What a stinker!
Alex has an intolerance to dairy that makes him very fussy and uncomfortable and have stinky green mucousy poop (becoming a parent means you have to spent at least 20% of your time talking about baby poop - they make you sign a contract before you leave the hospital). I cut dairy out of my diet and things got a bit better, and then they got worse again, so then I cut soy out of my diet, which is the next big offender. Cutting dairy out was sad, it meant I had to read labels and couldn't have some of my favorite foods, but mostly just meant I had to find different brands of food. Cutting out soy meant that I basically can't eat processed food anymore.
Read a label sometime - soy is in everything. I screwed up on that one so many times because I would make the mistake of assuming something didn't have soy in it. Cooking spray, olive oil cooking spray, has soy in it.
I also can't really eat at restaurants either. If we go out, I get the salad bar at Ruby Tuesdays, because they have an extensive allergen menu (which says that I can have the salad bar and oil and vinegar for dressing), or we get sushi and I get the most basic sushi that is just rice and fish (no dipping in soy sauce, obviously).
Surprisingly, this isn't as bad as it sounds. We eat out a lot less, which saves us money. We also make almost all of our own food now, including bread (YUM!), which is both healthier and cheaper. I eat a lot of rice and beans and quinoa and tons of fresh veggies. Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything: Vegetarian" has been an amazing resource. I've stopped just using recipes and started really cooking - making things up as I go along.
Last night I made a vegan risotto with acorn squash, red pepper, onion, and kale. I cooked the onion with some garlic first in some olive oil, then added the red pepper, then added the squash, cut into small cubes and a little bit of stock and just let that cooked covered for about 15 minutes (I took this opportunity to nurse the baby). I added the kale and let that cook for about a minute, then added the rice and some white wine (technically some white zin left over in the fridge). Cooked that for a few minutes, then started added thing stock, about a half ladle at a time. I use Bittman's recipe for making our own stock and make a double or triple batch so that we can freeze some, or use it throughout the week. I made the stock while I was chopping vegetables, and then just ladled directly out of the stock pot into the risotto. Multitasking! The risotto took about 30 minutes to cook after I added the rice with pretty continuous stirring (Dan played with Alex). Season with salt and pepper and then I added a splash of lemon juice for a little acidity. The squash basically became a puree and added the creaminess that would have been added by butter and cheese. The fresh stock added a lot of flavor to the rice. It was delicious!! I never would have tried risotto without cheese, risotto was basically a fancy delivery method for as much cheese as possible, but this was amazing and super healthy.
Pictured here with homemade bread - so good!
We still don't seem to be out of the woods though - Alex is still having symptoms, which suggests that he has another food intolerance. I thought it might be eggs, because it got really bad after his 4 month shots, but cutting out eggs hasn't seemed to make a difference yet. I think we need to call in an allergist (and possibly a registered dietician for me).
At least I'm no longer tempted by fried food - it's just not an option anymore. (Most fried food is fried in vegetable oil which frequently includes soybean oil).
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