Well, a year later....

I must apologize. I really haven't kept up with this blog. But I swear, I've had good reasons! Life, it seems, as always never lets you get all the things done you think or want to do.

Since the last time I've posted, we've moved, started homeschooling, gotten more responsibilities (like chickens! and way more land to take care of...) and on top of all that, I just had a baby!

You might say that is sort of what triggered my need to update this blog. Well, to be honest, it was more because of my Self-Reliant Mom ladies. If you haven't check out their site, you really should. (there is a link on the side bar...you know, in case you were curious....)

Basically, I was sharing some of the neat recipes for alternative or DIY baby things. Things like formula recipes, wipe solution and wipes themselves. Well, it reminded me that this blog isn't just about food. It's about alternatives to what one might think of as normal staple items to have on hand. And that I had learned so much since the last time I posted!

So, acknowledging the fact that I am really busy with a newborn, homeschooling and just surviving this awful winter....and I am NOT SUPER MOM, I will try to post on here at least 4 times a month. More when I have a minute and cool stuff to share. Maybe less if school and chores pick up. But I will post. I promise.

Sorry for the interruption

Sorry for the interruption of about a year long hiatus! When you have a family and children with special needs (even if it is just food) you have a tendency to shove the most important things to the front. Unfortunately this blog didn't make the cut, lol.

I'm hoping to try and salvage this blog, though. Please be patient. Thank You! ~ Alicia

Week 5

Day 29

• Corn cereal and pork sausage links
• Coconut milk
• Jell-O
• Ham Rolls (sliced ham and hard Romano cheese rolled up a piece of romaine lettuce)
• Pork cutlets with corn and salad

Day 30

• Beef smoked sausage, fresh strawberries/strawberry nectar
• Beef mini meatloaves with mustard
• Green beans

Day 31

• Rice cereal with Almond milk
• Venison steaks (cut into strips and cooked in GHEE, dr. approved)
• Raspberries
• Mashed cauliflower (boys are still getting used to it. Working on tweaking the recipe so that is taste better!)

Day 32

• GF Oatmeal with cinnamon, coconut milk and maple syrup
• Pineapple/pineapple juice
• Fish coated in corn starch with salt and pepper and fried in olive oil
• Rice (with chicken stock)

Day 33

• Quinoa Flakes (hot cereal) with almond milk and pears
• Pear Juice
• Turkey sausage with quinoa/corn noodles

Day 34

• Bacon
• Eggs
• Peaches/Peach nectar
• Pork meatballs
• Green beans

Day 35

• Cinnamon Rice Chex with coconut milk
• Jell-O/strawberries
• Chicken stock with corn noodles (chicken noodle soup)
• Kool-aid with Stevia

Knowing that next week is the “last” week of the rotation diet has put some pep in our step! We realize that it is imperative to stay on a rotation schedule, but the hope that most of the foods we eliminated may be ok again is amazing! Hungry boy has already done phenomenal with the re-introduction of hard cheeses, eggs, and GF oats! And Tater (son number 2) has passed the re-introduction of rice, GF oats and eggs with flying colors!

I look forward to tomato, potato and for goodness sake glorious garlic again! One week to go and we can begin the re-introduction of a huge list. It will be slow going, but I’m excited!

Oats Again!

With the addition of eggs and GF oats into our rotation, I was ecstatic to try out some new oat flour I found today. I immediately came home and searched for yeast & gluten free oat breads and came across this dandy. I altered it to our needs. Want the recipe? ‘Cause it REALLY GOOD.

Yeast & Gluten Free Oat Bread

1 1/2 cups GF oat flour
1 cup sweet sorghum flour
1/2 cup corn starch (the original recipe called for Tapioca starch instead, but I didn’t have any on hand)
2 Tbs chia seeds (or flax seeds)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
3 eggs
1 cup water
2 Tbs agave nectar (or honey, I used buckwheat honey)
1 Tbs white vinegar
1/4 cup oats for topping (optional)
Preheat oven to 350* F. In a medium bowl, combine chia (or flax) seeds and water. Allow to sit for 10 to 15 minutes. In a large bowl, whisk together flours/starch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In the bowl of water and seeds, add eggs, agave (or honey), and vinegar. Whisk together and slowly add the liquid to the dry ingredients, stirring as you go with a large spoon or an electric mixer on low. It will be more the consistency of a thick batter than a dough. Grease a large loaf pan (I used coconut oil ) and pour the batter into the pan. Sprinkle the top of the bread with the whole oats if desired. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before removing from the pan.

This turned out great! Especially since we haven’t had bread with eggs in it for like 4 years! I was amazed at how dense and yet….bread like it was! I guess the best thing to liken it to is a soda bread. I’m still trying to figure out a butter substitute to top it with, since goat butter is out of the question. So far, I just put some jam on top for hungry boy. (But for me, I snuck some creamy goat cheese and homemade peach preserves on it….heaven, I swear!)

This will be made again! Now to find some other grains to make this or similar recipes with. I have a coconut bread that I really want to try, as well as a flourless chocolate cake that I saw on Pinterest the other day…YUM!

Week 4

Day 22

• Fired Rice : Brown Rice, eggs, carrots, onion, celery, venison
• raspberries
• Coconut milk
• Cinnamon Rice Chex

Day 23

• Mighty Tasty Hot cereal (whole grain brown rice, corn, sweet white sorghum, buckwheat )
• Peach Nectar (I found this Peach Nectar at our local Wal-Mart and it was GOOD AND inexpensive
• Corn Pasta with olive oil, salt & pepper
• Asparagus

Day 24

• Pork sausage
• Pineapple Juice
• Pork chops with bacon grease (Supper healthy, I know. But it really makes the pork taste sooooo much better when you can’t use butter!)
• Romaine salad with mustard dressing

Day 25~ We were out all day (for all three meals!) so I had to work with what there was to choose from, which resulted in some foods being closer than the normal 3-4 days.

• Eggs
• Bacon
• Beef, crispy corn tacos with lettuce

Day 26

• Venison Meatloaf
• Beef breakfast sausage
• Green beans
• Almond milk
• Pears

Day 27

• Turkey breakfast sausage
• Rice cereal
• Coconut milk
• Turkey
• Broccoli and cauliflower with olive oil, salt & pepper

Day 28

• GF oatmeal with brown sugar and almond milk
• Peach nectar
• Fish with coconut oil, salt and pepper ( I was trying something new, it didn’t go over as well as planned, lol. It helps when you make “coconut crusted fish”…to actually have coconut at the house….opps!)
• zucchini and yellow squash

I thought that last week was challenging, but this week was REALLY challenging. I was trying to relax as much as possible, and just ended up making more work for myself by not planning well enough. And then I realized what week it was! That infused a whole new life into this diet! the light is starting to shine on the horizon and I must be honest, it feels so good to have some new things in our diet. Eggs and oatmeal have been the most noticed improvements! Not to mention rice into our youngest son’s diet, it really opens up opportunities I never thought possible.

Next week, hungry boy goes back to school and I was happy to find some pre-packaged fruit that didn’t have grape or apple juice (and wasn’t filled with corn syrup!). I don’t usually buy things like that, but I wanted something special for him to take in his lunch. It helps with the frustration of being limited. Also, I picked up some oat flour and hope to make something new with that!

Week Three

Entering into week three, I’m really excited to get to use some new grains. We have a local bulk food store that carries a lot of gluten free grains and almost the entire Bob’s Red Mill grain line. It’s pretty neat. I was able to pick up some Sweet Sorghum Flour, which I haven’t ever baked with before. I’ve heard good reviews for cooking with it, and I think I’ll go back and pick up The coconut flour that I saw. I’ve heard it is HEAVEN :)

Day 15

• Mighty Tasty Hot Cereal (whole grain brown rice, corn, sweet white sorghum, buckwheat )
• Roasted Chicken with roasted carrots and onions
• Pear

Day 16

• Kix (corn) cereal
• Cod with olive oil and salt & pepper
• Strawberries
• Roasted cauliflower and broccoli with olive oil and parmesan cheese

Day 17

• Peach juice
• GF oatmeal
• Shrimp with rice noodles

Day 18

• Cinnamon Rice Chex
• Northern white beans
• Strawberry Jell-O
• Celery/peanut butter (snack)

Day 19 (Christmas Eve)

• Eggs and bacon
• Ham
• Bacon wrapped asparagus
• Peach Jell-O made with peach nectar

Day 20 (Christmas Day – dinner at relatives house) * Because this was a special day, we had a couple of things that I didn’t put on this list, and instead of a normal “breakfast”, we mostly ate  snacks all through until lunch. Mostly fruit, some bacon, and coconut milk/hot chocolate.*

• Prime Rib (beef)
• Green beans
• Raspberry Jell-O
• Strawberries with marshmallow dip
• Coconut milk

Day 21

• Corn Chex
• Almond milk
• Roasted Chicken stuffed with onions
• Corn
• Pears

This week was definitely a challenge for me. Because we had so many things going on (and weren’t always at home to eat) that sometimes I had to quickly decide what to feed hungry boy from what I had to choose from. And more often than not, it was a repeat of something they had already eaten in the past couple of days. Usually corn.

I have to be honest, I didn’t keep very good track of our meals and I definitely  am late blogging this!

But, I enjoyed the time with the boys and celebrating my favorite time of year :)

Merry Christmas Everyone!

 

Week Two

Day 8

• Turkey sausage
• Roasted broccoli ( beings that hungry boy HATES broccoli, this sworn “win-over-broccoli-haters” recipe from Ina of Barefoot Contessa, should be interesting.)
• Buckwheat Muffin
• Almond milk to drink
• Parmesan cheese

Day 9

• Coconut milk
• Corn (Kix)
• Venison
• Pecan, date & cranberry sugar plums! (made with honey, pecan, date, and cranberry rolled in powdered sugar..YUM!)
• Corn noodles with olive oil, salt and pepper

Day 10

• Pineapple juice
• Eggs
• Rice
• Fish
• Almond milk

Day 11

• Beef Smoked sausage
• Corn Chex (I’m still trying to locate some more grain cereals in our area. I know they are out there, I just have to remember where! lol)
• Cubed steak
• Coconut milk

Day 12

• Pork meatballs
• Green beans
• Bacon
• Almond milk hot chocolate

Day 13

• Venison backstraps
• Eggs/bacon (lunch)
• GF oatmeal (breakfast)
• Peanutbutter/celery sticks (snack)

Day 14

• Rice chex
• Coconut milk
• Turkey
• Rice noodles (Mrs. Leeper’s has great gluten free noodles! I have found them at Walmart and some of our local stores.)
• Rice crackers (snack)

Looking back on this week, I think I’ve gotten more in the swing of the rotation diet. I didn’t have as much trouble coming up with meal ideas, but I am still running into the problem of having corn too often, because I haven’t found/shopped for an alternate replacement.

But, on a good note, we are able to use more rice, because we were able to reintroduce it into our youngests’  diet.

Oh, and the broccoli didn’t go over as well as hoped. I LOVED IT, but hungry boy still would rather get a shot than eat the green stuff.

Wish  me luck with week three! I have to include Christmas festivities in the rotation!