Going Gluten Free- Part 4

This was, and still is, the hardest part for me.  Playing with gluten free baking ingredients.  

I'm going to be really honest with you here; I struggle with trying new foods.  I like the foods and textures that I grew up eating.  All of these other things and textures kind of scared me!  

However, I wasn't going to show that fear to my kids.  I slapped on a smile and bought a small fortune of baking ingredients.  

I decided that the easiest thing to do would be to find one or two recipes and play around in the kitchen a few days a week.  I firmly believe that treats are just that, treats, and so we only have them in the house once or twice a month.  However, I did not want to be scrambling around at the last minute if I needed a special dish!

I went to Google and found a banana bread recipe and a brownie recipe.  These are our two favorites so I wanted to have a good recipe for both.  

Well the banana bread came out "okay" but the brownies were a disaster! 

I have actually not really found a brownie recipe that we love but I will keep hunting until I do. 

 I have really learned to experiment more in the kitchen and accept failure as it comes, and trust me I have made some seriously nasty stuff.  However, I have actually made some delicious dishes as well! 

Next week I will share our favorite gluten free desert with you!

Kam's Story

 
My firstborn, Kamron, was born in April of 2005.
He was the first grandchild on both sides of the family and to my husband and I, he was perfection.
When Kamron was three he was diagnosed with Asthma.  We had already spent most of his life talking to the pediatrician about food allergies but hadn't had him tested because we were told that he would outgrow them.  He also had Eczema and some mood swings. 
Finally when he was five I pushed and had him tested for allergies.  We went to a specialist and did the back scratch test.  He was found to be allergic to every tree and grass near us as well as soy.  (The only food on the test was soy, milk, and eggs.)  I honestly didn't think that the soy would be that big of a deal to take him off of...and then I looked at the back of every cracker package at the store...and I may or may not have cried in the middle of the snack aisle at the grocery store. 
After a month of really watching what my son ate and keeping him on allergy medicine Kamron wasn't having serious outbreaks.  He was occasionally having random asthma attacks and so the allergist and I talked about testing him for other food allergies but the allergist said it would be better to do an elimination diet.  I was gearing up to start playing with his diet but Kamron, ever the firstborn, took matters into his own hands...
He collapsed in the middle of PetCo and was rushed to Children's Hospital via ambulance.  No parent can describe the feeling of helplessness as she watches her child struggle to stay coherent in an ambulance flying down the highway.  As I sat in the hospital praying for my son waiting for my husband to arrive I just knew that he had cancer or some other life threatening illness.  Instead I found out that the ER Physician had no answers for me except that it was not cancer or many other illnesses that he was tested for.
The next day we went to our family doctor and found out that Kamron had a small heart murmur that he would outgrow but he had an irregular heartbeat.  We went on to see two child cardiologists  and had a follow up with the allergist.  In a nutshell, Kamron's asthma and different allergies caused his heart to beat erratically and make him pass out.
From several different books I read we decided to first go off of wheat.  After a month I had a different child!  He could play without getting seriously exhausted, he was not as moody, and his Eczema was clearer!
The next thing I did was to slowly wean him off of processed sugar and artificial dyes.  This was honestly a little bit harder and something we all struggle with, however the end result was well worth it.  I was able to take him off of his allergy medicine and he did not get sick during Spring in Texas!!!  
I am not saying that taking your children off of soy, gluten, processed sugars, and artificial dyes will heal your kids problems but I would definitely try it!

NOTHING IN THIS BLOG POST SHOULD TAKE THE PLACE OF SEEING A MEDICAL DOCTOR! 
***Picture is courtesy of Oh My! Photography***