Snacks On the Go

My kids are always hungry!  Because we are gluten and dairy free, I need to be prepared and bring snacks wherever we go.  It is nearly impossible to just stop and grab something for them to eat.

I can usually find some packaged snacks at Costco that work for us.  (applesauce pouches, Annie's fruit snacks, freeze dried fruit, nuts, craisins, Lara bars, veggie straws)  I have a snack bin in the pantry that I keep stocked so that we can grab things on our way out the door.  The Bumkins snack bags tucked in there are to fill with nuts or craisins.

I recently bought a box of small Dixie cups to use in the car.  They were only a few dollars and have adorable little owls on them that the kids love.  Even the Costco individually packaged snacks can get expensive when there are so many of us, so to save more money I just bring along a large bag of something.  (gf pretzels, popcorn, veggie straws, snap pea crisps, etc)  I grab one of the Dixie cups from the box and fill it up for each child.  The cups stay in the car so that they are always available when I need them.  In the past we kinda fumbled around with handing each kid a handful of snack or using a napkin or something, but that usually ended up making a mess.  I tried washable cups at one point, but they ended up getting left in the van and staying dirty.  Disposable cups are not much more waste in comparison to the individual packaging on the snacks that we would have been buying otherwise.  They were inexpensive and work nicely for this purpose.  We do try to use the cups a few times before throwing them away.

My kids and I each have a water bottle that we fill up and bring along when we know that we will be out and about for more than just a quick trip.  If I am planning to run errands, I will fill up their water bottles in the morning and they use that cup for the whole day so that it is ready to grab and go whenever we leave.  These are Contigo brand and have worked well for us.  I've seen them at both Meijer and Costco.

What tips do you have for feeding hungry kids on the go?

Construction Birthday Party

Isaac turned two in March!  I think I've had this cake in my Pinterest ever since he was born, just waiting for the right time.  :)  It was so easy to do and turned out wonderfully.

The cake was gluten and dairy free - I used this mix: Pamela's Products Luscious Chocolate Cake Mix and the frosting recipe from The Healthy Gluten-Free Life: 200 Delicious Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Soy-Free and Egg-Free Recipes!.  The chocolate chip "rocks" are Enjoy Life brand.  I used these Toystate Caterpillar Construction Mini Machine 5-Pack as the cake topper.  They also served as table decorations and party favors too.  The napkins and plates we found at Hobby Lobby.  Some yellow streamers along with these fun 7" Traffic Signs made easy decor.

We served lemonade, cake, veggies and dip, and fruit salad for a simple afternoon party.

Some of his favorite gifts were these:

Toystate Caterpillar Construction Take-A-Part Trucks: Wheel Loader

Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site

UNITED PARCEL SERVICE UPS 4" P-600 Package Car Delivery Truck

Learning Curve 4" Garbage Truck

Postal Service Kid's Toy Truck

In fact, this is how we had to do diaper changes for a while, drill in hand!  :)

Crock Pot Lasagna (gluten and dairy free!)

I adapted this recipe from one I found somewhere on this blog.  I ended up changing the amounts quite a bit, but am ever grateful for the general idea.  This tastes like lasagna!

1 lb ground turkey, cooked with onion flakes and garlic salt
     (you could also use sausage and some Italian seasoning)
10 oz gluten free lasagna noodles
3/4 cup cashews
1/2 cup almond milk
2 - 24oz spaghetti sauce jars

In Vitamix, blend 1/2 cup cashews and 1/2 cup milk.  After this is blended, add another 1/4 cup of cashews to thicken it up.  This is your "cashew cheese".  You could throw in some Daiya shredded cheese if you wanted to.

Spray crockpot with canola oil.  Layer meat and sauce, uncooked lasagna noodles, and cashew cheese.  Repeat several times.  Be sure the top is coated with enough sauce that the noodles are covered.

Cook on low 3-4 hours.

Isaac was a big fan!

Gluten Free Labels

A while back, I came across Gluten Free Labels:

We received some stickers and silicone tags to review.  I also purchased the toothpick flags.  While the website markets these for labeling gluten free items in your kitchen, we don't have that need.  My husband eats gluten while he is out and about, but otherwise we are all gluten free.  I do really love these tags for taking food to potlucks though!

At church, we have a potluck every Sunday after the service.  There are several other families that do not eat gluten, and I love that they can easily spot something gluten free that I've brought.  Potlucks can be super difficult for people with food allergies, and these little tags are like a beacon of hope!  - "Hey, there's something I can eat here!"  :)  I also think they would be great for taking food to a gluten free family, to assure them that you remembered their needs.

The toothpicks are perfect for sticking in muffins or cookies.  The stickers are really versatile; I stuck one on the handle of my soup ladle to be sure it stayed with the correct pot.  I love the silicone tags!  They are oven safe if you wanted to leave them on something you were baking.  I put mine on the crock pot, which was great for when it got hot and I didn't have to worry about anything melting.  The silicone tags are nice and thick, and the string part is silicone as well.  (I got two, only one is pictured.)  I'm sure we'll get a lot of use from these.

The products are reasonably priced, just $5 for two silicone tags and $4 for the toothpick flags.  There are several different packages available if you want a variety.  There is a roll of stickers that would even be great for restaurant use.  The only thing I wish is that they would make tags for dairy free items too!  Overall these are very well done and a great item to have around and make use of.

Disclosure: I received some of the products in this post for review.  All opinions are my own.  Thanks Gluten Free Labels!  

Chocolate Peanut Butter Spread (Dairy Free)

Before we were gluten and dairy free, it was a birthday tradition to have Nutella toast for breakfast.  Not wanting to disappoint my kids, I've searched for homemade Nutella recipes many times, but have never made them.  I mean really, who has time to go out and find hazelnuts and roast them and... yeah....  I finally came up with a good solution.  Julia was thrilled that she got to have "Nutella" toast for her sixth birthday this morning!!

(Ok, this is not Nutella, but its chocolatey and sweet and spreadable and totally works for us.  Try it and let me know what you think.  Its also a ton cheaper than the all-natural hazelnut spreads out there.)

1/2 cup peanut butter (no sugar added; if yours has sugar in it, use less honey)
1/2 cup honey (can also use maple syrup for a different flavor)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla

Mix and eat!  :)

Our Dairy Free and Gluten Free Story

So here's our story...

Last year, one of my kids was having some problems with constipation.  Actually, it was that big embarrassing word: encopresis, which basically means so constipated that poop was leaking out into her underwear frequently.  She was also having stomach aches on an almost daily basis.  We had taken her to see our chiropractor/ kinesiologist several different times.  The idea of trying a gluten-free diet came up, but I was always way too intimidated to try.  Finally, after one particular doctor visit I just knew we had to do something.  We got in the car to head home and I decided I couldn't give her the bunny graham snacks that were in my diaper bag.  I had no idea what I would feed her, but we would just have to figure it out.

Did I mention that I was 34 weeks pregnant with our fourth baby?  It wasn't the ideal time to try something new, but I didn't feel like we had a choice at that point.  In the beginning we relied quite a bit on store bought gluten-free products.  The other girls had "normal" food and Lucy had a gluten-free version.  After six weeks of this, we decided to take her off of dairy as well as gluten.  It wasn't until then that we really began to see improvements.  That also made the grocery shopping even harder.

Isaac was born and after a few weeks started to get really cranky and colicy.  One Saturday when he was three weeks old, I was making gluten free/ dairy free pancakes for Lucy and regular pancakes for the rest of the family.  I decided to eat Lucy's along with her, and began my own gluten free/ dairy free trial.  Isaac quickly improved, and after a while I figured out that I needed to eliminate soy as well.  (It would make him puke if I had even the tiniest bit of soy in something.)  There was such a dramatic change in him; I wish I had tried dietary changes with my girls when they were young!

It would be deceiving if I did not say that this was all extremely hard!  I cried many times because I had no. idea. what to make for dinner.  Being super vigilant about our diets, reading labels, not being able to eat out anywhere... it was all very challenging.  Somehow we kept going.  I searched Pinterest for recipes to try.  We found new favorites; I put together a new recipe binder.  I felt terrible telling my daughter that she couldn't have a cupcake or a french fry, but I did my best to come up with our own substitutes.  We make french fries at home, bake donuts in our special donut pan, and bring along cupcakes to parties when needed.  It also made it easier on her that I was gf/df too.

In January of this year I decided to go ahead and put Julia and Esther on a gf/df diet and just make our whole household gf/df.  I wanted to see what health effects it would have on them.  Esther had some severe dry skin bumps on her arms and legs (that have since gotten much better).  It is also easier for me to just make everything gf/df instead of trying to make two different versions.  Julia feels kind of important telling people that she is gluten free now too.

Which brings us to now.  Where will we go from here?  I don't know.  Its tough staying gf/df, and some days I just want to eat a piece of pizza.  Its slowly becoming our new normal though.  Members of our family have definitely seen health improvement with the diet, and as challenging as it is, I think its something we need to continue.  I still struggle with the ins and outs of this - should I let them eat french fries? or should I keep them strictly gluten free?  Lucy's stomach is still very sensitive.  She's had some episodes of throwing up after eating certain things.  We've not done any testing on her, although we have considered it.  Eventually we may experiment with adding gluten or cultured dairy back into our diets.  I'm thrilled that we've been able to meet the challenge so far and we'll just continue taking small steps from here.

Writing this post I realized that its been an entire year!  I never thought that I would be able to "go gluten free", let alone survive a whole year of it.  We made it through Christmas, family parties, holiday food, and more.   I am definitely still trying to figure this all out but later this week I will share some of our resources and favorite recipes with you.

Are you gluten free/ dairy free?  Just starting out?  Do you have questions for me about it?

Gluten-free, Dairy-free Chocolate Donuts (Paleo Indulgences Book Review)

Our gluten-free, dairy-free diet continues...  Many of my recipes have come from The Healthy Gluten Free Life.  I love the cookbook, so when I saw that the author had come out with a new book, Paleo Indulgences, I begged her to let me review a copy.  ;)

The Paleo diet is new to me, but it is gluten free and contains minimal dairy, so most of the recipes work for us.  Its actually grain free too; the baked goods are made with almond flour or coconut flour (much easier than the zillion different gf flours needed for some things).  Paleo Indulgences is not a Paleo guidebook, rather it tells you how to make those special treats you might be missing from time to time.  (Read: a mother's lifesaver!)

With Christmas coming up, and therefore all of the holiday recipes that we can't eat, I've been trying hard to come up with replacements.  I splurged on two donut pans and decided that would be our Christmas morning meal.  Of course we've had to test out a few recipes to be sure they work well...

This morning I used this recipe from Paleo Indulgences:

Chocolate Mini-Bundts

1/4 cup coconut flour, sifted
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

4 eggs
1 Tbs vanilla
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup coconut milk

1/4 cup coconut oil, melted

1. Preheat the oven to 350.  
2. Place the dry ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk to combine.
3. Add the wet ingredients, except the coconut oil, to the dry and mix well with a hand mixer.
4. With the mixer on low, slowly pour in the coconut oil.  Mix well.
5. Divide the batter evenly among a 6-cavity greased mini bundt pan.
6. Bake 22-25 minutes, or until the center of the cakes spring back when pressed lightly.
7. Cool 10 minutes in the pan and then turn out onto a wire rack.  Cool completely before frosting.

I used two donut pans, and baked them for 15 minutes.  For the frosting I mixed some powdered sugar with a bit of coconut milk.  The donuts were cakey tasting, but my kids were completely thrilled!  We certainly didn't have any leftovers.

I'm sure I'll be using many more recipes from Paleo Indulgences.  Like The Healthy Gluten Free Life, there are full-page color photos for each recipe.  It is well written and easy to follow, with great information in the front of the book.  One thing to note is that recipes are sometimes small and need to be doubled for my family.  

Thanks, Tammy!

Gluten-Free Birthday Cake

Julia turned five this month!  She chose a Hello Kitty theme and cake.  At first I wasn't sure how to pull off a gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free cake, but it ended up great.  I used this Bob's Red Mill mix, and this prepared frosting.  For the details, we used a cut up fruit leather.  I baked the cake in two round pans and only cut one into the kitty shape.

The cake was delicious and baked evenly.  The frosting... meh, I could have made my own.  I bought it because I expected it to be fluffy and easy to spread.  It ended up being a bit gooey and runny.  Overall, Julia was happy and everyone decided to have seconds of the cake, so I think it was a hit.

Happy Birthday, sweet girl!

Kitchen Tip Tuesday: Gluten Free Baking Tips

I'm still getting used to gluten-free baking.  After pulling my one million flours out of the freezer, it takes quite some time to measure them all out.  Gluten-free chocolate chip cookies are amazing though and totally worth it!

To minimize the mess and save time, if I know we like a certain recipe, I mix two batches of the flours at once.  In the photo above, I have one batch of chocolate chip cookies started in the bowl and another in the container with the blue lid.  I store the extra mixes in the refrigerator.  Having the dry ingredients ready to go makes baking much easier the next time.

Another time saver is to freeze some of the cookie dough in little scoops all ready to bake.  My only problem with this is that we eat them straight out of the freezer before I can bake them!  I also keep gluten-free bread in the freezer and just toast a few pieces at a time as we need them.

Thanks to The Healthy Gluten-Free Life for the above tips, and for the amazing chocolate chip cookie recipe!  Do you have any gluten-free baking tips to share?  Linked to Kitchen Tip Tuesday.

Kitchen Tip Tuesday: Storing Gluten Free Flours

If you've ever baked gluten-free, you know that it requires exactly one million different flours.  It took me a while to figure out how to store them all.  Here is my current system:

Many flours keep best in the freezer or refrigerator.  I use a basket to hold some of the bags.  Each bag has a binder clip on it to keep it shut.  When I want to bake, I pull the whole basket out of the freezer, along with anything else I need.

Some of the flours I buy whole grain and grind with my Vitamix.  Those are stored in lock n lock containers and labeled.  The whole top shelf of my freezer is flours and grains.  The little box in the front is ground flax, behind it is cornmeal and amaranth flour.  A few of the flours are in the refrigerator because the freezer was full.  (The bottom shelf is leftovers packed up for Ross' lunch, and fruit for smoothies.)  Sorghum flour and xanthan gum are in the cupboard.

How do you store gluten free flours?
See Tammy's Recipes for more Kitchen Tip Tuesdays.

How to Calm a Fussy Baby

My first two babies were very fussy.  Like, put-you-at-your-absolute-wits-end, nothing-works, fussy.  They were pretty challenging babies and didn't sleep much.  Esther was a calm little one and loved to be snuggled.  Isaac seems to be a bit high needs, but has settled down with some dietary changes I've made.

I was talking to a friend recently about her fussy baby and offering suggestions.  I realized that we've tried quite a few different things over the years and decided to list them here as a resource.  Nothing works for every baby all the time, but its nice to have some ideas up your sleeve.  Aside from the obvious (diaper change?  hungry?  tired?), here are some things to try:

nurse - Many times, rocking and nursing is the easiest and best way to calm down a baby.  I've spent many evenings with a baby in arms snuggling and nursing off and on until I am ready to head to bed (where we snuggle and nurse some more).  

exercise ball - I remember holding Julia tight to my body and bouncing up and down pretty hard on the exercise ball.  She didn't like to rock, but the firm hold and bouncing would settle her down after a while.

gripe water - Gripe water is an herbal concoction that made Esther puke when we gave it to her.  It seemed to help Isaac a bit though.  Its mainly fennel and ginger water.  (This brand seemed to have better ingredients than others I looked at.)

gas drops - The taste of these seemed to distract my girls long enough to quiet them for a minute or two.  

Windi - I haven't tried it, but everyone on Amazon seems to swear by this weird thing.  Several fussy nights with Isaac I would tell myself I would order it in the morning.  Then in the morning I would decide it was just too weird.

swaddling - aden + anais blankets are the best for swaddling.  Some of my babies liked being swaddled, some only tolerated it if they were in the right mood.  We used the miracle blanket with Julia, but then found that we liked the aden + anais blankets.  

a warm bath - at 2:00am?  Yep, we've tried it!  After long bouts of crying, sometimes a warm bath was just enough to relax baby to sleep.  Sometimes just the sound of running water calmed the fussy little one.

sleep noise - The girls have this sleep machine in their room that we've used for several years.  Isaac has a little sleep sheep (that he doesn't use because he is always snuggled up next to me anyway).

We'll call this one atmosphere - is it too bright in the house?  too loud?  Are his clothes bothering him?  Is he too cold or too hot?  Lucy and Julia were extra sensitive to these things.  Sometimes I will strip the baby down and check for a hair wrapped around his toes pinching them or something.  A position change can also help - Isaac likes to lay on his tummy (right beside me of course).

homeopathics - We've used Hyland's colic tablets, teething tablets, chamomile tablets, etc.  They do seem to help our little ones settle down sometimes.

sleep balm - Badger Balm makes a relaxing scented Night Night Balm that we like.  For a while we would rub it on cheeks and noses every night before bed.

baby carrier - This didn't work for my girls, but it does with Isaac.  If he's fussy and can't calm down, I put him in the mei tai.  He settles pretty quickly if I walk around for a few minutes.  

pacifier - I usually try to hold off giving a pacifier for a few weeks until breastfeeding is well established.  With Isaac,  I sent Ross on an emergency pacifier run to the store at 10pm once.  I use Soothie brand pacifiers because they mimic breastfeeding a bit with the way they are shaped.

chiropractic adjustment - Esther is the first baby that we took to a chiropractor/ kinesiologist.  I am now a huge believer!  Before she went to the chiropractor, she puked a TON several times a day.  After being adjusted, she completely stopped.  Completely.  We continue to see chiropractic care as important for the whole family.  I highly suggest it if you have a difficult little one on your hands.

reflux medication - Both Lucy and Julia were on medication for reflux as babies.  It seemed to help them a bit, but was a continual battle to get the dosage right.  I also did not love giving them medication daily.  Which leads me to...

dietary changes - I knew that I should have tried giving up dairy while nursing Lucy and Julia.  I did it for about a day with Julia, but just couldn't wrap my head around it.  Isaac was starting down the same fussy path and I finally gave it a try.  I have been off of dairy, gluten, and eggs for about two months now.  It took ten days to see the full effect, but since then we have had absolutely NO big crying spells.

Isaac will still be fussy for various reasons, and I would still call him a bit of a high needs baby.  He is happiest in my arms.  However, we have not had ANY evening crying spells where I have to pull out all the tricks to calm him and am at my wits end.  I wish that I had gone dairy-free with my other babies!  

Sometimes sensitive babies just need extra sensitive mommies.  Is the diaper wet and bugging him?  Did a noise startle him?  Are his clothes tight?  Sometimes even the most caring mommies can't figure it out.  If you're struggling with a fussy little one, you definitely have my sympathies!  Dr Sears has some great information and more ideas on his website here.

Do you have any tried and true ways to calm a fussy baby?

Gluten-Free Baking

I have not one, but eleven new ingredients on my kitchen counter.  Things I have never purchased, baked with, or even heard of before!  This gluten-free baking thing is not for the faint of heart.

I am finding The Healthy Gluten-Free Life to be an amazing resource!  The author explains all of the different flours and ingredients used in gluten-free baking.  Her recipes all have full page color photos and simple instructions.  I'm excited to start trying them.

Using the book as a guide, I made my shopping list at Vitacost:

whole grain teff (never heard of this!)
potato starch

potato flour (different from potato starch?)

sorghum flour
xanthan gum (not even sure how to pronounce these two!)
tapioca flour
whole millet
whole amaranth
coconut nectar (for coconut ice cream)
green pea flour (seriously, there is such a thing?)
almond meal

So far I've only made one simple recipe - Almond Lemon Cookies.  Julia was not a fan of these, but she doesn't like lemon baked goods anyway.  Lucy and Esther enjoyed them.  I need to grind up the teff, millet, and amaranth with my Vitamix dry container and then tackle gluten-free bread baking.  I'm a little scared of how it might turn out!