A new chapter begins...

So, I've been meaning to write this for a while, but here we are, November already. Around April or May Nadia started complaining that her stomach was hurting. This was nothing new. We've been giving her chamomile tea for that since she was about 1 here and there, and it always seemed to help. When she started complaining more frequently, I thought she just wanted more tea because she really likes it, but she would usually say "No, my tummy really hurts, I don't just want tea to drink". I started trying to figure out if it was something new she had eaten or if she had gotten dairy somewhere. I couldn't figure it out. Meanwhile, she had worked up to needing "tummy tea" every day. Then is was several times a day. Then it was all day every day and she didn't want the tea any more. I had asked a few people about their experiences with gluten intolerance and Celiac disease. It seemed like that COULD be the problem, but it  seemed strange that the symptoms would appear so suddenly. Finally one Friday afternoon, after the all day every day thing had been going on for about a week, I told Ricky I was going to put her on a gluten free diet over the weekend and if she wasn't better by Monday I was taking her to the doctor. Sunday morning she asked for tea because her tummy hurt--ONCE.

The rest of the week she got better and better. She stopped having borderline diarrhea all the time (literally). She was eating better. She was eating more. We decided to do GF for Aidan, too, just to make life easier since they eat all the same things. One day after being gluten-free for a few months, they both unintentionally had something that had gluten in it. They BOTH got sick. So, now we know both kids need to be gluten free. And we also know that I'm relearning how to cook.

The picture is Aidan eating gnocci (little pasta-like balls) with chopsticks, right before we started doing GF with him. I think this was his last meal before.

Gluten-free Cinnamon Raisin Granola

Mmmmm, granola...

 

 

Ok, so I'm totally cheating and posting the cinnamon raisin granola recipe I found at The Spunky Coconut blog. ( http://balancedplatter.com/cinnamon-raisin-granola-grain-free-sugar-free/ ) It's grain-free and sugar-free, AND dairy-free! Can you believe it? Oh, and it's AH-mazing!

 

Since we figured out that Nadia was having trouble with gluten we've had a challenge finding breakfast cereal options that work well. We don't eat cereal all that often, but when we do the kids almost ALWAYS want whatever Ricky is having. The challenge was to find something that everyone likes and that doesn't cost $8 for a 10oz package. I thought I'd try out a granola recipe or two and see what happened. The first couple of recipes we tried were ok, but they weren't great. This one has been my favorite by far and is very filling. Some days, Ricky isn't even famished by lunch time. Yeah, you read that right. This stuff has some staying power.

 

Here's my take on it:



Soak 4 cups of nuts for about 8 hours. (I used 1c cashews and 2 1/2c almonds. I added more stuff later to make up the last cup.) This is in bold because I always forget this is part of the process and start way too late. 
Rinse and strain.


Add to a bowl with:
1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup almond meal flour
1 cup applesauce with no added sugar
1/4 tsp of vanilla liquid stevia (I used NuNaturals.)
1/4 c pumpkin seeds
1/4c flax seeds


In a separate bowl mix:
1/4 cup Chia Seed meal (I used the coffee grinder like the original author recommended.)
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp sea salt
Combine the two bowls.
Spread onto baking sheet or roasting pan.

The original post said to "dehydrate at 130 degrees overnight, or until it’s dry and crunchy", but I only have my totally unfancy oven. SO, (yes, this is tedious, but I usually forget there's something in the oven to begin with if there's no timer, so you can blame it on that--partially) what I did was turn the oven to 250, let it preheat, then turn it off and let the granola sit in there overnight. The next day I turned it to 350 with the granola still in the oven, let it preheat, then turned it off. There it sat, all day long. Then that night I turned the oven to 170, as low as mine goes, and left it for a couple hours, stirring pretty frequently to make sure it wasn't getting too crispy in one spot. As soon as it felt dry all over I took it out. (Well, Ricky did, but whatever.) I'm sure you could just put the oven at 170 and watch it really closely and stir frequently to make sure it doesn't overcook or prop the oven door open with a towel or something, but as I mentioned before, I forgot about the soaking part, so I got started a tad late and couldn't (wouldn't) stay up all night to watch granola bake. But anyway, now it's delicious. Nadia kept stealing pieces all the next morning until I got it put away. And Aidan's a big fan, too. And that picture up there is my bowl of yogurt--covered in granola! Yum!

Fried Rice

So this is one of the first actual meals I remember learning to cook. Connie Lin's mom told me how to make it when I was 11 or 12 and I still make it about once a month or so, sometimes adding things I never would have thought of putting in it when I was 12. I love it. Ricky loves it. And the kids love it--unless they're just in an eating strike kind of mood. And it's EASY! I'm wondering if you could make it Paleo by using cauliflower instead of rice. Might be worth a shot. The thing about this recipe is you can play with the ingredients to make it suit you better.

1 cup white (or brown) rice, cooked

sesame oil for frying

6-10 eggs

3-6 green onions, sliced

ham sandwich meat, chopped--or turkey, or chicken (optional)

1-2 carrots, shredded

soy sauce

Other stuff to add: broccoli, sugar snap peas, snow peas, asparagus, bell pepper strips

Cook 1 cup of rice in the morning. Let it sit out to dry all day, or at least for several hours.

Put a little sesame oil in wok on medium/low heat. Scramble eggs in the wok.

Add meat, cooking until slightly brown. Stir frequently. (***If you use raw meat, you should cook this before the eggs, so as not to burn the eggs.***)

Add green onions and carrots, cooking until they are to your desired texture. I like mine less raw, more cooked. (Add other veggies here, too)

Add the rice, stirring well to mix everything together. Add soy sauce to taste. Cook, stirring frequently, for another 5-10 minutes.

Eat.

Tzatziki Sauce

Wow, it's been a while since we've had any posts! I've been trying to find time to come post some things but life has been pretty hectic. Anywho, I've really been missing cheese on my sandwiches lately and have found that if I add something different I don't miss it as much. Common sense, I know, but for not having much time to make lunch and actually eat it, finding things that are quick and easy is key. The other day I came across this blog (www.100daysofrealfood.com) with this recipe for Tzatziki Sauce. They said it could be used as a ranch dressing substitute. I'm normally not huge on ranch or on cucumbers, a main ingredient, but figured I'd give it a try since Ricky likes both those things and Nadia is always wanting his ranch. It is GOOD! I've been making wraps with this, turkey, and lettuce all week.



Tzatziki Sauce

1 1/2 cups plain yogurt (whole milk variety works best)

1/2 large cucumber, grated with cheese grater

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tablespoon dill, finely chopped (or 1 teaspoon dried dill)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Mix all ingredients together. Can be eaten immediately, but is better if you let it sit together in the fridge for a few hours/overnight.

The only thing I did differently was use Silk soy yogurt. I made it 4-5 days ago and it's still really good and hasn't gotten watery or anything. I just give it a quick stir before using it in case there's any separation going on.

Shrimp with Mango salsa OMG this is FABULOUS!! John even liked it and said I could fix it anytime :) I got the recipie from CrossfitanaerobicInc (kids-I can't figure out how to put the link on here so I don't have to type this all out. lessons please)
Here it is typed out:

2 lemons
2 limes1 bunch cilantro
2 ripe mangos
1 red onion
1 jalapeno
1 small red bell pepper
2.5 lbs shrimp shelled and deveined (I'm lazy too, Les, and used the pre-cooked ready to go)
black pepper
cayenne pepper
Extra Virgin olive oil
Garlic
Nutmeg
dried oregano
paprika
sea salt

Preheat oven to 400
Zest the lemons and squeeze lemon juice through fingers into bowl.
Zest the limes and ditto
Peel and mince 3 cloves of garlic
Rinse cilantro and pat dry. Pluck 3/4 cup leaves
Peel and dice mangos and put in bowl.
Remove seeds/pith from red pepper and dace. Add to mango.
Peel and mince the red onion-add to mango bowl.
Rinse and trim jalepeno(remove seeds for no spicy--leave them in for spicy)Mince and add to mango bowl

Start cooking:
Whick together lemon juice, 2 1/2 Tbs olive oil, lemon zest, gar;lic, 2 Tbls oregano, 2 Tbs paprika, 1/2 tsp cayenne, 2 tsp nutmeg, 2 tsp black pepper and season with salt to taste. Add shrimp and mix WELL.

Line sheet pan with parchment and lay shrimp on it in a single layer. Put shrimp in oven and bake till shrimp are pink and curled 5-8 minutes

While shrimp are baking, mince 3/4 cup cilantro leaves

MAKE SALSA--Add 2/3 cup minced cilantro and lime zest to mango(and red onion, red bell pepper and jalapeno) and mix. Drizzle lime juice all over and toss toss toss. Transfer salsa to a serving bowl.

When shrimp are done, transfer to serving dish and sprinkle with remaining cilantro.

Piña colada shrimp stir-fry

Last night could have been easier. Really, it could have! But dinner could not have been much easier than it was. Even after I made it WAY more complicated that it started out. I WAS going to make Garlic Chili Shrimp-where you basically sauté the garlic, toss in the shrimp, then season with a little salt, cayenne pepper, and lime. Then I thought I'd toss in a bag of frozen stir-fry veggies (the asparagus stir-fry that Wal-Mart carries is delicious), some frozen red bell pepper strips, a can of pineapple, and some coconut milk. And this is what I came up with. I served it with brown rice that I had leftover from the night before.

~1 pound shrimp (I used the precooked kind because I'm lazy and I'm terrified of undercooking seafood)
1 bag (maybe a pound?) frozen stir-fry veggies, thawed (Or not, if you're in a hurry...)
1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
1 20 oz (I think) can crushed pineapple, drained
1 13.6 oz can coconut milk
minced garlic, cayenne pepper (crushed or powder, whichever you prefer), salt, olive oil

Put a little olive oil in pan and sauté garlic lightly, for about a minute. Add veggies, pineapple, and shrimp, mixing everything together to keep the garlic from burning. When everything has heated through, about 5 minutes, drain excess liquid. Add coconut milk and heat through again. Season to taste with salt and cayenne pepper.

I'm guessing this would be really good with some lime, but (hold on to your chairs--this will be a shock) we were out. Ricky put a little soy sauce in his and said that was pretty good, too. He also said it would be excellent without the shrimp, in case I ever wanted to make it that way. I'll try to remember to get a picture tonight when I eat the leftovers. Anyway, I wanted to post this because mom is always talking about how good the coconut shrimp at that Chinese place is and how she can never find a good coconut shrimp recipe. I'm sure it's not exactly the same, but maybe it will help satisfy the craving.

Ice cream!!!

So, by request, I will share my ice cream recipe. Honestly it's kind of cheating because I just reworked the recipe that came in the instruction book for my ice cream maker, but it's still delicious. And it's SOOOOOOOO much cheaper than buying the specialty dairy free ice cream at the store. Well, unless you make some ungodly amount of it like I did when I first got the machine. It's a bad idea to mix a pregnant lady, an ice cream machine (a new one, at that!), and a challenge. I'm just sayin'. I'll just put the basic vanilla recipe here, but you can add pretty much anything you like to it. My favorite so far is chocolate covered cherry ice cream. Ricky's is Oreo. Nadia's is, well, whatever you put in her bowl is gone before you get the other bowls served, so I'm not sure she has one. Anyhow, the recipe:

1 cup soy or almond milk
3/4 cup granulated sugar
pinch salt
2 cups coconut milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, whisk to combine "milk", salt, and sugar until the sugar has dissolved. (I usually just put it in a leak-proof tupperware container and shake it--because Nadia can help more that way--and I put it in the fridge for a while and repeat until the sugar dissolves.) Stir in coconut milk and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate 1-2 hours. Follow instructions for your ice cream maker. Add candy, fruit, or other add-ins when ice cream has thickened--about 5 minutes until the end of the cycle.

Ok, so that's the short reworked version of what my instruction book for my Cuisinart says. I do the shaking method, then add the coconut milk and vanilla, shake more, then refrigerate. You CAN put it in the machine right away, but I have not had good luck with that. It seems to always turn out too soft. So, the chilling is an important step.

Also, a can of coconut milk (13.5 oz) is roughly only 1 and 2/3 cups, so I just top it off with the almond or soy milk that I was using instead of opening another can. You CAN use rice milk, but I have found the consistency is much lighter with it, although I don't know if that will vary by machine ( I think I used the first machine I bought with it, not this one). Both the soy and almond milks give a really good ice-creamy texture. Ricky loves it and has recently been requesting an ice cream. This is the guy who wouldn't touch most of the commercial soy ice creams I tried with a 30-foot pole.

Excellent things to add are: Oreos, fresh or thawed cut strawberries, Reese's cups, 1/2 cup crushed peppermint candies--or more if you like, chopped cherries with chocolate chips, or whatever else you can chop into small pieces and put in ice cream. Just make sure you chop things small enough that they won't get stuck too much on the paddle of the machine.

Well, I guess now I'm making ice cream tonight. I'll try to get pictures on here, but I can't seem to get them to load right now.