Dr. Suess Days

There are days that I feel like standing in one spot, looking up at the sky and yelling, "I am here, I am here, I am here!". But rather than channeling my inner Who, I take a deep breath and fill ya'll in on my absence:

My eldest son, B is seven. Last summer he was diagnosed with a mild form of autism and an auditory processing delay. Much like L's stomach I have known since B was tiny that something wasn't quite right. This is why it took so very long to get a diagnosis. And just like L's eosinophilia, I have been spending most of my time online becoming an authority on auditory processing delays. It has been a more private struggle than learning to live with a child's food allergies. My tears are blessedly reserved for home rather than in the middle of the grocery store. I am still trying to find my path in being a mother to a child with autism. I am grateful that it is such a mild case. My darling child has no problem giving hugs, and telling his family that he loves them. But I am not grateful for how difficult this makes some aspects of life for him, anymore than I am grateful L will have to cope with some form of food allergies for the rest of his life.

My husband is about a year from finishing his PhD. This means the very real possibility of moving. Again. For the first time, this is not something I am excited about. We have moved five times since B was born. The difference this time, is that this place is more home than the others have been. We have always been blessed to have friends and sometimes family in the cities we've called home. But this time, everything fits. It's very "Goldilocks and the 3 Bears". The city is just the right size. We have just the right number of friends. The boys love their school. The Montessori school for E when she turns 3 is here. My favorite local restaurants and funky little shops.............Okay I could live without the crazy amount of dust that blows around.

To top it all off, I am still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. Unlike my brilliant husband, I don't have a "career" I can place an official title on. Nothing ever seems to fit quite right, very not "3 Bears". What do I want? I want to work from the time I drop the monkeys off at school until I pick them up at 2:40. I want to not think about work again until I drop the gang off at school the next day. I want to be able to call in with a sick kid. Again. And not have anyone upset by it. I want the fact that I can juggle three kids to be seen as an asset not as a potential drain of my time. I definitely don't want to be trapped at a desk all day long. Inside.

So where do I find this mythical job? I suppose a good starting place would be to pinpoint what I feel passionate about. I have a habit of finding something and learning everything I can about it, loving it, breathing it, until I can't stand to look at it for another second. I can convince myself and all those around me that this "next thing" is the right career path for me, regardless of what it is. Such a truly useful skill--being completely full of, well, it.

The only thing I have ever been able to sustain any level of interest in and passion for is my family. Perhaps having two children with such uniquely different challenges is what my skills should be used for. And who knows what fun little quirk E will have. Now to figure out a way to have this help pay the bills.......................


Oh, didn't I mention I have a cookbook being published?

Eat, Drink & Be Safe: Food Allergies and the Holidays: an Interview with Alicia Woodward, Editor of "Living Without"

The holidays are a mine of potential food allergy, well, explosions. Parties, special recipes, or exotic foods, it's enough to make even the most savvy of parents want to encase their beloved child in an extra-large hamster bubble.

So I was thrilled to be able to interview Alicia Woodward, Editor of the magazine all about food allergies, "Living Without". (A perfect gift idea! Subscription to "Living Without"!) Here are her tips on enjoying the holiday's with food allergies.

• Communicate. Call well before the party to alert your host to your food sensitivities. Be specific about your food “triggers,” clearly explaining what you can (and can’t) eat.
• Embrace the potluck. Bring a favorite dish to the party. That way, there will definitely be something safe for you to eat.
• Eat beforehand. Don’t arrive hungry, when you may eat something “risky” that you’d never try on a full belly. Snack at home so you won’t be disappointed, famished and irritated if there’s not much you can eat at the party.
• Keep it simple. Stick to simple, whole foods – like plain fruit, vegetables and meats that haven’t been processed, coated or mixed. Avoid sauces, dips, marinated items, casseroles and desserts unless you know for sure what’s in them.
• Go first. If the party is buffet-style, be the first in line to avoid any potential cross-contamination (e.g., scattered ingredients, mixed-up serving spoons.) Or ask your host if you can prepare a plate before the buffet starts.

Most of all Alicia left me with the reminder that advocating for your child or yourself doesn't end with doctors or schools. It's not over-reacting or rude to contact a hostess or refuse something at a party to protect your child or yourself. Sometimes I have a hard time wanting to do this. Especially around the holidays, I want L to have a "normal" Christmas party! But what I found is that he's not alone. By saying no to a goodie stacked onto his plate at his school party, I discovered another parent equally happy to remove her own daughter's contraband.

Happy Holidays ya'll! And make sure to check your local newstand for the December issue of "Living Without" or take a second for their website, both are stocked full of great ideas for surviving the holidays!

Food Donations for the Holidays

Once upon a time I had a job. A fulltime job for over one consecutive year(it's impressive, I know). But more to the point, this job allowed me to have lunch with some really amazing people on a fairly regular basis under the guise of "work". Around this time of year, I was having lunch with one of those amazing people who happened to work for a non-profit that will be entirely left unnamed for reasons that will become apparent.

We were chatting about food donations. After all it was getting close to Thanksgiving, and there were various food drives going on all over town. Chatting, chatting, chatting and then suddenly she stops talking mid-sentence. She stopped because she was about to say:

"We really appreciate every donation. It's food and people need to eat." Pregnant pause insert here.

"Buuuuuuttttt?" said me.

"But, it would be nice if some people could donate those things they like to eat on Thanksgiving too." she confesses while cringing.

She was in a crappy position and right, it's not like she could start some sort of ad campaign that says, "Dusty cans at the back of the cupboard? Leave 'em at home and send the good stuff".

Well, she can't. Nothing's stopping me though.

Send the dusty cans but also buy two of a few of those staples you'll need on hand for your Thanksgiving recipes. Those recipes that make it special. Few times of year are harder on a family struggling financially than the holidays. So get the ingredients for a Green Bean Casserole or Pumpkin Pie. Toss in a few containers of spices, things like Poultry Seasoning, Dried Garlic, and Pumpkin Pie Spice. If you are feeling really generous add in a bottle of olive oil.

Imagine as a mom of a kiddo with food allergies how complicated cooking from food donations would be like. Even if you aren't donating a case of your favorite gluten-free baking mix, you can donate simple, whole ingredients that would be easier to cook with. Corn meal, flour, sugar, and chicken stock.

I was definitely guilty of donating those cans that my family refused to eat. But since that conversation I have done better. Never great mind you, but better. This year too.

The Halloween Fairy and Food Allergies

This amazing fairy first appeared in my life after my eldest son's first Halloween. I was blown away by the volume of candy that my one year old came back from Trick-or Treating with. Although not so much a problem that year(expect for the fact that I ate it), I knew that this was a situation that would need a good solution.

Enter the Halloween Fairy.

My dear friend Shannon told me about this amazing creature. The Halloween Fairy comes during the night after you go trick-or-treating. She takes away the candy and leaves behind a cool toy. Depending on the house, sometimes the kiddo's can pick out a few favorite pieces of candy and leave the majority for the fairy to take away.

Six years and two more kids later and the Halloween Fairy is still going strong. She saves me the problem of having to explain to L why B gets to eat all his candy and he doesn't. With the added bonus of saving me from stealing 3/4 of the candy myself. I don't need the kind of pressure having 300 mini Snickers in a house causes on my will power.

I apologize for not getting this out prior to Halloween, but the good news is that the Halloween Fairy is very flexible. She makes house calls even after Oct. 31.

Happy Halloween!

Food Allergy Free Trick-or-Treating on Halloween

There is nothing like a holiday or celebration to really highlight just how much having food allergies as a kid stinks. Halloween is definitely one of those. Not only can our kiddo's really not eat anything out of their candy bags but there are some of us who have munchkins that can't even go Trick-or-Treating because of a chance encounter with a peanut butter cup.

So I had an idea. And yes, I am the very FIRST person to ever think of this. So please sit down to admire my brilliance.

You did note the sarcasm right? I realize sometimes I think that it comes across but it doesn't and I don't want anyone actually believing that I think I'm the first person to come up with this. Not that I stole the idea from somewhere or something but I just figure that surely this has been done. You know?

Now that you have basked in my intellectual prowess we can move on to the idea.
Trick-or-Treating with no food.

Hit up Oriental Trading Company for a 50 gallon drum of those fun little prizes they give away at carnivals. Put those in the Trick-or-Treat bowls instead of candy. Families that want to participate in a Food Allergy Free Trick-or-Treat could post this sign on their doors. Organizations could use it too. How much fun would a Trunk-or-Treat be with only toys as giveaways instead of junk food? Parents with kids without food allergies would love this too! No month long debate about how many pieces of candy they can have every night. Instead a bag full of cheap toys to play with.

So please feel free to grab this poster from this blog post or send me an email at funkyfoodtrisha@yahoo.com and I will email you the jpeg. I am intending this poster to represent Trick-or-Treating that has NO food present. But people make mistakes so if you see this sign double check before you let your kiddo dive into the vat 'o goodies.

I do need to brag on my friend, Ronica Castro. She is an extremely talented graphic designer who did my new Funky Food logo(check out the Facebook Page) and she generously donated her time and skills to make me the Food Allergy Free Trick-or-Treat poster. Check out her webpage for more details on her business! ronicacastro.com

Want to do something special for your kiddo with food allergies? Try making homemade lollipops! They are crazy easy and can be made entirely out of cane sugar or honey.

Candy Recipe
Corn-free Corn Syrup Recipe
Candy Coloring Recipe

Foods that Cause Inflammation

When L was under 3, we were still working hard to heal his tummy. Fortunately he wasn't sleeping much during this time period, so I had plenty of time to ponder our situation while pacing back and forth. Multiple times, each and every night.

I concluded that if food was causing his tummy to freak out, then food may also be what helps it to heal. So I set out to find all those foods that cause inflammation. Here's what I discovered:

Sugar is bad.
Very, very bad. Especially that pretty white kind that we bake with and is in practically everything. And in some things that it really doesn't need to be in. Like deli meat or hotdogs. Why on earth is there sugar in hotdogs?!?!? I was faced with a dilemma though. L couldn't eat a huge list of things but refined sugar wasn't one of them. Sugar is one of the least allergenic foods. So why shouldn't I let this kiddo eat his weight in Smarties? Because they cause inflammation. His little tummy was horribly inflamed. Adding sugar into that would only make it worse in the long run even if it satisfied his need to eat temporarily.

Fried Foods
I know you knew that one already. Don't fry stuff. It's bad for ya'll!

Trans Fats
Same deal as fried foods. The good news is that most of us are having to make everything from scratch anyway and trans fats hide in processed foods.

Red Meat
Okay, not all red meat. Just the cheap kind that's easy to find at the store. You want to avoid meat raised on a feed-lot. Find a local butcher and develop a relationship with him/her. You want grass-fed, organic, grazing, hang out in the grass, hormone-free, happy cow meat.

Oils
Again, not all oils. And most of the one's to avoid are probably on your "no" list anyway. Avoid polyunsaturated oils like grapeseed, safflower, and sunflower oils.

Refined Grains
This is that bag of flour on the shelf that reads "bleached". Again, here we are lucky having a house full of kids with food allergies. We are forced to by whole grains because the unique grains our kids can eat aren't typically processed. Buy the good stuff!

Coming soon(hopefully) the follow-up post to this one--Foods that Reduce Inflammation

The Birth of Josephine and My Special Friends

Willow Tree Angel of Mine Figure

I rarely go off topic. It's pretty much my crazy children and food allergies. But this is so worth it.

I was part of a gaggle of women that got together for playdates when our oldest children were toddlers. We did everything together. Parks, museums and my favorite, playdates at our homes. They were mornings filled with little people running around, babies being passed mom to mom and mounds of macaroni and cheese, Earl Grey Tea, and friendship. Great stuff.

Years went by and one of those mom's, Tamara, decided she needed another baby. But she wasn't able to carry another baby(long story that is definitely hers to tell). She and her husband decided to explore surrogacy. Which is where something amazing happened. Our dear friend, Logan offered to be the surrogate.

Nine months, and a truly beautiful water birth later and I would like to introduce you to Josephine, and the two families who came together to bring her into this world! Congratulations to all!

Meet Josephine and my amazing friends!