Carson just keeps getting bigger and bigger. He is starting to outgrow alot of his clothes, so we just had to start shopping for an all new wardrobe. Plus, with it being so unusually warm for most of this February, he needed new seasonal clothes too! It is unreal how the weather was, mostly in the 70s. Very strange.
Anyway, the newest thing that is happening is food. Carson lost his appetite for a couple of weeks following an ear infection, but he has finally gotten back to eating just about anything we give him. On February 19, Marty, Carson and I attended our first PKU cooking class. We met up with Jimmy, Julie and Noah at Jeff State south of Birmingham. Chef Jason was our instructor, and I thought he did an amazing job and had some great recipes for us! We worked together at stations to prepare these recipes, then went to another room where we all sat down and tasted them. I was most disappointed with the egg plant burgers. They smelled and looked SO good while cooking, but ended up tasting VERY bitter! Yuck! Carson agreed, and so did Jimmy and Marty. The best thing to me was the pasta with pesto and the veggie fajitas. The zuccini tasted delicious in the fajitas, and Carson liked it too! After the class, the six of us stopped at Logan's and ate together. We had a great time! It was a beautiful day as well.
This experience inspired me to start cooking more low protein foods and try some new recipes. I have started getting adventurous, and I love it!
First, I made some really quick and easy biscuits with Cambrooke's MixQuick. The recipe came from their website, www.cambrookefoods.com. Unfortunately, I have yet to get them to keep well, as they get kind of gooey after a while. Definitely best when fresh. Carson loves them, and they are super low in phe. He loves any kind of bread! I thought I took a picture of these, but I guess not because I can't find it!
Next, for Valentine's Day, I made Carson his first cookies. I made the Butterscotch Chip Cookies, from Cambrooke's site also. Very easy to make, and delicious too! Carson enjoyed them, and I also brought some to church to share with friends. Everyone said they tasted just like a normal cookie...yummy!
Very satisfying!
The most adventurous thing I tried to bake so far was homemade graham crackers. I got this recipe from the Low Protein Cookery for PKU cookbook, which is the older PKU cookbook. I just recently ordered it through Amazon.com and had it shipped to my house. I actually bought the newer cookbook first, a long time ago! I did make a fudge recipe out of the new cookbook at Christmas. I have not yet perfected my fudge, so I ate it all myself. It sure did taste wonderful though...chocolate and butterscotch! Yum! If you wonder why so much butterscotch, it is because it is much lower in phe than chocolate, so a better option for Carson. Anyway, I digress. For the graham crackers, I used Wel-Plan Baking Mix, honey, molasses, corn syrup, cinnamon, sugar, and I do not remember what else. The problem I had was that I did not have a flat cookie sheet, only one with sides, so I could not roll them out perfectly flat. They did not get crispy. Instead, the texture was more like a cookie. I will also use half the cinnamon it calls for next time, because I prefer less and felt it was too strong. However, they were still delicious, tasted much like a regular graham, and most importantly, Carson loved them too! I look forward to trying them again with the proper modifications. Graham crackers are Carson's favorite snack, which he picked up from Noah a long time ago. Unfortunately, one Honey Maid graham square has 19mg of phe, which is high for such a small portion. The homemade grahams are significantly lower, so I will be making them again very soon!
As for Carson's eating habits, he is being pretty selective right now. Ever since we suffered from the horrible stomach virus last month, which took Carson over a week to recover from, he has not been eating the same. He went back to eating canned sweet potatoes, Bruce's Yams, and refuses to eat them in any other form. He will still eat green beans as long as they are with something else. He will also eat carrots sometimes, and he still loves broccoli and cauliflower, thankfully. He probably eats spaghetti five out of the seven days a week, only because I refuse to make it every single night. I use low protein spiral noodles and 2 tablespoons of Ragu Traditional Old World Style. Apparently, this is Carson's most favorite food in the whole wide world! He must have spaghetti! With 1/2 cup of the noodles, this portion totals only 23mg phe, which is wonderful. But the noodles are mostly starch! Sometime in the near future I plan to try a low protein mac & cheese. I also bought some lopro rice to try. The major problem we are having right now is Carson's reluctance to try new foods, as well as his rejection of fruit. He used to eat all kinds of fruit, but since the virus has completely refused it and spit it out. What to do? Any tips are appreciated. I plan to try to make a nice dessert for him with fruit in it to try. We will see!
Most of all, I look forward to six weeks from now, May 14th, when I FINALLY graduate from college and can devote more time to cooking and trying new recipes for my little man. I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!