Food Sensitivities and Almond Meal Cookies | A Guest Post by Kelly

Today I have a treat for you. :) I found Kelly's blog a few months ago and thought it was lovely. She agreed to share with you a bit about her food philosophy and one of her favorite recipes...so have fun listening to someone else for a change! Over to you,  Kelly!










Hi Pete and Buzz readers! 

I'm Kelly, and I blog over at The Pretty Bee.  Laura kindly invited me to do a guest post here today.  We share some of the same loves:  Jesus, mothering, food and vegan baking!  I actually have only recently eliminated dairy and eggs from my diet.  When my second son was born, he was very sensitive to dairy and eggs through my breast milk.  I had a bit of experience with food sensitivities since my first son was sensitive to gluten, so I knew the signs of a food intolerance in an infant...fussiness, lots of spitting up, a red ring rash on the bum, and blood in the stool.  (TMI! Sorry!)  

At one point I eliminated dairy, eggs, gluten, soy and corn, and that was when little Baby Bee's symptoms started to improve.  It was actually tough at first to have so many things removed from my diet.  I was HUNGRY, hello, nursing around the clock, and it was difficult to figure out what to eat.  My family was eating a whole foods based diet already, but it became even more necessary to rely on whole foods in order for me to make sure that I was not ingesting any of the foods that were a problem for Baby Bee. 

I ate a lot of fruit, veggies, rice, fish, chicken, nut butters, beans and quinoa. Once I got a little more adventurous, I started looking into baking again. I LOVE to bake and it was daunting at first to bake without eggs and gluten, but with a few tries, I found some recipes that worked out and were delicious.

When Baby Bee was nine months old, I had my blood work done and found out that since I had eliminated dairy and eggs, my cholesterol had gone down significantly!  My cholesterol had always been on the high side, but it actually went down by about twenty points and was under 200 for the first time ever.  When I realized that I was healthier due to eating this way, I was sold.  I am still dairy and egg free, and have no desire to eat them again.  I was able to add corn and soy back in to my diet, although I still eat them sparingly, and we do use spelt flour now in our household with no ill effect.  

So that's my story!  I love to share my dairy and egg free adventures on my blog, and I also have a lot of gluten free recipes on there too!  I thought I'd share one of my favorite cookie recipes with you today, this one's dairy, egg and gluten free. 



Choco-Banana Almond Meal Cookies (Vegan)
2 c. almond meal (we get ours from Trader Joe’s)
1/2 c. sugar
1 very ripe banana, mashed
1 flax seed egg replacer (1 T. ground flax seed + 3 T. water, let sit for 5 minutes)
1/2 c. earth balance spread, melted
1/2 t. baking soda
1 t. vanilla extract
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 c. dairy free chocolate chips

Mix together.  Drop tablespoonfuls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.  Let cool, they will firm up more as they cool down.

Since these use almond and flax meal, and do not have any eggs, there are some nice heart healthy elements to this recipe.  They are delicious -- my five year old loves them! Enjoy!

Thanks for having me, Laura!  I hope some of you will stop by my blog and say hi!  :)

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You bet, Kelly! Thanks for sharing the details of your food experiences! I've had my share of food eliminating while breastfeeding and being extremely HUNGRY. These cookies look delicious, I love using almond meal in baked treats.