I'm going to attempt.....

BEEF WELLINGTON!

Wheat-free, Dairy-free Beef Wellington, that is.

Our family has recently undergone a dietary change to be Wheat-Free and Dairy-Free (for one month, until Ayden's next doctor's visit) to help alleviate some of his developmental delays. It's all for one and one for all around here at our house. We're doing this together to make it easier on Ayden. I've read a lot on the topic and even his doctor says that changing his diet should make a difference. So, far he's getting frustrated with normal things and not his laid back self. He's also pointing and trying to use words to express himself for the first time. It's progress and I remain hopeful that it's as simple as changing what we eat.

For starters, I cleaned out the pantry, the cabinets, freezers (big and little) and the fridge of all things containing wheat or dairy. That left me eating guacamole and Frito's for dinner that night. And here we are approaching the end of week two...it's been interesting. We haven't starved, but I've gotten really creative in the kitchen. Another plus to this new dietary change, I haven't had any yucky, bloating feeling and lots of energy. (Maybe all that bread expands in your belly, making you feel gross?) Also, that cuts out 98% of eating out (YAY!) there are very few places that Ayden can eat at outside of home and daycare. By the way, his daycare has amazed me with the questions and dedication they have to help me out to figure out if these foods are making Ayden delayed. KUDOS to you Miss Heidi and Miss Ann!

So, I'm adapting a individual Beef Wellington recipe I found online along with MtAoFC Vol. 2 version. (I failed to mention that I purchased a copy of Vol. 2 the day before The "Wheat-Free/Dairy-Free" diet.) Talk about a bummer, Vol. 2 has a wonderful bread section.

So, we have NO BUTTER in our house, just Vegan sticks of a butter substitute...Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks. There's NO CHEESE, just Vegan Gourmet Cheese Alternatives. And lastly, NO MILK, yep we've done soy milk before, but we've discovered ALMOND MILK! Oh and then the NO WHEAT thing...yeah, wheat's in EVERYTHING!

I had a bare pantry 2 weeks ago, but now it's a nice wheat-free/dairy-free place that I can feel good knowing that I can prepare foods for Ayden that will help him meet his goals and if not, well...there's no harm in continuing this diet. We all know that processed foods contain so many chemicals that aren't found in "nature" nor are they "all-natural".

Do we really know what we're feeding our children?