Fall Harvest

Every fall we head an hour west to spend the day picking apples, pumpkins and partake in a friendly competition through this year's corn maze race. 

Some years the apples are all picked over. We were lucky this time with plenty of Empire, Ida Red, Cameo and Breaburn varieties to chose from. This is Katie's favorite!

A friendly competition has always been healthy for our family but it is getting a bit out of hand. This year it felt like we were running a 5K instead of a friendly trek through the corn maze. What happened to the "no running" rule?

It was such a beautiful day that even the bees were buzzing.

Pumpkin picking was extra hard this year with most of the pumpkins rotten or devoured by the squirrels. We did find four very large, not to bad looking ones. We are a very picky crew. One likes it tall, one likes it round, one likes it a bit more oval. I look for the unusual, not necessarily pretty, pumpkin. I believe the word being passed around this year was "ugly".

Our carved pumpkins and a recipe to follow.

Allergy Testing

The results are in for Katie's new allergy testing. Her last one was two years ago so we felt like it was time to see if things had changed since then. The blood test was done on 16 different items which included peanuts, all nuts, sesame seed, milk, eggs and chickpeas.

The bad news is that she is still severely allergic to peanuts and several tree nuts, sesame and chickpeas. The good news, her milk and egg allergies have gone down to the point that the doctor wants us to start introducing them slowly into her system. Yeah! Maybe Katie will eventually be able to eat food she has never eaten before.

I talked to Katie about this new opportunity and the reception was a bit lukewarm; "I have been not eating these ingredients since I was little but now you want me to eat them?" How do you change something that has been part of you for 13 years? How do you start eating items with an egg or some butter or milk when you have been avoiding them for so long? Has this become an identity issue?

Katie's confidence has grown since we have stated this blog to the point that she has been sharing her "yummy" baked goods with neighbors and friends. She even has a couple of friends who are vegetarian and vegan. She is proud of what she has accomplished and we are too!

How do I feel about this? Could I also have some reservations? How do I change the way I've been cooking for the last 12 years? Actually, I like cooking this way! I have no desire to use butter, milk or eggs in my baked goods. And my son and I only have dairy on a limited basis because of various problems with them. So now does it becomes a question of our way of life. Do we continue as we have always been or do we change the way we look at those "forbidden foods"?

I believe that it is in Katie's best interest to know whether she actually can or cannot eat these items, so we will gradually test her on eggs and dairy. Once we know how these will affect her, Katie can decide how she wants to incorporate them in her life. It will definitely make things easier when she goes out with her friends or at other social situations. I'm not sure if I will change the way I cook now but we will see. Who knows, maybe we can get a deep dish pizza and she can actually eat it!