I recently hopped on the pinterest bandwagon and have had fun getting new ideas and inspiration. One such repin was the Snickers Salad. What a great gluten-free way to have some apple dessert this fall! 
(not a remotely safe option for Bryce, however)
Two years ago, practically to the day, an amazing friend surprised me with a birthday treat. Stephanie made gluten-free cupcakes, impeccably decorated, as you can see, for me and 10 of my closest scrapbooking friends:
As if that wasn’t cool enough, Stephanie entered the photo into a contest with Pamela’s Products, since she used their mixes, and WON picture of the month in their December 2009 newletter! And if THAT wasn’t cool enough, she received a care package of all kinds of cake mixes, cookies, and other extras as a prize, and she gave it all to me! So that year, it was happy birthday AND merry Christmas to me! I’ve loved Pamela’s products. The gluten-free gingersnaps are probably my favorite, but everything I’ve tried has been exceptional.
This post is for Amie. After being the first to sample the granola I made today using the recipe from my friend, Veronica’s, blog (here), and demanding the recipe, I thought I’d just go ahead and post it here. Especially for the nut-allergy crowd, finding granola bars without nuts or that “may contain traces of nuts” or at minimum “manufactured in a facility that processes nuts” is challenging. Good luck finding ones that are delicious, inexpensive and safe! So why not make your own? It proved to be much simpler than I guessed and I actually had all the ingredients on hand (since I used coconut oil for Bryce’s birthday treats). Like Veronica says, you can tailor the recipe to suit your own needs and preferences. Work around any food allergy or aversion. It is hard to go wrong, and totally worth a try!
If you missed the link in the text, here it is again!
The summer heat just begs us to eat popsicles, doesn’t it? I’m not crazy about all of the sugar and chemicals in traditional popsicles, and “all-natural” ones are too pricey for me, so this summer I bought some molds with swagbucks (I really do need to post about sb) and we have been making our own. Zachary jotted down this recipe for me he saw on some kid’s show (see how valuable TV time can be):
I love my friend, Marylee’s strawberry sorbet, and it is delish in popsicle form. Her recipe in her words (which I love, because all that delightful personality comes through / And if this is a secret recipe, ML, you’re going to have to find it here and scold me!):
It’s crazy easy to make. For real. Here’s the recipe: 1 lb strawberries, sliced; juice from one lime; 2 TBSP grenadine syrup (you can find it by the alcoholic drink mixes. It contains no alcohol though.), and 2/3-3/4 cup of white sugar. I put that all in a bowl, and use a stick blender (like a Braun) and do a rough chop, then I freeze it. If you don’t have one of those, then just put it in your blender. Just don’t mix it too much. I think it’s better with some discernable fruit bits still in it. (See? Crazy easy!)
And in Texas my mom and Bryce tried out different fruit purees mixed with juice. (He was far more excited about it than this picture depicts; really.)
No matter what you try – it’s cold, it’s easy to make allergy-free, and it’s yum!
At last week at Bryce’s 6-month check-up with the allergist, his doctor suggested attempting to slowly work in small amounts of dairy and egg whites to see how Bryce responds. Because his only reaction before was digestive distress and not a rash or swelling or anything else visible or life-threatening, it’s up to us to initiate and monitor this test to see if his body has matured enough over the last year to handle it.
(The only reason we knew to take him off dairy was after the bloodwork showed a severe histamine response – higher than to all other allergens tested except peanuts. Taking him off turned out to give him a much happier tummy. Now that he is 5 and we’ve given his body a break for a year, we can see if it has matured enough to handle some dairy and egg whites. We’ll do another round of bloodwork in another year.)
We don’t expect him to actually sit down and drink a glass of cow’s milk anytime soon, if ever, but if he has the freedom to have tastes here and there and to enjoy treats with small amounts of butter, milk, or eggs, what a relief that will be! So far he has had a couple bites of cheese or yogurt each day with no issue. I am excited to not buy special bread or be so limited with crackers and other store-bought snacks. First up on his agenda has been to have the pink cake pop he has seen at Starbucks. :)