Itching For a Cure

We will be "virtually" taking part in the National Eczema Association's "Itching For a Cure" Eczema Walk!  The actual walk will take place on June 8 in New Jersey.  Even though we cannot attend in person, we still want to be a part of this walk!  So I've created the team, "Let's Not Be Rash" to help raise funds and awareness.  We'd be so thrilled if you'd join us by donating through our page to the National Eczema Association!

http://itchingforacure.itchingforacure.dojiggy.com/letsnotberash

Dairy Free Review

We are almost a month into our dairy-free adventure.  Unfortunately, we haven't noticed any improvement in Rapunzel's skin just yet.  But we're going to give it a full two months before giving up on it.

Rapunzel has had a chance to try many different dairy free options.  Some she's loved and others she could do without.  Here's a run down.


Chocolate Coconut Milk has hands down been her favorite to drink straight up.  She drinks it almost every morning with her breakfast.

Vanilla Oat Milk has been a close second.  This is what she prefers to pour over her cereal and she likes to drink it on its own too.

These were the only two that she liked the taste of by themselves.

As for baking and cooking, I've had equal amounts of success with hemp milk and rice milk.  I use original if I'm making something savory, and tend to use either original or vanilla if I'm baking something sweet.  And no one has complained about anything tasting any different.

Rapunzel has liked all of the Coconut Yogurt that she's tried.  She's tried several different flavors.

And she's found the Plain Greek Coconut Yogurt to be a great substitute for sour cream on her tacos, bean burritos, and baked potatoes.

She's tried the Coconut Ice Cream in cookie dough flavor, and loved it too.  In fact, I snuck a taste one day and really really liked it.

I've used the Enjoy Life chocolate chips in a few things, and they taste just like regular chocolate chips to all of us!

Rapunzel has been very happy with the Coconut Spread to replace butter on most things.  She likes it on toast, but not on bagels (she sticks with jelly for her bagels now).  I used it to make frosting and that was pretty good too (though definitely a different flavor than I'm used to).  I didn't use it for a butter sub in baking/cooking and instead opted to sub canola oil.

I found these little "cheese" sauce packets at HEB and thought I'd give them a try.  They had alfredo and cheddar flavors.  I tried the alfredo and served it with shrimp and pasta.  It was just ok.  It didn't really taste like alfredo, but it wasn't bad.  I'm planning on trying the cheddar this week and making mac n cheese.

We still never found a true cheese substitute.  But honestly, Rapunzel hasn't minded.  She just eats her sandwiches without cheese.  And we make her pizza without cheese.  Her bean burritos and tacos are cheeseless.  And we don't sprinkle parmesan on her pasta.  She hasn't really minded at all.

So, while I'm not sure if we'll continue dairy-free after our 2 month trial, I feel confident that if we do, we'll survive.  Once I did all the research and found these safe alternatives, it's been pretty easy to incorporate them into our menu.

Bedtime Blues

Rapunzel doesn't sleep well at night.  She barely sleeps at all.  I'll go in and check on her at different times during the night and she's almost always laying there awake, scratching.  And the times when I check on her and she's actually asleep, she's still scratching.  We've tried so many different things to try to help her sleep.  She's been on numerous different antihistamines and meds (otc and rx) and nothing has helped.  They don't help with the itch and they don't help her to sleep.  We've moved her to her own room, with a humidifier, air purifier, nightlight, and music.  We keep her room cool at night and keep her skin covered with bandages and long sleeve cotton pajamas.  We have a bedtime routine that includes reading and snuggles.  Some nights I leave her alone, hoping she'll be able to sleep without my distraction.  Some nights I lay in bed with her hoping that me being present will help her sleep.  I let her sleep in on days when we don't have anywhere to be.  I wake her up early on days we do have somewhere to be. Nothing seems to help.  I'm kind of at my wit's end here.  I'm open to any and all suggestions anyone may have on ways to help her sleep.

Snack Time: Banana Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I found this super easy cookie recipe online the other day and tweaked it for our family.  The kids loved these cookies and thought they were getting a huge treat!

Banana Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Ingredients:
3 ripened bananas, mashed
2 c. quick oats
1/3 c. applesauce (I used 1 GoGo Squeez)
1/4 c. hemp milk (or your milk of choice)
1/2 c. raisins
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon (we were out of cinnamon so I used pumpkin pie spice, YUM)

Combine all ingredients and scoop onto baking sheet.  350* for 15-20 min.

I served these as a snack with some fresh cut watermelon and cantaloupe chunks.

What's for Dinner Tonight? Beef & Broccoli

I had Beef and Broccoli on the menu for this week, but I couldn't find the recipe I'd originally looked up when it came time to cook it.  So I decided to just throw some stuff together and hope for the best.  I wasn't super impressed with the last recipe for Beef and Broccoli I'd tried, so I figured I couldn't do much worse.  I am not one to toot my own horn, but *toot toot*!  This was sooo good.  I didn't measure anything, so these are all approximate measurements.

Ingredients (in parentheses are the "normal" foods you can sub):
1 lb. flank steak or thin sirloin
1 c. beef broth
1/4 c. coconut aminos (soy sauce)
2 Tbsp. garlic
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. dried onion flakes
2 Tbsp. arrowroot powder (cornstarch)

Directions:
1.  Combine beef broth through onion and whisk together.
2.  Slice steak into 1/4" strips and let marinate in sauce mixture for at least 10 min. or up to an hour.
3.  Heat a skillet over med-high heat and drizzle with oil (I used olive oil).
4.  Cook steak in skillet until browned on both sides and cook through to desired doneness (reserve marinade)
5.  In a small saucepan, combine 2 Tbsp. of the reserved marinade sauce and the arrowroot powder.  Mix and cook until bubbly.
6.  Add the rest of the marinade and cook until desired thickness. (I'll admit that I got distracted and let mine thicken a little too much.  If this happens, just add a little extra beef broth)
7.  Toss the cooked steak and some steamed broccoli in the sauce and serve over steamed white (or brown) rice.

Next time I plan to double this recipe.  There was just not quite enough meat for the kids to have more than a couple pieces each.  I hadn't anticipated them asking for more!

 My kids are, well kids, and they tend to like their meals deconstructed.  So I served theirs like this...

Aurora's Turn

That moment when the nurses at the allergist office ask about your other kids by name when they see you...

Aurora got a turn at the allergist this morning.  She's been using the nebulizer for breathing treatments a lot lately and I just wanted to make sure we were doing everything we need to be to help manage her apparent asthma.

 She was such a big girl at the appointment!  Sometimes it's easier when they don't really know what's going on or why things are being done.  Eric stayed home for the morning with Rapunzel and Hercules and I brought Belle along to the appointment so that she could get her allergy injection while we were there.

 Belle's been pretty miserable from allergies lately.  The dr. actually took a look at her while she was there and we're going to add in Nasonex to her meds to try and get her nasal congestion under control.  The girl is so congested all the time and blows her nose a zillion times a day, which makes her head and ears hurt too.

The dr. listened to Aurora and said she was definitely a bit wheezy.  So first things first was a breathing treatment for her.

 

They tried to get her to take a peak flow measurement.  She tried, but I don't know many 3 year olds that can do that properly.  She definitely couldn't.  But it was a valiant effort nonetheless.

After her breathing treatment, it was time for allergy testing.  I was so super proud of my girl.  She teared up and "ow"ed, but was so strong and didn't complain too much about all the pricks.  Belle was a big helper and sat behind her fanning her back when she'd get itchy.

 

 She only reacted to Ragweed, which was good.  There's a definite possibility that more will show up the older she gets.  Belle and Rapunzel both tested similarly when they were younger, but they're obviously allergic to a ton more now.

Aurora was glad when it was over.  We decided to put her on a low dose of Pulmicort to help her get over this junk and to hopefully help keep it at bay.

She passed the time at the appointment by taking cell phone pictures of herself.  Here's a small sampling.

There's about 3 dozen more just like that on my phone.

Chicken Nuggets and Ketchup

I'd all but given up on finding frozen chicken nuggets that Rapunzel could have.  They're just chock full of her allergens.

Here is the ingredient list for Tyson Dinosaur Chicken Nuggets:
Chicken breast with rib meat, water, dried whole eggs, seasoning (salt, onion powder, modified corn starch, natural flavor), and sodium phosphates. BREADED WITH: Enriched unbleached wheat flour (enriched with niacin, ferrous sulfate, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, dextrose, iodized salt, yellow corn flour, modified corn starch, dried whey, soy flour, sugar, spices, caramel color, garlic powder, methylcellulose, oleoresin paprika, spice extractive. Breading set in vegetable oil.

Corn, Corn, Corn, Milk, Soy... and not to mention the several corn derivatives and use of non-specific vegetable oil.

Then while shopping at Target (of all places) I found them.  There in the frozen food aisle, while light from heaven beamed down and a choir of angels began to sing, I found Perdue Simply Smart Chicken Nuggets!
Check out these ingredients!

And with the Simply Heinz Ketchup we've been using...

we've found quite the lunch pairing!

Today I served them with pita chips, carrots, hummus, and fruit cocktail (in 100% juice).