Chick-zza! Your GAPS legal pizza for your picky eaters

This is by far my most popular dish with the kids on the GAPS diet. I could call it Chick-zza I guess. In later stages, I can probably add cheese, but now we don't get to eat that.

It has been about 17 days now since we started GAPS and it feels like I've been doing it forever. I really can't wait for the intro to be over with. I'm not even following it exactly, because I don't have avocados readily available. And the other thing that is a bit ridiculous is introducing squash pancakes, with the advice "Start with one a day, and watch for reactions". I want to know which iron-willed mother can manage to feed her kids soup, broth, and veggies for two weeks, and then give them a pancake. One pancake. I'm not that mom. I think Micah had eight pancakes the first time I made them. And was I supposed to then just freeze the whole batch? Anyway, I'm growing impatient with the intro diet. I understand it's purpose, but I really wish I had started it during vacation, because now I can't tell for sure what my kids are reacting to...the new school environment, or the food. Also, I am impatient to just move on and make different foods. I think we're eating too much meat. I can't wait to include salads. I want to have a greater variety of foods, which the intro doesn't really afford.

So my picky eaters at the end of the day are still picky. They are now eating broth without complaints, and in fact, I have difficulties keeping up with the supply, but they're still not eating vegetables unless I disguise them in some way. I'm torn between bribing them to eat, or just following the parenting rule: set the standard and don't engage in arguments. I just read on this website about picky eaters, that if you want to get your kids to eat all foods, just make what you want them to eat, and if they don't, they can choose the consequence, which is feeling hungry. You can explain to them in a loving way that they can either feel full, or they can be hungry, and then you are to not ever engage in any arguments. It's easier said then done, but I like the idea of no meal time terror.

I have to admit though that it is a tremendous amount of cooking, peeling, preparing. I wish I could just go to the store and buy everything ready made, but without all the E's and the sugar in it. I'm also struggling with living in the Netherlands right now. So many things are readily available in the States. The US is a very internet-oriented market. You can find anything online. The Netherlands is certainly better than Switzerland when it comes to online shopping, but it's still not like the US. So many things that I could get there, I can't have them here without crazy shipping costs, or they don't even export them. It's not that they don't have organic everything here, it's just that it's harder to find. Also, I'm very busy at the moment now because the publishing company that I work for publishes their annual Equestrian yearbook in October, and so I have to go in to work every day, and work evenings. At the same time, I have to cook for about 3-5 hours a day, start up the Son-Rise program for Ezra, find and interview workers, and try to spend some quality time with the kids.

To be honest I thought they would be less obsessed with food now that they're off carbs, but just the opposite is true. Instead of coming home and playing, they trail me around the kitchen asking me every two seconds what's for dinner, can I have a snack, I want this, I want that. That's why I'm happy to let them eat at school. Their teachers even report that they eat everything I pack for them. Ha! Today the mom that stays at school when they eat lunch even told me that they had to laugh at the amount of food I pack for Micah. Apparently all the other kids get two slices of bread and one slice of meat for lunch, and that's it. But Micah is eating it all. I do know that no matter how much they complain about being hungry or wanting snacks, they are getting a ton of calories, and about 150% more nutrients than before. Still, not gonna lie, I don't care for the cooking and the planning. Anyway, that said, this recipe takes about 4 minutes to prepare, and the kids love it, so I like that.

Recipe Chick-zza:

The crust is made out of ground up chicken, cauliflower, salt, and onions. Interestingly enough it doesn't taste like any of those ingredients. If you want to recreate this: just take a dinner plate. 1/2 of the plate should be chicken, 1/4 onions, and 1/4 cauliflower. You can use any vegetable you like, but cauliflower gives it the right consistency and color to fake a pizza look. For the tomato sauce I just blended up canned organic tomatoes, fresh basil, salt and two cloves of garlic. Decorate with anything you feel belongs on a pizza and is GAPS legal. Put in the oven for about 15-20 minutes. Done.

Yummy Gluten, Casein, Egg, and Nut free "Conference" Waffles

What, another food post? What the heck is up with that? I thought you're not into food blogging?

And I'm not. Let's face it. Life has been pretty challenging lately (and what's up with that, by the way? I thought there were seasons of rest planned into the whole trials thing. Just saying, I'm about ready here!)
Having a special needs child, and two children with lots of food intolerances can be frustrating, aggravating, inconvenient, and expensive. I don't really enjoy reading rants though, unless they are super witty.  And honestly, everyone has to go through some tough times! The refining of character isn't measured by how many trials we endure, but how we endure them.  I for one get lots of opportunities to practice patience, and choosing happiness. I guess I really needed to learn some things.
Anyway, this is why food blogs have increased lately, because it is a way for me to share a positive outcome of my 'faith-promoting' opportunities. If nothing else my kids' food issues definitely give me opportunity to experiment in the kitchen.

So here it is. My super yummy Conference* waffles recipe.  
Disclaimer: are these anything like the real waffles from Belgium? Well, sweet cheeks, I actually lived in Brussels for a while, and enjoyed many a piping hot belge waffle straight off the press, and no!, nothing is like a real belge waffle. And those horrible, dry, pancake-battery tasting things they try to pass off as belge waffles in the US, are definitely NOTHING like the real Belge waffles. In my baking experience nothing makes up for one pound of butter, white flour, and sugar. But, you know, a yummy, sweet, moist, waffle is still better than no waffle at all when you're allowed to eat basically nothing. Oh and by the way, any waffle tastes better when fresh off the press. Even if you eat them the same day, it's just not as good as piping hot.

"CONFERENCE" WAFFLES

This recipe makes about 30 waffles. You can just half it, but if your family is anything like mine, 10 waffles are not enough for a meal.

Wet Ingredients:

2 bananas
5 tbsp apple sauce
4 tbsp honey                                      Put all wet ingredients in the blender and blend on high.
3 cups rice milk
4 tbsp oil


Dry Ingredients:

2 cups sorghum flour (also known as Juvar, which you can find in Indian markets)
1.5 cups rice flour
1/2 cup corn starch (or arrow root powder, or potato starch)
2 tsp xantham gum
2 1/2  tbsp baking powder (yes, you read it right, table spoons)
2 tsp salt
1 cup of secret ingredient**

In a separate bowl whisk these dry ingredients together and then add wet ingredients. Mix well.

 Put two table spoons of batter into your waffle iron. Depends of course how big it is. Cook until the waffle stays firm when the lid is lifted. You'll have to figure out for yourself how long it is.

In my experience it is easier to wait until the waffle is an amber color. 

 

Things I've learned along the way:

• if you lift the lid too early the waffle will tear, but you can just put it back down, and it will still work. 
• light brown waffles are harder to get out than a dark amber colored waffle
• 2 tbsp of batter is really enough to make the waffle

*I call them conference waffles because the first time I made them was General Conference weekend. I bought a waffle maker the day before and experimented with this recipe. It turned out well on the first try. I spread out a blanket in front of the TV and gave my kids waffles for dinner, and for breakfast while they were listening to conference. This is a tradition I hope will last.


** The secret ingredient: this is it. Pearled sugar. Not sure that you can get it in the US. I highly doubt it. It's just sugar in lumps that caramelize on the surface, but stay crunchy in the batter.

Sweet Potato Corn Bread GFCF, and egg free

Curiosity has it's price. I should have remembered the movie The Matrix before having my kids blood tested for food intolerances. Why, oh why, didn't I just take the blue pill? Now I know. It's too late.
 I suppose I could ignore all the results by just continuing to give them the food they want to eat, but my conscience would haunt me even in my sleep. Not kidding by the way.
So on top of food preservatives, colorings, Gluten and Casein, which upon seeing it listed amongst their intolerances I uttered a satisfied "ha, I knew it", I can now add eggs and nuts to the Do-Not-Eat list. Ezra can also not eat most acidic fruits (like lemon, orange, melons, kiwi, apricots, etc). Surprisingly the boys are also very intolerant to oats, coconuts, garlic, flaxseed, sesame, and coffee. Pretty random. I thought, well at least that leaves some baked goods and fries, but Ezra can't have vanilla bean, and Micah can't have white potatoes. Ugh. Blue pill! I should have taken the blue pill!

Now I feel the responsibility to respect those intolerances and come up with new food they can and WANT to eat. It would all be very simple if I could just feed them meat and vegetables. In fact, that would be awesome, because it would help my persistent lbs melt away too. Instead of cooking three different types of foods for Aaron, kids, and myself I could just make the same thing for everyone, and we would all be slender and healthy! However, my picky little friends eat no veggies, and Ezra despises most forms of meat except the unhealthy ones like Hot Dogs and bacon. He's not yet stopped throwing unwanted food across the table or screaming at his salad bowl, so I'm not really keen on introducing him to all chicken and meatloaf.

Tonight, I browsed through some recipes and found one that was quite tasty. I substituted some flours, because I didn't have enough corn on hand and it came out very moist, and yummy.

Sweet Potato Corn Squares


Ingredients

1        cup   yellow corn meal
1/2     cup   rice flour
1/2     cup   sorghum flour
2        tsp    baking powder
1        tsp    xantham gum
1        tsp   salt
1        cup  mashed sweet potatoes
1                egg  (I used Egg Replacer)
1         cup  rice milk
1/3      cup white sugar and molasses (1/3 cup total, I just filled the measuring cup with half molasses,  half sugar)
2         tbsp  sunflower oil


1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Mix dry ingredients
3. Mix wet ingredients until well blended
4. Mix them all together and either put in muffin cups or a square cake tin sprayed with PAM
5. Bake for about 30 min or until firm
6. Cut into squares and serve with butter/jam, or even soup or savory meal

Totally awesome Cinnamon Roll Recipe for Gluten and Casein Free Families

My mom makes the absolute best cinnamon rolls. I hate and love when she makes them, because there is nothing more delicious, and nothing worse for me than to have to deny my kids the same yummy treat that I love to eat. And besides, enjoying the company with the treat, is have to fun of having it. I've been looking for a GFCF recipe that would mirror my moms fluffy, white flour, butter soaked cinnamon rolls.
A few days ago I came across a GFCF pizza dough recipe, and thought to myself, if I tweak it might make a decent cinnamon roll. It worked on the first try.
I'm not gonna lie, and pretend that these are just as good, and exactly like the ones made with flour and butter. I secretly always laugh at the food bloggers, who claim that it tastes just as good or better than "the real deal". I kind of assume it's been too long for them to remember what flour and butter taste like. However, what I will say about these rolls is that they are delicious, they are soft, fluffy, and they don't have that weird GFCF aftertaste. If your kids (and you) are GFCF you have nothing to lose in trying them. If you don't have these handicaps, you'll still enjoy them, if you happen to be offered some. And hey, my kids can have them, and I can have one of my favorite treats and share it with them. I still have no ambitions of becoming a food blogger, and so have not yet gotten into the habit of taking pictures. I will make them again and hopefully take some decent pictures.

Vanessa's GFCF Cinnamon Rolls

Proof the yeast:

1 1/4 cup warm water
1 tsp white sugar (or any other sweetener you want, of course the taste will alter)
1 tbsp dry yeast

Let stand and make sure it foams, while you mix the dry ingredients.






In a large mixing bowl first sieve, and then stir together these dry ingredients:

Dry ingredients:
3/4 cup  tapioca flour
1/4 cup  corn starch  (or arrow root powder, or potato starch)
1/2 cup almond flour (or substitute with either sorghum or white rice flour if you're allergic)
1/2 cup millet flour
1 cup sorghum flour (also called Juvar flour in Indian markets)
1 cup white rice flour
1 tsp  salt
2 tsp xanthan gum
1/3 cup white sugar  (experiment with other sweeteners if you don't use sugar. If it's fluid, you might want to add more flour though)
3 tsp baking powder
1 grated lemon zest (optional)














Fluid ingredients:
1/4 cup sunflower oil (or any good oil with no flavor)
1 egg beaten
1/4 tsp rice vinegar

Filling:
1/2 cup sugar
oil to brush
cinnamon
raisins (optional)

1. Mix all ingredients together, using dough hooks on your hand mixer. Mix about 5 minutes until the dough is smooth. It will be sticky, but still firm enough so it doesn't stick to your hands too much.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Take a piece of parchment paper and spray with Pam. 
3. Pat down the dough onto the paper to form a large rectangle.
4. Brush the whole surface with oil (or butter if you have no issue with casein). 
5. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon, whatever is your preference. If you like you can also grate another lemon peel on top of the roll, and then add raisins. Personally I think everything tastes better with raisins.
   
   
   
6. Grasping the corners of the long side of the parchment paper, gently roll the dough over, until it's all rolled up.
   
   
   
7. Cut into about 3 inch rolls.
8. Spray a round cake pan with Pam, and arrange the rolls in them.
   

   

   By the way, I didn't have enough dough to fill the pan, otherwise there would be a nice big roll in the middle here.

   
   

   
   
9. Let rise only once in a warm environment (I put them at 40 Celsius in our oven for 40 minutes).
   
   
10. Bake them at 180 Celsius (350 degrees fahrenheit) for about 40 minutes. 

The baking time will vary greatly depending on your oven. Just test it by hand. If you push on it, it should firm, and a bit browned on top, neither squishy on the bottom, nor too hard.
Pour over your favorite icing. Personally I enjoy them just plain, or with a lemon juice & powder sugar glaze, but I know there are some cream cheese icing lovers out there, so go for it.

If you do end up trying them, and find some better versions feel free to comment.

This dough can make either pizza crust or cinnamon roll. For the pizza crust I just omitted so much sugar. Then I divided the dough and added sugar to the rest of it for the cinnamon rolls.

Delicious Creme Anglaise - Gluten, Casein Free

I'm so not a food blogger and I don't really aspire to be either. There are too many other people who do that, and do it well. So I don't have lovely pictures to show for this recipe. But it turned out so yummy I thought I'd post it anyway.
I've been wanting to make a nice vanilla cream (or Creme Anglaise) that I could use in my Gluten Free Trifle, and today I found it. (I'll post the trifle recipe later). I just want to be able to celebrate holidays eating the deserts I love, without having to tell my kids: um, sorry, you can't eat this, or the alternative which is making two of every kind. I like food to be delicious, even if it doesn't contain Gluten or Casein. I can't stand recipes that claim they taste just like the "real thing" and then instead of having a yummy, gooey cookie melt on your tongue, you bite into a gluten free, chocolate free/carob substituted wannabe cookie that leaves your mouth feeling like you were just caught in a moldy sandstorm.

This recipe works (although admittedly I use approximates with the sugar, starch, and vanilla). It's delicious. I like having custard with fruit, because fruit is easy, available, quickly cooked, and makes a yummy dessert.

Here it is:


2 cups almond milk (I have tried it with coconut milk, but the coconut flavor was too strong for my taste)
4 egg yolks
2 tsps vanilla essence
1/3 cup white sugar
1/4 corn starch

1. Warm the almond milk to hot, but not boiling.
2. In  a separate bowl beat the eggs with the sugar. Either warm the metal bowl on a stove (being careful to make it warm to the touch, not burning hot) or for even better results put the bowl in hot water and mix it up with a hand mixer until the  sugar dissolves and the eggs are frothy, thick and pale yellow.
3. Pour the hot milk into the eggs while continuing to use the hand mixer, and then pour the eggs into the pot. Don't try to do it in reverse (i.e. pour eggs into the milk). 
4. Continuously stir on the stove. You have to stir. 
5. Dissolve cornstarch in a bit of water or almond milk, and add to the mixture. 
6. Key is to keep stirring, keeping it at a low temperature so it goes to almost boiling, but doesn't. 

That makes for a creamy sauce that isn't too thick. Enjoy with some steamed fruit, pour over crumble, or use in a trifle recipe.

Delicious Turkey Salad

Another surprising taste jackpot, that came together unintentionally. I made it because the ingredients are approved on my diet, but it is so tasty, I might consider it for a starter salad in a holiday dinner (or just a light lunch, although if I was serving this to company I would add oil) . This serving size makes one portion.

20 g fresh spinach leaves
1 ripe tomato cubed
100g turkey breast, sliced thin and rolled up
150 grams thinly sliced, sweet, firm apple
fresh parsley and basil

Dressing:
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
Stevia to sweeten
2 tsp white balsamic vinegar

Toss and serve. This delicious salad has only 214 calories (31 carbs, 2 grams fat, 19 grams protein)

OK, so I wrote this recipe down and planned to post it last night, but happened to watch Julie and Julia first. Not so sure I want to post it anymore, after watching all that delicious french food with white flour, butter and cheese. This recipe seems pathetically healthy. I'll guess I'll post it anyways just in case you would like to eat lots of delicious fattening foods, but have done so for too long and have to come up with tasty food that doesn't make you fat.

THE PERFECT SPINACH WRAP

Every once in a while ingredients out of my tiny, crowded fridge produce something so delicious I have to share it.

Here it is. I will presumptuously call it, THE PERFECT SPINACH WRAP!

Take a spinach wrap, spread some home made slightly spicy roasted red pepper hummus on it, layer it with a leaf of butter lettuce, finely grated carrots, and corn. Add a dash of home made special tomato french dressing (which is red and slightly sweet), and then put on some spicy chicken shwarma meat. The combination of sweet, spicy, soft and crunchy was just delectable.

I wish I would have taken some pictures, but it actually didn't roll up well because I used small spinach wraps, so it wouldn't have looked as amazing as it tasted.

Recipe for the Crumble

As requested here is my crumble recipe.

1. butter a baking or pie dish
2. fill 2/3 to 3/4 full with fresh fruit of the season. Canned fruit works too, but nothing compares to fresh blueberries. I usually put in two types of fruit. In the one in the picture I put in blue berries and thinly sliced, peeled apples.
   
3. Sprinkle lightly with lemon zest and sugar. You don't really need the sugar if the fruit is really sweet and in season. I usually also dust the fruit with a thin layer of flour.
   

Then add the crumble mixture on top. I have two ways of making it. The one on the picture that I posted on my previous blog insert is the one with the crispy, hard outside and gooey inside. The other one remains more like a streusel.

Ingredients for crispy outside:

2 cups flour, 2 cups sugar, 2 tsps baking powder, 2 beaten eggs, lemon zest. Rub between your fingers to make streusel. Then melt butter and pour evenly over the mixture once it is covering the fruit.

Ingredients for softer streusel:

Equal measures of sugar and flour, and add some freshly grated lemon zest. Add butter to make streusel. I don't ever measure how much butter I put in, but I'm guessing if you put a cup each of flour and sugar, it's about 8 tbsp of butter. I just check for the consistency of the streusel. It should be forming nice little round clots, throughout, not too greasy, not too dry.

Bake at 350 fahrenheit or 180 celsius for about one hour. You can start checking after 45 minutes. This tastes especially good if you serve it with some vanilla pudding when it's cooled down, or vanilla/caramel/or cinnamon ice cream, depending on which fruit you put in.

Some tips:
If you're using berries, you really should dust with flour. Especially blueberries tend to expand. The ratio between streusel and fruit is up to you, but be aware that more fruit than streusel will cause the fruit juices to bubble up around the streusel -especially if you used the soft streusel recipe, which I prefer, by the way. It tastes just fine, even if it bubbles. However don't fill the dish too high with fruit or you'll have a huge mess in your oven.

Also, here is my real secret which I will share with you. Lemon zest seems to bring out the natural flavor of most fruits, but you can't really substitute with dried lemon zest that you can get in little bottles here in Europe. When you zest the lemon hold it over the ingredients. By grating the lemons right over the ingredients the very potent essential oils are sprayed finally on the ingredients, and that is what gives it such an amazing taste.

Enjoy.