Chickpea Dip and the Day Care Experiment

I find it so much easier to eat healthy food in summer, and dips have always been a bit of a favourite.  Oscar has recently shown an interest in eating large quantities of cheese when presented on a platter with an assortment of biscuits.  He has also been asking to take carrots when I pack food for him to eat out or we go on picnics – although he has yet to do much more than spit them out or mash them in his hand and present them to myself or his dad to eat!  This week I thought I’d add a dip to the mix, so I made up this Chickpea dip.  He had a descent go at it the first time we had it, but wasn’t so interested the next – going as far as filling the bowl with biscuits but not eating any.  But I think he was a lot hungrier the first time.

 

Chickpea Dip

Prep time 10 minutes
Allergy / Intolerance Artificial Addititives, Artificial Colours, Glutamates, Preservatives, Salicylates
Suitable for Amines Challenge, RPAH Elimination Diet - Amines Allowed, RPAH Elimination Diet - Moderate Chemical
Meal type Savoury Snack
Misc Child Friendly, Pre-preparable, Serve Cold
Occasion Casual Party, Picnic
Quick, easy chickpea dip.

Ingredients

  • 400g Chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
  • 1/2 Pear (peeled and cored)
  • 1 teaspoon Minced garlic
  • 1/2 cup Low fat natural yogurt
  • pinch Salt

Directions

1. Combine all the ingredients in a blender and process for about 30 seconds.
2. Store in the fridge in an airtight container until ready to serve.

Note

Low Salicylates, Low Glutamates, Amines

 


Towards the end of November we started to let Oscar eat one meal at day care each week.  I chose the “best” meal for each of the 4 weeks in the menu cycle, which meant it had the least preservatives and/or the lowest salicylate content.  For the past year we have been keeping a food calendar in which we track when Oscar eats the foods we are introducing, how he sleeps at night and any behavioural issues that occur, so that we can identify patterns.  Last Friday he had the Vegetarian Sausage Roll at day care which contains High Salicylates, on Saturday we had a little terror in the house.  Oscar is normally a pretty easy going well behaved kid, but on Saturday he was very defiant.  I checked our calendar and discovered that I had recorded the same thing the last time he had the sausage roll for lunch.  The first time he had it there was no behavioural or sleep reaction, but as intolerances are all  about the level of the chemical in the body, he may have had lower starting levels of salicylates the first time compared to the second and third time.  Two times is a coincidence, but a third is a pattern.  We will wait and see what happens in 4 weeks time.  If there is a reaction again we will see if we can eliminate it by keeping his diet low in salicylates for a couple of days before he has the sausage roll again.
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