So What Do You Do For Snacks???

This is a question I get asked over and over again. "So with all those dietary challenges, what do you do for lunchbox snacks, what do you take with you when you travel with the kids?"


So I figured I may as well put a list out there of stuff that is working well for us for snacks. I do try to buy organic as much as possible, to buy fruits/veggies that are in season, and to eliminate as many artificial ingredients (i.e. stuff that's been cooked up in a lab) as I possible can.

This list is a work in progress, as I am sure I'm forgetting things. I'll also add webby links to the various products and companies when I have more time.

Here goes:
Fresh fruits are big here - green and red seedless grapes, strawberries, banana (Potatey only), apple, kiwi, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries.

Organic baby carrots - Salamander loves them with some Cedar's Organic Original Hommus. For Potatey I'll make a "quick dip" using Hain Lite Safflower Mayonnaise [this one does have a few *funny* ingredients, so I do limit this], olive oil and organic dried parsley flakes

Sliced fresh cucumber

Celery Sticks w Almond Butter (or the *quick dip* I just mentioned)

Bubbies(R) Bread & Butter chips (Salamander LOVES these)

Dried fruits (make sure no sulfites/sulfates added; preferable no sugar added either), bought in bulk at Whole Foods Market - cranberries, banana slices (Potatey only), mango slices, papaya slices, pineapple slices

Sun Maid(R) Natural California raisins - the 1 1/2 oz. small boxes only. I was told, way back in the days of starting dietary changes, that this size is the only size that's gluten free

Woodstock Farms Organic Apple Sauce, 4 oz cups

Shelled Pistachios

Enjoy Life(R) Caramel Apple bars

ANDI BAR(TM) Chocolate Shake bars

Enjoy Life(R) Snicker Doodle cookies, Chewy Chocolate Chip cookies, Double Chocolate Cookies

Andean Dream(R) Chocolate Chip Quinoa Cookies

Brownies, or chocolate cup cakes I bake using Namaste Foods Brownie Mix or Chocolate Cake Mix

I almost always have some "my own recipe' mini muffins or sweet breads floating around.

Ruffles(R) Natural Sea Salted Reduced Fat Potato Chips

Tostitos Natural Yellow Corn Chips, Tostitos Natural Blue Corn Chips. Salamander loves these with either hommus or with EatSmart (Snyder's of Hanover) Garden Style Sweet Salsa

EnerG(R) Wylde Pretzels (I only buy the one that is soy free in addition to gluten free, dairy free, etc. I wish they would develop a pretzel that's corn free as well)

Honey Acres HoneySuckles Honey Snack

Bare Fruit Bake-Dried Apple Chips, Bake-Dried Mangos

Sensible Foods(R) Crunch Dried(R) Fruit Snacks


And yes, with the snacks too, I rotate, rotate, rotate (e.g. boys don't get the same snack two days in a row; I try very hard to space things 7 days apart and/or to link up with the *starch of the day*).

Chocolate Chip Muffins

I stared making these for the boys when my previous waffle maker decided to take an early retirement (and my replacement hadn't come in yet). They were a rip roaring success (so much so that the boys now ask me to alternate between waffles and muffins. LOL).

2 1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup honey
1/2 tsp vanilla (optional)
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 eggs (or if you need to stay egg free, replace with 1/3 cup of apple sauce)
1/4 cup chocolate chips (we only use the Enjoy Life chocolate chips) (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In large mixing bowl, mix together almond flour, baking soda, salt. Add honey, vanilla, vinegar and eggs (or apple sauce). Mix well and stir in chocolate chips.

Lightly grease muffin tins, or place paper liners in tins.

Spoon batter into tins, filling half full. Makes about 9 muffins.

Place muffin tin in oven. Place baking sheet under muffin tins (in case batter rises above muffin tins and spills over, it's happened to me a few times.. LOL).

Bake for about 20 minutes (may need to bake a little longer if using apple sauce instead of eggs).

My boys love 'em hot, with a little jelly or honey drizzled on top. They make great lunchbox snacks too (but do check with your child's school regarding their nut free policies).

Meatballs - Version Two

Tweaked my original meatball recipe for a friend who has to be tomato-free for a while. Here goes:

1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground turkey
salt
pepper
paprika
sufficient Pacific Natural Foods Free Range Chicken Broth to 'bind' the ground meats together

Blend beef, turkey, salt, pepper, paprika and Chicken Broth well in a food processor.

Roll into balls (size is entirely up to you).

Fry/bake in a large skillet in mixture of olive oil and Chicken Broth until thoroughly cooked and starting to brown.

Let cool, store in a Pyrex dish in refrigerator. They easily keep for a week.

[make great meatballs for a "meatball sandwich" too. I use the EnerG Tapioca HotDog Buns]

Potato & Hazelnut Pancakes

It's been a long time since I've posted a new recipe. So sorry. Things have been 'nutty' here (pun intended) and I've stuck with the tried and true stuff.

But nonetheless, I had some time for experimenting this morning. Potatey loved these. They make for very flexible crepe-like pancakes, I may try making "jelly rolls' out of the left-overs.

1/2 cup Potato Starch
1/4 cup Hazelnut flour
1/4 cup Cherrybrook Kitchen Gluten-Free Pancake & Waffle Mix
1 tbs Cocoa Powder
1 tbs Cane Sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 tbs Sunflower Oil
1/2 cup Apple Sauce
1 1/2 cup Water

Mix all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Stir ingredients together well. Will make a fairly thin batter.

Heat up griddle.
Pour batter on hot griddle - I have a small sauce ladle that I fill up about half.
Batter is thin and runny, so pour out slowly. Pancakes do set up quickly.

Serve hot, but make great 'sandwiches' for lunch and dinner too.

Cornbread

1/2 of 24 oz bag of Red Mills Whole grain corn flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
6 tbsp olive oil
1 1/3 cup of half and half mixture of plain almond milk and chicken broth

Pre-heat oven to 350 F. Spray a Pyrex 9 inch baking dish with olive oil cooking spray.

In mixing bowl, mix corn flour, sugar, salt and baking soda.
In separate bowl, wisk eggs and olive oil.
Add egg mixture to dry corn flour mixture.
Add half-and-half mixture of almond oil and chicken broth to corn flour/egg mixture.

Mix thoroughly. Pour into Pyrex dish. Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown.
Let cool. Cornbread can be served as is (yummie with raspberry jelly), or use for cornbread stuffing.

"Simple" Lasagna

Made this last nite. Potatey is not a big fan of 'mixing food groups', so he didn't go for it. Salamander however LOVED it (and I had some for dinner too.. Yum, yum)

Ketchup (I use my home made ketchup)
Browned ground beef
1 large can (28 oz) Muir Glen Organic Diced Tomatoes
Tinkyada Brown Rice Lasagna


Preheat oven to 375 F.

In rectangular Pyrex baking dish (told you I love my Pyrex dishes), pour layer of ketchup, sufficiently to cover bottom of baking dish.
Sprinkle ground beef over ketchup.
Place single layer of Lasagna on ketchup/beef mixture (try to NOT have the Lasagna sheets overlap too much; overlapped areas take longer to cook and can get 'chewy').

Cover Lasagna with Diced Tomatoes (you want the tomato juices too; it'll help cook and soften the lasagna).
Sprinkle ground beef over diced tomatoes.
Place single layer of Lasagna on diced tomatoes/beef mixture.

Cover Lasagna with Diced Tomatoes and sprinkle ground beef over diced tomatoes.
Place single layer of Lasagna on diced tomatoes/beef mixture.

Cover Lasagna completely with ketchup. Sprinkle ground beef on ketchup.

Place baking dish in oven and cook for 50 minutes to 1 hour (the ketchup/diced tomato/tomato juices need to be bubbling) unit the Lasagna is soft and you can 'cut' things with a fork.

Let cool a bit and serve. Makes great left overs.

(when we're back in zucchini season next year, I'll add sliced or shredded zucchini in with the diced tomato/beef layers. I'll let you know how THAT turns out)

Allergy Grocery Fresh Baked Goods

I am soooo disappointed..

I am currently on the Allergy Grocery mail order web site (as I need to restock a few flour mixes I use frequently), and I got so excited when I saw their announcement for their new fresh baked goods with a picture of a pile of gorgeous looking bagels.

So of course I immediately drilled down into the ingredients, begging the Universe that, just for once, all ingredients used would be a match with the boys dietary requirements.

See, Potatey doesn't really miss bread at all.. he never really was exposed to breads much. But Salamander does remember (and miss) our Sunday morning breakfast jaunts to the local bagel place (this was before Potatey was born and before I realized the extent of Salamander's digestive issues), and I would have so much liked to be able to surprise him with a bagel treat.

But alas.. no such luck. Here are the ingredients:
White rice flour, non GMO modified tapioca starch, water, GF yeast, unrefined cane sugar, non GMO canola oil, guar gum, salt.

While the fact that yeast is used is not ideal, we have gotten to a point that the boys digestive systems can now handle a little yeast on a very infrequent basis. Canola oil however continues to be absolute poison for Salamander. Why, oh why could they not have used safflower or sunflower oil.... Ya think I should write them and ask that question?

Delicata Squash...

Am about to start experimenting with Delicata Squash... will let you all know how things turned out..

Things are turning out very, very well... I fully admit I am not a huge big squash fan (and I am going to have to change that as my farming co-op has a bumper crop of winter squash in all kinds of varieties this year), but the Delicata Squash is DELICIOUS!!!!

Unfortunately, the boys weren't too keen on it. Potatey took one bit and flat out rejected it. Salamander ate most of what I gave him for lunch, but finally "confessed" that he gave it a "40/60" (as in he liked it 40%, but didn't like it 60%). Ah well, you can't win 'em all..

I'm going to post the recipe anyway...

1 delicata squash
olive oil
garlic salt, pepper
1.5 cup pear juice
1 cup water
1 tsp apple cider vinegar


Peel squash with vegetable peeler (not as easy as it sounds - the skin of the delicata is quite thick; it took me about 25 - 30 minutes to completely peel the darn thing..)

Cut lengthwise in half and scrape out the seeds. Cut each piece again in half lengthwise, and then crosswise in 1/2 inch thick pieces.

Coat the bottom of a large skillet with olive oil. Add garlic salt and pepper. Let mixture oil/spice mixture come to temperature on medium heat (you'll see some bubbles in the oil).

Add squash pieces and stir fry at high heat for about 5 minutes. Add pear juice, water, cider and a little more salt. Stir. Cook for 20 - 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, on medium heat at an even boil until the pear juice is starting to boil in and the squash is getting soft. Then cook for another 10 minutes on high heat until the pear juice is boiled down to a glaze and the squash is tender (you can cut it with a fork). Taste and season with additional salt or pepper as needed.

Serve warm (although it's pretty tasty cold too).

Beef and Vegetable Stew

I'll admit it.. I am very much a *Jewish/Italian mother*... when I am upset or emotionally off kilter, I take refuge in the kitchen. And yesterday afternoon I definitely was upset...

So I worked on tweaking my beef and vegetable stew recipe. Salamander LOVED the end result (as in, cleaned off every last bit). His words? "The Quality Control Department gives this a double thumbs up." Have I mentioned yet that I adore this kiddo?

Making this stew definitely takes time. But most of the time is simmer time, and yes, you can walk away and do other stuff (I do).

Beef chuck or stew meat
Pacific Natural Foods Free range Chicken Broth
garlic salt
pepper
Garam Masala (Indian spice)
Sambhar Curry Powder (Indian spice)
Ketchup (I use my own)
Handful Baby carrots
Handful Frozen peas
4 tbs kidney beans
Handful frozen green beans

In medium sauce pan, pour about 1 inch of chicken broth. Add cubed beef. Add garlic salt, pepper, pinch of Garam Masala, pinch of Sambhar Curry, 3 tbs of ketchup. Mix it all up thoroughly.

Simmer the beef/broth/spice mixture, first at medium then at low heat, for 1.5 to 2 hours, until the beef is soft and tender. The broth/spice mixture will thicken. If it gets too thick, feel free to add some water.

Remove the beef from the broth/spice mixture and set aside.

Add another 1 inch of chicken broth, and an addition 3 tbs of ketchup. Add baby carrots and frozen peas and bring all back to a boil. Cook on high for about 15 minutes (you want to soften the carrots).

Add kidney beans. Turn mixture down to medium heat (beans will actually help thicken the stew mixture).

Add beef back in mixture. Add frozen green beans.

Cook on low to medium heat for another 10 - 15 minutes.

Serve hot. I didn't have any tapioca buns available yesterday, but next time, I may try making garlic bread out of a toasted and sliced tapioca bun, spectrum shortening and garlic salt.

(oh, and I used the left over kidney beans to make Salamander his baked beans for today. I let them sit overnite in my usual ketchup/honey mixture, and then cooked it all up for lunch today)

Salamander's Salad

3 to 4 leaves of green lettuce, shredded
3 to 4 leaves of arugula lettuce, shredded
handful of organic walnut halves
handful of organic dried cranberries
2 grilled chicken tenders; sliced and diced
1/2 apple; peeled, cored, sliced and diced
15 green or red seedless grapes

Mix the shredded lettuces, walnut halves, cranberries and chicken together in a salad plate (or a small bowl). Sprinkle with cracked pepper and dried or fresh parsley. Serve diced apple and grapes on the side (Salamander likes to toss these into his salad himself).

For a salad dressing, I make my own using Hains Lite Safflower Mayonnaise, mixed with a little olive oil and some dried parsley. We also discovered Maple Grove Farms of Vermont All Natural Maple Fig dressing (I'll add a linkie thingie as soon as blogger will let me) this week, and Salamander tried it tonite. So far, so good.

Turkey Sandwich

Salamander likes one of these, especially when I have made soup (soup and a sandwich).

1 Tapioca Bun (we like the Ener-G Tapioca Hamburger Buns)
Couple of Slices of Deli Turkey (we recently discovered Hormel Natural Choice Oven Roasted Deli Turkey - yes, a few of the ingredients are less than ideal, BUT the boys don't get this every day. Rotation, rotation, rotation...)
1 tbs Mayonnaise (I use the Hains Lite Safflower Mayonnaise)
Couple of Lettuce Leaves
4 strips Orange (or Yellow or Red) Bell Pepper

Salamander likes to build his own sandwich, so I make sure he has all the ingredients, and then he *goes to town*.

Buckwheat Pancakes

This is a recipe the boys' dad came up with, so it contains more sugar than I would have liked. But at once a week, it's probably OK. I just haven't had a chance yet to figure out the right amount of honey or agave syrup to replace the sugar with.

1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup millet flour
1/8 cup egg replacer
1/4 cup apple sauce
1/4 cup cane sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
water as needed for consistency

The boys tell me that all ingredients get dumped into a mixing bowl and mixed together until it's a nice slurry. Sometimes some *safe* cocoa or a handful of chocolate chips get tossed in too.

This batter makes a BIG batch of pancakes, so there are typically plenty left overs for Friday's lunch boxes (as a sandwich substitute), and sometimes even for Friday's dinner.


If you make the batter thinner, you end up with pancakes that are more crepe like. Potatey loves taking *jelly roll-ups* to school for lunch. Take one of the crepe like pancakes, spread on a thin layer of organic fruit jelly (WFM 365 brand has several very tasty jellies), and roll it up nice and tight. I do place each roll-up individually in a plastic ziploc bag BEFORE placing it inside Potatey's lunch container, as, well, unrolling does happen....

You can place sliced turkey, or sliced ham on these too, and then they make perfect *sandwiches* for the lunchbox (neither of my boys is missing *regular* bread, so there isn't a huge need for what looks like a *real* sandwich ...pancakes and waffles work really well here as a bread substitute)

Meatballs

I use a 1 to 1 blend of organic ground beef and organic ground turkey. You can adjust, or use different ground meats to your preference. For a while, I was using ground buffalo instead of ground beef

1 package ground beef
1 package ground turkey
salt
pepper
3 tbs ketchup (I use my own ketchup).

Blend beef, turkey, salt, pepper, ketchup well in a food processor. Roll into balls.

I either cook these in a large skillet, or I cook them in the oven. Depends on how much time I have, what else I may already have in the oven, on the stove top etc.

If I want to use the meatballs for a pasta dish, or as a side to mashed potatoes, I like them to be a little more crispy, so I will fry/bake the meatballs in some olive oil. If you decide to do that, you got to keep an eye on things and keep rotating the meatballs, or they'll burn.

If I want to use the meatballs for a soup, I will cook the meatballs in about one (1) inch of Pacific Natural Organic Free Range Chicken Broth (I use both the regular and the low sodium one - depends on how well stocked the store is).

Typically, the boys will be little piggies over these on the day that I make them. Left overs get stored in a, you guessed it, glass Pyrex bowl in the fridge, and get used up over the course of the week. The boys don't mind eating them cold, so I use them for their protein in the lunch boxes.

Baked Beans

Salamander LOVES baked beans, but as legumes are a high glutamate food, we do need to be careful. But I'll typically try to make him these *Baked Beans* once a week.

My version is a stove top version, haven't developed a good oven based version yet.

I use canned organic kidney beans (either the light ones or the medium red ones - while the dark red ones are yummy, they may just tip the glutamate/salicylate scale too much), or canned organic pinto beans. I am sure you can use dried beans (which you will need to soak then) as well.

1 can organic beans
1/2 cup ketchup (I use my own ketchup for this)
1 tbs honey or agave syrup
Pepper, salt to taste

Mix beans, ketchup and honey in a medium sized sauce pan. Simmer over medium to low heat for about 45 minutes, until the beans are nice and soft and the flavors are all well blended. And viola. Done.

If I have them, I'll serve these beans with uncured, antibiotic free, etc etc beef hotdogs.

I am very very picky on my beef hotdog brands; the Applegate Uncured Organic Beef Hotdogs have consistently worked well for us. Quite a few of the other GFCF etc approved version, both Applegate and from others, have triggered projectile vomiting out here.. I don't think it has anything to do with the hotdogs, it's just that my boys' stomachs and intestines are, well, what can I say....

The thing is, these hotdogs are uncured, so they don't keep long. When I buy a pack (typically during a raid of a WFM), I make sure that I used them all up within a 3 to 4 day period. I tried buying in bulk and freezing. Doesn't work. Boys inevitably get stomach upsets, including vomiting, from frozen and then defrosted hotdogs. Again, I don't think it has anything to do with the hotdogs themselves....