Not One, Not Two, Not Three but Eight!

It was a snow day and the boys stayed home with Dad. Mac and Wes had some fun playing pirates, X-box and destroying every room in the house. I came home from work, said hello to the family and sat down with Mac to start his usually very stressful homework.  My husband Marc tries to do homework with Mac but Mac will normally only do this with me. 

Marc and I both noticed he was a little wired and just played if off as cabin fever and was ready to get back to his school schedule the next day.  Mac could not sit still and was refusing to do his spelling. I asked him if he would like to start with math or reading first. I was giving him a choice but still no reasoning with him.

After several attempts of offering rewards for doing his homework Mac started hitting his head on on the back door, licking the kitchen table and I am not sure what else at the moment. He then said 'Mommy I ate something I shouldn't'.  Mac ran out of the kitchen to find the empty hidden bag of regular-gluten, yeast filled HOT DOG BUNS!  He ate all EIGHT hot dog buns some time that day.  I couldn't believe it! After the discussion of why he had done this his behavior started to go down hill even more. As punishment for eating food he knows very well he can't have and not for doing homework we decided to send him to his room.

Mac began running around the house.  We would send him to his room and he would run out again and again, the whole time laughing nervously. Mac does this when he gets in trouble. Like many other kids on the spectrum he doesn't know how to react or can't really tell that is father and mother are very angry with him.  I tried hugging Mac to calm him down but nothing was working at the moment.

Finally he stayed in his room and started sobbing. He hadn't had dinner and was probably feeling really out there from eating the hot dog buns. So Marc and I made a joint decision that Mac was 'too far gone' for the night. The hot dog buns had taken over his mind and body. I went up and made a deal with him. He could come down and eat dinner at the kitchen table and if he finished his spelling he could watch Wipe Out, our favorite family show! 

Mac lived up to our deal and we all enjoyed Wipe Out before bedtime. 

I wanted to share this evening on my blog because it is so hard to know what to do in some of these situations. I am glad Marc was home from work that night. To have a support there was very helpful. 

Also, it is so hard not to eat those foods you love! I know I want to cheat and sneak sometimes too so I know how Mac feels.

Mac has started sneaking food more and more that he knows he can not have! He may be in a growth spurt so I am trying to feed him as much and as often as possible. We may even go to the extreme of locking up all shelf stable foods he can not eat.  Any suggestions let me know.

Spelling Test Update! The next day Mac got 100% on his test!

Mac's 'Mac and Cheese' GFCF

I had thought of this recipe but hadn't tried it yet.  Kris Kohler, a friend from Autism Speaks, said she made her kids Mac and Cheese with Daiya cheese and it was really good so I went ahead and tried it for lunch today! Yay! Cheesy, gooey and good flavor!

Gluten Free Pasta (I used half a package of fusilli)
1/2 cup Vegan Daiya cheese (give or take)
1/2 cup canned Coconut Milk (give or take)
1 T Earth Balance Soy Butter
1/2 cup cooked hamburger (salt and pepper to taste)

Cook pasta as directed. Drain and put back on low heat. Add casein free butter, Daiya cheese and coconut milk stir until melted. Add hamburger! I would usually add peas but thought we would just try this first!

Mac ate three bowls! Enjoy!

Gluten Free Pantry Bread Mix Update!

Gluten,  Egg and Yeast Free Bread

1/25/11- Gluten Free Pantry Bread Mix contains whey. It is not casein free. It is a great mix if you can tolerate casein. The picture above was made with out egg or yeast.

New Vegan Cheese for us...Daiya

Superman (aka Mac) thoroughly enjoying his pizza!

 I have heard a lot about Daiya vegan cheese. We tried it last night on a tortilla pizza and it was great! I have posted a tortilla pizza before but wanted to share this product and a few more tips.

Take my GFCF yeast free tortilla recipe (posted in September) and roll out a larger dough ball thicker than a tortilla. About like you would for a thin crust pizza. Cook in pan like normal. We topped with the GFCF ranch that we make with Vegan sour cream and Kosher Lipton Ranch mix (this is on my blog back in September) since Mac is intolerant to tomatoes. So it is like a white pizza kind of.  All we had was ham so I chopped up some ham topped with Daiya cheese and some Italian seasoning and cooked in oven for about 15 minutes. I think I usually cook for about 10 minutes but the extra 5 minutes really gave the tortilla very much like a think pizza crust taste and crispiness!! Really good! Mac asked for more. Next time I am going to try and make a 10" pizza with the tortilla dough. The only challenge there is getting the rolled tortilla off of my island and into a pan keeping it in one piece! Enjoy!

KC Star Come Into My Kitchen-GFCF Chicken Pot Pie



Mac and I were featured in The Kansas City Star for the column Come Into My Kitchen in October 2010...'Family Members find comfort in special diet' by Mary G. Pepitone.



3 T Gluten free flour
1 t curry
2 T soy butter
4 cups frozen veggies of choice-peas, corn, green beans, carrots
1 ½ Gluten free chicken broth
1/2 cup Casein free milk-soy, rice, coconut
2 cups cooked chicken

Crust
1 ½ cups Gluten free biscuit mix
1 cup Casein free milk-soy, rice, coconut
1 stick melted soy butter

Preheat oven to 350, melt butter in large skillet, stir in flour and curry powder until it comes together. Heat broth and milk to almost boiling in microwave, stir into flour mixture. Bring to a boil, salt and pepper, stir in frozen veggies and chicken. Grease a baking dish, pour in chicken mixture. Mix biscuit mix and milk together, pour over chicken mixture and smooth out. Pour melted butter over top, cook for 45-55 minutes or until golden brown.

**Tip-I prefer canned coconut milk for the chicken filling. It is very thick like cream.

*Coconut milk is dairy free, lactose free, soy free, gluten free, rich in medium chain fatty acids, excellent source of Vitamin B12, cholesterol free, no trans fat and certified vegan.

Gluten free flours can be found at most grocery stores in the health aisle and at Whole Foods. Soy butter I get at Whole foods only. I found the Gluten Free chicken broth at my regular grocery store.

GFCFEF Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

Take Bob's Red Mill Pancake Mix recipe and make some adjustments....

I normally sub applesauce for the egg but I had some canned pumpkin in my pantry so thought I would try it. So about 1 T canned pumpkin or more just to your taste and I used Pumpkin Spice Soy milk instead of regular soy or almond milk. It usually seems like I need to add more milk maybe since the pumpkin is thicker than egg would be. Just keep adding a little at a time until it gets to the correct consistency.  Add oil as indicated. Once mixed together I add a little bit of vanilla and cinnamon!

The first time I made these Mac ate SIX!!  I usually double the recipe and freeze the rest in 2 or 3 portion packs for the rest of the school/work week. 

Top with Earth Balance Soy Butter, Maple or Agave Syrup. Enjoy!

GFCF Cuban

Yum! Had a GFCF Cuban tonight! Or a version of one. I didn't have any pork so just used ham. But got my panini grill out, rolled out two gf tortillas and cooked those up in a pan. Than took some CF cheese, ham, mustard and pickles and grilled it up like a sandwich in the panini grill! Yum I think it is better with the tortillas than it is bread! Try it!

Grandma's Cinnamon Biscuits

Recipe from Mac's Grandma...Thanks Grandma!

 Mix  together 2 1/3 C of Bisquick Gluten Free Pancake and Baking Mix

1/4 C sugar or substitute

 Cut in 1/2 C butter (  I used soy) with fork or pastry blender

Stir in 3/4 C milk( I used rice milk) and

1/2 C applesauce and 1/2 t. vanilla.

 

Divide in half. drop 6 spoonfuls on greased cookie sheet.

Pat with fingers to make like a cookie

Sprinkle with cinnamon to your liking( I used a lot to cover cookie)

Top with other half of dough, pat to cover.

Sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar mix.

I cut them into 4 wedges to serve as small rolls.

 

425 degree oven 15-20 min. depends on size of rolls made and oven. Edges golden and  test for doneness.

 

Can try other ingredients with cinnamon, perhaps jam?

We cut in half some after baking and put jam in between, delicious!! 

 

GFCF Puppy Chow

GFCF Puppy Chow Recipe

1/2 cup Earth Balance soy nut butter (sub for peanut butter)

1/4 cup Earth balance soy butter1 cup cf semi sweet chocolate chips

1/2 teaspoon vanilla9 cups Gluten Free Corn Chex

1-1/2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions:

1. Combine soy nut butter, soy butter and semi-sweet chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl.

2. Microwave for one minute then stir to blend all ingredients thoroughly. Add 1/2 tsp. vanilla. Stir well.

3. Place the 9 cups of Gluten Free Corn Chex cereal in a very large bowl.

4. Pour the soy nut butter-chocolate mixture over the cereal and toss evenly, making sure all the cereal gets a good covering.

5. Coat with powdered sugar, sprinkling evenly over the cereal and tossing as you sprinkle to cover each piece well.