Botanical Food family resources

I think many of us in the "food allergy community" are aware of the potential for foods within the same family as a known problem food to cause other issues. It can be helpful to clear entire food families if you are having persistent reactions. For example, peanuts are legumes. If you have a peanut allergy, you just may have issues with soy and/or beans as well.

I have often used the Calgary Allergy Network's listing of botanical food families.

However, the other day, I was reading something that caught my eye that led me to a new resource. It's a page from a ND who specializes in chemical sensitivity. Her Botanical Food Family list is more complete and also includes herbs.

From this site, we also learned that yucca (tapioca/cassava) is in the lily family, which the alium family also belongs. We had already purchased a bag of cassava chips for lily to trial. We gave them to her today just to see. It took roughly 6 hours, but she just started itching herself raw in her sleep. We found the same to be true with asparagus - also in the Lily family. Poor Lily... Allergic to the Lily family.

Raw Chocolate Pudding!

1 banana (yield ~ 1/3 c)
1 avocado (yield ~1/2 c)
1 tbsp cocoa powder

Just mash & mix.

Sounds weird; tastes fabulous. Dave & I split a batch. 15g carb (~9g net) each. I accidentally skipped lunch, so around 4 I was starving. This was just enough fat & sweet to satisfy and tide me over till dinner. Simple, easy, yummy. My favorite kind of recipe.

Just Another Rainy Summer Day

It rained all day yesterday, all last night, and now again all day today.

My children are very in tune with the weather, shall we say. When it is breezy and sunny, so are they. When it is gloomy and soggy, well, so are they.

Inspired by our dear friends, we made Ojo de Dios today. We used this page as a starting point.

Popsicle sticks + left over yarn + enthralled 5yo = peaceful early afternoon.

Lily really, really, really enjoyed herself - eventually. Which is her song in life, truly. At first she just wanted to watch me do one. Then she declared that she didn't think she could do it. Then she asked if I'd help her do one. Which turned into her doing it all by herself and declaring "I can do it!" and me replying, "I knew that you could."

This task was a bit over Aevryn's head, and it took just that much too long for us to do one together start to finish. However, she was pleased just to be a part of the activity at the table. She spent her time with scissors and scrap yarn cutting up tiny mounds of tiny bits of yarn. She proudly announced: "they're to you mama!" Aevryn may be my contrarian, but she is also sweet to her core... mostly.

Each of the girls now have one near their beds. Lily also made sure Dave has one in his office and I have one in my bedroom. In fact, she loved this craft so much (hurrah for self sufficiency!) that she wanted to know if anyone had birthdays coming up.

The idea of a token of safety really resonated with Lily. She latched on to the concept of the protective eye of god watching over her and reassuring her in her fear. She also reinforced her understanding of the connected between the concept of god(dess) to parents and love.

All from some popsicle sticks and some yarn. Thanks, Megan.

Cauliflower "Potatoes"

I tried this one day on a whim. I pretty much squealed with glee when I tasted it and it was nearly identical to mashed potatoes. At least, my memory of mashed potatoes...

1 head of cauliflower
1/4 C milk/sub/left over cauliflower water
a few tablespoons of oil
sea salt

Cut up the cauliflower and boil it until soft.

Buzz in food processor with milk, oil & salt.

Occasionally I will put cumin and/or onion powder. If you use coconut, it's very curry-like.

I've also heard that cut up boiled cauliflower can be used as a substitute in potato salad. I hope to try it soon. In sum, cauliflower is versatile and delish. A fabulous potato sub.

Tasty Adult Beverage Concoction

Coconut-banana-rum Drink

1 tray of ice
1 can of coconut milk
1 banana
juice of 1/2 lime
1/2 C vanilla rum

Put ingredients in blender and buzz until smooth.

(Pineapple makes my mouth go numb and start itching, otherwise I'd have included a few chunks of pineapple as well... Classic Pina colada base. Mandarin oranges might make an interesting sub.)

Goes well with Friday night Stargate and cucumbers + avocado-jalapeno dip.

Kale Chips

Kale is in season. We love it and it's super nutritious. However, sometimes you can only eat so much sauteed kale. Tonight with dinner we tried our first batch of kale chips for the season.

1 bunch of kale
a few tablespoons oil
sea salt

Set the oven to 425.

Rinse the kale and remove the leafy part from the stalk.

Cut or rip into "chip" sized pieces.

In a big bowl, rub the oil on the leaves and sprinkle with salt. At this point, you can add any number of spices, if you'd like.

Previously, I'd put the kale directly on an oiled pan, but that requires turning. This time, I put drying racks on the pans and put the kale on the rack (much like how I make jerky).

I have a hot spot in a back corner of my oven, so I rotate my pan. 4 minutes to a side seemed to be the ideal amount of time for crispy but not burnt.

Peace, Love, Joy

What a week!

Aevryn had a beach party at her grandparents' house that included both sets of grandparents, uncles, aunt & cousin. There was cake and presents and bubbles and sandcastles. And lots and lots of giggles.

We've played outside, visited friends and gone on a home-visit for LLL.

Today, both girls had serious Grandma Time™ while I got some group work done and visited with a friend. (I also ran a few errands alone, which is a newly discovered joy. Right up there with going to the bathroom unattended.)

Aside from being busy, busy, we seem to have had a breakthrough with Lily.

We had connected her rage or anger or aggression issues with glutamate overload. Our solution was to go on a low-glutamate diet. That seemed to be working, but we needed to stay super low to keep the peace. In my research, I discovered that theanine helps mitigate glutamate overlaod - by competing with glutamate for the receptors. Dave had been taking it for awhile to help with anxiety. We started supplementing Lily yesterday afternoon and I am thrilled and amazed by the results.

The positivity and love radiating from my child is astounding. Sweetness, love, helpfulness. Smiles, giggles.

I really like it when I figure out the biochemistry food stuff.