Happy 4th Birthday Liam

Today is Liam's 4th Birthday. I cannot believe a whole year has gone by. My husband and I for the past few months have been saying we cannot wait for 2011 to be over. This year has been so hard, and we just kept thinking to ourselves it was one of the worst years thus far. Then my mom said something that changed my husband and I forever. She said "Katie this is the year you got Liam healthy". "It is one of the best years we all have had". I cried when she said this and later that day I told Mike what she said. He looked at me with tears in his eyes and said "Please tell your mom thank you. It is exactly what I needed to hear".

When Liam turned three he had just been diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. It was a day both Mike and I will never forget. We both felt like the wind was just knocked out of us. Then I saw a pale, malnourished, little boy who was losing weight and not eating much. He was in the 5% for weight and 50% for height. Compared to his sister who has always been off the charts for height and 75-90% for weight it concerned us greatly. At first we made small changes in our diet. Little by little I saw improvement in him. Little by little I saw improvement in all of us. A year later we are all on a gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free, nitrate free diet. We eat whole foods or "real" food as I call it. Liam who was 26 pounds is now 36 pounds and has grown 3 inches this year. He is also fighting colds better than he ever has since birth. Mike and I have so much to be grateful for. I hope this next year is even better for our Liam bug and family.

Happy Birthday Buddy, we love you so much!

Gluten and Dairy Free Cake Pops

Gluten Free Cupcake Pops

1 Chocolate Cake, from The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook, page 84 (view the PDF)

1 Bag Wilton Chocolate

1/4 - 1/2 cup Coconut oil

Sprinkles

*Dairy Free frosting like Pillsbury is optional to help bind and give a creamer taste to the cake

Special Equipment:

30 paper lollipop sticks

2-4 Styrofoam blocks

Bake Chocolate Cake as directed from the The Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook. Cool cake so that you can crumble into a big bowl. If choosing to bind cake with frosting add just enough to bind it together. If your opting to roll without the frosting take a clump of cake and knead together like you would play dough. Next roll into 1 inch ball. After rolling, put on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Once all the balls are on your cookie sheet freeze for at least an hour.

Melt the chocolate in a small bowl over a boiling pot of water on medium heat. If you have a double broiler than heat it up with that. To make the chocolate thinner add 1/4 cup coconut oil. If you don't have coconut oil you can use Crisco. Take your cake balls out and let sit for 5 minutes. One at a time, dip about ½ inch of the tip of a lollipop stick into melted chocolate. Next, Insert the lollipop stick straight into a cake ball, no more than halfway. Holding stick with cake ball attached, dip entire cake ball into melted chocolate, until covered. Twirl  any excess chocolate coating off the cake pop so it is evenly coated, then apply sprinkles. Place cake pop in Styrofoam block. Complete with remaining cake pops and store in refrigerator. 

*You can store these gluten free cake pops in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

*You can also freeze just the balls for up to two weeks, then make the pops the day you want to serve them

Chicken Piccata and Dairy Free Risotto

Our family loves Chicken Piccata. The lemon sauce drizzled over chicken makes the dish. When we started this journey of going gluten free and dairy free, I thought Risotto was not gluten free and if it was how, would I make with without Parmesan cheese and creamy marscapone cheese. I have been craving it for weeks and finally started to do a bit of research. To my surprise Arborio rice is Gluten Free. Wahoo, I was so excited. Next I was on a mission to create it without dairy. Last night I tried it and my family did not notice it was missing dairy. I hope you enjoy it, like we did. 

Chicken Piccata


4 Organic Boneless Chicken Breast or 20 Chicken tenders
1/2 Cup to 1 Cup Gluten Free all purpose flour
Olive oil for frying
1/2 tea sea salt
1/2 tea pepper
1/2 cup Organic Chicken broth
1/4 cup white wine
1-2 Lemons juiced depending on how much lemon flavor you want
1-2 Tbl Capers depending if you like them or how salty you want it


First pound the chicken breast so they are like a cutlet. If you are using chicken tenders just leave them as they are. Next put GF flour in pie dish or plate along with the salt and pepper. Get a skillet pan that will fit all the chicken and put the olive oil in it and heat on medium. Once the oil is hot, dredge the chicken in the flour mixture and place in hot pan. Fry on both sides until the chicken is cooked through and you have a nice crispy texture. Set Chicken on paper towel to rest, while your cook all the meat. Once the meat is cooked and resting pour your wine in the pan and scrap the bottom of the pan and get all the crunchy bits mixed into the wine. Once the wine is cooked off add the lemon juice, chicken broth and capers. Let it come to a lite boil and add the chicken back in. Put a lid on the pan and put the temperature to low so it stays warm while you make the risotto. 


Dairy Free Risotto:


1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
1 cup Arborio rice
1/2 tea sea salt 
3 Tbl olive oil plus 2 Tbl olive oil for after
1/2 cup white wine
2 1/2 cups Organic Chicken Broth heated, I do this in the microwave. 


Take a sauce pan and heat up with the 3 Tbl olive oil on medium/low heat. Add onion and cook for 2-3 minutes. Next add the rice and sea salt and cook for another 2 minutes continuously stirring.  Next add the wine until its cooked off. The trick to Risotto is to never stop stirring it. Now add about 1/4-1/3 cup of the hot broth and stir it until the liquid absorbs into the rice. Keep adding the same amount of liquid when the rice has absorbed the previous liquid. After about 20-30 minutes the rice will be soft and have a creamy texture to it and your hot broth should be gone. If the rice is still a little under cooked add more broth, but only a 1/2 cup, because you don't want it to turn mushy. Next, mix the remaining 2 Tbl of olive oil into the risotto and serve.


I poured some of the Chicken Piccata sauce over the rice and chicken and served it with saute green beans. The kids ate it up and asked for seconds. If your kids don't like the lemon sauce you can keep their chicken out of the sauce and serve it up like chicken fingers. Give them some ketchup or honey mustard sauce and they will love it.

Probiotics

Liam is currently on a probiotic called VSL#3. His GI doctor wrote a prescription for it and I have found that Costco is the cheapest so far. I pay $73.00 for a month supply. Seems like a lot, but I fell its worth it, if it keeps him off the nasty drugs like prednisone.  The VSL#3 comes sachet, which contains 450 billion live probiotic bacteria. Every morning I dump one sachet into a cup of fresh squeeze juice and Liam drinks it up. He loves the stuff and always asks "is it time to take my tummy medicine mama?" According to my doctor and the research on this product VSL#3 works by lining the GI tract with optimal quantities and types of probiotic bacteria. These bacteria adhere to the walls of the GI tract and form a barrier which protects the inner layer of the gut from bad bacteria and other toxic substances that can cause inflammation. In my sons case this helps when he has to take an antibiotic.  VSL#3 produces a variety of good bacteria, delivering relief from symptoms and enhancing the health of the GI tract. If your interested in VSL#3 check out their website here:http://www.vsl3.com/


Today I read an article by Dr. Mercola about probiotics and the reasons for taking them. Check out the link: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/10/11/probiotics-healing-power-impresses-researchers.aspx?np=true


I strongly believe in this product and recommend it for all people living with UC or any other stomach problems. 

Liam's first day of Preschool!

Ready to go to school with his lunch box and change of clothes

Today was Liam's first day of preschool! We have waited a long time for this day! Because of Liam's health we were not able to put him in any activities that had lots of kids. From as early as 6 weeks old Liam has caught every cold his sister was exposed to and caught things all on his own with very little exposure to the world. His little immune system as many of you know just could not shake your typical cold/virus. When he was 2 1/2 he got the go ahead to start preschool or be in mommy and me groups. We tried it and he that is when he came down with Ulcerative Colitis. A year later and now we have the go ahead once again. I searched and searched for the right preschool for him. I thought at first a co-op. I had my daughter Savannah at one and loved it, but the political side of a co-op as well as the time, and fundraising just would not work. I called about three preschools with low ratios and they all seemed great until I told them about Liam. I would begin to explain that he has U.C. and as soon as they realized he had dietary restrictions and would have "flares" they said that they may not be the best fit for him. A bit discouraged and sad I decided to call one more place. I was familiar with Innovative Preschool from college. Innovative is a  unique, fully blended inclusive preschool for children with and without special needs. When I called them they said it would be not problem accepting Liam  and they would support his diet restrictions and if he had a "flare" they would allow him to still come to school. He was put at #66 on the waiting list. I was at first a little worried it would be forever before he was able to attend. But I thought "if this is the place for him, it will happen when its meant to." Within 3 weeks I got the phone call that he was accepted. Wahoo! Now time to prepare him. Of course I thought I need to start telling him about preschool to give him time to process it. We took a tour of his room (turtle room) and met his teacher. We played for a good hour and he was all ready to start. Unfortunately for him he had to wait 6 weeks. So for 6 long weeks Liam asked every day "today I go to preschool?" Last week we went shopping for his very first lunch box. Four stores later and he settled on Scooby Doo. Last Thursday Liam came down with his first virus since his tonsillectomy/adenoidectomy. He had a 6 week run with no colds, which was awesome. Around 9:30 pm Liam came down with croup. I am used to croup, but was worried he would not be well enough for his first day of school. Typical Liam before surgery would not have been. I am super excited for him, because his body fought this virus better than it ever has. He still has a little wet cough, but overall is ready to start school. 


Well last night we told him "Liam you get to go to preschool tomorrow." He said "Yay" and then said "You go with me to preschool, come back one minute or I be sad and cry." I said "I will drop you off and will pick you up a little later." He replied with "I do not go to preschool". For the past 6 weeks he has said with enthusiasm "I go to preschool you drop me off and pick me up later". I was a little worried as any mom would be. 


This morning he had a big break down and refused to get dressed. After 20 minutes he snapped out of it and helped pack his lunch. We packed a gluten free peanut butter and jelly sandwich, banana, cherry tomatoes, mandarins and a fruit leather. He was very excited to go, which made me happy. 


When we arrived, Mike was there waiting for us. Liam was super excited to see daddy and show him Sheldon the turtle. We signed him in, showed him his cubby and found his buddy Malia. He gave her a big hug then said goodbye to us.  I started to walk off and he grabbed my dress. I thought to myself okay this is when he is going to cry. But instead I told him I would be back very soon and lets find something for you to do.  I showed him the play dough and he sat down and started playing.

Liam with his friend Malia!

Savannah and I got to go to the park, out for smoothies and to the grocery store. It was fun just spending time with just her. I enjoyed her stories with no interruption from Liam. We both agreed that is was weird not having him around. 


When we picked Liam up he was super excited to see us. He got his shoes on faster than I had ever seen and grabbed my hand to leave.  He told me" I play with play dough then I cry. I draw pictures....I cry...I eat lunch...I cry." I asked you want to go back? He said" NO". I told him he has to go back. He said "Okay". I think overall he had fun and it will be good for him. I am so thrilled I found a place, where he can socialize, learn and grow. It gives me peace of mind knowing he will be accepted and I don't have to worry about what he eats or when he has a flare up. 

Gluten Free and Dairy Free Pizza

My parents are in town visiting and my dad had a craving for some greasy pizza from a local pizza joint called Woodstock's. Liam is used to eating gluten free pizza without the cheese. As a family we have made the switch to gluten free crust along with everything gluten free, but Mike, Savannah and I had been eating some dairy. After meeting with his GI specialist two weeks ago we are all now dairy free.  Tonight was the first night Savannah and I tried our first dairy free pizza. I have to admit both she and I were not super excited about it. We both love our pizza and especially the cheese. I told her that we could do this together and for her to pick her favorite toppings. She wanted canadian bacon, sausage and pineapple and I wanted pepperoni, red onion, bell pepper and uncooked tomato.  I thought the more toppings on this pizza the better. Just in case it wasn't good she and I split a salad with balsamic dressing. When our gluten and dairy free pizza arrived at the table my family looked at me with positive expressions trying to show support. Liam immediately asked for his slice and Savannah and I looked at each other and tried our slices.To be honest it was pretty good. My mom, sister and dads pizzas came out with original crusts and oozing cheese. At first I was a little jealous, but then realized I was making a life change for my kiddos. My mom of course offered a slice of her pesto primavera pizza and for a split second I wanted to say yes. Instead of taking her up on her offer I joked and said "thanks mom for your support". The kids and I finished every piece and felt satisfied. The best part of eating the pizza was neither of us felt sick to our stomachs or over stuffed. We felt really good and satisfied. Savannah said "the pizza was yummy" when we were leaving, while Liam in the car said " Mama I love that pizza". So all in all I consider tonight to be a successful one!

Liam Doctor Update

Hi everyone, hope you had a great Fourth of July. We had a great time down in Folsom with Mikes family. July 3rd we went to a festival in El Dorado Hills listening to music, eating yummy food and watching a wonderful firework show. The kids enjoyed decorating their bikes on the 4th and riding behind a local fire truck around my sister in laws neighborhood. It was 106 that day so the kids spent most of the day playing on the slip and slide or squirting each other with water guns. We BBQ that night and lit sparklers once it got dark. All in all it was a fabulous weekend.

The next day we had a follow up with Liam's GI Doctor. She was very happy with Liam's progress so far. She said on paper he looks really good. We were suppose to take him to clinic and have tests ran, but due to him just having surgery for his adenoids, tonsils and terbinates she felt we could wait. She was very impressed with the diet changes and wished more parents would do the same for their children. She believes preventative care is the best. Her hope for Liam is to one day live a normal life where prebiotics and probiotics as well as healthy eating is what ultimately keeps him flare free. He is still on what we call a roller coaster, but hopefully his surgery will allow him to get healthy and not be on as many antibiotics, thus allowing good flora to build up in his gut.

She stressed to us that we need to be really strict on sugar intake. We allowed him to have a snow cone July 3rd and it gave him a horrible headache, tummy ache and diarrhea. I knew better than to give it to him, but wanted him to have fun with his sister and cousins. Lesson learned and we will have to be more careful. The next step is that we have a follow up appointment in November unless Liam has a flare up. At that appointment we will schedule another scope and blood work. I am not looking forward to prepping him for that scope, but we will cross that bridge when we get there.

On a side note something that Mike and I had never thought about was Savannah. We were talking with Dr. Davies about the diet change and I brought up how Savannah has given the coconut milk a really good try. I expressed to her that I wanted to switch her to raw milk. We made the switch to raw cheese and was thinking of putting her on raw milk too. She strongly suggested against the raw milk. She had just treated a child who got very very ill from raw milk. She advised us to take Savannah off all milk products like Liam. Dr. Davies is a huge believer that Cows milk is for "baby cows" only. She strongly believes the milk made here in the US has lead to the increase in allergies and that it leads to so many health issues and cancer.  I agree with her on many levels, thus why I was looking into raw milk. Her concern is that since Savannah has tested positive for a slight milk allergy, then we should not mess with it. She essentially said that Savannah has the same genetic makeup as Liam and although she is not showing signs of UC, and may never, why take the chance? UC is usually diagnosed at the ages of 15-35 and they still don't have concrete evidence as to why and how people get it. Many researchers and doctors think its genetic as well as environmental and the food we eat. Liam is a rare case being diagnosed at 2, but why would we take the chance when it comes to our daughter? Mike and I had never thought about Savannah possibly coming down with this. What if I did allow her to eat certain stuff that we know causes Liam to have a flare up and she showed signs of UC at 15 years old. I do not think I could forgive myself. Preventive medicine I think is so important. Through all of my continued research why would I allow my daughter to drink milk that has been highly processed. I was giving her organic milk, but it is still highly processed. So now all of us will be dairy free. We need to lead by example and so no more cheating for Mike and I. I sure am going to miss gelato and pizza! If anyone has any good pizza recipes that is gluten and dairy free please let me know. I will be experimenting very quickly in my kitchen to come up with a yummy recipe. I will share if I succeed!