Blog > Archive by tag 'special diets'

More Results, More Food Allergies

March 4, 2010 By Nanette

fruitI can’t believe this. In yesterday’s mail, I got the results for the last blood work the DAN doctor had Little Bug do.  So, I’m thinking Okay, I know he shouldn’t have gluten, wheat, dairy, oranges, eggs and soy.  He eats pretty well, lots of salads, tomatoes, carrots, corn – pretty good veggies right?

WRONG!

Here are the things this report is telling me he’s allergic to and should be removed from his diet as well as putting him on the GFCF diet.

Asparagus, carrot, cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, corn, cucumber, garlic, gluten, grapefruit, lemon, cow’s milk, orange, pineapple, rye, wheat and yogurt. (new allergy foods in red) And now my favorite grocery store isn’t carrying the coconut milk he can have.

Where does it all stop.  Every time they do a test they find more things. Pretty soon my kiddo is going to live on water.

I am finding some inconsistencies though.  I was told he was allergic to eggs and soy, yet on this workup the eggs and soybeans came up with no allergy level what-so-ever.  Now I am totally confused. Time to contact the doctor and find out what that means, is he or isn’t he allergic to eggs and soy?  If he’s not that will help some.  I just wish I understood what each of these foods is doing to his body and mind.  It’s not an outward thing so what’s it doing to his insides?

Filed Under: Autism Journal Tagged With: , , , ,

Gluten-Free Can Be Moist and Tasty

February 23, 2010 By Nanette

I’ve come to realize that just about EVERYTHING has gluten in it and I’ve also noticed that way too many times the gluten-free products just aren’t all they are cracked up to be taste wise. I know the first couple of products my kids and I tried were just plain bad.  The breads were dry and crumbly and on top of that expensive.  In this day and age you can’t afford to spend so much on a loaf of bread just to throw it out.

So, any chance I get to try a gluten-free product free of charge, I’m gonna do it and I’m gonna be honest about it for two reasons: 1) that’s the kind of person I am and 2) you deserve to know if a product is something you should spend your hard earned money on.  Before we go into the review let me just say (disclosure), Yes, I received these products free of charge from Gluten-Free Houston for this review. Now on to the review:

I received two cakes from Gluten-Free Houston (the only 100% gluten-free baking facility in Houston) last week and so I wanted to tell you a little bit about the products I received as well as mention some other available products.

I received both a gluten-free sour cream coffee cake and a carrot cake.  The coffee cake was the major hit! My son devoured it all in less than 24 hours.  I did manage to get a couple of pieces in myself.  It was delicious.  So soft and moist! (which is something your don’t really get with gluten-free usually)  My son is usually the type to eat the toppings off as most kids are and leave the rest but not this time.  He ate it all. Cinnamon topping and cake.  He agreed it was “very good”.  I could tell even before I opened the package that it was going to be soft.  How?  I very gently pressed on the side of the foil pan it came in and could tell that it wasn’t like other gluten free bread products we had tried before.

I was just checking out the website and they even make special occasion gluten free cakes. It is not often you can find “fresh baked” gluten free products that taste this good and are this moist.  I can tell you it was moist and soft but I think you’d believe me more if you actually saw it for yourself so here’s a real quick little video of the coffee cake:

So, I’m not the best at video but you get the point. Check out their website for their other products which can be purchased online and shipped via Lone Star Overnight in Texas. If you are in Houston some of their products are available locally as well.  Here’s just a quick list of a few of the many baked goodies available:

Gluten Free: sandwich bread, chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin and sugar cookies, brownies, coffee cake, carrot cake–in store pick up only, carrot cake muffins, white and chocolate cake and cupcakes, gingerbread cake.

Gluten Free/Dairy Free: sandwich bread, hamburger buns, dinner rolls.

Gluten Free & Gluten Free/Dairy Free frozen bread dough and French bread frozen dough.

Thank you GlutenFreeHouston for allowing me to share your delicious products with my family. Disclosure: Products were provided free of charge from GlutenFreeHouston.com for this review.

Filed Under: Everything Else Tagged With: , , ,

Udi’s Gluten Free Foods – A Fabulous Find!

January 19, 2010 By Nanette

PhotobucketWell, I’m sure from the title you can already guess that I was very happy with the Udi’s Gluten Free products I received in exchange for a review.  I think I’ve mentioned before about Little Bug’s food intolerance which we just recently found out about.  So, I’ve been on the search for gluten free, dairy free, soy free foods that actually taste good and that my entire family will enjoy as I am hoping we can all switch to healthier food options.  That is not an easy task, I’m finding out.

Now let me tell you why we liked the products from Udi’s Gluten Free Foods. First of all, I will tell you, not all the products we received were a big hit with everyone in the family but I guess that’s typical for any family.  Here’s what we got: (all the products we tested were Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free and Nut Free)

Blueberry Muffins, Lemon Streusel Muffins, Pizza Crusts, White Sandwich Bread and Whole Grain Bread.

The Hits: Blueberry Muffins, Whole Grain Bread, White Sandwich Bread

The Blueberry Muffins were awesome.  I personally loved them.  They were soft and moist and had a very good taste and texture.  It had just enough sugar sprinkled on top to enhance the flavor of the muffin without overpowering it.  I could tell just from looking at them that they were much softer than other GFCF foods we had tried.  And once I opened the package, wow was I impressed with the taste.  Gave a taste to hubby too as soon as he walked in the door almost.  He too was very impressed with the taste and texture.  He wasn’t expecting it to be so tasty but again pleasantly surprised.

My son just loved the Whole grain bread.  Keeps eating slices of it right out of the bag with nothing added to it.  I couldn’t even get him to try the white bread but as long as he found a bread he likes we are on the right track. Hubby and I tried the white bread and it was actually very good.  We had a bad experience with another brand we tried before so were a little leary but we were not disappointed this time. It was soft and didn’t crumble in your throat nor did it have a funny taste or texture like the other brand.

The White Sandwich bread was also very good.  The flavor was very much like regular bread and the texture was good also, not at all crumbly.  Much softer than other brands we’ve tried.

The Near Hits: Lemon Streusel Muffins and Pizza Crusts (We were about 50/50 on these)  While hubby and I thought the Lemon Strusel Muffins were just a tad bit dry in comparison to the Blueberry Muffins, Little Bug just adored them.  In fact, I think he ate them all already!  2/3 rds of us liked the pizza crust.  It tasted just fine, wouldn’t have known the difference if the package didn’t say it was GFCF.  I think it was just that it was a thin crust that Little Bug wasn’t quite thrilled with. But over  all still good.

The Misses: Didn’t find one. There wasn’t anything that didn’t get eaten or commented on.

This is how impressed we were with the Udi’s Gluten Free Foods: we took a 30 minute or longer drive to the nearest Whole Foods markets as my favorite grocery store doesn’t carry the brand yet. I will talk to them about that. We looked around and saw several other Udi’s brand items including cinamon rolls (they looked so yummy!) and even cupcakes with vanilla icing (now those are going to be a special treat day item for sure). Udi’s is going to one brand this family will keep in their pantry even if I have to drive 30 minutes or more to get it.  It’s also available online from Udi’s Gluten Free Foods website (note they only ship on specific days of the week so make sure you check that before ordering).

Disclosure: I was provided with the above mentioned products in exchange for a review but the review itself is my personal experiences as well as those of my family and in no way did receiving the products free of charge influence this review.

Filed Under: A Mom Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , ,
« Older Posts