Egg Puffs

My sick little girl is still sick!  Doctors this morning, with the standard diagnosis - it is just a virus.  This may be so, but we are on our third day off of school this term, and it is only week 2.  Miss A's eczema is out of control, so we are back off of milk and soy to see if that is the problem, but I suspect it is this nasty virus causing the problems.

Here is another fun egg recipe that includes veggies.  It comes out of the Jessica Seinfeld book - Deceptively Delicious, where she adds veg puree to just about everything.  Most of the recipes are not fructose friendly, but a few, like this one, are fantastic.  In the recipe she uses pumpkin, but I have found mashed carrot to be Miss A's favourite, while Mstr H prefers pureed spinach.  To puree the spinach in my blender, I add the eggs to it for moisture, otherwise it just jumps the leaves around without blending them.

INGREDIENTS
2 large eggs
4 large egg whites
1/2 cup veg puree or mash, depending on what veg you use.  Steam your veg of choice (or raw if leafy) and mash or puree as needed
2 tbsp grated cheese
2 tbsp all purpose flour (I use maize flour)
1/2 tsp baking powder
sprinkle of salt for seasoning

METHOD
Preheat oven to 200C.  Coat 6 ramekins with spray oil and place on a tray.  In a large bowl, whisk eggs, egg whites, puree/mash, cheese, flour, baking powder and salt until combined.  Divide mixture between cups and bake for 15 mins, or until puffed up and cooked all the way through.  Serve on a plate with some warm, cut up tortilla wrap (gluten free of course) or some gf toast soldiers.

Great to take as a lunch too.  Quite tasty cold.

Let me know what you think in the comments.

Green Eggs and Ham (well, bacon actually)

Today is one of those rare days where I have no children.  Thank you Mama and Papa!  So I was wracking my brain on what to write on the blog, and decided to draw on one of Mstr H's favourite recipes, that is still allergy friendly.  Over the last couple of weeks we have been reintroducing eggs, milk and soy to Miss A's diet with success in small amounts, so the occasional eggy breakfast will soon be part of our life again, yay!  I love this recipe as it is chock full of leafy green spinach, tasty and fulfills all childhood quotas by being a direct quote out of a Dr Seuss book!  What more could you want?

GREEN EGGS AND HAM

INGREDIENTS
lg handful baby spinach leaves
4 eggs (depending on how many people you are feeding)
splash milk
lemon pepper
100g diced bacon, cooked until crisp
grated cheese for sprinkling

METHOD
Place spinach, eggs and milk into a blender and blend until smooth.  Spray a frypan with oil and add mixture with some lemon pepper to taste.  Fry like normal scrambled eggs, stirring constantly, until cooked.  Add the bacon and mix through.  Serve in bowls with a sprinkle of cheese, or on toast if you prefer.

We love this as a light dinner for the kids when they aren't very hungry, or as a snack before swimming.  It is very green!

Let me know what you think in the comments.

Moroccan Beef and Lentil Casserole

Here we are, day 2 of my Blog, and it has been eventful!  Miss A is still sick, so had to miss the day of school, meaning I had a helper to do the shopping.  Unfortunately, as anyone with unusual allergies or intolerances knows, you cannot buy all your items in one place.  For example, Woolworths has the best GF snacks in their Macro range, but does not sell nut free, wheat free bread.  Coles has a great range of baked goods that are allergy friendly, but does not have the snack range or cake mixes.  Foodland has a good range of bread and cake mixes, but not much else.  This means I have to shop at all three stores, and usually visit a health food shop or two in the bargain.  Makes for a tired, grumpy, sick chick!  To help alleviate her boredom, I have taught her how to read and understand the ingredients on products so she can see for herself what she can eat and what she can't.

Today I did the usual marathon shop, and my Mum sat out the front of the local Woolworths with Miss A, reading and playing games.  During this exchange, a woman stole my Mum's handbag. Thank you to the security guard who found it, and the stranger who handed it in!  We all needed a cuppa after thatt!

As I always do when we leave the house, I pack  a lot of snacks for Miss A because we cannot buy her anything to eat from any food vendors.  This means that she has a lot of snacking on her menu today.  Unfortunately, because a lot of what she can eat is tasteless, and a lot of the spices and herbs are not ok on the Fructose Friendly plan, we let her do the 'grazing' style of eating, rather than expecting her to eat large amounts of food she does not like.

Here is tonight's dinner that I put in the slow cooker this morning, the house smells divine!

MOROCCAN BEEF AND LENTIL CASSEROLE

INGREDIENTS
500g chuck steak, cubed
3tsp cumin
3tsp paprika
1tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
Salt for seasoning
2L homemade beef stock (mine was made with leek, celery, green capsicum, beef bones)
3 sticks celery
2 cups red lentils
2 cups Nomato sauce

METHOD
Place beef in a bowl and add the spices, mixing thoroughly.  Heat some oil in a pan and brown the meat.  Add to slow cooker with the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine.  Use the instructions of your slow cooker as a guide, I left mine all day.  Serve with steamed veg and mashed potato.

I just love easy cooking like that!  Now I will give you Miss A's eating plan for today:

Breakfast
Quinoa Porridge - 1/4 cup quinoa flakes, 1/4 cup coconut milk, 1/4 cup rice milk and cook until the texture of porridge.

Morning Tea
2 vegan mini doughnuts.  I got this recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie and love it!  Best doughnuts I have ever eaten.  Here is the link http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2013/02/22/homemade-krispy-kreme-doughnuts-the-healthy-version/

Lunch
Fried Rice - rice, diced bacon, peas and corn, simple and easy!
1 Quinoa Crumbed KFC drumstick

Afternoon Tea
Coconut Rice Custard
Pumpkin seeds - toasted with cinnamon, vanilla essence sprinkled with sugar

Dinner
Moroccan Beef and Lentil Casserole with mashed potato and steamed green beans
Gluten Free Soda Bread - my favourite wheat free bread recipe, from Doves Farms.  Here is the link http://www.dovesfarm.co.uk/recipes/gluten-free-soda-bread/

If you have any suggestions on improvements I can make to recipes or to the food I am feeding Miss A, please let me know in the comments.  See you all tomorrow!

Quinoa Crumbed KFC

My idea is to give you an insight into day-to-day cooking and eating for my Miss A, as so many of my friends are intrigued by what I actually feed her given the restrictions.  I hope this will be a ray of light for anyone else in a similar situation.

First off, Google is my best friend.  I have found I can type searches like 'wheat free nut free noodle recipes' and get some choices to use.  This has saved my life!  By taking these recipes and making the necessary changes for the diets we are using I can give my little one as varied a diet as possible.

Invention has also been a big help, and making sure my kitchen is stocked at all times with the necessary ingredients for everything she likes to eat.  Bearing in mind, take out is NEVER an option for us.  There is no take away food that meets her needs.

So here is today's menu for her:

Breakfast - Freedom Foods Cocoa Bombs (a special treat as she has a sinus infection today)
                 A cornbread muffin - I use the Orgran Cornbread mix, I have had no success making cornbread from scratch without the milk or egg.  It is too crumbly.

Morning Tea - A vegan doughnut (recipe to come in the next couple of days)

Lunch - Homemade Pumpkin Soup (recipe to come on future posts)
             Macro popcorn, small packet

Afternoon Tea - Coconut Rice Custard

Dinner - Quinoa Crumbed KFC, Chips, Green beans

Dessert - Homemade iceblock

This is not a normal day menu, this is the 'comfort food' version that we trott out on weekends and when she is sick.  Tomorrow will be better, I promise!  As you can see I do use premade ingredients where appropriate, but not often.  There are not many out there that I can use.  But if there is one that fits the diet and makes my life easier, I say 'Go for it!'.  I have not need to prove myself to anyone.

QUINOA CRUMBED KFC

INGREDIENTS
Chicken pieces - thigh fillets or drumsticks work best
1/3 cup Orgran Multigrain crumbs with Quinoa
1/3 cup rice crumbs
1/3 cup maize flour
egg, beaten (or rice milk to wet the meat so the crumbs will stick)
herbs and spices of choice

METHOD
Mix the crumbs and flour together with some herbs and spices for taste.  Dip chicken in egg or milk and then coat in the crumbs.  Then bake in a moderate oven for 30 mins or deep fry, depending on choice.

Serve with chips and green veg.  Chips can be easily made by peeling and chopping a potato into chips and baking as above or deep frying.  Yum!

Let's try this again..............

Here is my attempt at a blog again.  My last try led to me posting a heap of recipes, only to find that my information was wrong.  So I tried again, and my daughter's medical condition changed and again, my recipes were wrong.  Since my last post 2 years ago, she has had so many diet changes that I have lost count, and none of them have been fun.  To add to the joy, she has been diagnosed with IBS, Fructose Malabsorption and multiple food allergies, and is currently on an elimination diet too.  She still has chronic eczema and has many digestive problems, is low in iron and spends a lot of her time in pain from bloating and abdominal distention.  Basically, she is a mess, but we love her anyway.

With my journey, many of my friends have suggested I document it here to share with other people who may be going through similar things, so here goes.

I won't bore you with all the ins and outs right now, bit by bit on future blogs will be enough whinging for anyone!  Needless to say, we are currently feeding her foods that avoid egg, dairy, soy, fruit (except apricots, lemons and limes and limited strawberries.  She is allergic to wheat, oats, nuts, tomato and mint, and can only eat leafy green veg, potatoes and limited carrots and butternut.

Here are my two favourite recipes for survival - Nomato Sauce and Coconut Rice Custard.  They are easy to make and are a staple food in this house.  I am planning to put up any interesting recipes that I cook, with links to where I got the recipes from.

NOMATO SAUCE

This is a great recipe as it is easy, and can be substituted for pasta sauce, pizza sauce or even for dipping your chips and nuggets in!  It DOES NOT taste like tomato sauce, because it isn't, but is nice and light as a substitute.

INGREDIENTS
1 small beet, peeled and diced
6 carrots, diced
1 leek, diced
1 1/2 cup water
herbs, spices to taste  (don't do too much flavouring as you can do that when you cook with it)

METHOD
Place all ingredients in a saucepan with a tight fitting lid.  Bring to the boil and simmer until veggies are soft.  Blend in a blender or food processor until fairly smooth.  It does not need to be completely smooth as it is a nice veggie sauce.  Use like you would any tomato sauce or paste.


See how easy that is?  It does tend to turn your bolognaise sauce pink, but otherwise is easy to use!

COCONUT RICE CUSTARD

Miss A (who is 6 yo) uses this as a breakfast cereal, to fill up as a dessert or we add some cocoa and freeze as an iceblock.

INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup arborio rice
400 ml coconut milk
200 ml rice milk or alternative of your choice
2 tbsp sugar

METHOD
Place all ingredients in a saucepan and bring up to the bowl.  Simmer for at least 20 mins, stirring often, until it has thickened to a custard consistency.