The wonders of allergy free cooking

I've been on an allergen elimination diet for about 4 weeks now for little Miss Miriam. She seems to be sensitive to things in my breastmilk the way Mason was, but different symptoms. She had an eczema like rash and a yeast rash in her neck which was super weird {and let's be honest, pretty gross}. She was also reallllly gassy for a couple of weeks. Like really painful, wake up all night struggling kind of gas. But the real kicker was that for three days in a row, almost every time she ate, she would puke up everything she ate. Like everything. Soaking me and her and every piece of furniture we own. It was weird. Because right after she would smile and coo like she was happy as a clam. She's been a happy sweet content baby from the day she was born, and a great sleeper. So this all seemed very out of the ordinary. And the pediatrician said that food sensitivities don't usually start until about 4-6 weeks of age.

So rather than start cutting out one thing at a time like I did with Mason, I decided to do the total elimination diet, and then add tihngs back in. That way if it was a food issue, she'd get better right away, and then I wouldn't torture myself unnecessarily.

I secretly hoped that nothing would change so that we could find another cause for the issues and I could continue eating all the treats I wanted. Alas, within a few days all symptoms were gone and she was sleeping peacefully, gas-free. Let's be honest, getting sleep and having a happy baby is worth any sacrifice.

After a couple weeks of eating brown rice, turkey, squash, and pears, I started to add things back in. It's incredible the things that you crave when you can't eat ANYTHING. All I wanted was oatmeal. And when I added in blueberries I thought I had died and gone to heaven. And it's been that way every time I add a food. It's actually kind of awesome to have a re-set of my palate. Plus I swear I will never eat gluten again. I feel incredible not eating gluten. I just feel great in general actually. I highly recommend a less extreme version of this way of eating, like eliminating the top 8 allergens (dairy, soy, wheat, eggs, fish, shellfish, peanuts, tree nuts), just to see how you feel!

Anyway, all of this explanation so that I can share this incredible recipe I found.

Lentil Quinoa Basil Burgers, allergen free!

Yum yum yum. I almost cried when I ate one because it was so delicious. But you can imagine how excited I get to eat anything new, so don't use that as a standard.

Here's what you need!

2 cups cooked lentils
1/4 cup water from cooking the lentils
2-2 1/2 cups cooked quinoa
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds (roasted ones usually have peanut oil)
2 carrots, rough chopped
1/2 yellow onion, rough chopped
3/4 cup basil leaves (or parsley if you prefer)
Sea salt
Fresh black pepper

Take the lentils, carrots, onion, basil, water, salt and pepper to taste and blend them up in a food processor or blender. I used my Ninja blender and it worked perfectly. Blend it until there aren't any big chunks of carrot/onion, but not until completely smooth.
Add the sunflower seeds and blend for about 15 more seconds.
Pour into a large bowl and add the quinoa. Stir until completely combined.
Form into patties. If it's not holding together well you can add more quinoa, or refrigerate the mixture for about 30 minutes to help it stiffen. (If you're not doing a crazy allergy diet, you can also add an egg to help it bind together, just omit the water if you do.)
Pan fry them in a small amount of olive oil (or I used sunflower oil) for about 3 minutes on each side. I let it get pretty crispy because I like mine that way, and it helps them hold together if they're seared pretty good.

I ate mine with avocado on top, and if I could, I'd eat them with mustard. Ohh I miss mustard. They are pretty crumbly, so I'm not sure how they'd hold up on a bun, but you could try it. But they did hold together well enough for me to break it into pieces for Mason to eat.

This made about 24 burgers for me, I didn't do them very thick. I'm going to freeze a bunch and see how they turn out that way. They are easy, quick, and cheap. The trifecta. =)

Hope you love them as much as I do!