cherry jubilee

Monday, February 28, 2011

Tofu Chili

Tonight's dinner was tofu chili. The recipe came from Gluten Free Vegan. It was yummy, and certainly something we'll have again.
I made some fresh guacamole to go with it, and it was just delicious.


Also, I made cornbread from the same cookbook. I'm not quite sure what went wrong, but it was good just the same.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Chocolate Chocolate Cake

For my son's birthday, he requested a chocolate cake with chocolate icing and strawberries!

This was so rich and wonderful! We served it with some of the coconut milk ice cream, which was fantastic. We're definitely favoring the coconut milk for most things outside of cooking.


Thursday, February 24, 2011

We made vegan pudding!

Tonight's dinner was Havana Black Beans and Cilantro Lime Rice. Both recipes were from The Whole Foods Cookbook. I couldn't believe the amount of greens that went into the rice. Spinach, Cilantro, Green Onion. Delicious!

The beans were cooked in coconut milk and topped with cilantro and green onion.

For dessert, we attempted a chocolate pudding. I made it with rice milk, agave nectar, and cocoa. It was smooth and creamy. Not too sweet at all.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Pizza Night!

Tonight was pizza night!

Once again, pork made it into our meal with a pineapple and ham pizza.

A nice big salad!


< And we had cookies! Chocolate chip cookies in fact! These were the Bob's Red Mill mix, made with Egg Replacer and Earth's Balance Soy Free spread.

My cookies, with a glass of coconut milk, our new found favorite drinking milk!












Tuesday, February 22, 2011

An Asian Feast

Yum, was some Asian feast, and wow, was it good!

Marinated tofu steaks, with ginger, garlic, rice vinegar, Braggs, instead of soy sauce, and sesame seeds.

Sauteed kale, with garlic, Bragg's, and sesame seeds.


Orange cashew rice with red and yellow bell peppers, green onions, and mandarin oranges.

Tofu Steaks!




Monday, February 21, 2011

Red Beans and Rice...oh yes, and brownies!

Gregory's preschool is celebrating his birthday, so we had to send treats for the class. We decided to try the Bob's Red Mill Brownie Mix. Instead of the butter, I used the Earth's Balance Soy Free Spread, and instead of egg, once again, I used pumpkin. I'm having such good results with pumpkin as a replacer, if you can't tell! Sprinkled them with powdered sugar, and wow, they are wonderful!

For dinner, we had Red Beans and Rice. This recipe was not the traditional recipe I grew up with, but was so delicious. It came out of my Whole Foods cookbook. We paired it with a salad and the leftover cornbread from last night. This was a very filling meal!


Sunday, February 20, 2011

Sweet Potato, Corn, and Kale Chowder

We tried new bread today. This was a mix from Hodgkins Mills. I subbed the eggs, once again, for pumpkin, and used rice milk. It sliced beautifully. Another plus, this mix is $1 cheaper than the Bob's Red Mill, making it almost the same price as our normal bread. That, I can take! Another nice, but not necessary thing, the yeast packet was not packaged inside the mix. That's the one thing I didn't care for with the Bob's Red Mill mix, having to dig out the yeast packet.
We had Sweet Potato, Corn, and Kale Chowder for dinner. This had so many beautiful colored veggies, that I had to take a picture at the beginning!

It was very filling. I paired it with cornbread. Delicious!



Wednesday, February 16, 2011

In Texas, We eat BBQ.

Not quite Texas BBQ, but this BBQ Lentils and Eggplant, from my Whole Foods cookbook was delicious and beautiful, I might add! I served it with polenta, and it was a hit.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Another Breakfast Food Night

It was breakfast food night, again. We needed an easy dinner after our Girl Scout meeting, so blueberry buckwheat pancakes, with natural bacon (this time Hormel since it was half the price of the other brand, and just as tasty), and leftover pineapple and strawberries from our fondue.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Valentine's Day!

What a fun food day at our house! We started the morning off with a piece of cinnamon sugar toast with strawberries. This is still the Bob's Red Mill mix that I'm baking. I am actually very happy that I found it for almost a $1 cheaper at HEB!


Dinner tonight was Pad Thai. Goodness have I forgotten how much I love this stuff. I made a simple stir fry with onions, carrots, and tofu and a homemade sauce. I tossed in some sprouts, and served it over rice noodles. Add ins were more sprouts, green onion, cashews and lime. The whole family LOVED this meal. (corny pun, I know)

Every year, we have chocolate fondue for Valentine's dessert. The years past have always had, not only fruit, but lots of things that Gregory can no longer eat. As you can see above, we had a plate full of fruit. Bananas, oranges, strawberries, and pineapple. No longer can we have graham crackers or pound cake, so gluten free, dairy free pretzels it was. This is definitely not an item that will hang around. While they were good, at $6.99 for 14 ounces, it's not cost effective at all.


What I thought would be the major complication, but was not at all, was the chocolate itself. I found a very simple recipe online, that I loosely followed. We used the Enjoy Life vegan chocolate chips and thinned it with coconut milk. I also added a splash each of vanilla and almond extra. It was delicious!




Sunday, February 13, 2011

Chickpeas Florentine

We're back on the wagon. Tonight's dinner was Chickpeas Florentine with Roasted Red Peppers, over Polenta. It was a simple saute of red onion, garlic, roasted red peppers, chickpeas, spinach, and lemon. I cooked and molded polenta, which is always better fresh, not out of a tube. It was very yummy!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Breakfast food night is here to stay!

We have located breakfast food! Jeff grabbed this pancake mix, which was very good. I mixed it with rice milk and applesauce and it turned out great.
And this my friends is BACON! With the milk allergy Gregory has, we have to avoid lactic acid that is derived from a milk source. Lactic acid is a preservative that can be made from both milk and vegetable sources, however, the majority do use milk. It's used to preserve deli meat, etc. However, this bacon only had sea salt and celery salt as the preservative. Bingo! We have Bacon.

Jeff, while grabbing bacon and pancake mix, bought the sweetest pineapple we've had in a long time. He also bought strawberries and grapefruit, to make a big fruit salad.

And in case anyone's wondering...I'm not sure that sticking to a vegan diet is working! What is interesting though, our animal proteins have significantly decreased, even without eliminating meat, just by cutting dairy and eggs. If we can get back down to having meat once or twice a week, I'll be happy! Of course, the only things we MUST cut out are dairy and eggs.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Dark Chocolate Muffins = Mood Lifter

Half of the house is sick, and it's cold, so that means it's time for chocolate muffins. This recipe came from Flying Apron, but I'd make some modifications before I made it again. Probably some xantham gum, just because they crumbled so easily. Keeping them pretty for a picture was nearly impossible!

There were a couple of different add in suggestions. One was nuts, another raspberries. I made plain, walnut, raspberry, and walnut raspberry. I had the raspberry and it was divine. Not too sweet at all, but certainly rich.


These two are for Gregory's Valentine's party on Thursday. We're going to see how bringing him his own food for parties will go...

Monday, February 7, 2011

Oh Sweet Heavenly Cornbread.

We had a pretty yummy day. The morning was the Lemon and Poppy Seed muffins I baked yesterday.
Lunch was sandwiches in a variety of ways, with the last of the Homemade Wonderful bread. I think we're going to stick with this bread for a while. It's delicious, easy to procure and easy to make.


Tonight was a delicious lentil stew and the most moist and delicious cornbread.


Even Catherine requested more in her lunchbox today! Both recipes came from Gluten-Free Vegan, although, I think I may revert to my old recipe for Lentil Soup.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Sunday, I'm a Full Time Cook!

Another experiment today, Breakfast Risotto, from Gluten-Free Vegan. Arborio rice made with water, coconut milk, cardamom and cinnamon. Added in was pineapple, mango, raisin, and walnuts.



Since I usually don't have too much time on weekdays for much more than oatmeal, I tried my hand at Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins. This recipe was from Flying Apron again. They were beautiful and tasty.

While we liked the Flying Apron House Bread, I wanted to find something a bit lighter for sandwiches. I decided to try Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Homemade Wonderful Bread. It's a bag mix. It called for butter, instead I used Earth's Balance soy free spread, and eggs, instead I substituted pumpkin. What a beautiful bread! And wow, was it easy to slice!


We had it with tuna salad and diced cantaloupe. A little snag with the tuna salad came when I had failed to buy veganaise, saying I would make my own with tahini. Alas, no tahini in my fridge! Oh well, some Newman's Own Light Lime Dressing did the trick.

And for dinner, well a "meat and potatoes" night it was. We had No Meat Meatballs with Cashew Gravy. The "meat"balls were made with mushrooms and rice, and some other spices, etc. Both from Gluten-Free Vegan. I added mashed potatoes and broccoli. The recipe made an enormous amount of meatballs!

And the cashew gravy was wonderful. Jeff raved about it and Gregory ate his whole dinner without even one complaint!

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Another day, another get well soup

Our morning started off with a bowl of Breakfast Rice, from Gluten Free Vegan. This was a really simple recipe. I've made something similar before. I did like the addition of the agave as the sweetener. It was cooked brown rice with added unsweetened rice milk, agave nectar, chopped apples, cinnamon, raisins and walnuts. Delicious!

For lunch we sliced up the last of the Flying Apron's House Bread, spread with peanut butter, and chopped up a cantaloupe.

For dinner, we split ways. I had an After Race Party, with Kingwood Fit. It was BBQ, brisket, sausage, chicken, with beans, potato salad, coleslaw, and sliced bread. Dessert was chocolate chip cookies. Honestly, if it weren't for the company, I would have skipped the dinner, as I'm willing to bet that everything, but the meat, came out of a package.

Jeff stayed with the kids at home, and while I had lentil stew planned, he requested another Get Well Soup. This time I added some rice noodles, since I had no bread baked. I believe we now have enough chicken left for one more meal...hmmm, not sure what that'll be.

Tomorrow will hold a lot more cooking and baking.

Friday, February 4, 2011

Pizza and Maple "Butter" Bars

Our second day of gluten free and vegan when decidedly more "normal" and truly vegan.
Our breakfast was cereal. Some of us ate cereal with gluten, trying to use up the last of the normal cereal, but for Gregory, it was Chex with almond milk. He loved it!
For lunch, we all ate celery sticks and apple slices with a piece of the Flying Apron's House Bread, spread with peanut butter.
For dinner....

A spinach and artichoke pizza, served with a big salad.

Now, for us, eating pizza with no cheese is just fine. Catherine does not eat cheese, because it upsets her stomach horribly. We've ordered and made pizza with no cheese before. If you have a good crust, which this one from The Gluten Free Vegan was, and a delicious pizza sauce, from the same book, it's delicious. Even Amelia ate two pieces!

For dessert, our weekly treat was Maple "Butter" Bars. This was from the Flying Apron cookbook. They were these yummy little shortbreads. Oh my were they delicious. And oh my, are we lucky to have half a pan for a second night of dessert! These were a huge hit!

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Get well soup, it's what's for dinner


Well, I know I said vegan, but tonight's dinner had chicken. I'm emptying the last of the meat we have, careful that nothing has what Gregory is allergic to, and certainly no gluten.



Tonight's dinner was a Get Well Soup. It was a chicken soup, with celery, onion, mushrooms, and re hydrated wakame. That's seaweed! We've had this soup many times and with some Bragg's liquid Amino Acids, it's perfect. I also baked a loaf of the Flying Apron's House Bread, gluten free and vegan, of course. It was beautiful and very flavorful. I need some time to perfect a bread for us, as the bread you can purchase at the store,with a shelf life of a year, will not do.

Going Gluten Free and Vegan

We're on a new journey. A life journey, but specifically a food journey for now. It starts with my son, Gregory, who has been on lots and lots of medicines, with no medical reason besides it keeps him from having pneumonia every month.

See, from the time Gregory was a baby, he had non stop ear infections. At 11 months, he had a set of tubes placed. In no time short, they came out and a second set was done when he was 18 months old. To this day, Gregory is almost 4, they are still in place.

Once the second set of tubes were placed, Gregory began with non stop chest infections. He was on antiobiotics, oral steroids, and the occasional rocephin shot, 3 weeks out of the month. Eventually one allergy and asthma doctor convinced us to put him on Singulair and Pulmicort daily, with Xopenex as needed via the nebulizer. Gregory continued to get sick, so off we went to a pediatric pulmonologist. He kept Singulair, daily, and Xopenex, as needed, but changed the Pulmicort out for Flovent. He made our life much easier by getting rid of the nebulizer and moving to a spacer. We also added Zyrtec and Flonase, both daily. On all 4 of the daily medicines, and a few time a week of Xopenex, Gregory has stayed well for 6 out of 8 weeks. The other 2 weeks are spent on Millipred and/or Orepred and an antibiotic.

Suffice it to say, now that he's some what controlled, finding his trigger is a must. He's been tested for Cystic Fibrosis, negative, and he's had allergy testing. Results, he's allergic to milk, egg, pecans, and shellfish. That's it, no cats, no dogs, no mold, etc. Those things would have made it easy, some allergy shots for a few years, and boom, he's cured.

Not so for Gregory.

A CT Scan showed complete blockage of his sinuses and his adenoids were enormous. Just this last week, his adenoids were removed by the ENT, and his sinuses irrigated. In recovery, Gregory looked well! His eyes weren't swollen, his nose was beautiful, and his face was a spectacular shade of normal! Oh my, how I wished this would work. That is, until the doctor gave me the post op lecture. It went something like,

"Well, he had a disgusting nose...He's been on what antibiotics?...Oh, well they haven't done anything...I irrigated for over 10 minutes and puss just kept pouring...lots of infection."

And the grand, I know about as much as you do moment,

"Well, his nose was clean when I left it, but I'm not hopeful it'll stay that way." *Complete with a look of helplessness*

Seriously, my mind was shouting, "SERIOUSLY!" I can't even tell you what we've spent, how many, this is it moments we've had, and this may work. I say "Bull$hit!" I'm his mother, and obviously I know more than they do when it comes to keeping Gregory healthy.

Immediately I started a gluten free vegan diet. We've enjoyed a largely plant based diet for a long time, but didn't watch for milk or egg. Gluten is linked to lots of conditions, and in some cases, unexplained cases of asthma. Gregory has asthma. Gregory is unexplained. Gregory is allergic to milk, a preservative in most everything, including meat.

Long story short, we are here, now vegan, now gluten free. The whole family.

We're commited to it for the duration it takes to find out what's causing this sickness in my baby boy. We're giving him every shot at a normal life, where he can play outside without the worry of getting sick.

This blog is to follow his and our changes.

And my love of cooking and baking, and the big changes we're making together.