Use the recipe below with discretion, but if you crave an onion ring once a year, here's your chance. I'll try to justify creating the recipe in this blog, but can't fully since we all know fried foods are bad for more than a couple reasons. However, since they taste good, and some readers out there may be underweight like my sons, and some others may indulge in avoids unnecessarily in seeking out fried foods, I feel I must share my recipe.

Some updates first though. Things are still going well for me. My weight fluctuates a bit as a lose fat and gain muscle, but I'm heading in the right direction. I love being able to do more and gain new abilities with training and taekwondo. My double kicks are getting pretty sweet, and when I started I could hardly jump and rotate my hips for a double, much less stick my feet out at the end. I'm just now starting to get some power into those feet for the kicks.

I finally got a secretor test sent in for my six year old. I've been exploring the thought that maybe he could also be an explorer. However, the test came back and he is a secretor, and as an A+ secretor, he can't be an explorer. I was hoping for some way to explain or address his allergies to dairy and eggs, which should both be good for teachers. The good news is that we don't have to take away his favorite staple foods, like soy and peanuts. Teacher children can have some trouble growing, as he has had, but he's been making good progress the last few months.

One way to get more calories in him is the Southern practice of frying just about anything. Today I even fried his sandwich... he wanted something new and his dad was worrying about him not eating enough, so I went a little crazy, in a good way. He ate it all; he was happy, I was happy, and his dad was happy...nothing resolves confict like fried food

I know, fried food is terrible, but it's so tasty and if there's a healthier version of it then it's a good recipe to put some weight on underweight kids. I buy Rice Bran Oil from Azure Standard, and a gallon isn't too bad... not near as cheap as ol' Wesson oil or whatever, but when you consider the difference in health-effect, it's very worth it. Rice Bran Oil ranks up with Olive oil for health benefits, but withstands much higher temperatures.

So...enough attempted justification, here's the recipe for the batter. It's milk free, egg free, and explorer friendly. The tapioca isn't so good for teachers, but to replace the egg that my son is severely allergic to, it's the best solution I've found thus far. For those who can have eggs, one of those should do the job instead of the tapioca, for those who can have milk or buttermilk, you can use that for the liquid.

1/2 cup Yellow Split Pea Flour*
1/2 cup quinoa flour (millet flour may work)
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/4 tsp baking powder**
1/2 cup or more of rice milk or liquid of choice, to bring it to a batter consistency that will easily coat whatever you desire.
spices of choice, a bit of lemon juice if you're frying fish.

*available from Azure standard and other places, or make your own from yellow split peas, garbanzo bean flour would work for those types that can have that, other bean flours would be fine too, but the yellow color is nice and the hearty-sweet flavor it provides is essential, IMO.
**see recipebase for corn-free baking powder recipes, it causes the batter to puff up nicely.

This makes amazing onion rings, chicken fingers, catfish, cod, fried mushrooms, veggies, whatever your tastebuds desire (personally, I can't wait for okra season). I usually do a bit of this and a bit of that to see what they'll eat. Just dip/dredge it in the batter to coat it and fry in pre-heated (medium or medium-high on the stove) rice bran oil. I, of course, have to limit how much of it I eat, and I've gotten better at that, I'm just happy to have just a little when I've gone so many years without any at all. I eat plenty of salad and fresh raw veggies or fruit before and after, to try and find some sort of dietary balance in the meal.