Porcupine Meatballs

This recipe is a combination of two recipes. The ingredients for the meatballs have been adapted from "Sophie-Safe Cooking" by Emily Hendrix.
Our family does not eat beef, so we use ground turkey in its place. Onions would probably be good as well!
Also-you may want to play around with the spices a bit...every family has different tastes. I made this last night for dinner-the sauce has a bit of a bite to it, which surprisingly went over very well!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup rice, uncooked
1 clove garlic, pressed
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp apple cider vinegar (reg. vinegar works as well)
1 lb ground turkey
1/2 tbsp basil
1 1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt
2 bay leaves
1 egg (optional)
one 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes
one 28-ounce can whole tomatoes, chopped with juice
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cups cooked rice

1. Put the tomatoes, oregano, basil, pepper, salt and bay leaves into a pot and bring to a boil. Once it is boiling, cover and reduce to simmer.
   
2. Combine the turkey, egg, uncooked rice, vinegar, and mustard. Squeeze together with your hands to really mix the ingredients together. Shape into balls.
   
3. Heat olive oil in frying pan. Brown the turkey balls (if time is an issue, you can just skip this step and place balls into sauce, cooking on simmer for 25 minutes)
   
4. Add the meatballs to the sauce, cooking for another 10-15 minutes. Remove bay leaves.
   
5. Serve over rice.
   

Halloween

Halloween can be such a fun time, but also one of great stress for those of us having children with food restrictions. Everywhere we go, be it the bank, post office, even my older daughter's speech assessment this morning had someone whispering "Can they have a treat?" At least most have whispered, making it much easier for me to just say no.

And Halloween is still a week away....

Granted, Mara is only 21 months, so I really am not keen on her having candy period. While we do not restrict our girls from having it, we do not encourage it. Easter baskets are filled with toys rather then candy; same goes for Christmas stockings. They do however, have grandparents who provide them with more then enough! In the past, we have usually allowed our oldest have a few treats, and then the rest just disappears. But that was before we knew what was going on with Mara.

Now that Mara is older, and a bit more aware of things around her (especially in regards to her sister) things will be a bit trickier! This morning, Analese's dance teacher gave them all candy instead of the usual stamp on the hand. Analese, of course, wanted to eat it right away, as most of the other children were, so I let her.

Mara was not happy, and kept putting her hand out for some. I had to tell her the "this will hurt your tummy" speech that she doesn't understand. But she did stop asking.

So our plan this year in regards to trick-or-treating: We had gotten gluten-free lollipops awhile ago, and plan to stick one in Mara's trick-or-treat bag before we leave. Once we get back to the house, the girls can each have one treat, and that will be Mara's treat. Let's hope she goes for it.

As so how to handle the Halloween parties? We're still working on that! We may go to one on Saturday, and have another next Wednesday. I was thinking about buying some cute containers-possibly Halloween themed, to put some of her favorite snacks in (just to make it feel special). I also have some cupcake ideas as well...I'll let you know what I come up with!

Recipe: Peared Chicken

I have had this recipe for so long, I cannot remember where I got it from. This is a simple, quick and easy meal. For variation, we also use mango pulp instead of the pears, which my family likes even better. Enjoy!


Ingredients:

3 pears, peeled and cubed
2 to 3 Tbsp maple syrup
1 to 2 Tbsp vinegar
4 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless

(You don't have to be exact with measurements-I used 3 Tbsp of maple syrup with 2 Tbps of vinegar)

Directions:
Stir together maple syrup and vinegar. Pour over pears in a medium sized bowl.

In a pan, fry chicken breasts. When chicken is cooked through, add the pears and their juice. Cook on very low heat, covered, for 10 more minutes.

Serve over white rice.

Welcome!

I started this site as a way to help those living with food allergies, and to admittedly, help myself as well! Living with food restrictions can often lead you to feel like your stuck in a rut in terms of what you can eat, the meals you can prepare, etc. Hopefully I can help open the door to new ways of cooking and eating, and help bring the enjoyment back into food!

I should note that I am certainly not a great chef. My husband is the cook in this family, but I have managed to tweak quite a few recipes to meet our needs! The recipes I share will be ones that have been tested on my family, and ones that passed the test! With a 3 year old and 21 month old with very different tastes, finding something they both like is exciting.

Our family began living with food restrictions when my youngest was only a few weeks old. It has been a very long journey in discovering all of the foods affecting her, and I cannot say we know them all right now. As of right now, our restrictions are on dairy, soy, gluten, onions and coconut.
We hope that one day some, if not all, of her food issues will go away. But , until then, life goes on.....