Gluten and dairy free pumpkin pie

I have only made a dairy free pumpkin pie recipe since Lamb 1 was diagnosed with MSPI in 2004. We liked it so well that I continued to make it even after he outgrew MSPI. The recipe used orange juice instead of milk. I recently loaned my dairy free cookbooks to the Lambs' piano teacher as she is cooking dairy free for her second son.
Then I found out that Ram's parents are coming to our house for Thanksgiving this year. So I plan to do my best to have a complete Thanksgiving meal that is Paleo. So I decided to look for a new recipe.
I made this recipe last night. The Lambs were shocked I was making dessert and not taking it to church or some place-it was just for our family!
I used the alternative crust recipe and I think this crust would work well for a lot of pies. The Lambs did not like the crust, but I think it is as close to a gluten crust as I would ever get. They ate it even though they complained about it. Next time I will press the crust a little thinner for the Lambs. I think next time I will add a few more spices-we are used to lots of pumpkin pie spices in our favorite recipe.
Lamb 3's favorite pie is pumpkin pie. I will probably make this new recipe several times this fall.

Yearly Checkups

With our pediatrician that helped Lamb 1 through MSPI. Thankfully we were blessed with being so healthy that we had not seen him since last year's annual checkups! Lamb 3 didn't want to be in the photo, but we included him too.
5/27/11

Lamb 1: 7 years 2 months
46.6 lbs
48 1/2 inches
Did not need a checkup yesterday because had one last year. This was worse for him than if he would have had a checkup-he had to wait for his brothers, didn't get a free book, only got a few stickers from the doctor, didn't get to pick where we ate lunch.
Lamb 2: 5 years
41.4 lbs
44 inches
96/64 blood pressure
50th percentile weight
75th percentile height
Got MMR and DTP shots yesterday. Normal hemoglobin and urine tests. Normal vision and hearing tests.
Was a rough checkup to get two shots, finger pricked, hearing/vision tests, and urine test all in a few hours. We're glad to have that done now.
Lamb 3: 3 years 2 months old
26.6 lbs
36 1/2 inches
97/53 blood pressure
Normal vision and hearing tests. No shots yesterday.
3rd percentile weight (ON THE CHART!)
15th percentile height

This is the first checkup for the Lambs that I felt we were doing well and I wasn't nervous to explain things to the doctor. If you have never had a child that is underweight and you don't know that feeling at the doctor's office, say an extra prayer that you have been blessed. I'm thanking God today that the Lambs are healthy (and the tests showed they are healthy too) and all 3 Lambs are on the chart. After Ram's experience last year, we will never take annual checkups for granted nor put them off.

Buying Raw Milk

Several Loopers and my college friend Jennifer have talked about how good raw milk is for you. Several months ago I bought the book, Nourishing Traditions and have slowly started to do some of the suggestions in this book. I don't know if we will ever make all of the lifestyle changes suggested in this book, but some is better than nothing. I didn't have a source to get raw milk. We live in a very small town in the country, but there doesn't seem to be very many dairy farmers around here any more. When I went to this meeting I asked where to buy raw milk. I was given some names but I never followed up on it.
Just before Christmas our babysitter was late one day because she had to go with her mom to get their milk. I asked if they would be willing to pick me up a gallon when they went. They ended up getting several gallons so their friends in their town were stocked up before the blizzard. That ended up being very good because we DID get the weather predicted. Lamb 1 will probably never drink milk after MSPI-not even raw milk and had no desire to try raw milk. Lamb 2 had a few glasses to taste it but didn't love it. Lamb 3 had been having bad diaper rash so I didn't try him on raw milk that time. So Ram and I enjoyed that gallon of raw milk around Christmas time. The family of Ram's best friend when he was growing up drank raw milk. Ram has never liked store bought milk since then.
Next, our babysitter suggested that she go along one day and show me where they go to get milk. Between our schedules, Ram going to the funeral, and when they allow buying milk (all day on odd days, before noon on even days), the first day we were able to go together was last Wednesday. I was glad it was a warmer day in the 30s! We drove across the border to SD. The family that sells the milk homeschools and has several children. First we got the milk. Then they tried to show us the cows but the Lambs were too scared of the huge animals. Then they showed us the chickens. While we were getting the milk some of their boys got us some eggs. Then they showed us the calves and the Lambs were a little more eager to see them as long as they didn't have to get too close. Then they showed us the pigs. They had some huge sows close to delivery. I should have taken pictures, but I didn't remember. They run an organic farm and the organic raw milk was $3 a gallon. The organic eggs were $2 a dozen. Their boys were very helpful loading everything up in the car too. It also helped that I had our babysitter along to help load the Lambs! They have lots of cats and Lamb 2 was even brave enough to pet the cats!
Next, a complete surprise to me, someone in our small town called and asked if I would be interested...they deliver newspapers all over the county on Saturdays and while they are out they stop at a farm and buy themselves milk...she just wondered if I would be interested in getting milk too since they were already going. It is $4 a gallon and the farm provides the jars. I took her up on this offer because I don't have to drive anywhere-she will deliver it on Saturdays when they are done with their paper route. She didn't know why her husband suggested that she ask if we would like milk. I hadn't told anyone here in town that I was going with my babysitter to get raw milk in SD. Perhaps she thought of us because we have children?
So, now my plan is to get the milk delivered during the winter from here in MN and go over to SD and buy the milk in the summer. We go quite often over to SD to a friend's produce stand in the summer and we can stop and buy milk when we go get produce. But it will be nice to have it delivered in the winter.
I don't think we are going to be getting much milk from WIC any more-I'd rather pay for the raw milk. Part of the reason we decided this is when Lamb 3 turns 2 in April, we can no longer get whole milk. We were using most of the milk that we got with WIC to make yogurt and we like our yogurt made with whole milk.

My attitude about babies

Our family and friends that saw how we "put up" with Lamb 1 when he was a baby were amazed that Ram and I did it. We did not know that Lamb 1 had MSPI until he was hospitalized at 2 months old. So for 2 months, Ram and I took turns non stop holding Lamb 1. (With the exception of when Ram's mom and our families visited and helped-Ram's mom was here longer so helped more-I don't think I could have survived without her help.) Lamb 1 would sleep 10-20 minutes at a time about a dozen times a day/night when we held him. That. Was. It. And. He. Was. A. Newborn! For 2 entire months all I did was nurse, change diapers, hold him, and hope for a nap some time during the day when Ram could hold him.
When we took him for his check up the doctors and nurses thought we were first time parents that were exaggerating about him not sleeping. Every first time parent thinks their child will sleep through the night, right? They told us they weren't concerned until if he hadn't settled down into sleeping better by the time he was 6 weeks old.
I took Lamb 1 home for my Grandma's funeral when he was about 1 month old. My aunt and my mom discussed Lamb 1 behind my back-there was obviously something wrong with this child! When he was admitted to the hospital at 2 months old, the doctor told me to immediately stop eating dairy and soy and they ran over 200 tests on Lamb 1. I stopped dairy and soy at lunch that day. I was concerned about how I was going to get any sleep that night without Ram at the hospital to take turns during the night. The nurse told me not to worry that she was good with babies and she would do her best to give me a little sleep that night. Lamb 1 slept through the ENTIRE NIGHT that first night that I gave up dairy. We stayed at the hospital for a few more nights to do more tests, but went home knowing that if I gave up dairy and continued nursing he would sleep much better.
When Lamb 1 was a few months old we discovered that if we ran the vacuum cleaner for about 10 minutes in his room before bedtime or naptime that he would happily go to sleep without being held and sleep for much longer than if we didn't run the vacuum. This made for some interesting vacations talking the housecleaning crew into letting us borrow their vacuum for the night at the hotel!
After no sleep for 2 months, I was honestly too exhausted to think about what we had done with Lamb 1. We just made it through.
Shortly before Lamb 1 turned 1 years old, I got pregnant and had a miscarriage a few months after his first birthday. Between that time of the miscarriage and when Lamb 2 was born, I had time to think about our experience with Lamb 1's health problems and mourn the loss of our miscarried baby. Plus during that time I had other friends that had miscarriages and friends that were adopting after many years of not being able to have a baby. Lamb 2 didn't have the health problems so he was a much easier baby than Lamb 1. But every baby has their fussy moments, and it was in some of those late night rockings of newborn Lamb 2 that my attitude changed. I decided that God had blessed me with a baby to rock even if it was in the middle of the night. I thought of my friends with fertility problems that would have given anything to have a baby to rock. I thought of how quickly Lamb 1 was growing and I knew Lamb 2 was not going to be a baby long. Since I wasn't as exhausted as I was with Lamb 1, I started to almost look forward to that night time when the house was quiet and Lamb 1 (with all his high needs) was asleep and I could spend time with my baby, Lamb 2. I tried to continue this good attitude after Lamb 3 was born too.

I thought of saying all this in a post because MckMama posted similar thoughts in this post. I am blessed to be the mother of my 3 little Lambs. Sometimes mealtime gets crazy or I look at my walls with crayon marks all over them or I get tired of changing diapers or it is impossible to get all 3 Lambs to sit together for a photo or I get tired of doing laundry or I get frustrated to not be able to teach Lamb 1 in homeschool with 2 other little Lambs. But just like we made it through the first year of Lamb 1's health problems, with God's help we will make it through this season of our life with little Lambs. They will eventually all be able to feed themselves at meals and go to the bathroom by themselves and even move out of our house so I won't have to do their laundry any more. And I suspect that I will think back to these times fondly and forget about the hard work that Ram and I did during this season of our life. I know that some day I'm going to miss this just like MckMama.
I also have friends that are pretty sure that their youngest is going to be their last child unless they are surprised to be blessed with another one. They seem to be much more sentimental than I am about their youngest because they know it is probably the last time their baby will crawl, walk for the first time, wear those cute outfits, nurse or be fed a bottle, want to be held etc. This is difficult for me because we hope that we are not done yet, but we don't know God's plans so it's always possible that Lamb 3 is our last child. And I know that some day I'm going to miss this-especially whatever "firsts" and "lasts" our youngest child has.

5 Years Ago

In honor of his birthday tomorrow, I thought I would post Lamb 1's birth story.

I had extreme morning sickness and was even hospitalized in September. We called the midwife about 10pm on March 4. From what I described, she said it sounded like Lamb 1 would be born in a few days. I woke Ram at 5am on March 5. We left at 6:30am. Snow was bad and it took 2 hours to get to the hospital (it should have been a 1 1/2 hour drive). The first time I was checked I was dilated 9 3/4 cm! The nurse said, "Get the midwife over here fast!" Thankfully she lived in town and she made it quickly. We had to wait until the water in the tub was body temperature. I finally was able to get in the tub. Lamb 1 was born about an hour later. The nurses couldn't believe Lamb 1 was born so soon, especially since he was the first child! Lamb 1 had a knot in his cord. Nurses came from all over the hospital to check it out.

Lamb 1 was my first water birth. He was born during his last scheduled prenatal appointment. He was born exactly one week early. He was born on March 5, 2004 at 9:34am. He was 6lbs 13 oz and 20 inches. I didn't take any drugs for his birth.

Our journey with a baby that NEVER slept was just beginning. When he was two months old he was hospitalized and finally given the diagnosis of MSPI (Milk soy protein intolerance). I continued breastfeeding and changed my diet. He slowly improved and very slowly gained weight. Tomorrow he will be 5 years old and he can finally tolerate moderate amounts of dairy.

Because of his MSPI, I was exhausted and didn't feel like I was caught up until he turned 2. I feel cheated because I don't have some of the baby memories of Lamb 1 that I have with my other Lambs. I think this is unusual because usually you remember more about your firstborn before you have more children. I was definitely in survival mode his first few years of life. Thankfully he has outgrown this and we get to experience life with a five year old beginning tomorrow. There definitely aren't dull moments around the house when Lamb 1 is home!

Non dairy split pea soup

Susan recently posted about making split pea soup for her family.

I remember when I was little my mom would make grilled cheese or garlic cheese bread along with split pea soup so that we had something we liked along with something we didn't like. (But we were expected to eat both.)

My family loves split pea soup. Because Lamb #1 couldn't have dairy, we searched and found this recipe. It is from What to Cook When you Think There's Nothing in the House to Eat by Arthur Schwartz. Ram LOVES this recipe book. I often catch him reading this recipe book, not just to find recipes, but he enjoys READING the information. (When I looked this book up on Amazon, a used copy is 24 cents, but you have to pay shipping.)

Split Pea Soup

2 cups green or yellow split peas
1 cup finely chopped carrot
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 cup finely chopped celery
7 cups water
1 large bay leaf
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground pepper
homemade croutons (optional)

You can chop the vegetables in the food processor. We don't do that, it's ok with us if it's a little chunky.

1. Combine all ingredients except salt and pepper and croutons in a large pot. Bring to a boil, lower heat, cover, and simmer about 50 minutes until peas are soft.

2. It says to puree the peas and vegetables in a food processor or blender in 2 or 3 batches. We don't do this, we don't mind it chunky.

3. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Return to a simmer and cook briefly to make very hot for serving with or without croutons. The soup will keep for several days in the refrigerator, but you will need to add more water when it is reheated.

You can add a ham bone, ham hock, or bacon to this. We have made it both ways, with and without ham and it is good. I like the pea flavor. You could also use canned broth for some of the water or add a chicken bouillon cube. We usually make it without meat and with one can of broth with the water. We don't always make the croutons, but that is really good on it.

I like this recipe because you can make it the way you like it. It's a really cheap way to make it without meat or milk too. And it's a healthy way to make it if you leave out the salt. And it's a fast recipe, done in about an hour. We plan to continue to make this recipe for our family even though the Lambs can have more dairy now.

We all cheer (hopefully not scream) for ice cream!

Lamb 1 has MSPI (Milk Soy Protein Intolerance). The doctors told us he would outgrow it between ages 2 and 3. The problem was that he was so low weight compared to a typical 2 or 3 year old. When I was breastfeeding him I had to give up ALL dairy and soy. After he was weaned we started gradually trying soy and dairy. But the two things we did not try were ice cream or a glass of milk (or basically anything with a lot of dairy). He has worked himself up to anything with soy, cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese, and we are no longer reading labels. He turns 5 the beginning of March and he is almost 35 lbs so I figured it would be ok to try ice cream. He will probably never drink milk straight since he didn't grow up with it. That's not so bad to me, I would rather have him get his calcium from vegetables and other foods.
Lamb 2 doesn't have MSPI, but when he turned a year and we tried milk and dairy foods on him, he was no longer the happy baby we had before. He was fussy and didn't sleep well. My husband and his father don't tolerate milk well. So we decided to put him on the same diet as Lamb 1, a little dairy, but no milk or ice cream. He loves to drink rice milk. He will probably never drink milk either.
So I told the lambs when the Schwan man came last Wednesday they could pick any ice cream to try. They were so excited they didn't go to sleep and the Schwan man didn't show up until 9:30pm! Unfortunately he was out of the ice cream they picked. He said he would stop by today and bring their ice cream and a few other items we had ordered that he didn't have.
So today, Lamb 1 and 2 each had real ice cream for the first time in their lives (with the exception of Lamb 2 having it a few times when he was 1 year old)! They chose Confetti Cake kind. It's full of sugar and sprinkles. They'll probably never be allowed that kind again, but hey, it's their first time! Here they are with their first experience eating real ice cream, not Rice Dream.

Hopefully, they are really ready for ice cream and we don't have an upset tummy to deal with!