Easter food fun

Happy Easter everyone!
What a lovely time of year with family, friends, fellowship, fun and food.
This is often a tricky time for those with food allergies, trying to juggle through the chocolate mess, find appropriate eats, socialising and escape the season in safety.

I have been sick for the last 2 weeks and although I love cooking and baking have been dreading the baking involved in an allergy Easter. Thankfully I found most of our special Easter bunny chocolate in store and I didn't need to bake near as much as I thought.

I thought I'd share with you what was on the Easter bunnies list this year.

Pictured above is the items that will be appearing over this holiday break.

• Large Kinder hollow eggs for Mummy and Daddy with bonus toys inside for Mr 3 and Miss 2 (Mummy and Daddy wanted something that we could safely eat around Mr 3 without causing him any risk of a reaction. Thankfully some of the Kinder range is safe for nut and egg allergies as we don't have to worry about dairy allergies)
• Woolworth's Macro label  in the health food isle also had a packet of 12 nut free chocolate eggs available so I whipped them up for a egg hunt on Sunday morning :D
• Sweet William chocolate as usual had their bunny shaped Easter chocolates individually wrapped for the munchkins to enjoy too. I also got them each a special  Sweet William rice crackle chocolate Easter bunny.
• Mummy and Daddy could resist and also purchased some small cadbury milk solid eggs kept out of sight and reach for night time when the kids are in bed (as chocolate may contain nuts).

I don't think we will get through all this chocolate and will most likely share it with other family members but it was great to be able to buy all this and know it was safe to have in the house......nothing like seeing your child with a huge chocolate grin and know they are not missing out.

We were invited to a friends house last night for dinner along with another family with dairy allergies and also on the fail safe diet.
Our lovely hosts live a life with no food allergies but are extremely kind and understanding to our needs. All three Mummy's got together and organised the menu, who was to bring what and how to do it to ensure everyone would be safe and happy to make the most out of our night.

Desert was on my list which I love. My cold started getting better a couple of days ago so I was ready and rearing to get in that kitchen and do some baking.

So what do you bake to please a bunch of people with dairy allergies, anaphylaxis to nuts and eggs, four people on a moderate to strict version of the elimination diet and non food allergy friends?
...........this!

If you didn't see my earlier recipe post "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" Chocolate cake click here to view.

This is hands down the best chocolate cake recipe for non allergy and allergy eaters.
It's dairy free, egg free, nut free and safe on the fail safe diet even with the decorations and was enjoyed by all last night.
The cake is decorated with white pascal marshmellows to make the Easter eggs on top, shaved sweet willaim chocolate, sweet willaim chocolate bunnies on the side and safe writing icing brought from the shops.
I figured it was good Friday and we were not going to go without chocolate to share just because of food allergy issues. So this was the answer and as well as tasting devine, EVERYONE got to eat their cake! :D

So what recipes are your staples come Easter time?

allergy free Trick or Treat

Super man and Dragon boy

 A safe Halloween makes a Happy Halloween.
Friendship, fun and food...what more could one want.

For past 2 Halloween's Declan, Thalia and their special friend have shared the fun and frenzy of a allergy free Halloween. This year we even had the delight to welcome a new little witch ( 4 months)to the trick or treat crew :)

With the munchkins at this young age (3,3,21 months and 4 months) we mummies can get away with pre placing safe snacks and treats at a friendly neighbours place across the rd and only making a visit to that particular house for Halloween. The children love it!!

 The excitement builds as costumes get picked, children get dressed, the much practised "trick or treat" is said in the cutest of voices and the treats are given, and even more quickly devoured!!!

At this stage it's working but as the munchkins get older we may have to rethink how to approach Halloween.

It's important for both of our families that our children don't miss out and be able to have the fun that everyone else enjoys at Halloween.

 So although we plan within our children's limits we try to plan it so that they can share the Halloween experience.

I have heard and read of older allergy children trick or treating as most do, knocking on strangers doors and receiving all manner of treats....only to go home knowing that they probably won't be able to eat any of it, scanning labels and putting them aside.
Then receiving a variety of safe treats from their parents on arrival home.

I don't really know what I think of this, I know for a fact that I would be paranoid to the max at every single door...wondering if this would be the house that forgot to purchase treats and offer us some nuts from their pantry!!!! or we would meet THOSE children who carry an egg with them while trick or treating in case they need that "funny" trick when someone doesn't want to give them treats :o

I guess we will meet that challenge when it comes.

For now I'm simply happy that my munchkins are happy and had a blast as you can see from the pics

Some very excited munchkins receiving some very special treats!

Dragon boy wasn't letting anyone get into his bag :)



my little witch before chocolate






   

Our choice of safe treats for each child was:

•  a very small block of Sweet William chocolate (free from peanuts and tree nuts, lactose free,cholesterol free, free from animal products, no artificial flavours, colours or preservatives, Low GI)
• A Artisse organic lolly pop (no artificial flavours, colours or preservatives)
• A packet of natural confectionery Dinosaur lollies



after chocolate :P

  So what does your family do for Halloween???

Little man's Camping queries

 On a recent visit to one of our local second hand shops something caught my attention while I purused the children's books.

I often scan the shelf/table to see if there are any good old favorites or interesting reads for our little family.

On this particular day it was this book:
Just me and my Dad. by Mercer Mayer

At a glance and quick leaf of the pages it looked liked the perfect purchase-  a book centered around bonding time with Dad and a good introduction to camping, seeing as we are making our first family camping adventure with some   

friends next month.

Yes you read correctly, we are embarking on a tent sleeping, food prep lacking a real kitchen for a whole weekend with 2  food sensitive/allergic toddlers, only 1 of those who will be sleeping in the walls of a port-a-cot!

I'm actually not that scared though....I think?

When I get the food plan sorted I'll start relaxing I guess, as I am still getting used to the new recipes that are coming with the elimination diet.

Back to the book - I've added pic's of some of the pages so you can see the beautiful illustrations too

 Well it wasn't long before Declan and I had a read, in the comfort of the lounge all snuggled up ...Mummy started to read.

Declan was eager to hear about more about this camping thing that I had tried to explain to him at an earlier date and he wanted in on it.
So on we read both wanting to know what was coming next (Mummy hadn't read it before buying as it was only 50 cents!!!!! BARGIN).

All the usual camping activities unfolded on the pages-
picking the camping site, 'attempting' to pitch the tent, lighting the campfire, riding in a canoe, fishing for dinner, catching the prized fish, wildlife stealing the dinner and scrambled eggs................................EGGS!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Declan did a double take at the page, then looked at me with a very puzzled look.

"Mummy, not eggs....they make me sick!!!"

Mummy now realizing that Declan had put 2 and 4 together and got 10...getting very muddled and thinking that Camping means you eat eggs for dinner, obviously not a good reason for him to come camping!!

Mummy soon reassured him that even though in the book they had eggs for dinner, it didn't mean when we went camping we would have eggs. In fact we would be having much more tasty foods :)

Big sighs came from Declan and a resounding "Thanks Mummy!" *cuddles*

Declan still asks for the "camping book" to be read and he enjoys it even more, now understanding that he can eat "safe food" when we go camping.

He also reminds Mummy about his food requirements when we leaf over to the "egg page" :P

It's nice to see him becoming more aware of his allergies, even when someone hasn't pointed it out to him first.

In the last month or so he is also becoming more aware and talking about his besties (best friends) food intolerance's.

Most mornings at breakfast he will loudly proclaim that "Declan and For-Lia (Thalia) eat cows milk"

to which Mummy silently thinks 'Thank goodness for that!!'

Then Declan is quick to add that "Mummy, Austin doesn't have cow's milk he has special milk, cow's milk makes Austin sick!!"

I'm so glad Declan has a special friend that he can relate to on an allergy level, although the boys allergies are different, they have been around each other from birth and each understand that they are both special in their own little way :)

Yay for Declan becoming more aware of situations around food, as well as becoming more aware about "safe food" for friends!!!

Lets not forget a little Yay for second hand books.

Quick tips: (from Robin Stewart's 'Chemical free home' book)

• to disinfect a germy second hand book just pop them in the microwave for 30 seconds with a glass of water
• If books get wet place them in the freezer until the water crystallises and can be easily brushed off pages.
• If books have a musty smell: place bicarb soda in a fine sieve, then dust the bicarb soda lightly between the pages. Leave for a few days, then blow away bicarb soda and the musty smell!!
• If your book has mildew: Sprinkle with cornflour or bicarb soda and leave for a few days. brush clean.

We looked! And we saw him! The Cat in the Hat!

The sun did not shine. It was too wet to play.
So we sat in the house. All that cold cold wet day.

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The first smidgen of an extraordinary book by the one and only Dr. Seuss!!
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At this point in time I would like to say something very important.... If you have never read a Dr Seuss book SHAME ON YOU! and if you have never heard of Dr Seuss I am afraid that you NEVER have lived. If you haven't, you should,these things are fun and fun is good :)

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Only a Dr. Seuss fan would understand.

Lucky for my Dr. Seuss loving munchkins and I, we had the opportunity to share a very special Dr. Seuss experience with some friends.

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Our local shopping centre put on a Dr. Seuss Cat in the Hat concert for children in the school holidays for a week so we made it our priority to be there.

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A few of our friends got together the week before in preparation for the big day.

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One of the mother's (otherwise known now as 'Cat in the Hat hat making extraordinaire' :P) had a great idea of helping the kids make their very own Cat in the Hat hat's to wear to the concert.

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Somehow,this said Mummy made up a template for the hats, how they would be put together after the kids had a chance to get to work at crafting their hats....the hat templates even had the stylish ability to have the extra special kink/bend that is seen in the
book itself !!

There was much enjoyment as the children applied the gloopy glue, sparkles, feathers and squiggles to their very own hat templates..waiting for the master hatter to do her magic and put the pieces together for 5 very special little Dr
Seuss fans to wear (I hear she had a little help from a male friend mad Hatter !)

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The day came and the children were very proud to dub themselves mini Cat in the Hats as they entered the much anticipated concert.

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There were lots of owwww's ad ahhhh's as the munchkins saw the Cat in the Hat himself, we danced the Cat boogie, listened to the wonderful 'Green Eggs and Ham' being read and shared the Dr. Seuss love with all present.

At times things resembled a 3 year old mosh pit :P

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After the concert we continued to push our prams of little Seuss fans through the shopping centre, each one parading their hat off with pride, all the way to the playground for "intermission".

After a short play and a quick trip to the loo's we were on our way....Meet and Greet with Cat in the Hat!!!!

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Very special photo's were taken and some very tired children in need of a bite to eat before bed piled into cars for a McDonald's feast. Following a lot of Seuss talk, nibbling, munching, slurping and crunching the munchkins found some energy and couldn't resist a play in the McDonald's playground before departing.

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A fantastic day had by all, I don't know who was more need of a nap...the mummy's or their babies but needless to say we enjoyed ourselves to the max -

the smiles, laughs, giggles, dancing feet, bopping, jumping, some tears, cuddles, kisses and meals between friends was all worth it!!!

A peek into my pantry

Welcome to my pantry!!!

I thought since I was going on a mission to clean up and clean out as most people do from time to time I would take some pic's to share


....you know the clean up days where you think "okay, this time it's going to stay organised and clean so everything is easy to see"

...lol well it never seems to work but at least you might find some exciting food that was hibernating at the back of the cupboard or have a few minutes, hours or days of that contented feeling of being somewhat organised

...that is when and until the hubby or child moves everything around and finds a oh so wrong place for what seems like every item!!!


enough of my ranter :P

The reason I wanted to share was to show what a pantry of family with severe allergy's looks like.


Living with a child who has anaphalaxis towards eggs and nuts isn't easy...every shopping expedition becomes very interesting.

Diving into a world of "may contain......" or "made in the same factory as.." can be somewhat frustrating and expensive.


Needless to say 1 3/4 out of my 6 pantry shelves are dedicated to baking alone.

It's been over a year since we found out about Declan's allergy's and it has changed our family's daily life in more than one aspect. We are very fortunate to have a few friends that also have allergy's in their family's and can understand, share recipes, brain storm how to convert that oh so yummy recipe to make it safe and so on.

We are also blessed that their are company's out there that make safe food for people like us...."HALLELUJAH!!!"

Yep, I'm that crazy woman standing in the isle of your local food store who smiles quietly to herself and does a happy dance while pure happiness, excitement and relief flows though her veins....over a new found safe ingredient or product. :)

There are also some very good benefit's of all the jazz that goes with living a allergy life.....baking (a forgotten skill and activity for all ages in past years), knowing exactly what's in your food (preservatives, chemicals etc), becoming more aware of your surroundings and probably much more that I can't think of at the moment.

On decluttering my pantry over the last few days and emptying boxes I saved 2 empty boxes for a specific purpose.
A bit of background information: For part of Thalia's Christmas present she will be getting some play food and play kitchen items and then for her birthday in Feb. she will get a play kitchen to go with them.
The play food we have brought has pretend eggs in it which made us think...do we let them play with it? should we take it out of the pack? leave it in?

After a few chats with some friends we have decided that yes we will leave the egg's in with the presents for the children to play with as a educational tool.
Obviously Declan isn't allergic to a plastic egg, we know that but we were worried at the age of 3, Declan might be confused with the whole concept that it's safe to pretend but not safe to eat the real thing etc..

So the egg will be their to show our children what an egg is,what it's used for, where it comes from, that other people can eat them etc
then as an addition to the play food I will place the 'orgran no egg' box pictured above for the children to pretend to use when they are "baking a cake" to make it safe etc. The no egg box and the safe biscuit box will also show and hopefully educate the children when they are a little older how to read labels and identify safe foods.

Well that's a day in the life of my beloved pantry....

remember eat, live, love and learn :)
ox

Big Trucks, Oz day and the posessed potty boy!

Trucks- big, noisy and you can put things in them...all that a little boy could want and Declan does exactly that!

We were very excited when Uncle Darren (my big bro) rang on Monday and let us know he was at Yatla Truck stop with Josh (my nephew) for a few hrs and could was keen for a catch up.

Mummy got all excited - quickly packed the lunches, nappies, drinks, dressed the munchkins and got all sorted to get in the car and see all the big trucks!! Declan was so excited all the way in the car repeating "Uncle Darren BIIIIGGGG TRUCK!!" all the way there.

It was all excitement until the car stopped and Darren himself opened Declan's car door to say hi..."Ahhhhhhh" (with added tears and trying to pull away)...to say the least Declan was not impressed while Thalia starts waving and yabbering away.

We calmed down a bit and went off to see the Big truck...Declan was so shy,tired,hungry, hot that the last thing he wanted to do was sit in a truck let alone Uncle Darren's truck..:( so he just cried and made mummy feel sorry for poor Uncle Darren who was looking forward to a "happy little boy"....Thalia was quick to fill in and jump up in the Big truck with Uncle Darren and pose for a few pics.

Josh ,Darren and Thalia chillin in the Big Truck :)
I don't think was too impressed when Darren demoted her to the passenger seat! lol

After some lunch, a play on the playground and a lot of crying and fussing Declan finally had some smiles and laughs and had a second look at the truck, although he didn't want to hop in he was happy to watch the lights,look at the red engine and receive a awesome Mustang matchbox car from Uncle Darren.

Well that was the bee's knees then...on the way home it didn't leave his little hand, he showed it the passing cars on the road, the shy, the hot sun and finally our house. He was not going down for his nap without his Mustang!! even to the point of saying "Mummy Mustang tired, needs bed" (then in a little voice made the Mustang snore as it swayed up and down in his hand...so cute!!)

Of course by this time Declan himself was so overtired and flopped into bed (car in hand) and slept soundly side by side.

You see Declan is one of those children who scream his lungs out when he sees Santa, but after it's all over and Santa is out of sight he becomes the highlight of the week...very odd but that's children for you....that afternoon he proudly told Daddy how he saw Uncle Darren's truck as if it was the best experience ever while mummy sighed quietly thinking if only!

Declan giving his new mustang a massive cuddle after arriving home :)

We had a fun filled Oz day at the Newcombe's (Wayne and Louise's) with friends...bush bashing, drinking, good food, children playing, swimming in the pool and all that was promised...the heat wasn't so good but alot of fun was had.
I was just a little shocked when my husband came up from the car track (a big paddock with alot of trees!!) looking like he had just come out of an explosion zone....he was unharmed but covered and I mean covered in black and brown dust...how delightful!! :s but like any man all he could talk about was how he managed to get the car to do a 180/ big skid/lots of smoke ...you know the lingo :P
Of course I forgot my camera so don't have any photo's to show for a good Australia day but thanks to all those you made it a memorable one.....great to see all the munchkins playing

Warning : the following content may speak of bodily fluids and/or waste of the toddler kind :P
Read on if you can take it.

Today after a talk to Daddy it was decided that we are going to knuckle down with the toilet training...Declan has been potty sitting since roughly September/October now and although he is good at telling us before a #2 and usually getting it in the potty or big toilet he is not so good when it comes to wees!!
He is in Big boy undies during the day unless we go out shopping, friends houses etc and nappies for naps and through the night. He know exactly what is expected of him and understands that it is wrong to wee on the floor but still has alot of accidents and wet undies, telling us after the fact what has happened instead of letting us know he needs the potty.
We are exhausted emotionally, sick of cleaning up the mess and annoyed that everything we try isn't helping....stuck in a rut. Mummy today with the help of lots of cuppa's and a calmed mind started to focus on helping Declan "get it"...I am proud to say that we had two wees in the potty today, no wet undies, no accidents. He did wake up with a poo in his nappy but that's okay.
I think he was holding in wees a bit but it's a start hey.
I just know I'm going to be insane before long if this goes on for too much longer....at times I think Thalia might be tt before him!! lol well I will see what tomorrow brings.
Stay calm, stay positive and have fun...it's harder than it sounds.
Any tips from the parents out there would be welcomed !!!!

wish us luck!!

Our fun packed weekend

A busy one but a fun one!!!

weekends...so odd how you look forward to them every week, organise what to do, then by the time Friday comes you barely blink twice and it's Sunday night.
Well this was one of those weekends but we have done alot this weekend and can treasure lots of memories with friends.

Friday was an rdo for Andy so we made the most of it and got out to the shops (by passed the pet shop for the usual tour) and got some odds and ends at various shops while Declan ooooed and aaahhhhhed at all the lights and Thalia chowed down on the must have finger foods while chillin in the pram.

Friday afternoon/night we had the privilege of having some fab friends over ..namely "the Hanlon crew" (we used to live in Hanlon st) so it was a good catch up.
Bestie Austin enjoyed a good play with Declan and Thalia, before sitting down for a dinner, sharing a bath and down for bed.
The kids went to bed and the night began...had a lovely BBQ with Jim, Kim, Ryan and Kirsten while Lucky (baby burrow # 2) had a roller coaster ride in mummies tummy. I laughed so much that my belly hurt and I think just about every one cryed tears of laughter as Ryan continued on his way of joke/story telling...it was later agreed that if Kim was having any troubles in late pregnancy in regards to labour starting that Ryan would assist by telling her a few yarns to get it all happening :D
...I really thought Kim was going to pop out a baby then and there with all the excitement!!! :O
Sadly don't have any pics of the night as my camera batteries were needing to be charged :(

Saturday was even more busy...with a visit from Matt, Stu, Rach and their gorgeous girls Jasmine and Emily in the morning- the kids enjoyed playing with play dough and dinosaurs while picking at lunch while the big people had a much needed catch up.
All the kiddies went down for a nap and Matt was fare welled, lunch was eaten and the parents had a bit of chat time while we packed to go to Phoebe's 3rd Birthday party in the afternoon.
Stu, Rach and the girls said there goodbyes and got on the road and we got organised for the party.

Finally the camera batteries where charged!! hooray for the pathological picture taker :P

Declan was so excited to be going to a party, but even more so because Phoebe was having a dinosaur party (the latest Declan craze). I might add that Phoebe is a little girl from church that Andy's Grandma (93yrs) has decided will in future be Declan wife!! lol
All the way in the car we listened to the little singing voice of Declan singing dinosaur tunes as Thalia made her best attempt to join in.

The party was awesome, great cake, jumping castle, water play, drawing, land before time dvd, the all important toy's, a cubby and the best of all lots of little friends.

Cake time :D

Thalia had her very first turn on a jumping castle..(very fitting we thought for the princess to be in a castle at last) and Declan loved the water play and becam e very quickly obsessed with the cubby door ..open,shut,open ,shut..
It was quite funny when a boy perhaps a little older than Declan became attached to Thalia and wanting dearly to "put baby in cot" ,when he saw that Phoebes cubby contained a little cot for a doll...after much explaining that Thalia didn't want to sleep and she was a bit big for the cot he went up to Thalia's daddy and asked "you in the cot!!" bahahaha gotta love it.

After much fun, food and shrieks and squeals we parted ways and journeyed home for a quick dinner and bed.
Mummy and Daddy enjoyed a quiet night in with a few drinks..ahhh

Sunday Morning arrived and the usual everyone in Mummy and Daddy's bed for cuddles -well that's the idea but it soon changes to Thalia crawling over everyone giving the raspberry's, Declan attempting to read a story, lots of tickle and excitement, not the nice rest time that was intended by Mummy and Daddy :P

Declan decided that the dinosaurs wanted to play play dough again so off he went and the rush began to get ready for church. We trialed staying in the big hall today while at church and not the "cry room" that we usually attire to simply because of the volume of Noise coming from the Madame.
It actually went well..Phoebe and Declan played dinosaurs under the chairs while the meeting was on, Thalia ate and ate and it was only at the end that Daddy had to take Thalia outside when she got a bit loud.
We caught up with Great Grandma who was delighted to hear Declan had been to Phoebes party...ha ha her plans for their future are all coming into place :)

Our arrival home welcomed putting the kids to bed while we enjoyed lunch before having a Nana nap of our own....then after everyone's nap,watching Thalia's fave dvd (wiggles) we decided to have a paint...such fun!!!
Thalia found out that paint wasn't all that tasty and Declan carefully made his many creations- with "more paper" sounding every couple of minutes.

Thalia painting, tasting and practicing putting on makeup :D


Declan (the master) hard at work


Home made spag Bol for dinner and a bath for the munchkins and dinosaurs of course :P and at last bed. A much relieved Mummy and Daddy are now having some chill out time with beer in hand :D
Bath time: Declan washing one of the dinosaurs and Thalia playing peek-a-boo with daddy

What a weekend!! so thankful that we can have times like these with friends, looking forward to Australia day public holiday and fun at Wayne and Louise's
- bush bashing, chatting, drinking, good food, good company, watching the kids play, catching up with Duke (our old pet Labrador) and simply lapping it up!