Lactose Intolerance or Milk Allergies?

A friend of mine just found out that her son has food allergies and he’s now 5. This really concerns me because he’s been eating normal food with no restrictions on nuts, dairy, wheat whatsoever this whole time. It turns out that he is very allergic to eggs, wheat and dairy.

This is too close to home because “Mi” has been vomiting for the past few months. She has her moments where she’ll go for days without any puking, and then when it hits… it’ll be about 3-4 times a day for a whole week straight. She hasn’t lost any weight but hasn’t gained any either. At this point, I’m just happy that she behaves as a normal toddler with no weight lost or dehydration. Pedialyte is such miracle water by the way.

I’ve talked to many parents and everyone has different symptoms with each child but mostly narrows down to a Gluten Free diet. I seriously don’t think “Mi” is allergic to wheat and eggs but I can’t prove that medically. I know that I’ve fed her many table foods and she’s eaten everything with no sign of allergies. That is until I started giving her organic whole milk and the combination of food that contains dairy such as mashed potatoes and mac & cheese. Mind you, she has eaten grilled cheese many times and never has any issues. She’s been on whole milk for about a week but has been eating food with dairy since she was 12 months.

So I’ve narrowed down to a few things that made sense to me. She’s either lactose intolerance or she has milk allergies. Yes, there is a difference between the two – thanks Google. Milk allergy is caused by malfunctioning of the immune system. Lactose intolerance is cause by stomach’s inability to properly digest lactose, the sugar found in milk.

After much research, I’ve decided to switch her milk to Vanilla Rice Milk and I can tell that it’s already working. How? She slept through the night with no choking on her vomit… yes; I’ve endured much sleepless night watching over her so that it doesn’t happen. Although rice milk do not contain the same amount of vitamins and nutrients as whole milk, but at this point, I’d rather that she can keep whatever she eats down.  She’s also eating a decent amount of protein, carbohydrates and vegetables.

Regardless, she’s still going to see her GI specialist on Monday so let’s see if there are any other allergies, if at all.

Here’s an article about Rice Milk

Chunky Avocado Salsa sans Tomatoes

Sick baby comes with limitations to just about anything that doesn’t evolve around them. That being said, I managed to escape the wrath of snots for just a minute because my stomach was touching the back of my spine.

I remembered purchasing a few avocados because “mi” loves them so much. I think she’s the only baby that appreciates the rich buttery and creaminess of it.

Cilantro, check. Lime, check. Multi-grain chips, check. Hence the name sans tomatoes, I didn’t have any and would have preferred cherry tomatoes so that I would only have to halve it and it’s much sweeter.

This took a whopping 10 minutes to put together and about 2 minute to consume, which was just in time for the snot to continue clinging to my leg.

I also found this great blog that shows you how to pick out the perfect avocado, every time. It also comes with pictures! Check it out here!

Chunky Avocado Salsa sans Tomatoes

Ingredients
1 avocado (sliced and diced)
quarter lime
a few sprigs of cilantro, coarsly chopped
salt & pepper to taste

Directions
Place the diced avocado into a bowl along with the chopped cilantro. Squeeze the lime to cover most of the avocado just in case it oxidizes (turn brown) before getting to it. Salt and pepper to taste and serve with chips.

Uber Jazzy Ramen

This is how you excite your palate. You doctor it up with fresh ingredients such as shrimps, soft boiled eggs, vegetables and garnishing. Try it sometimes.

What you need:

• some shrimps (I peeled the shells on the body, butterfly & deveined it,  left the head and tails on)
• bok choy sliced in half (you can use any vegetable you have in the fridge)
• soft boiled egg sliced in half
• a pack of ramen noodles with seasoning

Directions

1. First, bring the water to a boil, add the packet seasoning. I didn’t add all the seasoning, I only went half on each bag.
2. In another pot, boil your eggs. Once done, peeled and sliced in half.  I love soft boiled eggs because of the runny yolk. You can Google on how to boil soft/hard boiled egg.
3. Boil the vegetables for about 5 minute and take out to cool
4. Then boil the shrimps for 2-3 minute depending on the size of the shrimps
5. Finally, once the shrimps are out, put in the noodles. Your broth should be extra flavored with the vegetables and the shrimps
6. When the noodles are ready, assemble the noodles in the bowl first, then decorate it with your veggies, shrimps and boiled eggs
7. Enjoy!

Bento Lunch #1

My first bento lunch since forever!!! the best way to make a quick bento is to have everything prepped the night before. Then on the day of, start putting it all together and use fillers for empty areas. I’ll get into the details later.

Today’s lunch was Korean Stir-fried vermicelli noodles with vegetables, Swiss babel cheese, cherry tomatoes and quail eggs.

I’m waiting for a new microwaveable lunch box to arrive at my door step any day now…

Lady & Sons

Ok, I was a bit delirious when I was talking about Weight Watchers and all that silly points from my previous post. After all it was a 2am post… The only thing I’ve counted are stacked of plates at the buffet line. Do not judge me!

Speaking of buffet, I’ve finally made my way into the lines at Lady & Sons here in Savannah, Ga. To be honest, I didn’t have high hopes for this place before the big news regarding Paula Deen’s diabetes. I didn’t want to be let down from all the hypes while her fame was rising and so was her sugar level… 

We got here on a week day around 4pm, supposedly this would be a great time to guarantee a table. Otherwise you will be turned away! They’ve gotten so popular that they could afford to do this.

Their $15.99 buffet starts at 11am and runs all day long until closing which is around 9pm. It’s a small buffet with an even smaller salad bar that you could easily miss. It also comes with 1 choice of dessert. There’s about 10-12 items and some of the item changes depending on lunch or dinner time, but the fried chicken stays. 

The fried chicken is fairly tasty, I still thinks Golden Coral has the best buffet fried chicken though. The next best thing is the creamed corn, but honestly, I thought it was a container filled with hot lard. You could see the clarified butter separating from the rest of the corn. I was nervous tasting it. 

All her item has been enhanced with extra butter, sugar, and fatbacks. Bad Paula! People could have mini strokes and not know it dining here often. Yea its all cute and funny and get the audience rowdy up when you throw a pound or two of butter in your bowl but damn! Im sure most are going home and doubling up their meds afterward. 

Dont get me wrong, food were tasty but it just wasnt healthy, especially when you can feel the wrath of sugar and butter rushing through your veins. It was a good experience to dine here once just so i can cross this off my list of places to eat for 2012. I don’t think my health would allowed for a second visit. 

I’m back!

Yep, it’s been awhile but I’m finally getting myself back on track. My life has completely change from a bundle of joy that I’m blessed with. That means that my precious time for myself is far and few.

What have I been eating the past 9 months?? EVERYTHING.

Obviously, as all mom would agreed, unless you just have this ridiculous metabolism that puts you back to your high school size, postpartum weight sucks. I was under confinement for the first 30 days after the baby so my selection of food, or lack there of, was caramelized chicken and steam vegetables. The first few days were ok… then the last few weeks seems like it would never end. I won’t go into the confinement food today, although it is an interesting experience that I must share one day when I can recollect my thoughts without cringing… LOL

It’s been two months and I’m still mentally thinking I’m eating for two… @.@ So I’m now focusing on making healthier version of my favorite food without compromising the taste. And thanks to Jennifer Hudson, I’m now fascinated by this so called Weight Watchers. I know it’s been around for centuries with all these weird points, but after much research, it makes sense.

I found a WW calculator that can help determine how many points are allowed within a day for me. Then I would google up some WW recipes to give me ideas on how the food are measured and the points are created. The challenging part is how to configure the points for Vietnamese food!

Davio’s Northern Italian Restaurant

Not sure how much credibility this is… but wanted to mention Davio’s from Taste of Atlanta. I’ve been a long time listener of the Bert Show and Bert has mentioned this place a gazillion time, his all time favorite Italian restaurant. I’ve been meaning to RSVP here but haven’t had a chance.

So at the Taste of Atlanta over the weekend, I was very elated when I saw their booth, and also my very first stop. The Kobe beef meatball slider got me and I wasn’t that gung-ho about the cake just yet. The meatball was so so, I was expecting the meatball to be bursting with flavors but other than the tenderness of it, it was just OK.

Then there it was… Harvest Pumpkin Spice Cake with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing calling me. I immediately surrendered to its delectable name… anything with pumpkin and white chocolate cream cheese together can’t ever go wrong. Sure enough, it did not disappoint this palate of mine. I’m not sure how long it’s been sitting out in the open air sharing the smoky corn and ribs next to it, but it was so moist and the sweetness couldn’t have been anymore perfect. It was such a great harmonious flavor awakening every taste bud in my mouth. I could totally squeal with foodgasmic pleasure but refrained myself from being too obvious. Every bite tasted better and better – I kid you not.

Let’s just say that I had two additional slices by the end of my food journey and now have the incentive to RSVP for dinner this coming weekend!