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!!