A few of our favorite things

The Babycenter FPIES forum is such a great resource.  I don't know what I would do without it. Recently someone posted about CheeCha Potato Puffs.  I ordered 12 bags from Canada.  They have changed our lives forever.  I am eternally grateful.

They remind me of those wagon wheels I used to feed my older kiddos when they were babies.  But these are BETTER.  I snack on them.  So does the hubs.  So do the big sibs. They melt in your mouth. 

They are Jake's absolute favorite. 

I would not be able to make dinner peacefully without them. 

Bonus:  They're not messy. 

Ingredients:  Potato Flour, Potato Starch and Salt

Did I mention they taste good? 



Next.. Our OLD favorite thing... I'm sorry you've been replaced, Crispy Pears.  But they do come in a close second.  I like to snack on them, too.  They're a good replacement for a cracker when your little one can't have any sort of grain.  They're crispy.  They melt in your mouth. 

Ingredients: Asian Pears

Did I mention they taste good?

 
Meanwhile, I've been trying a few different recipes with Jake's $33 Australian millet porridge that he absolutely hates.  I didn't want it to go to waste.  I searched and found this recipe:

Eggless Baby Cereal Cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup flour (organic millet flour)
1 cup baby cereal (millet baby porridge)
1 cup juice (organic apple juice)

Directions:
Mix ingredients well. Roll out and cut into shapes. Bake for 20-30 min @ 350 deg. F.. Freezes Well. 

Recipe is borrowed from Wholesome Baby Food. This web site is a great resource for information about baby food.  Unfortunately, I don't think millet works like other baby cereals, just like millet flour doesn't really work like other flours. These may freeze well, but the millet variety tastes a bit like dog food.  Not that I've ever really tasted dog food.  Well, ok, maybe on a dare when I was a kid.  Anyway, I won't make them again.   Jake took one taste and made a face and refused the rest. 

Fail for the taste buds!

Food Trial Update... we're on day three of blueberries. Jake has a new favorite fruit!  I may try to make a blueberry sorbet for his first birthday in two weeks.   Maybe paired with a mango sorbet?  Hmmmm.... time to experiment!


P.S. We never fully trialed Tamiflu.  Every time I tried to give it to Jake he spit it out.  Or gagged until he threw up.  Another fail for the taste buds?  Perhaps it would have been a fail for the tummy, too?  Either way, I hope we never have to trial it again!!

Unwanted Trials

Yesterday we trialed Baby Advil (no dye) after Jake's 103.1 temperature would not come down with the Fever All suppositories.  Thankfully, no reactions.  He is still taking it every four hours since this fever is relentless. I call it a pass.

Today we trial Tamiflu. He's had one dose so far. 

He got the flu vaccine.  And a booster.  And he still got the flu.  Damn.

Sometimes the answer is simple

The last few days Jake has been CRANKY, with all caps.  No sleep at night, has to be constantly touching me all day, I can't be out of his sight for one second.  Crying when handed to someone else... reminding me of the few months when we didn't know why he was so upset, cranky, etc, before his diagnosis. 

I'm racking my brain...

Is it the orange juice I've been downing like water?  (fresh squeezed from the grandparents backyard)  He had that reaction to ascorbic acid, man-made vitamin C. 

Is it the new potato puffs he's been eating?  That I ordered 12 bags of... from Canada?

Is it this strange diaper rash he has in one little crease, but nowhere else?

Did he find one of the kids cheddar bunnies or some other crumb on the floor?

Is it the wheat I put back in my diet, finally causing problems?  It's been a month... I doubt it, but I'm grasping at straws here. 

Simple Answer:

Jake's sick.  He woke up with a 101 fever last night and a bad cough. Thankfully I had some Fever All left over from the last time he was sick.  Not sure what to do about the cough.  I've been trying to nurse him a lot.  He's not too interested.  I think we'll stick it out for a day or two.  If he gets any worse, we'll make the dreaded trip to the doctor's.

*sigh*  I supposed I should appreciate the simple answers every once in a while. 

Magical Millet "Cookies"

I am so inspired by Baby B's Mommy, Amanda.  She is so creative and inventive to provide her little one "normal" type food with such a small menu.  So I ventured to create my own recipe for millet muffins and cookies. 

Millet is not easy to bake with.  I like it best as a breakfast cereal with lots of stuff added in to make it taste better.  Honey, pears. raisins, nuts, cinnamon...  to name a few. 

This is my breakfast most mornings.  Looks better with the millet blurred out a bit...

During the last few weeks I have made 562 batches of millet muffins and cookies, trying to find an edible combination with our limited ingredients.  That might be a slight exaggeration.  But I did a lot of baking of the SAME thing, slightly altered, over and over again. 

The result?  Magical Millet "Cookies"!! Cookies in parenthesis because they're really muffin tops.  But they look like cookies!  And they are very edible.  My 5 year old LOVES them.  Jake LOVES them.  I like them.  I prefer a good chocolate chip cookie, but these are definitely worthy of a freshly brewed cup of coffee served with them.  Or apple juice.

Magic Millet Cookies

1 cup millet flour

1 tsp baking powder (corn-free)

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup canola oil

1/2 cup water

2 Tbs applesauce

Preheat oven to 375.  Mix together dry ingredients.  Make a well.  Add wet ingredients fold in until just moistened.  Spoon batter into muffin top pan so it just covers the bottom.  Bake for 14-16 minutes.  Transfer to cooling rack.  Enjoy!!

I never officially trialed sugar or canola oil.  We just flew by the seat of our pants here.  Jake had some sugar mixed with millet porridge a few times.  He's had some oil from french fries a few times, as well.  He's had quite a few of these muffins with no reactions!

Mini Millet Muffins - say that 10 times fast

Millet Muffin Tops ready to become Cookies!

COOKIES!!

MUFFINS!!

OH MY!!!!

Enjoy!!  Please leave me a comment if you make these and let me know what you think!

It's starting to happen.

He wants what we're eating. 

He points and says "na na?" to everything we're eating.  I'm guessing that means, "can I have some?".  Especially because he gets a little cranky when I don't give him a taste.  Thankfully my snack item lately has been sweet potato chips.  I share little bits with him and he gets very excited. 

I'm so sorry I couldn't give you a taste of the strawberry shortcake dessert tonight, Jake. 

I really wanted to. 

Do we alter everything we eat around him?  Hubs said we need to always have one of those magic millet cookies in case a dessert situation arises, as it did tonight.  We ate dinner over at my parents house tonight, as we do most Sundays. 

I'll be working on that recipe again tomorrow. 

The magic millet cookies will buy us a little time.  Until he starts to REALLY understand. 

I'll end with a quote from Jake, "Uh-oh". 

Adding to our safe list!

Please pardon the overuse of exclamation points.  I just can't contain my excitement. (!)

Grapes!  Jake loves them! I started out with the grapes peeled and quartered.  The last two days he's had them with the skins on quartered. 

Apple Juice!  FINALLY!  I found an apple juice without ascorbic acid in an unsuspecting place.  My regular grocery store's organic brand.  Go figure.  Even Trader Joe's Organic has ascorbic acid in it.  So Jake had a taste of diluted apple juice today!   

"In n Out" French Fries!  After checking their web site, then having the girl at the counter assure me that they are only potatoes and oil, no secret flour or anything surprising, we took the big plunge.  Jake ate a french fry (or 10) that I did not prepare myself.  Oh the smile on his face!  Jake felt so big and proud to be eating what we were eating! 

Muffins and Cookies! Well....almost... this is taking a little work since millet is really hard to work with by itself.  I managed to make some fairly yummy muffins. Then I got a little creative and made very thin muffin tops.  They looked just like cookies!  They were almost snickerdoodle-like out of the oven.  A little crispy on the outside, soft on the inside.  The next day they weren't so yummy.. kind of rubbery.  Trial and Error.  I still need to work on the recipe.  I will post it once it is perfected.  The great news is that Jake LOVED the muffins and mock cookies!  My basic ingredients were millet, applesauce, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder (corn-free), canola oil and salt.  I'm working on the magic combination. 

We've had so many big passes these past few weeks that I'm starting to feel kind of normal. 

I still freaked out this morning when I found him in the kitchen holding a pretzel, though.