sugar free ideas

There is so much research lately about how bad sugar is, and not just high fructose corn syrup, but regular old sugar! Combine that with the latest research on food dyes and I'm pretty much anti-candy (I was before anyway, but this solidifies it)! Of course, my kids ate way too much candy on Easter, but they really don't eat candy otherwise. I also try to limit their general sugar intake... like sugary oatmeal, yogurt, etc. Luckily, they don't have an expectation that they are getting dessert after every meal. If they're still hungry after dinner, they can have something sweet, but I've come up with a few sugar free options and I don't mean fake sugar, just sugar free.

Last night they had the Trader Joe's greek yogurt with strawberries and honey drizzled over it - they were skeptical, but they ate some of it!

My latest favorite is a new gluten free/dairy free recipe I made up -

- 1 1/4 cup almond flour
- 1/4 cup peanut butter
- 1/8 cup honey
- 1/8 cup maple syrup
- 1 TBS grapeseed or olive oil
- 1/2 tsp celtic sea salt

Mix everything together, roll into 2 inch balls and press down a little bit, bake on parchment paper at 350 for 8-10 minutes - you don't want them to get too brown. They taste just like peanut butter cookies!

Another favorite for the kids is apple slices with peanut butter dip (tablespoon of peanut butter, little bit of honey and some almond milk to thin it out)

Obviously, if kids have sugar every once in awhile, it's not a big deal. I just cringe at the kids that eat candy and drink pop everyday!

quick post!

Once again, I am too busy for this blog. Hopefully after April 18th (whatever happened to April 15th?!) I will have some more time. I just wanted to post this quick link for an amazing gluten free banana bread.

Also, turns out that it is dairy free too - bonus! I literally could not believe how well it turned out - delicious! I used Bob's Red Mill GF flour mix. I'm sure you can use whatever GF flour you have.

Looking forward to spring, but not all the pesticides that are being sprayed in my neighborhood. I asked my doctor what his opinion is on spraying your lawn and he said "Absolutely not!" Pesticides cause cancer, thyroid disorders, etc... So, do your research before you start spraying your lawn and house for pests!

Gotta run - tax season is calling my name :(

oh, my poor kidneys

Why, oh why, do I have to have kidney problems when I am pregnant? Seriously, I'm looking for advice. Last weekend, I woke up at two in the morning to a weird stomach ache, which then turned into a painful cramping, which led me to the hospital. Since I'm 6 months pregnant, I was whisked up to the maternity floor and diagnosed with a kidney infection. A week of antibiotics later, I am better, however, I fear that I am going to have a kidney stone attack.

When I was pregnant with my son, the same thing happened. I woke up in the middle of the night, went to the hospital and found out I had a kidney infection. Fast forward to three weeks after my son was born - I'm having a kidney stone attack that was more painful than his birth! So, you can see why I am fearful that I will have another attack in the future.

I have been drinking straight cranberry juice and eating cranberry pills, I don't even know if this will help prevent a stone?

Any advice?

Thanks :)

best thing since sliced bread

Oh, bread... How everyone loves thee. My husband, however, has that unfortunate little disease called celiac - you know, the one where if you eat bread you're stuck in the bathroom for a long time?! It took forever and a day for him to figure out that gluten was the culprit, however, as soon as he eliminated it from his diet, his life changed. At first, gluten free feels overwhelming and unpractical! However, it's been 5 years or so, so we're pretty used to it and luckily, it seems like the rest of the world is starting to catch on. They even have a large gluten free menu at The Hill!

There have been a couple of products that are really great and I just wanted to share.

First, we recently discovered Udi's Gluten Free Bread. To say that this bread is good is an understatement. It is definitely the closest thing to real bread that we have tried. My husband remarks that you don't even need to toast it/turn it into a panini to make it taste good. They also sell pizza crust, muffins and bagels.



Have you ever tried to make any of those casserole recipes you had growing up? For example, Chicken Divan, one of my husband's favorites. Well, it virtually impossible when you have to use a non-condensed gluten free cream of mushroom soup and then attempt to thicken it with cornstarch and Campbell's has wheat flour in it, not to mention monosodium glutamate and soy protein. You can imagine the excitement when I found Pacific Natural Foods Condensed Cream of Mushroom soup. Not only is it gluten free, but it's organic and doesn't have all the gross ingredients that Campbell's does!



Pizza - such a pain when you are gluten free - sure you can make it at home, but don't you miss ordering pizza?! We have found Passport Pizza , Buddy's Pizza and Uno's Chicago Grill all offer gluten free pizza. Passport Pizza even makes gluten free breadsticks!

These are the three recent finds for us that have made a big difference. Please let me know if you have any other questions about gluten free products and hopefully I can help! Happy eating :)

Where have I been?!?!

Well, it's been exactly four months since my last post - my apologies!! I actually considered not doing this anymore because I have been so busy lately. My daughter started preschool, which surprisingly is adding to my busyness, probably because I'm completely OCD and feel the need to be involved as much as possible. My son is 18 months old and the highlight of his day is making messes and did I mention, I'm 5 months pregnant? So overall, I guess I've been too tired to even think of updating this. However, that being said, I haven't been too tired to obsessively read other people's blogs, which led me to this gem

http://fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com/

Um, I'm in love! Thank god, my children don't appear to show signs of any food allergies. I did avoid giving both of them dairy for the first year of the their life and I don't give them soy protein at all... ever! So, I think that helps their little immune systems/digestive systems develop well so that they can digest dairy eventually. They don't drink milk, they don't really like it. Occassionally, they will have a glass here and there, but we are not the type of family that forces milk drinking at dinner. It's just hard to avoid dairy products when you have toddlers... grilled cheese, macaroni and cheese, scrambled eggs with cheese... the list goes on. We don't eat that food on a daily basis, but it definitely pops up in their diet. I'm just glad they can digest it.

Additionally, this winter, they have only had one (knock on wood) cold/cough. They don't run around with runny noses constantly and I feel that overall they are really healthy. If they had spent the last 4 months with constant runny noses/ear infections/croup/pneumonia (like a lot of kids do) then we would be 100% dairy free. I'm very thankful for their health.

I feel like this is another "anti-dairy" post, which is what one of my previous posts was and I've really only written on this blog like 5 times? Sorry to be repetitive! I just wanted to share this link too

http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/breastfeeding/calltoactiontosupportbreastfeeding.pdf

Alright - hopefully I can post more often, I guess that requires getting up at 6:00 am before the kids wake up, but whatever works!

The sun will come out... in April :(

Well, sad to say, winter is upon us, which means cold and flu season is right around the corner. Now that my daughter is in preschool, she's even more susceptible to germs. One of the best defenses against colds and the flu is Vitamin D! Since the sun is long gone until spring, the next best thing is Biotecs Research Bio-D Mulsion. You can purchase on healthdesigns.com.



I swear by this!! My doctor gave it to me last year and as soon as I started giving it to my daughter, she stopped getting a runny nose. There are two different doses, 400 IU and 2000 IU, at the recommendation of my doctor, I give my 3 year old 800 IU's per day and my 1 year old 400 IU's per day. You have to be careful because excess Vitamin D can cause health problems, so I would recommend consulting your pediatrician before giving it to your kids, but seriously consider this for yourself and your kids!

So busy!!!!

I know I haven't updated this blog in over a month. I've been so busy - my son turned one this month, my daughter started preschool, my sister is getting married tomorrow, I'm busy at work.... I literally feel so swamped, but I'm hoping that after this weekend I can get back into blogging. I think about potential topics everyday. I really want to discuss artificial sweeteners, vaccines and kid friendly dinners. So stay with me my loyal followers - all four of you :) I'll be back next week!

Have a great weekend!