seven quick takes - the dairy free life edition

As always, Jen at Conversion Diary is hosting this fun link-up.

SO HOW HARD IS THIS DAIRY-FREE THING ANYWAY?

1.  On Wednesday David and I had a little powwow to discuss the whole elimination diet thing.  Were we going to do something radical like this?  Could we?  (Considering that I do the bulk of the the meal planning/shopping/cooking - could I?)  I think David was, perhaps, less than thrilled by the prospect, but I really pushed for it because I would so like to see an improvement in Samuel's overall health. 

2.  I made a run to the grocery store which, on top of my massive shopping expedition last week, put us over budget by quite a bit.  I spent $25 and picked up random things in more of a panic than anything else.  I knew Samuel would drink chocolate soy milk so I got a container of that on sale.  I also picked up a lot of produce, some sausages, and a container of coconut milk.  My small rural grocery store didn't have a lot, and I started to experience the first sense of 'what are we going to eat?' that I'm sure will become a regular feeling around here in the next month or more.

3.  A very strange dinner appeared on the table for Wednesday night.  We had sausages, sliced apples, olives, avacado, tomato and organic greens with dairy-free salad dressing.  Samuel happily ate the apples, sausages and olives, and with a bit of prompting ate a bit of tomato, but the avacado was a firm 'no' from the toddler, and he detested the dairy free salad dressing.  David and I ate it, but it was such a strange and unfilling meal. 

4.  Thursday's meal planning was non-existant and also showed the first signs of 'dairy-free' mistakes.  Samuel and I had porridge with chocolate soy milk on it for breakfast.  I've never used chocolate milk on cereal before, but it wasn't as gross as I expected.  I had planned on pasta with tomato sauce for Samuel's lunch, followed by jello with mandarin slices, but for myself I only packed an apple on the way to work.  I don't know why I did this, because I knew I'd be at the office for a full day, but around 2pm I was starving and at a loss as to what to eat.  The only food place near me was a convenience store, where I quickly learned that you cannot purchase dairy free food!  I ended up with a bag of plain potato chips and a sausage on a bun.  I couldn't find any dairy on the bun's ingredients list, but I didn't look too closely, I was so hungry I knew I needed to eat something fast.  There were no ingredients listed for the sausages, so I just ate it.

5.  Thursday night I got home from work and tried to throw together a 'quick' dairy free supper for the family.  To tide Samuel over for supper I gave him some sliced salami to eat, which I later discovered contained dairy.  We had baked rainbow trout, spinach and sauteed fennel, and again Samuel had jello and mandarins for dessert.  I found myself having a real issue with the 'no butter on my vegetables' problem.  After discussing with several friends, I'm no closer to a solution since we have such a limited grocery budget and no access to traditional 'health food stores' around here, and so no chance of picking up a vegan option.  Samuel ate everything, though, and I packed up the leftovers for his lunch on Friday; at least I'd have food for him one more day.

6.  Friday, early morning.  Is my stomach-ache, the one that has me writing seven quick take at 3am, because I ate so much meat and processed foods yesterday?  Is it a dairy sensitivity myself?  Questions start to roll through your head constantly.

7.  I hoped that the diaper situation would improve at least a little, and it seems to have slightly.  No more mucus, no blood streaks, a normal brown colour.  He's still got a mild temperature, but he does have a cold so I'm associating it with that.  Of course, the eczema is still very much present, and he's still scratching at himself a lot, not to mention his stools are still very loose.  But they aren't liquid.  Just an overly hopeful Mama this early in the game?  Maybe.