A Little Blast from the Past

Hello! My name is Angie Fuhlrodt and I have started this blog as a way to share how I am finally finding who I am after becoming a mom. To give you a little recent background I have been happily married to my husband Mark for 5 years now and we have a beautiful 2 1/2 year old daughter Ashlyn. I currently work 40 hours a week, but am lucky enough to only have to do it in an office setting 3 days a week. After getting married I had, what I consider now, a lot of time on my hands since Mark was busy going to college. At that time in my life I had things that I enjoyed doing, but I never would have considered them hobbies let alone passions.

We then got pregnant and Mark finished college. During my pregnancy I was all about making everything perfect for the new baby. Everything had to match, the oodles of baby "necessities" had to be put together/organized and the nursery had to be spotless. I can't help but look back on that now and giggle to myself because once Ashlyn joined our lives I would say the proverbial sh*t hit the fan.
After she was born our lives were forever changed. From day one Ashlyn has been a high needs child with a few minor medical issues thrown in just for fun, but more about this in another post. She was eventually diagnosed with Milk Soy Protein Intolerance (MSPI). Since I was breastfeeding I had to change my diet to eliminate anything that contained milk or soy and because I was the cook in the family Mark had to go along for the ride. Little did I know that this change in our lives would start my journey of finding a food passion that I didn't see coming.

I had to read labels on everything at the grocery store to find out if it had milk or soy in it. This is not as easy as it sounds considering they have all sorts of different names for milk and soy ingredients. Once I found brands and products that I could use I was able to stop reading the labels on the majority of what I bought and it did get easier. When Ashlyn turned 6 months old I was done with the diet and made the decision to stop breastfeeding (I was starting to lose my supply and we were supplementing anyway). I could now enjoy the cheese and Chinese food that I so desperately missed, but I had learned something with all of that forced label reading. I learned that if you don't read labels you really have no idea what you are putting into your body. That is why when Ashlyn started eating solid foods I vowed to make all of her baby food myself.

Mark and I went back to eating whatever we wanted, but I made sure that I knew what was in everything that Ashlyn was putting into her mouth. By the time Ashlyn was 1 we had reintroduced soy and milk back into her diet and she did great. She had grown out of her intolerance! At that point we let her eat whatever we were eating along with snacks of goldfish and animal crackers (those were about the extent of the "junk" food in our house). This went on for about a year until Mark and I decided enough was enough. Over the last year we had all experienced digestive issues, fatigue, and just feeling crummy. So, when we had time we did research on how our food could be effecting our health and well being. What we found was pointing in the direction that if we made a drastic change to our diet then it might help the health of our family.

So, at the end of January 2013 we decided that for 30 days we would do a strict whole foods plant based diet. What that means is that we would not consume meat of any kind, eggs, or dairy. We would read the ingredient labels on everything we ate and if it had ingredients we could not pronounce we would not eat it. We would no longer eat white flour, white rice, or white sugar. Instead we would use whole wheat flour, brown rice, and natural sweeteners like maple syrup, honey, etc. In the beginning I was at a loss. We are from the Midwest where it's a meat and potatoes kind of place. I also knew that we could not eat salads for every meal, I mean we didn't just turn into rabbits. So, I read vegan cookbooks and search vegan recipes and blogs (actually the first time reading blogs) until something finally clicked! After about two weeks I finally got it and I loved it! I had found a passion of making good food for my family and doing it in a way that I could get my chicken, sausage, and goldfish loving 2 year old to actually eat it!

This is where I am today. I have finally found something that I enjoy so much that I can call it a passion. I love trying new recipes and creating my own, but sticking mostly to the whole foods plant based diet. Now, as far as the title of my blog I had to use mostly because there are times where we just want a steak or a pizza with real cheese and we will indulge (I don't call it cheating). This is a good balance for us because we don't do this because of an allergy and we are not vegans for ethical reasons. We do this because this is what works for our family to keep us feeling healthy and happy.
Through the course of this blog I hope to share recipes which will be mostly whole foods plant based, updates on raising a toddler, and other passions that develop over time.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope you enjoy everything that is to come.