Allergic Reaction, Life lessons, and Happiness

So I have the MOST amazing chocolate chip cookie recipe that I made up myself. ( I know, bragging is rude, but seriously, these are made with PUDDING! Amazing!!!) The cookie gets cooked all the way through but stays super soft and the chocolate chips are mini, so each bite is loaded with flavor!! I used some new organic eggs we got.

 In Maine we had our own chickens, and organic eggs are amazing! Although I HATED cleaning out the chicken coop, they just smell sooooo yucky! Also, our llama would back be into the feed room and shove her face in the feed bin and she was crazy strong, so not the fondest of farm chores.

Organic eggs or fresh eggs have an almost orange yolk, the white is a bit thicker, and you can practically see the delicious yummy protein goodness, so that is a plus. And they have a slightly different and stronger flavor, I highly recommend them!


So I also am in love with Cupcake Wars, and would love to have a bakery someday called the Pink Stiletto ( I have the shop, uniforms and menu already planned out ;) ) I've been trying to learn how to make my own cupcake batters that are original, so after I made some cookies I decided to try to turn the batter into cake batter by adding whipping cream. It worked very well, the cake is very moist and fluffy, but the middles fell, they didn't puff up. Surprisingly they didn't turn out dense or weird, they just didn't have much volume.

Does anyone know how much baking soda I should use in ratio to the flour? I think that will make them puff up instead of sink down.

But here's where things get exciting! So after eating 1 cookie, I see these weird spots on my thumb. It kind of looked like I had left my hand on something with a pattern that caused an indentation, but it wouldn't go away, and then I started to get worried!

 

I called Ken who was 20 minutes away donating platelets and plasma which takes FOREVER but saves lives so it's amazing that he dos that, but if he leaves before they are done, they can't use his blood. Then I got this rash.

I am so grateful to have an amazing and thoughtful husband, for his prayers for me, and for all the other prayers from friends and family on my behalf! I'm doing great!

 

It's a little hard to see in this picture but my skin started turning pink all over and these little red bumps started to appear. Then, my fingers, hands and wrists started swelling right in front of me, and fast! So I called Ken and as I was talking to him he said " Rachel, go unlock the door and sit down, you are sounding really confused, I'm calling 911". So I did, and the fire truck came! ( In less than 3 minutes too, we have an awesome fire station)

My chest started to get tight, I had a little fever, the rash spread and the itchiness got worse. Then my ankles started to swell and all these nice firemen and paramedics were there, calm as cucumbers telling me it was ok since I was still able to talk. I had taken Benadryl but it hadn't set in yet so they took me to the hospital.

 

Ken had to go get the kids so he came to the hospital for like 5 minutes then went to get the kids from school. My friend who is a PA was on shift so that was cool to say hi! They gave me some more antihistamine medicine and some nausea medicine, and just watched to see if the reaction would calm down. It did so I got to go home! exciting huh?! I told Ken not to eat the cookies or cupcakes and what does he do? Eats some!

 

But he didn't have a reaction so the doctor said that our bodies change about every 7 years and you can develop food allergies, so I just have to o one of those skin allergy tests and stay away from eggs!

 

So life lesson: don't be afraid of paramedics and firemen, they are very helpful, call 911 if you get a strange rash and have chest pain, and let your mom come get you and take you home. It just makes everything less stressful!!

 

So yesterday was exciting! I'm very happy to be fine and that the reaction was not worse. I'm also very happy to be using Thrive, because I had plenty of energy, had no discomfort besides the itching, and was able to think clearly about what I was allergic too, even though I was a bit confused from the reaction. Thrive isn't a magical cure, but it provides your body the necessary nutrients for it to function at it's best. I can only imagine what would have happened had I not been using my Thrive!

 

And Ken liked the cupcakes and is probably going to eat them all. If you have any egg free yummy recipes I'd love to try making them!! oh, and Benadryl is an excellent thing to have on hand, especially if you don't know you might be allergic to eggs!