Pumpkin Bread Re-write

1/2 c sugar
1 c oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups pumpkin
4 eggs
2 c GF flour
1/2 c potato, tapioca, arrowroot
1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum, if flour is GF
1 tbs powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves

combine wet. combine dry. combine all. bake at 350 in muffins or a 9x13.

This is a re-write of this recipe.  I typed it up here while I was going through the ingredients on the page and deciding what quantities of things I would use.  These turned out awesome as muffins. Moist, but not wet. Rich (lots of pumpkin!) and slightly sweet, as I make most things these days. :-) Now I am coming back to make these again! And I thought I would share.  What am I going to do about the eggs, now that I am trying to keep them away from the baby?  I have no idea yet.

Enjoy!

ps. I made this into a GF recipe. You could easily switch it back by making the flour and the potato/tapioca/arrowroot into wheat flour and omitting the xanthan gum.

Lunch feast and a GF hamburger bun hack

Today lunch was a feast! At least, I thought so.

Leftover hamburgers with pancake buns, bananas, olives, leftover apple pie. Everything is gluten, dairy, egg free.

Of course as soon as the kids were done, they were asking what else they could have. I don't know what I am going to do with them when the apples from the end of our csa. They are my go-to snack/ add on to meals right now.

I started making pancakes when we have burgers because it is so much easier than making GF buns. It works great! I would not reccomend oat flour, however. They were dense and chewy and never dried out really. But leave the batter on the thicker side so they fluff up and stay thick. Then you can easily slice them in half to use as a bun.

Allergy friendly lunch

You're gluten and dairy free? What DO you eat?

Yes, we are gluten and dairy free, and, in fact, the baby is also egg and nut free right now too. And you know what? There are still (some) things to eat.

Today for lunch, john is having: half a banana, some asian pear, broccoli, a few chips, a date, sauerkraut, and cranberry relish.

For the other kids, I didn't give them banana, but I was prepared to offer eggs to anyone who was still hungry. Ellie also had some oatmeal because she didn't have any at breakfast. No one complained of being still hungry, so I didn't have to make eggs. And I forgot to add walnuts to the cranberry relish when I served it.

I was even planning to make crackers but ran out of time. And as I type this I remember I even have crackers in my cabinet!

In conclusion, there ARE things to eat when you are dealing with allergies. It may just require thinking outside the box. And more fruits and vegetables. :-)

Alphabet buckwheat pancakes

During this time of being gluten free, I have been so much better than last time at making things on the fly and much more laid back about the whole thing.  Last week I made some pancakes for breakfast.  They were buckwheat pancakes-- I actually had some sprouted dehydrated buckwheat in my cabinet already, so making sprouted flour was bonus! 

This may seem terrible, but I honestly can't remember if I looked up a 'real' recipe or if I just adapted my recipe for gluten free/ buckwheat. It sounds more like me to do the second.  I know I got xanthan gum right around the time we made these, and I suspect I wanted to try it out and see if it worked like it said it would. 

As it turns out, this batter ended up being more like crepes than pancakes, which makes me think I actually looked up a buckwheat pancake recipe, or maybe I just ran out of flour and didn't care to make more?  That's also my style.  Whatever the case, we ended up having a great time making the pancakes. The batter was really thin, and I let Ben make a few that he put decorative holes in by drizzling the batter all over the pan.  That, (of course) turned into alphabet pancakes, at which point we ran out of batter.  Luckily, all children got one with their first initial... Ah, it is all coming back now. :-) (this is what happens when you upload pictures to your blog from your phone and then forget about them and then come back to try to write the post more than a week later.... it's like stream of conscience blogging or something.) 

I made everyone their own letter pancake, but Sam waltzed into the kitchen, picked up his "S" without even noticing what it was, and ate half of it before I could even say, "stop! Look at the cool pancake I made for you!"  Only after he had eaten most of his did he notice Ellie with an E and Ben with a B and ask where was his S?  To which I replied, "You just ate it" To which he replied by wailing... <sigh>

It was then that we got out the kitchen scissors, and the creativity continued on the pancakes I had made into boring old fashioned circles-- Ben and I shaped them into some cool creations. (mostly letters)

We may have also dipped them in the leftover glaze from the glazed bananas I made for dessert the night before.  The glaze may have made some already delicious, slightly sweet nutty pancakes into pure awesomeness. 

Lentil Crackers ... my to do list

in the Hopeful Kitchen: Buckwheat, Seed & Lentil Crackers (Raw & Gluten-Free!)

Now that we are gluten free, I need to be on top of making snacks.  I found this recipe that looks great to try, but I haven't had a chance to make them yet.  I need to find some snacks that are easy to make, especially big quantities, so I can freeze them.  Gluten free snacks from the store are too expensive!

:-)

Will be posting soon on how our gluten free life is going this time around.  I will say it is much better than the last time we did this.  (I find it interesting that there is a cracker recipe in the post from two years ago!) I forgot about this cracker recipe and look forward to making it again.  I also recently made up some crackers that worked really well, and Chris and I even discussed if we could use it like a flatbread/ pizza crust. Of course I will have to post that another day.  :-)

Gluten free saturday morning breakfast

Gluten free brown rice pancakes
Two over easy eggs
Guacamole
Something distinctly GF about the pancakes I don't like... possibly the flour, but I was wondering could it be the xanthan gum?

A turn in our food journey...

We're going gluten free. 

 At least for awhile. The reason? 

 This girl. She has a rash all over her back that is itchy and never goes away. Several times a week she complains of a belly ache after meals. Sometimes she is so lethargic she just lays on the couch for an hour. 

 I've had this sinking feeling about it for awhile now. After some research, (it wasn't much, I think I only went to one website) it was pretty clear we at least have to try the GF thing. Itchy rash, belly ache and lethargy top the list for gluten allergy. 

 Luckily, she isn't afraid of veggies. She's eating her third helping of salad as I type this post!

Adding Gluten to Gluten Free Flours

Two things, "right off the bat"--
--this post is inspired by my lovely friend Ashley who is ironically both gluten and peanut free
--this post was supposed to be a 'morning musing' but that was days ago and now it is 9:45pm

The other day, I was making pancakes for breakfast.  My children officially eat so much that I have to make a triple batch to keep up with them.  It was already getting kind of late-- 7:45ish and we were just whipping up the batter.  I poured the milk and eggs and maple syrup and peanut butter (we were being creative that morning) and everything else to make my usual triple batch of pancakes into the bowl.  And then, I opened the bucket of flour. I immediately started improvising, because there was only just over two cups of flour and I needed a full three.  I could tell just by looking we were going to be short. I opened my cabinet to see what I was going to do.

I did not want to have to grind flour. I have been pretty good about sprouting it recently, but the thing is, I let the last batch go too long and then the little tails are too long to just grind up happily in my grinder-- first I have to put them in the food processor!   I did NOT want to have to go through three extra steps for less than a cup of flour.  Ok, well, I can use the rest of the corn meal.  That was about 1/3 cup. I needed at least another 1/3 cup to make these pancakes work.  Then I spied the millet flour I had made for Baby John.  Yes, it was perfect.  Just the right amount. I mixed up the batter and poured the first round.

Right away, I could tell these were not going to be my fluffy regular happy pancakes.  They needed some rise. This always happens when I substitute whacky flours in my pancakes.  What could I do? Then I thought of a conversation I had with my friend Ashely-- only days before.

"What does xanthan gum DO in gluten free baking, anyway?"
"It adds the rise so your cookies don't turn out all gross."
"huh."
(well, that was close to how it went down, anyway)

I thought, I used some gluten free flours, but I don't have any xanthan gum.... what can I do? add more flour? I wonder .... can I add gluten?!?

I added about 2 TBS gluten to my pancakes.  It mostly worked.  They were not so dense and wet after I added gluten as before I added it.

My conclusion?  Adding gluten to gluten free flours to help it rise works in a pinch.  For pancakes.  I have not tried this with other baking. So don't yell at me if you try it and it doesn't work.

My second conclusion? Must obtain xanthan gum for emergencies or gluten free friends.

Coconut Flour Pancakes

I whipped up these coconut flour pancakes the other morning for breakfast for John.  I was making pancakes for everyone else, and I felt badly for John because he did not have any finger food for breakfast.  He likes to eat with his own cute little chubby fingers these days.  :-)

The batch I made was very small, because I didn't want to use many eggs and also I knew I was just going to make a bunch a of cute small pancakes anyway.

I think they turned out really nice-- they didn't have that gritty texture that coconut flour can have if you don't use it right. I haven't been successful before 'flying by the seat of my pants' with coconut flour, so I was quite pleased with how these turned out.

John liked them a whole lot too, because he got to eat them with his own cute chubby little fingers. :-)

Coconut Flour Pancakes

2 TBS coconut flour
1 egg
1/2 tsp powder
sprinkle salt
sprinkle cinnamon
dash vanilla
1/4 cup water
2 TBS applesauce
1 tsp maple syrup

Mix all ingredients together. This batter is really thick. That is okay. I spooned one TBS into little pancakes and cooked them til they were quite browned on each side.

"Ice Cream"

K, so tonight I stumbled upon this blog with all these vegan recipes.  I was looking for a recipe for corn cake.  I don't know. I've never heard of corn cake before, but today, it sounded good to me and I wanted to see if it even existed.  Well, it does, and I am going to try it soon!

Anyway, on the top of the page was this amazing looking sorbet.  So I clicked on it and it looked so delicious.  I decided I wanted to try the blueberry banana recipe after dinner.  During dinner I presented this idea to Chris who made a face, and when I asked what was wrong with that idea, he said, "Well, first of all, there's the banana and the blueberry."  Ok, so the banana blueberry wasn't going to fly.  But I still wanted ice cream. 

After dinner, we were in the kitchen, and all the kids were asking when we were having ice cream (and I think Ellie was yelling something like, "NOW" in her sassiest voice), so I just started throwing things into the blender. 

Beet Blueberry Strawberry Sorbet
One small (fresh from the garden!) raw beet, shredded finely
Half cup of blueberries
One cup strawberries
About 1/3 cup maple syrup
3/4 cup coconut milk
Splash of lemon juice
Splash of rum or something (optional, keeps it softer after you put it in the freezer)

Put all ingredients in the blender.  Blend until desired consistency.  Taste for sweetness. Adjust if necessary. Eat right away, or put in ice cream freezer.  Then eat. 

It went over well.  There was none to put in the freezer.  There are lots of newly stained clothes in my house, though!  Enjoy!

Brownie experiment

Okay, so I wanted brownies for dessert today. Not brownies made out of dates, nuts and chocolate, but ones made with flour, sugar and chocolate.  I looked around for a recipe that suited me, and this is what happened.


Go here to see the original recipe.

Here is how my batch turned out.  I halved the recipe, so as to not have brownies hanging around my house all week. :-)

3/8 c. cocoa powder (1/4 c. + 2 TBS)
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 c. boiling water
2 TBS + 2 tsp coconut oil (you could use melted butter or vegetable oil)
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 c. sucanat (sugar, honey, maple syrup, etc)
2 TBS + 2 tsp coconut oil
2/3 c. rice flour (or wheat)
1/8 tsp salt

Mix cocoa powder and soda together.  Add boiling water and oil. Add egg, vanilla, sucanat, oil.  Mix in flour and salt until just combined.  Spread into greased 8x8.  Bake at 350* for 20 minutes.

I used rice flour in this recipe.  It was kind of an accident. I waited until after dinner to make these brownies, because I ran out of time during dinner preparations.  I was going to use the 'flour I had leftover from something I had made this weekend' that was still in my mill... but then I opened the mill to retrieve said flour, and alas, there was none!  I did NOT feel like grinding flour and taking all that extra time (seriously?!  what does it take, thirty seconds??!), but I DID have some left over rice flour from something-or-other sitting on my counter... and it was just enough!  So, I used it.

The result was crumbly, chocolatey, coconutty, brownies.  (You couldn't even tell I used HALF the amount of sugar called for in the original recipe!) The rice flour was definitely the cause of the crumbles.  Next time, if I have this rice-flour-only dilemma again, I might lessen the amount of flour by a bit (1/2 cup maybe?) and use half butter and half oil to try and increase richness.  But, I would not consider these to be fudgy by any stretch of the imagination.

They DID fill my brownie craving, and that's what counts at this point, right?

Vegetable Soup

Okay so I am posting this recipe today because of how I love that it comes together very quickly!  I love this recipe because it is so simple and easy!  I usually pull it out when there is an hour until dinner and I haven't the slightest clue what to serve!  I almost always have the ingredients on hand, so it's simple to throw together.

I cannot take any credit for this recipe, though!  Chris' Pap Pap told me how he makes his, and this is pretty much it.  If I am wrong (family who is reading this) please correct!  One thing that I learned is essential to this recipe is the cabbage.  The first time I made vegetable soup for Chris, it didn't have cabbage, and I definitely heard about how wrong that was!!

Pap Pap's Vegetable Soup
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 28oz can tomatoes
1-2 bay leaves
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, cut into bite sized pieces
1 cup frozen green beans (or fresh ones cut to 1")
1-2 cups frozen peas
1-2 cups frozen corn
1/4 head of cabbage, sliced thinly


Throw everything into the pot and let it simmer for one hour.  Okay, so other than the bay leaves, I literally hardly season this!  The tomatoes I use have basil in them and a significant amount of sodium, so it doesn't usually need salt.  I put maybe 20 grinds of black pepper in... and that's it.

It tastes so delicious!  My kids love it, and so does my husband.  It goes well with fresh bread or biscuits or a salad or nothing at all! If you don't have all the ingredients listed, just leave them out! Or substitute with another vegetable.  Enjoy!  :-)

Fruit Bars!

We made the most DELICIOUS BROWNIES (ahem,... I mean totally nutritious, healthy, filling fruit and nut bars) for an afternoon snack and dessert today!

These bars were inspired by my lovely friend, Monica (who also has a food blog-- check it out!). 

As I was making the recipe she sent me, I kept thinking, these are SO similar to the brownies I posted on this site! Well, I just had to modify them a bit-- to be more like brownies!  

They were 'scarfed' down readily by three hungry vultures and two adults. (And then the adults had two more after said vulture/children were in bed!)

Basically, it's a larabar, without the hefty price tag. The following recipe is based on the recipe Monica sent me. Here it is:

Chocolate Cherry Delight!
1 TBS coconut oil (or some other, light oil)
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup almonds
8 large dates (12- 16 smaller ones)
about 1/2 a bag of dried cherries (maybe 3oz?)
1/8 cup cocoa powder

Blend first three ingredients in food processor.  Add each additional ingredient one at a time, and blend until it's a fine, moist meal-like consistency. Press into 8x8 and chill until firm.  Or, scoop right out of the food processor with a spoon, and eat with a spoon. (Like we did this afternoon.) Taste will not be affected!  :-)

This made a thin bar.  I would probably 1 1/2 or double this recipe to make a nice, thick bar.

I'm sorry, I have no pictures of this bar!  Please accept my apology and enjoy this picture of a cutie pie instead!

Broccoli, Chicken and Rice Casserole

Here is a post that I started a couple of weeks ago and never completed!  I just rediscovered it, so I will try to recreate the dish for you.

I needed to make some dinner.  I had not many veggies left.  I had leftover rice. (At least, in my foggy brain mind, I think the rice was leftover.  Maybe I just whipped it up in my pressure cooker.)

I found two recipes (Chicken Divan and Broccoli Rice Casserole) in my handy-dandy Betty Crocker that I wanted to get married.  And become one. Forsake all others? Maybe we won't go that far.  It's only food after all, and I like broccoli in other things.  And rice, too.  Like, beans and rice. :-) And Broccoli Salad!


Recipe:
Two or three cups of cooked rice
A bunch of broccoli spears, cooked
leftover chicken (it may have actually been turkey) pulled out of the freezer (1-2 cups, shredded, cubed, diced, chopped, however you like it!)
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour (Could use some gluten free flour, like rice flour in this)
3 TBS mayonaise (I use Spectrum cage free egg and expeller pressed oil-- use veganaise to make this vegan!)
1/2 cup(ish?) milk (I used unsweetened coconut milk)
Garlic powder
Onion powder
1 TBS lemon juice
salt
pepper

Cook rice. Cook broccoli. Defrost and cut up chicken. Melt butter. Add flour.  Cook a bit, til it starts to brown and smell nutty. (Not nutty crazy, like me, but nutty like almonds or something!) Add the milk, mayo, garlic, onion, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Cook until thickened, season to taste. Put rice, broccoli and chicken in 9x13 pan.  Pour sauce over it.  Cook for 20-30 minutes in 350* oven. Grate Parmesan cheese over just before serving (or don't, if you are going to dairy-free/ vegan route). 

This turned out way better than expected, and the pan was gone!  It can be gluten free. And dairy free.  AND vegan.  With minor adjustments.  It's free of MSG, and condensed soups, which many casseroles like this usually call for.

Enjoy!

Zucchini Spaghetti with Cous Cous, White Beans and Creamy Garlic Sauce

Wow, that's a long name for a recipe!  Maybe I should call it.... "warm cous cous salad with garlic sauce, zucchini, and beans." hmm... still too long.  "warm cous cous salad with garlic sauce"?  How about, "Some stuff in a bowl for dinner?"

well, anyway, here's what I did.

Ben wanted zucchini spaghetti for dinner, but we just had regular spaghetti AND macaroni noodles with chili in the last two days.  I was red-sauced-out! Then I was trying to figure out what might complement the zucchini, and make it into a complete, filling meal.  Hmm, there was cous cous in the cabinet. That's easy to make, and super quick... I almost just left it at that, but then I decided, one more addition might be good.  I have beans cooked and frozen in 2 cup containers just for days like this!  I grabbed one out, and I had the meal put together. 

Now, what to top it with?  I thought of garlic cream sauce, because it would be like spaghetti-- Alfredo.  So I whipped up some of that:

4 cloves garlic
1/4 cup butter
2 cups milk (i used unsweetened coconut)
salt
pepper
kelp powder (We've been using this to get iodine in our diet since we don't use iodized salt)
basil
thyme
oregano
arrowroot powder (maybe 1 TBS or less) (can also use cornstarch, if you're wondering what arrowroot powder is, or just don't have any.  It's a thickener.)

I cooked the garlic for less than a minute in the butter, stirred in everything else, brought it to a boil to thicken.  Ta-da!  Garlic Cream Sauce.  (And that sounds so fancy! At least, in my mind it does.)

Okay, so this is what I thought this dish would be: kind of reminicent of a summer salad, with a light coating of sauce, but all ingredients would be kind of separated-- think pasta salad.

This is how the dish actually ended up: Almost like cous cous garlic soup. It was mushy, which I wasn't thrilled with, but it tasted delicious. The kids didn't like it, though.  So, there is that consideration.  Chris and I enjoyed it.  But, we did NOT enjoy the cranky hungry kids we had later in the evening.  :-) I think, if I make this again, I will try less sauce.  Maybe a different grain might work better.  I don't know.  What are your thoughts?

How would you improve this recipe?

Homemade Sauerkraut and Papaya Sorbet

Chris made homemade sauerkraut two weeks ago, and this past weekend it was ready for tasting!  It was a little mild, so we are going to let it ferment awhile longer, but boy was it good!  So we celebrated by buying hot dogs (a real treat for us, as we only buy Nature's Promise ones with no nitrates or nitrites) to eat with our sauerkraut!  It was so delicious!

Also I have a quick new recipe to share that I made up because my kids did not want to eat the last half of the papaya we had and it was going to go bad!

Papaya Sorbet
Half of a papaya, cut into chunks
1/2 cup or so of almond milk (any milk will do!)
2 TBS maple syrup (or honey, agave)
1 TBS hemp seeds (optional)
1/4 tsp almond extract (or vanilla)

Put everything in a blender and blend until smooth.  Add more milk if you want it thinner.  Now, you could pour it in a glass and enjoy!  Or, I filled my muffin pan up with the smoothie and put it into the freezer.  When they are frozen, I will pop them out of the pan and put them in a bag, waiting for some day when I want to pull a quick, delicious snack out of the freezer. For my kids. Or myself!

Chili

Chili.

There are so many different versions!  Here's my version, which I use most frequently.  But, it's never the same!  I am always adding new weird things (like I did tonight), or too much cumin (I did this tonight, too!) or SOMEthing. 

Chili a la Janet
3 cups dried beans
5 1/2 cups water
3 green peppers
1 or 2 onions
4+ cloves garlic
(today I did 2 shredded carrots and 1/2 head cauliflower)
28oz can crushed tomatoes
2+ tsp salt
pepper
1 TBS cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp paprika
2 tsp chili powder
(2 tsp kelp powder-- adds a little salt and nutrition, totally optional!  I only use it because I have it)

Soak beans. Cook beans, peppers, onions, garlic, other veggies in a pot for 2-3 hours on the stove or 8-10 hours in the crock pot.  Add the tomatoes and the spices after the beans have cooked. Adjust spices to your liking.  Sometimes I brown 1 lb. stew meat and put it in with the beans, or sometimes 1 lb ground beef.

We used to put all kinds of stuff on/in our chili-- macaroni noodles mixed with chili with a healthy dose of cheese, sour cream and hot sauce on top is my favorite way to eat it!  But, since we have cut back on dairy, we haven't had cheese or sour cream in the house.  And since I stopped buying white flour noodles, I haven't had macaroni in the house, either.  I still enjoy a great bowl of chili with hot sauce.  Especially on a cold, rainy day like today.

Do you  make chili?  What do YOU like in your chili?  Do you use toppings?

Beet and Parsnip Quinoa

Cool new recipe for you!  I developed this as a quick side to go with our first grilled steaks of the season.  MMM.

I used black quinoa in this recipe because I saw it at the store and wanted to try it.  But, you can use whatever kind you like.  And, in fact, I didn't really like the black quinoa because it is a bit crunchy-ish, even after it is fully cooked.  Kind of like steel cut oats never quite get all the way soft... My kids didn't care for the texture.  But the overall dish ended up quite good, in my (and Chris'!) opinion.  (I always get excited when Chris likes something new I just made up!)

Beet and Parsnip Quinoa
One Beet, diced into half inch cubes (with the skin taken off first)
One parsnip, skin off, diced into half inch pieces
One cup Quinoa
Half an onion, diced
One or two cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
3-4 cups water

Over medium high heat, cook the onion, beets and parsnips in olive oil, about 5-7 minutes until they start to get soft.  Add the garlic, and cook for 30 seconds to a minute (Don't burn the garlic). Add the quinoa and water.  Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer 15-30 minutes until the quinoa is cooked and the water is absorbed. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

When I made this, it simmered for a good 30 minutes.  The beets were just barely soft-- not crunchy, were still firm.  I really liked them that way.  If you want them more cooked, just simmer longer, adding a bit of water as necessary.  One note, though is that the black quinoa did not get mushy as it simmered longer.  White and red will get mushy if they cook too long, so consider starting the beets earlier than everything else if using white or red and you want really soft beets.

Enjoy!

Getting Green with Food

My attempt at green food for St. Patty's Day. What did you do to celebrate?

Green Mashed Potatoes
Six potatoes, diced and cooked
1/4 cup butter
1/4-1/2 cup milk(whatever kind you have on hand.  I used unsweetened coconut milk)
A big handful of spinach, blanched and pureed

Add all ingredients, and mash with a masher.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

We love mashed potatoes at our house, and I add spinach to everything.  So this was a perfect fit for our house.  I paired it with leftover grilled steak and homemade sauerkraut (Post about that coming up soon!)

Shamrock Shake, the healthy way!
Leftover spinach puree from recipe above (or about 1/4 cup)
A couple of scoops of your favorite vanilla ice cream
A splash of mint extract (careful-- a little goes a long way!)

Blend ingredients. Feed some to small children.  Save most of it for the adults!

Our Food Journey Part VI

Finally!  We get to this year!  If you haven't read the rest of our journey, catch up here.

This year we have seen so many really drastic changes to our diet. 

It started with the boys' ears being so clogged from colds, etc, that we mostly cut out dairy.  Not completely, but mostly.  I started buying almond milk, rice milk and coconut milk (mostly for Ellie) instead of our fresh, raw milk.  And I stopped buying cheese, which is a favorite food in our house.  At first I wondered how in the world our lives were even going to go on or exist at all without dairy.  But you know what?  They did.  And I learned/ am learning dairy alternatives every day!

Next, Chris wanted to avoid all sugar, wheat, and gluten.  I wasn't exactly on board with that one right away.  How am I supposed to feed my family anything when we aren't eating dairy, sugar, wheat, or gluten. I really resisted this change to our diet.  I knew that Chris was going to be more strict with it than the kids or I could ever be.  I did finally have a heart change and chose to submit to my husband.  Even in the realm of food it is so important to submit to our husbands, if we are to be truly a picture of the church submitting to Christ. But, I digress from the topic of food... :-) Anyway, once I finally did choose to submit my will to Chris', you know what? God blessed it.  I had a HUGE burst of creativity in the kitchen!  We had all kinds of amazing food that week!  I even came up with the sesame cracker recipe that I'll share below. 

ANOTHER change we have made here in the Good household since the beginning of the year:  eating more raw food.  My mother-in-law got the book The Live Food Factor: The Comprehensive Guide to the Ultimate Diet for Body, Mind, Spirit & Planet for Christmas.  I was immediately interested in these crazy people who were insane enough to eat ONLY RAW FOOD.  Chris and I knew right away that we needed to be incorporating more raw foods-- at the very least more vegetables-- into our diets pronto. I have been learning so much about raw food and the benefits of eating raw, but also the benefits of cooking certain foods.  We are still working towards a balance in our house on this one.  It's tricky working with little ones-- finding things to eat raw that are beneficial for and also realistic for our children.  We also got another book on the topic, Becoming Raw: The Essential Guide to Raw Vegan Diets, which has helped a great deal in figuring out what is best for our family.  There are also a bunch of great recipes/menu plans! One last book I should mention on this topic is Breaking Free: Truths for Healthy Living.  This book also has a great, balanced approach with a lot of really helpful recipes, some of which I even tried out these last two weeks! It has a great chapter on feeding our children as well. 


Okay, so as if all these major changes were not enough, there is one more.  I have spoken about soaking grains a little bit on this site before.  My heart right now is to really prepare all my grains, legumes, beans having soaked or sprouted them first.  This breaks down the phytic acid in the bran of the grain, unlocking many nutrients that are inhibited by the presence of phytic acid in digestion.  I haven't done this much yet.  I would like to experiment with sprouting wheat (and then dehydrating it before grinding it into flour) instead of soaking it, to see if that is a better option.  This last soaking part of our journey is going to be a real learning curve.  I don't know too much about what I'm talking about... YET!  I intend to find out as I go and I will  clue you in to my findings as well.  So far, the best site I have found with information on soaking is KitchenStewardship.com. Katie has done extensive research over the past year-- comparing soaking methods and sprouting, interviewing all kinds of experts on this topic.  If you are interested to know more, go here. 


Whew!  Glad to get that all down for you folks to read!  I hope our journey from simply giving up soda to a dairy/gluten limited, low sugar, more vegetable laden, soaked grains diet will inspire you to go out and take that first step in your life!


And finally the recipe I promised: 


Sesame Rice Crackers (Dairy free, gluten free, vegan)
3 TBS oil or palm shortening (Oil can be coconut, vegetable, light olive oil, or any other mild flavored oil)
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1 1/2 cups rice flour (I have also used a rice/millet mix)
2 cloves garlic, crushed or pressed
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp tumeric
1/8 tsp paprika
2/3 cup water


Combine the oil, sesame seeds, rice flour, garlic, salt, tumeric and paprika. The result will be almost like a pie crust before you add the water-- crumbly, but moist.  Stir in the water. Turn the dough out onto a cookie sheet. Press it out until it is a relatively even layer on the sheet.  I like to use some plastic wrap on top of the dough, so my hands don't get really messy.  Score the crackers (a pizza cutter works really well!) into whatever shape you like.  Ben likes sticks, but Chris likes crackers, so I usually make a combination.  Bake at 250* for an hour or so.  Check after 40 minutes to see if they are done.  They should be crispy, but not brown.  Because of the turmeric, these crackers will be yellow.  Last, a note about oil vs. shortening: The crackers were more... oily (for obvious reasons!) and dense but less likely to fall apart when made with oil and were kind of flaky (reminiscent of pie crust) when made with shortening.   


Enjoy!  These usually don't even get 'put away' at our house-- everyone just snacks on them right off the cookie sheet until they are gone!