Chicken and Waffles with a Juice or 2 or 3 or 4........

All we juiced in only ONE day for 2 people

What to do after a weekend of indulgence....a juice cleanse, what else? If you have ever seen the documentary Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead, you know the benefits of juicing. Do I think that it's safe to juice everyday, all day for weeks and months at a time...no. However, a 1-3 day jaunt here and there to reboot your body does it some good. The juice cleanse I prefer is from the maker of the documentary. It is 5 juices a day and a huge salad for dinner. Not once did I feel hungry or deprived. It's actually kinda hard to drink all that in one day! The site from The Dr. Oz Show with the juice recipes is linked below:
http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/joe-cross-3-day-weekend-juice-cleanse
Since I am juicing, what am I going to feed the fam? I was planning on making them waffles anyways but I wanted to add some protein...so chicken and waffles it is! I have been making these fabulous teff pancakes that the kids love. Teff is an gluten free ancient grain used by the Egyptions. It is good fiber and makes a yummy pancake. I got the recipe from the book that saved my life in this food sensitivity world....Nourishing Meals. Here is the recipe:

Teff Banana Pancakes

Happy Girl!

1 cup teff flour
¼ cup tapioca flour
2 tablespoons ground flax seed
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon sea salt
1 cup water or non-dairy milk
¼ cup mashed ripe banana (about 1 small banana)
2 tablespoons oil
1 tablespoon maple syrup or honey
Combine wet and add to dry ingrediants. Fry on griddle.

Onto the chicken part. I found the most fabulous chicken nuggets in the freezer section at, where else, Target....Applegate Farms Gluten and Casein Free Chicken Nuggets. And the heavans opened up and the angels sang:) This is how I felt seeing these. I so appreciate and love Applegate Farms. The nuggets  baked right up in the oven and were a delicious add-on to the waffle. Poured some real maple syrup on everything, with a side of hashbrowns and that is one tasty meal! Chicken + Waffles = Happy Kids.

Cheating the Dairy, Egg, and Gluten Free Way

So, the 4th of July weekend has come to an end and my idea of cheating has been too many chips, salsa, and guacamole. But, it seems like everytime I veer from eating what works best for my body...I pay for it in the way of muscle aches. So, the last few days have been pretty rough...time for a 2 day detox. Kids are in day camp this week, so I actually have time to focus on me. Like usual, a physical detox usually leads to an emotional detox. Not sure why the 2 are connected, but it happens everytime. But, I guess smoothies and tears never hurt anyone, so I am up for it:) In true detox eve fashion, I was craving sweet and who says cheating isn't fun eating gluten, dairy, and egg free? So, I created the banana coconut cream pie sundae and I wanted to share it, cause god it was SO good. 

Gluten, Dairy, Egg Free Banana Coconut Cream Sundae (wow long title!)
• A few scoops of French Vanilla Soy Dream Ice Cream
• Peanut Butter (mine is homemade, but any type will do)
• Enjoy Life Foods dairy, egg, gluten free mini chocolate chips
• raw shredded coconut
• 1/2 banana diced

Melt 1 tbsp. peanut butter with 1/2 tbsp chocolate chips. Pour mixture over ice cream and
top with diced bananas and coconut. 

Wish I had a picture but it was pretty messy looking and I didnt have time to take pics
before I devoured it!

I Can't Believe They Like It: Chia Pudding

We always loved our ice cream, so we were in need of a sweet creamy treat to take it's place now that dairy is out for a while. We buy coconut milk ice cream on occasion, but I was looking for an everyday item that could go in the kid's lunchboxes. Enter: Chia Pudding. The texture of chia pudding is like that of tapioca pudding, so that made me nervous. I have seen recipes for this concoction before, but had never tried it. The first batch I whipped up was chocolate. Jackson tried it right away (cause it was chocolate). Don and Maddy were harder sells. I made a second batch of vanilla/cinnamon and that was the deal breaker. I won Don and Maddy over with the vanilla batch. You have got to try this. It's our sweet savior in this house.

Chia Pudding
1/4 cup of chia seeds
1 cup non-dairy milk

Combine in a blender and let sit in the fridge for an hour. It will thicken and at that time you can add your extract flavoring of choice, sweetener of choice (ours is stevia), cinnamon, fruit..whatever.

A Few New Favs

I have so wanted to get caught up with this blog because I have so many new recipes and endeavors that I am taking on and I want to share them with everyone. Since our food sensitivity testing as a family, life has changed a little. None of us are eating any gluten, dairy, or eggs. We are hoping to reintroduce them in 3-6 months with the hopes that our bodies will be better able to tolerate them after a brief rest from them. Until then, we will keep doing what we are doing. Jackson is currently on a rotated diet and he is eating more foods! Yeah! If you know Jackson, this is a huge milestone. Some of his favorites are corn crusted perch, applegate beef hotdogs, and turkey burgers with bacon mixed in. (Thank you How To Eat Like A Dinasaur Cookbook). The first night we ALL had the same dinner, I cried. Moms of picky eaters everywhere and people who really know me can completly understand this reaction:) The suppliments and change in his diet has had a very positive effect on him and for that I am so thankful. Tonight is pizza...and yes, Jackson will eat that too. However, his pizza has olive oil, garlic, and bacon on it. For a persnickity child, he sure has a grown up food pallet. Here are a few of our favorites:


Banana Split Oatmeal
rolled oats
bananas
hemp hearts
strawberries
honey

Make oatmeal according to directions. Add sliced bananas, strawberries and hemp hearts for crunch, 
Sweeten with honey if you think necessary. I find the bananas give it enough sweetness. Serve in a sundae cup....kids loved the sundae cup, especially at breakfast time.

Chocolate Shake
1 can chilled full fat coconut milk
1 frozen banana
1 large handful of spinich
1 packet of stevia
2 dates
1 avacado
1 cup ice

Blend everything thoroughly in vitamix and add a little water until you get to a consisitancy that you like. We had this last night as a "special" after the kids Spotlight theater showcase and they liked it. Sweet and super healthy all at the same time.

Nut Butters
Any type of nut (we do cashew, peanut, pecan, sunflower seed)
any type of mild oil (grapeseed, sunflower, coconut)

Add oil and nuts to vitamix or food processor and process until smooth. Add more oil as needed to get to right consistency. You can add in chocolate chips, cinnamon, vanilla flavoring, raisins...the skys the limit. Delicious. You will never buy nut butter again!

Maddy's Creation

Tonight as I was packing lunches, I noticed that we had alot of carrots and I thought a nice carrot side salad might be cool for Maddy to whip up.  In one of my favorite books, Bringing Up Bebe, they mentioned that in France, a carrot salad is a nice starter course to a meal. Well Maddy likes anything French, so she went with it.  We shredded the carrots and then I gave her some suggestions about what to add and here is what she came up with. 
I love when kids get creative with food. 

Carrot Salad Ala Mademoiselle Madison
-3 large carrots, shredded
-1 tbsp dried cranberries
-1 tbsp unsweetned shredded coconut
-1 tbsp. sunflower seeds
-a few crumbles goat milk feta
-3 tbsp. dressing (see link below) but really anytype of sweet poppyseed dressing would do. I did cut the honey in the recipe from the link to 1/2 cup and it was still plenty sweet.

Mix and put in fridge overnight. Perfect for school lunches!

Greek Tacos

After our last trip, to the best gyros in the city of Milwaukee Oakland Gyros, I had an idea for a new recipe...a greek taco. Maddy was very skeptical, but she actually ended up eating the most. We tried making lamb burgers on one other occasion and it just was not good. So, this time I chose to double the meat and do 1 lb. ground turkey and 1 lb. ground lamb. This combination was a winner. You could taste the lamb, but it did not overpower anything. Complete with my version of cucumber sauce, this recipe is good! Maddy asked if we could have it every week. She also came up the with the idea of different tacos every week...a normal taco, a greek taco, and indian taco. My little culinary protege:)  The recipe listed is for 2 nights worth of meat, so you can freeze half of the meat right away or just have it 2 days in the week. I appologize up front for my lack of true measurements. It really was a shake of this and a shake of that. 

Greek Tacos
Meat Portion
1 lb. ground lamb
1 lb. ground turkey
4 cloves of garlic diced
few shakes of salt
few shakes of cinnamon
few shakes of oregano
shake of thyme
shake of parsley
You dont want the flavor to overpower, just to be subtle, so continue to add spices to your taste.
Cook meat with 1 tbsp. olive or oil of choice. Add seasonings and cook until done.

Cucumber Sauce
1/2 cup goat (or cow) milk yogurt
1/2 of a cucumber, peeled, deseeded and chopped into teeny tiny pieces
3 cloves of garlic finely diced
shake of garlic powder
few squeezes of a lemon
Mix all ingrediants together and let sit in the fridge for a few hours

Extras
Goats milk Feta (its the only true feta afterall)
sliced cucumbers
sliced onions
sliced tomatoes
Pitas (or do a naked taco over rice)

Assemble meat with extras in pita shell and add cucumber sauce. There ya go...Opa!

*Wondering why we are consuming goat's milk products now? Check out this link:
http://www.mtcapra.com/benefits-of-goat-milk-vs-cow-milk/

Blessings All Around

Yesterday my new naturopath doctor emailed me the greatest news....Jackson, 100%,  has a gluten sensitivity and candida. We did some diagnostic testing on him to give us the diagnosis. I have been trying to figure this out, on my own for 3 1/2 years now. I always had a sneaking suspicion that he shouldn't be eating gluten. But, always allowed "cheats" here and there. It's hard for a 7 year old to turn down the class birthday treat or to ALWAYS take food with me everywhere! But, cheat no more. We need to get his gut back to optimal health. If anyone knows me well, they know that Jackson hates vegetables, most protein, and loves fruit. So, this yeast thing will not be an easy road to treat either. However, he has been trying new foods everyday. Even just a teaspoon of them is better than none. There is finally hope on the horizon and that is why this is a blessing. So, this week we are down to 1 fruit a day, and one gluten free carbohydrate a day. Sounds impossible, I know, seeing that his menu is already limited.  I did find this awesome breakfast idea that fits the bill. It has protein, good fats, and it's full of fiber...plus it's really good. Jackson even commented that he could be creative with it...by adding different stuff to it. Anything to get him involved in the process helps. It's called a mug muffin. I found a recipe online but, as always, put my own spin on it. I realize that my picture doesn't make it look uber appetizing because part of it dripped over the side in the microwave, but I promise you, it is yummy and very soft and moist inside. Almost cupcake like. The dripping on the front of it actually looks like a kinda creepy smiley face:)

Coconut/Blueberry "Muggin"
2 eggs
2 Tbsp coconut flour
2 Tbsp unsweetened shredded coconut
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 packet of Better Than Stevia sweetener
1/2 tsp. baking powder
handful of blueberries or any fruit
1/4 cup coconut milk
2 Tbsp melted coconut oil
1/4 tsp. vanilla
pinch of salt

Combine/Mix all together in a coffee mug and put in the microwave for 3-5 minutes or until knife comes out clean. Mine took 4 minutes. I spread coconut butter on top and a slight drizzle of honey. If you are on a non-specific diet you can use any variety of milk, sweetener, and flour. Whip cream 
on top, whatever...BE CREATIVE!

Tonight I am trying sweet potato and cinnamon latkes with coconut cream....if I can pull this one off, it will be a miracle...wish me luck!