Lunch Special

Do you know what kind of plate this is? Yep - it is an egg plate. I guess you know how much use this gets in our house now. Zilch. None. Zip.

Well, Julia saw it the other day and wanted to eat her lunch on it. Luckily, I hadn't decided what she was going to have. This made it super easy.

What you see is what you get with this one. Diced turkey lunch meat in some of the holes. Cheese in another. Bean dip in the rest. Sun Chips in the middle. She was thrilled. This lunch mirrored what I sent with the other two for lunch at school that day. It is an allergen free meal for us.

The turkey is something we have checked to make sure it doesn't have diary in it. A lot of lunch meat does. Didn't know that until we had to start checking labels.

We cook up a whole bag of beans whenever we do beans so that we can freeze them. These beans were leftovers from that big pot. I just got some and mashed them with a fork and some water until they were the consistency of bean dip. Then I added a bit of salt and garlic powder until I liked the taste for a dip.

The cheese is goat cheese, or chevre. It appears that Louisa can handle this. We have not done any big challenges to her system with it but she can have several slices with a meal and it doesn't bother her.

Sun chips are another thing that Louisa can eat. As long as they are not the flavored varieties. Most of the flavors have things in them we are trying to avoid. The plain ones are good, though.

So, just a quick and easy lunch. I thought it was cute, though, so I shared it, too. YES!

Chicken and Rice

I got a very good compliment tonight. Well, 3 actually. All the girls liked dinner. It was almost as good as the stuff Aunt Jenn cooks. That is a tough challenge to live up to but I am evidentally getting closer. I'll take that.

Dinner tonight was chicken and rice. (No pictures today - I forgot) It was based on a recipe that I grew up making. I think Campbell's puts this recipe on a lot of their soup cans. It is the one where you put water, rice, and soup in a dish and mix it up. Then put the chicken pieces on top and bake it. A good recipe, except for the cream soup part. Dairy products are not allowed for us. So, remake - here I come.

I used the exact same concept but I had garlic flavored chicken broth in the fridge. (Never would have bought it but it came in a meal deal during one of our shopping trips to HEB. Nice freebie!) I put the chicken broth and rice in and the chicken on top (frozen!). Bake and voila! The girls didn't stop talking about it until they were done eating it!

CHICKEN & RICE:
2 C garlic flavored chicken broth
1 1/4 C long grain/slow cook rice
4 - 6 chicken breasts (thawed or frozen, doesn't make too much difference except for cooking time)

Put the broth and rice in a 9 x 13 dish and stir it up. Place the chicken on top and cover with aluminum foil. Place in 375 degree oven for 40 - 60 minutes (40 for thawed; 60 for frozen), checking to make sure the chicken is baked thoroughly. If you want a little bit of color to your chicken, uncover and bake for another 10 minutes. You could even sprinkle a tiny bit of paprika over it. Serve. Makes 4 - 6 servings.

I served this with corn and broccoli (both frozen and cooked in the microwave). This was a good dinner with very little work involved. My kind of cooking. And it was all from the YES list!!!

Struggles

We have had quite a time with allergies lately. Beginning back before Christmas, the allergy season kicked in full force for most of the family. Louisa has had it the hardest though. Some medicine changes have helped but not to the extent we would like. Thus it leaves me back here. Food. What can we change? What can we not change? Are we missing something? Why the tummy aches again, often, after so much time without them?

I don't know what our answer is going to be but I do know that my first response is food. Food. Ugh. We all love food and we are doing really well managing the allergens but it is next to impossible to stay away completely.

Soy, for example. In Everything! And I do mean everything. Even lunchmeats can have soy in them. Luckily this is her lowest level allergen but...with everything else flaring we need to cut it out. I haven't figured out how. If only I knew. That might make a difference.

Milk is another. There are a million and a half names for milk products. Again, it is in everything except fresh fruit and veggies, it seems. And this seems to be an allergen that affects her quickly and easily. So hard to avoid.

Potatoes, eggs, peanuts, beef, pork and tomotoes are not a big hassle to avoid, as long as we eat at home. Now if there is something special at church, that is another story. We have several folks at church that try to bring something that she can eat. They are so thoughtful! But, as a 5 year old, she misses getting to go birthday parties without worrying about the cake or ice cream or pizza. And, she really misses eating out. We do go to Sonic or McDonalds some but have noticed her body not accepting these foods as easily lately. (BTW - These two places, last I checked, do not have milk products in their chicken strips or nuggets. And they offer apples instead of fries. Thus the reason we go there.)

How do you answer a 5 year old who sincerely cries "I just want to be normal again."? I don't know and my heart is breaking. Her sisters are super with her and can help her get over this but her mama is not doing so well.

This is not necessarily a helpful post but one I needed to get out there. Just for me. The positive will come back but for now, this is where I am. Searching each day for more answers and remembering, above all, that today belongs to God and His will. I was reminded this morning of something Becky Blackmon says: Give God today, every day, or satan will take it. May I always remember that and give God each day, every day.

Blessings!

Monkey Face

Even though I said I was going to post weekly, I let the holiday and time with family prevail. Not a bad thing but I did not follow through with my word. For anyone out there who actually pays attention to this blog, I apologize. I intent to do better.

We are starting again. This time with Monkey Faces. Sort of. These cookies taste amazing but don't actually look anything like I was expecting from the recipe description. We'll start at the beginning.

http://community.tasteofhome.com/community_forums/f/30/t/342014.aspx

This was the link to the original recipe I used. If you look at that recipe and remember anything about our food situation, you know that I did not follow the recipe to a T. Perhaps that is why my monkey faces turned out looking like this...

Little aliens, if you ask me. Still, they tasted good. So good that I am fending off the children as we speak.

Here's the recipe:

Mix together:

1/2 C shortening

1 C brown sugar

1/2 C molasses (I used cane syrup since that is what I had and the taste is similar. Another plus, it is cheaper than molasses.)

Add:

1/2 C almond milk (Probably any milk will do but this is what we keep for the allergenic child around here.)

1 tsp vinegar (I just used plain old white vinegar.)

Mix in:

2 1/2 C flour

1 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Drop by rounded tsp. 2-12" apart on ungreased baking sheet. Place 3 raisins on each for eyes and mouth. Bake @375º 10-12 min. or until set. Remove from sheet in 1 min. Faces take on droll expressions in baking. Makes 4 doz. 2-1/2" cookies.                     

I made half of the cookies with raisins and half without. Here's the picture of the others.

I don't know why exactly, but the ones with the raisins are slightly more chewy and soft. The others still taste wonderful but I think I will use the raisins all the time now.

Happy baking and happy blessings. May all your experiences be full of YES.







Chicken and Noodles

So I couldn't wait to share now that I have gotten back on here. So here is the recipe that my DD5 thought was AWESOME!

Chicken and noodles is a wonderful standard meal. Why hadn't I thought of this before?

We went to my parents for Thanksgiving. My mom and I were trying to plan the meals for the time we were going to be there so we could decide if we needed to go to the store. Well, anytime I am with my mom, I think of chicken and noodles. It is one of her favorites. So, we went through the ingredients and, yep, everything is on the YES list. Now why did this take so long to register? Well, my daughter loved it.

It is now about 3 weeks later and I was thinking about dinner while doing some Christmas shopping. I am normally better about my dinner planning but I had been lazy lately. I was thinking of my mom and chicken and noodles popped to mind. So, when I got home I got the chicken out of the freezer and got dinner started. It was a HUGE hit. The words awesome, yummy, good, love, and more were said over and over. Why didn't I think of this one before? She even asked if I had made enough for leftovers for tomorrow. (I had. She was happy.)

So, on to the recipe. (Don't forget that I do a lot of "whatever I have on hand"! Substitute where needed.)

2 large chicken breasts (provided about 3 cups of meat after it was cooked)
6 C water
Spices & seasonings: salt, thyme, parsley, basil
4 large carrots
1 C frozen peas (or whatever amount you have of whatever veggie you have leftover)
8 oz mini shell noodles, uncooked (or whatever shape and size you want; the ones I used were egg free)
3 T flour
water to make a paste with flour (you want it kind of liquidy but I forgot to measure this; I always just eyeball it)

Put the frozen or thawed chicken into a stockpot with the water. Add your spices and seasonings, about a palm full of each. Bring the water to a boil and then turn down the heat to a slow boil. Let it cook until the chicken is done (about 40 minutes for frozen; about 20 minutes for thawed). Add the carrots and let cook for another 10 minutes. Remove the chicken and shred.  While you are shredding the chicken, add the noodles. Let cook until the noodles are done, adding your veggies about 5 minutes before your noodles are done and the chicken whenever you get it shredded. Make a paste from the flour and water. Add it to the pot, stirring to help prevent lumps. This will thicken it up just a bit and make it yummier!

All done. Spoon it up and serve with bread, rolls, crackers, or nothing at all. And, enjoy more Food In The World of YES!

At Last!

Well, after months of not being able to log in, here I am. No idea what happened or why but I couldn't even get an answer from the blog world itself! Personally, I think it had to do with the firewall we had on our computer. I think it kind of went haywire. Once we changed that, BAM! All sorts of things we were having problems with got fixed. Who knew?

I will get back to posting once or twice a week now that I know I can get in here. The next recipe will be coming soon and it was a HUGE hit tonight. My DD with all the allergies said "This is awesome! I love it. Do we have enough for leftovers?"  Later in the meal, she asked when I was going to make it again. I think this one was good.

And a preview for more things I can't wait to share with you:
granola bar no bake cookies (they are healthy and yummy!)
a couple of cool websites I have come across
a bread recipe
muffins
and more....

I am glad to be back and hope you will continue to join me as I stumble along my way making Food In The World of YES!

Crock Pot again!

So, there are no pictures to go with this one but it was success!!!

I love my crock pot/slow cooker and with the temps at 105 and higher still, it is getting a work out. Last night, it was chicken. I am not putting this one in recipe format because it is so simple!

I got out the slow cooker about 3 PM. I poured a couple of tablespoons of canola oil in and them poured in about 1/4 - 1/2 C of red wine vinegar. I put in about 3 pounds of chicken breasts (bone-in) and sprinkled it over the top with creole seasoning (Tony Chachere's). That was it. Put it on 3 (medium) until 6 PM and it was done and yummy. The girls like it a lot and even asked if I would send it for their lunch today. I was more than happy to! Oh, and there was plenty of leftovers!

Hope you enjoy this sweet, flavorful, juicy chicken.

Vegetables and Grits

The grits were a hit! Yea! The veggies were not. Boo! I can't seem to hit a home run very often but I will keep trying.

Once again, I really liked these veggies. They had a sweet and creamy flavor, without being too sweet. I think I have to figure out how to hide the green and red bell peppers. I am guessing that is why two of the three girls wouldn't eat these. I enjoyed it and will have plenty of leftovers for a couple of meals for myself.

The recipe is what I think of as easy. I hope you do, too. Here it is...

VEGETABLES AND GRITS

• Grits - prepare as instructed on package
• 2 T total canola oil and/or margarine
• 1 onion - diced
• 1/2 green bell pepper - diced
• 1/2 red bell pepper - diced
• 1 carrot - cut into thin disks
• 1/2 C frozen peas
• any other veggies you want to include
• 2 T flour
• rice milk - about 2 C, more or less to consistency desired
• salt
• pepper
• garlic powder
• paprika
• parsley

1. In a large saucepan on the stove top, add the oil and/or margarine. Put in the onion and bell peppers. Cook for a few minutes and then add the carrots. Cook for 5 or 6 minutes, until the carrots are tender enough to stab with a knife or fork but not so tender they mash. Add the peas and any other veggies that need to go in. Cook for another minute.
2. Add the flour. Stir and cook for about 2 minutes. Slowly add the milk, stirring constantly to help avoid lumps. Continue adding the rice milk until the consistency you want is achieved.
3. Add salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, and parsley to taste.
4. Serve with grits. You could also substitute a rice or a pasta for the grits.

The menu for this meal was grits and veggies, baby oranges (mandarin oranges), and broccoli.

I hope you try grits. They are so much better than the reputation they get from so many of the old books. I really enjoy them and with the veggies they make a great main dish.

Grits

The grits were good served with a vegetable medley.

What do you think of when you think of grits? Me? I think of Grandma Terrell. Not because she made them for us that I can remember but because I seem to remember her talking about grits and milk. I may be remembering wrong but that is what comes to mind. I don't know that I ever had them growing up at all.

However, not long ago, my wonderful mother-in-law brought me a whole bunch of different grains from a gristmill they had visited. One of the things she brought was grits. I had no idea how to make grits so I just followed the directions on the bag.

It took 10 minutes in the microwave. The measurements were 1 C grits to 2 1/2 C water. I also added salt to taste and a couple of tablespoons of margarine when they came out of the microwave. I really like them. They can be cooked on the stove top or in the microwave. I served them with some veggies that I cooked on the stove top. I will give you that concoction in another post.

All in all, I would certainly recommend trying these. You should know that there are some rather large pieces of corn hull or husk or something in the grits that I had. Just be aware of how coarsely ground your grits are if you are serving them to small children. Also, if you have a corn allergy, these are not for you since most grits are ground up corn. But, this is allergy free otherwise.

At any rate, something new that the girls ate - a positive dinner.

Dinner Menu

Dinner the other evening was a success. Of course, when I choose sausage, it is seldom anything else. The girls all love sausage. Usually, I just cut up the smoked sausage links and brown the pieces in a skillet. I needed something different though.

I took the turkey sausage, about 14 ounces, and boiled it with the juice from a large can of pineapple chunks. It turned out sweet, with a nice citrus flavor, without being overwhelmingly pineapple-y. I just simmered it until the rest of the dinner was ready and the sausage was heated through.

So our menu was this:

• turkey smoked sausage boiled in pineapple juice
• canned pineapple
• sliced red bell peppers and cucumbers
• black beans (prepared ahead and frozen, then thawed for this dinner)
• carrots and broccoli (from a bag of frozen veggies)

That's all. It was simple and easy because much of the prep work had been done ahead of time. I seem to get bogged down in side dishes a lot of the time but these ended up being quick. I will have to remember this menu.

Snickerdoodles

Cookies are always a hit. One of my favorite things to make in the kitchen has always been cookies. I love cookies.

 

However, if you have food allergies in your family, you know just how few recipes are out there without something that your child is allergic to. Well, here is a good one that does not have milk or eggs. It comes from my childhood and my mother, who taught me so much. Actually, I modified the one from my mom so that it does not include eggs but she won't mind. So here we go.

SNICKERDOODLE COOKIES

• 1 1/2 C sugar
• 1/2 C margarine, softened
• 1/2 C vegetable shortening
• 4 T arrowroot flour
• 4 T water
• 2 3/4 C flour
• 2 t cream of tartar
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/4 t salt
• 3 T sugar
• 3 T ground cinnamon

Heat oven to 400. Mix sugar, margarine, shortening, arrowroot flour, and water. Stir in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Shape dough into walnut sized balls.

Mix 3 T sugar and 3 T ground cinnamon. Roll balls in mixture. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 - 10 minutes. Cook on rack. Makes about 6 dozen cookies.

Enjoy this treat.

Egg Substitutes

Did you ever get up and decide to work on a recipe only to read eggs in the list and know you didn't have any? Used to be that I would put that recipe aside. Now, I know better. Since DD number 2 has been diagnosed with an egg allergy, I have found out that there are actually a huge number of possible substitutes.

These Snickerdoodles were made with arrowroot flour.

I have used several of them. In fact, the cookies in the oven right now used the arrowroot flour substitute. You will do better if you have an idea of the taste of what you are making is like - mainly sweet or savory. I am going to be making cupcakes tomorrow using an egg substitute. I will let you know how that turns out.

For now, here is the list that I have compiled of possible substitutes for eggs.

Use one of the following bullets  for each egg, up to 3 eggs, paying attention to the type of dish you are making and the flavors that will compliment it.

• 1 tsp baking powder + 1 T liquid + 1 T vinegar
• 1 tsp yeast dissolved in ¼ C warm water
• 1 ½ T water + 1 ½ T oil + 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 pkg gelatin + 2 T warm water; mix just prior to use
• 2 T arrowroot flour
• 2 T applesauce + ¼ tsp baking powder
• ½ banana (medium, mashed) + ¼ tsp baking powder
• 1 T vinegar + 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 T lemon juice + 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 T cornstarch + 3 T water

These have worked really well for me. I hope they work just as well for you. Happy baking.

YES from no

Ever been on a roller coaster ride? Well, that is why I am here. No, I haven't ridden a roller coaster recently but we are on a daily roller coaster with food allergies.

My DD #2 was recently diagnosed with a ton of food allergies. We are very blessed - none of them are considered life threatening. (Just so you know, the food allergies are milk, soy, beef, pork, potato, tomato, egg, and peanut.) She also has lots of allergies to grasses and trees, things we can't control. In response, we are going to work on controlling food as best we can.

In my search for information, I have come across many, many things that I am unable to use. "No, can't do this" or "Nope, that has _____ (fill in the allergenic food)." I was quickly becoming someone who was saying "No" way too often.

The title of this blog came from my overwhelming desire to become one who can answer "YES" when it comes to food. I want to focus on the positive aspects of this for my daughter so she won't feel deprived or left out and so that the whole family is excited about the new items being offered.

So, Food In The World of YES is born.

What I am going to attempt to do is to post often. There are no promises about how often. I am in the middle of summer with 3 little girls, after all. But I will do my best to not leave you hanging. I am going to attempt to share with you all the wonderful foods we can eat and how I have figured out to prepare them so that our whole family enjoys them.

Thank you for visiting me at Food In The World of YES and I hope you visit again soon.

Tomorrow: my first recipe!!