Crunchworthy

Welcome to Crunchworthy.

Well, the day is finally here, a blog. I'm finding more and more, that people are intrigued by what comes out of my kitchen, sometimes scared, sometimes willing to try; I suppose it depends on the day!

I'm Tash, 27, hang on, yep, 27 (the childbearing years have not been kind on my memory), I'm married to a diesel mechanic, Shaun. We have two very crunchy kids, Josh, 3 and a half; and Leah, 13 months.

Our food life began changing when Josh was diagnosed with a Dairy allergy, and a Soy intolerance. Further more, he is sensitive to Salicylates and Amines (and colorings, flavorings and preservitives). So we also follow a 'F.A.I.L.S.A.F.E' diet. He can handle moderate amounts of chemicals, so if you are strictly Failsafe, please alter the recipes to lower the chemical level.

Our daughter, Leah, is allergic to wheat. This has been much harder to come to terms with them the dairy, soy, or failsafe. Wheat is etched in to our life in so many ways, it has (and somedays still is) been a battle of coming to terms that Wheat is our enemy.

We also do our very best to avoid refined sugar. I am attempting to lower our sweetner intake in general also. My parents are both diabetic, so it's good to include them in the game too!

My best mates little lady, Joshs' best mate, Tilly, is egg anaphalactic, so you will often find us using egg substitutes, but this is not always the case, as they are a valuable source of nutrients; but only when little Till isn't around :)

So that's how we got to be Dairy, Soy, Wheat, Refined Sugar, Egg (sometimes) Free, and Failsafe. It's quite a whirlwind to understand the complexities of nutrition, that comes along with elliminating, what are perceived to be such vital food groups. But for us, with a lot of research, I am ok with us missing out on most of it (I'd love to share a Pepperonata Sauce with the kids, the Failsafe part is probably the only part I'd change!), as I honestly believe that what forms our current Dairy, Soy and Wheat supply makes us much sicker, then actually being of nutritional value.


I've been on my own wieght loss journey, so far 25kg's, and a half marathon in the past 9 months. Since taking wheat out, I feel better, but best of all, I don't feel HUNGRY. It is an insane change, that I can't quite believe. I'll try to delve in to my own feelings about this kind of stuff as time goes on.

Oh! The name. Crunchworthy. Well, since having children, I've become a little 'hippy-ish'. We use cloth nappies, we babywear, you know, same 'ol hippy stuff. Without being a full fledged hippy, which is where the term 'Crunchy' comes in, many people with similar philosophies coined the term to descibe our ways. It also plays on being 'Crunchworthy' enough to eat ;)


So now I'm here. Hoping to share my successes, and failures, so hopefully you won't make the same mistakes! I still very much remember the taste of 'real' food, so I try my best to mimic things that you could serve up to anyone, without them batting an eyelid.
Not everything will always cover every box (my husband and I still eat many non Failsafe items), but I will always post what is free of.

I hope this is of use to some of you out there wondering how to keep some variety and spice (ha, we don't do spice on failsafe!) in your cooking life!