Children of the Corn

We've been feeling pretty good about how we are handling our food allergies. We even have a variety of foods both shared and individually! This is quite the improvement from a year ago. Then my husband decided to try something...

My husband is allergic to corn. We've learned that his life long depression and anger are from eating corn and legumes. He's gotten a pretty good handle on what foods are safe, which are not, where he can eat out and when he needs to abstain. He recently has been trying to make better and more complicated bread or baked products for the family. This led to the use of xantham gum. Then we heard (or read) that xamtham gum is made from corn.

He decided to test it. He thought that since it's in such small amounts in baking, maybe his system could handle it. He was smart. First, he put a couple teaspoons mixed with water onto his hand. That was it. He thought that wouldn't provoke much (if any) reaction. He would experiment with actually ingesting it from there. He was wrong. He had a VERY STRONG reaction to the xantham gum paste on his hand. He was grumpy that evening, and was so grumpy the next morning that I took the kids and left the house 45mins early!

This revelation led to a new thought. Our daughter seems to have the same reactions to corn and legumes as he does. Does this mean that their moods could possibly improve even more if we ensure corn does not touch their skin as well!? This is both an exciting and a daunting thought. Exciting, because while they are doing very well, it could just be that much better, right? Daunting because corn is in EVERYTHING! This means we're looking at toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, hand soap, body soap, laundry detergent, dish detergent...

I've done some Internet searching and found huge lists of "hidden" corn names. Then (thankfully this brain can still be taught) I realized it would be easier to look up "corn free" products rather than look at every single toothpaste label in the grocery store.

I've narrowed it down to 3 toothpaste choices, 1 or 2 deodorant choices (depends on how "manly" he feels he needs to smell), have a message in to a manufacturer to see if all my soap woes can be taken care of with one base product...

All this has led me to think (many many many time over the past year), "What in the world did people do before the internet?!" I am overwhelmed with the thinks I didn't know and have learned (via ineternet) and by the information I need to access safe foods and products for  my family. I actually have thanked God for Amazon.com. I ask again, what in the world did people do before the internet? I have immediate access to information, I have immediate contact with people. I don't know how I would do this without the internet and my smart phone.

Daddy and the kids baking (you can see a leg on the counter. That's our son)

Pancakes

My kids love pancakes. I used to make them more often, but they are just so time consuming I've learned I need to save them for the weekends. This is what Pancake morning looks like at our house.

Two pans, two batters, two plates, and color coded spatulas. I've learned the oat must stay on the left and the rice on the right so that I can ensure I don't cross-contaminate allergens.

Alternative Flours

Our family's allergies are complex enough that there is very little pre-packaged foods we can eat. We buy mostly raw and then make our own foods weekly/daily. We make all of our own baked goods. Pancakes, breads, muffins, cookies, crackers, etc.

This means we go through a lot of flour. We cannot  have wheat. This leaves other flours as our only options. My daughter and husband can have oat and almond flour. My son cannot have either of those. He can have rice and coconut flour. My husband and daughter cannot have those...You see the issue?

We've settled on using rice and oat flours as our staple flours and the adding the others in to augment, get better textures, etc. We were elated to find this 25lb bag of rice flour for $22 at a local Winco. (The other local Winco doesn't carry it, but I haven't asked them to either since the other store is so close.) We did not have as much luck finding cheap oat flour. It ranges around $5 - $10 per 22 oz bag.

My husband had a brilliant idea. He'd been really wanting a Vitamix or a BlendTec blender. He wondered if we could take oats and grind our own flour. We tried it first with a borrowed coffee grinder. It worked! So we got a deal on a BlendTec from B&P Restaurant Equipment Co. in WA and have been making our own oat flour since. We get the 25lb bag of oats and use them or grind them as we go. The oats are around $1/lb.