Meat n Potatoes

Ugh the last couple days in our house have been pretty eventful as far as sickness goes.  Cyril came down with the Rotavirus(Rotovirus).  Which is frustrating is that he was vaccinated for that. So things haven't been as spicy, have been more bland, much to the disappointment of my husband. lol.  Plus with us being on the Feingold (FG Diet), it's hard to know what spices are approved for stage 1....when the ones you are used to cooking with are on stage 2. (My chili powder and paprika).

So last night, I made potatoes, ground hamburger, GF/CF gravy mix (NOT FG yet....), and green beans. Nothing special, but it's Dawn's FAVORITE dinner to eat. I swear she would eat potatoes and gravy everyday if she could. lol.

It's a great beginner's meal, when learning how to cook.

1. Wash ( I take a green scrub pad and wash/scrub the potatoes), pork with fork all of the potato
2. Season with butter and garlic, wrap in foil
3.I place them in a pan, so that any butter that leaks is in the pan, not the bottom of the oven, place in the oven @ 350 degrees for 1 hour.
4. When the potatoes have about 20-30minutes left to cook, that's when I start to fry up the hamburger. I chop the ground beef (or ground turkey), use minced onion
5. Cook the GF gravy like you would normal gravy, I used Brown Gravy by  Mayacamas
6. Microwave or cook on low a can of green beans.
7. Serve

New Favorite for Lunch

I think I have a new favorite for Lunch at least, if not a quick dinner meal. Cyril wanted corn dogs, and I must confess I wanted one too, since I only had the unapproved, non-gluten free corn dogs, he got 1 and I got none. lol.  So I was a good girl and cooked up a chicken breast, which is Feingold Approved, Gluten Free AND Weight Watchers friendly. Can't get any better then that now can I?

The chicken is thru Schwan's called Live Smart Chicken Breast.  It's about 13.99 a bag BUT before you have a heart attack about the price, it's the only chicken breast that I know of that uses water instead of broth AND when you cook it up, it doesn't shrink to 1/2 it's size. You most certainly get what you pay for.  I also cooked up the last of the Oreda Tater Tots.  They are gluten free, but alas are NOT Feingold Approved so after today, we must bid good-bye to our family favorite tater tot. Now I'm on the hunt for a good tater tot, that's both GF and Feingold Approved.

Great new blog!!

Last week, on one of the online support groups I'm a part of, sent a link to a great new blog.  The reason why it's so great is for several reasons. 1. She uses her crockpot all the time, I'm starting to become in love again with mine. lol.  2. She wrote a WHOLE year of GF recipes using her crockpot, and now has quite a bit more recipes to add.  It's been great looking over her blog. 3. There are pretty easy for novice cooks.

Here's the link.  You'll start to see more of her recipes on this blog.
http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

Here's one from her blog that we used the other night. It got mixed reviews at my house, but that's not really surprising. lol.

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/09/crockpot-applesauce-chicken-recipe.html
Applesauce Chicken
by Stephanie O'Dea
The Ingredients.

--4 frozen chicken breast halves or thighs (I used 2 of each)
--1 1/2 cups of applesauce(use your own, or already made. I used my own)(Stage 2)
--1 T dried onion flakes, or 1 yellow onion, chopped finely
--1 T apple cider vinegar (Stage 2)
--1/4 tsp cinnamon
--1/2 tsp black pepper
--2 cloves garlic, minced
--1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (optional, I used them, and added more to the adult servings)



The Directions.



A 3 or 4 quart crockpot is the best size for this, but I did use a 6 quart. If your pot cooks fast, err on the lower end of cooking time.


I used my own applesauce, which for those of you on the FG (Feignold Diet -Stage 2).


Put the frozen chicken pieces into your crockpot. Add the onion (if you are using the dried onion, wait and add it to the applesauce). In a bowl, mix the applesauce, vinegar, garlic, and spices together. Pour on top of the chicken.


Cover and cook on low for 5-7 hours, or on high for 3-4.
Serve with rice or quinoa

Behind!

Oh my word, am I seriously behind on updating this blog. I know that I have mentioned it before, but I'll apologize again.  Being a mother of 4 is a lot harder at times then I thought it was going to be, especially when you have a fussy baby. Speaking of little Gordon, it looks like he's not the only one not being able to tolerate/handle dairy products.  Increasingly I have noticed that the more and more I've had dairy products, the more and more I get a fuzzy head...think hangover. So I'm slowly coming to the acceptance that I will not be able to go back to dairy products, once Gordon is done nursing.

I'm not sure if many of you know this or not...can't remember if I mentioned this in this blog or our family blog.  Anyways, I suffer from ADHD, and it's been interesting managing a business, a family - while I was pregnant (so of course, off my meds) and now while nursing little Gordon.  I honestly do not want to go back on my medication when I'm done nursing Gordon, if I have too, then I will, but I figure we are going to try some alternative things. Side note- we are going more alternative lifestyle if you didn't know (No Vaccinations, Semi-attachment parenting, and Eating healthier - who knew that was considered alternative?) Since my oldest two children are also both ADHD (Spencer will be tough to get a firm diagnosis, cause of his special needs) and I suspect the 3rd child has it as well, we are adding the Feingold Diet. Never heard of it well here's a link to their website: www.feingold.org .  It's not really a diet, more like a lifestyle change similar to when a family goes gluten free/casein free/or whatever food allergy. We've slowly been doing the 1st stage and seeing improvements. It's been great.

I'll try to make a point of adding more of the recipes from the last couple of meals.