A few blogs earlier I had written about the dinners that all four of us could eat AND tasted good to my husband. I was feeling successful. I thought that it was possible to please his taste buds and steer clear from all avoid foods.

I was mistaken. Here’s the good news. We are not fighting about it. We have peacefully decided just to go our separate ways. He understands that I cannot eat what he eats without becoming fat. He understands that our two year old has food allergies and cannot eat what dad is eating. He understands that our five year old needs to see meat, veggies and fruit at the table most of the time.

But he just can’t enjoy what I put on the table. “It doesn’t fill me up.”

“Eat more meat,” I say.

“I want my potatoes, “ he says.

Sigh. I just can’t give up completely. I am going to fix compliant spreads for my 2 yr old A and my 5 yr old O. Someday, when my 5 yr old son takes a good hard look at what Daddy looks like and feels like, maybe he will follow Mom’s lead.



Overall, if we can teach our son to respect people who disagree with you, then we have taught him how to get along with other people. That's gotta count for something.

It’s chilly…..,

It’s damp….,

It’s gray

And cold

And rainy.



Ordinarily, a person might feel a little depressed on such a day as this.

But not me. Ohhhh no. I am feeling fantastic! (I am probably a little pumped up on caffeine as well!) I have just had a very successful morning in the kitchen! Not only I am pleased with the results of my labors, but my children provided ample comic moments. The little one taste tested a magic marker and pulled a video tape from its casing. The oldest one was so intent on helping me bake “pumpkin cookies” that he got dressed without his underwear! He laughed at himself and then raced back to his room to fix the problem. Oh yes, I enjoy mornings such as these.

Here’s what I have been baking:

Banana Carrot Muffins (for the 5 year olds lunch)

Pumpkin Millet Cookies

Pumpkin Buckwheat Cookies

Pumpkin Millet Muffins

The banana carrot muffin recipes is as follows:

2 cups of organic pumpernickel flour (rye)

1 cup of brown sugar

1 cup of shredded carrots

1 cup of very well mashed bananas

¾ cup canola oil

3 eggs

a dash or two of ginger

2 tsp baking soda

walnuts – ground into almost a butter

The original recipe came right off of this website. It was modified due to my five year olds tastes preferences and my lack of allspice! Since I like ginger and carrots cooked together, I assumed that it would taste good within this recipe. It’s exciting to realize that I am starting to “remember” taste combinations and can substitute as needed. I also think my son will love the crunchiness of this muffin due to the rye. (I believe he is an O secretor. If not, aye, yi , yiiiii.)

Here is the pumpkin millet recipe (A/0 friendly):

2 cups Millet flour

½ cup buckwheat

3 tsp baking Powder (Rumford)

2 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp sea salt

½ tsp ginger

1-2 cups raisins

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)



½ cup canola oil

1 ¼ cup honey

2 eggs, beaten

1 tbsp molasses

1-2 tsp vanilla

1 can mashed pumpkin

The recipe comes from the back of the Bob’s Red Mill bag minus the nutmeg. After I made the first batch, it dawned on me that this would become more beneficial if I switched the 2 cups to that of buckwheat vs. millet. Let me say that the buckwheat and walnut version is delicious!!! Oh yea, Oh yea.

I have one last bread I would like to make for the week. But it’s a tricky one. If zucchini and pecan taste good together, then why couldn’t I bake a bread with Kale and ???? Pecan? Walnut? What kind of flour would I use? Normally, I love the spelt flour with the zucchini and pecan. I think I will puree the Kale in the food processor with some type of oil (probably canola), add some brown sugar and then ---- take a leap of faith!

I do remember one thing. I do not like zucchini and oat flour together. Yuck. Wish me luck, please!

If you are asking yourself, why is she making breads using these odd combinations, let me tell you. It’s called a five year olds whimsical nature. I hope to get him used to the flavor of these vegetables, and then I will work on more obvious vegetable presentations. Good Eats Everyone!

I do not normally buy organic for one simple reason: We are on a budget!! But last week I gave in to temptation and picked up a bag of dried organic apricots. (No preservatives, no pesticides, yada, yada, yada. ) Imagine my surprise when I opened up the bag, tasted the "murky brown" pieces of fruit, and thought "these are the best tasting apricots I have ever had in my whole life!" They may not look like I expected, but they tasted wonderfully sweet. Were they worth the price? Yes. No doubt about it.

That still doesn't solve my problem. Pennies matter. I will tell you one thing, though. If there is anyway I can get away with it, I would buy organic all the time. Here's to wishful thinking......

All right! One more for the old cookbook! This dinner is so close to being 100% compliant, AND the family will eat it. With a few more Sundays under my belt, I hope to turn it into a 100% compliant spread. Here is what we had for dinner:

Salad - half iceberg, half romaine.

Croutons- homemade from ezekiel bread crusts, salt, garlic, parsely, olive oil

Dressing #1- chopped parsley and olive oil (thank you cusinart chopper)

Dressing #2- Veganaise spread with garlic powder and dried parsley. (There is one avoid in this for the A's and one avoid in this for the O's. I hope to upgrade this soon!)

Beef Muffins for the O's

Turkey Muffins for the A's

Leftover celery and raisins for the 2 year old who can't or won't eat salad

Glass of sangria for adults

Chocolate soymilk for the older 0

Rice milk for the 2 year old

Goat cheese or mozerella

Beef gravy (avoid - from a mix. Once I figure out how to make it from scratch and spice it the way the hubby likes it, I'll be jumping for joy).



Trying to please all family members and all ages can get tricky. But I am pleased with the process and the improvements we have accomplished. This meal may have had a total of 5% avoids, but in the past it was close to 50% at every meal! If you are curious, here's the recipe:

1 pound ground beef

1 pound ground turkey

1 medium onion

2 ribs of celery

1 large egg

1- 2 cups spelt breadcrumbs

Tomato sauce or compliant spagetti sauce (for the O's)

olive oil

1 cup or less chicken stock

2 tablespoons Kelp powder

1 tablespoon cumin seeds or ground cumin

2 tablespoons tamari sauce

sea salt - fine



Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Puree onion, egg, chicken stock, kelp, cumin, tamari, salt, and celery in chopper/blender. Taste the puree and season accordingly (more salt? tamari? etc.) Combine ground beef, half of the sauce, and bread crumbs in a big bowl. Use plenty of bread crumbs as it soaks up excess moisture while cooking. Wash up and lightly brush muffin tins with olive oil. Use an ice cream scoop to fill the muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes.

Repeat process with the ground turkey. Bake for 20 minutes.

Cut one of the muffins open and check to see if it has cooked completely. Serve with your favorite compliant sauce (could be the same sauce as above) or top with compliant cheese. Personally, I loved the turkey muffins with a slice of melted goat cheese and chives on top.

The possibilities for the "Meat in a muffin" tin idea are endless. It's also easy to hide veggies in the recipe and the kids love the visual spread. Good Eats Everyone.

Alas – no cooking day, but….

Unpleasant duties called me away from cooking day last weekend. However, not all is lost! I just spent the last hour organizing my BTD compliant cookbook and I feel rejuvenated!

My cookbook has 13 sections. It’s one gigantic black spiral notebook with 13 dividers, “a baker’s dozen, and individual pages covered by page protectors. At the very front of my spiral notebook is a typed list of food categories for both the A’s and O’s.

I.E. O A

Red Meat 4-6 0

Poultry 2-3 0-3

Seafood 3-5 1-3

Etc.



This is leftover from my dieting days. Since my weight has remained steady, I no longer look as this list. But it’s nice to know that if I needed it, it would take only two seconds to pull this out of my cookbook and plop it on the outside of my refrigerator.

What’s really nice about this organizational method is the very last section. Can you take a wild guess?

Family Dinners… that my husband will actually eat!

They are as follows:

Baked Chicken Breasts, oregano, salt, thyme, paprika and salad

Pineapple Chicken served with white rice

Turkey Cutlets served with salad and corn (for A’s)

Chicken Strips – oregano, onion powder, salt, garlic with salad

Italian Chicken with salad

Sherry- Garlic Chicken N Mushrooms (Since the sherry is red, I am assuming it’s ok)

Pan fried Cod with rice flour, salt, paprika, ghee, canola oil garlic powder and an egg wash with rice pilaf on the side.

Turkey Burgers and Big Beef Burgers with mushroom gravy and salad (I use Ezekiel buns)

Oven Poached Salmon with Dill

I have a Rachel Ray take off “Meatloaf Muffins” and Turkey Muffins recipe I want to try. Adapting the BTD to her “30 minute meals” has really helped get dinners onto our table EASILY.

I am pleased.