Giving Thanks for my Son's Allergies

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Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesians 5:15-20)

Really?  Give thanks always…and for everything?  You can’t be serious.  What about physical aliments, financial hardships, loss of a loved one, and just plain acts of evil?  How do you truly give thanks without feeling forced, fake or hypocritical?

One of the hardest things I have had to give thanks about has been my son’s food allergies.  The process of discovering, diagnosing, treating and adjusting to life with a son who has severe food allergies has been a huge trial in my life (I have blogged about those struggles in previous posts).  And it has been a trial that has revealed my weakness, failures, heart idols, fears, and lusts in more ways than I thought was ever possible.  In short, this trial has revealed my depravity in irrefutable ways.

It would be nice if I could distort the ugliness of my response to this trial by coloring it in a more glamorous way, to try and get some credit for the grace I received and lessons I learned…but that would not be true.  The only thing I can claim throughout this trial is that God has been true to His name.  He has been gracious, gentle and faithful to help me in my weakness.  He has been steadfast and irrevocable in His promises to love and pursue His children.  And it is only because of Him that I can stand here today and declare with all my heart that I am truly thankful for my son’s food allergies.  I am so glad that God allowed my son to have severe food allergies and I would not change it if I could.

I find it amazing the vast change in my heart and my ability to praise God and thank Him for my son’s allergies!  So much so that I wanted to write this blog post so I could record my thanks and praise to my Savior.

Thank you for my son’s food allergies because they have…

*… reminded me of my depravity and thus in turn highlighted my need for a Savior.

*…made hymns and praise music more vibrant and sweeter.

*…forced me to serve my family by learning to cook in new ways

*…reminded me that I am not sovereign and all-knowing in regards to control and wisdom for what is best in my son’s life

*…revealed that God’s ways are not are ways, for He does not make mistakes

*…fueled my ability to truly give thanks for FDA labeling laws, allergy menus, variety of food substitutions, and modern medicine.

*…helped shape my son’s personality, in his own thankfulness to try new foods

*…revealed new practical ways of God’s calling for me to submit to my husband, and the protection it provides when I am obedient to that calling.

*…allowed each verse that ministered to me in this trial to be held in my heart and committed to memory in a deeper and more vibrant way than it would have without the trial.

*…enabled me to now comfort those in similar trials because I can now testify about the steadfast love and unwavering faithfulness of my God to other’s whose faith may be weak and understanding dim as to how God could be working in their trial.

I will end with a quote of Psalm 77, which beautifully illustrates my own struggle and how God changed my heart to enable me to give thanks and praise my Savior.

77 I cry aloud to God,
    aloud to God, and he will hear me.
² In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;
    in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;
    my soul refuses to be comforted.
³ When I remember God, I moan;
    when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah

⁴ You hold my eyelids open;
    I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
⁵ I consider the days of old,
    the years long ago.
⁶ I said, “Let me remember my song in the night;
    let me meditate in my heart.”
    Then my spirit made a diligent search:
⁷ “Will the Lord spurn forever,
    and never again be favorable?
⁸ Has his steadfast love forever ceased?
    Are his promises at an end for all time?
⁹ Has God forgotten to be gracious?
    Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah

¹⁰ Then I said, “I will appeal to this,
    to the years of the right hand of the Most High.”

¹¹ I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
    yes, I will remember your wonders of old.
¹² I will ponder all your work,
    and meditate on your mighty deeds.
¹³ Your way, O God, is holy.
    What god is great like our God?
¹⁴ You are the God who works wonders;
    you have made known your might among the peoples.
¹⁵ You with your arm redeemed your people,
    the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah

¹⁶ When the waters saw you, O God,
    when the waters saw you, they were afraid;
    indeed, the deep trembled.
¹⁷ The clouds poured out water;
    the skies gave forth thunder;
    your arrows flashed on every side.
¹⁸ The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;
    your lightnings lighted up the world;
    the earth trembled and shook.
¹⁹ Your way was through the sea,
    your path through the great waters;
    yet your footprints were unseen.
²⁰ You led your people like a flock
    by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Discouragment over unanswered health problems

I feel discouraged, weak, weary, heavy laden and in need of rest.  I am frustrated and desire answers to so many questions.  Why can’t a doctor have all of the answers?  Why does one thing work for one person but doesn’t work for another?  Why does one child suffer from allergies and asthma and another child does not?

There are still unanswered questions in regards to Jakob’s allergies and asthma.  Just when I think I have found the answer and have figured it out, something else occurs and it reminds me how helpless I am and how I am not in control of my son’s health.  Oh, I do try sooo hard to be in control of his health.  I consult doctors and specialist for their expertise.  I interview friends to find out what worked for them.  I research alternative medicines.  And with all of my striving and effort you’d think it would answer my questions and bring me somewhat closer to clarity and control over my son’s health.  But at the end of the day I am only weary and confused.  I am jealous and envious of moms who have healthy children.  I feel guilty that I am failing as a mom.

I want to express exactly how I feel so that I can have it in writing and can refer to it later.  You see… I have a great God and Savior!  He loves me!  He pursued me when I was His enemy and He gave His own Son to die for my sins, so that I can have fellowship with Him.  My Savior has changed my thinking once before… and I KNOW He will change my thinking once again in this area!

A little side note if you please….. A recent struggle I had was the struggles of being a new mom.  Oh I struggled so much!  So much so I agreed to write my testimony of my struggles for a book project through The Master’s College MABC program.  I sat down to write out my testimony the other day and I couldn’t quite remember in detail what my struggles were.  Ha ha!  So I thought I’d go through my old posts on my blog to read what I wrote about my struggles.  I read post after post of what I wrote over the course of my first year as a mother.  And do you know what happened as I read through my past struggle?  I was sooo encouraged!  Ha ha…As I read my sins, failures and doubts all came flooding back.  But I also noticed something else that I didn’t see while I was going through this trial that I know see sooo clearly!  And that is that God loved me, He pursued me, He was gentle and merciful to me and faithful to bring me through my struggle.  I kept thinking that there would be this major turning point in my struggle, like a certain book I read or bible study I did.  But no.  Actually I was not that faithful and I didn’t work that hard.  That was part of the wonderfulness of reading through my old posts, I saw my weakness.  During my struggle I was weak and had such little faith.  I doubted that God truly loved me.  I had a vision of God that was more of a drill sergeant in the army, and He was mad at me and was trying to discipline me into shape and stronger faith.  But as I read through my blog posts I only saw His faithfulness!  He was faithful in so many ways.  And He was constant too.  A verse here, a sermon there, a song here, a truth remembered.  So many various things He used.  And in between my posts you can see where I was weak again.  But then He’d be there again and would remind me again of who He was, so I’d write another short post about what I learned. 

So, now I want to do the same thing with this trial, the trial of Jakob’s allergies.  I feel weak and frail.  I know I doubt God’s goodness so many times.  But He is constant to remind me of truth.  The Holy Spirit is faithful to bring God’s Word to bear in my life and remind me that my Savior is near, He is loving and gentle.  Well… this afternoon was one of those occasions.  As I explained at the beginning of this post, I was weary and frustrated that I don’t have the answers to Jakob’s health.  I was feeling guilty, angry, jealous and envious.  All of which are deeds of the flesh! 

What did God the Holy Spirit use this time?  Another child’s song from Seeds Family Worship.  This time it was from Psalm 34:10;

“The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.  All things work together for those who love the Lord.”

My doubtful and weary soul felt like it was going weak and hungry.  Yet this verse reminded me that those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.  You see I have been acting like I am all knowing and wise…. Thinking I know what is good for my son, and that goodness would be the resolution of his ongoing health issues.  But this verse tells me no.  No, my goodness is not tied up in Jakob’s health.  And the best part is that I don’t have to do anything!!!  Ha ha….!!!  Oh I am weak already so I don’t think I can do anything.  All it says on my part is to seek the Lord.  Oh my weary soul can do that.  And what is the result?  I will lack no good thing.

It is exciting to see the faithfulness of the Lord to remind me of Himself.  I want to record all of the ways He teaches me and corrects my thinking.  Because that way at the end of this trial I will have a beautiful testimony of the faithfulness, gentleness and love of the Lord towards me, a weak and weary sinner.  And what will that cause me to do?  To sing out as loud as I can in song, bursting with joy!

Training in comfort

Are there things that bring you comfort? Worn sweats, fuzzy slippers, a pony tail and a mug of coffee with a little cream works well for me. For my two year old son his comforts are blankey, “mouse”, his bottle of juice and the presence of his father. Little did I realize until after the fact, that this past week when we were trying to train Jakob in his items of comfort, that the Lord was also training me in some of my items of comfort. Namely rest and control.

Jakob still prefers to drink from a bottle. I know that this is not common for other toddlers his age, but with his array of food allergies the last thing I was concerned about was the type of container he was drinking out of. Now with most of his allergies under control I thought it was time to train him to use the cup and sippy cup rather than the bottle. Plus we realized that he was using the bottle for comfort mostly, and he’d wet his bed every night for the number of bottles he drank to comfort himself to sleep.

So this past week I went cold turkey on him. I stopped his bottles and only gave him sippy cups. He drank considerably less, revealing that the bottle was indeed a comfort. When he woke up at night it was harder for him to fall back asleep because he we didn’t give him his bottle, only a drink from a cup. When Allan started to stay with him to help him fall back asleep he commented that he realized that there is comfort being in the presence of your father.

Things were going okay until Friday afternoon when he woke up from his nap. He was fussy and it was evident that he was not feeling well. I first thought that I was too drastic in the transition away from the bottle and perhaps he was dehydrated because he wasn’t drinking as much with the cup. His behavior reminded me of another time when he had an allergic reaction without any outward signs. So just in case he was having an allergic reaction I gave him a dose of Benadryl. It did nothing so I assumed he was sick. When he vomited violently at 7pm I was convinced that he indeed had the flu. So we got him ready for bed and put him to sleep.

That night he hardly slept much at all. He tossed and turned and groaned in pain much of the night. Allan stayed with him and said at one point he kept pointing to his mouth and saying “owie”. “Teething?” Allan wondered? When morning came and Jakob got out of bed and came into the light of the hallway I saw what was bothering him. His face and lips were swollen! He was also having a hard time walking and I noticed his feet too were swollen and red. I woke up my mother to ask her what she thought. For the first time I realized he was having an allergic reaction all of this time. Vomiting and swelling, both were reactions that were on the list of reasons to administer the epi-pen. But both were reactions 12 hours apart. What should we do? I tried to call our allergist but his phone just rang, the voicemail must not be on. So I then called the pediatrician and got the on call doctor. I explained the situation and she calmly but firmly said, “you need to get him to the hospital right away.” My heart raced. I asked, “he has an epi-pen should I use it?” She said I could use it, but I needed to get to the hospital right away. I remember the allergist telling me when in doubt always use the epi-pen, I could never hurt him by using the epi-pen. I also remembered the statistic the allergist gave that 90% of allergy related deaths occur because the epi-pen was not administered in time. We were already instructed to get to the hospital, since we were going there anyways mise well give him the epi-pen. So I did.

I was surprised at how easy it was to actually stab Jakob with the pen. It was just like the training pen they put they give you to practice with. I was also surprised at the rush of adrenaline the pen gave me. The epi-pen is pure adrenaline and gives the body a boost in order to fight back against an allergic attack. I have never been to the ER, not for myself or for anyone else. How quickly do we need to get there? Should we go in our PJ’s? Should we change first? I quickly grabbed a baseball hat and put it over my bed head, and I changed into a pair of jeans, but I left my pajama top on and just put a jacket over it. I remember thinking how panicked I felt and noticing how different my husband’s demeanor was. Allan was brushing his teeth. Brushing his teeth? Should I brush mine too? Later I found out Allan had to take his own asthma medicine before leaving so that is why he brushed his teeth.

We got to the ER and actual had a pleasant visit, if one can indeed have a pleasant visit. The nurses and doctors were nice and attended to us quickly. They couldn’t diagnose what was wrong with Jakob, but there best guess was it was an allergic reaction. They waited until the swelling went down and gave him some steroids and sent us home. When we got home he took a nap. When he woke up from his nap his face was swollen again and his hands in pain and swollen too. I called the ER and they said to come back down. We returned to ER. The swelling went down again on it’s own. They took some blood and urine samples and ran some tests. All negative. Still no diagnosis. If it was an allergic reaction it was not typical. They said to see the pediatrician and allergist on Monday for further evaluation. We went home. But this time it was evening. When we got home we put Jakob to bed. He had another painful, tossing and turning night. He woke up at 2am and we noticed his face was swollen again, but this time so swollen his eyes were almost swollen shut! And he was complaining about pain in his neck. This is why I really panicked, and I mean really.

I wanted to rush off to the ER for a third time and stab him again with the epi-pen. But my calm and rational husband said no. “No?!” He said that we have already been to the ER twice and they have checked his vitals and he is fine. ER has done all they could so there would be no benefit to return. Plus Jakob would get a better rest at home. The first thing that came to mind was my bible study homework I just did, which was on a wife’s submission to her husband. Here was my crazy thought process at this moment, “oh man I have to submit to Allan! But if I submit to Allan then my son might die! Surely God will understand if I don’t submit this time, right? Oh yes God knows exactly what is going on, God calls me to submit to my husband and my husband is not infallible. God wants me to submit to an infallible husband? Yes He does, my biblical counseling professor made this point in one of my classes. Can I stand the guilt if my son dies?” By this time Allan’s focus was on me and not on Jakob. Allan was worried I was going to pass out because I was starting to hyperventilate. Allan eventually calmed me down. He said I could call the on call doctor and explain what was happening. I did and the doctor said we didn’t need to go anywhere since Jakob was breathing, drinking and peeing just fine. I asked Allan if I could make a facebook post and ask for prayer. He said yes, so I did.

The worst of Jakob’s reactions at that point were in the past. The next couple days or so he got better. We were able to take him to his allergist who prescribed lots of anti-histamines to help bring down the swelling and to clear up the hives that had appeared and were starting to spread. I remember at the end of our appointment the allergist made a passing comment. He said not to drive myself crazy trying to figure out what caused this. He said he knew I was a careful mother and I kept track of what I fed my son. He said the important thing is to get Jakob’s symptoms under control. So what consumed my mind and actions for the next several days? Going crazy trying to figure out what caused this episode, exactly what the doctor warned not to do.

I racked my brain trying to remember everything I fed my son. I knew all of the things he ate. I read all of the labels. I had even researched some of the companies to confirm their product was safe for my son. I created a timeline of when all of the symptoms appeared. I researched and bombarded my allergist with emails trying to learn the timing of when allergic symptoms appear compared to when a person comes in contact with the allergen. I chatted on an online forum for other parents who had kids with allergies, trying to see if they might have a perspective on the situation that I hadn’t thought of yet. Allan called me from work to ask how I was doing. He knew I was consumed and bothered by not knowing what caused this and wanted to make sure I was okay. He was planning on going to the library after work to work on a sermon but said he could come home if I needed him to. I told him I needed him to come home because I felt unstable and he always helped steady me. I told him I needed him to help steady me.

When he came home we talked. I asked him why he wasn’t consumed and bothered with not knowing what caused this. He then made a comment that made me stop. He said that we have been trying to train Jakob in the things that bring him comfort; bottle of juice, blankey, etc. He said he believed that God was trying to train me with the things that brought me comfort; rest and control. Not knowing what caused this allergic episode shows me that I am not in control. I can try as hard as I can to not allow Jakob’s allergies to affect him, but I can’t control it. I need to rest in God and trust that He is in control of all of this. He said I can be wise and take precautions, but Jakob has allergies and I can’t change that. I need to find my rest and refuge in Christ. In the Lord my God who created my son. I need to release the mirage of control I thought I had over my son’s allergies and trust in God who is in control of my son’s allergies. I need to believe that God has created Jakob’s body this way in order to bring Himself glory. In order to conform me, his mother, more into the image of Jesus Christ. God is good and He knows what circumstances and situations will work together to bring about that which is best. I may not know how or what I should pray, but I can trust that the Holy Spirit is interceding for me requesting that which is best for me. I can rest in that because my Savior is good, gentle, and faithful to His promises.

“When trials come no longer fear
For in the pain our God draws near
To fire a faith worth more than gold
And there His faithfulness is told
And there His faithfulness is told”

- Keith & Kristyn Getty, “When Trials Come”

Excuse me… is there milk, eggs, peanuts or mustard in that?

Each time I pick up my son from the church nursery he is covered in stickers. One for his name, another one that usually says “no cookies” on bright red tape, and a third one that says “epi-pen” on neon orange tape. Dealing with Jakob’s allergies have certainly taught me a lot about reading food labels and cooking – as well as things about my own heart.

People often ask how I found out about Jakob’s allergies. Well he was about 6 or 7 months old and he was playing with a friend. His friend had just eaten a food with peanut butter in it and had some still on her hands. When she touched his face he got swollen and broke out in hives. That incident started us on the journey of food allergies. After that I had him tested for allergies and also took him to see an allergist doctor.

One of the most anxious things for me about Jakob’s food allergies was the learning process of determining exactly which foods he was allergic to. It was especially hard while I was still nursing, wondering if what food I ate that might have passed through my milk and caused some of his reaction. One thing I learned about my own heart, was how quick I was to run to “the wisdom of this world” for answers. I found an online chat forum where mothers could share and ask questions about food allergies and their children. In many ways it was helpful. But where it revealed the idols of my own heart, was that I sought out “wisdom” and understanding of these allergies to the neglect of putting this all in perspective of my great God and loving Father. Sure it is important to understand food allergies. Ignorance of how allergies work would only be neglect on my part to be a responsible mother to keep my son out of harms way. But my focus on understanding all aspects to Jakob’s allergies was in neglect of trusting the goodness and sovereignty of my loving Lord – and revealed that I was seeking sovereign control over his allergies with my own power and wisdom.

My anxious and fearful heart revealed my weak faith and trust in my God. My actions showed that I believed “if God was really a good and loving God, surely He wouldn’t have made it so hard for me to learn how to feed my child?” I intellectually understood that God was sovereign and He created Jakob, and thus He created him to have these food allergies. But where my faith was weak, was that I didn’t believe God was good and loving to give these allergies to my son.

Recently (I don’t remember where) I heard someone describe trials in life as something that God has entrusted to you. So in terms of the trial of Jakob’s food allergies it could be said that “God has entrusted Jakob’s food allergies to me as his mother.” When you say it that way it sounds as though Jakob’s food allergies are a gift. Scripture tells us that trials are used to perfect our faith, to shape us more into Christ’s image. Romans 5:3-5 says “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

I didn’t understand that Jakob’s allergies are a blessing and a good gift until recently when his allergy to mustard was discovered. When I first learned Jakob was allergic to mustard I thought, “oh that is not a big deal, I just won’t put mustard on his hot dogs that’s easy.” But then I learned that mustard is also a spice and a seasoning. The thing that made me panic and get frustrated was when I learned that the FDA considers mustard a spice and part of the proprietary rights of a food company. Thus, the FDA does not require a company to disclose mustard as an ingredient on the food label, instead it can merely say “spices” or “natural flavorings”. This was different that Jakob’s other allergies (milk, eggs and peanuts) which the FDA requires to be fully disclosed on all food labels. The only way to know for sure if mustard is not a spice is to call the 800 number on the label and ask the customer service rep. This is what I did for the first week or so. I spent so much time calling companies, emailing companies, leaving messages and asking if mustard was one of the “spices” in their food. Some companies were nice and would tell me. Others just said “sorry, we will not tell you and we don’t have to legally tell you, instead just don’t consume our product.”

Then it dawned on me. Why am I spending sooo much effort to finding out which products have mustard and which don’t? Why don’t I instead spend my effort making my own food? If most salad dressings contain “spice” as an ingredient – instead of calling all of the salad dressing companies, why don’t I just make my own? To be honest the thought of cooking from scratch seemed very overwhelming to me. I wasn’t exactly eager to be one of those women who ground her own flour and made her own bread. But after the allergy doctor prescribed an epi-pen to Jakob for his allergies… and after he broke out in hives at a friend’s house when I was extra careful to make sure non of his allergies were in the food – I realized that in order to be a responsible mother I needed to stop complaining and take the extra effort to make my own food.

It hasn’t been as overwhelming as I thought. It is actually not too much longer or harder to make your own pancakes instead of using a mix. It was when I started making more food from scratch when I realized what a blessing Jakob’s allergies are. My husband has been asking me for awhile now that he’d like more healthier food to eat at home and during lunch at work. I knew that Allan would prefer me to cook more, but I didn’t care enough to take the effort to do so. It wasn’t until my son’s own health was at risk that it caused me to take action and stop being to selfish with my time.
Here is a list of some of the reasons that Jakob’s allergies reveal the goodness of God in my life:

• Cooking more from scratch has been a domino effect into my husband’s life – as now I can pack healthier and more desirable lunches for him.

• Cooking more from scratch has helped me better run the household because it forces me to plan out my menu for the week. And when I have a menu plan in place it is easier to serve my own family and even others by inviting them over to our house.

• The nursery at church does not feed each child their own snack (it would be too much time on their part to try to do so), so each child is stuck by getting the same cookie each time. But because Jakob has allergies, they will feed him the snack I pack, so Jakob can get a variety of snacks.

• I am thankful for fruit snacks and french fries. ☺ Because Jakob has a limited variety of foods he can eat, I am extra thankful for the treats he can eat. I might have been anxious and worrisome over feeding him “junk food”… but instead I am thankful that he can enjoy something special.

• Reading food labels and learning ingredients have helped me understand what goes into a food and how to choose more healthier options for my family.

• Jakob’s allergies have caused me to break out of my comfort zone for food, and not serve the same food over and over again, but instead to research and learn new foods and meals I can serve my family.

• Switching the rest of the family onto basically the same diet as Jakob has allowed me to serve the same meal I do to Allan and myself to Jakob too! This helps Jakob feel more included in our family rather than always told “no, you can’t touch Mommy’s food – no, you can’t eat Daddy’s food.”

• Cooking from scratch gives Jakob and opportunity to help me in the kitchen. He enjoys stirring and measuring ingredients and helping sweep and clean up after meals.

• Cooking from scratch will help force me into learning how to cook Filipino food once we move to the Philippines. There will definitely be a learning curve again with his allergies once we move there. But I will be forced to learn which ingredients are “safe” and to learn how to cook with the ingredients I have access to over there. This will also help us open up our home more over there and invite others over – as it is easier to fix food Jakob can eat and invite others to join us, rather than going out and wondering what foods are “safe”.

* I have never been so thankful for a doctor as I have with Jakob's allergist. I am thankful that he took the time, energy and money to learn about allergies. His profession has truly been helpful to me in learning and understanding Jakob's allergies.

Oatmeal Pancakes for the high cholesterol, egg allergic, and pregnancy cravings person!

With this second pregnancy I seem to be getting cravings in the middle of the night and wake up with inspirations and desires for yummy breakfasts! But since Allan just found out that he has high cholesterol I feel sorta selfish giving into my cravings for pancakes, crepes, and french toast. So I looked for a recipe that was low fat that Allan could eat as well and found a great oatmeal pancakes recipe.

Yum yum! They actually turned out really well. And the exciting part is that I was able to make it with no egg! I was a little too fixed on the fact that there was no egg in the pancake mix, so that I fed one to my son, that I overlooked something important. Jakob is allergic to egg (and a handful of other stuff, one being milk). So he hardly ever gets to eat the same thing as the rest of us. So I was so excited that we could eat the same meal as an entire family (and yummy pancakes at that!!) that I totally forgot that I put milk in the recipe. I was celebrating and singing a little song, “yay, yay, yay, my son is eating a pancake!” when I remembered I put milk into the recipe! Yikers! (insert wide-eyed sheepish Sandi face here.) I waited, and waited, but no eczema reaction to the milk in the pancake. All seemed well…until Chipotle.

In the afternoon Jakob was unusually fussy and I didn’t know just why. And then we went out to Chipotle for dinner. Allan was holding Jakob in line and said, “he feels wet.” I then picked up the back of Jakob’s shirt to investigate. I gasped and said “Oh my! Yes, he needs a diaper change.” We quickly stepped out of line and changed his diaper. I guess Jakob did react to the milk in the pancakes after all. ☹ Next time I’ll make the pancakes with Rice Milk and hopefully we won’t have any accidents in line at Chipotle.

Now after that little story I am sure you are just ready and waiting for the recipe. ☺ It really was tasty. A nice hearty pancake with good texture – healthy for the high cholesterol concerned person, safe for the egg allergic person, and satisfying for the cravings of a pregnant woman!

1 ¾ Cups skim milk
1 TBSP honey
1 ½ Cups rolled oats
1 Cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
4 large egg whites
¼ Cup oil

(NOTE EGG SUBSTITUTION: for each egg a recipe calls for you can substitute it with the following:
1 ½ TBSP water
1 ½ TBSP oil
1 tsp baking powder)

In a small bowl mix milk and honey until dissolved. Add oatmeal and sitr to coat. In a second bowl stir flour and baking powder. Add oat mixture, eggwhites & 3 TBSP oil. Stir until mixed. Heat griddle on medium high heat with oil. Pour ¼ cup portions on oiled griddle and cook.

Oh and we ate it with some fresh strawberries on top, and with a drizzle of blue agave sweetener. The blue agave is new to us – and really nice. It is suppose to be good for diabetics and not spike your blood sugar. Tastes sorta like sweet honey. You only need a little and it sweetens it just enough without making it surgary tasting.

The picture below is the face you would have seen if you were standing behind us in line at Chipotle.