{TUESDAY'S MENU} "What Can We Blend Up To Squirt Through His Stomach Tube" Style

Alright, Alright so I have been neglecting you! I am sorry! I really really really am! We have been busy with a million little things around here! Outside of yard work and gardening, I have been cooking and blending just about anything I can get my hands on that doesn't have Dairy, Soy or Nuts in it. Why you ask?

Well, Dawson hasn't been doing great. He is allergic to so much and seems to build up an intolerance to just about every formula we have given him. Thus filling his life with the runs, CRAZY diaper rash and lots of tummy aches.

So, I decided I had had enough! This boy is going to thrive by dang! And he is going to do it on REAL FOOD! The trouble is being able to get 1200 calories into his little body, through his G-Tube in his tummy and in just 30 oz. YIKES! When you are allergic to all things fatty, well, that doesn't make life easy! However, I have come up with a plan. Let me walk you through it!

First I find something that might just work. In this case I found a package of Turkey Sausage (BLECH!) tucked in the back of my freezer. Check the label for soy, etc. NONE! YAY! So I cook it up! There are 10 links total in here. I cut them up just to make sure they are thoroughly cooked.

Then I toss it into a blender on top of 5 cooked eggs. Calories in the eggs: 375. Calories in the Sausage: 650. So far so good! Now I add 2 cups of Apple juice, just to give it plenty of liquid. This stuff has to be COMPLETELY smooth to fit through the tube. Plus it adds calories. Calories in Juice: 240.

At this point Ryan walks into the kitchen. Surely the smell of sausage and eggs lured him in. Then at the site of the blender he says, "WHAT are you doing?" I reply, "Making breakfast for D". To which he exclaims something that sounds like, "Ahhhhhuck". Apparently he wasn't impressed by the site of this! Ok, honestly I had to hold back the gag reflex!

You did too, didn't you?!

Nice and smooth!

Then I get out my ice cube trays. Using this mega syringe I squirt 1 oz into each of the trays. Once the blender is empty I count how many "ice cubes" I have made and then divide the total amount of calories by that number. There are 34 cubes. So I know that each cube is about 37 calories.

I toss these babies into the freezer. The green cubes are steamed broccoli with a non-dairy butter. The doctor said that Fats, Proteins & Calories are our most important things. Got it! There are also cubes of Bean & Bacon soup, Dinty Moore Beef stew, fish fillets with steamed carrots & Squash, corned beef hash with steam cauliflower, spam & sweet potatoes, and others to come.

Once they are frozen I put them in a container like this. I write which meal it is for and the day. That way at dinner time on Monday we come out here and gather 9 cubes of Bean & Bacon Soup, thaw them in the microwave, mix in 1 oz of water and occasionally a tsp of olive oil, then throw it in the Magic Bullet blender and viola!

Each day his menu is based on a 1200 calorie day. I make enough at one time to last for a month. Then one day per month I cook, blend and freeze all of his meals for the next month. Easy Peasy!!

So far so good! I would take a picture of the evidence of that, but no one really wants to see a picture of poop on my blog, I am sure! just know that with each messy diaper change there is a happy Dawson and a celebrating Mom! Yes I know that is odd, but that is just fine by me!