Recipe: Quinoa Cookies

The girls and I made cookies today! I got the recipe off of Mara's quinoa cereal box this morning, and thought it would be a good way to spend the afternoon since it was raining outside. I modified the recipe in a couple of ways...I used Spectrum's shortening instead of butter, and we used almond butter instead of peanut butter. I also used sorghum flour instead of rice flour, for no other reason then that it was closet to me (the rice flour was out in the freezer). So a bit of laziness on my part, but hey, it was raining outside and Rose is in the "must have Mommy at all times" stage...
The cookies were really good! They reminded me of oatmeal cookies in a way, but chewier. I want to play around with this recipe a bit, even though I thought they were quite good. Next time I want to replace the baking soda with baking powder-for a fluffier cookie (this works well with the peabutter recipe too). These cookies spread, so a well rounded teaspoon works well.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup almond butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup sorghum flour
• 3/4 cup quinoa flakes
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup of nuts, or seeds (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


Mix honey, shortening, almond butter, brown sugar and vanilla in mixing bowl at medium speed until creamy. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, quiona flakes, and baking soda together and slowly add to the wet mixture, mixing until completely blended.

Bake for about 10 minutes on an ungreased cookie tray. (You might want to set the timer for 9 minutes and check often!) Let stand on cookie tray for a minute before removing to cool.

Enjoy!

And so it begins.....

The holiday season, that is.

This used to be my favorite time of the year, with all the "fun" holidays lined up, back-to-back. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years...fun, fun, fun.

I have been thinking about how this has changed due to Mara's allergies. Last year I found myself really worrying with each upcoming holiday. Worrying about all the holiday parties and social events that revolve around food. Worrying about what I was going to make. Worrying about what Mara and I were going to eat.

And most of all, worrying about Mara.

My biggest concern is that she would feel left out in all the fun. I want her to look forward to each holiday with the excitement that her sister has...that all kids have. I fear that she will one day start to dread them, knowing that she must plan out what she is going to eat in advance, making and having to bring her own food everywhere. Imagining her just standing there smiling as the people around her go on and on about how delicious the food is...and not being able to join in.

And while I hope and pray that she will one day outgrow some-if not all, of these food issues, I also know that it is my job to be prepared and to prepare her...if she does not.

But I have to tell you...I feel so fortunate that Mara is just so good about checking before she eats something. The other day at the doctor's office, the nurse asked the girls if they wanted a lollipop (a big pet peeve of mine, but that's another post) and I was so proud when Mara said "no, that might hurt my tummy".

Proud and sad.

This morning we were talking about the Halloween party we are going to, and I asked the girls if they wanted to go trick-or-treating. They both said yes, and I kind of turned to Mara and said, "Now you know, you probably won't be able to eat the treats that they put in your bag". I saw her deflate, and she said "why?" I told her that the houses we go to don't know what hurts her tummy or not, but that I will bring special safe treats that she can trade them in for. She still looked deflated but said OK. I figure I'll remind her a few more times before next Friday so that it will sink in more and hopefully she'll be more accepting of it.

So what kind of treats did I get for her? Before I tell you, I have to tell you that Mara is not a candy/dessert person at all. I know I have mentioned this many times before! But still, I get her a variety of safe candy...just so that she has the choice in eating it.

Even when I know she won't :)

So here is a list of safe treats going in Mara's bag this year:

1. Yummy Earth's lollipops. We bought these last year for Easter, and bothg irls loved them. They are really good!
2. Enjoy Life's Chocolate bars. Yes, I have to admit...these are mainly for me! I bought them through my buying club with two other families...24 bars are coming my way (can you feel my excitement?) I just hope they are good!
3. Surf candy jellybeans.
   
4. Kettle Valley's fruit snacks. Another favorite, and there's an apple in every bar:)
5. boxes of raisins. This will probably be her favorite. I only wish they had dates in a box :)

That is it. I think she'll be happy with that.

Hopefully I will find time to post some of our Halloween recipes this week. We are going to a friend's house, which should be fun. Mara chose to be a "ballerina princess", and wouldn't even consider being anything else. Analese is being a "woodland fairy who likes unicorns" (you have to say that too!) She is in love with everything pink, and her costume is all browns and golds. She had me promise to find some pink ribbon to tie on her costume so that she has some pink in it :) Now I just have to decide what I am going to be......

How do you feel about the holidays now that food allergies have entered your life?

Yes, it has been awhile...

But I have a good excuse!

Meet Rose Hollin, born July 18th and keeping my life very busy at the moment!

So things have been bit hectic around here, but I hope to start posting again soon.

And for those wondering the food allergy question, the answer is yes. Sort of. Rose has been reacting to dairy, so I went off of that last month. I am so happy to say that right now things appear to be fine! She does have some reflux issues, which tend to flair up on certain days, so I am watching that...

Mara is doing well. I cannot believe she will be three in just a few months! We have been trialing tree nuts over the summer, and so far she has passed. I am so excited and feel that peanuts probably will not be an issue, but we still haven't attempted them yet.

We have been struggling with Mara's face all summer. She has eczema all around her mouth, and we have tried EVERYTHING to get rid of it. I feel so bad for her, it looks so painful. she assures me that it doesn't hurt, just feels "bumpy".

Any suggestions on that, I would love to hear them!

So my goal will be to post at least once a week!

Mara's favorite Chicken Salad

I made this chicken salad for Mara a few weeks ago, and she now asks me for it ALL the time! She has definitely developed a love for salads-chicken, egg, her avocado salad....

This chicken salad couldn't get any easier, and its definitely a toddler-pleaser. Even Analese-who is a "peabutter and jelly kind-of-girl", loves to eat this for lunch. We serve it on the Chebe Flatbread-which is truly the best gluten-free, soy-free, and dairy-free bread for sandwiches and salads.

As for measurements, again we just kind of throw everything together, so feel free to add as much or as little of something, depending on what you like.

Ingredients

• boneless, skinless chicken breast, cooked and chopped or shredded
• apple, diced
• celery, chopped
• dried prunes, chopped thinly
• canola mayonnaise (we use Spectrum's Canola Mayo, but safflower mayo would work, or any other acceptable choice that works for you)
• Salt and pepper to taste
  

Combine ingredients. Done! Serve on a bed of lettuce or spinach, or on warm flatbread....yum!
My husband has also added the following to his: curry powder, or old bay seasoning...both were very good!
(I do recommend making it a few hours beforehand so that the ingredients can combine together in the fridge for better taste, but this isn't absolutely necessary.)

The Love of Smoothies

When I first found out I was pregnant, I eliminated my daily cup of coffee and instead, replaced it with a smoothie. I really wanted the girls to drink it as well, as Analese does not like most fruit and neither one drinks juice.

The girls were not impressed, and refused to drink more then a sip. So I let it go...sort of.

Every morning I offered them a sip of mine. Some mornings was a yes, some a no.

Then, I unknowingly bought the best "bribe" for getting both girls to want to drink a smoothie. A "Blend-n-Go Cup" that comes with a straw.

The straw is the best part. Funny how I had never thought of that before!

Now, the girls each drink an almost full glass of smoothie every morning. Mara, with her smaller glass, will drink 2-3 glassfuls! I am in heaven, it is so exciting to see them drink up , knowing how nutritious these things are.

Because of course, now that they love smoothies, I have begun adding more and more to it! Along with our fruit, yogurt, juice and milk, I also add some probiotics, hemp seed oil, flaxseed, my Juice Plus supplements-both fruits and veggies, and calcium powder.

Oh-and a handful of spinach.

I waited a bit before adding the spinach, hemp seed oil, and flaxseed. I started off with the basics, and each week we added a bit more. The girls "help" me make our smoothies every morning, and really enjoy it. They help me decide what fruits to put it, what new things to try, etc. Yesterday we used our simple orange squeezer to add some freshly squeezed clemantines to our smoothie. The girls loved taking turns squeezing the juice out, and I just enjoyed giving them the experience.

So here our basic smoothie recipe. I have to admit that I was shocked that both girls guzzled down their smoothie the first time I added hemp seed oil to it. I added 1 tablespoon, and could taste it right away (so you may want to start out with a smaller dose for those more finicky tastebuds!) With everything else, I have found that as long as they can taste what appeals to them, they are fine with anything else. In our case its bananas! Also, by letting them help you make it and giving them more control in what goes in it, has helped tremendously in this household!

I should also note that I don't really give "amounts" as it totally depends on what you like, don't like. This is just the basics of what we are drinking every morning. Hope it inspires you!

Basic Smoothie Recipe

• Bananas
• Blueberries (we use frozen)
• raspberries
• blackberries
• mango
  
• 1/2 cup Ricera rice yogurt (we use strawberry)
• orange juice
• vanilla hemp milk (or any other acceptable choice!)
• handful of chopped spinach
• 1 tablespoon hemp seed oil
• 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed

We have also added (and enjoyed):

• kiwi
• strawberries
• cherries
• avocado

Some Updates

I know, I know...it has been a looong time since I have posted! Not due to lack of recipes of course, but lack of time. This semester is proving to be very time-consuming as well, and I am so looking forward to May 4th-when I am officially done until the Fall!

So we are all surviving. We survived Easter, which brought on some added stress for me in finding ways for Mara to participate in Easter hunts without too much intervention from me. As she gets older, I have to admit that I struggle with this. I do not want my child to be singled out, or miss out on normal childhood fun. But ultimately this isn't possible, as everything seems to revolve around food. Sigh....

Our little Mara is doing well. We have had problems in the past month-she was suddenly waking up 6-10 times a night and we could not figure out why. Other changes we saw: diaper rash, eczema appearing once again on her lower back and around her mouth. We knew something was upsetting her, it was so frustrating not to know what! Finally, last week she had two mucous-filled diapers. And that was it. She began sleeping through the night once again, and things seem to be getting back to normal. At least my fingers are crossed that it is!

The pregnancy is going well...I am now almost 27 weeks! This may be the fastest pregnancy, and I hope once school is out Ill have a bit more time to just enjoy and reflect on it a bit.

So, just a quick update. I plan to do some changes to the site soon, making it a bit more functional. So stay tuned :)

Recipe: Peabutter Cookies

Warning: these are NOT the most nutritious cookies! I debated whether or not to post this recipe just yet, as I plan to experiment with sugar alternatives because I hate the amount of refined sugar that are in these cookies. So I will keep you updated and hopefully post a healthier alternative in the future! Otherwise, these will just be an occasional treat for our girls.

I found a recipe for "Flourless cookies" from "The Gluten-Free Gourmet Cooks Comfort Foods" by Bette Hagman. This is a great book, as she also tries to eliminate dairy from her recipes ...so less modifying for me! The original recipe uses peanut butter, and I made it without modifications first, adding the Enjoy Life chocolate chips with it. They were delicious, and if you can have peanut butter, I highly recommend them! The author recommends using a processed peanut butter, but we found one that was still natural but had the added salt.

So after I was able to eat more then my share of these cookies, I also wanted to try and make some for Mara. It wasn't fair for her to see her mother stuffing her face, now is it? I immediately wanted to try her peabutter and see how it worked. I also added some raisins as well. These cookies only take a few minutes to make, another plus for me , as I am not the best at planning!
Both girls LOVE these cookies! The biggest difference I found between the two batches (besides the taste) was that the peabutter cookies did not spread out like the peanut butter ones did. Which actually worked out well, as I made small mini-cookies to keep the total sugar intake low for one sitting! Plus, these cookies are pretty filling, so I think a smaller cookie is ideal. Both girls prefer these cookies over anything else I have made, so I am even more determined to try to reduce the amount of refined sugar!

Here's the recipe, enjoy!

Peabutter Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup peabutter
• 2 eggs
  
• 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp gluten-free vanilla
• 3/4 cups raisins (optional)

Using your mixer, blend the peabutter and brown sugar together. Add the eggs, one at a time. Add the baking soda and vanilla and blend until completely mixed. Add the raisins and blend by hand.
Drop cookies onto greased cookie sheets or parchment paper (we used parchment paper).

Bake 8-11 minutes in a preheated oven at 350 degrees.

Product Review: For Chocolate Lovers!

I have not had a chocolate bar for over two years. I love chocolate, but have never been one to buy lots of candy bars, etc. Ever since I have gone off of dairy and soy, I have been asking for safe chocolate. For Easter. Valentine's Day, Christmas. Even Mother's day!

But no chocolate for me. My husband is wonderful, but not a "plan in advance" kind of guy, so he never researched where to get this for me. Wile I enjoy the "Enjoy Life" chocolate chips, I just really wanted something different, a bit smoother......

So imagine my surprise when he came home Sunday afternoon with a CHOCOLATE BAR! For ME!! I was beyond excited. I wanted to savor it, and did not even open it until later when the girls were in bed.

The chocolate is from "Equal Exchange" and the safe kind for me (no dairy, no soy) was the dark chocolate. It was organic dark chocolate with pure cocoa nibs. Are you salivating yet?

Oh my, was this delicious. This chocolate just melted in my mouth. I tried my best to eat a bit at a time, but sadly finished it off yesterday. I just looked and found that it is available though my buying club...I just have to decide if I really want 12 of these things in my house! Plus, at $3.49 a bar, it is a pricey treat for me.

But, one I have been waiting for for a very long time!

Recipe: Creamy Pasta with Mushrooms

I have been so excited to share this recipe, as it is a personal favorite of mine at the moment! One thing I really miss about being off of dairy is the ability to have creamy pasta dishes. I saw this recipe in one my of favorite cookbooks at the moment (which I do highly recommend!) I saw that she used white beans in order to create a creamy texture and I just had to try it!

We modified the recipe a bit. For one, it calls for 3 strips of uncured pork or turkey bacon (cooked and chopped). We could not find any turkey bacon that declares itself "gluten-free" so we skipped this. We also changed the ingredient amounts, adding more beans for an even creamier texture, less garlic (so the girls would eat it) and 1/2 the canola oil mentioned.

We also added 2 cooked skinless chicken breasts, sliced up. This was a wonderful addition! It reminded me of my favorite Italian restaurant's "House special"-with the only difference being that their chicken was breaded. Next time I hope to "bread" the chicken beforehand.

I was very impressed, and absolutely loved it! I have made it a couple times since, in order to have it for lunch. I even made it for my husband's parents, and I don't think they even realized it had beans in it :)

So enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4-5 tablespoons of white beans, pureed (we used some of the canola oil to puree beans in blender)
• 3-4 medium mushrooms, sliced
• 3 fresh basil leaves (or 1 tsp dried)
• 1/2 pound cooked corn spaghetti (or any other acceptable spaghetti noodle)
• 1-2 skinless chicken breasts, cooked and sliced.
  

In a small saucepan, combine the oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Simmer over very low heat for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add the beans, mushroom and basil (if you wish to add bacon, add this as well)
Simmer for another 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add to the cooked pasta, and toss to distribute the sauce evenly. Add the chicken slices and serve!

If you plan to fee more people and use more pasta, definitely double the sauce!

Food Trial: Oats

When Mara was a baby and we still were not sure of the extent of her food issues, we-as many parents do, introduced her to oats. I was already aware of her problems with wheat, but was not aware of the cross contamination issue with wheat and oats.

Anyway, at first Mara seemed to do OK with oats, and for the first coupe of times she ate it, she really seemed to enjoy it. I was so excited to have another kind of cereal to feed her!

Then she started waking up throughout the night, more so then usual. Lots of crying, lots of very painful gas. She refused to sleep during the day and just wanted to be held. All the time.

It wasn't until her mucous-filled diapers that we suddenly figured out that it was the oats. We were still learning, and somewhat in denial.

So no more oats for us. Once we figured out her issues with gluten, we assumed that that is why she couldn't tolerate the oats.

Last week my husband came home with this: Bob's Gluten-free oats! I was so excited, as I missed eating oatmeal and being able to use it in cooking.

We tried it with Mara and she loved them with bananas-of course. On Sunday we gave them to her again. Sunday night she was up a few times, crying hysterically. My husband had gone in and rubbed her back, and told me he thought it was her stomach.

Silly me, didn't put two and two together until the next day. Naptime was again filled with tears, and lots of painful gas. As I was sitting there with her, I finally had my lightbulb moment that it had to be the oats.

Another mucous-filled diaper when she woke up confirmed it for us.

So no more oats once again! At least I was able to eat two bowls of it before-hand :)

Happy birthday Mara! Recipe: Banana Pineapple Cake

I cannot believe my little Mara has turned two years old already! We celebrated her birthday last Friday. It has been such an eventful two years, filled with doctor visits, specialists, and lots of yucky testing. I have such hope for this coming year, as my baby is now thriving and moving on with her life.

I was determined to make my child a delicious birthday cake. I will admit to last year just making a cake using a recipe I had found that worked and not putting too much thought into it. The cake was OK, but I wanted her cake this year to be GREAT! Doesn't every child deserve that?

Mara is not much of a cake and cookie eater. She loves the Enjoy Life snickerdoodle cookies, and the banana muffins that I had made for her. I was tempted to make a carrot cake for her, but decided to go with something that had banana since it is something I know she loves.

I have recently bought two new glutenfree cookbooks in hopes to learn how to bake using all the different glutenfree flours that are out there. You really need to use a combination of them, and deciphering the exact measurements of each has been my downfall. So , I bought these cookbooks, and figured I could find ways to modify the dairy and soy.

To make a long story short, I found a recipe for a Banana Pineapple Cake in "The Gluten-Free Gourmet Cooks Comfort Foods" by Bette Hagman. This recipe does not contain dairy or soy in the original recipe, so I was sold! The only issue I had was that it called for teff flour, and potato flour, neither of which we had and my poor husband drove to three different natural food stores last week and couldn't find it. So I had to improvise. I have found places to order it online, so next time I make it I will try using the suggested flours and let you know the difference! For the recipe below, I am giving the flours we used this time.

Here is the cake. She wanted a puppy dog and as you can see, I am not gifted in cake decorating. But it made her happy, so that is all that should matter :)

I used some all natural sprinkles on the ears, an Enjoy Life cookie for the nose and Enjoy Life chocolate chips for outlining. I also used a Kettle Valley fruit snack for the tongue.

The cake was so good! Mara loved it, my husband loved it...even my inlaws loved it when they came over Sunday. The pineapple makes it really moist. I highly recommend trying it! If you can use wheat flour, go ahead, but reduce the amount of baking powder to one tsp and omit the zanthan gum.


Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Millet Flour
• 1 1/2 cups brown rice flour
• 1/2 cup potato starch flour
• 1/4 cup tapioca flour
• 2 tsp xanthan gum
• 2 tsp Egg Replacer
• 1 tsp gelatin
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp apple pie spice
• 1 cup canola oil
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups diced bananas (about 3 bananas)
• 1 cup chopped pecans (optional- we did not add this)
• one 8-ounce can crushed pineapple with juice

(These instruction are pretty much the same as the book!) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 3 8" round cake pans with wax or parchment paper and grease, or grease a 9 x 13 oblong cake pan.

In a bowl, first combine the brown rice flour, potato starch flour and tapioca flour. Add the millet flour and whisk in the following: xanthan gum, Egg Replacer, gelatin, baking soda, baking powder, salt and apple pie spice.

In a mixing bowl, beat the oil and sugar until light. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients but do not beat it to hard. Stir in the bananas, pecans, and pineapple with juice until well blended.

Spoon into your prepared pans. Bake round cake pans for about 25 minutes, or the oblong pan for 40-45 minutes (or until tester comes out clean).

Frosting

I found a recipe for "Royal Frosting" here. I added some vanilla extract towards the end. It was really good!

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
  
• 1 egg white
• 1/3 cup boiling water

1. Mix all ingredients together, adding boiling water last.
2. Beat on high for 6-10 minutes until frosting forms peaks.

Lunch Ideas

I have been having such a hard time finding some computer time these days!

Becky@ BoysRuleMyLife had asked for some simple lunch ideas, and I must admit...I am not that creative when it comes to lunches! Usually I will make extras fro dinner and use that for the next day's lunch.

However, we do not always have that option, or Mara simply refuses to eat it again (like she did today). So here are some things that work for us:

• Peabutter on rice cake. We haven't attempted nuts with Mara yet, so we use peabutter-which is made from golden peas. It is pretty good! We have also used sunbutter, but Mara seems to prefer the creaminess of the peabutter. It is also good on apples and celery for a snack! I usually serve her this with some fruit or veggies.
  
• 
  
• "Toddler Salad": I made this for Mara today. I chopped up avocado, lettuce, some leftover steamed asparagus, raisins, thin carrot slices and celery. I added it all onto her plate and sprinkled some leftover white beans. She loved it!
• 
  
• Simple casseroles. My husband is not a fan of casseroles for dinner, so I try and make them for our lunches instead. I made a baked spaghetti casserole, which was very easy- cooked corn spaghetti noddles into a casserole dish and I added some dice tomatoes, basil and sprinkled rice crumbs on the top. I cooked it for about 25 minutes at 350 degrees. The girls loved it!
• 
  
• I use Chebe bread to make flatbread/tortillas and then brown some ground turkey with some cumin and chili peppers. We add black beans, corn and avocados and it makes a great meal!
  

I hope that has given you some ideas! I will post some more again soon!

Recipe: Fried Chicken Wings

Ok, so frying isn't the healthiest thing to do with your food, but I had such a craving for chicken wings! What I REALLY wanted was the blue cheese dressing to dip them in, but we all know that cannot happen.

We tried this recipe from my new cookbook: Balancing the Bowl, a food allergy cookbook: recipes free of wheat, rice, barley, egg, milk, soy, peanut, tree nuts, shellfish and fish" Remember how excited I was to get this cookbook? I am just getting to try out some of her recipes. Overall, I am happy with the variety of recipes offered in this book, but I must admit that I was sad to see how often oat flour was used. We are tempted to try some gluten-free oats with Mara and see how she does...always a scary thing, isn't it? If your diet allows oats, I would definitely recommend this cookbook! I will post more recipes as we try them out.

Anyway-we followed the recipe exactly and the wings were delicious! The girls could not get enough-even Ms. Picky Analese ate them up with no complaints. I found that I was not even craving my blue cheese dressing, as these really do not need anything! The orange peel makes them very sweet-but not too sweet :)

* The only thing we thought about doing differently next time is having the wings marinate in the seasonings for a few hours before frying.

I hope you enjoys these as much as we did!


Fried Chicken Wings

Ingredients:

• Corn or canola oil for frying
• 5 chicken wings, separated to make 10 pieces
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tblspns fresh ginger, peeled and minced
• 1/4 cup orange peel, minced

Method:

• Preheat oil in deep fryer. Line a plate with two layers of paper towels and set aside.
  
• Clean wings thoroughly and discard wing tips if desired. Pat chicken with a paper towel to drain excess water.
• Combine chicken, sugar, salt, ginger and orange peel in a medium bowl. Blend well to cover chicken with seasonings.
  
• Dip 4-6 chicken pieces into hot oil. Use caution, as oil may splatter.
• Fry until chicken is completely cooked (approximately 4 minutes) Stir frequently to distribute heat.
  
• Remove chicken and place on lined plate to drain excess oil.
• Eat and enjoy!
  

Happy New Year!

I am back and have lots of recipes to post! We have been so busy the past few weeks, but things are calming down so I should be able to get on here again.

Some news first though...I am pregnant with baby #3! I am about 12 weeks along, and am due sometime in July. Morning sickness has been tough this time around, but hopefully it will begin to let up some as I move into the second trimester.

Our holidays went well, just busy, busy, busy! The girls and I are still recovering these days. We survived the holiday gatherings with only one food incident where Mara ate something she shouldn't have. We got home that night and the vomiting began.....not fun. I feel so bad because it is my fault-I swore that Mara would no longer eat anything unless we made it. But then my aunt had made me some chicken and said there was nothing on it.....I don't know for sure if that was it, but I have my suspicions. I really need to stop feeling bad for other people and just stick to the meal I brought. Sigh.

Anyway, I hope you have all had a great and more restful holiday season! I promise to be posting more recipes shortly!

Holiday Cookies

This year I was determined to get some baking done with the girls, and being that things have been stressful and I haven't been feeling well...I decided to cheat a little!

Through my buying club, I bought Cherrybrook Kitchen's Gluten-free Sugar Cookie Mix. Since I had to buy in bulk, I received 6 of them (which ended up being a good thing-lots to practice with!)

Our first batch was done according to the directions on the box, with a few modifications, using canola oil instead of margarine, hemp milk instead of soy milk. The girls have a current obsession with Frosty the Snowman, so our goal was to make snowmen. Once the batter was mixed, I began to add some all purpose gluten-free flour to the mix in order to soak up some of the oil in order to make the dough easier to roll out.

The girls had a blast, and we used Enjoy Life chocolate chips for eyes and some dried fruit and raisins to decorate.

Today we made another batch of cookies, only this time our goal was to make candy cane cookies. I did things a bit differently-I added almost a cup of the all purpose gluten-free flour while mixing the batter, and we also added some peppermint oil for that "candy cane" flavor.

Once the batter was ready, we divided it in half and added red food coloring to half of it. The dough was still pretty oily, so we were not able to really roll it out like traditional candy cane cookies. Instead- I made two long rolls-one white and one red, and then broke off chunks in order to make my candy canes.

The girls really enjoyed this, and made lots of creations on their own.

*The only thing I would do differently next time is add some xanthan gum to the batter when I added the extra flour. I think adding so much extra flour through it off bit, and some of the first batch didn't stick together as well as the second batch (when I sprinkled some in).

Recipe: Vegtable Stir Fry

Here is a quick and simple meal I threw together last night. It went over much better then I expected! You never know how new foods will go over over with little ones, but I did some things to help make it more appealing. I used corn spaghetti noodles-which they love, and I used vegetables they were familiar with. It really is beautiful with all the colors- I really wish I had taken a photo so you could see!

With this stir fry, I gave the girls some tuna fish (made with canola mayo and chopped up celery), and some black beans. For Mara, I just added the black beans into the stir fry and she ate it all up!

Ingredients:

• 1-2 carrots, chopped
• 1/2 cup broccoli
• 1 stalk celery
• 1/4 cup peas
• 1/4 cup green beans
• 1/4 cup corn
• 1-2 tbsp canola oil
• 1/2 tsp basil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1-2 tbsp alternative bread crumbs (I used Orgran's All Purpose Crumbs)
  
• corn spaghetti, or any other alternative pasta

Cook pasta as directed. In a wok or frying pan, add the canola oil and carrots. Cook for a few minutes to soften the carrots, and then add the rest of the vegetables. As the vegetables begin to soften, add salt and pepper to taste. When pasta is finished cooking, add it into the vegetable mix. Add the basil, and then the bread crumbs. With the bread crumbs, I just added a bit at a time, stirring and adding until noodles were completely coated.

Very simple and delicious!

Sorry

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted! I wish I could say that I was out decking the halls and enjoying the holiday season, but sadly, I have not! I have been having the worst luck, with not feeling well due to allergies flaring up, and then I threw my back out last week which left me unable to do anything at all for awhile.

So again, I am sorry, and I promise I will be back! I have one final paper left to write and turn in tomorrow and then I am completely down with school for awhile. I had my finals last weekend, and am so looking forward to having a break!

I will hopefully post some recipes this weekend. Hope your all enjoying this holiday season!

Recipe: Broccoli Salad

Here is the broccoli salad I made for Thanksgiving. It was delicious! I found this recipe on The Kids Wellness website, and the only thing I changed was the type of mayo used and we omitted the onions. We had actually ran out of the safflower mayo we normally used, so my husband made some home-made safflower mayo for me. It was delicious, and probably made the salad even better :)

Ingredients:

6 cups chopped broccoli

1/4 cup finely chopped red onion (optional)

3/4 cup sweetened dried cranberries or raisins

1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, (or chopped walnuts, or any nut of choice)

3/4 cup light mayonnaise of your choice

2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 tablespoons flax seed

In a large bowl place broccoli, onion, cranberries, pumpkin seeds and flax seed. In another bowl, combine mayonnaise, vinegar and sugar. Mix well. Pour over salad, toss well. Chill before serving.

Its been awhile....

Sorry it's been so long since i have posted! My classes are winding down and I am preparing for my finals next weekend. Then, I can breathe! It's been a long semester, and I look forward to having a break.

Our Thanksgiving went well. I had made three new dishes to take with us: a broccoli salad, sweet potato bake and pumpkin pie. The only thing I personally loved was the broccoli salad, which I'll post the recipe soon. The sweet potato bake was too sweet for me, although I received quite a few compliments on, and the pumpkin pie recipe I used just didn't do it for me.

Mara loved the pumpkin pie, but refused to eat the sweet potato bake. This was funny to me, as it has orange juice in it, and she absolutely loves oranges. On the other hand, Analese, who hates all fruit but avocados, loved this dish! My girls are truly opposites, its hysterical.

Anyway, I will try and be back on to post soon, but please be patient with me the next few weeks as my head will be buried in my books :)

Busy Playing Food Detective

Once again, Mara has been having digestive issues and we are scrambling to find the cause. She hasn't been introduced to anything new, so it's either a matter of her getting a hold of something she shouldn't-like crumbs from her sister's bread, or something she has been eating is now causing her poor tummy to react.

So it's time once again to play food detective!

This week I will begin a food diary for Mara, writing down everything she has eaten, what time, she has eaten it, etc. I also plan to write down any signs of tummy distress-mucousy stools, fussiness, etc.

Hopefully this will help clue us in as to what is going on with our little Mara. I feel like every time we begin to relax, something reminds us that we really cannot.

Not just yet.

Hopefully someday.