Easter Basket idea

[Tammy]

Take a clear plastic "cone" shaped bag and Fill it with orange cheese puff balls. Tie it shut with green ribbon, and the easter bunny has left a carrot in the basket.
You can also just use a regular sandwich bag and tuck the one corner inside, or just plastic wrap will work, although it's a little harder to handle.

[kristen]

That's cute Tammy! I'll have to try that.

I decided not to try to fill his basket with goodies. I think I'm just tired of reading labels or something...anyway, I decided to play-up the whole easter egg hunt, coloring eggs, and Peter Cottontale versus having a big basket of goodies & sweets.

I got some plastic eggs and we have some fun treats...cars, stickers, and of couse some smarties. We'll do the egg hunt thing. And I have a basket for him that I picked up some easter stories, a CD or sing-alongs, some crafts and small toys to fill.

It just seems (at least in my current mood) that it might be easier to just conceed - come up with a tradition that will make it easy for us every year, versus trying to keep up with 'norms' so to speak. Like I said I think I'm tired of it...but given that he is so young, I think we can easily come up with our own approach.

I've also decided that I'm not even going to attempt to find a ham! I'll pick up either a roast beef, a pork roast or a duck breast - something special, that we can do every year, but nothing we have to worry about sugars! Just our own twist.... We'll roast some potatos, make some busicuits and steam some spinach.

I aslo picked up some food coloring...I'll make some egg shaped shortbread cookies and decorate them like easter eggs using different colored dough.

Anyway, although I probably sound burnt and negative, I mean to toss it out as an idea for those that have the little ones too...I know you guys are probably tired of this as well!

Good Luck!!!
KJ

[Tammy]

Just a note.....Sam's Club usually has ham that is sugar-free. It's basically only cured with salt. They will also slice it for you, and since it's fully cooked, I have it sliced part into lunch meat slices, and part into "fryable" ham slices. Of course for Easter we'll just bake it.
I realize that different areas have different things, but I can get this ham at Sam's club here in Pennsylvania, and my Mom can get the same ham at Sam's in Arizona. So it's probably a good chance that it might be ok all over.

[lisa]

Kristen,
I like your idea for the colored cookies. Did you add more dextrose to the recipe to make up for sweetness, or just keep it the same? We have a large extended family that will get together on Sunday and I'm thinking about bringing some cookies to share.

Also, you talked about toasting crunched up ohs with barley malt syrup. How do you do that? I've never tried it before, but the idea sounds like it would turn out yummy.
Lisa

[Tammy]

Lisa,
I have tried adding more dextrose when baking cookies. It takes about 1/2 again as much to get the same taste. But then they don't bake quite right. It will have more of a tendency to melt out of the cookie, settle to the bottom and burn the bottom of the cookie. They bake the best if you just use the same amount of dextrose as sugar, but they won't taste quite the same to you. But like most other things, He will probably like it better because it isn't as sweet. Regina loves her cookies I make. I don't care for them all that much. But the ones I buy, made with nutrisweet, taste the same to me, but she doesn't like them.
Since your baking them for your son, I'd make them the way he will eat them the best. If the rest want to share to try them, let them. But they can eat any kind, so I'd cater his batch of cookies to his taste.
Just a thought.

[kristen]

Hi Lisa,

First I'm VERY glad that Nate seems to have the milder DFI vs HFI. Our Dr. is now leaning toward FDPase for Coley. It's still a fructose intolerance, but it deals with some more issues. It's weird because technically he should be a bit less sensative to fructose than the typical HFIer but have some additional complexities around illnesses and fasting...but it does seem that Coley is very sensative. Maybe that has more to do with his healing process?? We have been adviced to prepare for a biopsy at this point...UGH! I'm just SOOO happy to hear that Nate is doing so well!

Ok, to your question.

I follow the recipe, as Tamee stated. Coley isn't a big sweet fan, so he likes them without the added sweetness. And so does DH. He's 100% Irish, so he's grown accustomed to things like Irish soda bread, potatoes and scones...I find them a nice alternative too - but do crave things like PB and fruits...my desire is always to add strawberry jam to them...but I think that's more withdrawal talking than anything else...bottom line - I agree 100% with Tammy - make them how Nate will like them, and tolerate them. If no one else likes them - more leftovers for Nate!

The recipe I've been using is so simple, it's so easy to make variations to it:

3/4c butter
1/4c sugar
2c (non-self rising) flour

I've been adding 1/3c of milk w/ 3TBL dry milk for the added - protien seems to work with no problems.

350 oven for 20-25 minutes

They are very pale, so adding coler is easy. Plus you need to roll the dough into a ball. It's like playdough. Set some aside and add color to decorate...add color or flavor to the whole batch...replace some of the butter with another fat: peanut oil, coconut oil, cocoa butter....it's so simple it's easy to alter.

I just bought a cookie press, I'm going to have Coley help make some festive colored cookies with this recipe. I'll either add color to a couple batches, or make some frosting to 'paint' them...haven't decided yet.

As for the O's. I crunched up about 1 cup of them in a bowl. Then added maybe 2TBL of Barley Malt. Enough to coat them. Line a pan w/ tinfoil & spray it w/ cooking spray. Spread the mixture out thin, and toast it in the toaster or in the oven. Wait for it to cool & break it up. It honestly tasted like toffee crunchies. I bet the millet would work too.

I got my ice cream maker today!!!! I'm waiting for my order from Barry Farms - hopefully it comes tomorrow - if so, I'll attempt white chocolate ice cream.

As for the cake stuff...I also read in a couple recipes that pound cake is a bit temperamental as far as collapsing...the tip is to leave it to cool IN the oven...you may want to try that. When cakes are done, just shut off the oven and leave them in there...might help. I was planning to try that - except my cakes were starting to burn by the time I checked them (this last time) so I just took them out & sure enough they sunk!

Also, MSN FI is having this same conversation, here is a tip from one of the members: groups.msn.com/FructoseIntolerance/general.msnw?action=get_message&mview=1&ID_Message=197&LastModified=4675568361201457295

Hope all this helps!!! Let me know how it goes!

Happy Easter!
KJ

[laurie]

Kristen,
Don't feel alone.........I have also decided to not even try my "regular" easter activities.
The kids and I will be going to my mother's to eat (steak- hopefully Hunter will atleast try it).
As a back-up for Hunter we will be fixing hot dogs too.
This year in his basket he'll have movies (thankfully he was wanting a lot of the new releases) and smarties. I also found sweet tarts shaped like bunnies and chicks. Thankfully Britney, my daughter, is 14 and understands and has consented to a "different" easter as well to make it easier on Hunter.
In case I haven't let yall know yet, here's the latest on Hunter.........
We see the pediatric surgeon on 4-20. The docotors, his dietician and the metabolic specialist have all decided a g-tube needs to be put back in. I haven't been able to keep Hunter's blood sugar at a good level, and of course he doesn't eat enough to keep a bird alive. Nutrician wise and blood sugar wise we all feel this is the best option. I'm hoping the surgery will be as early as Monday 4-24.
Quick question too while I'm in here.........any of yalls kids have problems with nose bleeds? Hunter was awake for all of 5 minutes this morning and then whamo.........blood everywhere!!
(he's never had a nose bleed before.....haha, so I was having a fit!)
You would think after 21 surgeries I could handle a nose bleed, but of course my mind went bonkers wondering if somehow this ties in with everything else!! My brain feels like mush!!

Laurie

[kristen]

OH NO!

Kimberley's Theresa also has a g-tube for this reason. She is 6 and gets overnight feeds only at this point. But I think Kimberley also uses it for nasty meds & for fluids when Theresa is sick. You may want to e-mail her if you want to talk a little about that with someone whose in the same boat.

We haven't had any nose bleeds here - but do remember that I and my brother did get them often as a kid - if I remember right it turned out to be some sort of harmonal thing...part of growing. The blood vessels in the nose are very sensative & thin...almost anything can make them bleed. So I think the Drs told my mom that the hormonal discharges change body temp, which expands/contracts the vessels, and some may break - totally normal. But, I would definately touch base with Hunters Drs just to make sure it's not a sign of something else!

Coley's doig MUCH better on the mood swings since coming of the aspartame. He can even go longer than 2 hours between meals without having a complete melt-down. But he's still eating like a bird!

He's off the periactin, as it wasn't helping, may have actually been hurting! We have another appointment on the 28th. If he hasn't gained, they will be discussing Megace and Celexa as a stimulant. They work differently than the periactin, so may work better for him.

UGH! I'm glad your daughter is so understanding! She is indeed a good big sister!

e-mail if you want to talk! Hope everything else is going well!
KJ

[lisa]

I made the cookies this morning and split them into 3 batches to experiment.
- Plain with food coloring
- Colored with toasted rice puffs
- Added baking chocolate (1 oz) that was sweetened just to bittersweet and added to the dough
Good News: They all tasted good, though having a glass of milk handy was a good idea. Nate really liked them and probably ate half a dozen throughout the day.
Bad News: He only ate one of the chocolate ones and less than an hour later had a bad BM. Not as bad as I remember it being at Christmas time, so I guess it's more tolerable than the cocoa. He also refused to eat anything else (apart from a normal breakfast meal) and went to sleep at 5:00 this evening. Not sure what to make of that.

We got so lucky yesterday! Went to a local community egg hunt and they had, of all things, smartees and stickers for the 3 and under group. He was sooo happy!!! I'm going to write a letter thanking them and request that they do the same next year.

Today was a little hard though. We went to a family get together and there was candy, cookies and fruit everywhere. My family did a good job keeping an eye out for him and keeping him distracted, but he really wanted things he couldn't have and threw a fit when we told him no or took them away. He just doesn't have that sense about what will hurt him like most of the others do. A few months ago he would have asked me if he could have something, but he is getting to be so independent lately...

[nancyrandall]

Lisa,

I can't keep track of how old everyone's kids on this board are but, here is what I do with my son (age 5). I have a trade system if he brings me some candy, cookies, ect... I trade him for something approved (candy, cookies, dougnuts, stickers, and small toys). I keep a stash in the car, diaper bag, and purse. For those items that are not easy to store I always let him know that he can wait and pick a treat at home (he loves ice cream).

This has worked great for us.
Nancy