Isaac's gfcf healthy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

Ingredients:
1 packet of Eco Planet Original Hot Cereal (gf)
1/2 cup of Bob's Red Mill All Purpose GF Flour
1.5 tbsp Earth Balance Spread melted
2 full tablespoons of ground flax seed
1 generous shake of ground cinnamon
1 egg
1 super big squirt of agave nectar...or about 2 tablespoons for those who MUST HAVE measurements.
2 toddler handfuls of EnjoyLife gfcf chocolate chips...or 1/4 cup for the neurotics.

Preheat oven to 300
Mix all ingredients together.
Place on cookie sheet.
Bake for about 7 minutes- the longest 7 minutes of your life as your child asks if they are done yet and reminds you that he wants to eat a cookie and how much he likes cookies repeatedly while jumping up and down.
That's it! Makes about 9 small cookies and one happy three year old. 

If you've been following this blog, then you've probably noticed that I've been adding more of my non-precise gfcf recipes.  There are a couple reasons for this.  First, we've been trying to cook and bake with Isaac more often.  It's therapeutic for him.  Baking seems to instantly transport him from a grumpy, frustrated kid to a happy and talkative one.  I think it gives him a sense of being in control and being creative at the same time.  Who wouldn't like that?  Also, we're trying to give him the skills he'll need to carry this all-important diet into his adult life.  In addition, our circle of gfcf friends and relatives is growing.  My sister has a gluten allergy and was just diagnosed with IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) which means she now has to give up dairy too.  I made sure to encourage her with this sensitive homemade card: http://www.someecards.com/usercards/nsviewcard/MjAxMS05ODlmMWI4YzY4N2Q3Y2Zi
I'm sure she appreciated it. = )  And because I'm a self-deemed know-it-all, I thought I'd pass on some of our foodie tips to her and all of you.  I hope you enjoy these cookies as much as we do.

This is not a restaurant

This is the phrase Isaac repeats back to me when he knows he's being somewhat demanding at the dinner table.  Being on a gfcf/feingold diet is anything but vast when it comes to options, but we manage to mix or at least rotate things a little.  Isaac is only 4 so I'm pretty sure even if I fed him hot dogs twice a day, every day he would not complain much.  A friend asked me to post a menu of what a week of food looks like for Isaac.  Prepare to be bored.  Not only is my kid on a strict diet, but he's a pretty picky eater.  I will try to show you what a more varied week can look like.

Day 1:
Breakfast: Bob's Red Mill or Eco-Planet Original GF hot cereal/rolled oats with a squirt of agave nectar and a dash of cinnamon.  Coconut milk with 1/8 tsp of gfcf probiotic powder shaken into it.

Lunch: Crunchmaster Original Seed Crackers with Barney Butter Creamy Almond Butter spread.  I make them into a serving of four little cracker sandwiches.  I also give him a fresh pear and raw carrots to eat.  Water to drink.

Snack at school: Glutino GF pretzels

Dinner: Moist chicken breast (he likes to put mustard on his), broccoli with Earth Balance Spread on it, and mashed potatoes made with Earth Balance Spread and S.O. Delicious Original Coconut milk.

Snack: Homemade or store bought gfcf chocolate chip cookie.  It is cheaper to make small batches of these than it is to buy them.

Day 2:
Breakfast: Jimmy Dean's Turkey Sausage Patties (2), fresh strawberries, coconut milk with probiotic powder.

Lunch: Hebrew National hot dog sans a bun, pureed winter squash from the freezer section, and Glutino pretzels.

Snack: Meijer brand kettle popcorn.  It's dairy free, not all brands are.  Since this is a day packed with protein, a snack with a little sugar in it like this is usually fine and super easy to send into school.

Dinner: GFCF mac-n cheese with leftover chicken breast shredded into it.  Yes, I try to pack the protein in wherever I can.  It helps mellow out stomach yeast, and aids in concentration.  Isaac loves to eat raw broccoli with EB spread on it, so I might throw that on the side of this meal, too.  Water or coconut milk to drink.

Day 3:
Let's pretend that on this day I was feeling really ambitious and threw together some original Chebe bread rolls.  It's a mix, and very easy if you're not lazy like me.  The mix is found in the baking aisle at Meijer with the gfcf food, or at Foods For Living, or on Amazon.com.

Breakfast: Sausage/Daiya Vegan Cheddar Cheese Shreds breakfast sandwich made with the above rolls.  The usual milk/probiotic cocktail to drink.

Lunch: Tuna sandwich made with Helman's Real Mayo and the Chebe rolls, Beanito Black Bean Chips, and half of a clementine orange.

Snack at school: Glutino Pretzels

Dinner: Brown Instant Rice, a turkey-burger with ketchup, fresh strawberries, and carrot juice to drink.

Day 4:
Breakfast:  An almond butter and Chebe roll sandwich, fresh pear, usual milk cocktail.

Lunch: Mug scrambled eggs (literally whisk an egg in a mug and microwave for 45 seconds) with ketchup on top, two strips of turkey bacon, and fresh berries.

Snack at school: Crunchmaster Original Seed Crackers.

Dinner: GFCF pizza made with individual Kinnikinick frozen crust, marinara sauce, and Daiya Vegan Mozz Shreds.

Snack: Some sort of raw vegetable.  He frequents raw broccoli with EB spread.

Day 5:
Breakfast: Cherrybrook Kitchen gfcf pancakes with EB spread and agave nectar, usual milk cocktail.

Lunch: Hamburger made in a pan  and served on last Chebe roll, Oreida regular french fries, and canned peaches in lite syrup.

Snack at school: Beanito Black Bean Chips.

Dinner: Tilapia Cheese Soup.  Basicallly make a thin version of the sauce for gfcf mac n cheese with the Daiya Vegan Mozz Shreads, add onion power and baked tilapia.  Carrot juice to drink.

Day 6:
Breakfast: Turkey bacon, fresh fruit, milk cocktail.

Lunch: Nachos made with Beanito chips, ground meat, and melted Daiya Vegan Shreds.  Raw broccoli and butter.

Snack: Fresh fruit or Kinnikinnick vanilla gfcf animal crackers.

Dinner: Tinkyada spaghetti with EB spread on it and gfcf meatballs made with gfcf bread crumbs, and a veggie.  Isaac is picky about veggies and cannot handle corn so that usually leaves broccoli, carrots, or squash.  I would freak out about this, but Temple Grandin lived off of Jello and yogurt for years and still ended up smart.

Special Snack: S.O. Delicious GFCF Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream.  I love this kind because they sweeten it with agave instead of sugar.

Day 7:
Breakfast: Same oatmeal as Day 1, milk cocktail.

Lunch: Hebrew National hot dog, Glutino pretzles, raw veggie.

Snack: Fresh strawberries

Dinner:  Meatloaf made with gfcf breadcrumbs, rice, steamed broccoli.


Notes:
Crunchmaster crackers are awesome to make cracker sandwiches with just about anything- tuna salad, chicken salad, almond butter, dairy free cheese, etc.  There is a lot of gfcf food out there, even in the freezer section for easy prep, it just depends on what your kid likes.  Amy's brand makes some tasty things. I just got a special diet cookbook for Christmas so I'm hoping to get some new inspiration for meals for Isaac.  Hope this helps give you an idea of what a week of food looks like for my gfcf/feingold diet four year old.

Traveling tips from a mom who packs too much

To say I was "green" when Isaac was a baby is probably an understatement.  I compensated by over-preparing.  I triple packed to visit family- a bag of books, clothes for every season, enough diapers for triplets, and a variety of toys.  Now I've added special food to the list of necessities.  We drive a Vibe.  If you don't know what that is, picture a thimble on wheels.  It's not exactly the most vacation friendly vehicle, but we make it work.  Needless to say I'm trying to learn to pack less- for Isaac at least.  I still plan on having a variety of sweat pant capris to choose from each day we are at my in-laws.  If I'm going to be frumpy I at least want the option of deciding my degree of frumpiness for the day.  I have really cute, young, thin sisters-in-law that inspire me to at least where clothes without stains on them and maybe even do my make up whilst around them.  I need room in that Vibe for my garment bag of dresses that I'll have good intentions of wearing, but won't.  So I need a plan.

So far this is what I've come up with:  Instead of packing a million individual books from home for Isaac, I packed three books that have several stories each in them.  Plus, grandma has a good supply of kid's books.  Instead of packing a bunch of toys, I will only pack a few that will fit in his car seat organizer as there is plenty to do at grandma's house.  I will still pack some gfcf food for the trip, but am lucky to have a mother in law willing to stock her house with what I need so that I don't have to bring 2 coolers, etc.  We've decided that if we ever travel farther than NY we will ship a box of gfcf food ahead of us to wherever we're going instead of chancing it.  I did think of a crafty little trick though. I am going to measure and combine all the dry ingredients from Isaac's gfcf oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe and put them in a ziplock bag or tupperware container to take.  Then all I will need is to add an egg, the agave, and Earth Balance butter to make them.  I won't have to pack each individual ingredient.  I wouldn't bother with cookies except that it's an easy treat to have on hand in the event that there needs to be an alternative for him.

Fast food:  We've switched from McDonald's fries and burger sans the bun to Burger King since finding out that McD's aren't completely gfcf, and it seems to be going well.  I'm sure it's Isaac's favorite part of traveling.  At any rate, we'll probably still be squeezed into our thimble for the 9 hour drive, but I'm trying.  I really, really am.....trying to fight the urge to pack Andrew three outfits and fill the rest of his suitcase with my neglected crafting hobbies. = )

Play time and practice

Chica

I've learned that we have more than just one dog living with us; we also have a cat, a penguin, a puppy, a bird, and whatever other animal Isaac decides to be that day.  A couple weeks ago, when picking him up from school, his teacher asked me if one of the shows he watches has a cat in it.  She's also noticed his "gift" for quoting movies, books, tv shows, etc.  This is called echolalia.  I said that maybe an episode of Kipper has one in it, and that he'd been pretending to be a kitten for days.  Meooowwwwwww.  Apparently, that day Isaac told her that he needed to wash his paws.  We had a good chuckle over this.  For the first half of this past Saturday Isaac decided to be a bird.  He never broke character- even answering me in affirmative or negative tweets.  Much like Chica from the Sprout channel.  Is it bad that I'm already relishing his imminent acting success in Okemos School plays above that of his well-to-do classmates?  Probably.  But if you were from Okemos, you would do the same thing.

Besides a stream of sickness in the house, things around here have been pretty fun.  Isaac and I have reinstated our afternoon dance parties- just for something to do.  This time we've been dancing to the Ray Charles station on Pandora.  I recommend it.  Andrew and I have also been involving him in cooking and baking his own food, and he LOVES it.  I'm hoping that this might be a window into getting him to try new foods and add new activities into his usually rigid routine.  Today we made our best batch of oatmeal, flax, chocolate chip gfcf cookies to date.  It's always a mixed bag when baking with mommy, because I never use a recipe.  We stood in the kitchen and munched them while warm to try and sweeten up an otherwise gray and dreary day.  Seriously, I would opt to Rip Van Winkle the month of March if I could get away with it.

Isaac's parent/teacher conference was yesterday.  His team of teachers were overall very pleased with the progress he's made so far, but we all agreed that there is still work to do.  He will continue in the same class in the fall, and I'm grateful for that.  I can't believe I ever entertained the thought of keeping him home until he was four.  I honestly don't think he'd be where he is right now if it weren't for this special classroom.  His verbal skills since the fall are like night and day.  He's in a good place as far as pre-school smarts, and we received some good tips on some of the quirks we're still hearing and seeing in him.  Miss Minda asked about his sensory room- she's seen my articles.  Lesson learned; don't show off if you don't want to be held accountable!  Her compliment of the room was also an inquiry as to how intentional we are about using the room.  The short answer?  Not as intentional as we could be.  So we've been getting down there more in the past couple days to work on things.

I've been forcing (yes, forcing) myself to take part in some intentional imaginary play with Isaac everyday in order to practice his conversational skills, too.  He's just not going to naturally pick up on them the way other kids do.  I say forcing because imaginary play can be a little boring when you have a kid that gets stuck on one channel for an  hour or two.  Yesterday we pretend-played with his toy kitchen for over an hour.  For a girl who's imaginary play when young involved adult themes and barbies, making donuts for toy dragons just does not come naturally. Ha!  Life with a three year old as cute as Isaac has been mostly fun and games these days, but even playtime has been aimed at practicing the skills he needs.  I love this age, and wish time would slow down a little even if it meant 100 more hours of making food for toy dragons.