Coke Chicken and Fruit Snacks

It's been a month and a half since I've started adding things back in my diet. What does this mean? I can eat wheat and eggs! Neither one has caused anything in Lucas to change, which is awesome! 

I am so thankful for a healthy {as healthy as he can be!} little bugger. Seriously. He's gaining weight amazingly, just packed away all his 0-3 month old clothes and some of his 3-6 month old clothes and pulled out his 6-9 month old clothes. It's a weird feeling packing away stuff not knowing when or if we'll pull it out again. We were going through some of Malach's things and found this hat... couldn't help but taking a picture!

But all of that makes me thankful, we're moving in the right direction. Much of what I'm making still is free of the top 8 allergins. Weird, huh? It's opened up a whole new door for me as far as snacks go, but since I'm not used to snacking I don't do it much and since I'm so used to cooking the way I do, I've kind of stuck with it. 

One indulgence I do have is toast with "butter" and cinnamon sugar. I use Earth Balance dairy free/ soy free butter. :) It really is so good! 

I wanted to share a super yummy, super simple dinner recipe I found here.

Coke Chicken

small whole chicken

onion, quartered

lemon, quartered

jar of BBQ sauce, we use Sweet Baby Rays

can of Coke, or dark carbonated soda

How to make this bad boy? Easy! Place chicken in crock pot. Cut onion and lemon in quarters and place on top of chicken.

Top with entire jar of BBQ sauce.

Top with entire can of Coke.

Turn on warm for 8 hours... mine started bubbling over right about then so you might want to keep an eye on it at this point or turn it to warm, it was definitely cooked by this point. 

The dark meat was by far my favorite! I think next time I do it I'll just throw in some legs and thighs and call it good. They were the best part. I could eat them all day... ok, maybe that's an exaggeration, but they seriously were delicious.

The next thing I'd like to share is the grape fruit snacks I found here. You can make them any flavor of juice you want really, we just happened to have grape juice in our freezer. So grape it was!

Malachi helped out with almost every step, it's very kid-friendly! 

Fruit Snacks

pack of gelatin (.25oz packs)

frozen 100% juice concentrate of your choice (we used grape)

That's it! We experimented with our ratio of gelatin to juice ratio and still thing we'll add a little less gelatin next time. Our second time making it, the best so far, was 1/3 a cup juice to 2.5 packs of gelatin. The blog we got this from said that if you just did 2 packs of gelatin that it would come out more like jello... we'll see! 

Here's the low down on the fruit snacks... pour your juice and gelatin in a sauce pan and stir over medium heat until gelatin is disolved. 

Pour mixture in to a measuring cup with a lip for easy pouring. Then pour in to molds, we got ours at IKEA, they are starfish and fish. 

Malachi thought it was pretty cool to eat sea creatures. :) Put in the refrigerator and let set 15-20 minutes. Then enjoy!!

I think next time we'll try white grape juice or cherry... I'm not going to lie, I partly do this stuff for me... they're really good!!

Simple Sunday Lunch

I can't believe it's been almost 13 weeks since I've started this journey. Some days are more frustrating than others, but for the most part, I think I've got this whole food thing figured out. I've learned where to go for certain items and where I can eat when going out. Whew!

I am thankful that three and a half weeks ago I was able to add wheat! As I said before it hasn't opened up a ton of stuff because soy is in everything! Have you ever looked at the labels on your food?! It's ridiculous! We haven't seen a difference in Lucas as since adding in wheat although it's pretty strange how he seems to have good days and bad days when my diet stays exactly the same. It's almost as if he has flare-ups... part of me thinks this may not be food related. We saw his GI doctor again, which literally was a waste of two hours of my life. We'll be looking for a new one shortly. But over all he's doing great, happy, playful... nothing more I could ask for.

He is a few ounces away from being 17 pounds which is insane! He's our little "chunker", that's what Malachi calls him. :) It's pretty cute.

I wanted to share our lunch today- one, because it's easy, two, because it's yummy and three, well... it's easy! It's Quinoa and Black Bean Salad Stuffed Bell Pepper- sounds good, huh!?

Quinoa and Black Bean Salad

1 c. quinoa, rinsed and cooked

1/2 can of black beans, rinsed

1/2 can of corn, drained

12 cherry tomatoes, quartered

1/2 onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 red bell pepper, chopped small

handful of cilantro, minced

1 lime, juiced

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tbsp olive oil

Seems like a lot of ingredients but when you're really just chopping them up and throwing them all together it's not much. 

Step 1- Make quinoa. For one cup on quinoa use two cups of water. Bring to a boil, turn down to simmer and cover for ten minutes. It should look like this when it's done.

Step 2- While that's working itself out start chopping! Tomatoes, onion, garlic, red pepper and cilantro all in a pile... so colorful and yummy!

Step 3- When quinoa is done mix in veggies you've just chopped and add in olive oil, lime juice and cumin as well as your half a can of black beans and corn. 

Doesn't that look SO good! 

Step 4 and 5- Chop the top off a green bell pepper, cut out insides and put Quinoa and Black Bean Salad inside.

Some recipes I've read say to cook your green bell pepper in the oven to soften it, maybe then you eat it with your fork? I didn't feel like doing that so left it cold and crispy. I still ate it at the end... kind of like a bread bowl, but better for you... and nothing like a bread bowl really.

This meal is easy, light and filling {yes, it's possible to be those two things at the same time}.

Breakfast/ Dessert Whatever You're in the Mood For!

Three weeks ago I added wheat back in to my diet... what does this mean? Basically it means my cereal selection opens up, I can have more types of chips {great} and I can drink beer. :) All in all, not too bad. L man is still super gassy, but we haven't seen blood in his stool in almost two months so I'd say it's a success! In a week from tomorrow we add eggs and I'm sure I'll come up with some yummy egg included recipe to share. For now, enjoy this one! {It's still wheat free just because there's no wheat in it... not on purpose!}

I found this on pinterest from this blog. It says that it's a breakfast oatmeal casserole, but I just made it and am devouring it and I've already had breakfast. :) I had to make a few changes as her "dietary restriction" is gluten free and that is the one thing I can now eat! So I added regular oats and then changed other stuff... I'll highlight that as I go along.

Baked Oatmeal

2c. steel cut oats (I used regular old-fashion oats)

1/3c. brown sugar (I used 1/4c. honey)

1tsp baking powder

1tsp cinnamon

1/2tsp salt

1c. raspberries

1/2c. chocolate chips (Enjoy Life brand that is dairy, soy and nut free)

2c. milk (unsweetened coconut milk)

1 Egg (1tbsp ground flaxseed + 3tbsp water)

1tbsp vanilla extract

3tbsp butter (1 1/2tbsp olive oil)

1 banana

So there are lots of changes, and since I don't know what it's "suppose" to taste like, the changes didn't matter. You could also use whatever kind of berry you want, or what you have. Next time I'll probably add more than one kind of berry and maybe some seeds for some extra yumminess. 

Step 1- preheat oven to 370degrees F

Step 2- greece your baking dish. You can use a pray, but since that has soybean oil in it I just rubbed some olive oil in the bottom of my dish, this works great!

Step 3- mix all your dry ingredients together. If you're using brown sugar you'd add this here, if not, hold off until your wet ingredients. Once dry ingredients are mixed put them in a 9x13inch baking dish.

Step 4- mix all your wet ingredients together. I used the same bowl since my dry ingredients were already in the baking dish. One less bowl to wash... excellent! 

Step 5- pour your wet ingredients over your dry making sure to cover all of the dry ingredients.

Step 6- bake in oven for 35-40 minutes or until the top is brown and oatmeal is crispy.

The final product can be cooled, cut and enjoyed or simply scooped from the baking dish with a fork and eaten. I chose the ladder of the two options, but will perhaps become more civilized now that the "taste testing" is done!

Pork Chops with an Apple and Cherry Sauce

I'm not usually a big fan of pork, but this was amazing! 

Pork Chops with Apple Cherry Sauce

3 pork chops

1lb cherries, pitted and diced

1 tbsp dijon mustard (recipe below)

3tbsp Olive oil

White wine vinegar

3 tbsp dry white wine

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2c. Chicken stock

1 Apple, peeled and diced

2 cloves of garlic, diced

Dijon Mustard

1tbsp yellow mustard

splash of white wine vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

pinch of garlic

When I was checking out the ingredients I could have I noticed that dijon mustard, at least the kind I had in my pantry, had dairy or egg in it. At the moment I can't remember and it doesn't really matter. I thought, I think I can make this... and I was right! It really was a matter of figuring out the main ingredients on the bottle I had and mixing them together myself omitting what I couldn't have. There aren't exact measurements on anything because I totally just guessed and tasted as I added things. Yep, that's how I cook... watch out!

To make this meal first cook the pork. I learned that to fry something well you need to let your pan get hot, then add your oil, then let it get hot before you put whatever you're frying on it. Takes some time, but it's worth it! I browned my pork on both sides and put aside. 

I wish I had taken more pictures, but there was so much to do that, honestly, I just forgot until the end. Oops! 

I then added, to the same frying pan, all the other ingrediens and simmered until the cherries and apples became soft. Then I added the por back in and cooked until pork was done... I'm going to say it was about 7-10 minutes. I made this a few days ago and honestly can't remember. However, it's quick enough that you wouldn't leave the room so you can keep an eye on it. 

Doesn't that look so good! The cherries and apples seep into the rest of the liquid permeating their flavor throughout. 

I added some apple sause, who doesn't like some good pork chops and apple sause?!

After I took this picture I thought... hm, this should really have some greens with it. Oh well! Next time. Here's to an {almost} balanced meal. My sister-in-law said that she had something similar but with blueberries. I may have to try that!!

Lemon Garlic Chicken, Green Beans and Potatoes

After a long time of neglect I decided to add another recipe. It's actually one I made a while ago. I've been in quite a funk as far as food goes and needed some inspiration, a reminder of what I could create. Along with this funk of making and eating food I've realized that it's hard to take pictures {as awful quality as mine are} while you're making a meal. I'm often in panic mode trying to get everything ready at the same time, while managing a two and a half year old and a four month old. To anyone who has a food blog and takes great pictures along the way... you're amazing!

On to the recipe, first things first, this {well, a small part of it} took me back to Mozambique, Africa. I was standing in my little kitchen, actually it was bigger than the one I have now, snapping off the ends of green beans, enjoying the "pop" sound. So many amazing memories, funny that this is the one my mind raced to...

I decided that my portions for chicken were far too large for us to be eating, our proportions were way off! Solution?! Instead of using chicken breasts I use chicken fillets. I know, I know, I could cut the chicken breast, but that would require some work and I'm already making food from scratch- that's enough work for me!

This recipe I found from this blog. 

Pan Roasted Chicken with Lemon Garlic Green Beans

6 tbsp olive oil

2 lemons, one sliced thinly, one juiced

4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
3/4 lb green beans
8 small red potatoes quartered
4 chicken breasts or 6 chicken fillets

Preheat oven to 450degrees. Cut one lemon and put slices in the bottom of a baking dish. In a separate bowl add oil, the juice from the second lemon, salt and pepper.

Add green beans to the oil mixture and toss. 

Put them over the lemons in your baking dish. Do the same to your chicken and place in the middle of the baking dish over the green beans. Put the potatoes around the outside of your baking dish.

Bake in oven for 50 minutes or until chicken has an internal temperature of 165degrees.

I have to admit, next time I'd probably add some seasoning to the chicken and only use one lemon, half sliced on the bottom and half juiced as the lemon taste was a little overpowering. But, taste and color were great and it was a delicious meal!

Not Just Another Salad

One of my favorite things to eat in the summer is salad. They are easy to make, you don't have to turn on the oven and you don't feel like your face is about to melt off right after you've eaten one. You know that feeling? 

I have to admit, a "typical" salad filled with fruits and veggies usually doesn't cut it for me. It's just not enough and I'm lightheaded and starving by dinner time. This salad I made isn't just another salad... it's an amazing salad! 

It's a Quinoa, Cabbage and Avocado Salad. You want to know more about it, don't you!?

Quinoa Mix

Quinoa, cooked
olive oil
lime juice
black beans, drained
fresh cooked corn, or canned

So simple and so good! First step, cook that quinoa. I love that this is as easy to make as pasta, but so much better for you! I also like that it looks pretty neat, turning translucent, when cooked. While doing this, if you're using fresh corn you're going to want to cook that too. Depending if you like to keep it on the cob to cook it and cut it after or cut it off first and then cook it, will depend on how long you cook it. I personally like to cut it off the cob first and then cook it. After both the quinoa and corn is cooked let them cool a bit.that is cooked let it cool a little. I didn't put amounts on the ingredient lists because it's one of those things that you make what you want to eat, or make what you want to store for later. It's up to you, everything, as in most salads is "to taste". Add all ingredients together and mix well.

The best thing about this part is that it is both substance to the salad and the dressing!!

Not necessarily meant to be both, but after putting the Quinoa mix on my salad the oil and lime juice were the perfect amount of "liquid", although they weren't runny or anything.

Some of you who have read my blogs on salad before know that I usually use cabbage in my salads. Really, my only reasoning is because it's cheaper than lettuce. So while I used cabbage you could of course use whatever type of greens you prefer.

After chopping up the cabbage and placing it in my bowl I topped it with the Quinoa mix some shredded carrots and then cubed an avocado on top. Yes, I'm still loving avocados and until they get to a ridiculous price I will continue to use them in everything!

Here is the final product.

The best thing about this salad {ok, not really the best}, it's in Malachi's Monkey Bowl. Looks like it's time to start the dishwasher!!

Pasta and Tomato Sauce

One thing that I really don't eat a lot of is pasta... because obviously, it's generally made with wheat. Not only that, but the pasta sause I had in my cabinet was made with cheese... really, what am I doing to myself!! 

So, I had to fix things, because for some reason, after over five weeks, I wanted some carbs. 

I went for it and bought some delicious Quinoa pasta, which honestly, I couldn't tell the difference between this and the "real" stuff. It didn't make the water turn a funny color and didn't turn stringy like I've heard of other gluten free pastas doing. If I didn't tell you, you wouldn't have even known it was gluten free. I was impressed!

Pasta Sause

2 large tomatoes, diced

2 cans of tomato sause

2 tbsp of fresh basil

1/2 an onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, diced

1 green pepper, diced

salt and pepper, to taste

1/2 lb of ground beef or turkey, cooked and drained

I am the kind of cook who likes to prepare everything first and clean up as I go. It's a dinner failure if I have a lot of clean up. I'm not able to relax or enjoy post-dinner family time if I know there is a pile of dishes in the sink. So, thankfully, this meal made it super easy! 

First, I put my meat, I used beef, in a skillet and turned it on low to brown. While it was browning, I walked out to my balcony and cut some of my basil. I love having my own herbs right outside that I can access any time I want. Unfortunately, a mean worm also loves this, and has been attacking my basil. He wasn't around so I couldn't seek revenge... but I will get him! 

I cut up my tomatoes, basil, onion, garlic and pepper. Done. Once my beef was browned, drained and put aside, I added all the ingredients I had just chopped up, along with the two cans of tomato sause. I kept the heat on low so that it could all simmer together. I'm pretty sure I added some other spices I had in my cupbord, I honestly just can't think of what I added. I'm not one who knows what spices go with what... if it smells like it could taste good with what I'm making, I usually throw it in. After the sause is simmering I add back in my browned beef and allow to heat up. 

Oh yea, all along I was cooking the pasta. It takes about 7-8 minutes to cook. But don't make the mistake I usually make when making pasta with something else... I always forget about the initial time to get the water to boil! Seriously, I have done this far to many times to count. So depending on how much pasta you're making and how much water you need to boil, add that to your cook time. Lucky for me, this time I was just making the gluten free pasta for myself and "normal" pasta for Eric and Malachi so it cooked super fast. 

In my family, we're pretty big fans of sause, if you've only got a little bit, well then, it's like you've got none at all. So final step, pour whopping spoonful of sause over pasta and eat your heart out. We were in a rush to go somewhere {pretty typical!} so I had to eat this pretty quickly. I had leftovers for lunch so I could enjoy it a little bit more.