Potato continues to be going well. He has
CheeCha puffs, which are potato flour, potato starch, and salt and then
puffed. He has eaten baked potato and mashed as well as fried….none
of them in too large of quantity since he still mainly nibbles his
foods. We tried a potato stick by Utz, ingredients were cottonseed
oil and potatoes. He had irrational tantrums that coincided with eating
them two times, so we simply threw them away- unsure if it is the cottonseed or
a cross contamination issue or what but no reason to take any further chances
when we can just move on.
Normally, I would call the company and be sure that there
is no cross contamination risk but that is easier to do when you know which
foods you are strictly avoiding. Many of little man's allergies are
different. Dairy- we pulled before he was 6mo.old, already connecting a milk
protein intolerance (and history of that with the other boys I knew he would
need to avoid until at least around 1yr.), soy we had rechallanged when he was
18mo. because we just were never sure when we tried soy at 5-6mo.old what it
was that he wasn’t tolerating in it and since the soy formula we used also had corn-
was it the corn syrup in the formula? Maybe, probably. A soy
challenge was when we first learned some of his reactions result in small
intestinal villi damage….possibly more of what is referred to as Enteropathy.
(sometimes even called FPIE (without the S)- Food Protein Induced
Enteropathy. Although the reactions are not as acutely severe
as FPIES (there is no shock), the effects can be just as serious. So, we
have avoided soy in any forms as well. We suspect that some of his
reactions are this enteropathy where some are the FPIES. The severe acute FPIES almost
seems protective of the more-long-term damage of the enteropathy, because with
an acute reaction- at least we know sooner rather than the side effects of a
chronic FPIES state he has all too often settled into. We know we need to
avoid dairy, soy, rice and corn. There are a few others that were bad
fails (sunflower, buckwheat ,....). Thankfully, little man hasn't had a full shock episode from first exposure of a new food.
Back to potato and the expanding menu....in my search for fun ways to serve potato, and a potato
pancake recipe, I came across a Pizzelle maker. Pizelle’s are thin
waffles- and can even be made into a cone or a rolled shape to
fill. It was not a cheap kitchen gadget to add to the growing
supply but all I could think of was how much he likes crumbs and crisp and that
his ingredients are more conducive to producing thin/small recipes than
thick/large ones….so I bought it.
I made him his first pizzelle right away- utilizing a potato
starch that I am still hoping is safe (but not sure); but most of all using a
baking powder! We have successfully been using baking soda in
his recipes but baking powder has corn starch in it, all except 1-2 brands-
Hain is one, it uses potato stach. With the addition of these
ingredients, there is enough to hold together dough to successfully make the
pizzelles! “Waffles”! he says!
With waffles, came pure maple syrup. I had bought
some months back so had it in the cupboard, which was a good thing because his
brother was having waffles for breakfast and got out the syrup, little man
promptly asked "syrup, yes?" And I was able to say "yes,
syrup!" He LOVED it!! He ate waffles all day long for a few days!
Noticing a trend here- when he discovers a new safe food, he goes through
a typical toddler "jag" and it is all he eats, sometimes all he can think
about!
So, we are expanding his menu and experimenting with the new
ingredients. He now has hemp, millet, safflower oil, arrowroot starch,
peaches, cocoa, potatoes, and pure maple syrup! What is next?
