Hide and seek is fun with kids, but not so much fun with food. It’s amazing what you can find hidden in your food, allergens where you don’t expect them.

I discovered while breastfeeding my third daughter that corn made her congested and ill, so I spent a year avoiding corn, until she (thankfully!) outgrew it. Avoiding corn is not just avoiding popcorn, corn syrup, corn on the cob, and corn tortillas, but corn as a “hidden” ingredient. If you haven’t read The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, by Michael Pollan, I can clue you in on the first quarter of his book – corn is in everything.

If you eat a lot of prepared foods, you are eating a lot of corn – and I think you’d be surprised at how much. Even if you don’t eat a lot of prepared foods, you’re still eating more corn than you think. Don’t believe me? Let’s try this experiment – go find 4 things in your pantry or fridge:

1. a drink
2. a condiment
3. a form of protein
4. a starch (ie: bread, crackers, etc)

Make sure that you can find the ingredient information, we’ll come back to that in a moment.

Recently, there has been more awareness of high fructose corn syrup, so we are starting to see a move back to cane syrup (aka sugar) in juices. I was thrilled to buy a bottle of Ocean Spray Cran-Grape, and see “no corn syrup” on the bottle! Of course, there was still “hidden” corn in the drinks, but avoiding corn syrup continues to be one of my goals, though it’s not always achieved.

This comes to mind today because I received two corn-related alerts. Melanie at My Little Patch of Sunshine is having a giveaway (enter by the end of tomorrow!) related to the new Pepsi Throwback, Mountain Dew and Pepsi made with sugar rather than corn syrup, available for 8 weeks. Meanwhile, Modern Mom’s “must have” for today is reusable and disposable plates & utensils for kids, made out of corn. Ack! I wonder if all the processing makes the corn no longer an issue for people with corn allergies… Definitely something to ponder, and given the rising prevalence of corn turned into eating utensils, yet another thing for the corn-sensitive to watch out for!

Now – back to your food, and the corn in it. Read the ingredients. See if you can spot the corn in there. Do you see corn syrup, corn starch? Quite possibly. In addition to those ingredients, I’m willing to bet that you have hidden corn in at least 3/4 of the foods you chose. Compare your ingredients to the 7 hidden corn words after the jump… Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve been having so much fun during our vacation with NannyOgg and her crew! I love being with her, and her kids are amazing. It’s also wonderful to see our kids becoming great friends. All you folks who went south for spring break are missing out – all the fun is up north! I mean, really, how often do you get to see a 15 passenger van get hauled up on a tow truck?

I don’t quite know how we fit so much into one day yesterday, though! The day started with the van breaking down, of course. Thankfully, it happened in the driveway, so no one was stranded. We managed to adapt our plans, so we still got to go have fun. There was a little extra-special fun when NannyOgg and I went out by ourselves to the thrift and grocery stores. After shopping with six hunry kids the day before, it was blissful. Before we left the house with the kids, NannyOgg’s oldest daughter, D, spent time curling BG’s hair. I never thought it would work, because she has very straight, thick hair, but it turned out beautifully! She looks lovely, and seems so grown up!

NannyOgg remembered that the birthplace of the prophet Joseph Smith is not very far from her house, and would be a great combination of Geocaching and a place for the girls and I to learn more about the heritage of our Church. We had a great time, learned a lot from the wonderful couples missionaries who were there, and took a few pictures. As a bonus, the kids could run around on the grounds, and there’s beautiful music in the background. We’re hoping to go back later in the spring or in the summer to see the flowers in bloom. I highly recommend visiting the memorial if you’re in the area – Mormon or not, it’s beautiful and interesting.

Out of all those pictures, I loved many of them, including the one on the left of me with the girls. It’s great to be with friends so I’m not the only one taking pictures! It means that I’m actually in some of the pics! It’s amazing. When we got home after spending the afternoon running around, we had a girls night in. We did feed everyone first – with stir fry and ice cream. The adults loved the stir fry, and the children loved the rice and ice cream.

We had quite the crowd for the girls night in – my 3 girls, NannyOgg’s girls, a visiting friend, and NannyOgg’s youngest son, who wanted to do his fingernails, too. We got 4 new colors of nail polish, and then made sure we had a lot of nail polish remover to fix the accidents that happen when littles paint their own nails. We also had some fun with hair dye… but those reveal pictures will have to wait for some sunlight, it was too cloudy today for good pictures. We all had so much fun, and also totally my fault. I’m clearly a bad influence, inciting wild parties with nail polish and hair dye!

Some days, it’s hard to see the bright side to your problems. The clouds don’t appear to have any silver linings, and you’re thinking the light at the end of the tunnel is probably a train.

However, while suffering can be mandatory, misery is purely optional. Though it can be hard to remember that!

And then there are the days when it is easy to be a light unto the world. Where you can feel the light shining inside you, and where the the weight of the world is off your shoulders, and there’s more silver lining than clouds.

For us, a change of scenery made a huge difference for our moods! We took 4 buses (public transport, shuttle bus, coach, homeschool bus) and 1 subway, and now we’re with Nanny Ogg and her absolutely fabulous crew. We feel welcome, loved, accepted, and appreciated. We’ve spent some time relaxing, drinking tea, shopping, playing with the puppy, cooking, and just hanging out.

Today’s plans include a trip to the birthplace of Joseph Smith, some Geocaching, and then a girls night in. What more could we really want?

We’ll go home tomorrow afternoon, and be home for Church on Sunday. It’s unlikely we’d be allowed to bring home any of Nanny Ogg’s kiddos, but we’ll be bringing home plenty of memories, pictures, and a warm light in our hearts.

Folks who have known me for a while know that my kids spend a lot of time in the kitchen with me. Some of this is because we have food intolerances and dietary restrictions, and some of it is because my mother always had us in the kitchen, too. My girls have been adding ingredients to my cooking since they were toddlers. Can it be frustrating? yes. Is it messy? yes. Have I ever needed to completely redo something? yes. Is it worth it? absolutely!

I’ve found that the girls become more invested in meals they help make, which means they are less likely to make a fuss about the food. And that’s always a good thing! BG and MG are great at reading recipes and measuring, while LG (5 1/2) is a very enthusiastic stirrer. I can now delegate a lot in the kitchen to the girls, and they are thrilled to be a part of the cooking. I do kick them out when I am been incredibly busy or short on time, but I try to do that infrequently. The more the girls follow our recipes and cook with me, the more they know. With their food restrictions, they will always need to cook for themselves, so it’s best to start early!

BG, who is now almost 11, made up her own new recipe a couple months ago. It started one night when she wasn’t particularly interested in the dinner I had been planning. So, rather than simply whining, she created a new dish, which we ate that night. We learned quickly that it is smart to rinse black beans very well, otherwise your entire meal turns a bleh charcoal grey. Since then she’s made some adaptations, and now her recipe is up at the recipe blog – it’s called Sausage, Beans, and Potatoes. Not the most exciting name, but it’s a meal that BG created and can make almost entirely by herself!

With some supervision and guidance, a microwave, an oven, and a stove, kids can start experimenting with recipes. I know very few kids who wouldn’t leap at the chance to try making dessert. Once you have them hooked, also encourage them to slice fruit or veggies for a salad, and then you can step up to adding seasoning for a soup or sauce… Kids can be so much fun in the kitchen, and it’s a great way to spend time together and eat healthy, homemade foods!