Seeing in a New Light

When I found out that my children had food allergies, our diets and the way we viewed food completely changed.  We had to read the label of each food to dissect the ingredients listed and determine if it was ‘safe’.  We cut out major calorie sources from our diet like dairy products, wheat, nuts, and eggs.  Basically, we had to find new foods to eat.

We were struggling to find replacement foods for the basics of a balanced diet and kid friendly alternatives for foods like bread, cheese, and baked goods.  Some searches and experiments were successful, others seemed completely fruitless.  Meanwhile, I felt like I was starving all of the time, and I knew that my son felt the same way. 

The journey in our diet has involved many years of research, help and tips from friends and family, and trial and error.  In the process, I felt overwhelmed most of the time.  It was at these lowest moments that we made our greatest strides and advancements in his diet.  The funny thing is that the foods we added were always around us; we just saw them in a new light.

Welcome to my first challenge for the year.  I challenge you to look at the possibilities of new foods to introduce to your diet, changing the way you make your food, and introduce one new whole food.   For us, these foods included baked potatoes, bananas, salami, brown rice wraps, homemade coconut ice cream, enchiladas made without cheese, acorn squash, hash browns, grits, and quinoa to name a few.  The list seems very modest and obvious, but when feeling overwhelmed by the demands of the allergy diet, the simple things are not always simple.

Please comment about the changes you made or food that you added to your diet. It will likely help others!

Here is what I tried this week:

Quinoa Flakes and Oats Granola

1 ½ cups quinoa flakes

1 ½ cups regular cut oats

¼ cup canola oil

¼ cup brown sugar

¼ cup maple syrup

Pinch of sea salt

Optional additions:

¾ cup shredded coconut

1 cup dried fruits

1 cup chopped almonds

Combine quinoa flakes, oats and salt in a large bowl.   Mix together oil, sugar, and syrup.  Pour mixture over dry ingredients and mix well.  Place on a large cookie sheet or dish and bake for 20 min at 400 degrees, stirring every 5 minutes.   The quinoa will cook fast and may burn if not stirred.  Mix in optional ingredients after the granola cools.  Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.  This recipe was adapted from a friend’s recipe and from my new favorite cookbook, It’s All Good, by Gwyneth Paltrow.

Special thanks to my kids and their friends who helped with this post today.  They each tried the granola and a new whole food today:  kiwi and pomegranates!