Meltdown in Aisle Four

I went to Giant Eagle to pick up a few groceries, and, as it usually does, a few items turned into several items. I found myself craving things I couldn't have like chocolate covered prezels and Lorna Dunes and pathetically checking the ingredients, thinking, Maybe these Lorna Dunes or these Oreos will be made without wheat flour? I sadly searched the boxes of the Ginger Snaps, the Vanilla Wafers, cookies I haven't eaten years, and yet, because they are not forbidden, they seem so appealing.

A few things were wheat free, but then there were Ben's peanut allergies to consider. Diana's Bananas, which I love, is made with peanut oil. I found myself thinking, Maybe I can eat Frosty Paws, an ice cream for dogs, but I think--though I did not check--that that contains forbidden ingredients too.

I was going to get Ben some Gerber's oatmeal cereal since the Earth's Best says it may contain traces of wheat, but the Gerber's is made with wheat flour. One night a while ago, Ben had a bad eczema flareup, and we think it might have been caused by Gerber's rice cereal, which has numerous ingredients. Earth's Best just has a few.

I did find---some corn tortillas, which appear to be wheat free, some ready-to-eat spare ribs, some awesome lunch meats to make an antipasta salad with, and a not very good Hershey's Carmel candy bar, which I scarfed down at the cash register and later regretted. It is made in a facility with nuts maybe but did not appear to contain them. I also got yummy looking hot-Italian sausage, splurged on Delmonico grilling steaks, got some Bob Evans garlic mashed potatoes and some other meat stuffed with meat as well as organic burgers plus two kinds of lettuce for the salad and plum tomatoes for Jamie.

If Ben continues to have these allergies, I don't want him to feel deprived of anything, so I'll continue to scour the stores and special order when I need to so that he doesn't feel deprived.

Lucy's Cookies and Food Should Taste Good Chips

Well, Lucy's Cookies are strangely addictive even though they do kind of have a bit of an aftertaste. One of the reviewers on Amazon wrote, "Something is awry with these cookies." But I'm just happy to be able to eat any cookie without eggs and nuts. There are also these wafer things that I have been eating, which aren't bad.

I found that the one store that is listed as having Lucy's Cookies does not have them. Another health food store in the area did have them but only had one kind. So far, I think the cinnamon thins might be my favorite. All of the cookies are actually thin and hard, perhaps because they are made without eggs and very sweet.

Our dog, Maggie, seemed to like Lucy's Cookies. Our dog, Harley, however wasn't jumping off the couch for them as she would a steak. Our cat, Rocky, ate them at first but then abandoned them to Maggie. He didn't seem to like them as much as he likes kettle corn.

One good discovery is that Amazon has just begun selling Lucy's Cookies. It appears that they have four kinds--chocolate chip, sugar, cinnamon and oatmeal. I have tried all but the oatmeal.

Jamie also found some glutin-free chips, made by Food Should Taste Good. He bought the multi-grain kind and the sweet potato kind. According to the Food Should Taste Good website, the chips come in several varieties including multi-grain, jalapeno, sweet potato, buffalo, chocolate, olive, the works!, lime, potato and chive, cinnamon, yellow corn, blue corn and cheddar. Maggie and Jamie really seemed to like the chips. I preferred the multi-grain to the sweet potato and ordered more on Amazon. I am pleased to see that Amazon carries these also.

In other news, Ben has getting recurring diaper rash around his backside just at the edge of the top of the diaper. Someone I know told me that many babies have latex allergies. He's only had this problem since he's been in stage 3 Pampers. He did not have this problem in stages 1 or 2. We are thinking of trying Earth's Best Diapers. Also, I have started applying Balmex since Desitin didn't seem to clear it up.

However, one good thing is that we may have found a shampoo that we can use on him. We tried Method Baby last night, and it didn't cause him to scratch very much or get cradle cap, but we do still need to apply olive oil to keep his scalp from getting too dry.

Sweet Attack--Dr. Lucy's Cookies

It was like torture being able to smell those brownies yesterday but not being able to eat them. There's a health food store about 12 miles from here that sells Dr. Lucy's cookies, which are egg-free, nut free and gluten free. But, yesterday was Sunday, and it didn't seem to be open because I called and called, and no one answered.

I was so not happy because most of my other gluten-free snacks had run out as well, and I just wanted sweets. I had been up the night before with Ben and didn't feel like baking again. Jamie had me call of the closest Starbucks (about 12-15 miles away), and they said they had some Dr. Lucy's cookies. Jamie drove out there around dinner time while the roast finished cooking in the oven. But, when he got there, they only had one kind, so he drove to a second Starbucks to get more. So far, I've only tried the chocolate chip, and they really aren't bad. I think you can tell that they are egg-free, wheat free but they are far better than the horrible rice bread that I have been eating at lunch. Or the awful rice waffles I recently tried. Those products make me want to never eat rice again.

I am glad that products for people with allergies are becoming more mainstream. I am going to try a second variety of cookies soon and will report back.

Catching Up on Cleaning. . .

. . . seems unlikely to happen soon.

For one thing, there's all these ineffectual baby lotions, everywhere. Jamie tried to put them into a box, but then we got more. I called the allergist today, but she had left for today, because I wanted to know if I should try coconut products on Ben. He has wheat, egg, peanut and some tree nut allergies, but how likely is he to be allergic to coconut? After all, some people consider coconut to be a fruit.

A great discovery is that Betty Croker now makes gluten free cake, brownie and cookie mixes. I saw them at Giant Eagle the other day and grabbed them all up, even though they were $4.29 each. I did find an egg substitute at the natural foods store that actually doesn't contain eggs. Unfortunately, many egg substitutes like egg beaters still contain eggs.

Other finds--

Ethnic Gourmet, which I had for dinner the other night. It was pretty good, but unfortunately, it is is being discontinued. I had chicken tikka masala.

A lot of Hormel products advertise that they are gluten free. I picked up some bacon and ham.

In the Kosher section, I found two kinds of Joyva Joys--Marshmallow Joys and Chocolate Covered Jelle Joys--that do not appear to contain eggs, wheat or nuts. I read the ingredients carefully. Some of the other Joys did have problematic ingredients.

Cascadian Farms Organic Oats and Honey--These are really good and gluten-free. I attempted to have them for breakfast as cereal, but, even though I went to the store several times yesterday, I forgot to buy milk. So, dry granolas followed by a late morning decaf iced white chocolate mocha.

I made pork chops and fried apples from a can for lunch. Who says I don't eat fruit? I'd like to clean more, but I'd also like to catch up on sleep.

My Baby is Like a Sheet Cake Pan

Ben and Jamie are gone for the next few days. This will hopefully give me some time to catch up on a few things, including cleaning.

Vanicream, though not superirritating, does seem to be somewhat irritating. We're going to try and go as chemical-free or as low chemical as possible.

I know that some people dislike using petroleum-based products on their babies, but we're not about to put stuff with nut oils on a kid with with nut allergies. Although almond oil may be okay, we're not sure. He is not allergic to almonds, but we don't want to cause him to develop an almond allergy. I read somewhere that people are less likely to have a problem with almonds than other nuts. Also, he had a terrible reaction to Cetaphil, but that may have been the other chemicals in it rather than the almond oil. I wish we could use Burt's Bees, but a lot of their lotions contain nut oils. Some of their products may be okay, but I'm not sure if coconut would irritate Ben, and that's found in a lot of all natural skin care products. Some people say it's a tree nut. Some say it's not. The whole thing is driving me nuts.

So yesterday we greased Ben up with Vaseline and olive oil and cocoa butter. The allergist said that sometimes simpler is better. If we try one ingredient things for a while, then at least we know what is irritating him.

I need to go shopping. I'm running out of Amy's Organics Gluten-Free things. These things can be a little pricy though if you buy them at a natural store. I'm wondering if Giant Eagle has some gluten-free Amy's.

I'm thinking of trying this shampoo and lotion, which L. recommended. I contacted the company for a list of ingredients, and it seems like the shampoo and lotion might be okay to try on Ben.

I wonder if I should wait until after the dermatologist appointment though. I don't want to put more money down the lotion money pit. On the bright side though, the facial sore likes like it might really be healing.

Gluten-Free: What can you eat?

When Ben's allergist said that he was allergic to wheat, at first I didn't really understand. For some reason, I thought, okay, no wheat bread, no problem.

In that moment, I didn't think flour. I didn't think cake. I didn't think pizza. I didn't realize how prevalent wheat is. Ben does not have Celiac disease. What he has is a wheat allergy, an allergy that we hope he outgrows. But, since I'm still feeding him, Ben's allergies to eggs, wheat, peanuts and some tree nuts, have meant radical changes to our diet.

At first, I didn't think I'd be able to eat anything, but the doctor reminded me: He's not allergic to corn or oats or soy or beef or chicken. But being Italian, my diet consisted of a lot of wheat. Pizza, pasta, cake. Wheat was like a staple of my daily life.

But because of Ben's wheat allergies, I've learned that there are a lot of things that I can eat that aren't made with wheat. One thing that is used as a substitute for wheat is rice. There's rice pasta and rice flour. I just found an egg substitute today that is wheat free. The regular grocery store did not seem to have an egg-free egg substitute.

For lunch today, I had Amy's Mexican Tamale Pie.



It's made with organic vegetables and beans. It is gluten free and contains no dairy. I also found some pretty good gluten-free pretzels by Glutino. The one thing that I haven't been quite able to get used to, however, is rice bread.