Fighting Flare

Grain-Free Mummy Cookies (SCD & Paleo)

Soooo....it's almost Halloween and the 2nd grade is studying Ancient Egypt...where everyone knows mummy's were all the rage.  Can you smell that class mummy party brewing??

As the parent of a child who usually can't eat what the rest of her classmates are eating, I like to supply food for class parties, so my daughter can have what everyone else is having and doesn't feel left-out (or singled-out) because I had to bring her something different.  It doesn't always work out, but I'm not ashamed to admit that when it does...I feel like a rock star mom. 

Even though I'm not an "allergy" mom, per se, I love that Ryan understands what I'm going through...

I know that my daughter will like whatever I make, but I always worry that the rest of the class will see me coming with my sugar-free, grain-free, mostly tan "treats" and run the other way...LOL.  So, I try really hard to step up my game in terms of presentation. 

As usual, I scoured Pinterest for cute mummy snack ideas and shared them with my daughter.  She, of course, wanted cookies.  Most of the mummy cookies I found were made with lots of white icing piped on to look like bandages.  I've yet to master SCD frosting or icing of any kind, so I didn't want to go there. I felt that my best chance for success was probably to manipulate the dough somehow. 

Ultimately, I was inspired by the look of these mummy cookies from Life Made Sweet, but used Danielle Walker's Paleo Sugar Cookie recipe from Against All Grain as the base.

To make the cookies, I made two batches of sugar cookie dough.  I rolled out the first batch and cut out little circles for the bases.  Then, I slathered homemade cherry butter on each circle.  After that, I rolled out the 2nd batch and cut it into thin strips which I layered across each cookie to look like the mummy bandages...trimming the edges of each as I went.  It took forever.  I noticed after the fact, that the smart blogger from Life Made Sweet, rolled out her dough, applied her filling all at once and then did long strips over the whole thing before cutting out each cookie.  Yup. That would have been much easier. 

After the cookies baked, I added pumpkin seeds for eyes, by cutting the seeds in half and sticking them cut-side up into the still warm cherry butter.  Again, this took forever...LOL.  The seeds kept shattering and breaking.  I tried pistachios too, but didn't care for the taste.  I eventually managed to cut enough seeds in half to make it work and I thought they looked pretty cute.

As it turned out, another mom (new to the school and unfamiliar with our diet) wanted to help with snacks, so I explained briefly about my daughter's dietary restrictions, not wanting to overwhelm her with all of the things she can't have, and tried to coordinate with her...I thought she was just planning to make a cookie, but she ended up bringing gooey chocolate-y things, popcorn hands with candy corn finger nails and mummy wrapped juice drinks of some kind.  I was so annoyed.  Scratch that, honestly, I wanted to cry.  My daughter couldn't eat any of it.  And no one wanted my mummy cookies when there was all that other stuff.  Who could blame them?  But what can you do?  My daughter got to have as many of those mummy cookies as she wanted (although I was proud when she told me she stopped at three because she felt that was plenty.)  There were even enough cookies left over that she was allowed to deliver the extras to all the teachers, which she loves to do.  And I get a sob story for my blog.  So it's all good, right??  ;)

I still think the cookies are cute and if you want to make them, follow the link above for the sugar cookie recipe and check out my recipe notes below for some extra tips:

• I didn't think the cookie dough was sweet enough...might have been better with frosting all over it, but as a cookie with just a thin schmear of fruit butter in the middle, it needed to be sweeter.  If I ever try this again, I'll add more honey.  If you already have a favorite rolled cookie recipe, by all means use it.

• The recipe also tells you to sprinkle some coconut powder over the dough after you roll it so the cookie cutter won't stick.  I wasn't a fan of the dusty texture it left on the cookies after they were baked, so I might skip that step next time and try just wetting the edge of my cutter to keep it from sticking. 

• Also, without meaning to, I made my two batches of cookie dough slightly differently and one turned out way better than the other.  For the first one, I had forgotten to add the coconut oil until after I had already mixed everything else, so I just sort of worked it into the dough and it turned out pliable and easy to work with.  For the second batch, I mixed everything together at the same time and the result was much drier and more crumbly.  It was a lot harder to make the strips with the dough from the second batch.  So, for better dough, try mixing everything except the oil into a dough ball and then work in the oil last.

• If you don't have homemade cherry butter on hand, you could use any SCD-legal jam or fruit butter, or even a nut butter if you wanted.  It's your cookie.  ;)

Hope that helps you in your search for a fun Halloween treat that you can make for your kiddos.  I'd love to hear what you come up with if you decide to make some, so feel free to leave your comments below, share on my Facebook page or tag your photos #FightingFlare on Instagram.  Thanks for stopping by and good luck with those school parties this week!  XOXO, Cindi

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Gratuitous Ryan Gossling pic via Pinterest

Switch Witch, Trade-Ins and Other Tricks to Make Candy Disappear

As a parent of an SCD trick-or-treater, you will have the unenviable job of confiscating all of your child's hard earned Halloween candy.  It's a terrible job, but one you must do to keep your child healthy.  (Read this post to find out how we survived this experience last year.) Fortunately, there are ways to make the job a little easier.  The way I see it, you have two options: bribery or magic.

Bribery is the most honest approach. This works best with older kids.  Bascially, you negotiate a deal and offer to buy-back the candy with money or let your child trade it in for a prize of equal or greater value.  (Yes, I said greater...have a heart.  Halloween candy is tough to give up.)

You have lots of flexibility with this and are limited only by your bank account and imagination.  One of my Facebook SCD friends is offereing to buy the family an ice cream maker in exchange for candy. I love that idea because it replaces a non-healthy sweet with the potential for healthy ones.  Another SCD mom will be taking her kids toy shopping to pick out their trade-in toys...this is a great way to give kids some measure of control in an otherwise out-of-control situation.  

At our house this year, we will be utilizing bribery...indulging in a Minecraft bonanza of extra screen time and a rare exception to the "no-in-app-purchase" rule so that my daughter can "change her appearance" in Minecraft.  We may also surprise her with a Minecraft handbook she's been wanting.  Shhh...don't tell her.  ;)

Other moms I've talked to are offering to buy back candy at a per piece or per pound rate...something along the lines of $1/lb. or .10/piece.  This probably needs to be adjusted depending on how much candy you have, child's age, how thick your wallet is...

If you're lucky, you may live near a dentist who participates in a candy buy-back program in conjunction with Operation Gratitude.  You dentist will offer cash and prizes in exchange for candy, which is then sent along with toothbrushes to troops overseas.  This is a great program because it gives kids a chance to help someone else, which in turn can take away the sting of their own loss. Check out HalloweenCandyBuyBack.com to find a participating dentist near you. 

Your second option is magic.  This is more geared towards younger kids and involves the Switch Witch, The Candy Fairy, The Great Pumpkin...your choice.  We have non-SCD friends who do this every year and their kids think it's great.  Much like The Tooth Fairy, The Switch Witch (or one of her cohorts) will visit your house at night and leave a treat in exchange for your candy...the more candy, the bigger the treat.  Here's a video that explains it in a little more detail: 

 

A little hokey, yes, but it's cute for the little ones and may even become a beloved tradition.  ;)

So bribery and magic are your options for getting rid of candy, but what if I told you there was a way to avoid getting the candy in the first place!  Yes, it's true!  There is a way...

Change The World!  Most of us (well, at least those of us born in the 70's) remember toting a little orange box around on Halloween, collecting coins for Unicef.  I'm happy to tell you that tradition lives on!  You can still do that!  One of my SCD mom friends shared how her son goes trick-or-treating without a candy bag and just raises money for Unicef instead.  I think this is a really nice way for kids to participate in the fun part of racing around the neighborhood, while doing something great for other kids in need.  I also think this one can be a self-esteem booster because being a helper is good for the soul. 

You can order supplies or download collection materials straight off the Unicef website and then deposit your coins at any Coinstar for free.  And by all means, reward your child for his or her efforts with a special treat afterwards.

Last, but not least! I'm excited to tell you about a new way to avoid candy while trick-or-treating:  The Teal Pumpkin Project, sponsored by FARE (Food Allergy Research & Education.)  This just popped up on my radar a few days ago.  Some of you may already know about it.  Basically, it's a nationwide movement to offer non-food treats on Halloween, so that kids with food allergies have some safer options in trick-or-treating.  SCD obviously isn't an allergy, but I'll jump on the Teal Pumpkin bandwagon anyway!

All you need to do to participate is paint a pumpkin teal and leave it on your doorstep as a sign that you are offering non-food treats.  (Don't panic, you can still offer candy too - you're just indicating that you are offering some alternatives. ) You can also find printable signs on the Teal Pumpkin website that you can hang on your door if you don't want to paint a pumpkin. 

Suggested non-food trinkets include all the plastic tchotchky crap parents luuuv....spider rings, glo sticks, bubbles, vampire teeth, stickers, etc. A trip to your local dollar or drug store will more than likely provide you with all the booty you need to fill not just the kids buckets, but some grateful parents' hearts, as well.  (Side bar: The environmentalist in me cringes when I think about the ramifications of everyone handing out cheap plastic do-dads but, the mom in me wants everyone on board so my little one can have fun too...I am considering my non-plastic options and will let you know what I come up with.)

That's it!  Those are my ideas.  What are yours?  Be sure to check out those websites for more information about any of those programs and let me know what's happening in your neighborhood this year.  Have you seen any teal pumpkins?  Are you printing out Unicef labels?  Will the Switch Witch be stopping by?  I'm curious, so let me know.  Cheers!  XOXO, Cindi

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Trick or Treat? How We Survived Our First Candy-Free Halloween on SCD

Let's face it.  The reason most kids get excited about Halloween is because of trick-or-treating.  Costumes are fun, but the promise of candy...ho boy!  To be fair, I do think half the excitement comes from running around in the dark knocking on doors...the air is charged with the electricity of anticipation and there is a feeling that magical things could happen.  But, the other half definitely comes from the candy.

Anyone who's gone trick-or-treating knows that kids bring home a LOT of candy.  Under ordinary circumstances, I would never let my daughter eat all of it, but on SCD, she can't eat any of it.  Not one bite.  How on earth is a parent supposed to make that ok for their child?

I wasn't exactly sure how to approach this aspect of Halloween last year, until someone suggested we do a candy trade-in for a toy of my daughter's choosing.  Lots of families do this, I was told.  It seemed like a great idea to me, so I asked my daughter what she thought and she said she was all for it. 

Her toy of choice was a much coveted Strawberry Shortcake Berry Bitty Market...ironically, it came with all kinds of little pretend sweets, but she swore that's what she wanted.  She was chomping at the bit to play with it and couldn't wait to get back from trick-or-treating to trade in her candy.  I was shocked at how easy this was turning out to be!  We set off with our friends and she enthusiastically zipped from house to house collecting the candy she knew she would never eat.

Everything went according to plan...until we got home.  We'd been on this strict diet for two months without so much as a crumbs-worth of cheating and suddently, there was all this candy sitting in front of her...candy she had collected...candy she really wanted to eat.  And I mean, REALLY.  Even though no one else was eating candy in front of her, she knew that the other kids would eventually get to eat theirs.  We made a point of explaining how our friends with the nut allergies wouldn't be able to eat most of theirs either...she countered back saying that they didn't even like nuts and have never been allowed to eat candy with nuts, so they didn't really know what they were missing.  She, however, knew exactly what she was missing.  Even at seven years old, she had the clarity to make that distinction.

As I explained a few posts back in SCD Celebrations, she became inconsolable and we hit the very lowest point in our SCD journey.  To those of you who may be thinking that it's a bit dramatic to be so upset about something as minor as candy...it really wasn't about the candy.  It was about being sad about her illness, sad about her utter lack of control, sad that she felt different and left out, sad that she had to sacrifice somthing she loved to stay healthy and sad that she was forced to deal with this at the tender age of seven.  It was a searingly painful loss of innocence.  For me, the weight of it all was something I will never forget.  I've faced some pretty sad things in my life, but that was the one that made my heart ache with a weight I've never known. 

So, we hugged, snuggled, told her we loved her, explained why not eating the candy was the best course of action and we hoped that the Strawberry Shortcake toy could somehow make up for the loss she was experiencing.  (Riiiight.)  We tried to focus on the positives, like the fact that she was healthy and was feeling good enough to celebrate the holiday with her friends.  We talked about our next visit to the GI and the possibility of adding a non-SCD food back in.  We told her she was brave, we agreed that it wasn't fair and we let her know that she was strong enough to get through this.  (At the time, I questioned whether or not I was.) 

In retrospect, I royally underestimated how hard it would be for my daughter to trade in her candy.  I was naive to think that a toy would solve all our problems. It makes me sad to think I didn't realize that sooner, but I wanted to believe that we had this all figured out.

Lessons learned from last year?  Never underestimate the depth of your child's feelings.  They may not always be able to express what they are feeling, but that doesn't mean they aren't thinking deeply about big things.  Ask the hard questions.  Don't be afraid to pry and really try to figure out if they are telling you what they want you to hear or what they think you want to hear.  Big difference.

Cut yourself some slack.  No one has all the answers.  You can only do the best you can do, given the information and resources you have available.  If you mess up or get it totally wrong, just learn from it and move on.  Don't beat yourself up for it.  All of your actions are coming from the best possible place and that is exactly what your child needs from you right now. 

Make sure there are at least some safe sweets around for your little one to eat.  As I mentioned in my last post about our Halloween Party, I didn't serve any sweets at all.  I figured everyone could just eat their own candy after they left the party.  I did this, in part, simply to downplay the importance of sweets, but also so that my nut-allergy friends wouldn't accidentally eat one of our nut flour cookies and end up in the ER.  This was a huge miss.  I should have had something set aside for my little girl for later.

What's the plan for this year?  I did a bit more digging this year and asked my daughter how she wanted to handle the candy.  I offered her trade-in toys or money.  Offered to stay home with her and do something else special if she'd rather not trick-or-treat. I asked her if she had any ideas of her own.  She concluded that she really does enjoy the trick-or-treating part and isn't really thinking about the candy in the heat of the moment, so, yes, she wants to trick-or-treat.  As for a trade-in, she wants to "change her appearance" in Minecraft, so we're going to let her pick a new character...or whatever that involves. She seems content with her decisions, but we'll see how it goes. 

I am hoping that this year will be slightly less painful, but I'm not in denial like I was last year.  I am bracing myself for whatever level of sadness is sure to wrap it's smothering arms around my baby on October 31st.   Until then, I'll keep focusing her attention on her awesome costume and how much fun our party will be.  My SCD sweets repertoire has improved dramatically since last year and we can eat cocoa powder now, so that means German Chocolate Black Bean Brownie Cake and other yummy treats are back on the menu.  Fingers crossed for more treats than tricks this year!

Stay tuned for my next post chock full of trade-in ideas, new traditions and other ways to de-emphasize candy on Halloween.  Thanks so much for stopping by.  I'd love to hear your comments on this topic and definitely your ideas for how to handle candy.  Feel free to e-mail, comment below or reach out on any of my other social networks at the links below.  XOXO, Cindi

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Halloween on SCD...It's a Pirate's Life for Me!

Arrrgh, maties!! Shiver me timbers...I've had total writer's block the past few weeks.  I've been wanting to get on here and share so many things, but I haven't been able to figure out where to start.  So, with October almost over, I figured I better at least get some Halloween posts up and will sort out my other thoughts later.  Today, I'm going to show you how we navigated SCD to celebrate Halloween last year. 

That's me up top in my half-pirate/half-octopus costume that didn't really know what it wanted to be...standing next to the pirate torture cage-thing my husband built for the party. (We know how to have a good time, eh??)  Jokes aside, it was our first Halloween on SCD, so it was *really* hard on my daughter not being able to have any candy.  I touched on this briefly in my post about SCD Celebrations, but to reiterate, it was awful. Arrrgh.

At this point, you may be wondering why we didn't just boycott the whole holiday.  Why create even more hoopla and add salt to the wound?  Allow me to explain.  In my opinion, Halloween isn't just about candy.   Halloween is about costumes, spooky decorations, imagination and a little dark magic.  It's about getting together with friends for some laughs and making memories that go waaay beyond candy.  Ever since we bought our house, we've had a huge Halloween party on Halloween night.  Our whole neighborhood shows up in costume (and some "adopted" neighbors, as well)...and when it gets dark we all trick-or-treat together....40+ of us!  It is something we all look forward to and there was no way we were going to let IBD take it away.  We wanted to have all the same fun we've always had...just with different food.

But, whew! The food was a kicker. I've mentioned before that we have lots of friends with food allergies/issues, so we are always careful to plan menus that everyone can eat.  As a hostess, I never want my guests to feel left out.  So, here we are on the eve of our annual Halloween party, which was Pirate themed, and here's what we couldn't eat due to everyone's combined food issues: nuts, dairy, sugar, grains, soy, red meat or anything processed.  Sounds like the makings of a foodless Halloween party, doesn't it?? 

Fortunately, the pirates at our party were from the Carribean, so fresh produce and grilled seafood were a perfect fit for our party cuisine!  Game on!  And yes, my mission was to make this party every bit as spooktastic as usual, so we wouldn't feel like we were missing anything and no one would leave...hungry...

I did end up bending the rules a smidge and put out some cheese that one friend couldn't eat, served a hummus my daughter couldn't eat (but wouldn't eat anyway) and some hotdogs that the vegetarians wouldn't eat, BUT, there was still something for everyone and no one felt left out. 

I also didn't serve any sweets.  I know, that sounds insane at a Halloween party, but I just didn't want to go there.  I figured all the kids would get plenty of sweets from trick-or-treating and that was that.  So, what did we serve? 

KIDS TABLE:

Thank you Pinterest, for this banana kiwi palm tree platter inspiration...

...and the insanely clever hot dog octopus idea...served with homemade ketchup.

...and the apple wedge pirate ship brilliance.

This baby, however, is all mine...LOL.  I have had this weird head for several years and find a way to work it into my theme every year.  This year it was sporting a pirate's eye patch and a head full of pirate sword skewered grapes in a variety of colors.  Kids think this is HILARIOUS.  And to be honest, so do I. ;)

 

COFFEE TABLE SPREAD:

This is where I showcased the veggies and four different dips...store-bought SCD-legal artichoke tapenade, store-bought illegal hummus, homemade white bean dip and homemade guacamole.  I've got to thank Pinterest again for the bell pepper octopus idea...not that they really look like octopus (octopi?) but just go with it.

I love to place a tall focal point in my veggie platters...I think the height makes it more interesting, so this hook was just right.  Plus, it tied the veggies into the theme.

Another shot of the non-octopus looking bell pepper octopus swimming in guacamole. 

 

FRUIT AND CHEESE BUFFET:

This was the focal point to my living room and honestly, doesn't even have that much food on it...but it looks cool, right?  I love me some skeletons and candles! (Which by the way are a bad idea that close to a sheer curtain panel...just sayin'.)

Note the cheese speared with pirate swords...I lined some baskets with parchment paper to give it a more rustic look.  You can't really see what's in the other basket, but it's full of three cans of TJ's black olives...my favorite. 

Decadent cascade of grapes...not sure if these are even remotely pirate-y, but I liked the way they looked. 

Brie with craisins...

Somehow I missed getting a photo of the grilled seafood, but basically, all we did was grill up several bags of frozen mixed shrimp, scallops and calamari from TJ's.  My sweet hubby actually went out back and grilled them up for me...probably with butter and garlic if I had to guess.

For party favors, we had little pirate themed treats for the kids with bandanas, eye patches, doubloons and strings of beads...I even found some pirate bath scrubbies for the babies in attendance.

And of course, we always have a big bowl of glow-sticks, which we display under a black light in the bathroom during the party and then give to all the kids before we head out trick-or-treating. (It's not as gross as it sounds...lol.)

So, that what how we did it.  Everyone had fun, had plenty to eat and there were no problems with the lack of sweets.  The kids wiped out every morsel on the kids table and had plenty of energy to zip around the neighborhood.  The adults ate all the fruit, cheese and seafood, but the funniest thing happened with the veggies and dips...it's like people had no idea that you should dip the veggies.  I've never in my life had leftover dip at a party when it's served with chips or crackers, but with just veggies, it sat.  Go figure.  Maybe they were just crappy dips??  ;)

So, the takeaway from this post should be, live your life, celebrate the good stuff and don't let IBD take anything else away from you.  Where there's a will, there's a way.  Be creative.  Look for fun ways to present your safe foods and don't lose sight of the fact that Halloween is about more than just candy.

That being said, yes, I know that candy is a big part of Halloween so in my next post, I'll talk about what happened after trick-or-treating when we arrived home with a huge bag of candy that couldn't be eaten.  (Let me just say...it wasn't pretty.)  I'll spill all the gory details and will tell you about how we turned it around for the better. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I would love to have you come back and visit any time.  Please leave your comments or drop me a line via e-mail.  I love hearing from you and finding out what info is useful to you.  You can also join me around the web at any of the sites listed below.  XOXO, Cindi

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