Look who's smiling all the time now! We got out of our bubble this week, and everyone is in a great mood. I am amazed at how the walls can close in on Henry too when he stays home too much. We had a couple play dates, finally found Henry a winter jacket, and had Henry's allergies retested--that brought great news for Henry and his diet!
When Henry was 9 months old he was diagnosed with allergies to dairy, egg and peanut. At two years, Henry outgrew his dairy allergy. Henry is just a few weeks shy of three years old and only 10 months have passed since his last testing so the doctor was skeptical that any changes would result. So when Henry's results for his egg allergy appeared negative this week, there was some excitement and celebration in the room. The doctor looked at me and said, "I guess mom knows best."
For those of you who have never lived with a food allergy or with someone with food allergies, you might wonder why we celebrate the opportunity to eat eggs. This opens up a new relm of food opportunities for Henry, espcially baked goods--muffins, breads, cakes, cookies. Yea, Christmas baking season!!! The small amount of eating out that we do will ease the anxiety of one less food ingredient to worry about. He was also able to receive his first dosage of the seasonal flu vacination. Like every parent out there, we want our kids to be healthy and with the hype of the seasonal flu and H1N1 this year, I can't help but be nervous that it could affect our family, especially Harrison and Henry. Now that Henry can be vacinated, I am less anxious and pleased that he can help protect his little brother by getting vacinated.
We don't let allergies inhibit the things we do. We just have to be cautious. We've found great substitutions, been creative with food preparations, and developed much a much healthier way of eating for Henry (and our family). When food allergies exist, unprocessed food is the way of life. He's so lucky his mom likes to cook! I think our favorite recipe that we've discovered is chocolate cake. Grandma Jeannie calls it "Crazy Cake," probably because everyone is crazy for it! You'd never know what's missing. The best part--you can eat all the cake batter you want because there are no eggs! Here's the recipe:
"Crazy Cake"
3 c flour
2 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 c sugar
6 Tbsp. cocoa
3/4 c vegetable oil
3 Tbsp. vinegar
2 c cold water
Mix all ingredients; make a well then add oil, vinegar and water and mix well. Bake at 350 in a 9x13" pan for 30 minutes, 20 minutes for cupcakes
Our favorite frosting... 1 stick butter, 3 c powdered sugar, a little vanilla and enough water to make a good consistency
Here's a good egg subsititue for a recipe that calls for 1 or 2 eggs. For each egg call for in a recipe, substitue: 1 1/2 Tbsp water, 1 1/2 Tbsp oil, 1 tsp baking power; mixed together
If you can't use the recipe, maybe you can pass it on to someone you know with food allergies.
Alright, here's the latest and greatest on our camera this week. We spent last weekend at my parent's home in Perham MN. The weather was beautiful on Sunday and Saturday was foggy, but the boys were able to make the best of it outside by fishing and enjoying a campfire all-day-long.
Uncle Matt gave Henry a hair cut.
Henry and Papa were putting the bird feeders up for the winter. I really love to watch them together. Even better--evesdropping on their conversation. They were talking about wires...ah, boring. When Henry gave me the update on what they did, his story for the birdfeeder when something like this..."And there is a hole in the birdfeeder because Papa tried to shoot a squirrel. He missed it."Below: Peter, Peter Pumpkin Carver
Go Blue!
Here are some random shots with my boys. Henry actually took this picture, not bad.
What lucky boys!
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