What a difference a year makes

So recently I was going through some old pictures and video on my computer and I came across some old video of Jackson on Christmas morning last year. It's video of him seeing the tree in the morning after Santa visited. Seeing his reaction to all the presents is something I like to record each year.

Anyway I was struck by the video proof of just how far he has come. Last year at Christmas Jackson was about 3.75 years old. He had been on the diet for about 5 months and we had not yet started supplements. It takes a few months to clear out all of the gluten from your body so Jackson was doing well at this point compared to where he started 5 months prior. Before he started the diet he did not speak in sentences, now here he is 5 months later and he is clearly speaking in sentences. BUT, his sentences in this video are all the same basically. You can see how he is very happy to see the presents but his mind gets stuck in a loop and he keeps repeating "can I open the presents please?" over and over. That repetitive speech is called Echolalia and is one of the symptoms of his autism. He makes slight glimpses of eye contact. He was totally unaware that it was Christmas before we came out to show him the tree. He didn't understand about Santa and before we came out to the tree he was getting dressed and getting his hair combed completely unaware of what waited for him in the living room. Here is the video.



Second video shows Jackson at this past Christmas, 12-25-2010. What a difference a year of Biomed makes. In this video he comes to wake us up on Christmas morning, before dawn, like any other kid. He defiantly understood about Santa this year and in fact actually helped make a letter to Santa to ask for what he wanted. This year he was anticipating Santa's visit. He was just as excited as last year about the presents but this year his mind was not stuck in that loop that it was last year. This year he was able to express the thoughts going through his head instead of just repeating the one sentence. He included us so much more and made better eye contact while opening up his new toys. This year he turned his head to make eye contact when his name was called, he was aware of so much more and so much more tuned into the world around him. This year he is doing so well compared to last year that I just had to share, I'm very proud of how far my little 1 pound 10oz. baby has come. Days like this where I get to see all the hard work pay off, are the days that keep me going.

Huge kitchen time savers

I have been meaning to post this for a long time. Lately though it's becoming clear to me that you all are in need of some good time saving tips for GFCFSF cooking. So here goes. I use a variety of gadgets in the kitchen that save me lots of time and effort so I thought I would show them to you and tell you how each one helps me save time. Maybe you'll see something you didn't think of before , but if not let me know what you use to save you time in the kitchen and maybe I will learn something from you. Matter fact leave a comment after this post on your best time saving kitchen tip.
The rice cooker. Without a doubt the most used appliance in our kitchen. If you don't have one it will save you tons of frustration and time making rice which becomes a staple after going GFCFSF. If you plan on buying one make sure you get one with a non-stick pot.

The electric knife. Saves me time cutting a whole loaf of bread, cutting french toast sticks, and cutting chicken breasts for chicken nuggets.

The mandolin. Its a simple little slicer that works really well for baking potato and sweet potato slices in the oven. I also have used it for slicing carrots and other foods for dehydrating. They can get expensive so I kept an eye out at garage sales and thrift stores and ended up with this adjustable one I love for .25 cents. There are some newer ones that aren't too expensive, just shop them online for the best deals.

The crepe maker. This is kinda a una-tasker but a pretty helpful one. I use this to make GFCFSF flour tortillas. Just make any GFCFSF batter and dip into included batter pan. Very easy and always a hit with the little guy.

The scoops. Ice cream scoops and portioners are a huge time saver in the kitchen. I use the various sizes to portion out and make many foods like pancakes, sausage balls, muffins, and cookies. The scoops not only save time but as an added bonus they make everything uniform and correctly portioned.

The bread maker. Saves mucho time and money. I love this thing so much. If wasn't already married... The ice cream maker. This one is essential for making kid approved GFCFSF ice cream. The cylinder stays in the freezer so we can make ice cream any time the cravings strike. It's so easy I don't even use a recipe every time. I just grab a blender, add almond or coconut milk or some blend of the two, add fruit and some times even veggies, then sweeten with honey or raw sugar or real syrup and blend away. That mixture gets added to the ice cream maker and in 20 minutes you got ice cream.
The popcorn maker. Such a great yummy way to replace microwave popcorn. Jackson loves helping to make it and waiting for it to pop. I use coconut oil and sometimes add garlic or other spices, the result is wonderful.

The mini steamer. Another handy gadget from the Japanese dollar store. Perfect size to steam one serving of veggies or one serving of rice, all in the microwave in just 2 -5 minutes!

In addition to the gadgets above I also have and use quite often a kitchen aid stand mixer, a food processor, crock pot, and blender. We didn't do it all at once, but we started out with the ones we would use most and the ones that saved us the most time. They have all been wonderful investments and gifts to ourselves.

The 40 minute food dash

After returning from another out of town trip recently I was struck with just how far I had come from where we started this journey nearly 2 years ago. I have an out of town routine now that is like a well oiled machine. I no longer fear it and in fact it's something I have started to look forward to now because it means I get a chance to visit friends and other parents and isn't as taxing as it used to be. However, visiting with people always brings food and the questions about what Jackson is eating, what's that cute box and stuff and wow that's a lot of vitamins. I try not to be the crazy nutrition lady, I really do, but it's hard to go unnoticed when I have to nearly tackle my kid at a party because someone just handed him a biscuit to eat without checking with me first. True story. I know how I sound, and I try not to make the diet sound so hard but it's all just so foreign to people that it makes all this gluten free cooking sound so scary and time consuming. I see the looks in people's eyes when they ask me questions and I start talking...LOL...I see it I really do. All I have to say about this is that it's all not really that hard and it sounds much worse than it is. . Trust me we used to do a lot of pre-made foods for the kid and ourselves so this all was quite a switch for us too but we started small and worked our way up. When that new routine became our new norm and we felt comfortable then we tried something new. That brings us up to where we are today. If you had told me 2 years ago what I am capable of now I would not have been able to see myself doing it but I am, and you can too. If you plan and simplify things for yourself then you can make the most of your time and the diet will become your new norm too.

I have perfected a few simple dishes that Jackson loves and I make them often. It works out best for me to just make him a dish for dinner one night and serve it only to him and we eat leftovers. Then I bag everything up and put in in the freezer or fridge for a quick serve later. This is a good way to keep your freezer stocked with things you can just microwave later without the extra effort. If you are the type of person, like me, who has a hard time setting aside a big chunk of scheduled time once a week to cook. Then this is a good option for you. That is so not me but every once in a while I get motivated and do just that.

This past week I was going out of town so I decided to make some easy serve foods to take with us since my supply was low. I decided to cook a bunch at once. Now these are things I have made many times and it's not a race but I decided to time myself and see how long it took me to make the stuff I was planning to make. Turns out only 40 minutes, and I was taking the picture at 44 minutes. Check out what I made:

Almond milk, cinnamon spread (made from the pulp leftover while making the milk), Chocolate protein powder pancakes, sausage balls, rice penne pasta, spaghetti sauce (made with blended in fresh green beans..garlic hides so much). That's a hot breakfast for two weeks at least, and a bunch of other stuff for lunches and snack times too. All accomplished in 40 minutes.

The trick for me are the time savers that I have invested in. Such as an electric pancake griddle, blender, and portioners (mini ice cream scoops available at kitchen supply stores) of all different sizes. These little guys are major work horses in my kitchen and save me tons of time. I use them to make the sausage balls quickly and evenly. It only takes me like a couple minutes to ball up 2 pounds of sausage and toss it in the oven (350 f0r 30 minutes). The pancakes are all the same size because I use a ice cream scooper to portion them out and it makes it go faster as well. I try to modify recipes to save time just as I do when I substitute out the ingredients. This combined with time savers like a stand mixer and bread maker make going GFCFSF much easier.

So my point is just that if you are thinking about trying the GFCFSF diet for your kiddo just take it easy, don't let other parents' levels of involvement or boasting (or my blogging for that matter)intimidate you into thinking you could never do that or that you could never find the time. It looks a lot harder that it really is and it takes real courage to go down this road but you'll be happy you did. It's like a picnic once you get here.

I'll post the recipes for cinnamon spread and the pasta sauce to this blog too for any interested, both are a great way to get veggies into your kid.