My Thanksgiving Menu...It Doesn't Have To Get Complicated...

Busy never seems to quite cut it this time of year.  With all of the hustle and bustle of the Holidays, you can't help but overextend yourself for the fear of missing something great.  For a few weeks now I've had our itienerary's made for the coming weeks; so much to enjoy and participate in.  This year is already so much better than the last due to the fact that I am now a Food Allergy Holiday Veteran.  Last year was my first, and I knew going in to it that I was in for it; I didn't disappoint.  This year, however, I am still cooking but with a much happier attitude.  Our menu plan is for a group of 12 at my In-Law's.  I share the duties with my Mother-in-law.  My responsibilities this year:

My Thanksgiving Menu
Green Bean Casserole
Dressing
Macaroni and Cheese
Cheesecake
Thumbprint Cookies

She will have prepared a baked ham, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and corn.  My father-in-law's cousin makes the baked beans, and my brother-in-law smokes a turkey and a deer shoulder.  I know it will all be great.  This year I am attempting to make the old-school Green Bean casserole from the TV commercials, only my way.  I plan to make my own onion rings with thin slices of onion battered with cornmeal and deep fried until crispy; set aside.  Steamed green beans from the garden; set aside.  A basic cream sauce beschamel with thin sliced portabello mushrooms.  When cream sauce is correct consistencey- add green beans and pour into baking dish; top with onion rings.  I'll set aside and warm through before sharing with the family.  I was so excited to find gluten free cream of mushroom soup, but it unfortunately had soy listed.  A great dairy free option would be with almond milk, and sliced almonds included in the topping.  If we weren't tree nut free I would be all over that one.  The dressing is super simple for us.  I save all of our end pieces from our loaves of bread, I use for bread crumbs, croutons, and starting in August I save for Dressing.  I add it to crumbled Bob's Red Mill Cornbread that I pre-made.  Stir in chopped celery and onions that I sauteed until translucent, along with 2-3 eggs whisked.  I place all ingredients in crock-pot and add 4 cups of chicken stock to start.  Place crock-pot on low and leave for a few hours (5-6), adding chicken stock later if needed.  I know it's a bit "out of the box", but this is the way my uncle makes his and it's always super delicious.  I may even add chopped turkey cutlets for an even yummier addition.  My Macaroni and Cheese is my super yummy infamous Kentucky Hot Brown Mac n Cheese!  The recipe is listed here!  This year I am changing up my Vanilla Bean Cheesecake recipe just a bit.  Instead of using my vanilla wafer crust, I bought Bob's Red Mill Brownie Mix.  I plan to follow the directions for the brownie mix and then spread batter thinly on the bottom and up the sides of my spring form pan; and using my traditional vanilla bean cheesecake recipe  for the filling.  My husband is super excited about that one and even suggested I make it in the first place.  As for the thumbprint cookies- a shortbread cookie recipe I'm working on with a bit of jam in the "print".  I'm not sure where I'm going with the flavors of this one yet... I'm thinking possibly cranberry? maybe.  Anyway, there is a definite theme here....Easeness.  So what if I'm using the crock-pot and prepackaged mixes!  This year is about spending time with my family and the joy of the holidays, I missed that last year.  Last year I was so worried about everything with the food allergies that I forgot about the fun of everything and seeing everyone. I hope you have a great Thanksgiving as well!  If it's your first with facing these challenges I would like to remind you that It really will be okay.  Don't let the stress of it takeover, and if you feel that happening-take a step back.  Don't forget about those great moments of just enjoying homemade hot chocolate whether yours is with dairy, almond, soy, or even coconut... That's a great way to step back and remind yourself that this beautiful time of year only happens once... So make it count!!
Don't worry, I do plan on taking notes for all of these recipes so that I may tweak and/or share with all of you.  Lots of recipes are out there for food allergies, the key is to not get overwhelmed by the ingredients.  Sometimes they are intimidating on their own.  Remind yourself that cooking is supposed to be a little fun as well...
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!  I Hope It's Wonderful!

How the Hill Family Does It.....

I know it has been a while since my last post; my apologies.  Unfortunately, things have been a bit busy around here.  I know I should be used to it, but I still feel overwhelmed at times.  A lot of people ask how we do things around here, so I thought I would share.  We are a busy, one income household family of four; therefore things are often scheduled (especially the food).  I make a lot of freezer meals for during the week.  I usually plan one day during the week to make the bases for our meals.  I start with the ever favorite chicken; If I don't use one from our farm I buy only the organic, free range whole chickens (they come in a two-pack).  I rough chop two medium onions, two celery stalks, two carrots, add chicken, and cover with water in a crock pot and let it go.  At the end of the day I pull out the chickens to cool and strain stock.  I freeze the stock in ice cube trays and the rest in freezer containers.  The ice cube trays make easy seasoning for potatoes, vegetables, or whatever.  The freezer containers are great for soups, casseroles; you get the idea.  I do it this way because many store-bought stocks contain allergens and everything just tastes better when it's homemade.  The chickens (2)- I pull the meat off and shred; this is enough for four casseroles.  If you're not going to go ahead and make the casseroles; go ahead and separate anyway and freeze for later use.  While my chickens are in the crock pot I'm usually going ahead and preparing the pasta, rice, and/or biscuit batter for my casseroles.  I buy the aluminum pans with the tops for the casseroles to be stored in and place them in any one of our freezers.  I usually go with a Poppyseed Chicken Casserole over rice, A Mexican Style over rice, an Easy Baked Pasta Version or two, and it's always a hit with Chicken Pot Pie.  Keep in mind that our family loves our Farm-style Sustainable Lifestyle.  Therefore, I'm usually setting out deer meat to be ground up for Chili, and I make a lot of meatballs to be used in Baked Pastas for the freezer or I freeze the meatballs to be used for sandwiches or spaghetti.  We also have the pigs processed in the winter and the pork sausage can be used in practically anything.  My son's favorite is when I cook crumbled sausage till done and combine with waffle batter along with shredded cheese; I always make a country gravy to spoon over waffles in lieu of syrup.  Make these waffles in two batches and you've got a great quick breakfast during the school week.  Needless to say; I cook as much as I can when I can and store in the freezers.  It makes the busy school days so much easier and allows us the time to spend as a family instead of rushing around.  Don't get me wrong; we eat healthy.  Everything we eat is as fresh as possible and I include a ton of veggies with everything I can and even when I shouldn't (love the food processor).  It's great making a homemade spaghetti sauce or chili and adding pureed steamed veggies for that boost of flavor and health benefits; I've even added pureed spinach to brownie batter (it doesn't change the taste).  Puree your extra veggies before they have a chance to go bad and freeze in ice cube trays and then place them in a freezer bag for later use.  Yep, I'm full of all kinds of tricks.  I actually find it hard to eat out at chain restaurants now; my food is just better and all of that processing tends to upset my tummy nowadays.  Anyway, now you have a small taste of our daily life in the kitchen!   I've included some pics of our backyard buddies!

Soup's On....

  Recently, our family had a scare as our daughter had an emergency appendectomy.  It definitely was not planned as she came home from school with a tummy ache that only got worse through the night with us in the ER at dawn.  What made it worse was her liquid diet.  I was super nervous and made sure I checked and rechecked with all of her nurses in regards to her food allergies possibly being in medications and her food tray.  All of the nurses were awesome and very helpful; they made a neurotic mother feel at ease.  However, the dietary services dropped the ball BIG TIME!  Once she received her food tray the following morning after her surgery, she started getting itchy with more stomach pain.  I called dietary services to check on her food and low and behold wheat and soy were on her tray.  I am not gonna lie, I had a moment.  It was not pretty and I did not handle it well, however in my defense I was nearly 48 hours without sleep and the coffee was horrid.  I did apologize to the nursing staff repeatedly because it was not their fault and they truly felt sorry for our situation.  However, it is a scary situation when a person cannot even rely on their healthcare system, their local hospital, to provide the proper care.  The Doctor was called and they decided to hurry up and get us out of there before the hospital tried to feed her again.  My husband had to actually leave and go to the grocery store to get her something to eat.  I was so proud of the emergency care and the nursing care that she received, but that is the end of it.  I cannot imagine what would have happened to the uneducated individual or the single parent trying to do it all.  However, with all of that being said the important thing is that she is home, healthy, and appendix free.  When we got home she requested a bowl of soup for her dinner that evening, and I got started asap as her meds took her to dreamland.  Her request?  French Onion Soup!  Okay, kinda sweet and easy to eat, so I got started.  Luckily, our onion crop was fantastic this year and I have a ton of red and white onions to choose from with her favorite being the red.  I'm not just saying this, that girl loves her onions.  She loves to go through the gardens in the summer and pull up onions to wash off and eat like apples.  I thought I would share my French Onion Soup recipe with all of you.....

French Onion Soup

4 tbs butter
2 tbs canola oil
5 medium onions sliced thinly
1 box of Kitchen Basics Beef Broth
2 tsp tarragon
salt and pepper to taste.
Your favorite Allergy-friendly bread
Gruyere Cheese

To saucepan add butter and oil.  When melted add onions and tarragon.  Stir often until onions reach that beautiful carmelized appearance (about 40 minutes or so).  Add beef broth and cover until heated through.  Salt and Pepper to taste.  Ladle soup in crocks or mugs.  I made garlic toast out of our Rudi's Multi-Grain bread and place on top, shred gruyere cheese to cover toast and place under broiler until melted and bubbly.  If that's not a post-surgical treat, I don't know what is.

The Food Allergy Family

I was pleasantly surprised the other day when grocery shopping at the amount of allergy-friendly salad dressings I saw.  They even had pretty green "gluten free" tags as aisle markers, making it easier to recognize.  Of course, not all were soy-free, but plenty were.  As soccer season is in full-swing, I am relying plenty on my crock-pot for those go-to meals.  I found some Maple Grove Farm Aged Asiago and peppercorn salad dressing the other day and thought they would go fantastically poured over some country-style ribs in my crock-pot.  Boy was I right and happy to say so.  Us food allergy families can sometimes find a hard time coming up with ideas for a crock-pot meal that doesn't involve chili, soup, or barbecue.  I love the idea of trying something a little outside the box, this dressing allowed the ribs to be super-tender but not stringy with a tangy kick to them, partly due to the dressing and partly due to the 5 cloves of garlic I chopped and added.  You can't go wrong with garlic, that's for sure.  It's like cheese, bacon, or butter- adding it just makes your food better (or at least it does in the south). I do enjoy the idea of using salad dressings as marinades and/or sauces.  After it's prepared you have a meal for the night or you can be like me and freeze it for later.  I'm extremely blessed to be able to be home for my family as my full-time job, therefore I'm always cooking.  I used to work as a nurse part-time until my daughter was diagnosed with food allergies.  I remember being so depressed and not even getting out of bed except to cook meals or go to work, and that was it.  I would go to work crying and come home from work crying.  People started realizing something was definitely going on and I was not one for publicizing anything in my life; that's when I knew something had to change.  I'm a pretty strong chica and when I sat down with my husband to discuss everything we knew what had to be done.  I couldn't nor wouldn't change my family, but I could most definitely change our circumstances; I quit my job to stay home until normalcy could be obtained.  I made my mind up and so began mine and my family's journey of re-invention.  It's nice to change it up a bit sometimes.  Whether you paint a room, try an ethnic food, or decide to change your lifestyle to accomodate your present circumstances.  We chose to change as a family as we choose to do everything.  I didn't have the luxury to grow up in a stable family and continue to bear those scars, but I am truly blessed to have married a man who truly is my strength when I am weak.  "The Evolution of a Food Allergy Family" is the title of a book I'm currently working on for food allergy families.  It's getting closer and closer to being done.  I can't wait to share it with all of you...    

Our Story

We are starting the year with a healthy child.  It was only mid-July of 2010 that we received the news that our daughter had food allergies.  It was a long-awaited and much appreciated diagnosis because we now had a name to go along with the struggle.  As a parent, your only wish is for healthy and happy children and that you are capable of giving them the world.  That was not our reality for many years.  When our daughter received her three month immunization, we saw a change.  She would no longer breast feed and would cry uncontrollably at times.  The doctors, of course, told my husband and me that we were just the parents to an emotional child.  At 10 months old or so, we were told that she had an allergic reaction to the oatmeal cereal.  She was not to have any foods containing oats, oat flour, etc, and we were to retry the food in 6 months.  We followed doctors’ orders and in six months she was able to eat oatmeal again.  By the age of three she would lay down frequently and when we would ask what was wrong she would just say that her stomach and her back hurt.  That is all she would say; nothing else hurt except her stomach and her back.  Numerous visits were made to our pediatrician.  When I say numerous, I mean that they hated to see me come into the office.  Finally, a few months into our struggle, they told us that she tested positive for mono.  My three year old had mono and I was floored.  I figured she obtained it from story hour or gymnastics; she was positive for mono in the spring and finally felt like herself in September.  By October I left my job at our local newspaper and went back to school to receive my nursing degree.  I knew there was more going on.  During my last year of nursing school, after numerous visits back to the doctor with the same complaints; our pediatrician sent us to a specialist five hours away at a large children’s hospital.  There we were given a diagnosis of hypersensitivity with an emphasis on sensory perception autism.  The doctor told us that her back hurts because she can literally feel all of her joints, muscles, etc.  She compared it to us stepping on a rock; she would feel like she was stepping on a plate of broken glass.  During her growth spurts she couldn’t even feel her bladder; it hurt her to walk at times.  She would only eat vanilla yogurt and nothing else.  The specialist told us that her biggest obstacle would be us, and that we should push her to try more foods and get her body stronger.  So began my work.  I was the mother and I would fix this problem.  I graduated nursing school and we decided I would only work part-time.  I started mashing bananas to mix with her yogurt to get her eating more texture and eventually it worked and she slowly started eating more foods.  We started yoga to get her muscles stronger and when she was old enough she started playing soccer; her now favorite sport.  The only problem is that her stomach and back was still hurting and now she developed urticaria at random times.  The doctor gave us zyrtec to give during the urticaria and an MRI showed an abscess on her appendix; the surgeon opted not to do surgery in hopes it would go away on its own.  We now also discovered a heart murmur.  By this time, our pediatrician had moved away and in a last stitch effort I went back to the office to see a different doctor.  It was the best decision I ever made.  She took one look at her and said that she looked as if she had allergies and requested that we get some blood work done that day.  Two days later they called with the news that she was allergic to wheat, soy, and walnuts.  They wanted us to get blood work done to check for Celiac’s disease and also made us an appointment with a pediatric allergist.  She tested negative for the Celiac’s and during the scratch test she tested positive for wheat, soy, peanuts, and tree nuts.  This was discovered two weeks before school was scheduled to start.  The public school she attends cannot guarantee food allergy safety, therefore we bought a microwave to place in her classroom and she takes her lunch on a daily basis.  By September I left my job to stay home until a routine could really be obtained.  I now look forward to a happy, healthy future for our daughter who is currently oozing with health.  She still has problems with her back, certain textures, and over-stimulation.  As parents, we have a little different outlook on life.  We have better patience, a stronger knowledge, and the confidence that we will do whatever it takes to give our children the health and strength they need for a prosperous future.