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Sunbutter: Happiness is Here Again! – A Peanut Butter Alternative

November 12, 2009 By Laura 9 Comments

This is a continuation, but digression, of the Peanut Allergy post. What I wanted to tell you in the last post, was how much I have always LOVED peanut butter, but gave it up for the previous 6 years because of the risk it put my son at. I missed it, but I just loved him way more. Understandably. But then we discovered Sunbutter, and it was like, I could kind of have both again.  It’s the best peanut butter alternative around, if you ask us.

Sunbutter

For years, on MOST mornings, I would have the same thing for breakfast late in the morning:  coffee first, and later, more coffee with toast and peanut butter.  Peter Pan, preferably, because I loved the sweet peanut-y taste.  I’d be sure to spread it on while the toast was still hot, so it got all melty.  Soooo good.

But naturally, the whole family has had to sacrifice peanut butter, and ANYTHING with peanut ingredients in it, since the discovery of {S}’s allergy.  I’m not sure anyone missed it as much as I did, though.  I mean, it was a strong habit to be broken, all cold turkey like that!  Off course, I loved my boy MORE, and there was no way I would ever risk him to indulge.  But, I have missed that breakfast most every morning since I gave it up.  It was kind of rough at first!  So I’d kiss & hug my boy, and that got me over it immediately.

Just to digress from my digression for one second, I am going to share with you a very quick story about just how scared I am of my boy having a peanut reaction:

3 years ago this February, I was planning a trip to Iowa for a professional photographer’s convention.  I would be gone 5 days.  It occurred to me at one point, “Oh….wow!  I’ll be half way across the country from {S)!  I can have peanut butter toast for breakfast!”  But when that opportunity came, I couldn’t do it!  lol.  Silly, huh?  The CrAzIeSt stuff went through my mind….like, “What if some gets under my nail and I don’t know it?  What if I get some on something and bring it home, and somehow it gets into his system?”  I know. Irrational. I knew I was being RIDICULOUS.    BUT….in my crazy mind, taking that chance just wasn’t worth indulging to me.  So, I settled for plain butter.

Anyway….back to the original story here:

This past summer the kids attended Vacation Bible School.  It sounds mean to say this way, but by the grace of God, the one running the event, a woman, has severe peanut allergies too, along with many other allergies.  So she was pretty pro-active in making sure the environment and snack-menu was absolutely peanut-free.   Not surprisingly, {S} was not the only child with a peanut allergy there.  There was a little girl who was just as much at risk.  Her older brother was a team leader for this VBS along with {A}, and the 2 became friends, so they had a good conversation about this peanut-matter they had in common.

In the course of that conversation, the boy told {A} how they use sunbutter in place of peanut butter.  He told her how they loved it, and where we could get it.  {A} took mental note of it all, which is SO part her nature.  Being the baker, and honestly, food lover, that she is, she knows grocery store layouts/ingredients / grams of sugar…..you name it, well.   She told me all about sunbutter, and had investigated quickly to find that indeed, our usual store we shop at did not carry it.  The store her friend told her about where they DID carry it, was in the opposite direction.

Apparently, this Sunbutter was made with roasted sunflower seeds?   Didn’t sound anything like peanut butter to me.  Really…I doubted it was even close.  So it sure wasn’t worth a special trip just for that.

3 months later, we found ourselves at that store the boy told us about, and {A} was so on task about getting that Sunbutter into our shopping cart, to try.

Sunbutter

The fact that it LOOKED like peanut butter had me a little hopeful, and very curious.

{A} was already making sandwiches with it.

I made my toast, and spread it on.

It smelled like peanut butter too.  This was just getting WEIRD.

I took a bite……

Well, I won’t tell you  how many jars of Sunbutter we have been through since!  ; )

Maybe it doesn’t taste like Skippy, or Jif or whatever other brands, and granted, it had been almost 6 years since I had had any peanut butter at all, but by golly, it sure tasted every bit like Peter Pan Peanut Butter, as I could tell or remember.  If not, freakin’ close enough for me!!!

It is all natural….it needs to be stirred well (like all natural peanut butter).  But once it is, it stays pretty mixed.

It is on the expensive side, being organic.  But…we have always found coupons, and then buy with credit to the store as you get on receipts, and get a real deal!   So we buy 2 or 3 at a time.  : )

The ingredients, to be exact, are:  Sunflower Seed. Dehydrated Cane Juice, Salt and Natural Mixed Tocopherols to preserve freshness.

Overall, Sunbutter is much healthier for you than either butter OR Peter Pan peanut butter too!

But most importantly to us……

Sunbutter

It’s safe to have around {S}.  He can even eat it.
Our whole family enjoys it, without the need to worry that we are putting our boy at risk.

Sunbutter

But I don’t think anyone is as happy as I AM!

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Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: anaphylactic-food-allergies, anaphylactic-peanut-allergy, peanut-butter-alternatives, Sunbutter, sunflower-spread

The Greatest Show on Earth! – The Circus From a Private Suite

October 13, 2008 By Laura Leave a Comment

cute-ticket-holders

Sometime this past Friday, my husband heard that the Barnum and Bailey Circus was in the Big Town: Boston! Not too far from us.  It reminded us that when our triplets {J, O and S} were born, Barnum and Bailey sent them 3 free passes, good for life. Lots of companies sent us great stuff, because they were triplets, I guess. So upon realizing half of us could get in for free, we really got excited and started making plans for Sunday after Mass, to take the kids and surprise them.

Once we found out the show times that day, and it was a firm plan, something else occurred to us that made our hearts drop, and put a little damper on our excitement:   We thought about how there was probably going to be peanut debris everywhere at the center, where the circus would be held.  That’s a PROBLEM, in all caps, because {S} is severely allergic to any exposure to peanut products.  He is at complete risk for anaphylactic shock, and it’s a threat t his life.

So Michael (my husband) decided to just call the center, and see if it was indeed a concern; Were there peanuts and peanut shells everywhere?  He spoke to a really nice woman, and she basically said “Oh yes…there is peanut shells and such everywhere. They feed them to the elephants, and the vendors sell roasted peanuts at the snack bars too.”.  <sigh>  So he then asked if they possibly had any section of seats somewhere, that was a peanut-free zone.  He figured that was possible, as common as peanut allergies are these days.  The woman he was speaking with was all about figuring something out.  She was calling Guest Services to see what they could come up with.  She said to call that day if we decided to go, and they would do everything they could to accommodate us. She wasn’t sure WHAT yet, but she said she’d work on it.

So without a firm plan, I was a nervous wreck, as mothers get. I wanted to be excited about bringing the kids to the circus, but, I was so worried. So I had a plan, too!  I didn’t even want the kids to know where we were going, even as we drove there, because if there wasn’t a safe enough spot, we were turning around and coming home. My boy’s life just wasn’t worth the risk.  If there WAS a fairly peanut-safe area, I had all the other precautions I could think of:  His Epi-Pens of course (he is never, ever, anywhere, without them),  sanitizing hand wipes, and a dark blue sheet to throw over the seats where he would sit.  And then, we stopped at the ER on the way and I got some of those paper masks. : )  He was wearing one if there was a question of contamination.

So when we got there and parked, Michael called the lady back on his cell, and told her we were there. (He was carrying {S}, and I was still a wreck without knowing the exact safety-plan. )  The woman told him “Oh yes, we’ve been waiting for you.  Just buy 3 of the most inexpensive tickets, and come on upstairs to the Guest Services Office.”

O.k.  That was comforting to know they remembered, and were expecting us. So, we did, and then we were cheerfully escorted to a suite of our own!! They told us it had been specially cleaned and completely sanitized just for us, and to just enjoy the show! Seriously?!  They left us in this beautiful room, completely furnished. It was beyond what we were ever expecting, with a private bathroom (that’s always cool with kids), 4 or 5 flat-screen tvs, a computer, sink, fridge, bar with stool and huge slider glass doors that opened with a view of the whole arena from the room!  We even had our own balcony with 2 rows of seats. As cool as the room was (and really, we didn’t need all of THAT), I was just so-very-relieved over the safety of which {S} could enjoy the circus, along with all of us, that I was near tears. I was just seriously overwhelmed with gratitude. A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door, and 2 EMTs came in and introduced themselves, and let us know they were right down the hall if we needed anything.  I was sure by then that we wouldn’t be needing them, but talk about nice!

Beyond the safety of this room, it was cool to just be able to get up and move around during the 2 hour show. (That’s a good thing for ME. lol).  We just thoroughly enjoyed the show, and this special family time, and felt so blessed that this woman cared enough to make arrangements like that for us.  She surely represents the ‘good people’ in this world, who work with a smile, and want to help people when they can.  We’ll never forget it, and we know the kids will always remember this surprise trip to the circus, that we watched from the special room.  What an incredible experience to have.

So enough of our cool story.  Here’s some photos…some better than others. lol.  I was shooting in the dark with flash most of the time.

This gives you a good idea of how we were able to view the show from this room.

private-suite-view-of-circus .

The circus down below us.
clowns-in-circle

barstools1 .

The kids love elephants, so I took several shots of them, and here are a couple.

elephants-in-circus

elephants-in-circus-2 .

{A} and {J} hanging out together at the bar stools, watching the show from there. Everyone else was out on the balcony at this point, which was right in front of them.  They were so cute.

aandj1

Below was one of the kids favorite acts, on this contraption, featuring “Bello”, the clown star of the show.   It was pretty funny, but made your heart race too.

stunt-contraption-in-circus

It really was a phenomenal show.  Even the intermission was fun, actually.  The kids were wiped out on the way home.  {J} fell asleep in the van immediately, {O} caught some zzz’s too, once I saw she was fighting off dozing, and I told her to go ahead and close her eyes.  {S} was a little too pumped to sleep then, but talked about how he looked forward to going to bed. lol.  {A} stayed wide awake, and was mesmerized by the full moon over the city horizon line. She noticed it had an orange ring around it, and it fascinated her.

Once we got home and everyone woke back up, the circus talk was non-stop….about their favorite parts, and re-playing all of the acts that they thought were so funny. They had a late dinner, and went to bed soon after – dreaming about the circus no doubt.

Today, the circus chatter continued.  I guess that’s why it’s called The Greatest Show on Earth!

Filed Under: The Big Picture Tagged With: anaphylactic-peanut-allergy, Barnum-and-Bailey-Circus, circus, family-time, kids-with-anaphylactic-allergies, life-with-anaphylactic-allergies

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