Meals, Meals, and Meals!

The Snow is Coming!  The Snow is Coming!

Here on Cranbury I am preparing for a snowstorm and I still have the Darling Daughter home until this upcoming Monday.  However, some of you have had your beloved children head back to school and I wanted to take a moment and address some of the questions I've been receiving.

Meals, Meals, and More Meals...

 
  Some fun facts about cooking with me...  I don't taste any of the meat I'm cooking and I don't really know what I'm buying so when cooking for carnivores like Hubby and Darling Daughter, I bat my eyes and ask for the advice of the butcher as to what I can get the best "bang for my buck" on meat wise OR "What are you going to bring home to your own family?"  They are always super happy to help me and Hubby and Darling Daughter are always pleased with what I bring home.  As I'm cooking I constantly smell what I'm cooking and just keep making sure things smell good.  OCCASIONALLY I have been known to mess up on the texture of something.  (Oh, well, Hubby didn't marry a chef...)
 
   Tweak ideas...  I do a lot of stews (the carnivores seem to like lamb, beef, venison, etc) this is an excellent way to sneak in vegetables.  I do a lot of soups like chicken soup.  The allergist, explained to me that Darling Daughter and others like her are missing a key ingredient of the diet that comes directly from marrow.  Cook more with meat on bone. (Yummmmm, says the pescatarian...) 

        We do a lot of chilis, a lot of stuff on the grill, a lot of chicken on the grill, baked chicken, roasted chicken, turkey, etc.  I take a lot of silly Rachael Ray's recipes and then just take out gluten and dairy and processed stuff.  I am always looking for new ideas so PLEASE send them to me!!! 

 
We don't cook every night and we do go out for dinner and order in.  HOW???  Because we order what Darling Daughter can eat when we go out.  She may have Prime Rib, grilled chicken over salad, scrambled eggs and a baked potato, all with her veggies or salad.  Of course she also eats a TON of fish and she has been known to eat 100+ clams on her own.  ~We have given up on gluten free cheese free pizza, Darling Daughter says it tastes like cardboard and she would just rather not bother.~

**I am absolutely not an expert on how to deal with the picky eater.  I have a very good eater and she understands that we treat her ADHD by her diet.  She is very aware of what she eats and she will ask when she is not around me (but is still polite.)  I have NO IDEA how people deal with picky eaters and I'm not going to pass judgement on anyone that has one.  God Bless you!!!***

Darling Daughter is also a huge fan of sushi, but we bring our own gluten free soy sauce (yes soy sauce is a big no-no) but apparently Edamame is okay as long as you aren't celiac (???) I don't quite understand this but I am open to comments and to being educated on how this all works.  Edamame is a big snack in our house HOWEVER I understand there are some children with similar or same diagnoses to Darling Daughter that can NOT eat these.  I have not witnessed any changes in her behavior from edamame, however if I did I would pull it.

So, any left overs from dinners could be lunch for Darling Daughter at school.  She gets a snack before lunch and I try to make sure that is a protein also so, that could be a rolled up piece of turkey, some celery with sun butter spread on it (nut free school... peanuts would make life easy though) or she has some power snacks I picked up at the Whole Earth center that she really seems to enjoy.  I think they're a little gross/chewy/weird but she seems to like them.

Fruit snacks, an orange, a juice, a bag of chips all of that is just going to crank her up, so I am NOT going to pack that as her snack.  And IF I do, she goes in with the understanding that is her afternoon snack.  Oranges and other citrus fruits, along with yellow fruits, strawberries and watermelon (high sugar content fruits) are sometimes fruits.  DEFINITELY DON'T START YOUR MORNING OFF WITH AN ORANGE JUICE!!!!  BAD IDEA!!!!  Why not just hand over a bowl of sugar?  Or Fruit Loops?

 I just keep sending in protein after protein, after vegetable, carrots, celery, cucumber slices, snap peas (Especially from the garden are a big hit!)  apple slices, and LOTS OF WATER!  A BIG treat for Darling Daughter is to have a Gluten Free cookie in her lunch, that would be like a Friday surprise!
 
  Do I sound like a food Nazi?  Maybe.  If your child was diabetic and you controlled their diabetes by their diet, you wouldn't think it was crazy.  If medicine doesn't work and you're willing to try something else, look in your cabinet, get the JUNK OUT!  Start stocking it with good things, read all the labels, anything you can't pronounce, you probably don't want to eat!  And simply give life a try like this for 30 days.  If you see no change, nothing has been lost.

  Tomorrow I will try to talk about Dairy Bumps and address some more emails I've been getting.  Remember go check your child for bumps that look similar to these:

 
Or maybe you remember them having that as a baby???  Personally I get less on the backs of my arms and more on the sides of my hips.  Darling Daughter also sometimes gets them on her cheeks.  You may also see dark circles under their eyes.  These are all signs again of a dairy INTOLERANCE.  It is not necessarily an allergy!  (Hence, Darling Daughter can drink milk and eat cake and it will not KILL her or even make her sick.  Her bumps WILL get worse though and her behavior WILL change!!!)

Please feel free to post your comments below, or email me. 

  Remember with all this snow, don't let them boob tube out!  Make them bundle up and get the heck out of the house.  Have a snowman contest, and don't do hot chocolate!!!  Why not just feed them 40 cubes of sugar and a few scoops of Sanka and wonder why their being obnoxious???  Find another warm up treat!  Try a little hot cider or take their favorite blanket and throw it in the dryer for 15 minutes with the most wonderful dryer sheets and then give them a HALF of a hot cider and a show!!!  You just saved yourself from a Hot Chocolate nightmare!  

Thanks for stopping by the farm today....  From our house to yours, until we meet again...  Stay safe, stay warm, check on your loved ones and your pets and take good care of yourself.