Maple Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes might just be Rapunzel's favorite food ever.  Before her corn allergy was discovered, she could devour half a pan of "candied yams" in one sitting if I'd let her.  It's a Thanksgiving staple in this house and I had a heck of a time finding allergy-free marshmallows last year.  But I did.  And they were gross.  And expensive.  Since then, I've tried a few different sweet potato recipes that would be sweet enough to satisfy without marshmallows.  This one is a real winner.  And it's only 2 ingredients.  And she LOVES them.

MAPLE ROASTED SWEET POTATOES

Cut sweet potatoes into chunks and drizzle with 100% pure maple syrup.  Cover with foil.  Bake at 400* about an hour.  I like to slightly mash mine when they're done.  And feel free to drizzle a little extra syrup on top before serving.

 Tonight I served these with sauteed chicken breast and steamed green beans.

Aurora gave this meal 2 thumbs up!

An after dinner ammendment:  Rapunzel declared she didn't like these afterall.  I'm not even sure she took an actual bite and swallowed.  I've made these before and she's inhaled them.  She asked me, "do they have marshmallows on them" and I said, "no, these are the maple sweet potatoes I've made for you before, and you like them!".  But that was met with a grimace.  I think I may have fibbed to her last time and let her believe that the marshmallows were melted in.  Maybe from now on I shall melt one tiny marshmallow into a corner of the dish so that I can tell her, "yes, there is marshmallow melted in". 

Food Allergy Fun

What's for Dinner Tonight? BBQ BAKED POTATOES

I am a homeschooling mom of 4.  I live for EASY meals.  And tonight's dinner is about as easy as it can get.

BBQ BAKED POTATOES

Ingredients:
1 pork butt
1 bottle BBQ sauce (I used Trader Joe's Kansas City BBQ sauce)
Potatoes
olive oil
sea salt

Directions:
Throw that pork butt in the crock pot and pour that bottle off BBQ sauce over top.  I've found a few different bottled BBQ sauces that we can use, but you can obviously make your own as well.  Here is a great allergy-free BBQ sauce recipe.  I cook mine on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours (today I cooked it on high for about 4 hours).  When it's done, shred it with 2 forks and mix it in with the extra sauce and let it warm until ready to eat.

I bake my potatoes by smothering them in olive oil and sea salt, poking holes in them with a fork, and baking them at 350* for one hour.

What you add to your potato will depend on your own allergies/tastes.  Rapunzel eats hers with just the pork and a little Greek Coconut Plain Yogurt (it's a good sub for sour cream).  The rest of us might put some butter, sour cream, shredded cheese and/or chives on ours.  But they're good with just the meat and potatoes too!

Not Worth the Risk

"Is she REALLY allergic?"  I get that question a lot.  "What happens when she eats the food she's allergic to?"  I get that one too.  "Can't she just have a little?"  And if I had a dime for every time I've heard that one.

Being an allergy mom is not fun.  Coming up with meals that don't include our known allergens is tough.  Making sure my children have safe options when we're eating outside of our home can be challenging.  I don't do it for the thrills.  I don't do it to be "healthy".  I do it because I refuse to give my kids something that I know could kill them.

It's true, they could eat something they're allergic to and have no reaction.  They could eat something they're allergic to and have a little tummy ache or a small rash breakout.  Or, they could eat something they're allergic to and we could end up in the ER with them fighting for their lives.

(These pics are from Belle's reaction in May 2011)

The thing is, you NEVER know how they will react after eating something they're allergic to.  I'm sorry, but it's not worth the risk, EVER.

Belle had been allergy tested and showed no food allergies, and only a few slight seasonal allergies.  ONE macadamia nut cookie sent her into a severe allergic reaction that landed us in the ER getting her pumped full of epinephrine.  And she'd had macadamia nut cookies several times before!

After her reaction, we had her tested again and she tested positive for peanuts and tree nuts.  But she'd eaten them numerous times in the seven years before her reaction (hello, PBJs are a staple for most non-allergy families) with no ill-effects that we knew of.

Rapunzel has never had a severe reaction to food.  But that doesn't mean she won't if she eats something she's allergic to.  Belle hadn't had a reaction until the time that she did.  By the time I got her to the ER, she was covered in hives from head to toe, her eyes were swollen shut, and she was gasping for breath.  Scariest day of my life.  After what felt like hours, the dr. assured me that "she's responding well to the treatment."  You mean there was a chance that she wouldn't have responded well?  That thought hadn't even crossed my mind.  I am not being dramatic when I say that she could have died.  She could have not responded to the treatment.  We could have lost her, all because of a cookie.


Did you read about the teen boy that died after eating a cookie in the news?

Allergic reactions are serious business.  It doesn't matter that Rapunzel has never had a severe reaction to the foods she's tested positive for.  I'm not willing to take the chance that the next time she eats it will be the time she reacts.

It's not worth the risk, EVER.

I Spoke Too Soon

One step forward and two steps back.  I feel like that's how it always seems to go for Rapunzel.  Just when I thought we'd had so many good days, that surely we were getting somewhere, she has a flare today.  This is just the beginning of the flare and when she went to bed, she was scratching pretty heavily, so I fear for how her skin will look in the morning. :(

I can't even bring myself to post more than this one picture.  This was taken after her bath tonight.  You can see her face starting to break out.  Her face is always the last place (and mildest) to break out when she has a flare, so if you ever see a rash on her face, just assume it's even worse on the rest of her body.

The most frustrating part is that we just don't know WHAT is causing the flares.  She didn't eat anything out of the ordinary today - so is she reacting to a food she's not yet been tested for?  Is it something else entirely?  Our appointment with the Immunologist can't come soon enough.

I have a feeling it's gonna be another long night for my sweet girl.

Progress

Rapunzel's skin has an ebb and flow.  Some days are better than others.  She's been having some better days lately.  We're not sure what the reason is.  Is it from the steroid shot she was (without my knowledge) given during her oral surgery?  Is it from the absence of dairy in her diet?  Is it because we've been super vigilant about her skin care lately?  Is it the dead sea salt soaks we've incorporated into her regimen?  Is it the air purifier and humidifier we've added to her room?  Is it a combination of any/all of these things?  Probably.  We don't know exactly what is the cause of her improvement, but we'll take it!

Here you can see how her hands have improved over the last week.  The first pics in this series were taken on Tuesday, March 26.  The lighting in the bathroom is making the color a little off, but you can still see how red and swollen her hands were that day.  Lots of scratches and scabs especially on her left hand (top pic).  The 2nd pics were taken Thursday, March 28.  You can see that the scratches are starting to heal and the redness and swelling is really going down.  The 3rd pics were taken Friday, March 29.  The skin is still pretty dry and leathery, but the redness and scratches are all but gone.  The last pics were taken today, Wednesday, April 2.  The lighting was different than the third pics, but if you look closely, you can see that even the dryness has decreased.  There are however, a couple of spots that have popped up that are red and itchy.  Her left thumb was especially red and scratched up this afternoon, so we'll have to stay on top of that.

It's hard to not get our hopes up when she starts having good episodes like this.  I know she'll still get flares, but I always hope that the good days will start outnumbering the bad ones!

I also just want to make note that it's not just her hands that are flared.  That's just what I chose to take comparison pics of this time.

It's in the Bag

When Belle was diagnosed with her nut allergy in 2011, I had to start carrying an epi-pen for her.  I just carried it in the zippered pocket of my purse.  But then a couple of times I realized I'd left the house without my purse for whatever reason, or she'd been away from me (thus not having my purse with her), so I knew I needed to come up with a better solution.  So I bought a small zippered pouch that held the epi-pen and I'd move it from bag to bag or send it with her if she was going to be away from me.  Then when Rapunzel was diagnosed with her food allergies last year, I started carrying 2 epi-pens.  And not long after that I started adding things here and there until I finally bought a bigger bag and started calling it our Allergy Bag.

Here is our current Allergy Bag

It's so full that it won't close all the way (but everything is zipped in).

See...

In our Allergy Bag, I carry:

1 Epi-Pen

1 Epi-Pen Jr.

1 Aerochamber

1 Xopenex inhaler

Benadryl Melts

Lactaid Tablets (which we don't need right now since we're trying Dairy Free, but Rapunzel is also lactose intolerant)

Calm Drops

Yummy Earth lollipops

Mio Water Enhancers

Lemonade mix packets

I carry the meds for obvious reasons.  The Calm Drops are very helpful for Rapunzel's anxiety.  They are homeopathic, so I feel comfortable giving them to her.  And they really do help.  They don't take away her anxiety completely, but they definitely take the edge off of it, so that she can function if she's anxious about something.  I carry the lollipops for when we're somewhere that has candy that Rapunzel can't have.  Like the dr's office or the kids' hair salon.  I carry the drink enhancers so that I can add them to her water when we go out to eat, so that she can have a "fun" drink too.

The bag is just a zippered make-up bag I bought from Charming Charlie.

On top of the Allergy Bag that I carry in my purse, both of the girls each have their own mini allergy bag.

Belle's has an epi-pen, Benadryl melts, and a Xopenex inhaler.  Rapunzel's has an epi-pen Jr. and Benadryl melts.  They take these with them anytime they will be away from me.

I bought these personalized bags from Thirty-One Gifts.