Cape Cod Allergy Friendly Restaurant Review.

I’ve been MIA. For awhile. A long while.

I took an LPN course to begin my journey to becoming a Midwife, and was really really caught up in the insanity of it.

But I’m totally back.

A few days after graduation, we left for a trip to Cape Cod. As many of you know, my son has food allergies (used to be soy, egg, dairy and wheat, but was cleared of a wheat allergy in February of this year), and travelling, eating out, and being far from home are all VERY difficult things for me to agree to do.  Considering it’s been about a year since we last ventured away (Sesame Place, which is surrounded by restaurants that are amazingly understanding of people with food allergies), we decided we’d do it.

My mom told me to look at Allergy Eats and find restaurants that can accommodate our situation, and I found a few. Considering I need to eat dairy free too, because Anth nurses, it can be a bigger challenge than if it were just his food that needs to be dairy free.

To say that I was impressed by the way these restaurants handled our situation would be a complete understatement. Each and every restaurant we visited went above and beyond to make sure that Anthony didn’t have a potentially life-threatening reaction. And I would recommend any of them to anyone looking to find a safe place to take their kids.

Our first day on the Cape, we went to Box Office Cafe in Chatham. They have a Vegan Menu and serve Daiya "cheese."  The kids had The Unforgiven pizza, without ranch dressing and I had the Reign of Fire, no bleu cheese, of course. Both with Daiya cheese. 

They even made us special chicken nuggets to be sure they were dairy free. We even tried some of their homemade granola, which lasted about 5 minutes, and was AHHHHMAZING.

The next day, we were on a quest for dairy free breakfast, and thought it would be more challenging. Keltic Kitchen in West Yarmouth had a line out the door, so we thought we were gonna have a rough time. We were sooo wrong. I looked on Allergy Eats, and found Idgy's, a small, storefront, 100% gluten free bakery and restaurant. We called to make sure that they could make dairy free things, and they told us they usually add milk to their pancake mix, but since it's dairy free, they could make it another way, and make it work. We got there, and were somewhat surprised to find that they had purchased Trader Joe's coconut milk in order to make our pancakes. Let me tell you..... DEFREAKINGLICIOUS. I seriously have never had such good pancakes, even at home. We even bought Vegan Coconut Lime Cupcakes and some almond crescent cookies to take to a cousin's house later that night, and were SOO impressed. We were so impressed that we ate there again the following day!!

That evening, we went to Outback Steakhouse in Hyannis and they cooked Anthony's burger, my steak, and both our sweet potato fries in saute pans separately from all the other food. They were happy to check on ingredients for us, assist us with the menu and make sure we were happy, throughout the meal. Katie was our waitress, and she was just amazing. The food was awesome, Anthony had no reaction, we were all happily stuffed.

Tuesday, we planned to go to the Box Office Cafe again, but sadly, they are closed Tuesdays, which I assume is because it's the slowest day of the week (I'm only complaining because we were leaving Wednesday morning, and I wished I could eat there again. Everyone needs a day off!!). I remembered visiting a Not Your Average Joe's in Norwell for an Allergy Eats event, and they were awesome. So we figured we'd give the one in Hyannis a try. Rich, the manager, was the best.ever. Tiffany was our server, and she was awesome. She originally came to our table with the cheese and garlic oil for the bread, but I stopped her in her tracks, and she immediately came up with an alternative for us, which was fantastic, by the way!! She deferred to Rich every time she wasn't 100% sure, and that made me so confident in the fact that they were actually taking care of us. Also, the chef, when I asked if we could give Anth some pizza, suggested we try something else, since he couldn't guarantee that cheese hadn't cross-contaminated all the food on the pizza station. Good looks, dude. For serious. I love that they weren't just trying to make a sale, but they were actually looking out for my 2 year old. Also, Anthony told Rich he had been asking for sausage the whole time we were on Cape, and being told he couldn't have it, so he really wanted one. He researched for a few, then got him what he wanted. The kid was on cloud 9. Also, when the lettuce wrap appetizer came out, it had red peppers on it, which Anth promptly ate. When I told Rich, he brought us a plate of them. I just can't say enough nice things about these people. So happy with this place!!!

Yesterday morning, our last morning on Cape, we finally found Keltic Kitchen to not be so busy we'd have to wait an hour. They were great. Anthony and I ate completely dairy free breakfasts, and were very pleased. Also, it was authentic Irish breakfast, complete with rashers, bangers, white and black pudding and brown bread (brown bread is not dairy free, so we had Udi's gluten free bread, but regardless, AHMAZING).

So, needless to say, this trip was a LOT less stressful than it could have been. And, I commend these places for doing what they do. We'll be back, don't worry. 

Back to school Monday to start classes toward my BSN, but I promise, I'll be around more often now that the hard part is over :)

Thanks for listening.

More things I've figured out since going gluten-free...

Let me start by saying, it's never fun to see your baby suffer.  Anthony has been having a tough time digesting things and getting lots of eczema since his first week of life.  Because I'm breastfeeding, this meant I had to alter my diet.  We thought it was all dairy.  Maybe soy.  But I was having trouble sticking to a completely soy and dairy free diet, and being not completely convinced that was what was causing the issues, I wasn't very strict about it.  We visited Children's Hospital Boston a week ago to see an allergy doctor and it was there we got some answers.  Before the test, the doctor suggested I switch to formula so that I can stop stressing about my diet.  Gosh, he doesn't know how much work we put in to get this far did he.  THAT WOULD NOT HAPPEN.... I hadn't even thought of that as an option... I decided I'd alter my diet, no matter what it took.

In the office Anthony tested positive for an allergy to soy and WHEAT!  Wheat???  I had NO idea.  And negative for both casein and milk, or so I thought.  A couple hours later, I learned the truth.  Anthony is allergic to milk, highly so, but the reaction is a bit delayed.  Therefore, it's more dangerous because it could come on hours, or even days after he consumes something  he's allergic to.  He will be retested for milk and casein in July just to be sure.  So on my way home from this appointment, I went shopping and bought gluten free stuff to get be started.  His rash literally cleared up in 2 or 3 days, and I only used the medication for his face 2 or 3 times.  Tuesday, 4 days after the test, I worked and he drank some milk that had been pumped before the change.  And his rash came back.... Poor boy.  Well, at least we know.  And at least now they have some great stuff out there.  Here is what I've learned so far!

Gluten free flour, by Bob's Red Mill is amazing stuff.  Whoever invented this is an amazing person, truth be told.  I made cookies today, substituting this flour for all purpose flour and the cookies are amazing.  They taste the same as the original.  All you need to do is add a touch of xanthan gum to get the cookies to have the same texture and stick right, and voila.... You can't even tell the difference...
Another thing I've found is Udi Breads.  Delicious.  Enjoy Life Foods makes the best cookies.  Free from the 8 most common allergens.  And Ener-G gluten free low protein and dairy free pretzels are sooo good.  Earth's Balance Dairy Free Spreads have rocked my world!!! All this, paired with the fact that Anthony's rash has gotten 100 times better since starting gluten free, makes it all worth it. 

Here is a recipe for Oatmeal Cranberry cookies that are free of gluten, soy and dairy.

1 cup Earth's Balance Soy free spread
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups gluten free flour
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 cups gluten free oats
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries


1. Combine spread, sugars, eggs and vanilla in a bowl, mix til creamy.
2. In a separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients except oats and berries.
3. Slowly add dry mixture to sugar mixture until well blended.
4. Slowly stir in oats, then cranberries.
5. Bake at 350 for 14-18 minutes.


And another recipe... This time for something to go on your bread :)

Fried Bean Burger

1/2 fresh onion, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 heaping tablespoon minced garlic
1 can red (or kidney) beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can black beans
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon cilantro
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground sea salt
cracked fresh black pepper
1 teaspoon lemon juice, dash hot sauce, rice flour ,more olive oil
 
1. Sautee Chopped fresh onion and minced garlic with oil in a regular sized saute pan, stirring often until onion is cooked through. Do not allow them to burn. Set aside to cool.
2. Open cans of beans, and strain well. Place into food processor and add onion and garlic. Puree. You can do a portion at a time, or all at once and mix frequently. The beans will cling to the blade, so make sure to mix often. I like to leave the mixture a bit chunky.
3. Once mixture is blended, form into patties and dust with gluten free flour.
4. Saute bean cakes in original pan used for onion and garlic, using enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Let the bean cakes cook for a couple of minutes on each side to form a crispy crust. 
5. Let stand 5 minutes before eating. 
(makes around 10 burgers)

The most rewarding journey of my life...

So, I thought a post about my breast feeding journey would be appropriate, since this defines my life at the moment. 

Before I got pregnant, more like before I got into a serious relationship, I would say things like, "I couldn't IMAGINE breastfeeding.  I couldn't have a child's mouth on my BOOB.  Ugh." This was before I became more cognizant of being more green, organic foods and homeopathic remedies.  Once I realized how much good eating natural foods, using natural products and eliminating a reasonable amount of chemicals, medications and hormones from our lives can do, I decided maybe breastfeeding wouldn't be all that bad. 

That being said, I had officially decided being a "step-mom" was an adequate substitute for having children of my own, because, as I often said, "I get all the benefits of motherhood without ruining my vagina."  Oh goodness was I in for it! 

Needless to say, my getting pregnant was a surprise.  A big one, actually.  I wasn't expecting it, but ironically, I found out I was pregnant on Mothers' Day last year.  How appropriate!  And then began my journey of becoming as natural a parent as was possible.  I'm realizing that I have a long way to go, but I'm slowly eliminating all chemicals from my life and my son's life.  It's hard to eliminate them completely from Delina's life, however, since she is in another home a few days a week, and I'm sure she's exposed to crazy stuff there.  But at least I know my house is on its way to being as earth friendly as possible. 

I removed my nipple rings as soon as I found out they could hinder my ability to breastfeed.  This was a huge moment for me, as I loved those things.  Who knows why, but I had a lot of pride in them.  And I started eating as healthfully as possible.  I say as possible because when I was pregnant, I couldn't keep anything down for days at a time, so whatever I could keep in my belly in these times I would just eat.

Then came my decision to have a midwife instead of an obstetrician.  And a natural birth.  The natural birth had to go out the window, but I'll tell you more about that in another post.  But in all of this, the most important thing to me was quickly being skin to skin with my son so that he could latch right away and we could be on our way.  I did end up with skin to skin contact within 10 minutes (he was examined by NICU docs because of meconium in the water, but they were quick).  And my son latched on like a pro.  Or so they told me.  Later that day, however, my left nipple hurt so bad I could scream!  I guess I have a dimpled nipple.  So, a LC came in to help me and we decided I should pump on the left and feed on the right until it healed. 2 days after being home, I just fed him right from the tap most of the time.  I couldn't be bothered with a middle man. 

I'd like to say it's been smooth sailing since.  I'd be lying.  We spent the first 2 weeks having weight checks because he wasn't gaining weight fast enough.  It took him 2 and a half weeks to get to his birth weight.  There have been many days when all I want is to have 4 or 5 hours without my boob in a kid's mouth.  Anthony spent 3 weeks not having a bowel movement without the assistance of a suppository, only to find out he's allergic to milk protein, which I've had to eliminate from my diet.  I've also cried myself to sleep because it hurts so much. Some days he squeezes so hard because of my fast let down and tears pieces of my skin off.  I needed a few hours of a break once because I had nothing pumped and I was nervous about that. I gave him an ounce of soy formula in his bottle.  This caused the same reaction we found from the milk protein.  I felt so badly for days!

We've had some bumps but we've found what works for us.  I've eliminated both milk and soy from my diet, and he's been pooping regularly, and feeling much better.  He's been sleeping through the night almost since the day we got home from the hospital, except for some extremely gassy nights.  And I have continued giving him one bottle of pumped milk when I'm signaling that it's bedtime, because that's what we did from day one, and why change something that works so well?

Once Anthony started gaining weight, he didn't stop.  He's up to 13 and a half pounds up from 7 pounds 10 ounces.  And he just turned 3 months last week.  He is the happiest baby ever, and when I look at him, I can't even begin to describe how good it feels to know that this kid, with all his rolls and chub, has gained as much as he has gained because I chose to stick with it.  I was determined to give him the best I could give him, and, so far, I'm succeeding.

I'm hoping to breastfeed for at least a year, maybe a bit longer. Hopefully I can reach this goal.

Update... I no longer give Anthony a bottle of expressed milk at night.  Turns out the older they get the smarter they get.  He started rejecting my breast and screaming when it wasn't coming out fast enough.  So, now he gets fed before bed directly from the tap... And I'm happy to report it works better and he sleeps longer, in his own crib, in his own room, usually for 12 hours a night :)