Some of our Special Diet Staples

Since Kaylee is on such a limited diet and has so many food intolerances, and it's so difficult to find foods that she can have without symptoms, I thought I would share some of the products we would be hard to live without, for those who would like some pointers about which foods to feed their allergic child.

Corn Thins are like rice cakes only much thinner, which I think makes it tastier, and Kaylee loves them as a bread substitute for her "PB" and Jelly sandwiches. I think these taste a lot less "cardboard" like than regular rice cakes.

Believe it or not, regular store bought tater tots and fries have soy and lots of preservatives in them. Kaylee could not tolerate them, so I was ecstatic when I found these at Whole Foods Market. The kids love spelling out words with their Alphatots! :)

I once saw a You-Tube video presentation of an autism-mom doing GF/CF cooking and she ground up these Veggie-Chips and used them as a coating for fried chicken nuggets. I have been doing this ever since and it is a delicious gluten free coating! I use a food processor and pulverize a bunch of bags every once in a while and use them in place of bread crumbs in any recipe!

I love to use this when frying chicken nuggets or cooking anything or in place of shortening in any recipe (such as cookies or homemade frosting). It works just as well as Crisco but its much more healthy for you because it is trans fat free.

This is ghee from Purity Farms as a butter substitute. Its actually butter with all of the milk proteins extracted. I assure you its totally safe and good for people who cannot tolerate soy or milk, but dont want to use margarine which is full of trans fats. I actually get mine from Wal-Mart!

I love love love this product! This is our peanut butter substitute, and it tastes really good! A great thing for a picky 4 year old eater, its for those times you just want to make a sandwich and not cook something (which I feel like I do all of the time). Kaylee loves to dip apple slices in it. I also make really yummy Sunbutter cookies (just like peanut butter cookies! and they are GF/CF!) You can find this at Walmart too!

Another real blessing are these allergen-free chocolate chips by Enjoy Life. They are gluten free, dairy free, and soy free. You can't find chocolate chips anywhere without those ingredients. And who doesn't like chocolate? I make Kaylee chocolate chip GF muffins and the whole family loves them! Even though they are GF!

Here's to good eatin' even if you are on a restricted allergy diet!

Kaylee Surprised Me...

Kaylee surprised me yesterday morning when she told me, "Look Ma! I made a person!"



Ain't it cute? See the arms are coming out of the sides of the head? You can't see it but this person has some stick feet and legs, too. I couldn't believe she made it herself until I called my husband at work and asked if he did it! Sure enough Kaylee did it all by herself!

Why is this so cool? It's because it represents another developmental milestone for her. Not only does that take fine motor control, but much more maturity cognitively speaking.

A year ago, this kid was eatin' crayons and the paper labels on them.

This year, drawing pictures!!!!!!!

I just remembered that her IEP for school was to draw a face with eyes and they were going to work her through one body part at a time and here she does the whole shebang!