Ooohhh, We're Half Way There!

The Brain Balance staff embarked on a 30 day (4 week), elimination diet. Just like our kids do! I know the title is corny  but we have just hit the half way mark of our diets. We are starting to really understand what families have to go through. The ease of just running out to grab lunch is gone. We all have to watch ourselves as we are preparing food for others, no more snacking! Our comfort foods are gone - We miss coffee and ice cream most :(. Granted, we are adults, and we understand what we are doing, and why it has to be done, so making dinner and trying new things is exciting. We know this is not always the case for our kids, and we hope that our journey allows us to motivate them more, and bring in some better recommendations - I've tried three different breads already! Some of us are already seeing some positive changes and have found substitutes that we love! For our kids it generally takes them about 2 weeks to get adjusted to their new lifestyle, have a few mess ups, and then we start to see the change.

Now, we are by no means experts, and we have all spent our fair share of time in a supermarket combing the shelves for a certain food item that we can have, and yes some of us have even made mistakes so far. But that is why we are on this adventure, to better ourselves, to better our understanding of the program that we fully believe in, and to better help the families that we work with.

We are now going to share some of our favorite new finds, some recipes, and of course our mistakes!

•  Bob's Red Mill gluten free all purpose baking flour! Good for bread, cookies, and thickening up soups!
•  Arrowhead Mills gluten free Quiona Rice and Shine - a great breakfast option and a great substitute for oatmeal!
• Bob's Red Mill gluten free pizza crust
• Bob's Red Mill Almond meal/flour - great for adding a little protein to your baking

• Pacific Almond milk - yummm
• Once Again almond butter 
• Suzie's rice cakes - great crunch 
• King Soba black rice noodles
• And my favorite, not pictured, Goldbaum rice noodles. They are a fabulous substitution for this pasta lover!

• Old Wesse Ltd, Cream Oat Bran - a little different than plain old oatmeal
• Sprouted Chia Powder - Superfood!
• Ginger and Cinnamon - a sweet treat for a anti-candida diet!
• Hemp Seeds
• Ground Premium Flaxseed - more omega 3 please! 

More pictures to come! We are so excited to be on this journey with our kids. The King Soba was actually a recommendation from one of our families - I had it last night, it was delicious!!

Our favorite recipe so far:

Almond milk ice cream

• 2 cups almond milk of choice (or any other dairy alternative)
• 1/4 cup maple syrup or agave - I haven't tried brown sugar or regular sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• I made mine with enjoy life chocolate chips and a little mint extract - yummm
• Combine all ingredients and then put in ice cream maker
• let it churn for about 15 mins (watch it though for the consistency you like)
• put in chocolate chips and enjoy!
• I recommend eating it all at once, letting it freeze in freezer wasn't as appealing 

Butternut Squash Soup

• 1 Butternut squash - roasted (really roasted)
• leaks 
• olive oil 
• 6 cups chicken broth
• Roast your butternut squash - 350 for about an hour or so 
• Cook leeks in the olive oil until soft
• Scrape out the really roasted butternut squash into your pan 
• Add chicken broth and let simmer for an hour
• Use a hand mixer and puree in pan to desired consistency  

Now on to try Cherrybrook kitchen chocolate cake and so delicious mint chocolate chip (coconut milk of course!)