A Great Halloween and Looking Forward to November..

I hope everyone had a fantastic Halloween; I know we did.  We did things a little differently this year and ended up with a great result.  We opted to participate in our Church's Trunk or Treat this year.  My husband and son decorated our "trunk" while I visited every other "trunk" with a food allergy goodie bag for my daughter in a very Kristina from Parenthood kind of way.  Though I did run the risk of appearing as the "crazy lady", it went pretty well.  I took her and our neighbor's trunk or treating while the Husband and son passed out food-allergy friendly candy.  No, she didn't just get her goodie bags; but that was okay.  She did get mostly her goodie bags and passed the other candy onto her friends.  We also participated in the chili supper with my chili staying in the truck as to not risk contamination or none left when we got there.  We had a blast "tailgating it", there were no tears and lots of smiles; therefore I would say it was a huge success.  We did also participate in the traditional trick or treating, it was a request from my son.  We discussed it as a family (yes, we discussed trick or treating; we discuss everything) and decided it would be fun in the traditional sense of dressing up and running through the streets (not literally).  We went with neighbors and drove into town and had a great time and divvied up all the candy to friends.  It wasn't nearly as scary as she was thinking it would be and that was the point.  She needed the confidence to know that it really wasn't a big deal; that she could still participate and have fun with just choosing to not eat the candy.  That simple.  I guess that's the point of discussing everything as a family; we never want our kids to feel overwhelmed with decisions we make for them.  Don't get me wrong, it's still a dictatorship over a democracy; only we choose to lay everything out ahead of time for questions/discussion.  While Halloween was very successful, it was only two days later that we headed to the Allergist for our tree nut challenge.  Yep, it had been over a year since her initial diagnosis and her bloodwork showed levels appropriate for a challenge.  She was so excited, my husband was super excited, my son was happy for his sister, and I was an absolute nervous wreck.  What would happen?  So many questions and scenarios were in my mind.  We were told to bring 30-40 grams of each tree nut to challenge along with enough for her to do for the many hours we would be there.  She couldn't eat breakfast that morning because her stomach was supposed to be empty and her appointment was at 8:30 in the morning.  We gathered school work, her dvd player, and some toys and headed off.  We chose pistachios, walnuts, and almonds for her challenge.  The only reasoning for my choice was her initial diagnosis lab work showed specific allergy to walnuts and the pistachios and almonds because I couldn't find anything else.  No really, we only have a Wal-Mart and Kroger here and all of the other nuts were flavored and included wheat and soy.  Kinda sucks.  The MD office crushed all of the nuts together and gave them to her in 3 different doses starting small and ending with a larger dose.  I brought vanilla yogurt for her to mix nuts with to make it easier to eat texture-wise.  By the end of the third dose it was going on 11 o'clock and she started with the itching.  By 11:40am her back was breaking out and she was getting pretty uncomfortable, antihistamines were given along with a small dose of steroids.  The good thing?  It was not an anaphylactic reaction, but we are going to continue to stay away from tree nuts and opted to not do a peanut challenge for now.  Besides, this is going to be a fabulous, busy time of year.  I love, love, love Thanksgiving.  It's my favorite holiday.  It starts the most wonderful time of the year.  It's the first time everyone comes together and shares a wonderful allergy-friendly meal.  When I say everyone, I mean everyone on my Husband's side of the family as my family isn't with the whole food allergy thing.  Sad for them as they are missing out on a yummy meal and two fantastic kids' lives.  Is this your first food allergy Thanksgiving?  If so, it's not as hard as it seems.  Yes, it's a bit overwhelming when you thing of the grand scheme of things, but it's really not hard.  This is my second, and I am ready for it.  Next week's post will be a bit more inclusive on the easiness of it.  For now, I'll just include a fabulous fall recipe to help get you in the mood....

Pork Tenderloin with Cranberry Chutney

Preheated oven to 350 degrees

Cranberry Chutney

1 can whole cranberry sauce

¼ cup maple syrup

Dash of cinnamon

Over low heat to reduce and thicken.

Pork Tenderloin

Baking dish

Place pork tenderloin in baking dish.  Cover top with ½ cranberry chutney.  Pour 1-1/2 cups apple cider around tenderloin.  Bake uncovered for 40 minutes.  Take out and leave alone for at least 10 minutes to allow meat to rest.  Serve other ½ of cranberry chutney

alongside pork tenderloin.

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!

Food Allergy Food Drive

Food Allergy Food Drive

by Hope O'Donnell-Hill on Friday, October 7, 2011 at 10:10am

It has been brought to my attention over the past year the amount of families and individuals facing daily food allergy challenges; and the number is continually growing.  A lot of these families are in need of financial assistance due to the specialized state of these foods.  For this reason I have acquired a list of allergy-friendly foods and am requesting your assistance to help the many people in our area faced with these challenges.  Just the other day was there a young mother with two small children newly overwhelmed with her 20 month old's diagnosis of multiple food allergies, and terrified of not having the means necessary to feed her child.  Until personally faced with the struggle; many do not understand the fear food allergies can hold over the individual and/or family.  It is extremely overwhelming and absolutely frightening to realize that you may not be able to safely feed your child.  I am requesting your help for these  families and individuals that preside in our area.  We will be hosting a food drive for October requesting these specialized ingredients for these very special people.  Please consider donating to our cause, just one allergy-friendly food item can make a difference.  We are excited that Peach Blossom Health Food Store here in Murray, KY has agreed to be our Drop-Off for these donations.  Thanks so much...

Bags of Dry Rice
Bags of Dry Beans
Corn Meal
Masa (Corn Flour)
Nutella
Sunbutter
Tree Nut Butters (Almond, Cashew, etc.)
Soy Butter
GF Bisquick
Rice Pastas
Corn Pastas
GF Baking Mixes (Betty Crocker, Bob's Red Mill, Pamela's, Hodgson Mill, etc.)
Brianna's brand salad dressings (they are GF)
Maple Grove Farms Syrups and Salad Dressings
Bread (Udi's, Rudi's, GF Bakehouse, Katz)
Gluten Free Oats
Canned Tomatoes
Cooking Oil (Canola, Corn, Olive, Sunflower, Coconut)
Milk Replacements (Soy, Coconut, Rice, Almond)
Egg Replacements
Kitchen Basics brand Stocks/Broths
Flour/Starches (Potato, Tapioca, Corn, Garbanzo Bean, Rice, Almond, Sorghum)
Gift Cards - when in doubt a simple donation can go a long way.

Please Drop-off at Peach Blossom Health Foods in Murray, KY during the month of October