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.