Fooooooooood!

I am happy to report that we discovered what has been exacerbating Kenadie's eczema: eggs!

As we went on the do-able yet sometimes painful elimination diet (no dairy, wheat, eggs, refined sugars, peanuts), Kenadie's scratching decreased dramatically and she was finally--for the first time in over a year--free of scabbed-over patches of skin on her body.  Hooray!

As we began to slowly re-introduce foods back into her diet, we immediately noticed that the day we gave her scrambled eggs for breakfast, she had scratched herself raw by dinner.

No other food has seemed to cause any such reaction and every time I try to reintroduce eggs back into her diet so far, she begins scratching like crazy.

I'm hoping that in time she'll grow out of it and will be able to eat eggs without getting so itchy, but in the meantime, it's nice to be back to a regular diet.  We still try to eat pretty healthy but are definitely not on the dairy-free or gluten-free train.  

In fact, a few weeks ago we were able to stock a closet full of food storage, including 200 pounds of wheat berry.  I've been busy grinding wheat and baking bread--which is so soothing to my soul.  Having the smell of fresh, homemade wheat bread in the house again makes me feel like we are finally home and all is well. :) 

During our elimination diet, I discovered some pretty delicious recipes and alternatives to some of the foods we usually eat.  For example, I made this delicious Creamy Chicken Picasso that I found on Pinterest:

only I substituted canned coconut milk for the heavy cream that the recipe calls for and served the dish over Quinoa.  It is so delicious that I've made it 2-3 times in the past few weeks and I think that the coconut milk actually makes the dish taste better!  

However, we are not opposed to dairy and have been enjoying a little ice cream! 

Garrett has been getting creative creating his own flavors and mix-ins.

Dark Chocolate brownie ice cream with fudge chips:

Vanilla ice cream with brownie (and I say next time we add some coconut extract):

Needless to say, we highly enjoy food and are so glad that the only thing we have to deprive Kenadie of is her morning scrambled eggs.  Whew!