Christmas Celebrations.

This weekend we had our first experience at taking Asher out to a Christmas Party that wasn't family orientated since his diagnosis. I must admit I was really nervous about how he'd cope and if he'd notice he got different things to the other children, but I forget he's a bit too young to pay attention to so much detail! I packed his lunchbox full of all his favourite snacks and things to fall back on if lunch didn't work out. I made sure he had salad ingredients so we could create his own while we were there.

Paul's work (who hosted the family BBQ) were fantastic. Instead of a lolly bag from Father Christmas they insured he recieved a bag full of his favourite treats. Lunch was chicken kebabs and salad and they made sure the caterers had some chicken without the sauce cooked on a clean hot plate (the caterers insured me they had cleaned and scraped it twice!). Asher enjoyed his chicken and salad, he sat in his pram stuffing his face with two of his favourite foods!

We realise that as Asher gets older that this will become more difficult. For now though we know we can cope with it and that Asher will have a good time even if he isn't able to eat the same food as everyone else. We make food such an important part of special occasions, but it's doesn't have to be. I hope that now Paul and I will both have the courage to face other Christmas celebrations with less apprehension now that we have had such a positive experience!

Success!

I love giving Asher the opportunity to eat as much yummy food as possible, which can be hard on such a limited diet. I spend a lot of time scouring the internet finding recipes and ideas that I could tweak for him (and us!). Today I started with a basic Yogurt Cereal Bar recipe found on http://wholesometoddlerfood.com/. The end result was something I have currently christened -

Asher's Oat & Yogurt Bars.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups rolled oats.
- 3/4 cup gluten free flour mix.
- 1/2 cup Glucodin powder.
- 1/2 cup Nuttalex Olive margerine.
- 1 cup yogurt (I used B.D. Farms Organic Yogurt that I sweetened with a bit of Glucodin powder).
- 1 egg slightly beaten.
- 2 tablespoons flour.

Method:
- Combine oats, flour and Glucodin powder in a bowl.
- Cut in margerine.
- Press 1/2 of the mixture into bottom of a lightly greased 8 inch pan.
- Mix the yogurt, egg and 2 tbs flour and spread over cereal mix.
- Sprinkle the other half of mixture over the top.
- Bake for 30 minutes in a preheated oven at 170 degrees celcius.

I also added some frozen blueberries into the yogurt mixture which Asher really enjoyed! I think these will quickly become a favourite of his. I'm freezing some for a later date and sending one to day care with him tomorrow.