Jambalaya

1 green bell pepper diced
1/2 red bell pepper diced
1 large onion diced
4-6 cloves of garlic minced
2 tsp Paul Prudhommes Poultry Seasoning
2 16 oz cans diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cups brown rice
2 cups vegetable broth (I use Pacific organic vegetable broth)
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces (or 1 package Johnsonville New Orleans Brand Smoked Sausage sliced into bite sized pieces)

Saute peppers and onion in a large pan over medium heat. Saute until onions are translucent or close to it. Add garlic and Poultry Seasoning. Stir to combine fully. Add diced tomatoes, rice, vegetable broth and meat. Stir to combine. Bring to a simmer and then simmer on low until rice is soft and almost all liquid is cooked out. Takes about 1 hr - 1 1/2 hours. If you use white rice it will take about half that time but you will miss out on all the fiber and nutrition the brown rice offers.

Enjoy!

Our Story

I began this blog after much consideration. What finally prodded me to begin was an encounter that I had with a woman in the local grocery store. I looked up to see her staring at the food in the health food section with a rather overwhelmed look on her face. She had some almond milk and a couple of other items in her cart. I slipped next to her to get something from the shelf before her; and asked her if she was on a special diet. She said she had just started eating gluten free about two month before. What struck me was the look of consternation on her face. I remember that same confused, overwhelmed, panic feeling that I felt the first time I went shopping to find food for our just then diagnosed 3 yr old son. With all the limitations the allergy testing showed he needed in his diet, how did I feed him? Thankfully, I have a loving Father God who showed me how, directed me to people and websites that equipped me to become comfortable in dealing with feeding a child with complex multiple food allergies. I had great joy in showing her some of the products we had had success with and pointing her toward some other items that she might find useful for her diet.

So to back up, our journey into dealing with food allergies began at the beginning of 2010 with seeking out an allergist for our 3 yr old son. Prior to that he had a history of amorphous symptoms which the pediatrician would always say was nothing and that he was okay. I was continually brushed off as my concerns for him were due to being an over protective parent.

But I KNEW that there was something NOT normal going on in my child. His natural personality was sweet, compliant (mostly), gentle and calm. But he would have fits of rage, screaming over everything, constant night cryings, unexplained recurrent fevers, constant sinus drainage, recurrent ear infections, sleep disturbances, ear flushing, black circles under his eyes, little to no appetite, little to no weight gain or growth (he grew 1/4 inch & gained 1/2 lb from age 2 to age 3). All of this was handled by his pediatrician by simply putting him on an antihistamine and referring us to an ENT.

The ENT investigated more fully and after about three months scheduled him for adenoid removal and tubes in his ears. When they did a hearing test before the surgery, he had 80% blockage of his adenoids and had considerable hearing impairment. Following the surgery his hearing improved dramatically along with his speech (which was already way above normal development) and he started to sleep better and stopped having the fevers... for a while. Then the fevers started returning and the sleep disturbances began once again, not to mention all the other symptoms that still plagued him.

At the recommendation of a friend, we took our son to a local allergist in January of 2010. The allergist talked with me for an hour. After getting his medical history and all of my observations, she removed dairy from his diet, started him on digestive enzymes and probiotics, and scheduled him for the skin tests. We waited for two weeks while he got off of antihistamines and then they tested him for 64 allergens (food and environmental).

I had expected that he would be allergic to some things, but I was astounded when the panel results came back. He had considerable food allergies and some environmental. The foods he tested allergic to totaled 34 in all! They sent me home with a little pamphlet explaining food rotation diet and told me to return the next week for his allergy shot serum.

The magnitude of it all didn't hit me until I got home and needed to feed my dear son lunch. I had to make him a smoothie with the allowed fruits and some apple juice and rice protein. I felt like I had just begun having to starve my kid!

Thankfully, I have a friend (first one I ever met) who has similar food allergies on such a large scale. I called her and said "How do you rotate 34 foods!!!" Of course her practical advice was to say "you don't". She began to lay out for me how to rotate the low allergen foods and remove completely the high allergen foods. After that I went to the store armed with the information and thinking I was prepared to be able to take this on. NOT!!!

I stood in the grocery store and felt panic and a feeling of being overwhelmed with a lump in my throat ready to cry. I spent 100 bucks and came back with a little bag of groceries. I stood in my kitchen and cried out to God. "Lord you gave me this child and all of his challenges, show me how to feed him!!!!" And my ever faithful Lord did just that. He gave me ideas on what to combine and how to make each meal for my child and still feed the other four people in our family properly too and not go broke doing it. Today it feels so simple and easy and not complicated, but back then starting off it felt so daunting.

So that is why I have started this blog. For those in the midst of dealing with food allergies or those at the beginning, feeling overwhelmed. I hope that my recipes, ideas, and experiences will be helpful and be a vehicle for you to become comfortable with a new way of cooking and eating. It is possible and doesn't have to be expensive.

Oat Flour

To make oat flour blend rolled oats in blender. 1 1/4 cup of oats makes 1 cup of oat flour. Blend oats until powdered.

Oat Flour Muffins

This recipe originally came from http://www.frugalabundance.com/
I've tweaked it a little to suit our tastes.

1/3 cup almond milk or milk of choice
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp oil of choice (I used melted coconut oil or sunflower oil)
2 Tbsp Honey
1 egg
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup oat flour (make by blending rolled oats in blender)
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
splash of alcohol free vanilla
7 drops of liquid stevia

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray 6 muffin cups with Pam olive oil spray or other oil.

Combine milk, vinegar, oil, honey, vanilla, stevia, egg and salt. Mix until smooth. Add oat flour, and baking powder to wet ingredients and stir.

Ladle out batter into muffin tins (about half full). Bake at 400 degrees for 15-18 minutes. Muffins will be very lightly browned and risen. Stick with toothpick to see if cooked through. If you over cook them they will be very dry. If you leave out the sweetener they would go great in place of corn muffins.

I usually double this recipe and throw in dried fruit or blueberries. Then I freeze the leftovers and pop them in the microwave to reheat.

Brown Rice Waffles aka Mystery Waffles

I'm on a recipe roll today. So I guess I will roll with it....

These waffles come from Diane at http://www.homeschooling.net/blog/recipes/mystery-waffles/

They are great. We used these allot the first few weeks our son was on his new diet. They were great with cashew butter and maple syrup or PB with honey... you name it.

4 cups brown rice flour (I grin mine from organic long grain rice in my Bosch Nutrimill)
1 1/4 Tbsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
4 eggs
2 3/4 cups of milk of choice (I used water)

In large mixing bowl combine dry ingredients. Seperate eggs. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks. Mix egg yolks into flour mixture along with milk or water. Stir until just mixed. Fold beaten egg whites into mixture. Cook in waffle iron.

These freeze well but I put some plastic between them to keep them from sticking as they froze. They were better microwaved versus reheated in the toaster.

Spelt Bread or Wheat Bread

I make this bread to use on rotation for my son. It can be made into pizza crust as well, if you can do cheese.

3 1/2 cups very warm water (110 to 115 degrees)
1 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp dough enhancer (only if making wheat bread) omit if making spelt bread
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup olive oil
6 cups flour (freshly ground red winter wheat or Vita Spelt)
2 1/2 Tbsp yeast (I like Red Saf Instant Yeast)

(I make this in my Bosch Universal Mixer. I don't know how this will work in anything else. So you may have to play with it, if you are using something else.)

Pour in ingredients in order listed. Pulse to combine fully. Let sit with lid on for 20 minutes to sponge. After 20 minutes, pulse to stir down. Add in a total of 3 1/2 - 4 1/2 cups of flour one cup at a time until dough forms and cleans side of the bowl. Turn up mixer and knead until you reach the window pane stage (about 6 minutes).

Pour out onto oiled surface (yes that is right OILED not floured). Slam seven times. Cut into four sections and form into balls. Form into loaves and place in greased bread pans (I use Pam Olive Oil Spray). Cover with light cloth and let rise until double in size. Place in 350 degree oven and bake for 25 minutes or until sounds hollow when thumped. Place on cooling rack until just barely warm to touch. Place in bread bags and freeze or eat.

If you are making pizza crust. Follow directions through to the stage of pouring out the dough onto oiled surface. Form your four balls and then press out into pizza pans. Prick with a fork and cover with toppings of choice. Bake at 425 for about 12 minutes or until cheese is melted and crust looks done.

You can also press out your pizza crust and freeze it uncooked. Take it out about an hour before you want to use it and let it come to room temp on your counter top. Then place toppings and bake as usual. I like to freeze my crust on the sheet pans and then when they are rock solid pop them off and wrap well and pop back in the freezer.

I make spelt bread and cut it once cooled and then freeze it. I take out a slice at a time to use for my son as it fits on the rotation. If you are wheat intolerant but not gluten intolerant you might be able to tolerate spelt. My son does. BUT he does NOT have celiacs disease, so that is why we can do the spelt.

Gluten Free Play Dough

1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 cup corn starch
1/2 cup salt
2 tsp cream of tarter
1 cup water
1 tsp cooking oil
few drops of food coloring (if desired)

Mix ingredients in a medium sized pan. Cook stirring constantly on low until mixture forms a ball and is no longer sticky. Pour out onto heat safe surface and knead until smooth and uniform texture. Store in ziploc bag.

Mixture tends to be a little more sticky than conventional playdough. But my son didn't care. Crayola Model Magic is gluten free, but this is way cheaper.

Rice Flour Mix

3 cups brown rice flour

1 1/4 cups cornstarch (or potato starch) I didn't have any so I used cornstarch.

3/4 cup tapioca flour

Mix together and store tightly covered. Use to replace all purpose flour cup for cup.

Gluten Free Dairy Free Pancakes

Here is the first of hopefully many recipes that I have had success with for our son.

These recipes are wheat free, dairy free, soy free, legume free, sorghum free, and often sugar free (sugar is rotated in his diet).

2 cups Rice Flour mix

5 tsp aluminum free baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 Tbsp honey

4 Tbsp oil of choice

2 eggs

2 1/4 cup almond milk (I like Almond Breeze unsweetened)

Mix ingredients together and fry in skillet or on griddle until lightly brown.

Note without the honey the pancakes will not brown. I cook these and then freeze the left overs in a ziploc bag and take out as needed.

Starting off

So I have been thinking about starting a blog for quite some time. Our trip down south this past week seemed to cement the idea and here we are! I hope to post my thoughts, realizations, ideas, recipes and experiences as a mother of a son with multiple food allergies, as a homeschooling mom of three and as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.