GFCF Recipes to Try this Week

I haven't had too much in the way of homeschool stuff to blog about lately because most of my spare time has been spent researching and cooking gluten-free/casein-free.

After two hours of research here are the dinner recipes I am going to try this week (I will post the recipes of any keepers):

Spring Rolls with a peanut dipping sauce- with chicken, broccoli slaw, peanuts and rice noodles

Chicken Enchiladas - with corn tortillas and a homemade enchilada sauce (since most canned varieties have flour in them) - served with spanish rice, refried beans and guacamole

Forgotten Chicken - Chicken thighs basted in honey and slow cooked in the oven; I will serve this will mashed potatoes (cf of course) and whatever veggies look yummy at the store.

Swordfish - basted in a honey, orange juice and soy sauce (wheat-free) marinade! Yummy.

GFCF crispy chicken strips - with roasted potatoes and fresh veggies

In addition to these I will make a few old favorites that just happen to be GFCF, too.

For snacks I will try these recipes:

Homemade hummus with Ener-G's gluten free pretzels
GFCF Peanut butter cookies
Stovetop Popcorn with Earth's Balance Butter
GFCF Homemade Granola
GFCF Crackers

Here's hoping I find some yummy recipes this week! :)

We're Officially Dairy-Free

In an attempt to help Thatcher with his ADHD we are trying several things - the most major being eliminating dairy and later gluten (protein found in wheat, rye and barley). We have also started OmegaBrite, an Omega 3 supplement found to help many children with impulsivity and focus. If you are new to my blog you can read about our journey in an older post.

It's easy to cut out the obvious dairy: milk, yogurt, butter, cheese, cream cheese, sour cream... The tricky part is finding all the hidden dairy in foods. Most hot dogs and some lunch meats have dairy proteins; canned tuna and turkey chili have it too. The whole wheat bread I've bought for years has milk in it as do many bagels, english muffins, hot dog and hamburger buns. Even products labeled dairy-free (rice cheese for example) can have casein, a milk protein. The list is almost endless of where dairy can be hidden in foods. Here is a list at the Go Dairy Free site if your interest is piqued.

For now we are sticking to simple meals and virtually no processed foods. We have found that rice milk and almond milk substitute well in most recipes where milk is used for moisture and is not a major player. We even made almond milk ice cream and it was yummy! :) Knowing that we are moving towards a complete gluten-free/casein-free diet, I've been testing out new foods in that vein as well. Thankfully I've discovered Bob's Red Mill product line of gf/cf mixes. Their chocolate chip cookies are wonderful; my boys gobbled them up without noticing anything different. We have also tried their Gluten Free Pancake Mix and Gluten Free Homemade Wonderful Bread Mix (using leftovers to make french toast tomorrow morning!). Next week I am going to try their Gluten Free Brownie Mix, too. At some point I am going to need to learn to cook gf/cf from scratch but for now these mixes are a great way ease me into learning to cook a whole new way.

I thought I would share a little about this journey since we're hoping to see major improvement in focus/impulse control which will make his (and our) life easier not to mention school so much easier! I promise to post more about actual school plans soon.