Our Week in Pictures

Summer weather hit Linz last week! We spent almost every day at the lake, the pool or the playground. It was such a wonderful, although exhausting, week.

Alexa is obsessed with water, whether it be in a pool, sink, bathtub or laundry basket! My kid is definitely a little fish. I wish I had more pictures of her at the pool, but I was far too worried about her just diving in and so I left the camera in the bag.

She has also recently become obsessed with her baby doll. She puts it in her shopping cart to go shopping with, takes her on bike rides and is so loving with her. The doll fell out of her bicycle and Alexa immediately scooped her up, wrapped a kitchen towel (blanket) around her and gave her a kiss on the head. Then she proceeded to rock her and hum a song to her. She makes my heart melt.

The creepy mustache picture was our guess towards the gender of a friend's baby. The gender reveal is happening next week and I can't wait to find out if I am right! (I totally think I am by the way.)

Next week's weather also looks beautiful, although without the scorching heat. I can't wait. I love a beautiful day.

Low Histamine, Gluten Free Baked Sweet Potato Gnocchi with a Carrot Garlic Pesto Sauce

Ingredients for the Gnocchi:
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 cup of rice flour
1 egg

Ingredients for the Sauce:
2 large carrots, peeled and sliced
1 teaspoon of minced garlic
2 scallions, just the greens
1-2 teaspoons Rapeseed oil
6 large basil leaves
1/2 cup heavy cream
Pepper
chili powder

For the gnocchi -
Boil the sweet potatoes until they are very tender. Immediately drain the water and return them to the pot. Mash thoroughly with a hand masher. No lumps! Transfer to a medium sized metal bowl and allow to cool. Preheat oven to 175C. Once the potatoes are cooled add the egg and mix well. Add the rice flour a 1/2 cup at a time and mix thoroughly. The dough will start to thicken up.  Line your baking sheet with parchment paper. Place your dough into a zip bag. Cut 1/2 inch hole in one of the corners and use the bag to squeeze one inch pieces of dough onto the parchment paper. The gnocchi can be fairly close together on the baking sheet because they will not expand. Bake the gnocchi in a hot oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the edges start to turn slightly brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

For the sauce -
Boil the carrots until they are fork tender. Remove from the heat and drain well. Add carrots, garlic, scallions, basil leaves, oil and cream to a blender. Blend on high until the sauce is smooth.

When you're ready to eat, add the sauce to a frying pan over medium-high heat. Toss the gnocchi into the sauce and heat until hot. Be sure to continuously move the pan so that the sauce does not burn. Add the pepper and chili powder.

Enjoy!

(I know that the picture is a little blurry, but I was too excited to gobble this dinner up to worry about whether or not the picture came out clear!)

P.S. This meal is Alexa approved!!

Low Histamine, Gluten Free Lunch

The first few days of this low histamine diet were pretty scary. I was cranky because I thought I was hungry, but really, as long as I think up stuff ahead of time it's really not that bad. The second day of the diet I was starving at lunch time. Gluten free bread is not very good, so my breakfast had kind of sucked. I was ready for food with FLAVOR!

I sauteed half an onion, a carrot, a celery stick and some minced garlic in one heaping teaspoon of coconut oil. I really let the onion get good and clear before I moved on. Then I turned the heat up and I added one egg, quickly scrambling it with the spatula. After the egg was completely cooked I added two large handfuls of rice noodles and about 1/2 a cup of water. I put the top on the pan and waited 3-4 minutes. I garnished the top with some finely chopped scallions and voila, delicious lunch with FLAVOR!!

Do you know of any low histamine lunches?

Happy Father's Day!

Father's Day is June 8th this year in Austria. I had such an amazing idea of what to make with Alexa for her Papa, but since I wasn't paying attention to the calendar, I ran out of time. I might hold out on this idea for his birthday, Christmas, or Father's Day 2015. In a crunch, I trolled the internet looking for ideas.

Pinterest was not nearly as inspiring as it usually is. Most of the great ideas took too much time, needed too many supplies, or needed supplies that I just don't have access to. I kept thinking, then finally came up with the idea to take pictures of Alexa and Photoshop something into them. After sleeping on that idea, I decided it was kind of cheesy, but I could adapt my idea and a few ideas that I had found online.

I cut out some cardboard letters to spell "Papa" and then went to work trying to get a fidgety Alexa to participate in my photo shoot. The photo shoot did not go as smoothly as I had hoped. I was able to take six pictures before my toddler bailed. I was hoping for a miracle when I uploaded them onto the computer. What I got was the most perfect display of my child. I cannot wait to get it framed and see Michael's reaction on Sunday when he opens it!

What did you make with your kid's for Father's Day? Do you do something special to celebrate each year?

Migraines Suck!

Prior to getting pregnant and having Alexa, I suffered from chronic migraine. For years, my life was a living hell. I took more preventative medications than I care to remember (15 pills every day) and had a 3-tiered migraine attack plan. I took morphine based drugs regularly to manage the pain. I was not okay.

When I first moved to Austria, as an au pair, the family doctor I saw thought it was INSANE that I was on so many medications, but because I was only going to be in Austria for a year, he agreed to continue prescribing me the same medications. After the first six months, he convinced me to try and wean down on some of the medications. I agreed to give it a try. Getting hooked on all of those pills had been easy, coming off of them was a nightmare I never wish to relive again. After only six months in Austria, my migraines had substantially decreased. Coming off of the meds, as hard as it was, proved to be a good thing. I returned to the US a year later and my migraines came right back. It was clear that my migraines were not only triggered by foods I ate, beverages I drank, or the environment that I lived in. My activity level had increased in Austria. I was eating much healthier foods and I was exposed to a different variety of pollens. It was clearly better for me in Austria.

When I moved back to Austria in 2010, I was only on one migraine medication - Topamax - once a day to prevent the migraines. My neurologist and I discussed that I would have to be off of the medication for a full six months before I could even consider trying to get pregnant. The choice to come off of the medication was very scary for me. I had already weaned off of migraine meds once before and it had been terrifying. It took me two years to finally have the courage to try weaning off of them completely. This time wasn't as bad and I had the prospect of a baby to look forward to. Seven months later I was pregnant with Alexa. During my pregnancy I had three migraines. This is nothing compared to how often I would get them before. I think I maybe had one headache, not a migraine, after having Alexa while I was nursing. It was amazing!

On May 23, 2014, Alexa nursed for the last time. On May 24th, I woke up with a headache and have had a migraine ever since. The first three days were a consistent, blinding migraine. I had severe light and smell sensitivity. My ears were throbbing. I could hear my hair moving when I was sitting still. The nightmare had returned. On the fourth day, I took some Tonopan to stop the pain. It made me groggy, tired and didn't take away the pain. I didn't want to be like that. I couldn't be like that and still take care of Alexa. However, I can't have a migraine every day and take care of her either. I've taken Tonopan almost every day since the fourth day. On a lucky day, I will wake up with the headache, it will go away sometime before lunch and not come back until around dinner time. On a very lucky day it holds off until bed time. It always comes back though.

On June 1st I started a low histamine diet to try and figure out what I might be eating that could possibly be triggering my migraines. On June 3rd, I added an iron supplement to that diet. I still have a headache, but I am really, really hoping that it is going to go away soon. I do not want to be dependent on pills again.

Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Pops

I was strolling through the grocery store the other day and saw a bag of large marshmallows on the end cap. Marshmallows are not that easy to find over here, so I immediately tried to think of a good reason to buy them. Then it occurred to me...marshmallows alone are the perfect snack! (Not really, but when you can't get something all of the time, the instant it's available you buy it, sane reason or not.)

When I got home I decided to try my hand at marshmallow pops. I think of them as cake pops for dummies. They were insanely easy to make. It took less than 10 minutes from start to finish. This would be a great cooking activity to do with kids.

Here's the recipe:

1 bag of large marshmallows
Popsicle sticks
1/2-3/4 cup of baking chocolate chopped or chocolate chips
2 Tablespoons heavy cream
1-2 Tablespoons white chocolate chopped or white chocolate chips
Crushed nuts or sprinkles to decorate
Baking paper

In a small saucepan bring 1/2 pot of water to boil. Using a metal bowl as a double boiler, be sure that it fits well over the saucepan. Put your chocolate in the metal bowl, be sure no water gets in it. Stir until the chocolate is melted. Take the bowl off the saucepan and stir well. Stick one popsicle stick into every marshmallow. Dip the marshmallows into the melted chocolate. Dip into sprinkles or crushed nuts to decorate. On a baking paper lined cookie sheet, place your marshmallow to dry. It's best to put them in the fridge to dry completely. Enjoy!

Rocks, Stones and Pebbles

Alexa is very into collecting rocks, stones and pebbles every time we go outside. She can become completely and totally immersed in a playground with stones, not realizing that she sitting under the swing set playing with her stones while other kids swing above her, narrowly missing her head at every pass. It's amazing. It is one of the only activities where she can and will sit and totally concentrate for more than 30 seconds.

A few days ago, we took a walk outside when the rain had let up a little. We both needed some fresh air. Being cooped up in the apartment for more than a day will make anyone crazy. I didn't bring a stroller, or her bike. It was just the two of us strolling around the park in our neighborhood. We had time and nowhere to be, so I just let Alexa take the lead.

She strolled around the path for a few minutes, but then something caught her attention. It was a small pile of large rocks that someone had arranged on the grass. She immediately started collecting them. She would bring them to me one by one and then run back for the next rock. I kept strolling around, watching her and waiting to see what her next move would be. After a while, and two handfuls of rocks, I tried to wrangle her toward the playground. I thought this was a smart move, however, I forgot the playground base was all little pebbles.

By the end of our walk we had amassed a great collection of stones. I let her pick five out and we brought them home. When she woke up from her afternoon nap we had a great time painting the rocks. Maybe we'll start a rock garden, it'll certainly be easier to take care of than the herb garden.