being a paleo parent

Ok, so a few weeks ago I sent my kids off to preschool.  I had originally requested C to stay gluten, dairy and nut free, but thought since her skin had cleared up we would try grains again, simply for ease.  Unfortunately within a week, the eczema (or some other autoimmune rash-- see below) was back, so now I am packing snacks for her each day.   She generally eats the fruits or vegetables that are part of the snack, and then whatever I pack her.  Here are some of the snacks I have been packing.

• Trader Joes Coconut Chips
• Organic Raisins
• Plantain chips (I tried homemade, needless to say Trader Joe's are better, but I'll keep working)
• Trail Mix with sunflower seeds, coconut, raisins, Enjoy Life Dark Chocolate Chips, dried apricots, etc.
• Papaya Spears
• Dried Unsulfured Apricots
• Banana Bread (which I kept nut-free and added some chocolate chips)
• Coconut cookies (from the 21 Day Sugar Detox)
• Clif Kid ZFruit Rope (I used to buy Annie's, but they were just purchased by General Mills, so I will not buy anything of that brand anymore-- we vote with our $$ and I will not contribute to a company that sells GMO "food".)

Thankfully the school staff has been open and willing to work with me on all of this.  I know some schools don't allow food to be brought in unless it's prepackaged, but so far that has not been the case for us.

I'm not even sure that what is popping up from the grains is eczema.  It's more bumpy than rashy, and it really doesn't seem to bother her as far as itchiness.  What I do know is that it's dry and rough, and it's cleared up with the steroid ointment that we have for her eczema. I read a post from Paleo Mom, who had a form of psoriasis and followed the autoimmune protocol to help clear up her skin.  If you are interested in learning more, read her post.  The autoimmune protocol is very strict and I'm praying we don't have to go that far EVER!!
I've had a lot of people ask why I won't just use steroid ointments on C's eczema if it helps.  The answer for that is that these ointments have lots of adverse side effects that can be long lasting.  Read a brief overview here.  The crazy thing is that I already see some of these side effects on C, and she's 3, I can't imagine what continued use would bring.

Canning

Hello again!  That is if anyone is out there, reading what I have to say ;-)  I've been busy prepping produce for winter.  Do any of you can or freeze to save fresh produce for the snowy season?  I usually freeze shredded zucchini and can salsa and tomato sauce.  This year I also made pickles and am going to freeze beans. 
In making tomato sauce last night I discovered a simple recipe made better by a simple antique contraption called a food mill or maybe it's called a strainer.  I really don't know, it was Zach's grandma's and when she passed away, it was passed on to me.  Regardless of it's name, it's genius!! Here's some pictures of the tomato sauce I made yesterday.  A recipe similar to the one I used, can be found here.  After I put my tomatoes in the pans I added olive oil, salt, pepper, and chopped garlic.  I thought about adding some basil, but decided against it so that the sauce is more versatile when it's all done.  Anyhow check it out!



My crop, fresh from the garden!

All the tomatoes after they were in the oven for a little over an hour.  I halved them, and put them face down, then put some olive oil over them and sprinkled them with chopped garlic, salt and pepper.

This is the handy dandy contraption that cut so much work from this process.

Here's all the seeds and peels....that means they aren't in my tomato sauce and my hands didn't get burnt trying to peel the tomatoes like I have in the past ;)



Here's the finished sauce.  I let it cool in the stock pot and then funneled it into jars.  I am going to freeze each jar, so I left room at the top of the jar for the sauce to expand as it freezes.



The next post will be about flash freezing beans and I hope to have one soon about the progress with C's eczema-- I'll give you a hint....it's improving!!



a little update and an AC recipe

First of all, I want to apologize for taking two weeks off. I started this post last week and sort of forgot about it. I worked four days at school last week which is out of my routine.  I know I have a rough life, right?  Sigh!

First you'll have to read about C's eczema journey, then I have a recipe to share with you. Or I suppose if you don't want to read about diet and eczema, you can skip to the bottom for the recipe. We continue to have eczema flare ups although they are getting less severe each time. I recently started C on some milk thistle drops to cleanse her liver to see if that will allow us to make some progress that lasts. I guess I'd describe our current progress as two steps forward, one step back, so we are making progress, it just doesn't feel like it in day to day life.

Just to refresh, we are currently doing nut free Paleo with her. No gluten, no grains, no dairy, no nuts, no soy.  We also use quality foods and oils (organic, pastured, grassfed, etc) and keep household cleaners to a bare minimum. If anyone is interested in learning more about keeping your cleaners clean let me know, I'll put a post together.
 

Here is my recipe for meatloaf stuffed peppers:
(Note:  This makes 8-12 servings, so it's plenty to have for packed lunches)
 

4-6 bell peppers cut in half and seeded

1 lb pork sausage (pastured is preferable)

1 lb ground beef (grassfed is preferable)

1/4 cup of each: finely chopped green pepper, red pepper, onion

1 egg (preferably free range/ soy free)

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp chilli powder

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

Pinch (or 2) of sea salt

Ground black pepper as you wish

Preheat oven to 350. After you have cut and seeded peppers place them in a casserole dish. I used at 9x13 pan for 3 peppers and then a 9x9 for 2 more peppers. Put remaining ingredients in a bowl and stir it up. By stir I mean, take the rings off your fingers and mush it all together with your bare hands :) After meat mixture is mixed together well divide and place into halved peppers. Bake covered at 350 for 45 minutes or until meat mixture reaches 165 degrees.

I served the peppers with roasted cauliflower.  Which is pretty simple.  Just cut up a head of washed/rinsed cauliflower (I almost sliced mine so that I could get lots of flavor on each piece).  Place cauliflower on a foil lined baking sheet and brush refined coconut oil on the cauliflower and lightly sprinkle with salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, and garlic powder.  You could use any spices you want, I just carried my spices from my meatloaf over to my cauliflower.  Place it in a 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until it's done to your liking.

Here they are ready to eat!



we have another confirmed culprit!

After 3 days with one serving of dairy per day....this appeared. 

Both Legs, lit up with eczema behind her knees!

 

Ugh!  Poor girl!  Well at least we have some answers.  We will return to strict Paleo and get this cleared up before reintroducing whatever we decide to reintroduce next....probably grains again if I had to guess. 

Here's what I made for dinner tonight.  By far my favorite Paleo meal!  It's time consuming or I'd probably make it more often, but then it probably wouldn't be my favorite anymore because it wouldn't be anything special. 

chicken enchiladas made with a grain free tortilla and homemade enchilada sauce, cilantro lime caulirice, and guacamole salad

Yep, that's really all I've got tonight.  I'm tired and apparently lame. 

End of 30 days

Well I realize it's been two weeks since I last posted.  Zach and I went on a cruise to the Caribbean with some very good friends of ours.  It was an amazing week away and it has been difficult to get back into the swing of things.

When we left, C had been paleo for 3 weeks, so we decided to add grains back into her diet.  After 9 days of grains, we came home to an itchy eczema disaster!!  Not sure if it was the fault of the grains or something else (such as sunscreen, chlorine, detergent, nuts, etc.), but I'm happy to report after five days at home, being strict Paleo and almost nut free (I have been using sunbutter for her) her eczema is nearly all cleared up again.
 
Moving forward from here we plan to keep her gluten, grain and nut free and reintroduce raw dairy to see if that triggers anything.  Once we determine if dairy is a problem, we will try nuts again.  At this point I am not 100% convinced grains are a problem, but when removing them for a week she has improved, so I'm about 98% sure.  Once we determine her triggers, we will be putting all of our energy into gut healing, which may require some extra creativity on my part.

So we made it through 30 days and it really wasn't as difficult as I imagined.  The most difficult part is eating outside of our house, which required a ton of preparation and eyes of a hawk (which I admittedly do not possess).  I also feel like C has become more aware of what she is eating and will ask if she is allowed to eat that or if it will give her boo boos, especially if it is something that is unfamiliar to her. 

I will keep updating this blog with progress on her eczema as well as recipes and other random information that I feel the urge to share.  My friend, Cookingmama and I are considering working together on a few projects, so I'll be sure to keep you in the loop. 

Thanks for following this adventure guys!  I wish I had more miraculous results to share, but unfortunately we will have to continue to investigate.

My kitchen may explode

Well the eczema cleanse is still going. We gave in Tuesday night and let C have some organic blue corn chips, so we lasted 15 days grain free :/ She didn't have many and quite honestly she seemed to be more into kale chips than the corn chips. I love it!!

Anyhow, the hubby and I will be away from the kids for a little over a week next week, so I am preparing all sorts of food, in order to make it a little easier for the people who will be caring for them while we are gone. On the list today:

•pancakes- this is the best recipe ever!! I have had some mixed results regarding texture, but 2/4 times they looked and tasted just like traditional gluten filled pancakes. 

•sweet potato brownies

•breakfast casserole with rutabaga hash browns, eggs and sausage

•chocolate zucchini bread

•gummies

•brown some meat
•pizza pie

•BBQ chicken

•sweet potatoes

•stuffed zucchini

Then I'll make dinner for us to eat tonight, which may end up happening on the grill!

Honest mom moment-- I'm still not convinced that we are making any progress. Just when her skin clears up, we have a flare up. Not sure what could be causing it from a gut level since her diet is so controlled, so I'm considering external factors such as soap, laundry detergent, fabric softener sheets, etc.- all of which we either don't use at home or use chemical free versions. However she did encounter bubble bath, unfamiliar bath soap and unfamiliar detergent and fabric softener at her cousins last weekend.  Not sure that she is that sensitive to detergent, but it could have been the bubble bath. Her skin was a mess at the beginning of the week and we are just getting it dried out now, but it's still very itchy for her. I'm sick of playing this guessing game. I'm ready to throw in the towel--but I won't.  I'm more than willing to make whatever changes are necessary, but I'm sick of being a detective- I just wanna make it better!!!!  Ok, I'm done venting.

If you care to see what I've been cooking, here are a few food pics for you to check out. 

Twice baked butternut squash with sausage from the paleo kitchen cookbook. Very thanksgiving-ish, but nonetheless yummy!!

More kale chips at the request of my children. My husband is now also on the kale chip bandwagon. As a family we can finish the whole cookie sheet in no time flat.

The brinner I made last night. Rutabaga hash browns with chard, bacon, and eggs topped with salsa and some avocado.

I also tried my hand at making beef jerky last night. I don't have a dehydrator so I dried it out in the oven. Took a little over 4 hours, but it is yummy!!

 

 

Chances are you won't hear much from me, until the end of the month.  I won't have much internet access after Saturday.  



Rough weekend

I'm going to keep this post short because I'm exhausted, but this weekend was rough.  When we left home yesterday we left some of our food at home- fail, C drank her cousin's milk- fail, and then she came running in the house a few hours later with a capri sun (which I'm not 100% sure has gluten, but you just never know) - fail.  I'm not gonna lie, at that point I had a breakdown.  This is not hard at home where so many factors are within my control, but going to other places where I didn't make the food that other people are eating is stressful and I don't want to have to start over on this cleanse.  I feel like I have to watch her like a hawk, which clearly is something at which I am no good.  I mean it's hard to try to explain to people what you are doing when it is so against what the majority of our society believes. 
The positive note for the weekend was that C's skin looked so much better last night after her bath.  Today was another story and I don't know why.  I think that's what is even more frustrating about this whole situation.  I have to wonder how much external factors, such as soaps, detergents, etc. may impact her eczema.  I just don't know how to figure all of this out, but I feel the need to, and I'm going to drive myself crazy doing so.
We did successfully feed the kids a paleo meal including cupcakes and coconut milk ice cream at the party.  C asked one time for a super cute Strawberry Shortcake cake pop, but that was it!  And truth be told, I wanted a cake pop too.  They looked delish!
Tomorrow is a new day and we will start fresh! 

prepping for the weekend

Another week has gone by and we are preparing for another weekend here at our house.  This weekend we have our niece's birthday party.  Again I contacted the host, my sister in law, to see what was on the menu.  They are having a pasta bar, with garlic bread, tossed salad, fruit salad and obviously cake and ice cream.  So C and I will eat zoodles (zucchini noodles) with some homemade meat sauce, so that I know it's gluten free.  I will also probably take some Paleo Bread by Elana's Pantry in case C asks for garlic bread.  I plan on whipping up some salad dressing, as many contain gluten, and 99% of store bought dressings contain canola oil- which I choose not to ingest if I can help it.  Really that's another step deeper into my nutritional beliefs, maybe I'll share more about that another day.  Anyhow, the only other thing that I will make is some sort of paleo treat, probably grainfree, dairy free cupcakes of some sort.  Store bought coconut ice cream is definitely on my shopping list for the weekend.  Yes, it's expensive, but I'm feeling a little lazy and have plenty of other things to prep.
Here are a few pics of random things we have eaten since I last blogged.

Enchiladas made with collard greens

A random lunch when there is nothing in the house.

Pork fried cauli rice

I decided yesterday that maybe I should call my nutritionist, Dr. Heather Heck to see if she had any further nutritional suggestions or supplements that may help C as we continue on this 30 day journey.  To my surprise, I got an appointment for today!  I took C there this morning and got so much help!!  She made some great recommendations for supplements and food groups that she thinks are concerns.  For those of you who are fighting with eczema, asthma, or other allergies (including seasonal) this may be of high importance you.  She said she felt the top 3 contributors to C (and I think most people who suffer from any of the above) at this time are:
1.) Gluten
2.) Dairy
3.) Peanuts
Wait, What?? Peanuts?!?  How has that never occurred to me.  I thought all this time she was fine with peanuts, because her eczema did get better when we went gluten free, but it never totally went away.  Maybe peanuts have been the other issue all along.  She didn't see harm in removing grains (but I will probably reintroduce next weekend, as my hubby and I are leaving for a week, sans kids, so it will be easier for caregivers if C can have some grains), but grains were not a top three concern for her, at least not right now. 
So I guess we will take peanuts out immediately and see where that gets us.  Dr. Heather also suggested getting some beans into C's diet (which I don't do simply because I rarely eat them and since I do the cooking, I just don't make them much) which means she could have hummus again-- as well as increasing her wild caught seafood intake (for the omega 3's). 
She also helped me problem solve thru how to heal C's gut due to her lack of nutrition in utero and as a young infant.  (For those of you who don't know, we adopted C.  She came to our family when she was 21 months old. You can read more about our adoption story and journey to our son at my blog a faith-filled journey to a priceless gift).
Long story short, if you have nutrition concerns or are just frustrated with conventional medical practices, go see a trusted nutritionist.  If you are anywhere close to Findlay, Ohio I highly recommend Dr. Heather Heck.  You can find out more about her here and here also.   She has helped so many people I know, including myself! 

Ok, I think I've met my quota for parenthesis in a single post, so I'm done for now :)  Have a great weekend!!

Starting Week 2

Today I made some grain free, dairy free no bake cookies for the kids.  They aren't paleo because I used organic peanut butter in theirs since I'm thinking Chloe has the nut sensitivity.  I'd share the recipe if I had one, but I just kind of threw some things together in a double boiler.  Those ingredients included coconut oil, coconut butter, peanut butter, coconut sugar, cocoa, flax, chia, and shredded coconut.  Then I scooped it out onto parchment paper and placed them in the freezer.  I didn't take a picture of the kids because they were funky looking because I used too much coconut oil, but here is a pic of the paleo ones I made using almond butter instead of the peanut butter. 

Chloe seems to be adjusting to this grain free, dairy free diet.  It's been days since she has asked for cheese, and the coconut yogurt seems to be filling her yogurt void.  She really hasn't asked for a granola bar either, which is shocking because I think she would have eaten a 3 granola bars a day 2 weeks ago if I would have let her.  
Guess that's all for today....short and sweet!

Party Prepping

Well Fourth of July weekend has come and gone.  We had some parties to go to which is fun, but creates quite a bit of work when you or your daughter have dietary restrictions.  I am not going to share everything that Chloe ate this past weekend because it's boring and quite honestly I don't remember. 
Here's my strategy for attending parties.  I contact the host of the party to find out what's on the menu, so that my kids think they are eating what everyone else is eating.  This weekend it was hamburgers, hot dogs and brats, along with macaroni salad, fruit, veggies, baked beans, cookies and ice cream.  So here's what I took.
- Hot dogs-- Many hot dogs contain gluten and dairy, so I always take my own.
- Cucumber salad--  My kids love cucumbers and I got some in my CSA box this week, so it was an easy dish and I took enough to share.

(For some reason this is the only picture I took of my food this weekend...weird I know!)
- Cookies--  These are delish by the way.... Double Chocolate Cookies by Paleomg  The recipe calls for thick almond butter, which I have yet to find, so I just add some almond flour to my almond butter to thicken it up a bit.  They turn out beautifully....You're welcome ;)
- Lemon Fruit Tart -- I had to make something a little bit patriotic, so this was it.  It was yummy, but very lemony.  The consistency of the filling was awesome and I will definitely make it again! 
- Banana Ice Cream-- Slice a banana, freeze for a couple of hours.  Throw the sliced bananas in your food processor with coconut milk and some almond butter.  It will turn into soft served ice cream.  You could then add some Enjoy Life Chips, or berries or nuts or whatever else you like in your ice cream.  I personally go for chocolate.
My kids ate fruit and veggies at the party, to complete the meal. 

So it's been a week since we started these diet restrictions, and I have to say it's getting a little easier.  Last Friday and Saturday Chloe was itchy, but did not have any new eczema spots.  I was very worried that maybe I eliminated the wrong foods, and I am still thinking she may have some sensitivity to nuts (not peanuts because that's a legume and she has never had any trouble with her organic peanut butter, but she has been eating more almonds in the past week), but now the itching has decreased.  She also does not have any new spots of eczema.  So we'll continue on this track, one week at a time, and hopefully we can complete the diet as planned.  If we have to eliminate nuts in the middle of this thing, it's not going to be pretty. 

Day 4

Today I didn't work!! We went to the library this morning and had a pretty enjoyable day overall.

Here is the rundown of the food that went on in our house today.

Breakfast-- banana sliced in a bowl with almond milk and a hard boiled egg that C wanted to put in her almond milk 😝 Thankfully she did not do that!

Lunch was leftovers. Taco salad with guacamole and salsa, kale chips, apple and coconut milk yogurt. 

Dinner was quite the battle. I made stuffed collard greens (stuffed with ground beef, sausage, some green pepper, onion, and some random spices--then baked in bone broth for about an hour) and green beans. I also finally made those gummies I've been talking about for the past 3 days.  I used strawberries, Great Lakes gelatin and kefir water, which were by far her favorite part of dinner. After she dropped her fork three times, jumped back and forth between her chair and mine seven times and fell on the floor twice I made the executive decision that dinner was over for C. Then we had a giant three year old melt down and moved on with our lives.
 

I've decided the gummies really shouldn't be called gummies, they should be called  jigglers, well maybe not that, because I bet chemical filled Jell-o had that trademarked, but they are more of that consistency than gummy. Anyhow the recipe is as follows:

1 cup puréed fruit (I most often use strawberries)

1/4 cup Great Lakes gelatin (make sure it's the orange container)

3/4 cup kefir water or juice

Mix the fruit and gelatin in a small pot on the stove and heat until mixed and thickening. If you are using fruit juice you can add that now too, but if you are using kefir water wait until your mixture cools slightly, as you don't want to kill the probiotics in the kefir.  Mix that all together and pour into silicone molds or in a pan (I've done both).
 

Here is the gelatin I use. I buy it from amazon and it lasts a long time. This has lots of great health benefits--check it out. For those of you with texture aversions, they also have a green container that does not thicken liquids, so you can add it to almost any liquid for the benefits. 

 

As far as kefir water goes, I recently started to make my own. It's a good source of probiotics. I don't care for it by itself, but will often add it to my shake in the morning. 

To be honest with you I am not looking forward to the next few days as we have parties to attend and I will be cooking full meals to take along with us. I normally can survive, but I know C will struggle and want cookies and ice cream like the rest of the kids. I'll share what I bring along with a few recipes.  

Happy 4th of July!!!

Third Day

Today was another day at the babysitters. I have always packed the kids lunch and snacks since we have been pretty strict with gluten free for about a year now. I have gotten into a routine with what I usually pack them (gluten free chicken nuggets, ham with cheese and pickles, peanut butter and jelly on paleo bread, and leftovers) so this week has been a bit rough. The nice thing is the kids only go to daycare once or twice a week in the summer as my work schedule is reduced. I made sure to add se extra veggies today to make up for the fruit overload I packed yesterday. :/

I fed the kids breakfast before we left the house this morning and decided to skip the granola and made them eggs with red peppers and ham. Needless to say, both kids were less than thrilled, but they did eat....eventually! 

The packed lunch for the day included leftover sausage and spinach stuffed sweet potato, green beans, and a pear.

Snacks were Cliff kids fruit ropes, boulder potato chips (cooked in avocado oil), and a banana. Clearly I'm bad at packing snacks and think a snack=carbs...oops!

Dinner tonight was a battle for some reason. Paleo taco salads with chicken, red and yellow peppers, red onion, tomatoes, salsa and guacamole. Followed up with a clementine, half of a coconut yogurt, and part of an apple that was split between the kids. 

We've been doing almond milk at bedte, which is going over like a lead weight. Well maybe I shouldn't say that. C doesn't throw a fit about it, she just doesn't drink it. I think I will try some coconut milk and see if she likes that any better. I'll let ya know how that goes. 

Two days have passed and I still haven't managed to make gummies. I swear they are easy to make, I just found more important things to do, like finally unpack our bags from vacation (we've been home for 5 days now). And tonight after the kids went to bed, my hubby and I sat on the couch and watched Netflix...it was glorious!! 

I'm not working tomorrow, so I'm really hoping I can finally make those much anticipated gummies. 

I did take a few pics today if C's plates. Which makes her feel so special, as she is used to seeing me take pictures of my own plate :) it's obvious by the order of the two pictures below I don't fully know how to do this blog thing yet, but I'll figure it out eventually. 

Day 2

We've completed another day.  Today was not so smooth....for dinner I got a request for a quesadilla, which breaks the rules in more than one way.  Trying to explain to a 3 year old that she can't eat dairy and grains is a bit of a struggle, but we made it without another request for that quesadilla. 

Here's what C ate today:
Breakfast was the same as yesterday: banana, paleo granola and almond milk.
Lunch was uncured ham, organic pickles, tomatoes, and I think some sort of fruit--I just can't remember right now ;-)
For snacks (morning and afternoon because she was at daycare today) she had a Cliff kids organic fruit rope, applesauce, more paleo granola, and a hard boiled egg.  This was a little heavy on the carbs, but in my defense, I hadn't been to the grocery store since we got home from vacation, so it was slim pickin' today. 
Supper was Asian lettuce wraps, roasted broccoli, coconut yogurt, clementine, and an apple. 

I totally didn't get around to making the gummies today and I didn't take pictures of C's food either.  I was running all over town trying to get everything I need to enroll the kids in school and check things off our checklist as we are in the middle of an adoption homestudy update.  Plus I went to crossfit and work.  I guess all that really matters is we stuck with the plan.  Tomorrow is a new day, and I'll do better!  That's our motto around here. 

Please don't hesitate to ask questions....I'd love to answer them. 

Eczema

Eczema...or as we call it in our house, "Boo boos".  Our daughter has some pretty severe eczema, which we have treated with topical steroids as minimally as possible due to it being painful to her and because I'm a self proclaimed hippy and don't like putting such harsh chemicals on her skin. Last summer we transitioned to a gluten free diet, and after about 6 weeks of that her skin cleared up.  We have been able to tell when she ate any gluten, due to her eczema flaring up again.  Over the last few weeks, I have noticed flare ups in areas where she hasn't had any spots before as well as larger areas of inflammation.  I've decided to remove grains and dairy in addition to the gluten free diet for 30 days to see if that will help her skin clear up.  Today was the first full day of this journey.  So far she hasn't asked to yogurt, granola bars or cheese.  However, I'm sure it's only a matter of time. 
I took some pictures this morning to document how her skin looks on day 1.  I am not sure these pictures do it justice, as she is dark complected and super tan, but I'm hoping there will be some good progress over the next 30 days.  This is totally unrelated to eczema, but C also has piebaldism, which affects the pigment in her skin.  She has multiple areas, which you will see in the pictures, of unpigmented, polka dotted skin. 

 She is also having areas of eczema around her hairline and some changes in pigment on her face which could be related to eczema or piebaldism. 

 

Breakfast this morning consisted of a sliced banana and paleo granola with almond milk. 
Morning snack was raisins.
Lunch was meatballs made from grassfed beef and zucchini fritters made with zucchini, eggs, almond flour and coconut flour.
For dinner she ate sausage and spinach stuffed into a sweet potato, kale chips, applesauce, strawberries and a chocolate chip cookie, made with macademia nut butter and enjoy life chocolate chips.  Yes she really ate all of that and yes she loves kale chips.
(I should probably preface this post by mentioning that I believe my kids will learn to like a food if they don't on the first attempt.  I also will not make them something special if they don't like what we are eating.  They eat what we eat, especially at dinner.  I am not worried about them going hungry.  When they are hungry enough they will always eat what I put in front of them.)

Here are a couple of pictures of what she ate today. 

 My granola recipe includes nuts, coconut, flax, coconut oil, cinnamon, honey, and a few other ingredients.

These cookies were so good- recipe came from The Paleo Kitchen (However I must make my cookies way too large, as I got 11 cookies out of the recipe when the cookbook says it makes 20..oops!)

 

Ok enough rambling by me for the night.  My goal for tomorrow is to make some gelatin gummies to help heal her gut, which I believe to be the cause of the eczema in the first place.  I'll post the recipe for those, and whatever else I decide to whip up. 

 

~Sarah