Monday, May 23, 2011

lovely long weekend

What an amazing long, Victoria Day weekend we have been enjoying! Warm weather, enough sun and now awesome windy weather, make me a happy girl :) I could do without the rain, but as my students were singing to me the other day, "rain makes corn, corn makes whiskey." So inappropriate for school, but entertaining nonetheless.

Hubs and annoying neighbour set fenceposts on Friday and Saturday, once the concrete is totally dry and the holes backfilled, they will start building the fence. Which means I will be able to put in my gardens. Not much point until construction is finished, they will only be trampled. And even better, even more annoying neighbour on other side's kids will no longer be able to wander through my yard, trampling my plants. And generally raising my stress levels and blood pressure! Lots of yogic breathing to deal with those munchkins.

Looking forward to a nice yoga practice tomorrow evening, after missing class last week. I should be practising more at home, but just haven't gotten there yet. Enjoying weekend too much to exercise. But it's been lovely relaxing.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

gluten/dairy/egg/cane sugar free baking

My child has been diagnosed as having gluten, dairy, egg and cane sugar allergies. So in addition to my own dietary needs, we now have a bunch more allergies to contend with. So hippy-mama has started baking again. I'm experimenting with some substitutions and so far, so good. Brown rice flour is a bit gritty, but it works, especially when blended with some oatmeal. Xanthan gum included helps with binding, and I found an egg replacement that seems to work ok too. So on the menu this weekend has been banana muffins, and right now in the oven I have a peach-mixed berries crisp. I've substituted palm sugar and agave syrup for the sugar (I will cut down on these too, but baby steps!), and I'm trying some different kinds of flour. For right now the kids are happy with what I've come up with, and that's really all that matters!

We have lots of hummus in the fridge, and some corn chips in the cupboard. I know the chips aren't super healthy, but I don't want an out and out mutiny on my hands. Lots of veggies, and fruit, and Jackson has been enjoying vegan protein shakes for breakfast. Lunches have been the hardest, he can't heat anything up at school and he's not enjoying the gluten-free bread we've been making for sandwiches. He doesn't seem to want salads, but I did make a yummy quinoa salad that he likes. It travels well and is good with some chicken and cut-up veggies. There is a girl with a severe nut allergy in his school, so nuts are out. I'm going to try and sneak in some sunflower butter, but all 3 kids are very suspicious of anything like that. Only since I used to sneak soy nut butter into things when they were younger.

I have always intuitively known that he has food allergies and many of the convenient foods that have been in the house have never sat well with me. But sadly our kids live in the world that disregards good nutrition, and I succumbed to their whining that they wanted all of the same stuff as other kids. Even so, apparently they've have the weirdest school lunches of anyone in their classes. But seeing what's in a lot of lunches in my classroom, I guess I understand how 2 pieces of fruit and cut up veggies would be considered odd. And apparently no other moms are hippy-mama, baking healthy treats.

So the gluten/dairy/egg/cane sugar adventures continue. I haven't convinced anyone to try my non-dairy tapioca cheese yet, but I'm working on them!

Have a wonderful, if cold, Sunday :)

Thursday, May 5, 2011

allergies?

My son had his appointment with my naturopath and got the results of his allergy tests. And guess what? He has even more allergies than me. Gluten, dairy, eggs, sugar cane, asparagus (I know, weird!), garlic (but only mildly). Poor kid. So the upshot of all this is that we will be a gluten/dairy/egg/sugar-free house. I'm not surprised, since I've suspected food allergies since he was just a little guy. Not sure anyone is going to enjoy the changes we're going to make, but it's not fair for him if we have stuff in the house that he can't have. And it's not like it's going to hurt anyone. In fact everyone will probably enjoy the best health ever.

So I guess hippy-mama is going to have to emerge once again. I think that given my already busy life, homemade bread is going to have to come out of a breadmaker. I think that's what I'll ask for for Mother's Day. Luckily for hippyo-mama, there's lots of gluten-free blogs already read. I will be the Bulk Barn's best customer.

On the plus side, farmer's markets are starting to open and there will be tons of fresh produce available. Always easier to eat well when there's lots of yummy readily available.

Oh yeah, she also mentioned that he would benefit from yoga to help his bad back. I would love for him to join me at yoga. But as he mentioned to the dr. he would rather be caught dead than in a yoga class. Maybe Wii yoga? Maybe we can have a yogi/wii party! ...somehow I don't see that happening....

Adventures in parenting and battling allergies....