New Orleans Style BBQ Shrimp

Now these BBQ shrimp are not your usual BBQ shrimp. These are covered in more like a thin buttery wonderfully flavored sauce and are finger-licking, elbow dripping, 50 napkins good!

I can't make these in the land-locked state we live in, trapped in a small town with no decent seafood to speak of (Yes even the frozen stuff has been in the store freezer for horrifying lengths of time). We do try and makes these when we get to the east coast and can get delicious fresh South Carolina shrimp or, of course, in the city of my heart New Orleans.

But these are a tradition for us back home and are a family recipe and favorite. 

New Orleans Style BBQ Shrimp

30 Jumbo Shrimp (2-3 lbs.)

2 sticks butter

2 tsp. Garlic powder

2 tsp. Italian seasoning

2 tsp. Paprika

2 tsp. Crushed red pepper  flakes

2 tsp. Salt

dash white pepper

1 1/3 c. olive oil

4 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce

4 Tbsp. Lemon juice

2 tsp. Chili powder

2 tsp. Dried oregano

Spread shrimp out in a large lasagna pan. Combine all other ingredients in a sauce pan on low heat and heat until butter is melted. Let sauce cool.  Pour sauce over shrimp, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour.  Bake at 300º F turning shrimp every ten minutes until pink all the way through (don't over cook!!). Serve immediately with warm crusty bread for dipping.

Lemon Cake aka Aunt Blanche's Lemon Squares

I wanted to post some new recipes since Thanksgiving is coming up soon. Most of these are not gluten or allergen free, just plain old run of the mill stuff. But they are favorites in our house. You can make it gluten free by making it with a boxed cake mix like Betty Crocker Gluten Free Yellow Cake Mix.

1 box yellow cake mix

1 box lemon jello

5 eggs

¾ cup water

½ cup vegetable oil

2 tbsp. lemon extract

Combine ingredients and bake on 350°

Follow box instructions for baking pan size and bake time

Makes about 24 cupcakes.

If making as cake, butter and flour pans before pouring in batter. Make in a large square cake pan or bunt pan. 

Glaze while still warm and then let rest until cool and glaze has set

Glaze:

¼ cup lemon juice

2 cups powdered sugar

Aunt Blanche always made these in a large rectangular cake pan and then cut them into square, wrapped them individually in plastic wrap and served them to all the ankle biter when they come (even when the ankle biters grow taller than her). They were and are one of my hubby's favorite things. 

Allergen Free Thanksgiving

Well, I have begun the search and planning for our first allergen free Thanksgiving dinner. I am praying for wisdom and creativity. I'm sure I am about to learn a whoooooole lot. First project- gluten free, allergen free apple pie. I'll report back if it is good.

In the mean time here are some good links I found for some possible recipes to try.

Coconut Milk Ice Cream (with eggs & sugar)

Dairy Free Rice Pudding

Coconut Cream Tapioca

Gluten Free Apple Pie

I'll be on the search for more. But these are the first I have found with no allergens or rotation allergens in them. We'll see how they turn out.....

The biggest project  to find to make for Thanksgiving- allergen free cranberry jelly.

What's in the Pantry or Fridge?

I was thinking about writing down a basic menu for the week of what my little guy eats and how I cook it along side everyone else's meals.

But before I do that, here is our basic pantry and fridge items. I have listed them in how I put them in meals for Buddy.

Just to recap our allergens. We rotate cane sugar (trying to avoid more completely but save for special days),  sheep milk, pears, chocolate, and cinnamon.

We avoid gluten, goat or cow milk, wheat, soy, barley, sorghum, legumes, citrus fruits, tomatoes, and a number of fruits and vegetables. See our allergen page for more specifics.

Breakfast Foods:

Eggs (cooked any way he wants, but no cheese or milk)

White Corn Grits

Organic Oatmeal sweetened with agave nectar or maple syrup

Rice Pancakes with maple syrup or agave nectar or honey

Rice Waffles

Any of these cereals with Almond milk

Glutino Honey Nut O's  (does have sugar, so we rotate)

Enviro Kids Gorilla Munch (also has sugar)

Erewhon Rice Twice Cereal ( I also use this cereal to make my puffed grain bars)
Homemade granola (recipe to come soon)

Almond Milk either Almond Breeze unsweetened in the shelf stable Quart or Vanilla Unsweetened refrigerated half gallon.

Lunches and Dinners-

Deboles Rice Pasta with a meat and fruit

Organic Brown Rice with a meat and fruit

Kroger Organic Plain Applesauce (goes like water around here between my two boys)

Shelton's Turkey Hot Dogs  (rotate due to other ingredients not the turkey) with a carb and fruit

( I loved the Applegate Farms Organic Turkey Hot Dogs but we can't get them here. They do have onions and sodium lactate from beets. But they are dairy free, casein free and gluten free)

Ian's Gluten Free Chicken Nuggets with Cascadian Farms Organic shoes string fries or crinkle cut fries and Heinz organic Ketchup (edited to say that Tomato has now been taken off of rotation)

Gluten Free Pantry French Bread Mix This is our staple bread, because it is sugar free and I can make it without any rotation allergy ingredients. My little guy eats this about six out seven days in a week. It is really easy to make and if you slice it and place plastic between the slices, you can pop a slice out of the freezer and microwave for about 35 seconds- comes out like fresh soft bread.

Any Nut Butter (see Puffed Grain Bars recipe for more info)- Peanut Butter, Cashew Butter or Almond Butter  with honey, apple butter, or all fruit  (edited to say All Fruit now has maltodextrin in it and that makes me nervous, even if it is gluten free. Something that far processed can't be good for you.) or honey on Gluten Free Pantry's French Bread or even as a pancake sandwich on Rice Pancakes or rice waffles.

Beachy's Apple Butter comes from Salisbury PA (I love this!!!! It is just apples, cider and spices. It does have cinnamon which we have to rotate, but it the BEST apple butter you have ever tasted!)

Sorrell Ridge Fruit Spreads- they are sweetened with only fruit juice. We buy the grape. (Note- these did not work out for Buddy. They are sweetened primarily with pineapple juice. But we still buy all the flavors that they make for the rest of the family to enjoy.)

St Dalfour Fruit Conserves- we buy the wild blueberry. It has only blueberries, grape juice concentrate and fruit pectin. (I buy mine at Walmart.)

Pamela's Corn muffins made from mix (we all love these with spicy chili or red beans) Buddy eats them with anything! I make them dairy and sugar free.

Hamburgers grilled or fried with just salt and garlic powder

Kettle Lightly salted potato chips (great with lunch)

Kroger Brand corn chips (that are cooked in corn oil) Buddy actually prefers these over potato chips.

Lots of apples, blueberries, peaches, cherries, bananas, grapes, dried apricots, and raisins. (as much of any kind as he wants any day). I buy frozen peaches, cherries, and blueberries in bulk and pull out what I need.

Plain Sheep Yogurt with pure liquid stevia and frozen fruit. (we rotate sheep milk)

Snacks and treats-
Puffed Grain Bars Extra Nutty 

Glutino Original Crackers

Blue Diamond Almond Nut Thins

Pamela's mini chocolate chips (treat! has sugar)

Pamela's Dark chocolate chunk cookies (also treat, has sugar)

Jennies Coconut Macaroons Sugar free. These things are awesome!

So Delicious coconut ice cream vanilla or chocolate (chocolate is rotated) it is sweetened with agave nectar. Awesome, awesome stuff!!!!!

We love any of the So Delicious products but we can really only buy the Coconut Ice Cream in our little town. We did find the coconut yogurt at a big city Whole Foods while on vacation. Buddy chowed down on it. I love that it is sweetened with agave nectar, so we don't have to rotate the vanilla flavor.

OK my brain is fried now. Hope I didn't forget anything. There is always the edit button

Gone Gluten Free

Well, we have officially taken Buddy completely off of gluten. After much reading and talking with others I decided to give it a go. We decided to not have him tested, because of the concern that official diagnosis would create a black mark on him with insurance later in life. So we are going forth assuming that gluten is the source of the problem and believing we will see results.

We have already started to see results. We removed gluten completely about a month ago. His appetite has increased more and he seems to be feeling better over all. He is really starting to eat like a BOY! (that makes this mother very happy) We are still avoiding all the other foods we have been. That being said, going  gluten free is simple and yet not. Just because something is labeled gluten free does not mean that it is safe for Buddy to eat. I hope that over time that WILL become so for him. Our hope is that his body will heal, once the gluten has been out of his sytem for an extended period of time, and we can eventually start trying to add other foods back in on a rotational basis.

I am changing once again how I cook for Buddy to be completely gluten free and watching more carefully for cross contamination issues (because the rest of us have to eat too). I can't afford nor desire to put the whole family on a gluten free diet, so watching for cross contamination is always important.

I am also having to search out new sources for things like flours and oats. Wow! Gluten free oats are expensive! I mean like four times the cost of regular oats!! But as I discover new sources I will try and post them here. And as I come up with new recipes I will add them in as well. Hopefully those things will be helpful to someone.

So off to peruse Amazon.....

Our favorite foods

We have changed our diet considerably since August. I will be updating this to reflect the GAPS Diet we are now following. Below is what I used when we were gluten, casein etc free. See this page for our current foods and diet protocol.

I wanted to list some of our favorite basic grocery items in the hopes that it would be helpful for someone.
(If you want to see a more indepth description of how these are used in our house go to my other post.)

Puffed Grain Bars (find the recipe here)

Erewhon Rice Twice Puffed Rice Cereal

Bread Mix-                                                                  

 Cornbread Mix-



















Baking Mix (if I don't make my own)

Almond Milk (the half gallon refrigerated)

Turkey Hot Dogs (gluten free)

Organic Frozen French Fries

Ian's Gluten Free Chicken Nuggets

Kettle Potato Chips

Liquid Stevia

So Delicious Coconut Ice Cream Vanilla Bean

Almond Crackers

Gluten Free Crackers

Coconut Macaroons

Agave Nectar

Sheep Yogurt

So Good Gluten Free Sugar Free Banana Nut Muffins

Buddy gave me the best compliment ever, coming from him. He ate his first gluten free sugar free banana nut muffin and quipped "they are so good, so good you see!" So with that in mind here is the recipe

1/2 cup local Honey

1/3 cup raw organic extra virgin coconut oil

2 eggs & 1 egg white

1 3/4 cups Rice Flour Mix 

1 tsp. Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

4 Very Ripe Bananas

1 tsp alcohol free gluten free vanilla

1/4 scoop Rice Protein Powder (optional)

Cream Honey and Coconut oil in a stand mixer. Add eggs and egg white and vanilla (and protein powder) and mix. In a separate bowl mix the rice flour mix, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. While mixer is running add portions of the dry ingredients to the mixer alternating with bananas until all are incorporated. Add nuts if desired. Fill greased muffins tins 3/4 way full and bake at 350 until slightly brown around the edges and toothpick comes out almost clean (aprox 18-20  minutes). I forgot to time them. Turn out onto cooling racks or serve warm. 

Makes 18 muffins.