I’ve only really touched on this briefly on the blog so far but Chloe appears to have multiple allergies. At the moment we are Dairy, Gluten, Egg and Soya Free.. We think there could also be more. Whilst we have seen improvements since cutting out the above, she still has some pretty bad reactions to various ingredients so there is a still a long food battle ahead of us.
The best thing in the last few weeks has been seeing Chloe having a little more of an appetite…for the longest time it seems getting her to eat has been such a struggle but finally she wants it and enjoys it, often holding out her hand saying Ta Mammaaaaaa for more.
Enjoying homemade roast Sweet Potato, Peppers and Chickpea bread at a family members birthday meal recently:
We have been on this allergy journey for about 5 months now and it’s been so difficult – hats off to you who have been doing it for longer than us or have even more allergies. Shopping takes five times longer, meals out are no longer an escape from the house. Even somebody offering to babysit for a few hours can make you stressed out. What if they unknowingly give her something she can’t tolerate?
Without spending an awful lot of money each week there only seems to be one way to get around these products (which are in everything by the way) and that is to cook from scratch. Now this may sound easy for a person who loves to cook but this is a whole new ball game for me. Flours that I’ve never worked with, avoiding simple things like stock cubes or dressings/sauces and it’s made me realise something quite alarming. For a family who eat a lot of completely home made meals we also eat a lot of rubbish. By rubbish I mean products which include ingredients I’ve never heard of with little nutritional goodness. We rarely give the girls chocolate, cake or biscuits unless homemade but you expect dry snacks or even yoghurts to be pretty much ok don’t you?
Think again…in fact after having a huge clear out of our pantry I think this whole family will be having a diet adjustment. Now I’m not going all Delicously Ella on you.. although she does have some pretty amazing recipes but as well as the standard family food and cakes/puddings I share on here there will now be more in the way of health food I guess. Certainly more dairy and gluten free options for those who may be interested in that.
We do still have to have shop bought options for when cooking time is limited and for when out and about and I’ll be sharing our favourites over the coming months.
First to come up on the homemade front will be pumpkin cakes next week and chickpea flour crackers.
Don’t worry there will still be chocolate cakes and cream laden pasta dishes but maybe not all the time anymore because who has the time to cook separate meals for all the family? Not me that’s for sure.
Goodness, that’s a challenge! Sometimes having a big overhaul is a good thing. As you say, it draws attention to some of the stuff you don’t even realise you’re eating. But I also understand the complete chaos of suddenly having to alter your entire way of cooking, especially when your own methods have developed kind of organically over years. I’m not sure where or how I’d even begin with that. Those chickpea crackers look tasty though so I’ll be keeping an eye out for that recipe!