Ghee Whiz! Dairy Revisited. Again.

I Can't Believe It's Butter!

For whatever reason, I kept forgetting about ghee.  Ghee, a.k.a. Clarified Butter, is made from milk but is-- wait for it -- casein free.  Yup, an actual milk product we can enjoy on the GFCF diet.  Take some butter, melt it down, skim off the scum that appears, strain the solids that drop to the bottom, and you're left with pure fat known as ghee.  It doesn't even take up refrigerator space because it can be stored at room temperature!

I picked up the larger size jar of the Purity Farms brand at one of our HFSs and have worked it into several of our meals already.  It's been a while since I've had actual butter flavor, and I'm definitely enjoying it!  The label itself says that its casein-free, which is always wonderful to see.  Too often, I see "Dairy-Free!" on a package only to find casein or caseinate in the ingredients list.  I didn't think I'd see "Casein-Free" on a dairy product any time soon.

The first time I used it was to fry an egg.  I learned a little goes a VERY long way.  Thank goodness, since this stuff ain't cheap!  I cooked some Swiss chard this evening and used extra virgin olive oil plus a little ghee for flavor, and I probably could have used a little less-- that butter taste was still very apparent!

While I have very much appreciated the Earth Balance Buttery Sticks and Spread, I'm excited to not rely on those for butter taste.  I'm thinking for baking I'll do some sort of combo of ghee and Spectrum shortening or something.  Mmm.... possibilities!  Now with butter flavor!

Reintroducing Dairy: Revisited & Rejected

Bye-bye, dairy!

Well, that was fast.  I'm convinced we need to eliminate casein.  Today in my son's communication folder from his preschool, his teacher noted that he was aggressive toward another child.  That is not my son.  I searched on the Internet for links between dairy and aggression and was overwhelmed with the number of stories connecting the two, particularly with children on the spectrum.  We did fine without dairy for 7 months, so I'm not too concerned about dietary changes.

My main concern is to get that casein or casomorphine out of his system asap!  I'm not sure if there is anything I can do to help with that, but I look forward to a happier child.  The first time around, we noticed improvements within a week.  Hopefully that's the case again, but if not, it will take up to 3 weeks. 

I should also note that after what I call "*The Cheese Curl Incident" which propelled us into reintroducing dairy, his communication folder has shown only one day of semi-good behavior, with the rest of it being uncooperative.  Prior to The Incident, his mood was happy and generally cooperative.  I love that communication folder.  Anyway, at home, I saw exaggerations of what I consider classic autistic behavior: hand-flapping, jargon, extremely poor eye contact, etc.  I hadn't realized how seldom these actions had occurred until I began seeing them again.  His emotions were quick to change as well, and he would become so upset so quickly over the smallest reasons.  Poor little guy.

The good news is, if it is this, then we know it and we have the power to do something about it.  If not... we'll still keep the dairy out, and see what else we can do.


*The Cheese Curl Incident:  Despite providing a Do-Not-Feed list to the school, they still gave him cheese curls at snack.  Dairy AND Red40.