First Test: Passed!

This post will have two themes: part rant, part patting myself on the back, all obnoxious. ;)

Patting myself on the back

My first big test of my commitment to the clean eating plan that I've been doing was my night out with the girls. Every week we go out, exercise and then stuff our faces with yummy homemade food. Generally this is good, homemade food with the occasional pizza thrown in (on busy weeks!). This week, nothing was planned so, the possibility of going out was looming over our heads. I dutifully packed my "clean" coleslaw, zucchini and scrambled eggs with an ice pack and headed out. As I suspected, after the workout, we spied a poster advertising daily specials for members of the gym at the restaurant. (The gym is part of a hotel, so there is a restaurant very close!) We hemmed and hawed - I was about to give in! But the hemming and hawing lasted a nanosecond too long and I slammed my foot down.

"NO!" I exclaimed.
"I brought my dinner and I'm going to eat it!"

And that is how I stuck to my guns, ever so shakily, and ate my coleslaw and scrambled eggs. Now, part of it was cheapness and the sheer fact that if I didn't eat the coleslaw, it would have to go into the compost and  that would have been a huge waste of money. But I stuck to it. Going out with friends can be the most difficult aspect of changing one's eating behaviours. Happily, my friends are extremely supportive and don't (openly) mock me.

Ranting


As I've worked my way through the meal plan, I've mixed and matched. I haven't always been able to eat exactly what is listed for a given day because of time (or a toddler who ate my bananas ;) ), but I've always substituted with an equivalent from another day. As I planned my smoothie for tomorrow morning, I was so grateful that clean eating doesn't eliminate dairy. I love dairy. Which of course got me thinking...I've been reading and hearing from friends again about recommendations to quit dairy full-stop.  As you probably know, if you've read any previous posts, my little guy has a dairy allergy.  To all the moms out here who may have stumbled across my blog, I want to share this:

My guy is allergic to dairy. I cut dairy out of my diet for the entire time that I was nursing him exclusively and reintroduced it at about 9 months. My guy also had eczema. There is absolutely NO correlation between my cutting out dairy and his eczema. Even when I hadn't had a lick of dairy for 6 straight months, his cheeks would flair up for days at a time. The eczema went away at about a year old - no rhyme or reason. It was NOT related to dairy in any way.  I struggle so much with his snacks. It breaks my heart now that he can see what we're eating and he reaches up for it. I hate worrying that I may have taken a sip of my coffee with milk, so I don't want to kiss him. Now that he knows he's missing out, I'm wondering if my husband and I will have to adapt our diets.

I just don't think it's worth it to toss out dairy. My son is quickly becoming a skinny little guy and I know that if I could just give him some yogurt, he would get so much of the nutrients that would do him good. It doesn't help that many other protein sources are also off-limits. I don't recommend a dairy free lifestyle if it's not absolutely necessary. It's so much hassle for what benefit really? Sure, try it out, see if it makes a difference but if there is a real allergy, it will be very obvious. At the very least, take your research beyond the internet and talk to medical professionals before tossing out an entire food group rich in nutrients and good stuff for your (or your child's!) body!

That's my rant. I'm absolutely sure I posted the exact same rant about four months ago. It's something I feel rather strongly about.

Day 2 - I'm still alive!

So it's the end of day 2 of my 14 day plan. I should have taken a picture of the meal because K was actually able to eat the exact same meal that we did. It was ground beef (which I was surprised is considered "clean". Ground meat scares me a little, so I get the angus beef. I'm sure it doesn't really matter, but I'm hoping it makes a difference) tomatoes, red onions and garlic cooked together and served over whole wheat penne. On the side, spears of broccoli. I cooked broccoli for myself and then ate it!! Y actually seemed to enjoy it too, which was cool because I was afraid he might walk out after seeing ground beef on pasta. I wasn't so sure, but it was good! It also called for a little bit of parmesan, which I didn't have, so I used some feta. I left it off K's of course.

AND, I took my lunch out with us today! I brought along a cooler, and stored my tuna salad (another thing that K was able to eat - and LOVED!) until it was lunch time. We ate in the food court - Y was the only one to order anything. I was very proud of myself.


I guess the whole point of this post was to pat myself on the back. No one ever accused me of being overly modest. ;)

Clean Meatballs

This is a great way to get some protein into the little ones. My little guy loved it and it was super easy to modify to make it allergy friendly. It was shamelessly stolen (and slightly modified) from The Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook. 

1 1/2 lbs lean ground turkey
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 egg (This was one of my only modifications - I used applesauce instead of egg)
1 cup oat bran or breadcrumbs (I have found bread to be super tricky as there is often sesame. I used wheat germ, but I have since found rice breadcrumbs that are basically allergen free)
2 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
2 tbsp basil, finely chopped
2 tbsp oregano, finely chopped 
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper


Preheat the oven to 400 F.


In a large bowl place egg (or applesauce) and breadcrumbs or oat bran. Add spices and mix well. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Using an ice cream scoop make meatballs and place on prepared cookie sheet. Place in hot oven and bake for 20 minutes or until golden. (I am super paranoid about meat, so I ended up adding about 5 minutes.)

Le Eating Clean

I've decided that it's time for a change. I'm always thinking that I should be losing weight. Whilst chowing down on greasy slice of pizza, or while devouring a creamy treat from a well-known ice cream chain. Hell, I've been siphoning off $22 a month automagically to Weight Watchers for an account that I never touch. When I stepped on the scale the other day, however and saw three numbers together that I haven't seen since 2006 before I successfully lost 30 pounds, I knew it was time for a change. In the same week I heard about a 32 year old woman who had a stroke. The obesity problem in North America is not a myth, I'm living proof.

I'm kicking off a two-week clean eating plan. I bought a bazillion dollars worth of groceries and I'm going to follow the plan in this month's issue Eating Clean. (Or Clean Eating. I always forget.) But anyway, I'm going to try. My extra super supportive husband has come up with a list of milestones for me to reach. My goal is a healthy pound a week for a total of a gazillion pounds. (Not really, but I'm content to not broadcast my weight for now.) My hope is that by following the plan for 2 weeks, I'll get a better idea of good food combinations so that I don't always have to follow a plan. And I would also like to kick start the weight loss for a little more motivation. The first hump is always difficult if you're not seeing results.

It just so happens that Clean Eating (or Eating Clean) is also a great tool for feeding a very allergic toddler as well. I have some recipes that have been waiting to be uploaded, but due to a lazy blogger, they are backblogged. (Think that'll catch on?) I'm going to try to post at least one of these recipes tonight.

Ummm...helper?

This is a spin on a one pot skillet recipe I found in Eat Shrink and Be Merry. The recipe is meant to be a healthier version of hamburger helper. Unfortunately, the ESBM version is still made with cream of something or other soup though, so it's 1) still using processed food 2) using cream soup, which K can't have. I have made an altered version of the recipe before and it was quite yummy.

Today I made the lazy version of the altered recipe. It only took 30 minutes from the time I first started pondering making it. I wasn't going to post it, but a nice comment made me realize I'm neglecting my blog and also that even if it seems super quick and obvious to me, that may be because I've made about 3 times now and can whip it out pretty easily. I also apologize once again for the lack of pictures. Pics are what makes a cooking blog, so I'm sorry! Ok, so here's the lazy man's allergy-friendly home-cooked hamburger helper. Keep in mind that it is VERY flexible, so you can take away or add pretty much anything!

 Lazy Mom's Allergy-Friendly Home-Cooked Hamburger Helper

1 tbsp olive oil (I may have used more - I like adding olive oil for fat in K's meals. I never feel he's getting enough fat.)
1 clove garlic (If your audience enjoys this!) 
28 oz. can diced tomatoes
about 1-1 1/2 cup frozen veggies (I used a mix tonight. Of course fresh veggies would work and would be yummier! Frozen is quicker.)
about 1 tbsp flour
1/2 cup hemp milk (Any non-dairy milk would work. This and the flour give this recipe the creaminess without the processed food or the allergens.)
4 chicken thighs, chopped (Since this recipe is "hamburger helper", you can obviously use any ground meat. I chose to just cut up the chicken I had on hand.)
4 oz pasta (I used rotini tonight. Any pasta of that type works - macaroni, rigatoni, penne, etc.)
chicken broth (I didn't measure - about 1/2 cup, I think. I used this to help cook the pasta.)


In a 12 inch skillet, I heated up the oil and then added the garlic, cooking until fragrant. Then I added the tomatoes and veggies. I cooked them for a few minutes - until the veggies were no longer frozen.

In a separate measuring cup, I mixed together the flour and milk. (Actually, I didn't, but this is what you "should" do ;) ) Then I added the mixture to the tomatoes and veggies. I let that simmer until the mixture thickened.

To the thickened tomato mixture, I added the pasta and chicken and chicken broth. I let that simmer on medium-low until the chicken and pasta were cooked and the mixture was a stew-like consistency. I stirred it every once in awhile, making sure the pasta didn't cook onto the bottom of the pan.

This recipe really was ready in about half an hour. It's great for the little ones because because you can over cook the pasta and it makes it much easier for them to either chew on, or for mom and dad to cut! Using ground meat makes it more friendly to the younger set too. :)

I'm sure this is mired with spelling errors and missing words - I will edit tomorrow! I hope you enjoy it! :D

MIA

I've been MIA. I've been semi-single parenting on my first week back to work. My mom is here helping out, but I haven't had much time to cook, let alone blog! Next week should be a bit better, once we get our new routine worked out! 

I still have my chocolate chip cookie fail to post, too! :)

Easy Peasy Shepherd's Pie

This is shamelessly stolen from a Weight Watchers recipe, with mods to make it "K friendly." I was able to make it while K was in his high chair watching me - that is to say, quickly. I did use some short cuts, namely, frozen veggies. With a bit more prep time, this can be made from fresh ingredients.

Easy Peasy Shepherd's Pie


1/2 pound ground beef
1-2 tablespoons of flour
1-2 tablespoons of water
1 cup frozen corn (about that)
1 cup mediterranean chopped veggies (onions, peppers, celery, mushrooms, tomatoes)
1 bag of frozen, chopped potatoes (This is where the judgier amongst you cringe. Cringe away! I was all by myself with a hungry toddler. I did what I could!)
rice milk
olive oil

I preheated the oven to 375 F. That sounded like a good round number.

I cooked the ground beef until there were no signs of pink. Once it was cooked, I sprinkled in some flour and water to make a "gravy." I use quotes because it could hardly be considered a gravy, but at least it was saucy! I then added the frozen veggies. I let them cook for about 5 minutes. (tick, tock, tick, tock)

Meanwhile, I put the potatoes in the microwave. They took 11 minutes. (Please, keep in mind that hubby is out of town and I have a curious toddler who CLIMBS things. I can't take too long to cook. *bats eyelashes*).

When the potatoes were done, I put them in a bowl to mash them. I used rice milk (vanilla - YUM!) and olive oil to make them creamy. I eyeballed the amounts.

Then I put the beef mixture in a baking dish, topped with the potatoes and popped it in the oven for 25 minutes. 30 minutes would have been perfect.

For the record, I didn't wait for the oven part for the hungry little man. He will get those tomorrow! He recommends topping it all off with some applesauce. I'm hesitant to make that recommendation. ;)

A word about AFBH

In the previous post (Blueberry Coffee Cake) I mentioned that the recipe came from the book The Allergen-Free Baker's Handbook by Cybele Pascal. I really enjoy this cookbook. I haven't made many recipes but they all look very yummy and so far, I'm 2 for 3. (More on that later!) One note that I wanted to make is that Pascal mentions that there should be no modifications made to her recipes. I have broken the rules in that respect when it comes to wheat flour. I do not need to omit gluten from our cooking and therefore do not. So far, the cakes that I have made have turned out fantastic. Also, I have had to use a margarine that is not supposed to be used for baking because everything else contains soy.

I attempted cookies yesterday but the results were less than stellar. So for now, I'm still trying to work out the best combinations and will post both my successes AND my failures. I had a spectacular failure with the chocolate chip cookies. Yummy, but not presentable in the least. I think I will attempt a more traditional recipe next and use non-dairy milk and the egg replacer. I'm hoping that I'll still get to use the recipes from AFBH, but have to figure out the flour portions.

I'll keep you updated on how these attempts work out!

Blueberry Coffee Cake

My first food entry! I made this because we were having some guests over for dinner (although they brought the dinner - yummy, yummy maki rolls. Mmmm...I'll post them later.)

This recipe comes from The Allergen-Free Baker's Handbook (AFBH) by Cybele Pascal. I have made three recipes from this book and the two cake recipes have turned out fabulously! This book is written for many allergies, including gluten. K's allergies are milk, eggs and peanuts (confirmed) and a suspected sesame (this one is all but confirmed since he had an emergency trip after eating hummus) and we think maybe soy, but we can't be sure because we're too chicken to try after said trip to hospital.

So, those are my criteria when cooking - no dairy, eggs, peanuts, sesame or soy. Ack! You can see why I wouldn't willingly add another no-no to the list! I followed the recipe in AFBH quite closely, except for the gluten free part. I used regular flour. Here are the ingredients, with my modifications in brackets.

Blueberry Boy Bait (not a fan of the name, so I just call it coffee cake!)

2 cups Basic Gluten-Free Flour Mix (I used white and whole wheat flours - she provides a recipe for gluten-free flour in her book.)


1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum (used to mimic gluten - I omitted because I was using wheat flour)


1 tablespoon double-acting baking powder

1 teaspoon salt (hmmm....I believe I omitted this, but only because I missed it when reading the recipe. Oops!)


3/4 cup dairy-free, soy-free vegetable shortening (This is, like, impossible to get in Canada. So I used Becel RSF which very clearly specifies that it is not to be used for baking. Another oops.)


3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

4 1/2 teaspoons Ener-G egg replacer mixed with 6 tablespoons rice milk (This brand is an American one. I use PaneRiso brand egg replacer. So, I work backwards and try to figure out how many eggs should be used and then use the appropriate amount of egg replacer. Difficult.)


3/4 cup rice milk (I used vanilla flavoured.)


1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries tossed with flour or flour mix (Oops. Another step I missed! I will add more blueberries next time - maybe half a cup more.) 


1/4 cup granulated sugar mixed with 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I left out the cinnamon because the boys both hate it. I love it. Sad. I also found 1/4 cup to be a LOT. Half that would do, I think!)


Here's the egg replacer I used, for my Canadian peeps (which, as far as I know, are all the peeps I have!)



1. Preheat the over to 350 F. Grease 9 x 9 pan and sprinkle with a little [gluten-free] flour mix, tapping out any extra.

2. Whisk together the flour mix, [xanthan gum], baking powder and salt. Set aside.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the shortening (margarine), brown sugar and granulated sugar. Mix on medium-high speed for 2 minutes or until fluffy.

4. Add the egg replacer and mix for about 20 seconds.


5. Reduce the speed to medium and beat in one-third of the flour, mixing for 15 seconds.

6. Add half the rice milk, mixing for 20 seconds.

7. Beat in half the remaining flour, then the remaining rice milk, and finally the remaining flour mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.


8. Add half of the batter to the pan, spreading evenly across the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with half the blueberries. Top with the remaining batter, spreading it as evenly as possible across the blueberries. Top with the remaining blueberries, then sprinkle with the [cinnamon]-sugar mixture.

9. Bake in the centre of the over for 1 hour, until the [cinnamon]-sugar mixture has begun to caramelize and the top is golden. Let cool in the pan for 30 minutes before turning out onto a serving platter or just serve out of the pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Yummy, yummy!

An Experiment

I think I'm going to take this blog in a new direction. (Who am I kidding, really? There was no direction before!) I'm going to subject you all to my cooking exploits. Muhahahaha! But first, a rant.

My little guy has allergies. Real honest to goodness, please, for the love of god don't come any closer with that peanut butter sesame bagel with cream cheese because otherwise it's the epipen and [another] ambulance ride to the hospital for us. I hate it. I hate reading labels, I hate planning different meals for the three of us and above all, I hate that niggling little worry in the back of my mind that at any moment he might get his hands on something that could, to be all dramatic, kill him. Especially since the last reaction he had was to a food that we had no idea he had an allergy to. Scary times chez nous.

All this hate makes me ask myself, WHY oh WHY would people willingly put themselves through the hassle of not eating a specific food group just for the heck of it? What the heck am I talking about? Perhaps you haven't heard, but dairy and wheat are the new trans fats. New devil foods for the new decade. Now this is a phenomenon more prevalent in hippy type circles - circles on the fringes of which I tend to hover. (Oh, that was awkward. I didn't want to end my sentence with a preposition, but that's tricky!) Ok, fine. You think dairy and wheat are horrible foods? Never mind that the "data" that backs these claims up is often of dubious quality and ignore the fact that humans have been consuming both of these foods for thousands of years - they are indeed evil. You know what humans haven't been consuming for thousands of years? Big macs. Hot dogs. Kraft dinner.

My biggest problem with these groups (admittedly my own problem - I can see when it's me that has the problem!) is that they claim that it's so easy to avoid dairy and/or wheat. Only stupid, lazy people would be inconvenienced by the health of their families. Excuse my while I revisit that hunk of cheddar I scarfed down earlier this evening. It's difficult. Cooking for someone with allergies is a PAIN IN THE FREAKIN' ass.

Enter jeneke. My new plan is to blog the recipes that I make for the family. We have one kidlet with a bazillion allergies, one hubby who is a few pounds away from being taken away from me by Husband Aid Services, and one wife/mom who needs to lose 50 pounds. Why haven't I hired a live-in chef yet?

Come back soon for my blueberry coffee cake! :)

Back to Scotland - Driving to the Highlands

I know I'm jumping around here. I'm sorry! I don't want the Scotland pictures to get buried, but maybe once they've been up for awhile, I'll change the dates and file them according to when the trip actually happened.

These pictures are the beginning of the second half of our trip. After exploring Edinburgh on foot, we rented a car and drove up to Inverness then onto Isle of Skye. These pictures are from the drive to Inverness. It was scary and Yui was a bit nervous about driving on the wrong side of the road, but it didn't take him too long to get used to the differences between Scottish roads and Canadian roads. K snoozed away in the backseat. It was a beautiful drive!

To see more pictures from this drive, along with descriptions, go to:

Driving to Inverness on Flickr

MOMMY Post, beware! :)

"You don't want him to [insert next milestone here]. TRUST me. Once he starts [insert milestone here], it's all over. Just be glad he's not doing this yet."

Ok. All moms who say this - do you not remember how exciting it is when your child is on the cusp of rolling, crawling or walking? Or the fear that maybe your child is not development normally when he didn't sit up on his sixth month birthday? I feel so sad for mommies who excitedly tell their friends that little Johnny or Jill is on the verge of crawling only to have their bubble burst by their smug friends that their life is about to get more difficult and they should consider binding their child up in an attempt to stop them from progressing.

Yes, yes, I know. They are joking. They're not serious. But why must this "been there done that" attitude be de rigueur for so many moms? Yes, we know that you have a child and that you've already gone through all this with your little one, *yawn*. Part of the joy of motherhood (yes, I just used the phrase "joy of motherhood." I'm hanging my head in shame.) is all of the firsts - the anticipation, the build up, even the worry. I try to wrap my head around why some moms want to take that away from their newer compatriots, but I can't.

This is going to be a theme. I can feel it. I should just write one entry about smug mommies and be done with it. But what fun would that be? ;)

Travelling

Now that I've tantalized you all with my beautiful pictures of rainy Scotland (there are more - and they are not all rainy!) you have to listen to me philosophize a bit. Lucky you! (And "you" appear to be one person. Hello lonely follower!)

As K's birth approached, we were told by everyone and their dog what to expect in the coming months. Our lives would be over, we would never be the same again, we could say goodbye to all the things that we love in life, especially travelling.

I suppose that getting this "advice" is a kind of rite of passage for new parents. The more experienced parents are eager to share what they have learned on their journey and perhaps more maliciously are happy to see that more people are joining their ranks and will now understand what it's really like. I appreciated the help that people want to give us and understood that for the most part it came out of a desire to share and assist. But in some cases it was so foreboding and downright scary that I just wanted to tell them to shut up mid-sentence. I swore I would never do this to my non-parental or soon-to-be parental friends. It's scary enough facing the end of your life as you know it without people throwing it in your face!

One of the things that we decided to do was take K with us to Scotland. We had planned a trip to Scotland in September 2008 when I was pregnant but because of Zoom going under and other sad events, we decided to cancel the trip. Distraught, although overdramatic, is a pretty good way to describe how we felt about cancelling this trip.

We had been told that travelling with a child would be very difficult and we wouldn't enjoy the trip as much. It was even suggested that we just leave K at home and go on our own. While I agree, it would have been very different had we gone just the two of us, we had such a good time with K. He made sleeping on the plane difficult impossible and he also insisted on sleeping with us and therefore stayed up to 10 PM with us every night. But we were able to see and do so much more than we expected.

I'm very glad we didn't listen to the naysayers. I know that a lot of it had to do with the fact that K is such an easy-going baby, but I also think that our attitude toward travel played a huge part in it as well. We enjoy it and we want to do it. So my advice to you, whoever you are, is to ignore all the advice that you get and do what you feel is best for you!

Calton Hill

One of our adventures in Edinburgh was wondering around downtown and Calton Hill. Calton Hill looks out over the city from the opposite end of central area to where the castle. Edinburgh is such a beautiful city, we could have just looked out over the city for hours. K, on the other hand, would have had other things to say about that though, I'm sure! :)

(Sure, he can take pictures of other people, but doesn't like it when he's on the other side of the camera! ;) )

A photo post!

Here are some pictures from around Edinburgh Castle!

We went to Scotland!

DSCN1556.JPG,
originally uploaded by jeneke.

One of the crazy things we've done in the last year was taking our first big family trip to Scotland. (It was the first big family trip, not first trip to Scotland. Well, it was that too. More on that later.)

We went for about 10 days. We stayed in Edinburgh for half the trip and the for the other half we rented a car and drove up into the Highlands - Isle of Skye to be precise. It was awesome. That sentence doesn't do justice to the trip, but it's the best I can must at the moment.

This particular picture was taken at around 5 PM. This is after being awake for approximately 756 hours. :p K refused to sleep on the plane (although he didn't cry - he just wanted to play!) which meant Mommy and Daddy didn't get to sleep either. We still managed to muster up enough energy to climb Arthur's Seat upon our arrival. Since we didn't feel like we had a tonne of time there, we didn't want to waste a moment of time!

Kelby didn't think it was fair that he didn't get to go with us!

Here are some more pictures from the beginning of our trip:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeneke/sets/72157623305094555/

Three months old

DSC_3433,
originally uploaded by jeneke.

Ok, this was about eight months ago. I obviously have fallen behind on my Flickr updating. :O My husband has all the good pictures, but they are on his account. I'll work something out!

New Arrival!

So we've had a new arrival since the inception of this blog! It's a little mixture of Y and I. Here's a catch-up of his first year, since I've been a bad poster and have not updated since his birth! Actually, I'm not sure if I can post a slideshow. I'll work on it.

Muddling

If you've noticed me pop up as a stalker, nevermind me. I'm just trying to re-figure out this blogging thing and I wanted to keep up with some of you! I'm not sure what I'm doing though...carry on amongst yourselves! ;)

Self-portrait over Kanazawa

DSCN0775.JPG,
originally uploaded by jeneke.

I'm just playing around with some setting and trying to figure out best to organize my pictures on my blog. Please bare with me!