Miracle Cure and a rice sweetened condensed milk.

So...I finally bit the bullet and bought some McArthur Complete Skincare cream while not cheap at $49.95AUD it has been promoted on current affair programmes in Australia and receiving glowing testimonial after glowing testimonial. My son's eczema gives him so much grief that hubby and I have finally decided to bite the bullet and fight this battle head on.

While my gorgeous boy has never once complained about his eczema and takes it in his stride it breaks my heart to see complete strangers give him concerned looks when his face is covered in red marks. We have invested in a quality vacuum cleaner, bought a cotton dust mite mattress cover which completely encompasses the mattress and given him weekly diluted bleach baths to fight staph. infection. If his eczema doesn't show some improvement after all of that I'm not sure where to turn next.

My next step is to note the progress his eczema shows here on this blog. Today was day one and I will keep it going for 2 weeks to give it ample opportunity to make a positive difference on his skin. For those interested here is a list of the ingredients: Carica papaya, Aqua (Water), Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Glyceryl Stearate, Cetearyl Alcohol, Glycerin, Simmondsia chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Coco-Caprylate, Magnesium Aluminium Silicate, Glyceryl Stearate Citrate, Lavender officinalis, Lavendula angustifola x latifolia, Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Gluconolactone, Xanthan Gum, Glyceryl Caprylate, Beeswax (Cera Alba), Sodium Citrate, Sodium Benzoate, Carrageenan, Citric Acid.
Contains natural ingredients and preservatives. Contains no added parabens or added sulphates.

What appealed to me about this particular product was the fact that it is made on a different line from McArthur's other products, one of which contains olive oil and the other a nut oil, neither of which we can use on my son's skin due to his allergies. So wish us luck on this journey and keep your fingers crossed we see some improvements!



Rice sweetened condensed milk

3 cups rice milk
2 cups sugar, white (I used brown)
3 tablespoons pure cornflour
1 teaspoon vanilla
Simmer milk, vanilla and sugar in saucepan, stir constantly for 20 minutes.
Combine cornflour and a little cold water and mix into the milk mixture, stir slowly until mixture returns to boil.
Simmer for 5 minutes.
Place in sterilised jars in fridge and use as required.

If it doesn't thicken after 5 minutes reduce the heat leave it in the pan and reduced it down until it becomes more syrupy.

I will post a lollycake recipe in my next blog.

There but for the grace of God go I

I heard some dreadful news today and I can honestly say that stories like these cut close to the bone these days. A young girl died at her school from an allergic reaction, feel free to read more here. My heart goes out to her family and friends as no child should ever die at school. Actually, if I had my way no child would ever die, I personally feel that reaching adulthood should be a given. To quote inaccurately from The Lord of the Rings Trilogy "No parent should ever have to bury their child."

I suppose in my case I feel this twice over as my parents had a daughter before I who they lost before she reached one year of age and the grief that stayed with my mother for the rest of her days was immeasurable. She never said a word to us about it but she would take herself into her room on my sister's birthday every year and just have some time to herself. She blamed herself for the loss of her daughter for the rest of her life and I find this devastating. No one should have to go through that.

What makes me even sadder about the loss of this little girl is that the blame game has already started. Naturally the parents have questions about what went wrong, but instead of getting those answers there is a undercurrent of blame being placed at the parent's feet. I don't know all the ins and outs, I don't even live in the same country as this little girl, but the one thing I know in my heart of hearts, something I can say unequivocally is that my husband and I take better care of our children than anyone else. I can say this because I am also a teacher and while I cared about those students in my care, the feelings I had for them are completely over shadowed by the love and care I display for my own children. So don't go blaming the parents of this child because I can guarantee you nobody and nothing can make them feel any worse than they already do. What ifs will be thought about from dawn til dawn and wounds will run deeper than any that have been before. Instead show them support, love and empathy. Walk a mile in their shoes.

Also learn from this devastating situation. Talk about it openly with others, share strategies with parents whose children don't have food allergies. WE as the adults are advocates for our children and no matter how many eyes are rolled, faces are pulled behind our backs or battles we have to face there will be people who are there to support us, who want to learn more and who will champion our cause as well. Please speak up and out for the little people who so often don't have the words to say it themselves. And last but not least hug your wee ones a bit closer to you tonight because there but for the grace of God...

Facebook

I can't believe I was saying it was hot in my last blog. Just two days ago we were almost hitting 40 degrees. I'm not complaining though, although it is nice to have a far cooler day today with a lovely breeze.

Christmas and New years have been and gone and I have been completely preoccupied so the blogging has taken a back seat. I must get back into it though as I have a couple of great ideas up my sleeve and some recipes that have been very successful so am busting to share them with you.

I am completely addicted to Facebook. So that will also have to take some of the blame for why I have been so slack with the blogging. I managed to break my addiction there for a while but I have met some great people on there and the support group for allergies is second to none. They have helped me stay relatively sane during this whole allergy journey and there are a great number of knowledgeable people on there who share their ideas, opinions and experiences with a sense of humour and a concern for all involved. It is through Facebook (and my local library) that I have managed to gather a great variety of recipe ideas and names of companies who cater for those of us with allergies.

I won't lie, not all of my trials with recipes are a success but if you don't try you never know. My first Gingerbread house experience was one such failure. I took it into my head that making a gingerbread house would be a great idea for the kids so went out and invested in a gingerbread cutter kit. I'm not a great one for following instructions and in this case I should have as I made the walls using the roof cutter and by the time I realised my mistake I was well and truly over making ginger bread anything ( the 4 batches of gingerbread men probably didn't help in this circumstance). So the house was doomed to failure. The kids didn't care, they decorated away and ate to their hearts galore. In fact I think it was great fun for them and I have committed myself to doing it all over again next year. Stupidly threatening to compete with some friends whose houses are all architectural extravaganzas compared to mine damn my competitive nature!

I'm disappointed I didn't make brandy snaps this Christmas with coconut cream (with a touch of vanilla) but I may make them for a special dessert and surprise the family. The brandy snap recipe is in fact very similar to the gingerbread recipe, perhaps that's why I lacked the desire. If you would like to give it a go check out the recipe.


Gluten Free, egg free and dairy free brandy snaps

70g rice bran oil
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup golden syrup
1/2 cup Orgran Multipurpose gluten free flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger

Directions

Make the brandy snap dough the day before you need it. Store in the fridge.
Place butter, syrup and sugar in pan over low/medium heat until butter is melted. Stir.
Add flour and ginger.

Preheat oven to 180°C.
Line baking trays with nonstick paper.
Place 3 teaspoon scoops on each tray leave space between as they do spread out.
Bake 5 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove from oven; let stand for 1 minute.
Wrap around large wooden spoon handle till set.
Store in an air-tight container with layers of baking paper between.

Serve with coconut/vanilla whipped cream. Divine!!!

33 degrees!

Phoar it is hot out there. We just went to the local council spring festival and I tell ya it was hot out!! Thankfully I started a mango sorbet last night and chucked it in the freezer this morning. So looking forward to it as I have had a couple of tastes when stirring and oh my gosh I think it is the best thing I have EVER made.

Here's the recipe, I can't remember where I pinched it from but once again I have adapted it to suit us:

2 large ripe mangoes.
1/2 cup of caster sugar
1 lime

Cut the mango flesh into small chunks and put in a bowl with the sugar and lime juice.
Stir, cover and leave overnight in the fridge to draw out the juice.
Puree until smooth.
Taste for sweetness and add extra caster sugar if you think it needs it.
Top up the puree with water to get to 500mls.
Put into the freezer (if it is freezer safe).
After 1 hour give the mix a thorough stir.
Whisk again after a couple of hours.
When the sorbet is nearly firm give one last whisk and put back in the freezer to set.

Yum!!!

Calcium filled foods

What a stunner of a day!! Just took the kids to the park and boy is it warm. It's days like these that call for a salad for dinner and good old Jamie Oliver has provided another one that is awesome for allergy suffers. We added some nitrate free bacon and mmm mmmmm. It was delicious. Am planning on having it with cooked chicken breast tonight. I LOVE SUMMER! Although technically Summer has not yet arrived.

Before I post that I just want to briefly address calcium intake for breast feeding mothers or for people with dairy allergies. A western diet depends heavily on dairy for our calcium intake milk, yoghurt, cheese and the like feature heavily in people's minds when calcium is mentioned. So what do you do when you can't eat dairy for whatever reason? Well I have pilfered from other websites and hopefully what I have come up with is of some help.

First a table with the recommended daily requirements:

Table 1: Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) for Calcium [1]

Age	Male	Female	Pregnant	Lactating
0–6 months*	200 mg	200 mg
7–12 months*	260 mg	260 mg
1–3 years	700 mg	700 mg
4–8 years	1,000 mg	1,000 mg
9–13 years	1,300 mg	1,300 mg
14–18 years	1,300 mg	1,300 mg	1,300 mg	1,300 mg
19–50 years	1,000 mg	1,000 mg	1,000 mg	1,000 mg
51–70 years	1,000 mg	1,200 mg
71+ years	1,200 mg	1,200 mg

* Adequate Intake (AI)

(http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/calcium)

And now some non dairy sources of calcium:

Health diaries has come up with this:

Here are 15 foods high in calcium that don't come from a cow:

Sesame Seeds
A quarter cup of sesame seeds has 351 mg calcium.

Spinach
A cup of boiled spinach has 245 mg.

Collard Greens
A cup of boiled collard greens has 266 mg.

Blackstrap Molasses
One tablespoon has about 137 mg.

Kelp
One cup of raw kelp has 136 mg.

Tahini
Two tablespoons of raw tahini (sesame seed butter) have 126 mg.

Broccoli
Two cups of boiled broccoli have 124 mg.

Swiss Chard
One cup of boiled chard has 102 mg.

Kale
One cup of boiled kale has 94 mg.

Brazil Nuts
Two ounces of Brazil nuts (12 nuts) have 90 mg.

Celery
Two cups of raw celery have 81 mg.

Almonds
One ounce of almonds (23 nuts) has 75 mg.

Papaya
One medium papaya has 73 mg.

Flax Seeds
Two tablespoons of flax seeds have 52 mg.

Oranges
One medium orange has 52 mg.

http://www.healthdiaries.com/eatthis/15-non-dairy-foods-high-in-calcium.html

Other sources I have stumbled across are cinnamon. Two teaspoons of ground cinnamon have 56mg (yay for apple and cinnamon muffins).

Dates Medjool (another personal fave) have 15.36mg per date

Dried figs (another yum!) 13mg per fig

Prunes (not quite as yum) 75mg in one cup

Kiwifruit 26mg in one fruit

Dried Apricots (I suggest the ones without preservatives) 71.5mg in one cup

Cooked rhubarb (rhubarb and dairy free custard anyone???) 348mg in one cup.

So there are plenty of other ways to get calcium. I also know that watercress is a good source. While searching I also came across this little nugget of information:

"Calcium Absorption and Excretion

Calcium is easily absorbed from milk due to the presence of lactose sugar, but large amounts of protein cause calcium to be lost in the urine. As milk is an animal protein, a diet consisting of large amounts of dairy also means large amounts of calcium are lost from the body.

The more meat and dairy consumed, the greater the need for extra calcium (the RNI for calcium is set at 1000 mg for US adults). Other foods that cause calcium loss and increase the need for calcium include those high in fat and salt, as well as alcoholic, caffeinated and carbonated drinks." (http://www.healthwriter.co.uk/calcium-osteoporosis.html)

Which just goes to show that dairy isn't the answer to all of our calcium woes. If like me however, you are still concerned about not getting enough calcium in your diet as you may not want to eat fish cakes and dried prunes all day every day then consider a supplement. I use Thompson's liquid calcium which is available through most health stores in NZ and Australia. I pierce it for the kids and squirt it into their cereal or pancakes in the morning. My son has got to the stage where he will ask for it if it is not there.

Now just before I run off and dance to some music with my kids (great exercise when it is too hot to go outdoors) here is that Jamie Oliver recipe I was raging about before. I've changed it a tad as the measuring system was really weird and getting you to add 311.84g of pasta for example so feel free to play around with it. I did.

Jamie Oliver's DIVINE pasta salad (my words, not his)

• 300 g small shell pasta
• 3 garlic cloves
• 250 g yellow cherry tomatoes
• 250 g cherry tomatoes
• 100 g black olives, pitted
• 20 g fresh chives
• 50 g fresh basil
• 1 medium cucumber
• 60 ml white wine vinegar
• 100 ml extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt
• fresh ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil.
2. Throw in the pasta and garlic and simmer for about 5 minutes or until al dente, and drain.
3. Put the garlic to one side for the dressing.
4. Put the pasta in a bowl.
5. Chop the tomatoes, olives, chives, basil and cucumber into pieces about half the size of the pasta and add to the bowl.
6. Squash the garlic cloves out of their skins and pound in a pestle and mortar.
7. Add the vinegar, oil and seasoning.
8. Drizzle this over the salad, adding a little more seasoning to taste.

http://www.food.com/recipe/jamie-olivers-best-pasta-salad-39345#ixzz1aivAMl68

After Dinner Request

Well, here we are at the end of MD's first week of kindy and I have no idea what I was worried about. He has been excited every night before he is due to set off and the teachers have been fabulous. The
other thing I have found lovely are the other parents. I'm sure there will be plenty of other things I will worry about throughout
his life, but thankfully this first hurdle has been cleared.

I confess I am a mother who does not worry about the use of bribery and corruption, in fact I feel it is a very useful tool to be able to pull out from my parenting tool belt. To encourage my kids to eat all of their dinner (and more importantly the veges that they leave until last and then conveniently claim to be full) we have a treat at the end of the meal. Sometimes it is a couple of jelly beans, sometimes it is an icecream sundae. Tonight I was surprised when MD turned to me and said "I would like a hot chocolate after dinner tonight." I was more than happy to agree to this because it kills two birds with one stone as my kidlets usually have a glass of rice milk before they go to bed. So hot chocolate it will be...

Hot Chocolate Recipe

Makes 4 servings

4 cups of rice milk (measured from the cups we will have it from)
1 bar of Kinnerton's dairy, egg, nut free chocolate
1 T vanilla extract (optional)
mini marshmallows

Place cups of milk and vanilla into a pot and heat gently.
When warmed added broken up block of Kinnertons and stir until melted.
Put mini marshmallows in bottom of cups, pour over chocolate milk mix.

YUM!!

Kinder tomorrow

Well, the little man starts Kinder tomorrow. It's a very scary thought leaving your anaphylactic child to take the first steps of independence. Not only do you have the regular concerns, will he fit in? Will the other kids play with him? Will he remember his manners when talking to others? Will he remember to eat? But also the others, what if my son touches an allergen and it sets off a reaction? What if he constantly touches his face because he is nervous and sets off a reaction? Are the teacher really prepared enough to deal with an emergency? What if I get "the" phone call?

As much as possible you try to shove these concerns to the back of your head and not allow your child to see your anxieties lest they rub off on him. Instead you pull down his brand new dinosaur back pack and mentally prepare everything you need to have ready in the morning. The epipen case was bought many months back in preparation for this and inside the antihistamine, anapen, syringe and inhaler sit. The forms requested have been filled in by the doctors and a new medic alert has been ordered (after he lost his old one and in a new country you need a new medic alert as I have been told they don't access information from other countries, weird I know).

I even have a little tshirt printed up which reads "I'm a Lion" on the front and on the back it says "please don't feed me..." and lists the food allergies. This won't be worn all of the time, but for the first few days it will serve as a good reminder. Simply colors the t-shirt printing company is where I purchased one of these and they are great! Well worth the money.

He will also be taking with him to school some marshmallow slice it is a firm hit in our household and has been made with both plain rice puffs and Lowan's Cocoa Bombs (I prefer it made with these). So here is the recipe :

Marshmallow Slice

2 cups of gluten free marshmallows
40g of oil (I use rice bran)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups of gluten free rice puffs (bubbles)

Line a 20x20 baking tin with baking paper.
Place the rice puffs in a bowl (preferably glass or metal).
Place the marshmallows and oil in a small pot. Stir constantly until melted over a low element. Once you have removed it from the heat, add the vanilla.
Add the marshmallow mix to the rice puffs and combine well.
Pour into the prepared tin and smooth over.
Place in the fridge to cool and set. When ready cut into squares. You may sprinkle with allergy friendly sprinkles if you like but we don't usually bother as it is yummy as is.