Soy, cantalope, and Rice (gluten-free) Chex!

It's a like a new world has molded into mine. I love milk, especially with cereal, the cold vs. the crunch, I've always been a cereal kid, since day one. (Well, maybe not GERBER cereal, I'll have to ask Mom, lol.)

Yesterday I took the kiddos to Ream's Market with me and piled them all into a cart. We shopped around, I needed Lemon Pepper to make FANTASTIC Father's Day sandwiches, courtesy of Pioneer Woman and her "Marlboro Man's Second Favorite Sandwich". It was soooo yummy according to Cam, very manly and unhealthy, LOL. I couldn't have the cheese or the bun but still, the moist chicken and bacon strips... *droooool* check out this recipe! It's to die for! ("LITERALLY!" whisper our arteries...)

Anywho - we got lemon pepper, than chicken bullion for a bean soup recipe I was making - something I CAN eat. I also looked for a new dressing. You would be surprised how many dressings have sour cream or some hugely dairy item in them. And by "how many" I mean EVERY FRICKIN' ONE! It was ridiculous. I finally did find one, $2.50, but on the bright side it will only be me that will be eating it because it's Honey Dijon Mustard dressing. Which I love, and Cam hates, lol. (But he loves my previous yay-you-are-my-life dressing that I discovered has WHEAT in it. So sad.) Anywho, very good dressing. Brianna's I think.

I wandered over to the milk and actually bought some Soy Milk from Silk, the vanilla flavor. And I tell you... OH MY SWEET COMPUTER, it's HEAVEN! Just to have that cool thicker milky taste and to be able to eat cereal again! (Not all cereal, but hey it's an improvement.) I immediately went to look for cereals just from looking at the container I was craving it so badly. In the cereal isle we got Kix, no wheat or dairy, and RICE Chex, no wheat or dairy. And, surprisingly enough, NO GLUTEN. I'm not allergic to gluten but A LOT of people are. Sugar is the third ingredient which doesn't make it the perfect cereal for people with high allergies to life BUT, I called my mom anyway and she was amazed there was no gluten in it, she said she may have to pick some up for a treat! Pretty sad my mom and I are repeating mantras of "OH, CHEX... TREEEEATTT!" But hey, whatever works right?

Life is still going to be interesting. We have yet to go out to eat since this development... I'm not sure what I would even order. Probably would do a salad and bring my own dressing... it's so weird to think how some silly little thing changes everything.

Today is the kids' birthday party, Liv, Andrew and Kyla... so I really should stop with the blogging and go get dressed, dress the kids, get Hubbs to the shower, cause we've got a lot ahead of us today and grocery shopping, produce shopping, "etc." shopping ahead of that! Wish us luck. Pictures to come... :)

It's not just the cow and the hen.

So among other recent discoveries that have changed the way I look at food and the people eating it - something else is wrong. I have been so good about what I eat and avoiding dairy like the plague. Even silly things that aren't pure raw dairy are bothering me. Cakes, cookies - any type of bakery good with egg or milk in it. I can't have butter in any form. All stuff we knew right?

So I decided I was tired of being up sick all night on the occasional night when I thought I hadn't eaten any dairy at all. Yesterday was a true test for all of that. In the morning I had wheat toast with this yummy homemade jam that my Visiting Teacher made for me (okay my family, but I hoard it, lol), lunch was top ramen (I know, not the healthiest, I was just in the mood for it), and dinner we had turkey burgers with fried onion (in canola oil, not butter), lettuce, honey mustard, and pickles. YUM. Corn on the cob (minus the butter) and baked fries for Cam and myself, baked taters for the kids. NO DAIRY. And after our after-dinner walk, this time so the kids could ride the new bikes, I felt so sick I had to tell Cam, "I need to go to the bathroom, I don't feel well." I'm sure his thoughts were the same as mine - what the heck did I eat?

Returning from the bathroom, my stomach was crampy and sore and I could not figure out what was wrong with me. My chest felt constricted from the bottom of my ribcage through my sternum and shoulders and I looked about 2-1/2 months pregnant my tummy was so swollen. And the only thing I know of that can make you swell like that (other than a fetus) is WHEAT and/or YEAST.

I called my Mom, the Goddess of allergens, diets, and body intolerances, lol, and she agreed with me and wants me to see her naturopath in Oregon. We'll see how that pans out, and it wouldn't be until November, but for now... I'm officially off wheat AND dairy and staying away from sugars. Meats, vegetables, and fruits are about it for right now. It'll be an interesting ride.

This morning for breakfast, out of curiosity I peeked at my new salad dressing that's been my savior in all of this, I can use it on breads, meats, salads, etc. - not anymore! The 3rd ingredient is soy sauce - guess what they use to make soy sauce? Yes, soybeans. AND WHEAT.

For breakfast, rather than toast since that's off the menu now, I had a sliced apple with crunchy peanut butter - THANK YOU inventor of peanut butter for not RANDOMLY including wheat OR yeast in your ingredients. I LOVE YOU.

Lunch is looking like a salad but no dressing... on the bright side I have some carrots and cucumber in the crisper so at least I can have more than nothing on it. I guess I just need to find a dressing with no wheat, no dairy, and hopefully no yeast (in case, it's random stuff, I mean it) that doesn't taste like blended grass seed or cream of tree bark. And don't even get me started on dinner. I have no idea what to even CONSIDER for dinner. I'm just at a complete loss. I love to bake and cook - so what now?

Sitting here and taking in a deep breath, have to grab hold of my mental state at times and shake it around so it can chill, I realize a good option for tonight would be BBQ chicken (with sauce for Cam and the kiddos, plain for me), steamed veggies, and rice or mashed potatoes. I'll have to fiddle with the potatoes and see if I can maybe use water instead of milk? Canola oil instead of butter, well actually butter is just for the flavor, that can be omitted. It'll mess with the overall flavor, BUT, I could find a good seasoning combination.

See, I'll get through this, just have to let my brain think without the mental-doom-thoughts taking over.

Any ideas? Comment or email - believe me... I'm up for suggestions.

australian delicacies.

Upon waking this morning I fed the Husband, children, and not myself. Since this lactose intolerant thing started I haven't been in much of a mood to do so. Normally I would have cereal with milk, toast with butter, glass of milk, etc. One of the above. But lately, without that my options are non-conventional breakfast foods or oatmeal. And after 2 weeks of oatmeal... yeah, so done with that.

I fell asleep again, while watching Cars with Duncan while "Her Highness" was doing something or another upstairs. She came down wearing a Sunday dress *fumes* and asked me to tie the sash. I did and then went into the kitchen to retrieve a perfectly good, untouched apple from the sink that Duncan has put there. I washed and sliced it, grabbed the crunchy peanut butter (thank HEAVENS I realized that's not dairy, lol) from the cupboard and sat down to blog. That was 2 hours and 20 minutes ago. WOW, distraction. The peanut butter was good and I think I needed the protein. I know protein isn't a vital characteristic of milk but I was so tired, it helped to wake me up. I can't think, off the top of my head, of any characteristics of Vitamin D loss or calcium loss except for the obvious one of my bones turning into Vegemite. Yes, Vegemite, you know - the Australian wonder owned by the American company, Kraft.

My humor has been a wee bit dark lately and it's been getting the best of me. Sarcasm can take a bite out of someone's mood if used incorrectly and lately I'm been a bit mouthy. Avoid this by not encouraging me and eliminating contact. Easy enough, right?

The children have been an absolute mess this morning, both in awful AWFUL moods since waking early this morning. Liv absolutely lost it when Cam walked out the door screaming that she hadn't had a "kissy and huggy" to which I had no choice but to tell her too late. He was late to work and she was going to take ten years to get off her chair to get what she wanted. So, really, there was no option and I told her exactly that. I offered to let her call him on my phone so she could send a kissy over the phone, etc. But no go. She then began the huge monologue "Why aren't you ever nice to me? I just want to say bye to Daddy but you are a mean mommy! Why don't you make me happy?" If you haven't noticed, the drama queen has only gotten worse. She's in tears half the day over the most absurd things and 99% of the time she doesn't even need another person involved to justify a melt-down. It's a lovely arrangement.

On the bright side, on Saturday we had a very successful shopping trip. Liv wore her very cute new outfit yesterday and yes, I'm awful, I didn't get any photos. I do have photos of Duncan riding his new bike though, those will come soon. We also got to see the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile or whatever they call it, and we have photos of that. :) Duncan was delighted to see a hot dog 3 times the size of our truck.

More later when the kids are occupied.

Today.

Hasn't been a bad day today, house is clean, weather is good, spoke to an old friend from highschool this morning via MySpace. She's such a sweetheart and I'm glad I decided to comment on her page and say hello. :)

I am on the other hand, NOT glad, that since the events in March I've become horribly lactose intolerant. I don't know if that normally includes all dairy products or anything with any type of dairy product in them (i.e. eggs, butter, sour cream, pudding) but my version of it certainly does. I began to notice in April that I was getting sick an awful lot in the evenings to the point where I could hardly stand to have pajamas on or Cam anywhere near my side of the bed. I would sweat and my stomach would cramp. I'd have to sit up in the middle of the night because the pains would make my stomach hurt so badly they'd wake me up.

At first, I just assumed it was an awful stomach bug, as I'm a baby when it comes to anything GI. So I stuck through it, didn't change anything. The next morning I had my cereal (with milk), had a normal lunch, had dinner (chicken crescents which includes cream of broccoli or chicken, milk, cheese, and of course the cheese and cream of whatever gravy for the rice and on top of the crescents). That night after the kids went to bed, we watched TV together and had ice cream.

That night was one of the worst I've ever had GI-wise. You don't want details, believe me.

Since then I realized, after my pleading with God to just help me through the night and I'd never touch a glass of milk ever again, that I was going to have to make a change. Since then life has been considerably better. I no longer drink milk - at all, eat eggs (I'll eat them in something like fried rice or a small small slice of cake sans frosting, but not alone or in omelet, etc.), no more buttered toast in the mornings, no more sour cream or cream cheese, no more frosting (that hasn't been a huge deal since I'm not too big on frosting), pretty much anything dairy. Even macaroni and cheese, it's like my body can sense the dairy and suddenly things don't taste as good. Well, not that M&C ever did really taste good in the first place, lol.

So not eating the dairy, and allowing myself to some ice cream once a week in smaller amounts (because ice cream is pretty much my LIFE) I've come back to the human world where we all are normal and bent over in pain, sobbing.

So in addition to my regular eating habits of no ground beef, don't like chocolate, and cutting out the preservatives of "pre made" meals or "freezer dinners" (essentially anything not fresh or made from scratch) I'm adding no dairy. This ought to be interesting at family dinners.

I'm making some more changes to the blog today. Nothing horrendously interesting to the likes of the rest of the cyber world. No worries. ;)

Now go clean your room.