New Diagnosis: Raynaud's

3/19/11

So this week is the start of an all new rollercoaster ride for our family. 

Eli has had problems with his hands this winter, which we wonder if it has something to do with his sensory deficit problems.  We would walk Ella to the bus stop every morning, but when it got cold out we wouldn’t be out there long and Eli would start crying.  His hands would be bright red, and at times purple tipped and we weren’t outside very long.  We would come inside and he’d be holding his hands out in front of him crying and unable to comfort himself because he sucks on his fingers but he couldn’t because they hurt.  Once his hands warmed back up he was fine again, but this happened multiple times and even with gloves on  (which he doesn’t like to keep on).

We went to see the pediatrician to see what she thought and she said it sounded like Raynaud’s Phenomenon, but she hasn’t had someone this young (1 ½) have it before so she wanted to do some research first.  Last week we got a call with information on how to protect him if it is Raynauds and to come in to get blood tests to rule out other things that may cause this problem.  The blood tests all came back fine, which is good.  That means something isn’t wrong causing this, but it also means he has Raynauds and it’s something we will have to live with.

Raynauds is: (cut and pasted from the Mayo clinic website http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/raynauds-disease/DS00433 ) Raynaud's disease is a condition that causes some areas of your body — such as your fingers, toes, tip of your nose and your ears — to feel numb and cool in response to cold temperatures or stress. In Raynaud's disease, smaller arteries that supply blood to your skin narrow, limiting blood circulation to affected areas.  Treatment of Raynaud's disease depends on its severity and the presence of associated conditions. For most people, Raynaud's disease is more a nuisance than a disability. Raynaud's disease is more than simply having cold hands and cold feet, and it's not the same as frostbite. Signs and symptoms of Raynaud's depend on the frequency, duration and severity of the blood vessel spasms that underlie the disorder. Raynaud's disease symptoms include:

§  Cold fingers and toes

§  Sequence of color changes in your skin in response to cold or stress

§  Numb, prickly feeling or stinging pain upon warming or relief of stress

During an attack of Raynaud's, affected areas of your skin usually turn white at first. Then, the affected areas often turn blue, feel cold and numb, and your sensory perception is dulled. As circulation improves, the affected areas may turn red, throb, tingle or swell. The order of the changes of color isn't the same for all people, and not everyone experiences all three colors.

For more information on Raynaud’s check out the website or do an internet search.

Our instructions are to: keep his hands and feet warm and not exposed to cold, don’t put tight things on his hands or feet, keep him away from smokers (cigarette smoke causes more dilation in the arteries), and no caffeine.

So now we are most likely going to move to warmer climate after my graduate studies are done in 2014, and until then protect those little fingers as much as possible.  Florida is a good bet, being as we’ve always loved it down there and since we vacation there every year we will probably start spending some time while we’re down there driving around finding towns we may want to move to and get a feel for options there.  We still won’t be forever away from cold, since we definitely will be spending parts of December back in Indiana to be near family for the holidays, but worrying about it a few weeks a year instead of 6 months of the year sounds like a good deal to me.

Banana Bread

Okay, so this is a Sarah Original kind of recipe.  I've decided we aren't having much luck with the cookbook thing because there hasn't been anything we've all liked. 
My original banana bread recipe is as followed (I've made it hundreds of times before)

3 smashed bananas
1 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup melted butter
1 egg
1 tsp baking soda dissolved in 3 TBSP hot water
pinch of salt

Mix all together and bake at 350 degrees for about a hour. you know it's done when a butter knife comes out clean.

My modified recipe:

3 smashed bananas
1 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup King Author Gluten Free multipurpose flour blend
1/4 cup canola oil
Ener-G egg replacer- the equivilent of one egg on the package
1 tsp baking soda dissolved in 3 TBSP hot water
pinch of salt

Same baking instructions
looked like this:

So it looked the same and smelled the same.  Differences:  denser bread, and not as sweet tasting.  Also had a little after taste but not too bad considering.
It's a good start and best gluten free baking I've done so far.  I think I'll keep playing with this, trying maybe some applesauce in it for sweetness and moisture.  not sure yet what all I'll do.
Any suggestions are great!  But for a first try pretty decent!  All four of us ate it!

Rice Salad

So this is probably the most unappetizing thing my husband has heard of, because he hates rice.  But Eli usually eats rice right up so I thought I'd try this.  This is also from Cybele Pascal"s cookbook the Whole Food Allergy Cookbook.

The ingredients:
4 cups cooked rice
1 green bell pepper finely chopped
1 red bell pepper finely chopped
4 scallions chopped (white and green parts)
1/4 cup chopped red onion
8 radishes chopped
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 Tbsp Honey
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup chopped herbs (seems to be of choice, I used basil but she lists parsley and cilantro as other options)

Mix it all together and refridgerate.  That's it.
Here's the veggies:

Here's it all together:

So it smells okay, and actually before putting in the vinegar and olive oil it smelled divine with all those yummy veggies.  I haven't tried it....Mostly because I'm chicken.  I just don't care for vinegarettes so I still haven't tried it yet.  I need to because this might be good or just need some tweaking.  Lyle and Ella won't touch it for the rice.  Eli surprised me and wouldn't try it either.  I'm going to try to give it to him for lunch again tomorrow to see if he will. 
He didn't try the muffins I made much the first time either, but after that he had at least 2 a day because he loved them!
So we'll be brave and try for lunch.  It would make an easy picnic thing for him if he likes it.

Basic Muffins

Yesterday, one of the many things on my to-do list was to bake Eli friendly muffins.  It is a simple recipe from the Whole Foods Allergy Cookbook. 
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a muffin pan with muffin liners.  Use an electric mixer and mix 1 cup light agave nectar and 1/2 cup canola oil.  then add 1 1/2 cup of applesauce and 1 tsp vanilla extract. 
In a seperate bowl mix 1 1/4 cup oat flour, 1 1/4 cups barley flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking soda, and 1/2 tsp salt.  Add dry ingredients to wet and mix until just combined. 

Fill muffin liners to rim and bake in  center of oven for 30-35 minutes until golden brown on top.

These turned out pretty good, not much flavor but there are a few variations like banana and berry muffins.  The insides still had some batter on some of the muffins so I probably shouldn't have filled the cups as much, and there were four more after this batch and they collapsed into themselves so I'm not sure what that means.
Eli ate about 1/2 of one and I'm the only other person to try it so far and I only took a bite.  We'll see if some jelly or something perks them up!

Basic Biscuits

Okay... these didn't turn out like they were supposed to.  They are supposed to make a dough that you punch out biscuits from after rolling them out.  They didn't.  So I made drop biscuits.  Problem number two...they don't stay together.  They crumble a lot and Lyle and I agreed that they would be much better with butter or a gravy slathered all over them.  Ella wouldn't eat them....BUT Eli LOVED them!  He ate two (more like 1 1/2 after the crumbling).  So here's what I did.

1 cup oat flour
1 cup barley flour
1 tsp salt
5 tsp double acting baking powder
  Whisk these together then add...
5 Tbsp Vegetable shortening (I couldn't find soy free so used his butter type stuff, which may have been part of the problems)
  and cut in with two knives or pastry blender until consistency of coarse meal.
Then add 2/3 cup of rice milk (maybe cut it down?)
  The recipe says if it's dry to add more but not what to do if it's too wet!
Here you are supposed to lay out on floured surface and roll and cut biscuits, I just dropped them on my cookie sheet.

Bake about 12 minutes or until brown on top (mine took longer, about 20 minutes)

I was looking forward to baking after getting the right flours...but I'm not so sure now!  The one good thing is that they had none of the after taste that everyone but Eli can't get past when eating other allergy friendly foods.
I'm hoping that when I make muffins, they will turn out better because the batter is supposed to be moise and these "biscuits" were about the consistency you would expect of muffins but without flavors such as fruits.

Pasta Salad

I finally got around to some more cooking and yesterday I made two things.  A pasta salad and biscuits. 
So the pasta salad is first.
You take 1 lb of short pasta and cook per package directions, I used the spiral pasta we all like that is gluten free.
You then mix with the following items:
 1/2 cup olive oil
 20 sun dried tomatoes cut into small pieces
 20 small black olives cut up
 1 cup chopped fresh basil
 1 can artichoke hearts drained and cut into small wedges
 10 cherry tomatoes quartered
 2 cups grilled chicken cut into bite sized pieces (optional)
 salt and pepper to taste

Let all of this reach room temperature then cover and refrigerate.  Serves 6-8.

The judges are still out on this since no one but Eli has tried it yet.  Eli ate some at dinner last night but we had another pasta dish Lyle made up and Eli ended up mixing the two together.  So, I'm going to try it for his lunch today because I'm hoping to use it as a packed lunch option when we go on vacation.
I'll let you know. 
Here's Lyle's made up pasta dish...he calls it pretend hamburger helper, which of course has no hamburger in it.

He browned turkey sausage then added cornstarch to the grease to start a gravy.  He then added vegetable broth until it was the consistancy he wanted.  He boiled the noodles seperate (gluten free) and added frozen peas and canned mushrooms to the meat.  After the noodles were cooked he threw it all together for a few minutes and added salt and peper and that's it.  Eli, Ella and Lyle all ate good portions.  I didn't feel well and didn't eat anything for dinner.

Shopping Trip

So I had a great visit with both my sisters this weekend and we did our trip to Jungle Jims.  I got a few things but ended up a little disappointed.  I got the flours I needed, but they are processed in a plant that manufactures other things (wheat, nuts).  I didn't have any other options, so I'm going to try it.  I didn't find regular shortening, but I'm going to try what we consider Eli's butter for that.  I also couldn't find any other kinds of snacks like cookies, crackers or chips which is kind of disappointing.
One really good thing, was I found some Tempt Hemp Ice Cream for Eli to try and he loved it!  Ice cream made of hemp milk and has nothing he's allergic to.  Of course with him not getting a lot of sugar on a regular basis he was geared up to go after getting that sugar in his system!
Soon I'll be making regular trips to Fort Wayne for school and will make a trip to the Coop that I still haven't made to try to find more things for him.

As I get to baking this week (Maybe Monday, definately Tuesday) I'll be posting how things work out for us!

Have a great week!

Pasta E Fagioli

Another recipe from the vegan cookbook this week, Fasta E Fagioli (From Veganomicon, the Ultimate Vegan Cookbook by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero by Da Capo Press).

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp olive oil, 6 cloves garlic, 2 lbs plum tomatos diced medium, 1/4 cup dry white wine, 1/2 tsp dried thyme, 1/2 tsp dried oregano, few dashed of black pepper, 1 tsp salt, 16 oz can of white beans washed and drained (I used Greath Northern), and 1/2 lb small tube pasta.

Bring pot of water to boil for pasta and preheat a large skillet over medium heat.  Add oil and garlic to large pan and saute for about 1 minute.  Add the tomatoes, wine, thyme, oregano, black pepper and salt. 

 Bring to boil then lower to medium heat until the tomatoes are broken down and sauce is thickened (about 20 minutes).

 Cook pasta to package directions, and drain.  
Once everything is done add pasta and beans to sauce, serve when everything is heated through.

Since the last recipe I made from this cookbook was so bland, I doubled all of the spices except the garlic I did one and a half what the recipe calls for.......and it was STILL BLAND!  We don't eat paper around here and it might as well as tasted like it.  We were quite disappointed because once again it smelled good.  Eli was having one of his nights not eating anything anyways so I'm not sure if he would have liked it or not.  The rest of us had a frozen pizza for dinner.  Bummer.

On a bright side this weekend we're going to see my sisters and family in Cinci and will be stopping at Jungle Jim's Grocery to get many ingredients that we can't find here for Eli.  I'm hoping to find some flours, shortening, butter, cheese, and some premade ideas for him (cookies, crackers).  So hopefully these next few weeks will have better reading on the blog!

Pasta Della California

This week I've made two recipes out of my Veganomicon cookbook, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero published by Da Capo Press.  When we went to the bookstore for cookbooks the person helping us look for cookbooks happened to be a vegetarian so she thought we could try Vegan since half of Eli's allergies are animal products (Milk, Eggs, Beef).  This week was a long one so I'm making two postings, one for each recipe we tried.

First was Pasta Della California.
Recipe calls for 1/2 lb linguine (we used our fav Gluten free pasta), 3 cups sliced broccoli, 2 Tbsp olive oil, 8 cloves garlic, 1/4 tsp line zest, 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, 1/4 cup white wine, 1 cup veggie broth, 2 Tbsp line juice, 1/2 tsp salt, several pinches of black pepper, 4 cups loosely packed arugula leaves (I couldn't find this and ommitted), and 2 avocados peeled, pitted, and sliced into 1 inch chunks.
You put the water for pasta to boil and take the minced garlic cloves, lime zest, red pepper flakes and olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat for about 2 minutes being careful not to burn garlic.  Then pour in wine and raise heat to boil about 2 minutes.  Add veggie broth, lime juice, salt, and pepper and bring to boil again.  Lower temp to simmer and add arugula.(Which I didn't add). 
You should have tossed pasta in water by now and add broccoli to boiling pasta and water when about one minute left to cook.  Drain the broccoli and pasta and add to skillet once arugula is wilted.
Toss well to make sure all is mixed and let cook for about 3 minutes.  Turn off heat and add avocado, tossing it to not smush it up.
Serve with generous amounts of black pepper.

  Look good, smelled good, had absolutely no flavor despite 8 cloves of garlic. I thought at the least it'd taste like garlic. No one ate more than a few bites except Lyle who tried hot sauce and a ton of salt and still didn't like it.  I don't know how much of a flavor taste the arugula would have made....but we ended up making eggs for dinner. 

Butternut Squash with Maple Syrup

Yesterday we tried Butternut Squash with Maple Syrup.  Very easy to make.  You peel and cut up a butternut squash into one inch pieces and boil until tender.  Then drain and put 2 Tbsp olive oil and 2 Tbsp maple syrup over in a dish and sprinkle cinnamon over it. 

Eli didn’t eat any, Lyle and I both ate it but didn’t find it overly special. Ella like it.  Go figure.

Next week I’m going to try two recipes out of a vegan cookbook that are pasta dishes.  One is Pasta E Fagioli, and the other is Pasta Della California.  My internet won’t last long so I’ll have to do the ingredients with the recipe, that might be handier for people wanting to repeat recipes.

Slacker

Okay, I know I've been a slacker and I appologize.  Tonight I am finally making the butternut squash dish to go with some porkchops so I will put that on here and will decide some new recipes to try for next week and get back on my two a week schedule I've been neglecting.
I am also going to make a list of ingredients I can't find here in town and when we go the week after next to meet my new nephew after he decides to come, we will stop at Jungle Jims to get things to really do some good cooking, such as shortening, barley and oat flour, and some other things that have been hindering progress!
Also hope to find a few new brands of snack foods for Eli to try.  As much as we love the Enjoy Life brand he seems to be a little burnt out on the cookies so I'd like to find some crackers, other chips than plain rice chips, and some more cookie (maybe animal cracker type). 
So I'll post tomorrow with the butternut squash side dish and let you know how it goes!

Greek-style chicken with Lemon and Oregano

1/27/11
So yesterday I made this chicken, and it tasted like chicken.   That could be the end of this post.   I put it in the crock pot on low for 6 hours with the sauce and turned it a few times to get coated.  The sauce is 1/2 cup olive oil, 3 large cloves of garlic, juice of 2 lemons, 2 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper and you are supposed to garnish with lemon slices.
Tasted like a chicken.

The orignal recipe calls for you to put it in the oven at 350 degrees and pour the sauce over it.  Cook it for 30 minutes basting once, then flip and cook another 30-40 minutes.  IF you want you can put under the broiler for 2 minutes to crisp up the skin.  and garnish.
I didn't even take pictures, because it looked like.... you got it.  Chicken.

I was just hoping for some yummy flavors or something and there was nothing.  The sauce smelled so good when it was mixed.  I may at some point bake chicken breasts with this flavor combo and that would probably be good as a marinade, but roasting a whole chicken in it just doesn't do anything with the flavors.

We haven't had the best week this week, with Eli having a dry cough and runny nose, and the congestion has made him gag on his food a couple of times.  And his speech therapy today is cancelled because his therapist is sick (she sounds aweful on the phone).  I just don't have any appetite for some reason, just nothing sounds good. And Lyle said he felt a little sick to his stomach yesterday but didn't get sick. 
Also of concern is finances at the minute.  Seems like the first of the year is the only time we have a credit card balance.  So I'm not going to do new recipes this next week, but I still have the butternut squash to do.  One good thing though is that we will be going to Cincinnatti in a few weeks after my sister has my new nephew (no name) and we'll spend a chunk of change at Jungle Jim's to get things we can't find her locally to make things (especially flours and shortening I hope!)
So once we're back from that we'll be able to make muffins, pancakes, buscuits and more!

Turkey Meatloaf

So I was supposed to make meatloaf last night....and I didn't.  We went to Walmart and had a junk food run and didn't get back in time for the hour cooking meatloaf takes. 
So today while I was finally taking time to make Chicken Tortilla Bake for my sister's freezer (not Eli friendly. a recipe I got from my sister in law Patti before Ella was born as something to freeze and cook later) I mixed all the ingredients for meat loaf and put in the fridge so I had no reason to procrastinate again.  Part of the procrastination in truth is the fact that I've never tasted a meat loaf I really like, and the ground turkey is getting old and I'm tired of it!

So that said...look back a few posts for all the ingredients and mix them all in a bowl.  Put in a loaf pan or a deep baking dish and cook at 350 degrees for 1 hour.  This recipe makes a huge loaf, and I'm not sure it would fit in a loaf pan even if I could find mine!  Here's before cooking:

And here's after on the plate:

So the critics say:  Lyle thinks it's missing something but thinks all meatloaf is missing something...just not sure what.  (Translation: wants more seasoning, and since this only has salt, pepper, and parsley it wouldn't be hard to experiment).

I didn't think it was too bad...for meatloaf.  I  didn't feel like I was choking it down or anything.  And another point Lyle made was the Turkey meat was very moist and wasn't dry or hard like a lot of meat loafs.

Ella said "I actually like this mom"  High praise from her.

Eli ate more than half of his, so that's good...but he started scratching his hands after and I'm not sure if that's something messing with his skin or him just being itchy.

So long story short...I think we'll try again sometime and experiment with Italian style seasonings and extra veggies and Mexican style seasonings and veggies.  All in all a decent dinner.

Everyday Sweet Potato Bake and more!

1/20/11

My computer isn’t getting along with me today and I’m not sure why…so I’ll see if I can get this posted today.

Yesterday I made another big pot of the Lady from Naples Red Sauce that turned out yummy and I made a bunch of lasagna to go along with it.  This isn’t allergy friendly, Eli just had his noodles and sauce, but I made several to put in our freezer and two to go to my sister’s house since her baby is due within a few weeks. 

Also today, I made Everyday Sweet Potato Bake.  I took 3 large sweet potatoes peeled and cut them into one inch pieces.  I boiled covered in water 15-20 minutes until tender.  When the potatoes are tender, you drain them and return them to the pot.  You add 2 Tbsp of canola oil, ½ tsp cinnamon, 1 ½ Tbsp maple sugar(I used brown sugar), and ¾ cup of orange juice and mix with blender.  If you need, add a little more orange juice to make a nice whipped potato consistency.  Spoon whipped potatoes into greased casserole or loaf pan and arrange some orange slices on top.  Crumble a little more maple or brown sugar on top and a little cinnamon too.  Bake about 1 hour until sugar becomes caramelized and orange slices are cooked and tender.  I placed these in small, individual baking dishes because I have made this before and Eli is the only one who liked it, so this way I made one for tonight and the rest in the freezer for some other day!

I attempted to make a Indian Rice Pancake our speech therapist told me about...um it ended up just being a bowl of wet rice with some lentils.  It was supposed to be able to be made into a batter but it never happened after soaking for hours, so that idea is tabled.

I was going to make the Turkey Meatloaf finally, but I got tired of cooking and I ran out of time before dinner (forgot it takes an hour!)  So that’s on the menu tonight, and I plan on making another non-Eli friendly meal for the freezer for my sister again probably today.  I like cooking but yesterday I spent from 8 am until 12:30 cooking and had to do two loads of dishes and already have another load stacked up before starting again today-Booo!!!

Shopping list this week- Greek Style Chicken with Lemon and Oregano, Butternut Squash with Maple Syrup

So today with have 2 posts cause I swear I posted this yesterday!!!

Ingredients -
Greek Style Chicken with Lemon and Oregano-
  3 lb chicken, quartered
  1/2 cup olive oil
  juice of 2 lemons
  3 large garlic cloves, minced
  2 tsp oregano
  1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
lemon slices

Butternut Squash with Maple Syrup-
  1 large butternut squash
  2 Tbsp olive oil
  2 Tbsp maple syrup
  Spinkle of cinnamon

Simple and cheap this week! 

Ratatouille

So Saturday night I made Ratatouille while we watched Disney’s movie Ratatouille….and it didn’t convince Ella to eat it!  LOL!

So, see my last post for ingredients.  And this recipe like most of my others is from The Whole Food Allergy Cookbook by Cybele Pascal.

Here’s what I did:  Cooked garlic and onion in olive oil over medium heat in a big pot until soft, then add the medium eggplant cut in 1 ½ inch cubes and zucchini cut in ½ in rounds (I would cut a little smaller because they took forever to cook to the softness we wanted). Cover and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes stirring occasionally.

Add green peppers cut into 1 inch pieces and cover and cook 5 more minutes.

Add chopped tomatoes, parsley, thyme, salt and pepper.  Cover and cook over low heat about 20 minutes until all vegetables are tender but not mushy (I had to cook ours nearly 40 minutes for the zucchini to be mostly tender and the tomatoes by then were a sauce.  Worked okay for us, but like I said before I should have sliced them thinner)

Remove from heat, stir in chopped basil, and adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Reviews:

Eli liked it but had a hard time chewing the veggies because he only has a handful of little teeth that couldn’t chew.

I separated 1 of each veggie for Ella to at least try each one and she kept purposely gagging on them and almost made herself throw up once.  She got sent to her bed and no snacks.  She didn’t starve though because I served it with left over chicken on the side and she ate that before any veggies.

Lyle and I liked it but thought it was bland.  Lyle soaked his in hot sauce and I’m thinking throwing some either Mexican type or chili type spices might give it some good flavors.

So that’s Ratatouille.  Tonight I’ll probably just make some Cod I thawed and hopefully tomorrow I’ll try the turkey meatloaf.   I have hamburger thawed because Lyle and I were supposed to have dinner alone yesterday and have stuffed green peppers, something Eli can’t have and Ella won’t eat.  So much for in home date night!

Ingredients for next week- Turkey Meatloaf and Ratatouille

1/14/11

So this next week’s recipes:

Ratatouille- eggplant casserole that can be hot or cold, over rice, alongside pasta or with roast chicken.

                ¼ cup olive oil, 2 cloves garlic minced, 1 large onion thinly sliced, 1 medium eggplant cut into 1 ½ inch cubes, 6 small or 4 medium zucchini cut into ½ inch rounds, 2 medium size green peppers cut into 1 inch pieces, 4 large or 6 medium tomatoes coarsely chopped, ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley, ½ tsp dried thyme, ½ tsp salt, ¼ tsp pepper, and ¼ cup tightly packed chopped fresh basil.

Turkey Meatloaf-

2 lbs ground turkey, ½ cup minced yellow or red onion, 1 cup crumbled unsweetened corn flakes (or rice or oat flakes), 1 ¼ cup red sauce, 1 ½ tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer mixed with 2 Tbsp water, 1 tsp salt, ¼ cup chopped parsley, black pepper to taste. Ketchup, mustard, hot sauce, or mushroom sauce on top.

Mostly just fresh veggies on the list this week, and some new combinations for all of us!

"Black Bean and Spinach Burritos"

1/13/10
So last night I made Black Bean and Spinach Burritos, which smelled really good when I cooked it....
So you start with olive oil in a pan and saute onion and garlic for a few minutes to soften onion.  Add cumin, chili powder, and oregano and cook another minute.  Add 4 cups of baby spinach and cook until wilted. 

Then I added 2 cans of black beans not drained, juice of one lime, salt and 1/4 cup of water.

Mash about half the beans and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cook at a slow simmer for abut 20-25 minutes, stirring frequently.

To assemble the burriots, heat your corn or frice tortillas about 30 seconds each side on high heat, but to warm.  Place the warm tortilla on a plate and put about 1 Tbsp of mashed avocado in the center, top with 2 Tbsp beans, top with 1 Tbsp salsa, and sprinkle with chopped cilantro.  Fold up an eat.

This is what one single burrito looks like....and it did not taste good at all.  Eli ate on bite, spit it out, and threw the rest on the floor.  Ella took on bite and made her normal I hate it face, we made her take one more bite and got the same response.  Lyle tried one without salsa and didn't like it, so he made a second one with salsa and still didn't like it.  He said it needed hamburger!  LoL!  Can't do that in our house!  I had about half of one.  The flavors didn't seem to penetrate the beans, so all that lovely aroma from the onions, garlic and seasonings were no where to be tasted.   Kind of sad....

So, here's Ella making a can of chicken noodle soup for us to eat (she did it all by herself!)

 Here's Lyle making himself a bologna sandwich and salad...

And here is everyone at the table ready to enjoy a better tasting dinner at 7 pm!

Eli had corn, turkey dog and fruit but he didn't eat very well, I think because he got so upset about the first meal. 
I don't think I'll be trying to change this recipe up, because I agree with Lyle that hamburger instead of beans would be good but I'm not sure I want to try turkey burger instead...at least not yet.
Check back tomorrow for my shopping list for next week.  I think I'm going to make Ratatouille and one other thing!!

Creamy Avocado Chicken Salad and Creamy Avocado Dressing

1/9/11

Today for dinner I made “Creamy Avocado Chicken Salad” which included making “Creamy Avocado Dressing” to go in it.

I started with the dressing, I took 1 clove of garlic and minced it little, put that, honey and cilantro in a blender (the recipe says food processor but I don’t have one). 

The add avocado and puree.  *Oh yeah, for the amounts look on my last post*  Add rice milk (original flavor, not vanilla!), lime juice, and vinegar and I let it blend for about a minute and took my spoon around the bottom to make sure everything got mixed well.  You add salt and pepper to taste and if you want it more liquid you add a little more rice milk.  I didn’t add any extra and I thought it was the consistency of regular salad dressing. 

Cybele (cookbook author) says she uses this as a substitute for creamy dressings for salads, veggies, chicken, and sandwiches.  This is also a great calorie booster for my little guy because the avocados have a lot of calories.

Now, for the chicken salad all you do is combine chicken, onion finely minced, celery, Dijon mustard, and Creamy Avocado Dressing.  Salt and Pepper to taste.  You can serve on bread, wraps, or lettuce or however you like.  Eli had his on a corn tortilla which he played with, and the rest of us had it on bread.

Lyle, Eli and I all liked the chicken salad.  Eli had two full helpings and another little bit.   Ella once again turned up her nose and ended up with chicken noodle soup.  She said once again that the sauce was too spicy.  Next time I make this dressing I’m going to try basil instead of cilantro and see what that tastes like.  The smell of cilantro is strong in it and I think the taste is too and maybe basil will taste better or different.  Or maybe just leave that little bit out or a little more honey to sweeten a bit more.  We’ll see but it can be a good dipper for Eli instead of a Ranch Dressing.

Sometime this week I will be making the Black bean and Spinach Burritos, and I can’t make the biscuits yet because I can’t find any shortening or barley flour in town right now.

Grocery List for next week

1/5/11

First things first, Eli’s doctor’s appointment.  He weighed 21 lbs 6 oz!  I didn’t write down the length but he did get taller too.  Every time now he’s sneaking closer to the 5^th percentile line and we’ll all be really happy if at his 2 year old check-up he gets there!  Dr. Downs is happy with his progress and since we are all tired of fighting with the allergy doctor’s nurses and insurance company for now we’re putting the supplement on the backburner.  This supplement was supposed to add calories, proteins and nutrients to his diet.  Insurance denied the claim the first time saying there wasn’t enough proof he was allergic to soy, so we wanted the allergist’s office to write a letter to say he’s allergic to soy.  Apparently his nurse wasn’t listening to Sherry from Dr. Down’s office on what she was asking for and got her pantyhose in a bunch, then called Lyle to chew him out too.  I think I got it straightened out but I’d still rather just not deal with it since Eli has been eating better about the last month or so. 

Back to food. 

After having a nice breakfast for dinner, which Eli didn’t have the eggs with his, I’m preparing for next week’s menus.  I got a phone call today from Sarah, Eli’s speech therapist, with an idea one of her other families use. They are of India and have a totally different menu but many things are things Eli could eat.  She got a simple (but takes a long time) recipe for a pancake with veggies made of rice.  So sometime this week I’ll make that up and see, it might be a good snack for him and a good way to get a few extra veggies in.

I also want to make some Eli friendly biscuits that we all might like…  So from The Whole Foods Allergy Cookbook from Cybele Pascal I’m going to try “Basic Biscuits” made with 1 cup oat flour, 1 cup barley flour, 5 tsp double acting baking powder, 1 tsp salt, 5 TBSP vegetable shortening, 2/3 cup oat milk or rice milk.   I’m not sure if I’ll be able to find vegetable shortening not with soy….if not this might get skipped till I can make it to Fort Wayne or Cincinnati for special grocery shopping.

For dinner one night, I’ll also try “Black Bean and Spinach Burritos” since the dietician wants us to try more beans for extra proteins.  It has 2 Tbsp olive oil, 1 cup diced onion, 2 large garlic cloves, 2 tsp. cumin, 1 tsp. chili powder, ½ tsp. oregano, 4 cups tightly packed chopped spinach (baby or regular), 2 15 oz can black beans not drained, juice of 1 lime, ¼ tsp salt, ¼ cup water, 6-8 large brown rice tortillas, ¼ cup chopped cilantro, 2 ripe avocados, mashed, and salsa.  Tortillas have been a trick to find locally too…so he might eat his burrito with no burrito shell!  LoL. 

The last is actually two in one- “Creamy Avocado Chicken Salad” which contains “Creamy Avocado Dressing” in it.  The dressing is: 1 clove garlic, 2 tsp honey, 2 Tbsp. chopped cilantro or fresh basil, 1 ripe avocado, ¾ cup enriched rice milk, 3 Tbsp lime juice, 2 Tbsp cider vinegar, ¼ tsp salt, and pepper to taste.  This author uses this dressing to replace creamy dressings that are mayo based.  The chicken salad has: 1 cup cooked chicken, 1 Tbsp finely minced onion, one stalk celery chopped, 2 tsp Dijon mustard, 5 Tbsp Creamy Avocado Dressing, and salt and pepper to taste.  If the biscuits turn out good Eli can make a little biscuit with chicken salad!  Or we can serve on lettuce that he’ll have fun playing with!  He doesn’t have enough teeth to appreciate lettuce yet!

Well…hope I have happy shopping this week and can find everything!  J

"The Lady From Napels Red Sauce" and "Spaghettini with Spicy Eggplant"

1-3-11
So this weekend, on Saturday to be exact, I did a huge first for me: Homemade Spaghetti sauce from scratch.  No bottled stuff here!  It wasn't hard, and made the house smell wonderful (I love garlic) but took a couple of hours.  Here's what we did (ingredients and amounts on post a few days ago before I went shopping)
I put the olive oil, garlic and onion in the big pot on medium high and let the onions get soft while making sure I didn't burn the garlic, then added the oregano and bay leaves.  I let that sit a minute or two and smell really lovely then added the canned tomatoes, red wine (I used a Beringer Merlot, not expensive but Lyle likes drinking it and I've heard people who really like their food use only wine they would enjoy drinking when they cook) and honey.  Also a grind or two of pepper but the recipe warns not too much or it will make the sauce bitter.

Simmer this covered for 30 minutes and stir occasionally.  Then use a potato masher to mash up the whole tomatos in the pot (if you don't have a potato masher you need to cut up the whole tomatoes before putting them in the pot!).  If desired add chopped olives (I didn't use them because while the family like some olives black isn't the favorite here and it says optional in the recipe).  Cook another hour stirring occasionally.  Taste and adjust the seasoning for your taste.  May need some extra salt especially if you don't do the olives.  Remove from heat and stir in basil, remove bay leaves (Lyle didn't know you don't eat these....silly kid.)  Serve with pasta of choice. 

This is the finished product, we used about half for dinner that night and the other half is in the freezer.  The cookbook author says she makes a double batch and freezes so she always has some on hand.

So I made Spaghettini with Spicy Eggplant for dinner on Saturday after making the red sauce in the afternoon.  Eggplant is a new thing for me.  I know it's used a lot in Italian cooking, but really I have zero experience and I think it turned out good.  The first thing you do is peel the eggplant and slice horizontally into 1/4 inch rounds.  Then place in a colander in the sink in a single layer and thoroughly salt them and let them "sweat" about an hour. 

I had to use 2 colanders to keep a single layer and I had no idea what it meant by sweat it out.  It sucked a lot of the water out of the eggplant and left kind of a brown tinted water in the bottom of the colanders (mind you I have no idea if the eggplant I bought was a "good one" because I've never bought one before and I only had two options at Kroger and Walmart had none.)  Next lay out paper towel and place the eggplant on it and pat the tops to dry them off.

Place canola oil in a frying pan covering about 1/2 inch and heat to medium high.  When the oil is warm, slip in the eggplant and let it brown on one side, flip and brown the other.  Remove from the pan on a plate with papertowel and pat the excess oil off.  (Note here:  I cooked mine so the outside was crispy, but later you cut them up and put them in sauce and the inside was still moist and it got kind of squishy, so next time I might almost over cook them outside so the inside has a better texture.)

When the eggplant has cooled to touch, slice into strips and add to The Lady from Naples Red Sauce to warm on stove.  Boil your favorite pasta- we really like Schar brand Penne and Fusilli because everyone will eat it (Lyle says it doesn't taste too much like rice, which is his biggest complaint for grain replacements for Eli, he doesn't like rice).  It's got a nice flavor (almost like regular wheat pasta) and doesn't overcook easily (nice for the mom who might have to drag her 18 month old off the table at any given time instead of cooking).

We didn't do spaghetti noodles because this brand doesn't have them here, and I can only get it at Walmart here in town. 

So the sauce- you can either add chili pepper flakes (we had crushed because I couldn't find flakes) while it's simmering the last minute or put on the side for people who want a little bite to their pasta to put on the plate later (what we did). 

So take the cooked pasta, toss it with the sauce, then toss in fresh parsley and voila!  Dinner's ready and packed full of veggies! :) 

We all loved the spaghetti,  Ella called the eggplant pieces yucky but tried them twice first. (If she says yuck before trying the rule is clean your plate!  She learned quick!) 

We were very concerned how Eli would do, since before when having spaghetti or other tomato products (Katsup, chili) he would make a big mess on his face and gobble it up but start to scratch and cry.  We weren't sure if this was other ingredients in the products before we knew he was allergic(spaghetti sauce with soy, chili with hamburger, etc) or if he was allergic to tomato.  Well, he had two huge platefuls and no scratching!  Then, no broken out face or legs the next morning!  So we think, hope, pray that tomatos are good as long as we're super careful with what's with them because he loves these foods.

Sunday Lyle made a big pot of "chicken type" soup.  He put a leftover chicken breast in some water, put in a can of corn, can of peas, leftover cabbage from the veggie stock, celery and carrots from the fridge, a few bay leaves, some worchestershire sauce, the fusilli pasta, salt and pepper.  It was interesting and not in a bad way.  Eli and I each had two bowls as did Lyle.  It had a little spicy kick to it that was good, but I don't know what exactly did it and if it could ever be replicated!  Ella didn't like it because of it (she's a bland girl at the moment while Eli seems to be relishing these new flavors, at least right now).  So Ella got a bowl of cheddar soup made for her.  I think I need to start working with her more on simple meal type things she can make herself if she doesn't like her dinner.  The rule I remember growing up was if you don't like dinner eat nothing or cook yourself something.  While mostly soups and sandwiches I learned how to fend for myself early and I think it would do Ella good too to start on that path a little now, although with these new foods she definately needs to really try stuff too. 

It's monday now, the kids are at my parents and Lyle and I enjoyed hamburgers made of BEEF with CHEESE (muenster cheese too!) on white bread!  Ahh!  The horrors!  :)

New year is starting good and yummy!

Oh yeah, side note on this very long post.  Eli saw the dietician today and he gained some weight since he saw her two months ago, close to 9 oz and 1/2 inch in length.  So that's good.  Wednesday we have a checkup with Dr. Downs so we'll get officially tallys and about that time in the week I need to find new recipes to try next week.

Vegetable Stock, Trail Mix, and "My Favorite Dressing"

 1-1-11

So since I had New Years Eve off even though I worked the night before I did some cooking.   I made the vegetable stock first.  I took all the vegetables listed in ingredients (see previous post) and cleaned and cut them and put them in a stock pan with a little oil in the bottom. 

I let it brown about 15 minutes and stirred often to try to get all vegetables to hit heat at least once, then added the water, salt, pepper, and I added rosemary.  Let it come to a boil, then cover and let simmer for two hours. 

 I strained the vegetables away from the broth (you are supposed to use cheesecloth to get small particles out, but I did not have any and made due.) And packaged it in freezer bags…

And had 6 cups worth packaged and put flat in the freezer and had two big containers of cooked veggies to eat later.

I have two other recipes I made.  First one was trail mix Eli Style.

This mix contains corn Chex (could not find any Oat O’s type cereal without wheat products in our stores), raisins, craisins, pumpkin seeds, Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips (dairy, soy, wheat, nut free) all in equal quantities.  We have all been snacking on this today and it is pretty good.  I’m not a fan of the corn chex personally so I might do rice next time, but I like the rest.  This morning both Eli and Ella had some as a mid-morning snack.

*Big note on Enjoy Life foods* they have been a HUGE lifesaver for me, especially when all this started.  All their products are free from the “Big 8” allergens and made in a dedicated facility (no products with those ingredients in them)   Eli loves their cookies, snack bars and granola.  He is starting to get a little tired of them I think because he has had them so much and not much variety but he still enjoys them and I enjoy that I don’t have to worry about them! 

Last recipe was for the salad dressing.  We had salads last night and some leftover grilled pork chops with it.  Eli seemed to like the dressing, Lyle and I both liked it, Ella started spitting food all over the place and got in trouble.   Well, 3 out of 4 isn’t bad.

I minced up a small clove of garlic as small as I could get it and mixed it with honey, Dijon mustard, and basil leaves.  Then stirred in rice vinegar and balsamic vinegar making sure it was completed mixed.  Then I slowly stirred in Extra-Virgin Olive Oil.  That’s it.  You’re supposed to decant, but since I’m not that fancy and like the taste of basil and garlic the chunks give it works fine without!

We ate it on a salad blend that had herbs and greens in it and liked it.  We didn’t put any toppings on it but thought something sweet with it like the craisins would probably taste really good.  I also thought of feta cheese (which Eli cannot have) but Lyle does not like that flavor.

The final recipe this week I have ingredients for is the spaghetti sauce.  I have time today before work but since I work the next two nights dinner will probably be pretty boring Sunday and Monday.  So we’ll see what happens with that.  But I have the eggplant for the one dish and have no idea how long it’ll be good so that might be on the plate tonight! 
Happy New Years!