New Diet Change for Benjamin

Try raviolies and pastas in a white sauce Or past and steamed veggies in olive oil. Long grain rice, or brown rice are good side dishes for meats and veggies. Rice A Roni has some flavored rices, and Minute rice has an instant Brown rice. Watch out for Ranch Dressing it always gave my kids a red rash around the mouth. My kids like spinach salads with pears and craisins and carrots. Keep trying different things, kids are amazing in what they will eat if you just give them a chance.

Hello-
I would advise you going to a specialist on allergies. You really need to narrow down what foods are causing the rash and what are not. Allergies can be life threatening, right now could be a rash but later it could be breathing problems or shock. Strawberries and Tomatoes are common food allergies. I don't know about the oranges but anyway I would go to a specialist that your childs doctor recommends.
Sorry to assume you didn't plan to do this anyway it didn't answer your questions on dinner ideas.
L.

A.,

It sounds like your son has food allergies. You should talk with your pediatrician about this and ask for a referral for an allergist. If these are food allergies, then that horrible rash that is all over his face is also all over inside him and can cause all kinds of problems.

I would suggest you take him to a naturopath. Food allergies can become fatal. When your child is developing welts on the skin, that means that he is HIGHLY allergic. It's really hard to know exactly what he's allergic to when multiple things are setting it off. They can tell what he is allergic to with a simple blood test. Then you don't have to guess what to give or not give him.

The fact that our food is becoming more and more toxic, means kids and everyone are becoming more and more sensitive to everything. Check out this video (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=314951162223259236) and dishonesty on the part of food companies, it may have something to do with our chemicals and genetically modified food that they say are safe and are not. They actually lie on the tests and leave out vital information. Comanies such as Merck and Monsanto. These companies are hurting our children.

I have started going more and more organic produce, as well because of food allergies and problems such as autism in more and more kids and no one knows why? Yea, right. I have a daughter with food allergies and seizures. This is a perplexing problem. I also have experienced one naturopath cured me of an allergy to tomatoes I suddenly developed with a homeopathic cure - I was cured in 2 weeks.

God bless. I hope and pray you find an answer to your dilemma quickly.

My kids love calzones - and they don't have tomato sauce in them like pizza, you usually serve it on the side. I make one with three cheeses (ricotta, mozzarella and parmesan) a container of thawed chopped spinach and some chopped ham. It also has dried basil, crushed fennel and sundried tomatoes (you could leave those out though). I use the bags of premade pizza dough from TJs and make little pouches with the filling. It's a great way to get spinach in your kids! Also they freeze really well, you can just pop them straight from frozen into the oven to bake. If you want the specific recipe you can find it on Cookinglight.com - it's called Ham Spinach and Sundried Tomato Calzones.

Another one to look up (also on cookinglight.com) that my kids absolutely love, that has no acidic ingredients in it, is Chiles Rellenos Casserole. I call it taco casserole for the kids - it has layers of green chiles, corn, ground turkey, cheese, refried beans and an eggy topping on it - it's delicious, healthy, really flavorful and appealing to adults, and kids love it.

There's a couple of ideas for you anyway!

My son (how funny, also named Benjamin) also gets a rash around his face when he eats strawberrries.

What about noodles with just butter or some cheese sprinked on them, or rice? Also for fruit, I was thinking of non-acidic fruits: grapes, melons, peaches, pears, plums... Good luck. If he's still having problems, you might consider taking him to an allergist or dermatologist.

One of my kids favorites is pesto pasta. Whatever type of pasta you like to use, dump a jar pf pesto into it-some olives, garbanzo beans (if he's beyond the choking stage) and some small chicken pieces. I also put chunks of mozz. cheese in it while it's warm. (I stir fry?? the stuff together to get it all warm). We make a big batch and have it for leftovers either hot or cold. You can get a big jar of pesto at costco-put it in a couple of small jars because it doesn't keep long). I usually make a bunch in the summer and freeze it.

My daughter loves Stroganoff (she's also almost 2). You can use any kind of pasta, potatoes or rice to serve it with.
Brown 1 lbs. meat of your choice (ground turkey or hamberger are good but beef strips work well too) with one whole baseball sized onion chopped. When the meat is done add one can Cream of Mushroom soup (Campbells is best) and 1 cup milk. Mix together well and add garlic, salt and pepper to taste. Let it simmer for 10-15 min. Just before serving add 1/2-2/3 cup of sour cream (depending on how tangy you like it). Let simmer for another 5. Let cool a bit and serve warm over pasta, potatoes or cooked rice.

Mac-n-cheese is always a good cheap staple and pretty much anything that's gravy or broth based. I've heard of (on a rare occasion) people being allergic to citric acid but if he's not reacting to coolaid or tropical fruits then it may be a tomatoe allergy.

you may want to take him to an alergist it sound like he has food alleries, my son did the same thing when he would eat citrus, he ended up being allergic to several foods.

Hi A.,

My girl has a similar problem although it sounds like Benjamin gets it a bit worse and it IS scary looking when it happens. There's still a lot we can give our girl - she is a big fan of shepherd's pie and chicken pot pie that my hubby makes and she loves chicken apple sausage, sweet potatoes and peas. As for fruit, mangoes and pears don't give her the rash so she gets those often. We also give her the Four Cheese Rice-a-Roni, which I wouldn't necessarily recommend normally but it sticks together so she can eat it easily and LOVES it as a side. I'm sure you'll get a lot of suggestions, it's just hard to know what to try. I hope those ideas help a little.

A.

Pasta is acidic forming! Many grains and potatoes are also acidic forming in the body. If you insist on giving him a side dish, try quinoa, miller, buckwheat, or spelt.

Here's a good website for acid/alkaline foods:
http://www.wakeupgethealthy.com/Alkaline_Food_vs_Acidic.html

Also agree with other moms that you may want to think about getting his allergies checked so that you avoid something more serious.

My daughter, and now my younger son both had that type of reaction to acidic foods. It always seemed like something new was being added to the list of "cant have's" until she was about 2 1/2. Strawberries, apples tomato dishes, dairy, strawberries, grapes... Everything was easy enough to avoid, but my poor kids could only have 100% pear juice forever (because most juice is mixed with one of the offending fruits). The face rash and the instant diaper rash were astonishing. Luckily my daughter totally outgrew it all - and now gets redish cheeks every once in a while, but not enough to bother her. My son is only 1, so he's still got a more restricted diet. I think I'll have to quit is yogurt too.... among many other things...

Dinners are easy - meat, fish or poultry, pears are always great to have around and canned ones in lite syrup (no sugar) are a great staple for the pantry. My kids always loved rice (brown or white), and a veggie. My younger ones even LOVED frozen peas when they are still frozen.

Good luck, and most likely he will out grow this sensitivity.

A....here are a few things that my 2 year old eats (and eats well)...Tofu (straight from the container, just cut into little squares), peas with mac and cheese, veggie nuggets and hot dogs (we don't eat meat), apple slices with peanut (or soy nut) butter, cheese sandwiches, edemame (a great veggie for kids), berries (although they are really expensive), yogurt (particularly the drinkable ones - we pop a straw right through the foil top, no spill, and he drinks them in 5 seconds), noodles mixed with any cooked veggies, hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls, mini bagels with cream cheese...I am sure you will get plenty of other suggestions, these are just some of our favorites!

Hi, It sounds like allergic to seeds, acidy and red foods. I work with developmental disability blind/deaf client She loved to eat strawberry and raspberry. Figured out that seeds and red color effected her rash skin. so avoid to eat or drink red color. her rash was gone. try to eat apple, banana, cantaloupe and try to eat with tomato sauce (acidy).
Example dinner: you can put spaghetti with hotdog pieces or ground turkey and use with butter or alfredo sauce instead tomato sauce. If he likes pizza then no tomato sauce on the crust, just put meat and cheese. Same thing to my husband that he has stomachache from acidy tomato sauce so no sauce on pizza at all. My husband ate the pizza fine. Try to eat rice, quesdilla for 2 yrs old. It is not good idea for gourmet foods for toddler till stomach develop to meet all foods after 5 yrs old. I did through my kids till 5 yrs old then can add more gourmet foods. I dont want kids to get grow the allergic foods.

K.