Vegan Pesto available in stores

This product may have been available for a while, but I just discovered it at our grocery store. For quick meals I used to keep Pesto around all the time. I discontinued that practice due to the cheese content in store bought Pesto's and making it myself has just been too involved...In any case, today I gave it another try to see whether I can find vegan pesto. I found it, but cannot talk about how it tastes yet. I am so excited...

In any case here is the information

Vegan Pesto by Rising Moon; we do buy their frozen Raviolis from time to time...they taste great!!!

http://www.risingmoon.com/

Enjoy!

New Soy Yogurt...

There is a new soy yogurt on the shelves at our grocery store. It is from Turtle Mountain the "So Delicious" brand - I already love the ice cream. They have different flavors than Whole Soy including Cinnamon Bun which Alena likes a lot. The consistency of this yogurt is much thicker than the Whole Soy brand. I like both and have not yet decided if I prefer one over the other. At this time I buy whatever yogurt is on sale :)

More information at http://www.sodeliciousdairyfree.com/

Enjoy! - Please let me know what you think. I love hearing back from you.

Grand Central Bread

Grand Central has great bread. A lot of local restaurants actually serve bread from this bakery. They also have bakeries, and deli's across town.

Here is the link to their breads listing all of the ingredients --> http://grandcentralbakery.com/breads.html
NOTE: There is one bread which does contain milk. The bread is NOT listed on this list, but
they will be able to tell you in the store. I will let you know once I know.

Enjoy!

Out for breakfast in PDX - "Jam" in SE PDX on Hawthorne

We had breakfast yesterday at JAM. What a great little breakfast place. All foods are sustainable, local, etc. The jams are homemade....just a great find. Beware so, this place gets packed especially on the weekends. It opens at 7:30 AM so be there early.

But why - you may ask - do I write about this restaurant on the Galactosemia Blog...well, they offer VEGAN Blueberry pancakes, the Hashbrowns, eggs, etc. are all dairy free and of course they have soy milk. I am just excited to have another option now where the girls can eat pancakes (Besides "Cup & Saucer" and I love that place too). The kids breakfast menu includes eggs & bacon, vegan pancakes, and the bread...its all from Grand Central. And all breads from Grand Central is milk derivative free :)

Here is the information for JAM -Phone: (503) 234-4790
2239 Se Hawthorne Blvd, Portland, OR 97214. - It is located on the North corner of Hawthorne, between SE 22nd and SE 23rd Ave. (Right across from Grand Central on Hawthorne)...

Enjoy! - Let me know what you think...

Diet of CG in Germany

While in Germany we met with a couple of families in Berlin who both have kids with CG. I understand that families are urged to include aged cheeses in their diet thus eliminating the need to supplement calcium. I saw the list of cheeses which was ok'd after new testing and it includes cheeses which have been aged for 6 weeks or longer. Interesting, isn't it?

For us, we allow our oldest to eat Parmesan Reggiano. This we only allow at home. She has been eating Parmesano Reggiano on a regular basis now for almost 6 months and her levels did not increase. Note also, that we do not adjust our diet in any way before the draw. I am very interested however to see whether it increases her calcium level in any way...

Halloween - "Trick or Treating" we had so much fun

We had SO much fun last night. For dinner we orderd pizza from Oasis Cafe, and then went out trick or treating. Both girls wanted to be cats this year. Cats with bright pink tails :) After dinner we went "Trick or Treating". I think this is first year that Alena really understands the concept of knocking on somebody's door, say "trick or treat" and then you get some candy. Maybe 4 is the magic number for that :)

Both girls had little jack-o-lanterns to collect their candy in. They just had so much fun digging through the bowls to take any type of candy that looked good to them. After an hour their bags were almost overflowing.....What fun!!!

Back home Alena and I sat down at the table. Alena sorted out all the candy containing milk (I had no idea that she knows exactly which candy she cannot eat....), trading it for candy she can eat. We did the same thing with Mia...That's how easy it was....

When I first found out that our girls have CG I would have NEVER thought it possible to go trick or treating, or thought that it would be no problem at all to just sit down with them and exchange the candy. And you know what? It is just that easy and no issue at all. Life is what you make of it!!!!

Happy Saturday to all....

P.S.: After a breakfast of pizza the girls are now indulging in their candy. Mmmmmhhhh...but then again, Halloween (or the day thereafter) is only once a year....

Halloween - Candy at School...so proud of my oldest...

Our oldest goes to Preschool 5 mornings a week. The school does a fantastic job managing the diet...Today she was in after care for an hour. When I picked her up she showed me a piece of Tootsie Roll and asked "Right, Mommy I cannot eat this candy?". Of course she canNOT eat Tootsie Rolls. I am just so proud of my 4 year old to 1.) confirm with me that its not OK to eat, 2.) hold on to the candy, 3.) give up the candy without any problems...WOW - I am not sure that I would have been able to do that at 4...

In any case, this also goes to show that it is just so important to educate the other adults around us to never give any food to kids they do not know...

Happy Halloween everyone.

Chocreale - Chocolate/Hazelnut spread just like Nutella

I grew up with Nutella. So every time I see Nutella in a store a get a little sad because the girls cannot eat it. Last year in Europe we discovered Chocoreale. It is a chocolate spread available in Hazelnut/chocolate, dark chocolate, and "milk" and chocolate. I brought a couple of jars back with me last year but not this year because it is so heavy.

I just found a store selling Chocoreale online in the States. It is quite expensive but so worth it for a treat every so often. The web-link to this vegan food store is http://www.veganessentials.com/index.php

FYI - I did not check out their entire selection but it does look great what they have to offer. I hope you and your kids will enjoy Chocoreale just as much as we do...

Sweet "cream" - whipable

Soya Too now also sells "whip able" cream in addition to the whip cream. I saw it last week at New Seasons Market. What a great addition when making cakes, etc. This will be so handy.

In Germany I saw this in stores and brought a couple of Tetra Packs with me just to have on hand...so glad to have found it here.

If you do not have this item available in your local grocery store don't worry. I just also found it online at

"The Vegan Store" - http://www.veganstore.com/822.html

they also carry the Alpro heavy cream., chocolates, dairy free cheeses..wow what a great selection on non-dairy foods...http://www.veganstore.com/ check it out looks great.

One disclaimer so - I have never bought food stuff from an online store...

Halloween - Trick or Treating what to do...

We are back stateside and I am finally somewhat getting caught up on everything including the blog.

This week is Halloween and we will go "Trick or Treating" with both girls. They both want to be cats this year...I think that this is the first year that I am feeling a little less anxious about this tradition. In past years I was always worried that our oldest would be upset to have to give up candy. Here is what we did last year...

- When we get home we exchange the "bad" candy to candy they both can eat
- Last year oldest was really excited about that because she knows that there is plenty of
candy containing "Kuhmilch" which she won't touch

There are so many candy choices out there for the girls - so this is what we have in the house (and also hand out)-

- Skittels (this is their absolute favorite)
- Dots
- Mike & Ike
- Junior Mints
- Starburst
- Nerds
- Twizzlers

I am sure there are other options, this is just what we have found so far. Candy obviously is not the ideal food, but what a treat for a little kid :)