Recipes: Gluten-Free Tea Time

We don't have the standard three meals here at Babylon Sanctum. We couldn't be that normal, could we? ;)

We have:
Breakfast
Lunch
Tea
Dinner
1am Meal

The only meals there with specified times are dinner and tea. They are also the only meals that multiple household members are expected to take part in.

Dinner is by 7pm. Tea time is 2:30.

I've been eating a lot of microwave soup for tea time lately. Here's today's :)


Neo-Peasant Soup
-a soup spoon of butter-substitute
-broth (chicken, beef, veggie, or whatever you like)
-broccoli (fresh)
-1 small potato
-green bean baby food
-sqaush baby food

Add everything to your microwave-safe bowl; use enough broth to cover all the veggies. Chop the broccoli and the potato relatively small, so they'll cook.

I use scissors for the broccoli and cut it directly into my bowl of broth. And a very sharp knife for the potatoes.

Microwave until potatoes are tender, approximately 6 minutes.

In that six minutes, you can, in this order:
-put the kettle on to boil
-get the tea pot and leaves or cups and bags ready
-make a toaster oven sandwich to go with your soup
-clean up the counter after prep

And when your soup is done, your microwave is going to be very steamy. Give it a quick 10 second wipe-down with a rag or paper towel, and you're ready to sit down to a full meal, quickly and easily prepared :)


Serving Ideas

Excellent spicing options are adobe, soul seasoning, or just plain salt and pepper.

If you want to, you can thicken the soup with some instant mashed potatoes and then thin it with a little milk-substitute or cream-substitute. This makes a heartier version, really good for a cold afternoon :) You can also do this and leave the potato out if you're out of potatoes or just don't want to bother with a potato.

It's really good topped with deli ham, too.

Serve with a warm baguette topped with ghee, or with a toaster-oven ham sandwich, recipe below. Dip the sandwich in the soup. It's awesome :D


Toaster Oven Ham Sandwich
-par-baked gluten-free baguette
-casein-free ghee
-thinly sliced deli ham

Cut a section of baguette in half, spread with ghee, and arrange ham on bread. Toast open-faced in toaster oven until baguette is crispy.


Notes
Butter substitute: We use casein-free ghee and/or Earth Balance.
Broth: You can make your own if you want to, but you're good to use a high quality brand of store-bought stuff. Read the ingredients list to make sure whole ingredients were used. It should look like this, not like this.

Baby food: Trust me. They will add a lot of depth of flavor and nutrition to your soup. Experiment with different baby food vegetables, or even meats if you're adventurous. It's a quick, simple, shelf-stable source of lots of vitamins. Use Beechnut. Alternatively, you could make your own vegetable purees and freeze them for things like this.

Instant mashed potatoes: Again, go for something high quality. The ingredients should look like this, not like this.

Milk substitute: We use almond milk.

Cream substitute: We use a cashew-based product.


---

There you go. Enjoy tea time :) What are you thankful for today?

Love, life, light and luck,
Mama Coyote

Waffles & Playgrounds

Good morning. It is a morning.

I have 45 gigs of music on shuffle right now. This should be interesting.

I don't think I actually have anything interesting to say right now, but if I don't try to post when I feel like it, then... er... well, nothing bad will happen and the world will continue just as it is. But! Hello. This is a blog post.

I've fallen down in routines lately, in making sure there's breakfast, lunch, AND dinner. We're doing better; and after dinner, we've been going to the playground. Elijah loves to "swing high!" and play in the sand.

I made waffles yesterday! Gluten-free, dairy-free ones, too. From a mix. But the mix tasted awful, so I added applesauce, extra sugar, a little vanilla extract (that Grandmere made!), and a lot of cinnamon. They were well-received by the family, and I don't expect that there are any left this morning. Which probably means I'm making more today.

I want to try this recipe: Glad GFCF all-purpose flour

That website is pretty awesome. I think it's going to help a lot.

Update on the bathroom renovation: The renovators found mold. We're in the processing of figuring out how to take care of that and how to pay for it. Sigh.

Out for now,
Mama Coyote

Gluten and Dairy-Free Hot Breakfasts

I'm trying to get Elijah away from cold cereal for breakfast... lunch... dinner... snacks... :) Perhaps it's true for all toddlers, but it's definitely true for those of us with SPD: When we find a food we like the feel and taste of, we stick with it. In an attempt to combat this rigidity of thought in both myself and Elijah, I am trying to make sure we have healthy hot breakfasts with at least a little variety.

This is not as easy as you would think, considering my morning laziness and sensory-driven personal desire to stick with one thing over and over as well.

Here are some of the things we eat for breakfast.

Tomagi Gohan
-cooked rice
-1 raw egg
-toppings: Furikake, adobo, gf soy sauce, gf tamari, BBQ sauce

This is a very simple meal. Place cooked rice in a covered microwave-safe bowl with a sprinkle of water. Heat for 1-2 minutes until rice is steaming hot. Stir in one raw egg very thoroughly, then replace cover. Let sit until egg is cooked. Top with your choice of yumminess.


Microwave-able Gluten-Free Oatmeal
-certified gf oatmeal
-water or milk-replacement of your choice
-toppings: soy or coconut creamer, brown sugar, honey, cinnamon

Regular oatmeal is generally thought to be heavily contaminated with wheat flour, so only certified gluten-free oatmeal is currently considered safe in my household.
Rolled oats microwave just fine as far as we're concerned. Place the desired serving of oats and water per the instructions on the box in a microwaveable bowl, cover, and microwave one minute at a time until you determine how long your microwave takes.
You can also cook oatmeal in a neuro-fuzzy rice cooker and if the machine has a timer, set it up the night before to be ready for morning, but I haven't tried this yet and it's been years since I cooked steel-cut oats in a rice cooker.
Elijah likes his with a lot of honey and cinnamon. I prefer brown sugar and soy or coconut creamer. We may try apples and other fruits soon.


Fried Eggs
-eggs (2-3 per person, in my house)
-bacon grease
-salt
-adobo
-sides: bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms, black beans

Bacon grease is my usual butter-replacement for frying foods. I like my eggs over-easy; Elijah can't stand that texture and prefers his broken and well-done. Mushrooms raw or sauteed in bacon grease are a wonderful accompaniment to fried eggs.



Scrambled Eggs
-eggs (1-4 per person, depending on the day and the phase of the moon and the alignment of the stars...)
-rice milk (optional)
-bacon grease
-salt or adobo (Elijah prefers adobo with cumin)
-accompaniments: tortilla chips, salsa

Everyone in the house has a different way of making scrambled eggs. I scramble mine in a bowl with a little rice milk and some salt and then pour them into the hot bacon grease in the pan. Daddy C scrambles them straight in the pan. I cook them a little soft, he usually browns them a little.

A common plating in our house is: A handful of tortilla chips on the plate, top with eggs and salsa. Very tasty!



Apples & Peanutbutter
-apple
-peanutbutter
-toppings: cinnamon, honey

Slice apples, spread with peanutbutter. Simple :) I know cinnamon sounds like a strange topping for this, but someone recommended it once, and I found that it gave the peanutbutter just that much more depth.

GFCF Recipe: Coyote's Egg Salad

This is something I eat as a snack sometimes. I can't give any real proportions--it's all to taste. It's good on gluten-free crackers or your favorite GFCF bread :)

Coyote's Egg Salad

3 boiled eggs
fresh cilantro
lime juice
cayenne pepper, ground
mayonnaise - preferably a vinegar-y one

Mix up, in that order. Eat it right away, or let it sit. It tastes better as it sits.

There you go :)

Mama Coyote

GFCF Toddler Life

Ideally, we would still be breastfeeding, but like all mammal milk, human milk contains casein. We discovered a while back that Elijah could speak when he went two days without breastmilk but couldn't speak after he had a feeding. So... he was quickly weaned. It didn't seem to bother him too much, most of the time.

And now, he still remembers that there's milk in there, but as he just said to me, "Not my milk."

I'm so proud of my boy :)

I'd give him chocolate soy milk in his bedtime sippy cup, but he'll have a meltdown because it's not plain rice milk, if I do that. So the reward will have to just be a big hug ;p

Mama Coyote

Things keeping me sane today:
-Warning! Readers Advisory! - A friend of mine reviews books in a hilarious manner.
-binder clips
-OTC painkillers
-the idea of a bath later
-decaf chai
-bash.org
-this blog
-white dog, black cat
-anticipating post-Christmas enjoyment of some stuff from annaB's gluten free bakery.

Morning ramblings.

I have discovered that during a weekend, when the entire family is home (so we have Mama K, Daddy, Daddy C, Uncle Ap, the Visionary, me, and baby boy), extended family is visiting (Mamu, Uncle Cat, and Auntie Bug), and we've picked up between 1 and 3 strays, this household goes through 10 cooked cups of rice, which means running the rice cooker twice a day, and never having it available to make, say, brown rice, or rice pudding, or sweet rice. I suddenly desperately want a second rice cooker... a 10 cup, that only makes white rice. Hmmm... note to self: Start saving up.

---

It's 8:23am. I can hear the Elijah playing in his room, babbling to himself and moving his furniture around. He'll happily play in there by himself for two hours before he fusses at the door for me to get out of bed and get breakfast for him.

He'll say, "Hi Mom! Change?"

He is starting to put together sentences. "Walk this way!" when he wants to show someone something or try to get them to do something for him (which he generally doesn't have the words for; he'll take your hands and try to make you do it, physically).

He's 28 months old, it's time to move on to the next Gymboree class, but watching him in his class, he hasn't really reached any of the milestones the rest of the kids have. He can't jump, he doesn't really interact, he's all over the place, off in his own world. I'm trying not to compare kids but I also don't want to drop him in over his head if the next class is going to be too much.

Although I did have the wonderful moment of him walking away from a dancing circle to come try to get me to dance. "Up mom!" And when I said I hurt and couldn't dance, he climbed into my lap and gave me a hug :)

He has an appointment with ChildFind on January 4. He had an appointment this past Friday, but when we got there, the office was closed. Probably due to weather. They didn't tell us they'd be closed if the weather was bad and they din't call to cancel the appointment. It was very annoying.

---

In other news, I have a cat! He is sleek and black and talks a lot and plays a lot and his name is Kyle or Sanctuary or Get-off-the-computer, or "Oh, tit-ten!"

Elijah loves him and the cat lets him pick him up and carry him around. The cat does not look happy, but just waits until he's rescued. He's the most amazing cat ever.

---

Yesterday, one of Elijah's Winnie the Pooh toys said, "A kiss on the cheek might be nice."

He got scared and threw the toy and hasn't touched it since.

---

Everyone with food allergies should check out annaB's gluten free. Completely by chance I was able to try their products yesterday, and they're amazing!

---

I've learned to cook dried black beans. I'm rather inordinately proud of that accomplishment ;)

My current favorite CFGF snack:
-cooked rice
-cooked black beans
-bacon grease for fat/flavor
-steamed broccoli
-adobo (either with cumin or with saffron)

I'm pretty sure eventually someone's going to yell at me for how much I use bacon grease and mayonnaise and other sources of fat. I'd like to give a little explanation here:

The body needs fat. My body's sources of fat used to be butter, cheese, and heavy cream. I used to walk 12 miles a day for my job; I drank po cha (tea with butter and milk) for the same reasons mountain climbers might carry whole sticks of butter.

All of those sources of fat have been cut from my diet. I don't even eat massive amounts of beef fat anymore. Rice milk, soy creamer and coconut-based creamer are extremely low in fat. Beans and rice are also low in fat, and most of the meats we have now are low in fat as well. So... bacon grease goes into my beans and rice to provide not only umami, but some dietary fat.

There we go. That's my explanation.

Now I need tea and breakfast.

I do so miss po cha.

Thoughts today.

I seem to go in cycles of getting excited about food, and the excitement fading out. At the peak of excitement, I am sometimes even eager to cook. Or at least eager at the idea of cooking.

I love to eat. I love food, its flavors, history, methods, theories.

I do not love to cook.

I actively dislike cooking, usually. Prep drives me crazy, except prepping mushrooms, and the cooking itself takes too much patience. It's not always so bad when I actually get to it, and if I let myself be patient, I'm usually pleased with the results. But on a day to day basis, cooking is not my favorite thing to do (while eating may well be).

However, in moments like these, when it's raining and thundering and I'm reading through a Jamie Oliver cookbook, my mind and desire wanders.

Several of these recipes are inherently gluten and casein free. Some may only require slight modifications.

This could be a good week.

The benefits of a gluten- and casein-free diet.

This way of eating is kind of difficult. I'm hungry a lot, still trying to find the balance of what to eat, how much. It's hard to find something filling except a steak, and I can't afford to have steak with every meal. I'm trying to learn to like vegetables without butter and cheese. I'm learning to get my protein without dairy. Sometimes mayonnaise has wheat starch in it. BaconSalt has wheat flour in it (why?). I don't like soy, for the most part. The "vegan"-labeled rice cheese K bought today turns out to have a dairy product of some kind in it. Labels are important.

It's hard. So let me explain why I do it.

I feel like a different person.

Let me try to emphasize that: I. Feel. Like. A. Different. PERSON.

I can think. I can complete tasks. I don't have migraines every day. I don't worry so much. I can have social interactions with strangers on the street. I have less fear. I have less pain. I can read at length. I can write. My house is clean. My head is clearer. My dogs are cared for. I can play with my child.

I went to a psychiatrist recently. The appointment was made months ago, before the diet change. After we discussed which antidepressant to start me on, I was explaining all the differences, all the improvements. He finally said, "Do you think you need medication?"

I stared. "I don't know," I said.

I have the prescription anyway. I haven't filled it yet. I will, and I'll see if it helps. I do still have the days of crying, of not wanting to eat, of just wanting to go back to bed. We'll see if Celexa helps.

But I can think!

I've never felt like this. For the first time in 26 years, I can think about doing something, and plan it, and then do it. I hung pictures on the wall today. I walked all the dogs, and then I had individual time with them. I worked out a training program to help all three of them get back to basic training, to work on recall, heel, sit, don't run through the front door like a maniac just because it's open. Two hours every morning, first a walk and then 15 minutes training time with each of them. And I'll do it.

And I haven't had a sugar crash in a while, either.

All of that said, I'd kill for some hot chocolate made with cream, right now.

This Wednesday has lots of words.

Elijah is sitting next to me, watching model train videos on my phone, while I write blog posts on my computer. I'm playing Kitchen Nightmares on C's computer, and C is reading Snow Crash next to me (I'm really excited about that, it's one of the most amazing books ever). B's computer, across the room, is playing Little Einsteins. There are wooden trains on the floor. The level of tech in this house amuses me.

Mama K has been amazing the last few days, dealing with my depression and pain and craziness and taking care of E when I am too pathetic to. Yesterday involved me sleeping too much, to combat pain and craziness. And today was my psychologist appointment, so K had E all day again. Hopefully I can let her rest for the rest of the week. I will try not to suck.

Today was interesting. I had a toasted sub from Subway, and it was amazing. I had hot chocolate from Starbucks. I asked them to make it entirely with heavy cream. And they did. It was amazing.

The reason the sandwich and the hot chocolate were amazing is they were the first wheat or dairy product I've had in a while. They were wonderful. I don't feel all that great right now, but that's okay. I'll sleep tonight, and I'll be better tomorrow. And I'll give B the rest of my sandwich.

But I will drink the rest of my hot chocolate. It is cold chocolate now, but that is perfectly okay.

I learned today that being casein-free means that Vicodin hits me harder than usual. Which is good, because it means it's actually effective. So: Yay! for no pain.

But I want to go to sleep ;)

Elijah is happily, though zombily, watching Dora the Explorer while K works on food plans and I . . . sit here, warm in a blanket, going through my Chrome tabs.

After breakfast, Elijah and I dealt with the kitchen. I put away the clean dishes out of the dishwasher, while he sat in his highchair and watched and babbled. I explained to him what every item was as I dried it and put it away, and he just watched me like, "Why are you talking?"

And he's learning to say "bulgogi". I can't wait to show the lady at our favorite Korean restaurant :D

Newness

I'm sitting in the car while I type this. The second disc of the Broadway recording of CATS is playing, and Elijah is playing with a small die-cast Deisel Ten and staring at himself in the mirror on the back of the driver's seat. B is driving, it's raining, and we're headed to garage sales, estate sales, flea markets. Anyplace to see awesome things and let Elijah interact with the world. And me, too, for that matter. I may use ASL instead of speech--it helps with the anxiety, and if I am signing, people don't expect normal behaviour. The social pressure is off. It's amazing.

The CD is from 16 years ago. It's thicker than today's CDs, it only holds about 30 minutes of music (versus today's 75), it's covered in scratches but it still plays perfectly. I listened to CATS every day when I was 10. My portable RCA CD player was one of the first, before "ear-saving" volume limiting. I listened at full volume, drowning the world out. My ears still ring.

This car is wonderful. It's been the place of so many parts of my new life--all those long car rides while B and I got to know eachother, and the continued long car rides while I was pregnant, when the car and the Sisters of Mercy was the only time I could relax. I still listen to Floodland every day, sometimes twice a day, while Elijah falls asleep.

One of the myriad of reasons I haven't been posting lately is that my computer's cord died. We replaced it with a cheap one, thrilled to get a good deal, and it turned out to be a false economy. That one lasted a couple of weeks and then died. So now I have a new one, with a selection of tips to let it work with a lot of different laptops, and, the best part, is it came with a regular wall plug and a car-cigarette-lighter-thing plug! Hence why I am typing in the car, where there are fewer distractions and I feel more relaxed.

The other reasons are pretty much just that I'm lazy and bad at organization and time management ;)

I have a list of topics that I want to write about. Maybe I'll do a poll.

Elijah says, "Hi! Hi, hi, hi, hi!"

"So first your memory I'll jog, and say a cat is NOT a dog..."

---

Steamed Broccoli with Adobo and Apple Cider Vinegar dressing
Vegan, casein-free, gluten-free, cf, gf, cfgf

This isn't so much a recipe as a preparation, I suppose.

-steamed broccoli, cold
-adobo (or fresh garlic, ground black pepper, oregano)
-apple cider vinegar
-safflower oil

Put adobo, apple cider vinegar, and safflower oil in a Mason jar or some such thing that you can shake. Shake! Shake until the dressing is emulsified to your liking. Pour over broccoli. Eat! It's really good.

I assume you could also eat it when the broccoli is hot. I just like it cold.

---

B wants me to make a note about how we still need to go to a used bookstore and a Moroccan restaurant in Old Town Alexandria. I said we would never look at the note. He said, "Put it on the blog."

I laughed.

Hello, Blog Reading World. Welcome to being my personal Notepad.