Austin finally gets a chocolate chip cookie!

A good chocolate chip cookie is hard to find when you are gluten and just about everything else free. I was happy to find a recipe from the gluten free goddess (glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com) and from Alton Brown that fit the bill. No pics today but they did turn out really well.

Mix & set aside:
2 c. brown rice flour
1/4 c. cornstarch
2 tbsp. tapioca flour
1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda

With a mixer, beat until smooth:
1/4 c. sugar
1 1/4 c. light brown sugar
1/4 c. ghee
1/2 c. canola oil

Add and beat until smooth

1 tbsp. Ener-G Egg Replacer beaten with 1/4 c. warm water
2 tbsp. warm water
1 tbsp. pure vanilla extract

Add the dry mix slowly and beat for 2 minutes.

Add in 1/2 to 1/3 c. of enjoy life chocolate chips and stir by hand to combine. Cover and chill the dough for one hour.

Preheat the oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with foil, parchment paper, or nonstick spray.

Form the dough into 2 inch balls. Place on your baking sheet and press down slightly.

Bake approximately 14 minutes.

Once the cookies have cooled you can wrap individually in saran wrap, place in a large ziploc bag and freeze for later.

Spartan Sparkles

Wow..Wow...Wow. I just saw this on Oprah and wanted to share this. These wonderful high school teenage girls wanted to continue giving back to children with special needs after volunteering at the special olympics so they created the Spartan Sparkles. Mothers of the girls say that their children have just been given such a great gift and they have seen improvements in their confidence. I hope to see more things like this in the near future. They were also recently featured on ABC News as persons of the week. See for yourself by copying and pasting the links below:

http://www.oprah.com/media/20091118-tows-cheerleaders

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhTDWr6Sk94

http://www.spartansparkles.com/

Celiac Light Bread & Pumpkin Corn Muffins

It was a busy and productive few days last weekend. Austin just started going to school a few more hours a day and that meant he needed things to eat for lunch. So far, I have not really experimented with bread because I haven't heard to many great things about bread but lunch times mean sandwiches. I started searching and found several blogs and websites raving about Tom's Celiac Light Bread. It was even listed on one website in the top 5 best GF bread recipes. The recipe below is exactly as I found it on all websites. I tried it the regular way and the bread machine way and both came out great. Also, I received a recipe for pumpkin corn muffins from my Jules Gluten Free Newsletter. They turned out fantastic. In both recipes I did substitute Ener-G Egg Replacer for the eggs in both recipes.

CELIAC LIGHT BREAD
by Tom Van DemanAugust 20, 2003
1 1/8 cup Chickpea flour, also called Garbanzo Bean flour (I grind my own)
1 cup cornstarch (I use Cream corn starch)
1 cup + 1 Tbs. tapioca flour3 1/2 tsp. xanthum gum
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3 Tbs. brown sugar(Make sure that there are no lumps)
1/4 tsp. creme of tartar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/8 cup warm water (uncomfortable to touch but not boiling)
3 Tbs. vegetable oil (I use peanut oil or canola oil)
2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast

Bread Machine Method
WARNING: Adding more liquids or flours or reducing same could cause the bread to not cook thoroughly on the inside or to be too heavy. Also, I am at almost 6000 feet altitude in Denver area which might cause your bread to be slightly different than mine. First try it as is and then experiment if necessary.Combine all of the dry ingredients in a medium size bowl except for the yeast. Mix dry ingredients thoroughly with wire whisk. Mix together the lightly beaten eggs, warm water, and oil in a separate bowl and thoroughly mix with wire whisk. Pour the liquid ingredients into your bread machine bowl (I use my Zoj). Immediately spoon in your dry mixed ingredients on top of the wet ingredients to make a mound in the center but covering all of the wet ingredients. With a spoon or spatula, make a small depression on top of your dry ingredients (must be dry for the yeast) and immediately spoon in your yeast. Place your bread machine pan in the machine correctly and turn the machine to regular wheat bread cycle and turn on machine. (This dough will need two kneadings in order to get its content to proper consistency.) Do not add any more liquids or flour. The dough will form a sticky ball. With a spatula, scrape down the sides of machine bowl to make sure all of the dry ingredients get into the dough ball. On the rise cycle, use your spatula that is wet to smooth the top of the loaf, if desired. Bake the bread using the medium crust setting. When finished, turn the loaf out onto your wire rack and allow bread to cool or you can slice it while hot (Do not squeeze the loaf too tightly while holding it to slice while hot.) Slice the bread thin with a serrated bread knife or electric knife and enjoy.

Oven MethodTurn your oven to 375 degrees. Combine all of the dry ingredients in a medium size bowl or your mixer bowl including the yeast. Mix thoroughly on medium or low setting. Mix together the lightly beaten eggs, warm water, and oil in a separate bowl and whip with wire whisk until all ingredients are mixed. Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix with your mixer on medium speed (Use paddle or dough hook). When sticky ball forms, scrape sides to get all of the flours and ingredients mixed together and continue to mix for about 1 minute more. Scrape into a 9 x 5-inch lightly greased loaf pan. Cover with plastic wrap, set in non drafty warm place and let rise until at least double size (approximately 45 to 60 minutes). Remove plastic wrap and place pan in preheated oven. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped with a spoon. Turn the loaf out onto your wire rack and allow loaf to cool or you can slice it while hot (Do not squeeze the loaf too tightly while holding it to slice when hot.)

Pumpkin Corn Muffins



Ingredients:

1 egg (or egg substitute)
1 cup milk of choice (dairy or non-dairy vanilla soy, hemp, almond, coconut...)
1⁄2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
2⁄3 cup pumpkin purée
1 cup Jules Gluten Free™ All Purpose Flour
1⁄2 tsp. salt
1⁄2 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbs. gluten-free baking powder
3⁄4 cup cornmeal
1⁄2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
2 Tbs. flaxseed meal (optional)
Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F static or 325 F convection.

Mix the liquid ingredients and pumpkin until combined. Whisk in the dry ingredients until the lumps are removed. Expect the batter to be a bit thin, but not watery.

Pour the batter into an oiled 8 x 8 baking pan or into oiled or lined muffin pans. Bake for 30 minutes for the cornbread, 20 minutes for regular corn muffins, or 12-15 minutes for mini-muffins. Insert a cake tester into the center of the bread to test for doneness; they should be lightly browned around the edges and firm to the touch in the centers.

Halloween

oops! I didn't realize it has been 2 months since I posted something! Time really does fly when you are busy. We have moved into our brand new house in another city so it's been a bit hectic around here trying to adjust and unpack.

However, I wanted to share this link of candy free of the top 8 allergens with Halloween approaching. I received it in my gluten free newsletter this morning. I scanned over the list and it seems accurate from other things I have read in the past but of course please read labels!

http://surefoodsliving.com/2009/10/06/gluten-free-allergen-free-halloween-candy-quick-list-2009/

GFCF & Egg Free Banana Bread

A few months ago, I tried a gfcf banana bread that a friend had made from a box mix. It was one of the best gfcf baked goods that I had tried but Austin couldn't have it because of the eggs so I decided that I should give a homemade version a try. I found several recipes all very similar that called for eggs. I decided to substitute with Ener-G Egg Replacer. I'm not sure what happened but the bread came out hard and very awful tasting.

Not one to give up so easily plus I still had more ripe bananas to use, I searched for eggless banana bread recipes. I found several on generic recipe sites and decided to convert to GFCF. Also, the hubby stepped up to plate and baked this batch because he is much better with baking. The result this time was awesome. The bread is really soft and moist. This is the second best GFCF baked goodie that I have tried (coming in second to the wonderful chocolate cupcakes from Pamela's).

3/4 c. All Purpose GF Flour (used Bob's Red Mill)
3/4 c. Rice Flour
2 tsp. Xanthan Gum (check to see if your GF flour blend already has this in it)
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Salt
3/4 c. Sugar
2 Large Ripe Bananas
1/2 c. Applesauce
4 tbsp. Melted Ghee (Purity Farms)
1/4 tsp. Vanilla Extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, mash the bananas well. Stir in the ghee, vanilla extract and applesauce into the bananas. Add the banana mixture into the mixing bowl with the dry ingredients. Mix gently by hand, just enough to form a thick, clumpy batter. Pour batter into greased loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes or until the bread is a deep golden brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

GFCF "Trail Mix"

I was scouring the internet for snack ideas and came across several who make a "trail mix" for their kids. This is a fantastic idea and adds some variety for us because our snacks usually consist of chips, rice cakes, pretzels or fruit. I made a large tupperware container full of my trail mix and can now store it in the pantry for another great snack.

To make your own trail mix, combine your favorite GFCF cereal(s) with any or all of the following based on what your child likes and can have on the diet:

raisins and/or craisins
nuts
marshmallows
chocolate chips (Enjoy Life)
dried fruit
granola (Enjoy Life)

Computer Time

Austin doesn't get to play on the computer any time he wants. My husband and I often tell him we are "working on something" when we are online and he wants on. This morning, I let him play while I got ready to take him to therapy. I came out of the bathroom and walked up the computer and was about to sit down when he said, "Austin is working on something."

Dorothy

We got a betta fish yesterday as a present for Austin. He really loves fish and we thought a betta would be simple enough to care for. We brought it in and got everything set up and then brought him over. What name did he choose? Dorothy - like Elmo's goldfish. It was cute!

We are eating Mac n Cheez

I found some products by Namaste at a local health food store here. Their products work great for us because they are free of wheat, gluten, corn, soy, potato, dairy, casein or nuts. After I checked their website and emailed their customer service to make sure the pasta's butter flavors were casein free, I picked up their "Say Cheez" which is a GFCF cheese pasta to try out with Austin. It was a huge hit with him. He thinks he is having macaroni and cheese. It's been so long since he's had the real thing, I'm sure he does not remember the exact taste.

My verdict: It's good for what it is. The cheese flavor isn't the greatest but it's not bad and the pasta is actually pretty good. He can't have soy for now so I'm surprised we've found any "cheesy" products. It also helps to add things. The first time I made it, I added ham. Today, I added ground beef. Broccoli florets might be good as well as chicken.

Homemade Mini Corn Dogs

As I started searching for more easy meal ideas, I came across several recipes for mini corn dogs. I thought that they would be great not only b/c they are a finger food but they probably taste almost normal considering most of what the recipe calls for is corn meal which is in real corn dogs. After google searching, most recipes called for the same ingredients, the only difference being what type of gf flour people used and that some people added a few tbsp. of oil to the batter. I saw some that called for a general GF blend and others who used 2 or more type of other flours. I decided to follow the recipe from Kathi's blog at http://kathi-gfcf.blogspot.com/ mainly b/c I had her two flours on hand and the way she prepared the corn dogs seemed very easy and very little mess.

Mini Corn Dogs
1/4 C garbanzo bean flour
1/4 C white rice flour
1/2 C yellow cornmeal
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg (or egg substitute which we use)
1 c. milk substitute (we used Dari Free potato milk)

Mix dry ingredients then add the egg and milk. Here is where I loved Kathi's method. She says to cut the hot dogs into six pieces each and then put a piece on the end of a skewer to batter and fry. This was great and made virtually no mess. Fry to golden brown. I assume you could also make regular size corn dogs with this recipe using popsicle sticks.

I found that if I put 3 in the fryer, by the time I got 3 more skewered and battered, the other ones were ready to come out. My corn dogs were not as thick as commercial ones but they tasted great. I made an entire package (could've made 2 with the leftover batter) and froze the rest for lunches.

Also, my neighbor came over and said that when she worked at a corn dog stand, they used to fry all sorts of things in the batter but one of the better tasting things was bananas. She said it comes out like banana waffles. Interesting, I just might have to try that one soon!

Jules Gluten Free Flour

I'm not sure where I first heard of Jules but I've read excellent reviews of her flour and how similar it is to white flour. I ordered a sample packet of the flour a while back but the only recipe included was one for blueberry muffins that called for sour cream. Being the savvy cook that I am (not!) I didn't know of any soy free substitutes so I put the flour away until I could find a recipe that called for the 2/3 cup sample.

Then I revisited Jules' website yesterday and saw that they've added 2 new recipes that can be used with the sample packet. One of those recipes is for pancakes and doesn't call for any ingredients that he can't have or at least that I can't substitute. I'll be making those later this week to review.

Also, I found some awesome information on Kathi's blog at http://kathi-gfcf.blogspot.com/ I was searching around for recipes so I can try out some new things for Austin when I came upon her post for homemade taco seasoning. Like Kathi, I just stopped giving Austin the seasoned meat when we have taco night b/c of all of the added ingredients plus soy in the McCormick's mix. Kathi came up with her own mix using basic GFCFSF seasonings and it comes out EXACTLY like the mix!! I don't want to re-post her recipe but you can definitely find it on her blog.

Recent Conversations

These are all phrases that were used appropriately but we have never even heard him use them before.

Austin: (looking at something gross) eww, yucky!!!

Austin: (playing with cars) Lighting McQueen and Mater
Me: That’s not Mater. Where is Mater?
Austin: He is not here.

Daddy: Is it this foot that hurts?
Austin: No, this one! (pointing at other one)
Daddy: (kisses it)
Austin: All better

Austin: bye bye Daddy car (when he thought Daddy was going to work)
Daddy: No, Daddy’s car is broken (car battery was dead)
Austin: (looking at a hot wheels car that is the same color as our car) Daddy’s car is fixed!

Simple.Delicious.Chicken.

Simple is what goes in our household. I'm not a gourmet chef and I probably never will be. I don't have the patience to cook a meal with 10 or more ingredients, half being ones that I've never heard of or are probably to expensive for my budget. Besides that, I have picky eaters in my household! I have seen the following recipe on many sites so there is not really a "source" that I retrieved it from; I just wanted a simple way to prepare chicken one day and I remembered reading about this. Sorry for not posting pictures but I never thought to take any. The outside of the chicken comes out beautifully golden brown and the inside comes out incredibly moist.

Honey Chicken

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
Honey
Salt & Pepper

Layer chicken in a pan. Season with salt and pepper to taste and drizzle with honey. Bake at 425 for 25-35 min. until done. Enjoy!

Pretend Play

Austin's therapists have started working with him on pretend play. For kids with autism it is a difficult to produce symbolic play (ie.. pretend that a cup is a telephone) although they may be able to do functional play things such as pushing a toy car or drinking from a play cup. We started with using the most basic things like pretending to eat or feed the baby but now the therapists have been wanting to introduce new concepts like driving a car by using chairs or just squatting or pretending to eat but with no play food. They haven't really done to much of this yet but today out of the blue, Austin took his play golf bag and told us it was a cup with pear juice and that he was drinking. Then he told us it was granddaddy's car and he pushed it around saying vroom vroom. Later he put it on his arm and said it was his back pack and that he was going bye bye. Finally, while he and his therapist were playing with blocks, he lined them all up and said it was a line and then a train, choo choo.

For us this is amazing!!! It was a really neat moment.

Convenience Items I DO buy

I spent my last post writing about why I don't buy the prepackaged chicken nuggets. This post is dedicated to prepackaged snacks that I DO buy. I find most of these reasonably priced and buy them because after all my son does have to eat and a lot of times he needs to eat on the go. Not many of these products are organic and although I try to buy organic when I can, I don't always have the money to. However, most of the products have limited ingredients and all of them are pronounceable.

Gerber Pear Juice - I've been told and read that pear juice is very easily tolerated and digested. I've only found 2 brands - RW Knudsen at $4.99 a bottle or Gerber at $1.87 a bottle. We stick with the Gerber and as always half water and half juice.


Hormel Natural Deli Meats - It's not organic but there are not any nitrates/nitrites, no msg, no added anything and it says Gluten Free right on the box. They have bacon as well!



Motts Natural Applesauce - If the apples that motts used were organic then it would be exactly the same as Earth's Best organic applesauce.


Lundberg Organic Rice Cakes - I buy the lightly salted ones because I think they need a little flavor but still only 2 ingredients with organic brown rice and sea salt.



Organic Brown Rice Snaps - Organic brown rice flour and organic white rice flour make these. I serve them as chips or sometimes with a little organic fruit spread.



SunMaid Raisins - Like the commercial says, "grapes and sunshine".


Gerber Graduates Fruit Twists - Like a twizzler but with real fruit. I'm assuming these are similar in taste (not texture) to Trader Joes Fruit Leathers. Of course they have more than just fruit in them but no preservatives or artificial flavors and they are cheaper for one serving.



Wylde Pretzels from Ener-G - These are the only GF pretzels I have found that are free of sesame in addition to being free of everything else. They also have a version with sesame.


Mission Tortilla Chips - As much as I would like to buy a different brand of tortilla chips, any that I have found are either made with soybean oil or have sunflower or safflower in them. Some of the Mission ones are done in corn, palm, or cottonseed oil. Other than that they are made with just corn, lime, and salt.



Last but certainly not least, I serve fresh fruit. He likes a little of everything except for bananas and oranges but we stick to apples, pears, strawberries, and grapes. Every once in a while I pick up pinapple, peaches, or mangos.

Why waste your money?

I'll admit that I'm a sucker for some convenience items on the diet. I'm a busy mom of 2 children, one who is a toddler, and the other who has several hours of therapy and school every day. I need meals that are quick and easy to make. Almost every time I headed to the store, I used to pick up a box of Ian's chicken nuggets. The awesome thing is that these nuggets are free of gluten, casein, soy, eggs, and nuts. The bad thing is that they are about $6 a box and only have 9 nuggets which amounts to a measly 2 servings. When I finally got around to trying more homemade recipes, I discovered a recipe for "McDonald's" chicken nuggets on gfcfrecipes.blogspot.com. The author takes no credit for the recipe as he found it somewhere on Yahoo but I must say these nuggets are great, simple (calling for only 6 ingredients), and much much cheaper than $6 for 2 servings. The downside is that these are fried. However, I don't serve these every day so it works for us in moderation. You'll have to adjust the serving for your child but for my son who is 3, I can make 8 servings on a regular package of chicken tenders. I divide each package into 4 and freeze. Then when I'm ready, I make 2 servings (each about 6-8 small nuggets) out of each quarter and then Austin has 2 ready to heat meals for the week. I could easily make all 8 servings but like I mentioned, they are fried so it's a treat. I also don't know how good these will taste or how long they last if frozen once made. But it's simple so it's easy to do a serving at a time. Here is the recipe:

Chicken - cut up into small nugget size pieces (mine are about the size of chick-fil-a)
1/3 cup gf flour
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 tsp vinegar
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup water

Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Then, combine the vinegar and soda in another small bowl, quickly dumping it in the flour as it reacts. Then, quickly add the water. Whisk well. Let this sit for about 5 minutes. It thickens. Meanwhile, heat some oil in a frying pan. Mix your chicken pieces in the batter and let them sit in there while the oil heats. When hot, fry until golden brown and cooked through.

Pizza Crust

Here is another mix that just became a good one for us. I'm not quiet up to the task of cooking from scratch and trying to figure out what substitutions work best so for now I'll stick to trying mixes. I followed the directions on the box for the pizza crust and used egg replacer and a soy free oil. Instead of making one large crust, I made several mini crusts. They don't brown well so I had a hard time making sure they were done but you can't over cook them because you'll end up with a tough crust. The end result, for me, turned out like sourghdough bread on the outer layer and a slight taste resembling a pita pocket (which I have been known to make mini pizzas with so that was perfect). Austin is tomato free right now so I couldn't actually make real pizza but I did try a cannellini bean spread recipe idea that was posted on gfcfmommy.blogspot.com. I added a little bit of spices to the beans and it actually turned out really well. My neighbor even added that she wanted to be invited over for dinner the next time I made them. I froze the extras in vacuum sealed bags but they didn't turn out as good as the first one from the oven.

Pancakes and Cupcakes and Muffins, Oh My!

We recently got back from visiting our family in the great state of Texas. Both Austin and Kaitlin had lots and lots of fun seeing and playing with everyone. I know trips might be stressful to some on the gfcf diet because it means planning and packing lots of food and/or making sure the place you are going has food or places you can get it. But for me, I was not stressed at all. I have a wonderful mother-in-law who just so happens to be great in the kitchen and she was very excited to cook and experiment with some of the foods for Austin. I'm sad that I didn't get pictures of everything but I would still like to share some good food that we enjoyed.

First are some blueberry pancakes. I'm sure for those experienced gfcf dieters, pancakes might be easy but I had no idea where or what mix to start with. We found Organic Arrowhead Mills Pancake and Baking mix. Most importantly this mix calls only for simple ingredients (egg(substitute), canola oil, honey, water). Our main problem with some of the mixes is that they have soy, sunflower, and/or safflower, or they call for so many ingredients that it is hard to substitute all of them without changing the taste of the finished product. These were great with blueberries, pure maple syrup, and Hormel Natural Choice bacon.

Second are the chocolate cupcakes you see above. Kaitlin was celebrating her first birthday and we did not want Austin to be left out when it came to the cake. We picked up Pamela's Chocolate Cake Mix. Once again, no ingredients that Austin couldn't have and very simple preparation. There is also a frosting mix but I think it called for several tablespoons of butter and I didn't know if ghee would substitute well so we just decided to sprinkle with powdered sugar. All I can say is wow! These cupcakes were awesome and everyone who tasted them agreed that the difference was not noticeable. Austin's cousin even wanted a cupcake instead of cake but of course that could have been because he was eating one. If anyone has had bad cake gfcf cake experience, I encourage you to try Pamela's and I am NOT a spokesperson - they really were that good! One side note: Pamela's products are made in a factory that does process things that have dairy, eggs, nuts, and soy so there is a disclaimer on the package for those who avoid any possible traces.

Our final experiment was for muffins. Again, we used the Organic Arrowhead Mills Pancake and Baking mix. The same ingredients that are added to make pancakes are added plus baking powder, vanilla, and xanthan gum. You can add pretty much anything to the muffins but my mother-in-law chose grated apple (for moisture) and then she made a streusel topping out of brown sugar, cinnamon, ghee, and rice flour. These were pretty good and were frozen for extra breakfasts.

Now that I have a couple of go-to recipes, I feel better that I am able to serve Austin a wider range of food! I also find that the more I experiment, the more comfortable I am with the gfcf diet as a whole.

More Cooking and More Updates

I've been trying to find the time to sit down and make some muffins with the gluten free pantry muffin mix but with school and two kids, time is not really on my side. Finally I put my foot down and made them tonight. The recipe came from Beth Hillson's gluten free newsletter and was supposed to be for chocolate cherry muffins but I omitted the cherries b/c I didn't have any on hand. The results were so much better than my last attempt even with all our substitutions so I guess I will need to swear off baking from scratch and stick to prepared mixes for now. I can definitely still taste a difference b/w these and regular muffins but these came out so much more moist and cake like than did the other ones. Bottom line, both me and my husband agreed that these were edible for everyone in our family. See recipe at bottom.

Also the other night, I was surprised to see a recipe on Austin's tortilla chip bag. It called for dipping chicken in crushed chips and seasoning and the best part about it was that you dipped the chicken in water, not eggs or milk, before coating so we tried that. I would have to say it tasted like a faux shake and bake and was not too terrible but in my opinion there are lots of better recipes for GFCF chicken. No picture because I didn't think about it. For kicks the recipes is posted at the bottom. I served it with GFCF mashed potatoes and corn.

As for improvements, the only thing I can say is wow! At first, the husband and I didn't know whether or not we were imagining it but several people including some who did not know about the diet have commented on how well Austin is doing. The two major things that we have noticed is a lot less stimming and way more spontaneous language. This is my little boy who a few weeks ago had lots of words but had to be prompted almost every time to say just one or two of those words. He is now using 2-3 word phrases unprompted most of the time and every now and then we will get a 5-7 word phrase with a little modeling. Some of the things he has said recently are: "bye bye daddy", "Love you daddy", "all done diego bubble bath", and "eat dora(cereal)please mama". There are so many more and there seems to be something new each day so we are thrilled with his progress.

Beth Hillson's Chocolate Cherry Muffins

1 box Gluten Free Pantry Muffin Mix
1/3 cup vegetable oil (I used Canola)
1 1/4 cup buttermilk (I used potato milk with vinegar added)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg (I used Ener-G egg replacer)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (enjoy life)
1/2 cup dried tart cherries chopped

Mix oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and egg. Add to muffin mix. Stir until well mixed. Gently fold in chocolate chips and cherries. Scoop into lined muffin pans. Bake at 350 for 20 min. Let cool for 10 min in muffin pan. Makes 16 (or 14 in our case) muffins.

Mission Crunchy Chicken Dinner

2 cups Mission Tortilla chips crushed
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp oregano
1/8 tsp paprika
2-3 pounds chicken (we used tenders)

Add crushed chips and seasoning in large ziploc bag. Dip chicken in warm water and then place in bag. Shake to coat until well covered. Bake in lightly greased dish at 375 for 60 minutes or until cooked and tender. Serves 4.

Baking is hard!

Grrr... So I've been trying to find some good muffin recipes to start baking so that Austin can have something else to eat for breakfast. I scoured the internet and found a rice flour muffin recipe. I checked and I had all the ingredients so I decided to make blueberry muffins. What a disaster. I think the recipe did not call for enough liquid because I followed everything to a T and it was like dough instead of muffin batter. Then I though well this is GFCF baking so maybe it is supposed to be this way. I went ahead and baked the dough in muffin cups and they were terrible. They stayed the same shape, did not cook well, and of course were awful tasting. To the trash they went and back to the internet I went. I found a good looking banana chocolate chip recipe from GFCFmommy.blogspot.com and once again I had everything to make it. These ones actually turned out well for us but the taste is very different than regular muffins. I almost think they taste like banana chocolate cardboard but I'm not sure if that is how most GFCF bread products taste like since we are new to baking. I made them from scratch and plan to try again with gluten free pantry muffin mix. I'll be back to report!

Gluten Free Playdough

Now that we are GF, I need to provide Austin some playdough that he can take to school with him. Why does he need GF playdough one might ask - well most of time playdough gets under your nails when you use it and kids stick their hands in their mouth. So I set out on a search for the perfect recipe on google. I found a basic recipe on several sites but when I tried it out, it was very sticky and was not at all like real playdough, even after adding a couple more spoonfuls of the rice flour. So I started searching some more and found the basic recipe but tweaked a little to make the perfect playdough. One mom even commmented that it was better to use than real playdough and I have to agree. So here is the recipe courtesy of http://www.vydor.net/playdough.html

Ingredients:

1/2 cup rice flour

1/2 cup corn starch

1/2 cup salt

2 tsp cream of tartar (we used McCormicks)

1 cup hot water

1 tsp cooking oil

food coloring

Mix all ingredients together in a saucepan. Cook on low heat for 5 minutes or until dough starts to form a ball. Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes. Scoop into a large bowl and add at least 1/4 cup more rice flour and 1/4 cup corn starch. Kneed until well mixed and no longer sticky. Store in an airtight container. If it gets dry, add a few drops of water. If it is too sticky, add a little more cornstarch and rice flour in equal parts.

And if you are really feeling creative, my friend had a great suggestion. Instead of storing it in a ziploc or tupperware container, you could wash out the old playdough containers, take off the label, and then create your own labels on the computer.

The Long But Hopeful Year Ahead

We finally got all of Austin's test results back in and had a long but informative visit with his doctor. Unfortunately, not only are we having to be GFCF again but we are having to be SF/NF/TF/SF/SF and the list goes on... His IGG test came back with several possible intolerances and for now we are cutting them out of his diet and will try to add them back in one at a time in a few months to see which ones are actually causing a problem. We will stay GFCF for a year before doing any challenge with those foods. Additionally we are starting a few supplaments, mostly vitamins to help with deficiencies but some other things as well. We don't expect for him to be recovered any time soon but we do hope to get some of his gut issues healed therefore making him feel better inside and out.

Cleaning Up & Update

This morning Austin spilled some of his strawberry milk on the kitchen table. I didn't know until I saw him wiping it up. Turns out he spilled it, then went to the bathroom, got some toilet paper, and came back to clean it up. Such a big boy now :)

In other news we go back to our DAN! on February 10th to discuss our initial test results. We already got the gluten/casein peptide test back and it turns out he is having some sort of reaction with the casein so we will most definitely be going CF again but not sure about GF until we talk to the doctor. We just started CLO again today. It's a little difficult because the fishy oil taste seems to be a little strong for Austin. We have lemon lime from Kirkmanns for now but I'm researching what other moms think is the best flavor/brand and the best way to give it. Suggestions?

Potty Success

Well not quite but we are getting there. DH has been home on a mini vacation so we have been hitting the potty hard. Austin goes every couple of hours and sometimes even requests to go by himself using his potty PEC. He is having 2-3 accidents a day (mostly bm) but today he even had one of those in the potty!! Hopefully he will be trained in a couple of months if not sooner.

Horseback

This was taken yesterday at hippotherapy. The pic can be enlarged by clicking on it.

Bath Preference

Last night Austin came up to me and said "ba" several times. This is actually a common word that can mean many things so I said car? nope. go? nope. up? nope. bath? yes! He pulled me upstairs to the bedroom because he was ready for his bath. Then I told him that we had to go get some towels from downstairs. Once we got down here, I said okay, do you want mama to give you bath? His response, "NO! Dada."

:)

Holidays and Updates

I know I've really been slacking at this blog thing but life has been busy busy busy for us ever since the beginning of December. Austin will be 3 on Monday which meant eval after eval after eval for after 3 services and the school district. The good news is that we will still be keeping some hours of in home ABA after school. Also his academic skill are at a 3 year old level for the most part as well as his receptive language skills. To us, it is just the expressive language and behaviors that are still a concern but he is getting much better. He has many labels now and will at least give an approximation of a word when asked anything. I was happy with the school that I chose and Austin will be receiving ST, OT, and APE during school hours. We also were able to finally get an education consultant who was really happy with the IEP. I did my research, attended a seminar hosted by a special ed. attorney, and wrote up our own goals which ended up being almost identical to the IEP team's goals so we are going to sign it this Monday and Austin should be in school at the end of the week or the beginning of the next week. It is very difficult for us to leave him somewhere for a few hours a day but we hope that this is going to be very beneficial for him.

As for other news, Christmas was nice. For the first time ever, Austin opened most of his gifts. He would get distracted and want each toy opened right after but the fact that he opened them was just wonderful. Any other time he's had gifts, he hasn't shown interest in opening them.

We are still researching biomed information. I have needed to go get Austin's blood drawn for a while now but the place the dr. requested we use usually only has one staff member on site and it is incredibly difficult for me to take Austin to do that and also taking Kaitlin. DH has been off on his ship most days but he is taking vacation right now so we will be doing bloodwork next week. Also for Christmas, I received "The Kid-Friendly ADHD & Autism Cookbook" which imho is turning out to be a good resource for going GFCF. There are several recipes that seem to be quick and easy and it also shows if the recipe is free of other main allergens such as eggs, soy, corn, and nuts. I assume we will be going GFCF again in the near future and I plan to do much better at feeding Austin a more nutritious and natural diet.

I guess that is all for now. I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful holiday!