normal food? That could be different for everybody."  That was a good reminder.  Why am I always afraid to be seen as strange or different? Why does it bother me that our special foods cannot be bought at the cheaper grocery stores, but have to be hunted down in obscure backwoods shops or ordered online?

If you are like me, you are used to people saying, "Oh, no! Your child can't eat that? HOW do you cope?"  or even worse, "What CAN she eat?!?"  I don't get offended, but it do get tired of explaining, "There are a lot of things she can have, but not much that most people call convenience foods!"

Maybe you are just starting out on the food allergy journey, and you're feeling helpless. Please know that I have been there, roaming the aisles of grocery stores, reading labels til I cannot see straight, only to realize that I should just make it myself.

I have found there are some people who are so emotionally attached to their cheese and their wheat bread that they almost have a heart attack when I tell them calmly that we just find other things to eat. It's very meaningful, then, when a friend who not only understands that one must read the labels, offers to cook or bake something for us, and then goes over the ingredients with me one more time before we serve it.

With Valerie, I have often had to firmly (but kindly!) remind people that they must not feel sorry for her that she cannot eat the cake or the cookies or the fun food that is dangerous for her. She is used to eating other things, and needs to be praised for taking good care of herself. She doesn't need their pity; she needs people who will help her be thankful.

Here are the positives we have to be grateful for with Valerie:

• We are grateful that she is alive and well. 
• We are grateful that her body reacts by vomiting up a dangerous substance, instead of keeping it in the system and shutting down her airways.  
• We are grateful that she understands why she must not eat certain things, because she is now old enough to understand and articulate how she feels.

We are also grateful that there is more to life than food.

If I focus all my meal making efforts on whether Valerie will enjoy or hate the food I serve or react to it or thrive on it, I miss the whole point of loving my little girl. Loving her means appreciating her for who she is and how she was wonderfully made by her Creator. It means reminding her that while she does not have to like everything I give her, she has the opportunity to choose to be thankful for it.

Because at the end of the day, it's just food. And at the end of the day, we are spoiled rotten that we get so much of it.

Relaxing Art

Val created these with Art Set App, her reward for finishing her Math book! (please excuse the side view of the one above, I couldn't figure out how to rotate it!)

Egg Replacers

Here are two choices for baking that work well for us whenever we want to substitute for eggs.

 
Chia seeds and milled linseeds (or ground flax seeds for Americans).

For one egg, mix 1 Tablespoon chia seeds or flaxseeds with 2 Tablespoons of warm water and let it sit for a few minutes. Flaxseeds work well in cakes, cookies and muffins, and I have used chia seeds to add extra protein to our pancakes. Chia seeds get a bit gummy, so they do not work well in bread. 

Best and Easiest Chocolate Cake-- Egg Free, Wheat Free, Nut Free, Dairy Free, Delicious!

This recipe is adapted from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home, copyright 1994 "Six Minute Chocolate Cake"

We made this for Jimmy's 4th Birthday, and instead of keeping the cake in the pan, I used parchment paper so it would slip out easily, cut it into some blocks, and used the frosting on select bits of it to stick the blocks together and then stuck his Angry Birds Star Wars figures on top! He was thrilled. (and so were his siblings)


1 1/2 cups plain flour (I used Dove's Farm Gluten Free, and added 1 tsp Xanthan gum)

1/3 cups Cadbury's cocoa powder

1 teaspoon Bicarbonate (we call this baking soda)

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 cup Sugar

Sift all the above ingredients into cake pan (square 8 inch or round 9inch)

In a 2 cup measuring cup, mix 1/2 cup sunflower oil, 1 cup cold water

2 teaspoons Vanilla extract together

Pour liquid ingredients into pan with dry ingredients and mix with small whisk

When batter is no longer lumpy, add

2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Stir just til vinegar is evenly distributed

Bake for 25 to 30 min.

Set aside to cool




I found a recipe for chocolate coconut cream icing
http://ohsheglows.com/2013/05/20/2-ingredient-chocolate-fudge-frosting/

Energy Snack!

Here are some ideas for energy snacks: roasted and lightly salted sunflower seeds, sunflower butter, dates, coconut, coconut oil, pumpkin seeds, gluten free oats, chia seeds.

I have been known to throw some handfuls of coconut, chia seeds, sunflower seeds, gf oats, sunflower seed butter and dates into the food processor. Chug it round til it becomes the consistency to shape into balls and eat!

A little bit about me and some about Valerie

Last post I shared with you where I found myself ten years ago due to extreme food and environmental allergies. My situation felt very hopeless until I was introduced to Reliv. Do not fear readers, I will not be posting about Reliv often, but it is an essential component of my journey back to health, so you will hear about it from time to time, and how our family benefits from it.

I was able to get pregnant the first month we tried, and had a wonderfully healthy pregnancy. I even had great bloodwork after a mandatory c-section for our first daughter Valerie's birth. She was breech, and this meant that from day one, we knew things were going to be a bit different for her.

At three months, Valerie began breaking out in hives during feedings. I was breastfeeding exclusively, so I was perplexed. I had heard that if your child is breastfed, she should not have allergies.

Valerie proved this theory to be incorrect!

At seven months old, she had her first anaphylactic reaction to dairy and had to be hospitalized. They used strong steroids on her, and her skin, which by this point had broken out in eczema all over, cleared up beautifully that week. As soon as the steroid course finished, though, her skin erupted into worse lesions than she had had before.

We took her to a chiropractor and a cranial sacral therapist. I was trying elimination diets, keeping food diaries, and giving her all kinds of different solid foods that seemed to pass straight through her.

By the end of the year we were sent to a gastrointerologist, after the pediatric allergist and the dermatologist had exhausted their ideas and prescriptions. He diagnosed her with an inability to digest protein, and severely atopic. She was losing weight, and having diarrhea every day.

We were given a prescription for Neocate, which cost about $300 a month. We took her off the Reliv completely, (by this point I had weaned her) and we saw her become lethargic, her nose began running constantly, and she got constipated.

After a month of this, in desperation, I put some Reliv into her bottle with the Neocate. We saw the runny nose go away in two days, her energy and happiness came back, she began to poop again (!), and her skin gradually began to clear. Over the next months, we were able to slowly introduce solid food again, starting with rice, and vegetables, some fruits, and then gradually wean her off the Neocate once she had gained back enough weight.

We are are so thankful that she did not suffer any developmental delays, as we knew this was a possibility. By the time she was 2 1/2 her skin was completely clear.

Over the next years, we saw her grow into a child who is faced every day with challenges, but has overcome so much.

Asthma is something she deals with, but on a very low level. Her symptomatic inhaler is needed every time she
gets a cold, but only using the bare minimum of the medicine to breathe easier.

Although she is still very allergic to wheat, dairy, eggs, beef, lamb and all nuts, Each year she seems to get a
bit stronger and a little less sensitive. And her skin is clear! Doctors say she will probably never grow out of these allergies, but we
have hope that she will as her immune system continues to strengthen.

Reliv is a part of her daily routine as well as the emergency drink when she has a reaction to some hidden
ingredient. The reaction goes away within twenty minutes after having a shake.

Valerie was the first of our four children. We are a gluten free house, and have seen that help all of us with various complaints. The children are all dairy intolerant, although my husband consumes dairy products, and I eat dairy occasionally.

Why blog now? Because I know what it is like to be scrolling through pages and pages of websites, asking, "am I the ONLY one who deals with a child with allergies to so many things?" or "What can we have for dinner that we can ALL eat?"

When Valerie was 4 years old, she was outside in her Grandma's garden singing to herself and loving the sunshine and flowers. She came running up to me and said, "Mama, my life is true!" And so it is.

My hope in writing this blog is that, in your hardest moments, you can realize that there is always hope, and a reason to look up and be thankful for the flowers.

Millet Surprise!

This recipe is adapted from Gwyneth Paltrow's Brown Rice and Kale from her cookbook, My Father's Daughter.

So Millet.... most people think it's birdseed, but I have found it 

                works very similar to Quinoa,  has same protein content, and costs a fraction of the price. 

Cook it like rice (about twice the water to the seed) Add some salt. 

In a separate pan, stir fry a bunch of chopped spring onions, 

chopped red pepper, and 3-4 cloves garlic. 

 Add finely chopped (use your food processor), washed Kale--no stems-- 

Stir fry til nice and bright green, and a bit tender 

Mix into cooked millet with some sprinklings of Aminos to taste. (Liquid Aminos are a wonderful alternative to soy sauce, for those on a wheat free diet.)

Black Beans and Rice

My kids LOVE this meal. So cheap and still yummy. 

Soak the beans overnight, well covered with water, with a teaspoon of Apple Cider Vinegar (this breaks down some of the enzymes in the beans)

 Drain and rinse. 

Pour in fresh water and bring to boil.

 Simmer or put in Crock pot on high for at least 4-6 hours. (til they're good and soft) 

The children like the beans with salt and Pure Sunflower Margarine. 

My husband and I like them seasoned-- saute onions, garlic in olive oil or coconut oil til translucent. Add in a few teaspoons of your fave curry powder and cumin. Fry up til it smells amazing, but be careful not to burn it! 

Add in a can of diced tomatoes, stir and simmer, with as many beans as you need for 2-4 people. Pour over Rice.

 (if you do not have a rice cooker, consider getting one! Lifesaver for folks who eat rice several nights a week.)

Where it all started

It feels like a daunting task to chronicle what we have been through over the past ten years, but it's time. I have finally come to a place where I am not pregnant, or nursing, or trying to get over being pregnant or nursing! My story began in earnest ten years ago. I was a senior in college and I was tired, stressed out, and feeling like food and environmental allergies would be an ID badge I’d wear for the rest of my life. Sometimes I felt like introducing myself as, "Hi, I'm food allergy. I'm very tired, so don't try and tell me your name, as I probably won't remember it." At one point in college, I was found to be allergic to 15 different things. Needless to say, eating at the dining commons was next to impossible. Chronic fatigue, brain fog, fuzzy head, difficulty sleeping, and dependence on an air purifier defined my days. I was extremely sensitive to chemicals, perfume, the outdoors, the indoors-- and even people--and thought I always would be! I married in 2001, and my husband was fully aware of my situation and loved me anyway. One day I told him that I did not want to meet one more person-- it took too much effort just to get through each day, let alone demonstrate interest in anyone else. I did not think I would be able to have children, or at least if I did, I would have to be on bedrest throughout pregnancy because I was almost too tired to function. I used to go to Whole Foods or any other health shop and ask them what supplements I should try. I took garlic, tried mushrooms, special juices, protein drinks, herbs, homeopathic remedies, vitamins, minerals, and even bitters. When I heard about a nutrition supplement called Reliv, I tried it only because of the money back guarantee. Absorbable nutrition was something I knew I needed and within three months, I saw marked improvements in my digestive tract, my immune system, my allergies, and especially my energy. By 6 months, I could eat all 15 foods that I had previously gotten migraine headaches and hives from. I am a different person today, and love meeting new people, and can often even remember their names! Next post, I’ll share with you the rest of my story and provide the next installment of this saga that began when our first daughter Valerie was born.