Chocolate banana

Since being on maternity leave I get about 30 - 60 minutes to myself a day and I usually spend it watching the food network channel.  I love watching Giada at home even though almost everything she makes has meat and cheese in it, but I just love watching her cook in her beautiful home with that unbelievable view.

She actually had this banana recipe that is very allergy friendly and so ridiculously delicious!  Best part is, it's so quick to make. 

Directions:
- Melt butter in a pan (good amount)
- Slice the banana in half and then again in half so it looks like a sandwich
- Coat each piece in brown sugar and cinnamon
- Cook the banana until the sugar begins to harden (about a minute on each side)
- Melt some chocolate (enjoy life chocolate chips) and pour over the banana

Btw - I'm totally impressed with how this photo came out! watch out!

French Toast (milk/soy/egg/nut free)

Pinterest seriously rocks! I constantly find awesome allergy friendly recipes on it.  Most recent one was this amazing french toast recipe.  I can't believe how yummy it is, it can almost pass for desert.  It is milk, soy, egg, nut free (you can probably make it gluten free also with the right GF bread).

Ingredients and directions are taken from the "Cook It Allergy Free" blog with some alterations.

Ingredients:
3 ripe bananas
1 Cup of dairy free milk
2 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp vanilla
2 Tbsp flax meal
6-8 slices of bread
2 Tbsp Oil or butter for skillet (skillet must be greased in between batches)


Directions:
1.  Blend bananas, milk, cinnamon, vanilla, and flax, in blender
2.  Gently dip bread slices into the mix, coating both sides well.
3.  Fry in oil until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes per side.
4. Serve with maple syrup and fresh fruit

I'm drooling looking at this photo!  The bananas have a natural sweetness to them that you really don't need too much syrup, if any.  

My food allergy pinterest board

Aiden's allergy results..

We lost soy! I am absolutely thrilled to finally not have to worry about soy products being dangerous for Aiden!!!

Unfortunately we have gained tree nut allergies, specifically walnuts and almonds.  We are completely shocked, especially with the almond allergy because Aiden eats Almond butter right out of the container daily. The levels for walnuts is pretty high but almonds is low

Normally we would continue giving him almond butter with such low numbers but we will not because for a couple of months his left nipple started to swell (that is our sign he's reacting to something) and his scalp started having some eczema.  We couldn't figure out what it was but now it all makes sense.  One week with no almond butter and his nipple is no longer swollen.  Our allergist said that any sort of swelling can mean more than the numbers itself so we need to avoid it.  Bummer!

But knowledge is power!!! knowing where we stand gives me a bit of peace of mind.

I know that numbers don't always mean everything, but his numbers to egg and peanut has gone down which makes me so happy.  They are still high, but they are LOWER than before!! I have hope he will outgrow most of these allergies (and hopeful he outgrows all of them).

My awesome boys

Dylan at 2 months old

Aiden at 2 years and 4 months old (he is just too cool!)

Update

I'm completely neglecting my blog (the internet for that matter). Every time I have some time to myself, I'm either doing the laundry, cleaning the fridge, cooking, baking or checking off my to-do list of 100 other things.

Today I had the pleasure of both boys sleeping at the same time FOR TWO HOURS!! and instead of taking a nap myself, I decided to make chocolate chip muffins, blueberry muffins and a banana bread. Shouldn't I at least try to loose my baby weight and not gain more? 


I recently purchased a book by Dr. Mcdougall (Quick and easy cookbook).  He's a vegan and his recipes are starch based.  I was surprised to find so many allergy friendly recipes.  A lot of his recipes calls for rice milk and most of his recipes are actually perfect for Aiden.  Last week I made his creamy mushroom soup and today I changed up the recipe a bit and made it a creamy mushroom, broccoli and potato soup. It was really really good. I couldn't believe it that it's even possible to make a soup this creamy without any cream.   I will post the recipe I used next week because I will definitely make it again.

He also has a ton of great breakfast ideas. I'm excited to try his milk/soy/egg free french toast!  it actually sounds delicious.

And since I can't leave a post without a photo. Here are my boys...

Are they even brothers?  One has black hair and dark skin and the other has blond hair and super light skin.  I wonder what a third boy would look like (my sister in law does have red hair!)

It has been a lot better being home with a new baby. Aiden is helping out a lot with his little brother and even checks up on him and confirms he's "A-OK" from time to time.   

I cried daily when Dylan came home because I didn't know how to manage my time between them.. but it only took a few weeks to get settled in and adjust to the new normal.  He no longer cares when I nurse him (he only announces it each time as "Dylan eating boobies!").  I love them! 

It's a boy

December 15th at 8:13 AM I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy named Dylan.  9lbs 2oz and 19.5 in long.  Not as big as Aiden (9lbs 14oz) but still big.  Born via c-section

It has not been easy. I knew having two kids would be hard, but I never though it would be THIS hard.  I cried for the first seven days because I couldn't figure out how to manage my time between the boys.  Aiden was super jealous and I had Dylan attached to my boob most of the day (cluster feeding sucks).  

Today Dylan is two weeks old and it is getting easier. I'm mastering nursing and making breakfast, lunch and dinner all at the same time.  Yesterday I was home alone with my two boys for a good portion of the day and managed to clean two rooms, do two loads of laundry, make a banana bread and test out a new soy, milk, egg, nut free chocolate cake recipe (still trying to tweak it) and to top it all, I made a pretty yummy dinner (pasta with veggies and meatballs for my husband and "beanballs" for myself with a side of garlic bread)...

Last week I decided to go off dairy because Dylan was showing some skin issues and possible reflux.  His skin would turn bright red on his scalp and face and sometimes had little white pimples on his chin, cheeks and nose after nursing.  His pediatrician doesn't think it's an allergy but I can't help to worry.  He has been a little better so I'm assuming the diet may be working.  I hope and pray he does not have allergies, but if he does, i hope and pray even more that we find out before he has a reaction like his brother.  

Here are my two handsome men.. It's amazing how different they look (one has blond hair and one has black hair).  Love them.  Can't wait until they start to play together and torture each other :)

Simple Pancakes

Can this get any simpler? 

(milk, soy, egg, peanut free)

• Chocolate Almond milk (rice chocolate milk works just as good)
• HeartSmart Bisquick (white box)
• EnerG Egg replacer

 

It's pretty much the only pancakes I have been making.  It's simple, easy and oh so delicious!

 

I ran out of my oats milk one day and gave chocolate milk a try.    

White Bean Burger (top 8 free)

I have been making bean burgers for a long times. I always play with the ingredients and until today, I haven't found a keeper.  I finally came across THIS video by Emeril Green and have been blown away on how delicious this burger is. It never occurred to me to try making it with white beans, I have always made my burgers with black beans.

The video does not tell you measurements of anything so I pretty much just added as per my liking.  I also wanted to limit my work so I purchased one of those small containers of minced celery / carrot / onion containers from Trader Joes.  You can pretty much omit or add what ever ingredient you want (except for the beans and bread ingredient)

Ingredients...

• 1 can of white beans (completely drained)
• Minced garlic
• Minced onion
• Sweet bell pepper
• Minced carrot
• Minced Celery
• Salt
• Pepper
• White flour (I used panko.. but I'm sure anything GF will work also as long as it soaks up the moisture)
• Olive Oil

Directions...

• Mash the white beans with a fork and leave some of the texture
• Emeril does not cook the veggies first, but I did because I like them softer.
• Add the flour / panko / GF flour until the mixture becomes a bit sticky
• Mold into patties and cook until they start turning color.  
• Mine barely kept shape so next time I'll use a little more panko breading

I added some sliced avocados on top of the burger and made a sandwich (on 7 grain bread) and it was absolutely amazing!  Even my meat eating husband was enjoying it.  My son not so much. He gags from beans and acts like he is being poisoned. He has been tested for lentil / bean allergies and always comes back negative.  I'm assuming he just doesn't like the texture of beans.

I made so many bean burgers in the past and never attempted to make a bean burger out of white beans. So much tastier! and looks better also.