Homemade Chocolates

I was thrilled to find this Homemade Chocolate recipe.  Before this, I had not tried cocoa butter; but it seems to be going ok for Little Man- although it does make the chocolate candy much more rich than the maple syrup chocolate candy I have made in the past. 

My adapted recipe from Real Food Forager:

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Cocoa butter 

1/4cup Cocoa powder

1 Tbsp. Pure Maple syrup

Directions: 

Prepare a double boiler, using a small sauce pan to melt the cocoa butter.  The cocoa butter should be warmed over a double boiler just to melt it, do not boil (it will get bitter!).  Once the cocoa butter is melted, remove from heat and add the maple syrup, then whisk in the cocoa powder.  Pour into molds.  Makes ~12 medium sized candies (with enough left in the pan to "lick the beaters"!.  Put the molds in the refrigerator until solid.   Remove from mold, let sit on counter to 'dry' - this helps them not melt as fast when handled by little fingers to eat.  May be stored in fridge - if there is leftovers!  It is a rich, dark chocolate candy.  

Happy 3rd Birthday!

The day before his birthday, I told little man that the next day would be his birthday celebrating day and the plans I had for the day (church, lunch, parade, nap, cake/presents/dinner, campfire, and fireworks).  He listened intently and looked at me and said, "play lego's with daddy?".   Request granted buddy, you can play lego's with Daddy. 

We had fun at the parade, he loved all the fire trucks, and marching bands.  Then we came home and had a (late) nap- it was a HOT summer day and we were all tired while I prepared his "surprise" (he didn't know he was getting cake with frosting!).  So I set up his presents and cake and decorations while he napped.   This was right when Hubby got a fire call page- there were a few large fires and due to the nature of the fires and the heat, they were in need of extra off-duty firefighters to come in and be ready.   So, off he went.   Little Man was disappointed when he woke up from his nap and daddy was gone- he was excited about his surprise (presents and cake) waiting for him but more excited when I said we could take it all to daddy at the fire station! (he got assigned to help man a station)....he was at the station that is literally down the road from our house.   So, presents and cake went with us to celebrate with daddy (not the first time we've celebrated at the station). He had a good birthday and was a happy little boy who got 2 lego sets!   He LOVED his chocolate frosting cake!!! He licked the frosting off of all the cupcakes (which were really just his regular millet muffins).  The chocolate frosting was made from a recipe for chocolate syrup = oil, maple syrup, and cocoa- I boiled it and it thickened up nicely= frosting!  

His birthday was a quiet day at home....well, that was what it was SUPPOSED to be!   It started out quiet, but then a stool sample needed to be taken downtown to the lab...last week his GI doctor ordered some stool studies to be done- they have to be taken in when the lab is open and within 30minutes of the sample being "fresh"....so that didn't happen over the weekend so I wanted to get this sample in right away.   I decided a trip to the toy store could be arranged for this birthday boy to make this outing NOT about going to the lab!   Off we headed and got the sample turned in and off to the toy store but the stores weren't open yet (9am), so we went to the dollar store instead where I let him have a basket and go shopping.   Later, we went to two of little man's favorite parks before heading home for nap time.   We picked up the boys from the catechism car pool and headed home to play.  Little Man hasn't been feeling well, but he wants to play- so he will be playing nicely for a few minutes and then he will turn and just start crying over the littlest things....clearly he is just tired and feeling crappy.  I was ready for the day to be done (we still had the fireworks to do another day this week when daddy is home!).   We were sitting and relaxing downstairs and I was checking the results of that stool sample that I had turned in that morning (via an online patient portal) and found that his stool actually matches the symptoms he was having on Alimentum...bittersweet....we haven't talked to the GI about it yet so will have to go more into that in another post after we have the chance to discuss it more.  

While I was reading through this report, little man was sitting at my feet building a "fort" (more like a beaver dam)- they like to pile blankets and pillows on the floor and crawl around in and under them.   Mudpie #3 started jumping from the couch to this pile and before I could stop him, he was mid jump when little man moved to get up and his brothers knee hit his head.   At first, I was just upset at his brother for hurting him- who was finally relaxing and playing nicely and then saw some blood so rushed him upstairs to get a better look at it....yep, this is about when the panic set in because he SPIT HIS TOOTH OUT IN MY HAND!!  AGH!!  What???!!!  WHAT?!    I immediately called hubby- should I take him in?   They didn't do anything the last time we took him in, and this too looks like a clean break.   But WHY?  His brothers knee did not hit that hard- how did it knock out a TOOTH!?  Is there something wrong with the strength of his gums?  Or is it just because that one got knocked a little loose and the gum was still healing, from last week when he knocked the other one out?   Maybe.  It, of course, bled a lot but the bleeding stopped fairly quickly.   We went to visit daddy at the station to help him feel better and he is handling it like a champ (it's mommy that is still a bit freaked out by it). 

What a way to celebrate a birthday! 

Chocolate??

We've been doing well the past few days.  CheeCha puffs are going great, and bites of baked potato are without any symptoms at all!!!!!!

  

Now with getting a taste for new things, he has started asking for more things!   This little boy has few foods and few words but he said "chocolate please mommy, yes?"  and "ooooohhhhh, chocolate, yes?" when he climbs up in the cupboard to get it.    

What chocolate???   Well, at Easter time is when he first uttered the words chocolate- we didn't even have any candy in the house yet so I am not sure where he got the idea from but he looked up at me and said "chocolate please mommy, yes?" and this smile that would melt an iceberg....Now, again back to the approach we are at right now with Little Man, that if we know something isn't UNsafe- even if we weren't planning on trailing it....we want him to be able to try it- even if it throws a current trial for a loop, or a pause.  FPIES challenges just never seem to end.   

We don't want him to have negative associations with food and we certainly don't want to be keeping potentially safe foods from him- even if it is "just' chocolate!   So, to the store(s) I went....to find Enjoy Life chocolate chips, which I knew I had found in one of the stores here in town at one time.    

Enjoy Life is a brand that is allergen friendly and many corn allergic people can tolerate them, although some can not- so we are not sure if they are safe or not but they are the closest we can come to safe since other chips have many more allergens in them.    Enjoy life has few ingredients and they make a mini-chip.   Well, he was eating a lot of them and his temper was VERY short (a red flag for us for his calm natured little boy), other symptoms were popping up too but he was BEGGING for the chips almost all day long for 2days before his daddy just threw them away- his symptoms were building and his interest was not lessening so we just told him they were 'gone'.    Well, he proceeded to take the chair and climb up to the cupboard to check for himself, which is where he found the Hershey's Cocoa!   "oooohhhhh, chocolate, yes?".   I don't know if it is the chocolate or the palm oil/sugar in the Enjoy Life Chocolate chips, or a corn-tamination or what.   So, I figured we've eventually have to finish the trial with the Hershey's Cocoa (safe for corn allergic)- maybe by baking with it or something but he wants this cocoa powder today so, I thought I'd let him have a lick of the cocoa and he'd realize it doesn't taste good and that would be the end of it.    NO!!  He LOVES it!?! What??  I did talk him into mixing it into his hemp milk formula- so it's sorta like a pudding; but he prefers it DRY!   So, over the past few days he's had bites/licks of this Hershey Cocoa.    I can't say it is going great but it isn't causing any building FPIES symptoms that I would normally be able to see by now,  or the same symptoms as the Enjoy Life chocolate chips were.  

That said, I've hidden the cocoa anyway and am going to have to just put it on the shelf for a bit because there are too many things in the picture right now, and I don't want it muddy over chocolate...since there are some symptoms (that are likely from the chocolate itself, not allergic)- he has some disturbed sleep and he had an explosive diaper this morning.    Now, I can't say it is all from the cocoa because 2 nights ago, he spilled his daddy's cup FULL of Mt.Dew and it splashed EVERWHERE (it was all over him, and some got on his CheeCha puffs -- although I didn't realize that until later so he may have gotten some Mt.Dew exposure (High fructose CORN syrup)....his daddy usually drinks diet (which still has corn but not HFCS) but I had bought him a case of the regular for a treat for his birthday.  Well, I can't be sure little man didn't get some exposure - from being on his skin or splashed on to some CheeCha puffs he ate, or....I don't know.  He slid downhill these past 2 days, his energy was down, his mood was sour, he had this weird rash around his belly button (where the soda splashed??),....and then there is the diapers and the disturbed sleep (from cocoa or corn-tamination?) OR, is his tube bothering him?   

Muddy picture, fast.   Back up....let's figure this out.   He is increasing amounts of Alimentum in his hemp milk formula that he is drinking- he's up to ~15+/day now!  (1-2oz. per bottle)!!   Can't be sure that isn't coming into play here also because we observed building issues with increased amounts of Ali when he was on the NG tube but we thought that was due to the tube and the lubricant they used to place it but we still haven't ruled out Alimentum intolerance (worried it is too high in sugars for him, or maybe the source of fats are a problem for him).  Or, is this all related to tube pain?  Possibly.  We need to rule things out one by one.  Corn was a potential exposure- symptoms flared up, we should see them flare back down, back to a baseline...he obviously hasn't continued to receive Mt.Dew splashes.   Cocoa- take it out and see if things improve.   They were improving already this morning, so I am still not sure what to think. The other factor -  the tube or a abscess or infection brewing, is this belly button rash related to tube or some random eczema rash?  A call to the surgeon's nurse and it is decided he needs to be seen....