Green Day

Doughnuts Donuts

100% Whole wheat flour doughnuts

There is one doughnut I know of we can eat. It's a gluten free doughnut in the freezer section at our local natural foods market, and it's pricey. So, we make our own, and it's much nicer to have a fresh one from the fryer. All other doughnuts seem to be loaded with milk, soy, and nuts are everywhere in a bakery.

With all of our food restrictions we try not to worry about fats, and less about sugar. I do use organic sugars, and syrups and healthy fat oils however. We like Rice oil for frying.

Recipe:
Again, I don't follow one directly. I often google recipes, and for this doughnut I used the a yeast risen dough. I also like a "cake doughnut" recipe, putting to use all of our substitutions. They are quite good with fresh grated nutmeg in them. Whenever a recipe calls for shortening I replace it with oil and applesauce. Something about that combination is perfect for making this moist and delicious.

Because I don't stick to a recipe, sometimes the donuts aren't perfect, but anything deep fried with a sugar glaze is still pretty good!

Mix powdered sugar with water, or milk, and a touch of oil, vanilla and food coloring optional, to glaze the donuts out of the fryer. I've used beet juice to color frosting's before because I was worried about a reaction. I hope to find some natural food coloring that don't change the flavor, because the beet juice was a little overpowering (although the kids didn't notice).

These things are gone faster than you could imagine, and I can feel good about my kids eating them--that can't be said about most doughnuts!

Our Pizza

dairy and soy free pizza

You just have to pizza to survive, right? My kids love it, I love it, and even my dairy loving husband loves it.

The crust:

I use a standard pizza crust recipe, and use my milk alternatives and olive oil. I don't usually measure, just add a cup or two of flour, proofed yeast, a splash of "milk" and olive oil and kneed in my stand-up mixer. I let it double then spread it out on a floured pizza pan. Sometimes I add garlic to the bread, but not when I split the dough in half and make doughnuts with the other half, yum. I haven't found a pre-made crust we can eat. I know there is a dairy-free one in the pizza topping isle, but it does contain soy.

Toppings:

crushed tomatoes with Italian seasoning OR jarred marinara sauce (be careful for allergens here)
-spread the tomato then drizzle with olive oil
caramelized onions (brown on low for 7 mn or so)
diced green peppers
olives
sausage
artichoke hearts
onions
-drizzle with more olive oil and salt and pepper to taste
*on this pizza we tried goat cheese, which our son picked off, but the rest of us enjoyed with mild reaction to it. Next time I won't try it. We just have to keep trying new foods in hopes there isn't a reaction this time.

Put the pizza in a HOT oven, 475 degrees or more. I like a pizza stone for a crispier crust, but the kids like a more bready crust. Cook 12 mn

This pizza doesn't last long, and we serve it with organic soda so we really feel spoiled.

I've also mixed nutritional yeast flakes in water, added some salt and garlic, and dotted the pizza with it. The nutritional yeast has a very cheese like flavor. And lately we have found a great cheese subtitute the whole family loves. Check out Mayfare Food Products out of Bozeman, MT. It is made by parents with allergic kids :) http://www.wayfarefoods.com/ I found it at Huckleberry's Market. ENJOY!

Nuts and Bolts

Here's some of the things that keep us together day to day; the groceries, the quick recipes, the standards.

Where I shop

I shop at least twice a week, perhaps more especially if you count the farmers market. I run around to pretty much every grocery store in the area, really. Here's the best of what I've found ranked by preference

Huckleberry's: you really can't beat their sales on the wide variety of grocery items with allergies, organic, and overall ethical sources in mind. We spend some denero there for sure.

Independent farms: I've found since switching to homemade rather than processed this is obviously where the bulk of our food comes from. From eggs, to chicken, to beef and local veggies we love to support our GMO free farmers. These good srouces have taken time to research.

Pilgrim's Cd'A: This is the first place we discovered Hemp milk in the stores, so we are so grateful to them. They also have a good selection, but not quite as big as Huckleberries. I do shop there often and LOVE the customer service.

Main Market, Spokane Public Market, and Fresh Abundance: I love everything about these stores, but it's hard finanically when you're feeding a family of 5 to shop at these speciality organic stores when I know I can get things less expensive at Fred Meyer. I do support local, where I can. Plus, these are a drive for me.

Grocery Outlets, Bargain centers: Nothing like finding a good deal on organics for cheap. I scour the places and buy all that I can because they won't have the item around long. These include Grocery Outlet, Big Lots, Toys R Us (not bargain, but they have snack items you won't find anywhere else) and TJ Max (yup, they get organic oils, and organic convenience items in).

Chain stores: Safeway has "O" Organics, Albertson's has Wild Harvest Organics, and most Western Family stores have "Natural Direction" Organics. If I go around to all the different stores (preferably without the kids) I quickly scan for sales or good organic foods. It helps us have more variety. And Fred Meyer has an excellent, although small, natural food selection.

Costco: They have some great prices, but not very many organic items. I do try to steer clear of them though, because their company is hand in hand with the largest corporations pushing genetic modification in our food. For instance their "chocolate cake" like many other foods you buy is nearly all corn and soy based (Check Harmful Food Additives .COM)

I would love to grow our own produce, but have not had much luck there, unless you count a million radishes. I am trying to set up an organic garden, so perhaps next year we'll be ready?

When we're out of town I hit their stores too. I wish we have a Trader Joes and Whole Foods. Wish.

Staples

Breakfast might pancakes, waffles, french toast, oatmeal cereal, eggs, or muffins. Most often pancakes with real maple syrup.

Sweet Potato Piecakes

1 1/2 C whole wheat flour

1 egg

2 T oil

1 small jar sweet potatos

1 t baking powder

1 t apple cider vinegar (substitute for buttermilk flavor)

dash salt

"pumpkin pie spice"

1 C milk alternative or enough for right consistancy

Sometimes I use white flour, but then I add more "good stuff" like flaxseed meal, fruit, more hidden veggies, or protein powder (we use rice protien powder).

BREAD:

Rudi's Organic, any viriaty is the best bread we've found. I tried to make my own, but as much bread as we go through I'd never leave the kitchen, and mine doesn't always turn out!

Lunch: Sandwiches of some sort, lately egg sandwhiches with homemade mayo (it's easy). I am going to start making my own veggie burgers and see if they like those (we have our meat course at night). Our sensitive one gets very sick from procesed meats, even the organic ones, so we're still food journaling this interaction. It's been 3 days since he's had some processed sausage, and I still smell in on his breath. Yuck, poor kid, it must just stew in his tummy unable to digest. It takes awhile for him to work it out. I don't want to give him medication for it though, as that is what we did in the past to help his stomach "empty". I hope this bout is over soon.

Pop Tarts: Those deserve a catogry in themselves. Unfrosted, milk and soy free. http://www.naturespath.com/products/toaster%20pastries?tid=All&brand=All&nutri=All

This is my daughter with her cookbook, mixing bowl, feeding her animals. I think she's seen me in the kitchen often lately.

The Winners and the Loosers

I remember a serious flop I had in trying to make wholesome food for my family. Something about lemon juice, flour, vinegar, and hemp milk that made a perfect explosion in what should have been very yummy blueberry muffins. We all scraped the muffin tins anyway. Here's another try at new recipes.

Energy Bars

1 C Sun butter, or other peanut and tree nut substitutes
1/2 C Organic Oats
1/2 Honey

Glaze
1/2 C Organic Powdered Sugar
~1 T milk alternative

Stir, press into pan, and refrigerate. Drizzle with glaze
These were a winner. The kids thought they were getting store bought cereal bars. I wrapped each one up in foil and put it in our to-go bags. I think the frosting really helped :)

Colorful Coleslaw

1/2 head red cabbage
1 carrot grated
raisins
1/2 C Mayo (I make my own with rice oil, as there are no mayo's on the market that are soy free or Organic)
2 T honey or agave, or Organic sugar

Mix mayo and sugar first, then add to chopped ingredients.

Even though I made this extra sweet and lots of raisins, you could probably guess the kids still didn't enjoy this one. We are exposing them to these veggies though, and perhaps next time they'll try a bite!

Allergy +Link of the Week

http://www.allergykids.com/defining-food-allergies/what-moms-in-europe-know/

Becoming a Food Snob

Documentaries to watch regarding the nature of our food:

Food Inc.
http://www.foodincmovie.com/

King Corn
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/kingcorn/index.html

Supersize Me

Please recomend others to me. I'm trying to learn more, and trying to change our food life. It's not easy, but we feel it's our right path.