I can't help but feel happy when an unplanned dinner just happens to turn out right. Thursday is my errand day, and I travel from 8:00 A.M. until about 2:30 P.M. Today, my five year old tagged along, and I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed his company! We hit the grocery store, the library, the second hand store (kids clothes), the Goodwill Store, and Sam's club. He was quite the trooper.

Needless to say, I didn't have much energy for dinner. At 3 o'clock, I threw some defrosted homemade chicken soup in the crockpot. I added 1 cup of brown rice and set the crock pot to high. At about five o'clock, I pulled out baby carrots, applesauce and defrosted ground beef. I spiced the ground beef with roast beef seasoning and a little salt. I warmed up an Ezekiel hamburger bun on the grill and cooked up some tasty hamburgers. I also sauteed a little spinach, olive oil, salt and garlic. Throw in a block of mozerella cheese and waalaaaah -- it's a feast.

It sounds like a lot of work, but it didn't take much prep time. Everybody ended up with something beneficial and food from all traditional four food groups. Better yet, not one person COMPLAINED.

Life is good.

My workout was lame today. It just didn't feel right. Even my meals tasted "ok" instead of wonderful. I think I am going to go join my five year old on the swing set. I am left wondering why my body feels different today...... Maybe it's the weather.

Future recipes I look forward to playing with: Pumpkin Seed Alfafa sprout bread. I know, I know - it sounds crazy!! And don't worry - the O's get something else. Dad actually grilled steak last night for himself and the five year old. He used a spicy garlicky creole sauce which he injected into the meat. I have definately got to go look at that ingredient label and try to copy it. Til tomorrow.....

Tried something new today. I bought rice bread at the grocery store. It was four dollars a loaf. I just haven't had good luck with sandwhich bread so it's easier for me to splurge once in awhile. Here's the recipe:

Toast your bread.

Spread a little soft goat cheese or other btd compliant cheese.

Scoop out the avocado and slice.

Sprinkle the avocado with lemon juice

Lightly salt it - maybe just the tiniest bit of pepper (an avoid, technically)

Layer on one onion slice - any kind you prefer

Place a handful of alfalfa sprouts on top.

Pile it all together and -- enjoy!

I was pleasantly surprised. Since alfalfa is a beneficial, that's what I am playing with for the next couple of days. I've got a spinach and alfafa salad recipe I hope to try for dinner.

Dinner last night was a pleasant success as well. Frozen chopped steak was grilled up for the O's and served with frozen green beans, butter and salt. The green beans were boiled in as little water as possible. I would have preferred them steamed and now that the husband has enjoyed them, I will try to steam them next time. Keep in mind that he really likes the canned green beans - which has very little flavor.

The A's had some sauteed onions, garlic, and yellow squash cooked with white rice. At the last minute, I threw in some leftover canned wild salmon and soy sauce. It tasted great! A little applesauce on the side pleased everyone.

I did discover one thing a bit on the negative side. I am neglecting my protein/carbohydrate need. I feel like I should be eating more vegetables, but when my meal contains only veggies or only grains, I suddenly need a nap. Good eats.

I am just starting to figure out the "method" behind the madness. Easy shopping tips for a busy mom would include:

1) If serving different dishes for the A/O breakfast, one dish must be made fresh (grilled meat) and the other dish must come from the freezer (premade muffins or bread).

2) Lunch must always include a protein source, and both fruits and veggies must be ready to eat. I made pan fried tilapia using spelt flour, onion powder, salt, and kelp. I chose the canola oil as it just works better with fish. Side dishes included fresh strawberries and baby carrots.

Snacks are easy too - nuts, fresh fruits or fresh veggies with pre-made dip. If I can't get my dips pre-made on the weekend, one pre-made dish on Monday makes the rest of my week much easier. I cooked pinto beans in a crockpot last night while we slept. Today, I will whip up a dip and continue to eat from it for the next 3 - 5 days.

3) Salted rice cakes and thinly sliced veggies have replaced potato chips. (Except for the organic corn chips. They just blend so well with both bean dip and garlic veggie dip.) The O gets a chip from the health food aisle which is as compliant as I can get it. By giving the boys two different kinds of chips, neither one of them feels left out. Sometimes eating is more psychology than one might think!

4) Dinners - either the husband helps cook or he eats what I prepare. I always tell him in advance so he can think about it. I strive to make certain the five year old gets one red meat serving a day. Frozen ground beef patties help me cut down on wasted meat. Otherwise, it's meatloaf to the rescue!

5)Once our frozen ground beef is used up, I am buying fresh. Our grocery store cuts the meat once it gets there, so I know I can safely cook fresh meat and then freeze it for later use. Ask your butcher!



If there are any busy moms who would like to share the strategies, feel free to e-mail me. I would love to hear them! Good eats, everyone!

Here is an interesting one. Take the blueberry cookie recipe and change the following:

Use a food processor or blender and blend everything together (yes, the blueberries too)

increase flour by 1/2 - 3/4 cup

add 1/2 to 1 tsp of anise flavoring

increase sugar by 1/4 cup

Bake at the same temp. Drop by small tsp onto cookie sheet. When the cookies are done, they resemble speckled eggs. They taste like black jelly beans - or licorice if you will. My husband (who normally hates my cooking) said that they were unique and that he liked them. (Who knows? Maybe it is an O thing! I was worried about my 2 year old receiving enough candy in his Easter Basket. Right now, he has cookies, some allergy free lollipops, and some sesame candy bars (just newly found in the grocery store).

In case you are wondering, I follow the btd diet as closely as possible EXCEPT for desserts. I think that if you are eating correctly 99% of the time, a small dessert will not hurt you.

I also have to admit, that if I were fighting cancer or some other serious illness, I wouldn't cheat at all. Good eats, everyone!

It's easy to see my lack of sleep. Posting a recipe twice within my blogs- silly me! Today was a great practical experience kind of day. I was faced with the dilemna - no time to cook, must eat in the car, what to do? The answer? Treat the grocery store like a fast food resteraunt. I took the kids to a children's museum today. And of course, every mother knows it's smarter to feed the children before you go anywhere - especially when a two year old is going to be up past his nap time. So, we hit "Highlander" which is a decent size grocery store chain which has a "natural foods" section. Seven bucks later, we purchased two boxes of cookies - one A and one O btd appropriate. My two year old ended up with oatmeal raisin cookies (no avoids) and the five year old ended up with oatmeal chocolate chip (wheat free and milk free). Cookies for lunch you say? Breakfast included swedish pancakes with spelt flour and Cinammon Raisin Ezekiel Bread. The afternoon snack will include tuna with honey on sliced zuchinni (chips and dip) along with grilled turkey burgers. It all works out in the end. I think dinner will be pan-fried fish preceeded by some raw veggies. Just an example of every day life.....

The one thing that I am doing for myself today is writing this blog. Seriously, I have not brushed my hair, showered, gotten out of my pajamas, etc. I spent the night sitting up with my two year old. Poor little kid has been so miserable. He has a nasty, nasty head cold on top of an ear infection. Of course, I took him to the doctor too early the first time and he was not treated for anything. Two days later we went back again, and boy was he sick. Eating beneficially didn’t help at this point, because he wasn’t eating at all. I think it’s time to look up the immune protocols and stock my medicine cabinet accordingly. Speaking of medicine, I have not given my 2-year-old D’adamo vitamins because I didn’t know how to sneak it down him. I had previously tried putting it inside of one of his drinks, but it must taste pretty strong, because he wouldn’t touch it. As I was relaxing next to my husband watching “The Simpson’s”, it suddenly hit me. Hide it in applesauce. Duuuhh. It took a cartoon character to light the way. As soon as he starts eating again, one vitamin is going into some applesauce daily. If this works, both kids are going to get applesauce with every breakfast!

Dare I break my promise here? Hmmmm. Ask me if I am sick yet. Nope.

Blueberry cookies:

1 tablespoon of ghee

2/3-cup brown sugar

1-tablespoon compliant milk (rice milk for us)

1 tsp of vanilla

A pinch of sea salt

½ tsp of baking powder (Rumford)

½ cup millet flour and rice flour or oat flour

¼ cup unsweetened applesauce

¼ cup blueberries, fresh or frozen, smaller is preferred

*If you can use eggs, omit applesauce and add one egg.

Preheat oven to 350 degree. Cream the ghee and sugar. Add milk and vanilla and mix well. Beat in all the other ingredients except the blueberries. Gently fold in blueberries (I think next time I would double the amount of blueberries). Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a non-stick cookie sheet and bake 10 – 14 minutes. Allow cookies to cool before attempting to take them off the cookie sheet.

My kids ate every single cookie. In fact, skip the blueberries and you have a nice sugar cookie recipe using btd flour instead of the traditional refined white flour. With Easter right around the corner, I think I will make blueberry cookies when the kids are sleeping and fill their Easter Baskets with some of these. I might even be able to add natural colors to these cookies and shape them like Easter eggs. (Blueberry juice, cherry juice, cranberry juice, hmmm.)

Perhaps, I will bake peanut butter cookies for the A, and blueberry cookies for the O. I am now inspired!

I also tried to make a homemade chicken soup today. Here’s what I did:

Swanson’s Natural Chicken broth (there is corn sugar in this in the form of dextrose)

1 whole chicken, giblets already removed

Carrots

Onions

Minced garlic

Several handfuls of chopped parsley

1 big bay leaf

Several shakes of dried basil seasoning

Salt

Throw it all into a crock pot for 8 hours on low. Pull the chicken out and debone. Return chicken to the pot. It’s missing a little something, but I can’t quite tell what. In some ways that is the fun part. With each bowl I eat, I add a little bit of new spice until I finally hit the right one. Paprika went into the last bowl. It was good but not the missing ingredient I was hoping to find. I think I am missing the taste of pepper. There has got to be a substitute out there. Until then…. Good eats everyone.

Ok, ok. I promise.. this is the last time I will mention health vs illness. My two year old has a fever, and my five year old came down with an ear infection. Hubby is still fighting bronchitis, but he is functioning. I have been as compliant as possible and I have stuck to my guns regarding excersise. I need to brag about my husband here. He has supported my attempts to get to the gym, even though he would rather see me take care of the kids. I know that he is still feeling ill and needs to rest. I also know that if I fall, he will lose much more time as I recuperate in bed. Plus, if he covers me for the two hours I need, then I take on the entire night shift so he can get uninterrupted sleep. He's really acting like a true partner here, and I just wanted to thank him.

Anyway, here's the bottom line: Illness can be prevented through D'adamo's principles. Mom's are supposed to carve out time for themselves every single day.

Blueberry cookies! My kids ate these up:

1 big heaping tablespoon of ghee

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon rice milk or any kind of compliant milk

1 tsp vanilla (the real stuff!)

1/4 tsp sea salt - fine crystals

1/2 tsp rumford baking powder

1 cup millet flour or 1/2 cup oat flour with 1/2 cup brown rice flour

1/4 cup applesauce (plain or with cinnamon)

1/4 cup fresh blueberries (frozen will also work)

if you aren't allergic, then add one egg and omit applesauce

Cream the ghee and sugar. Add milk and vanilla and beat. Beat in all other ingredients except the blueberries. Gently fold in blueberries. Drop by tsp onto non stick cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 - 14 minutes. Allow cookies to cool completely before attemtping to remove.

The recipe was taken from allergy free cooking by Eileen Rhude Yoder and tweaked a little bit. We didn't have any leftovers.

Please forgive typo's - this is a fast one today.

How do you know when life is simply too busy? When you are running late to make your scheduled appointment for...... a day off. Seriously, I can't believe this is happening to me! Geeesh. Still I wanted to blog.....

I made zuchinni pecan muffins this morning while leaning heavily on my food chopper. I can't get over how well muffins fit a busy mom's lifestyle. #1) They are portable #2) They freeze and defrost well #3) Any vegetable or fruit combination works here - and a few vegies are better than none #4) Using a blender and paper muffin liners make it easy to clean up #5) the kids can help and everyone is happy.

I also focused on ground beef for breakfast once again. I am stuck using one pound blocks of frozen ground beef. It is such a waste since my little five year old can't eat it before it becomes too old. Yet, I just figured out that I can probably make two breakfasts and then serve meatloaf on that second day without wasting the meat. Next time, I will try to find economical ground beef patties which have been frozen. If I allow them to defrost in the fridge (am I allowed to do that safely? I will have to doublecheck), then I can add some tasty beneficial spices. I might even ask the butcher at the grocery store if they can make smaller ground beef portions for me. That way I wouldn't have to expose as much ground beef to air. Anyway, my five year old likes salt and kelp seasoning with his beef. I thought it tasted good too! I have also recently found three new ecominical spice blends without avoids. One is called roast beef seasoning, steak seasoning, and I have forgotten the name of the third. Anyway, the brand is "spice it" and as far as I know, there are no anti-caking agents added to these. (It is not listed anyway.)

It was another economical trip to the grocery store. Rice milk and ezekiel bread are the most expensive items. Otherwise, everything else is quite cheap. True, it is not all organic, but I am trying to pick out foods which are the least likely to be high in pesticide residues. There is a book out there - "Safe Foods" which detail which veggies and fruits were found to contain high pesticides residues. Interestingly enough the worst contender out there was....... (drum roll, please)........ celery. While the book talked about both sides of the coin (buying traditional vs organic) and was ,in my opinion, a well written and objective book, it flat out said than in the case of celery -- just buy organic. Period. Pesticides just soak into the stalks, I guess.

Food for thought.. Tomorrow I will post the recipe for blueberry cookies. Yum!!!

Well, the family is on antibitotics and everyone is back to school or to work. I am still healthy. At this point I think that it is safe to claim that my lifestyle and D'Adamo's nutrition principles are the reason I did not fall. I base this on the following evidence:

Out of all the family members, I am the most compliant. (I eat more greens and I take D'Adamo's vitamins on occasion)

I work out three times a week.

I am 35 years old. The two year old, the five year old, and the forty year old contracted an illness. If age were the only determining factor here, then someone else in this family should have remained healthy.

Many of our neighbors and friends fell victim to this nasty bug. None of them follow the btd diet.

Ok, it is a rather loose scientific conclusion, I grant you, but as an A, I am not the sturdiest immune system within my household. In fact, whenever I break down and cry and their is a virus already present within the house, I usually get sick the next day. I had a stressful weak. I broke down on one occasion. But I also know my weaknesses and I vowed to get enough sleep, eat properly and excersise in that order. Yep, I just think my hypothesis is right. Enough said.

I cooked lentils yesterday. I followed the simple curried lentil soup out of the cookbook and served it over plain white rice. I made a huge batch, and I am now spicing each individual bowl a little differently. I also bought a jar of red curry paste for 1.89 at Woodman's grocery store, and I think I will add that to my next batch of rice and lentils.

Speaking of prices, I spent 70 bucks at the grocery store this week on food. Keep in mind that we have meat in our freezer at home. Still this is a huge improvement over past weeks. The beneficial meats for the O's will be: venison, buffalo and beef. The beneficial protein sources for the A's will be: lentils, pinto beans, black beans. Combination beneficials will be canned salmon, ocean caught tilapia, canned pumpkin, pumpkin seeds,walnuts, romaine lettuce, green and yellow squash, onions, parsley, broccoli and carrots. I won't bother to mention the neutrals.

Enough rambling for today. Thanks for reading and good eats.

I have got to be careful here. I think I have bragged before and then hit bottom immediately afterwards. Let's just report today's facts. Three of us within this house have caught bronchitis (forgive spelling, please). The two year old also has an eye infection (constantly using his hand as a kleenex, yuck!). Three of us are on antibiotics. And one of us who is much more btd compliant than the other three, is not yet sick. Will it last???????

My two year old can just barely fit in-between our two sliding glass patio doors leading to our back yard. He entertains himself for hours by sliding the doors back and forth, back and forth. He also takes great pride in the fact that it is very difficult for me to pull him out of there when he is not ready to go. Ha ha, “You can’t get me Mom!”

To be so young again…..J

24 hours later…… geesh! I can’t believe how long it has taken me to get back to this computer. I have been looking forward to the creative aspect of writing all day and all nightlong. Sick kids, sick husband and a sick car (no kidding, we had to drive it in to the dealership this morning) caused immeasurable delays. I even had to cancel my afternoon weightlifting class. (Big audible sigh.) I am still hoping to make it to the YMCA for my personal workout before bedtime.

Ok, enough rambling. I simply wanted to share with everyone my menu planning strategy. Here it is:

B: Oatmeal, dates, barley malt, honey, sunflower seeds

Chopped steak and apples

S Raisins

All natural fruit leathers

L Noodles and Peanut Sauce, raw carrots

Banana carrot rye muffins

S Cucumbers and garlic veggie dip

Cheese and raisins

D Diced chicken, shrimp, Garlic, and rice noodles, salad for all

* *

B Oatmeal with natural applesauce

Grilled beef patty with 5 spice blend (salt, parsley paprika, cayenne pepper, garlic, onion,)

S Dried cranberries

All natural fruit leather

L Pinto Bean Garlic dip with corn chips and carrots

Banana Carroty Rye Muffins, pumpkin seeds

S Pumpkin Raisin Bread

Pumpkin Raisin Bread

D Steamed broccoli Medley with baked chicken for all

B Oatmeal with chopped dates and seeds

Grilled beef patty with 5 spice blend, apples

S Raisins

All natural fruit leather

L Rice, Tuna and Broccoli

Banana Carrot Muffins with pumpkin seeds

S Plums

Green apples and pumpkin bread

D Leftover tuna and broccoli

Venison Muffins with homemade ketchup



B Oatmeal and blueberries

Grilled beef patty with cheese and apples

S Dried cranberries

All natural fruit leather

L Peanut butter and jelly on white rye bread

Banana Carrot Muffin with pumpkin seeds

S Plums

Dried cranberries

D Leftover veggies and scrambled eggs

Swedish pancakes with maple syrup

B Leftover pumpkin raisin bread with canned pineapple

Grilled beef patty with cheese and canned pineapple

S Gala apples

Gala apple

L Mushrooms with honey, tamari sauce and corn chips with garlic veggie dip

Banana carrot muffins

S Diced pears

** Diced peaches

D Vegetable fritters (rutabaga, onion) with pan Fried salmon patties for all.



What about day 6 and 7? Leftovers, leftovers, leftovers. Now, I didn’t say that my meal planning was perfect or that there is enough variety within it. But this is just a realistic example of what my children will actually eat. (Sometimes the hubby surprises me and joins us.) And truthfully, my five year old is still a little squeamish about eating meat first thing in the morning. One of these days I might be able to experiment with beef jerky. He loves anything tough and chewy (hence the all natural fruit leathers for his school snack every day.)

I believe that at some level our brains tell us what we need to eat. That is based on the assumption that one has been eating foods in their natural state for quite some time (otherwise, artificial flavors, etc fool the brain.) As for myself, I literally inhale garlic like it is oxygen. I also pay attention when my two year old turns up his nose at familiar good tasting foods. I even ask my five year old the question, “what do you feel like eating?” Unfortunately, he can’t tell me. I always get the same answer “you just pick it, Mom.”

This is the same kid who becomes visually grossed out watching his brother eat black bean dip or Mom eating green veggie dip. Hmmm. I think the five year old would eat Pizza Hut every day of the week if I allowed it. (Addictive, addictive, addictive)

Food for thought.

We had one day where he seemed to be winning the battle. Alas, it was the calm before the storm. He is suffering from a runny nose, loose bm's and a chronic nightime cough. At this point, I will try to feed him nothing but beneficials and coax a little lemon juice down him. Simple hot water with lemon juice really seemed to help me during the last bug. I hope it helps him as well.

I hit the grocery store today with only 100 dollars to spend on groceries for a family of four. I spent a lot of time planning our menu and based it on the remaining inventory in our cabinets as well as balanced meal plans. Part of that money also covered certain non-food essentials. I am not certain how well I did, for it felt like I did not bring very much food home. When I have a little more time, I will share the A/O weekly meal plan. Chanur mentioned that she hits the grocery store more than once a week as she can't fit all of the vegies in the fridge for a family of four. Both of our meat and vegetable bins plus one more fridge shelf are usually filled with produce. Three of us easily eat the three recommended servings of fruit per day - that's 9 times seven or 63 servings of fruit per week!

In order to try and induce variety I bought: raisins, cranberries, canned pineapple chunks, green granny smith apples, gala apples, frozen blueberries, canned diced peaches, canned diced pears, canned diced fruit, fresh plums and applesauce. All of the canned fruit was packen in either 100% pineapple juice or some other fruit juice concentrate. (No corn syrup or added sugar here!)

Anyway, it's the middle of the night and I am out of steam. More later......

My two year old recently came down with a runny nose, (green and yucky), and a 101 degree temperature. One of my first thoughts was "What will I feed him which will strengthen him?" Of course, pratically everyone has heard of the chicken soup cure. Even my family doctor's office has advertised scientific studies which support this very old and very well known theory. But I couldn't help but think to myself, is there a better cure for A's?

Coicendently, I had planned on serving him black bean soup and had the necessary ingredients ready. I decided to "beef it up" so to speak. Here's what I did:

olive oil

onions

garlic

three great big handfuls of freshly chopped parsley

black beans

carrots

celery

a little salt

corn

I sauteed the onions, garlic, celery and carrots. Next I added a pinch of salt, and then the remaining ingredients. While this tastes good to me, it is a little on the plain side. Normally I would have added some shredded mozzerella cheese and add a few organic corn chips. But since my two year old can't handle cheese, I just served it plain.

He hated it. Hmmmm, what' a mother to do? Aha! Such an easy answer - I fed him some leftover pumpkin bread along with pineapple juice. Off to bed for the sick one and off to the fridgerator for the soup. When dinner time came, I prepared some plain white rice in chicken broth (not the instant kind, but as whole grain white rice as you can find), and then added a big spoonful of cold black bean soup.

He couldn't get enough. Grandma, who just happened to stay for supper, couldn't get over it. He went to bed with a full stomach and slept through the night (hoorah!). I almost medicated him - thinking that I really needed to get 7 hours of sleep last night, but I didn't. There is no fever today.



Was it the pineapple juice filled with vitamin C? Was it the onions and garlic? (Garlic is not normally part of the black bean soup recipe - nor so much parsley). Was it the combination of all the ingredients of the soup? (That's a 90% beneficial soup, by the way.) I don't know. I just know that he ate quite a bit of it and he slept through the night.

Good eats everyone.

LOL. Poor kid, he hated those muffins (too much anise flavoring ) and returned home starving to death. I quickly filled him up with wheatless fig newtons (no avoids), mozzerrela cheese, a leftover oat muffin, and chocolate soy milk. My plan was to present him with beef for dinner, but daddy got to him first. I compensated by serving him beef for breakfast and a swedish pancake with raisins and pears. Nobody said Mom was perfect.

Here's the bright side: it's was easy to whip up a batch of pumpkin raisin bread thanks to my Toastmaster bread machine. School should be much better for him today. Meanwhile I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of Dr Dadamo's A Probiotic supplement. My two year old really does better and has fewer stomach cramps thanks to that supplement. Speaking of stomach cramps, I misread a label and bought the wrong kind of cheese. In fact, we have had two incidences with the "right" kind of cheese lately. I used some soft goat cheese as a spread on a rice cracker and later discovered that it must have been a bit on the old side. The first two times we used it, I noticed zero negative reactions for either myself or my son. The third time upset my stomach 30 minutes after dinner and several hours later upset his stomach (or liver or whatever). I have also bought Percorino Romano cheese which is NOT supposed to be made from cow's milk (sheep, I think). Well, the igredients simply said "milk", etc and he was ill later that night. It makes me so mad when companies do not properly label their food.

I once had someone say to me "There is no such thing as a bad food." I should have replied, "Then why does my 2 year old scream in the middle of the night after ingesting cheese?"

Here's the point: We are all individuals. There is no blanket statement that applies to everyone. I still think Dadamo is farther ahead of the game than most professionals out there. Food for thought

There is nothing like a little success to motivate a person. There is also nothing like satisfying your tastebuds and your inner cravings. I just had to have panfried salmon patties with onion, salt, garlic, egg and spelt bread crumbs. Fry it all up using expressed canola oil, and it is absolutely scrumptious! I also ate a few plain pieces of celery, carrots and mushrooms and drank a little juice. This is the one main dish that I always overeat. I just can't get enough of this combination. It makes me wonder, what is going on at the microscopic level that causes my brain to shout "Eat! Eat!"?

I enjoy many other dishes, but this is the one where I will purposely stuff myself. Right now I am ready for a nap. I just wish I knew the answer. If only my brain could verbally talk to me

On a side note, I accidently lost weight. If I had to take an educated guess, it was all those swedish pancakes I ate Sunday afternoon. I also ate a big salad at the end of the night just to get my veggies in for the day. I think I must have consumed at least 5 eggs. Yuck! Enough eggs, thank you!

Take care...

I have decided to focus a little more on quality and and a little less on quantity. I am so close to being able to cook foods my children love to eat and are BTD compliant. I just need a little more time to practice!

Yesterday, I took the Sweet Potato Cake recipe from this website and made muffins. I used millet flour instead of kamut, and I used applesauce instead of peeled chopped apples. Hindsight would dictate that fewer pesticide residues would have gone into these muffins if I had forgone the applesauce. Oh well, one day at a time.

The good news? My son will be eating sweet potatoes all week! Oh- I also substituted a splash of anise instead of vanilla. It is an interesting licorice - like - pumpkin like taste - and hey, he eats it!

This afternoon I will work on making Swedish Pancakes. Here are two recipes I am playing around with:

2 tb ghee

1/3 cup warmed honey

2 1/2 cups of btd compliant milk (goat, soy, rice?)

1/2 c oat flour

1/4 cup rice flour (or 3/4 cup spelt)

5 eggs

Heat a casserole dish that is 9 inches in diameter, then melt ghee and coat the bottom and sides. Mix honey with milk and stir into flour. Beat eggs until very light and stir into flour mixture until well blended.

Pour into casserole dish and bake in a preheated 375 degree oven until puffed and browned. (30 min)



I havent' attempted this one yet but it looks so interesting! Plus, all A and O's could eat it. I would serve it with a little maple syrup (the real stuff) or pure preserves. Butter for my O on the table.

Here's another one:

4 eggs

1 cup btd compliant flour (spelt?)

1 quart of milk

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp melted butter (O) or 1/2 tbsp ghee (O/A)

ghee for frying

Whip eggs with half of the milk. A blender will work fine. Add flour and salt and whip until batter is smooth. Mix in the rest of the milk and butter. Let the batter stand for about 10 minutes before starting to fry the pancakes.

Preheat skillet over medium high heat. Cover entire pan with ghee or butter. Mix batter briefly, and pour a very thin layer into the skillet, tilting it so that the bottom is completely covered. Let the pancake fry until it starts getting brown at the edges and the surface is dry. Turn carefully with a spatula and fry the other side until golden brown.

Leftover pancakes can be rolled up , wrapped individually, and frozen.

Anyway, I haven't tried these exact recipes yet - but I am hopeful. I find that I need easy weekend food - and if I don't have it - then I will eat the avoids around the house. Bagged salads full of dark greens are a great "convenience" food for me. As for dressing, I squirt fresh lime juice or lemon juice over the salad, add olive oil, and then add honey. Salted almonds and peanuts in convienent cans are an absolute must. As for my little "I am allergic to almost everything 2 year old", I finally have his base meal figured out. #1) Saute onions and minced garlic in olive oil #2) Make 20 minute rice #3) Add whatever vegie is handy #4) Add soy sauce.

He is so funny. I can put anything in his rice and he will eat it. Sardines, pureed brocolli, fresh vegies (they just have to be very small), beans, etc. I am finally on top of the psychology of mealtime! Take care everyone



P.S. It is now 8:00 pm. Eureka! I have finally done it. Forget the first recipe - it was a total flop. Here's the recipe that finally worked for me:



1/4 cup of brown rice flour

a dash of salt



1/2 cup of vanilla rice milk

ghee

1 egg

Whisk egg and rice milk a little ghee together very well. If you have a blender, that would be better.

Add flour and salt. Mix thoroughly and then let sit.

Preheat a non-stick pancake pan or any type of skillet. When a flick of water evaporates, add a little ghee. Pick skillet up by the handle and spread the ghee around to completely cover the bottom of your skillet. Briefly stir your pancake mixture (this can actually sit for 2 minutes or up to one hour, by the way), and gently and slowly pour it into the center of your skillet. Grab the handle and tilt the skillet until the bottom of the pan is completely covered.

When the edges are brown (and I mean brown) and the top is dry, gently loosen pancake (corners first) and then roll the pancake slowly. If one is truly talented, one could acutally loosen the entire pancake and brown the other side. However, the rest of us should just roll it. Gently scoot the pancake off of the skillet onto your plate and top with ghee, honey, or butter. Add pure maple syrup or your favorite perserves.

It's delicious, it is full of protein- and it's easy to install variety by changing the flavor of your preserves! Serve with fruit and it's a nutritious way to start your day. Thanks for reading.

I thought I was suffering from allergies. My nose had been bothering me oh so slightly for over a week. I thought it was because I had eaten too much cheese or cheated on the BTD over the weekend. I thought wrong.



Everyone around me had been fighting this virus for over two weeks. One of my friends had to call in sick to work and stay in bed for over two days. When it finally hit me full throttle, I understood why. It started out as a type of head cold where you just couldn’t think. Then the floodwaters opened and every Kleenex box in town was raided. I took Sunday evening and went to bed at 5:00 p.m. (Thank you hubby for supervising the children!)

My first thought Monday morning was pretty predictable: Do I work out today or go back to bed? Realizing that my two year old would not let me even attempt to stay in bed, I dutifully drove to the YMCA. Two hours later, I was amazed. It may have been a slow start, but I felt WONDERFUL. I treated myself to hot water with lemon juice for the rest of the day and stayed 100% compliant to the diet. At this point some of my symptoms had returned, but I was still hopeful. I didn’t take any cold medicine and went to bed at the regular time. Luck was with me (actually, good advice was with me), and this morning I was much improved. I worked out this morning again – and here I am feeling like my old self.

It really takes a little mind bending to get away from the “traditional” treatments. I never would have guessed that good old-fashioned sweat and lemon juice would be enough to keep this virus at bay. (By the way, I also popped my D’Adamo vitamins.)

I am also grateful for the Y. Did you know that the YMCA’s mission statement goes something like this: To put Christian principles into practice by implementing programs, which develop the spirit, mind and body. (That’s not exactly 100% accurate, but it’s close.) Thank goodness it supports sick moms! J

Good Health Everyone!