Reflective Weekend With Chicken

Memorial Day weekend had its reflective moments for me. I have had the misfortune of losing 3 grandparents within the last few months. Two of them were my two grandfathers, and both were vets. One went on to have a career with the VA, and one went on to be a public school superintendent.

The third that recently left us was my step-grandmother, who was a RN and a Seventh-Day Adventist. Both her career and religion had an effect on her cooking, and she would bring us low sugar cookies stuffed with seeds and dried fruits that were really quite delicious. The first Christmas after I got married she gave me a cookbook called "Healthy Choices," which I really appreciated.

Over the last few years as we have been embarking on our healing allergen-free diets, this cookbook has been sadly neglected. Last Friday I brushed the dust off of it and revamped one of our old favorites to fit our current way of eating. It was a great way to sit back and remember these great people I have had in my life and look forward to meeting again one day. I have my own way of preparing this recipe, and so I thought it would be appropriate to share here.

Spicy Southwest Chicken Skillet

4 chicken breast halves, boneless and skinless, or bone-in with the skin pulled off
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 can drained black beans
1/3 cup thick and chunky salsa

Mix the chili powder, salt and pepper. Rub on both sides of the chicken. Heat oil in a 10 inch skillet over medium heat. Cook chicken in skillet, turning once, until juices run clear. (This will take 8-10 minutes or more if using bone-in.) Stir in beans and salsa. Heat to boiling and then cover and reduce heat to simmer. I like to simmer off much of the salsa liquid, as condensing gives it great flavor. Serve with rice.

Everyday Pancakes

I cook breakfast every morning, and about 5 of the 7 days of the week end up being these pancakes. I have chosen this recipe as a staple in my home because they contain whole grain, are free of all of our allergens, and they are quick and easy to make. This recipe is a sample from Allergy Menu Specialists, where many delicious gluten-free recipes can be found. (Used here with permission.)



Everyday Pancakes

2/3 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup potato starch (or corn starch)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum

Mix together dry ingredients. Add:

1 Tablespoon agave nectar (or honey)
1 egg, medium or large
1/4 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup water

Whisk together until the right consistency. If cornstarch is used, start with 3/4 cup water and add more as needed.

That is all there is to it. Now they are ready to fry up! I get the best results with my cast iron, which I heat up nice and hot while I am mixing the batter.



This is just one of the many recipes that can be found with this fantastic new business. If gluten is your main allergy concern, signing up for a recipe card membership will get you great gluten-free recipes mailed to your home on nice laminated cards. Many of their recipes are revisited old-fashioned delights. :)

Cast Iron Goodness

These are my two lovelies:

Anyone who has been to my place has seen them sitting on the range, side by side, (and hopefully when you saw them they were cleaned out and oiled for the next use!) Cast iron is pure awesomeness for it's natural non-stick abilities without the funky nonstick treatments that are so popular, but are bad for our food.

I was introduced to cast iron when I was in college and took a little trip to visit my aunt and uncle. My sophomore year I was no longer eating in the cafeteria, "The Galley," and had a kitchen in my apartment. So, when asked what I could use as a Christmas gift, it was a cast iron skillet. My mother thought I was SO WEIRD! I have always been grateful that she took me serious enough that she got me a beautiful 12 inch skillet. I have had the 12 incher for almost 10 years now, and it literally gets used just about everyday. My smaller 10 inch cast iron skillet came into our family when my son went gluten free three nearly three years ago, and it was our "gluten free skillet." Since I went gluten free, about 2 years ago, gluten does not touch the cast iron as a household rule. Because the surface of cast iron is somewhat porous, the gluten eaters in the house are left to the stainless steel.

Here is one of my recent dinner creations using my 10 incher:

Crepes! I have recently discovered that the natural nonstick surface of cast iron is great for making these. This dinner was admittedly an experiment. (Don't worry, my family is used to that!) I was trying to see if a crepe could be used as a sandwich wrap. My son and I do not eat corn, and it is difficult to make a rice tortilla that is thin, soft and pliable, (I think so, anyways.) I had heard that crepes could be really good with a savory filling, and so that is what I tried out for this dinner. I made a sloppy-joe type filling; ground hamburger, tomato sauce, onion, and we wrapped it in the crepes with some shredded lettuce and tomato. It really was good. My only complaint is that the raw veggies were a bit much for the delicate crepe to handle, so next time I will have to rethink my approach and cook veggies in a different type of filling or have the veggies on the side.

This crepe recipe came from my local girls, Kristi and Betsy at www.eatingglutenfree.com.
*I changed the recipe for the purposes of and gluten free AND casein free diet, using earth balance instead of butter, and and combo of rice milk and water instead of cow milk.*

Allergy Menu Specialists

I'd like to introduce you all to a brand-new business that I feel will become a valuable asset in the gluten free community. They are committed to training and certifying restaurant management and staff to cook for those with food allergies/sensitivities. I am very excited to see where this takes them. I for one could benefit from one website/phone app that tells me all the local places that are safe for me to eat with my gluten/dairy/soy/corn intolerance. As it is, finding a new place to eat is a chore, and my dinner dates with my husband have to be well planned in advance.

Allergy Menu Specialists can be found at www.allergymenuspecialists.com

One of the many services that this business offers is recipe conversion. I think this could be an extremely valuable asset to a parent of a child who is a biochemical intervention candidate. Children with autism often insist on "sameness," and going GF/CF is such a huge change. Being able to convert some of their favorite recipes to ones that have very similar taste and texture and fits their new diet could be a sanity saver. Plus, both the owner and the main culinary consultant of this business are very familiar with the dietary requirements of some of our children with autism. They are aware of our challenges, and are striving to fill our needs.
Click here to view the company's video about this new service.

Poop

Yep, you have been warned. This post is about poop, or more specifically, a conversation I had in a crowded hallway today about poop. What can I say? It is a heart breaking thing, (not to mention gross,) when your child who is 'old enough' to be potty trained is not only still wearing diapers, but every single day having the messy, dripping out, running up the back... I think you get the idea. When another autism mom approaches me with this kind of issue she is facing, I am certainly not above taking about the nasty poop in the hearing of others. I wish that I had had more real people to talk to about my son's poop woes. Needless to say, it meant the world to me to be able to sympathize and offer suggestions and hope.

A little bit of background.... children with autism often have gut issues, such as chronic diarrhea. (The reason why we started going to my son's DAN! (Defeat Autims Now!) doctor is because his pediatrician was not treating his gut and that felt wrong to us. He had no good explanation for the constant loose stools.) Anyways, in my limited and simple understanding, these gut issues stem can from two problems; food sensitivities, and yeast overgrowth. Improving the gut improves the autism symptoms because the gut issues are a part of the autism.

Since my family has been through all of this, I could tell my poop conversation companion some things that I hope were helpful. Her son is new to the DAN! program, and I explained to her how getting the stomach issues under control with the DAN! program improved things with my son concerning the issue we were discussing. I also felt inspired to tell her about how it took us awhile to catch on to Eli's corn sensitivity. He loved to eat corn, straight from the can. It would go right through him. A light came on, and she wondered if his current issues were caused by corn or another food sensitivity. Her son is currently in testing with his DAN! doctor to figure these things out... I wished her luck with all the sincerity of my whole heart. :)

The GF/CF Lunchbox

I had a really wonderful opportunity last month to teach a little class about food sensitivities. I shared our family's stories, (see food sensitivities part 1 and food sensitivities part 2,) and demonstrated some really delicious chicken recipes that we have run across and found helpful with our son. One of the moms that was there asked me what I put in my son's lunches that he takes to school. I had a couple of ideas ready, and I thought I would post them here, along with afew other things I have sent him with. Some of these things will seem odd, like the pasta with peas stirred in, but since this is the main way that I can get green things down him, I take advantage of that, for sure. Every child will tolerate different things of course, but I hope that this list helps some parents out with ideas.

* I should probably mention that my son's lunches are more than just GF/CF. They are also corn, soy, sugar, additive, preservative, and coloring free.


Special things I make for his lunch

pizza
brown rice or Lundberg's brown rice couscous cooked in veggie broth, salted, with peas added
rice flour tortilla with filled with flavored re-fried beans
falafel
chicken nuggets (recipe adapted from eatingglutenfree.com)

Leftovers from dinner
making extra dinner is a great way to have an easy ready made lunch

chicken soup made with rice
chili
tortilla soup
stir fry
brown rice pasta (he won't eat spaghetti sauce, so he gets earth balance spread on his noodles with salt added, often with green peas or mix veggies stirred in.)

Other
things I add to above listed main courses

apple slices
carrots
raisins
peas
green beans
olives
cucumbers
green pepper strips
all natural potato chips
GF/CF muffins
GF/CF crackers (homemade 'fake' graham crackers or store bought rice ones)

I'm sure I am forgetting some things... I will add as I remember. I always send my son with his little klean kanteen full of filtered water as well as a healthy "suits his system" meal.

Food Sensitivities part 2

Last summer I was ill. The ache in my stomach was constant, although sometimes it was just a "dull" ache, and sometimes more stabbing. Often I was very tired. I didn't seem to have the energy to do much of anything.

I went to a specialist that calls himself "The Gut Whisperer." After moments in his office he ordered a full endoscopy procedure. I think the gallon or so of nasty stuff I had to drink was the worst part. It was hard to keep down. After the whole thing was over, he told me that it looked like possible celiac disease, so he would send the biopsy he took to the lab and I would see him in his office later to see the results.

I went home and for the next week or so I tried to avoid gluten. I thought I felt myself starting to get better. Imagine my shock when I went in to see "The Gut Whisperer" again the next week, and he says that the results of the test were negative. I told him about my dietary experiment, and he said that "non celiac gluten intolerance" may be the cause. He did not seem to think that eating gluten free was a good treatment method. He sent me home with a recommendation for probiotics and some little pain pill prescription, and the advice to "eat whatever I wanted."

I was so confused. I did not want to put a band-aid on an inner wound that he would not seem to fully acknowledge. I went home angry and drowned myself in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that caused me to spend hours in bed that afternoon. That is when I decided to ban gluten and "The Gut Whisperer."

I ate gluten free for months, and I was mostly doing great, but I started noticing those little crampy aches at times. I was starting to suspect dairy as the cause.

It was at that time that I heard some interesting stats from friends. (Of course I do not have sources for these, they were by word of mouth, but they made me think.)

-45% of people with celiac disease also have a dairy intolerance.

-People with celiac disease are 40% more likely to have a child with autism.

As mentioned in Food Sensitivities part 1, my son did an allergy screening, and I decided to do the same.



My results were practically identical to my son's!!!

The exceptions are that he has strawberries and celery on his, while I had cantaloupe show up on mine.

Now Eli and I eat mostly the same. (Gluten free, casein free, banana free, peanut free, and as much corn, soy, sugar, and additive/coloring free as possible.) I have to say that I am feeling the best I have ever felt, and I am thinking so much more clearly. When I say that I am thinking more clearly, I mean that my ability to control my focus is improved. I have had trouble with attention my whole life because of ADD.

ADD and autism appear to be related genetically in many families, and in this case I would venture to suggest that in my family the relationship has to do with food sensitivities.

I think that this little "discovery" of mine is NOT an isolated event. While many parents are aware of their child's food sensitivities, are they having themselves tested for the same food intolerance? It would be a good idea. On my new diet, I feel empowered with greater energy and focus to help my son recover, and I wish that for other parents, too. Oh yeah, and I also urge parents to take a lesson from my experience and find the right professional to do the testing, like one that actually believes in food sensitivities and offers alternative allergy therapy for long term treatment.

Food Sensitivities part 1

When my son was 2 and 1/2 he received his diagnosis of autism. I remembered that when my brother was little he had behavioral reactions to many types of foods that could be quite severe. (Hence the inspiration for my story, "The Chocolate Effect.") I found an allergist and took Eli in. I wanted to know what foods we should be avoiding. The traditional allergy test revealed nothing. The blood test to look for celiac disease revealed nothing.

In the meantime, Eli's pediatrician was calling me. He was concerned about my plan to ease Eli onto a GF/CF diet by eliminating milk to see if that improved his symptoms. But as good as his intentions were, the same man who could not give me answers about my son's diarrhea was calling me in the evening to tell me that my son needed milk. Looking back, the irony of it is kind of maddening.

We became confused as to what to do. We dedicated ourselves to trying our best to eliminate preservatives, additives, and colorings as much as possible, because what little we did know at that time told us that these things were burdens on his little body.

One year later when I discovered the book, "Changing The Course of Autism" by Dr. Bryan Jepson, things became much more clear. We were converted to biochemical intervention and we found the DAN! (Defeat Autism Now!) Doctor in our area. It was easier for us to make the change to gluten free/casein free with our new knowledge and with the support of a health professional on our side.

After Eli had been GF/CF for a little while and we had addressed some of his gut issues, we had an allergy screening done. It was anything but the traditional model. This time, it was a test using a little electric current, and it showed sensitivities right on a computer screen. As far as foods go, we got these:

-barley
-corn
-oat
-rye
-wheat
-milk
-corn
-soy
-sugar
-sweeteners
-food additives
-chocolate
-peanuts
-bananas
-strawberries
-celery

For a good part of a year now Eli has been getting Low Dose Antigen therapy for his sensitivities. It is just a little injection he gets at the clinic about every 2 months. While we limit his intake of all of the items on this list, gluten, milk, peanuts, and additionally preservatives, additives, and colorings are always avoided in his diet.

It's been truly wonderful to have some answers and to see him improve and enjoy life more.