I just received a comment on this post from March of 2008. It made me hungry so I decided to repost it mmmmm.

What’s for Dinner?
Last Friday we had this fabulous comfort food for dinner. The kids loved LOVED it! Minus Joshua of course who is scared of green foods. He asked if next time we make it we could leave out the veggies and only put in mushrooms. Which might actually be pretty good. . .except Kaleb is scared of mushrooms. But I digress; this recipe worked superbly! The filling set up fabulously and the flavor was great. Kaleb and Charleigh went back for seconds and thirds and even the critic, Joshua, ate all his. You’ve got to try it.

In an effort to trick the 5yr old into eating his veggies I let him use a star cookie cutter to dress up the crust. I also gave him a fork and let him pinch the edges together. We called it “Rock Star Chicken Pie”.

Dairy Free Chicken Pot Pie

1 package (10 oz) frozen mixed veggies
1/3 cup olive oil
1 cup fresh spinach thinly sliced
2 garlic finely minced
1/3 cup chopped onion
½ cup flour
1 can chicken broth
2/3 cup soy milk
1/4 tsp Ground Pepper
½ tsp Salt
2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
3 cups diced cooked Chicken
Prepared Pastry for 9-inch two crust pie

Heat oven to 425
Thaw veggies and drain.
In a heavy bottomed sauce pan bring olive oil to medium heat then, sauté onion, garlic and spinach till tender.
Whisk in flour and cook for 1 minute.
Slowly pour in chicken broth and soy milk whisking the whole time.
Bring to boil. (continue whisking)
Cook for 2 minutes or until thick (still whisking)
Mix in veggies and chicken; remove from heat.

Roll 2/3 pastry into 13 inch square.
Gently press into ungreased 9×9x2 inch square pan.
Fill pastry-lined pan with chicken mixture
Roll out remaining pastry into 11 inch square.
Cut out a few designs with a mini cookie cutter.
Arrange the cut outs on top of pastry.
Top chicken mixture with pastry and flute edges.

Optional: brush with an egg wash for a shiny golden finish

Bake 35 minutes or until golden brown

The last piece standing. Joshua might have been right, I may have put to many veggies in. They are colorful though.

Personalize It
You can leave the spinach out if you choose. Lately I’ve been adding it in to almost everything. Once sautéed with garlic and onions it can easily be sneaked into almost any dish with out a single kid noticing.

Choose your family’s favorite veggies. We had a mixture of carrots, peas, corn and green beans

No time to make a crust?
A pre-made Pillsbury crust straight from the store works great. Simply line the square pan and cut off the over hang. Use the extra dough to fill in most the gaps in the corners. Before filling the pan with the chicken lay the second piece of pastry over the top and trim off some of that excess. Remove the top and use those trimmings to finish covering the sides of the pan. Fill the pan with the mixture then cover again and flute the edges.

If you’re making this recipe because of milk allergies or sensitivities make sure to double check the ingredients of the store-bought crust for allergens.

UN-adapt it?
If you’re not dairy conscious simply replace the soy milk with regular cow’s milk. If you’re not cholesterol consciouses I guess you could replace the olive oil for butter. Though you really shouldn’t. . .

Dairy Free, Milk Alergy, Recipes

Charleigh and I whipped this together last night. Mmmm yum. We were quite
proud of ourselves!
 

5 min prep
SERVES 8
 

1 (15 ounce) can black beans (drained)
2 garlic cloves (crushed or grated)
3 green onions (chopped)
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
1/2 lime, juice of
1 teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper
 

Combine first six ingredients in food processor. Mix till well combined.
While mixing add enough olive oil to reach desired consistency. Season with salt
and pepper to taste.
Serve with chips, on pita bread, or on warm tortillas.

wheat free/ dairy free

We got Charleigh’s results in.
Her milk IgG dropped to 82.2 which is way better than before but still places her in the highest “Class 5″ which means she’s “very” highly allergic. Baby girl was not happy to hear about that. . .

Her Egg Yolk and White IgG was 13.6 which puts her in the Moderate “Class 2″
Her Wheat IgG was 12.1 which is also referred to as a Moderate allergy.

With just a moderate allergy we don’t have to completely remove the egg and wheat from her diet but I think we will try to keep them in moderation. I’m so thankful we don’t have to be as vigilant with those two as we do with the milk. That would prove a much more formidable challenge.

Charleigh goes to Amarillo this afternoon for a recheck on a few things:
the IgG of Cow’s milk protein, Soy milk, Corn, Oat, Peanut, Chicken egg, and Wheat IgG.

She is way more excited than any normal child would be to get blood sucked out of her arm. She is quite optimistic that all her levels will healthy and normal and she’s ready for the rest of us to see it as well.

While we’re on the subject let me take the chance to tell you that Charleigh is feeling fabulous! She’s adjusted quite well to a dairy free diet and she’s grown quiet proficient at reading labels. Her headaches and faint/fuzzy episodes are completely gone.

Here are a few of the past posts I’ve found related to Charleigh’s recent health “stuff”.
Last Update2-05-08
The Results are in 1-8-08
Charleigh’s six hour trip to the lab12-19-07 (pictures)

Wow, I just noticed I never really told you guys what started this whole thing. Not much time to do that in detail this morning. How bout this. One day in November Charleigh got really sick, acting drunk, she was lethargic and incoherent. She didn’t know who we were. Who she was. Pretty Scary. Before taking her to the ER we decided to check her blood sugar. It was really really low, we gave her some apple juice concentrate and in a few minutes she perked up. Thats what started the whole thing. We went to the Pediatrician. She did tests, they weren’t great so she sent us to a Pediatric Endocrinologist, he did tests. They weren’t great so he did more tests. Those ones were better. Things are good now. Maybe later I’ll let her tell you the rest of the story. Right now I’ve got to get ready to go.
Love you guys!
Jami Leigh

What’s for Dinner?
Last Friday we had this fabulous comfort food for dinner. The kids loved LOVED it! Minus Joshua of course who is scared of green foods. He asked if next time we make it we could leave out the veggies and only put in mushrooms. Which might actually be pretty good. . .except Kaleb is scared of mushrooms. But I digress; this recipe worked superbly! The filling set up fabulously and the flavor was great. Kaleb and Charleigh went back for seconds and thirds and even the critic, Joshua, ate all his. You’ve got to try it.

In an effort to trick the 5yr old into eating his veggies I let him use a star cookie cutter to dress up the crust. I also gave him a fork and let him pinch the edges together. We called it “Rock Star Chicken Pie”.

Dairy Free Chicken Pot Pie

1 package (10 oz) frozen mixed veggies
1/3 cup olive oil
1 cup fresh spinach thinly sliced
2 garlic finely minced
1/3 cup chopped onion
½ cup flour
1 can chicken broth
2/3 cup soy milk
1/4 tsp Ground Pepper
½ tsp Salt
2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
3 cups diced cooked Chicken
Prepared Pastry for 9-inch two crust pie

Heat oven to 425
Thaw veggies and drain.
In a heavy bottomed sauce pan bring olive oil to medium heat then, sauté onion, garlic and spinach till tender.
Whisk in flour and cook for 1 minute.
Slowly pour in chicken broth and soy milk whisking the whole time.
Bring to boil. (continue whisking)
Cook for 2 minutes or until thick (still whisking)
Mix in veggies and chicken; remove from heat.

Roll 2/3 pastry into 13 inch square.
Gently press into ungreased 9×9x2 inch square pan.
Fill pastry-lined pan with chicken mixture
Roll out remaining pastry into 11 inch square.
Cut out a few designs with a mini cookie cutter.
Arrange the cut outs on top of pastry.
Top chicken mixture with pastry and flute edges.

Optional: brush with an egg wash for a shiny golden finish

Bake 35 minutes or until golden brown

The last piece standing. Joshua might have been right, I may have put to many veggies in. They are colorful though.

Personalize It
You can leave the spinach out if you choose. Lately I’ve been adding it in to almost everything. Once sautéed with garlic and onions it can easily be sneaked into almost any dish with out a single kid noticing.

Choose your family’s favorite veggies. We had a mixture of carrots, peas, corn and green beans

No time to make a crust?
A pre-made Pillsbury crust straight from the store works great. Simply line the square pan and cut off the over hang. Use the extra dough to fill in most the gaps in the corners. Before filling the pan with the chicken lay the second piece of pastry over the top and trim off some of that excess. Remove the top and use those trimmings to finish covering the sides of the pan. Fill the pan with the mixture then cover again and flute the edges.

If you’re making this recipe because of milk allergies or sensitivities make sure to double check the ingredients of the store-bought crust for allergens.

UN-adapt it?
If you’re not dairy conscious simply replace the soy milk with regular cow’s milk. If you’re not cholesterol consciouses I guess you could replace the olive oil for butter. Though you really shouldn’t. . .

Dairy Free, Milk Alergy, Recipes

Charleigh and I put our heads together and with a few pointers from Joshua we came up with this delicious cream sauce.
We grilled up some chicken breast seasoned with an Italian blend then tossed it all together with DreamFields spaghetti. Yummy! We ran out after each of the kids had 3rds. There were no left overs.

Dairy Free- Roasted Garlic Cream Sauce
1 bulb roasted garlic (smooshed up) If you need tips on how to roast garlic first look towards the end of this post
2 TB Olive Oil (or non-dairy butter substitute)
4 TB flour
1 can chicken broth (14 oz)
4 oz Tofutti brand imitation cream cheese.
1 TB freshly grated nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

In a sauce pan, heat oil or melt butter with flour over low heat. Stir rapidly and cook for 1-2 minutes.
Gradually stir in chicken broth while stirring. Bring to boil and cook for 2 minutes. Continue whisking.
Cook till mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.
Thoroughly mix in the “smooshed up” garlic.
Stir in imitation cream cheese one spoon at a time till melted and smooth.
Add Nutmeg, salt and pepper.

Enjoy.

This sauce is so basic you could use it a hundred different ways. It would be easy to double or triple.

With the advice of Joshua we included roasted garlic but you could customize and tweak it anyway you want.

A dash of red pepper flakes would liven in up. Some fresh basil and thyme would be great. Maybe even a combo of sage and mint could come in handy. For the tex-mex inclined I’d throw in some thyme, cumin, and green chilies for a great enchilada sauce maybe I’d even throw in some Tofutti Sour Supreme

If you want a thicker sauce just let it cook a while longer before you add the “cheese”. If you want it thinner, add more liquid.

Oh, and for the vegan out there, just replace the chicken broth with some veggie broth or maybe some soy or rice milk.

For you regular folks, go ahead and replace everything with the real stuff if you feel so inclined.
__________________________________________________________________________
How to roast garlic:

Remove papery outer skin from garlic bulb (do not peel or separate cloves).
Cut top off bulb; brush with 1/2 teaspoon oil.
Wrap in heavy-duty foil.
Bake at 425 for 20 minutes
When garlic cools remove from papery skin and enjoy.
You can spread this on toast, mix it into potatoes, stir into dips and sauces or just eat it straight like Joshua does.

Roast up a bunch and store it in a jar covered with olive oil. It’s alway good to have some sweet garlic in the fridge.

milk allergy, dairy free

It’s easy to alter most recipes into milk free delights. It’s a bit more difficult however to find the quick convenience of the beloved boxed cake mix. I’ve found a few good mixes to keep on hand for those “Charleigh” safe treats. Here’s a few we’ve found.

Note: Before you email me and tell me how incredibly unhealthy these all are let me tell you this:

I already know all about the poly, mono, tran, saturated, sugar, processed goop they all contain. Some days a kids just gotta have a treat, and today is one of those kinda days. I know it’s better to make from scratch but sometimes I run plum outta “scratch”. On this Valentine’s Day there absolutely no “scratch” left in the house so I’ll be making mini brownie cupcakes to take to the class party. I’ll also be baking a few safe sugar cookies. And yes, I’ll be watching like a hawk to make sure no milk derived molecules make it on to my daughter’s plate. Because I am officially “That Mom”.

DUNCAN HINES®:

Family-Style Brownies Chewy Fudge

Moist Deluxe Swiss Chocolate Premium Cake Mix

Cookie Dough:

Pillsbury® Sugar Cookies

Pillsbury® Peanut Butter Cookies

Frostings:

Pillsbury® Creamy Supreme Chocolate Fudge Frosting

Duncan Hines® Creamy Home-Style Classic Chocolate

(Most of the Pillsbury® and Duncan Hines® Frostings are Dairy Free.
Check the Labels)

Other Convenience Foods:

Pillsbury® Refrigerated Pizza Crust

(This is not nearly a compete list, only a few examples of easy to find easy to use dairy free products)

Alert!!! Manufacturers can change ingredients with out notice so if you are dealing with food allergies Always check the label!

Milk Allergy, Dairy Free, Packaged Foods, Cake Mixes

It’s Girl Scout Cookie Season!
Charleigh’s not a girl scout but her friend, Anystin, is and we wanted to be supportive.

I checked the website and found 3 Dairy-Free varieties.

Lemonades
“Savory shortbread slices with a refreshingly tangy lemon icing make any day feel like a sweet summer break.”

Cinna-Spins
“Crispy cinnamon snack swirls in a convenient 100 calorie pack.”

Thanks-A-Lot
“Heart-warming shortbread cookies dipped in fudge and topped with an embossed Thank You message in one of five languages.”

milk free cookies, girl scout cookie allergy info

Here’s a very quick update on Charleigh. This is a copy of a quick email I just sent. It’s just brushing the surface, and not at all grammatically correct. If you want to know more give me a call.

Our trip to the doctor was quite exciting. It appears Charleigh is highly allergic to the milk and only slightly to the egg and wheat. He explained how the allergy was affecting her body and messing with her pancreas. After the two weeks off dairy her body is already healing significantly and our possible type 1 diabetes is a thing of the past. We were quite encouraged to see her progress and he told us that with in a few months he expects her body to heal enough that the diabetic diet will no longer be needed. He also expects the tests to show no allergy to wheat and eggs when we go back.

I feel very blessed that we had such a thorough dr. We could have quite easily focused on the hypoglycemia and spent all our efforts fighting a losing battle.

Note: When I get some time I will pull together some links and research on the correlation of food allergies and hypoglycemia and post them here. This is a very important subject I think could really change some lives.

I had planned on posting some diabetic friendly dairy free recipes for Charleigh. So far none have turned out worth repeating. Here are a few links on Dairy Free Recipes I plan on researching.

All Recipes-Dairy Free Recipes

Go Dairy Free Recipes

Here are a few links to some dairy alternatives.
Perhaps the Vegan Gourmet might have something for us.
The VeganStore also has some Dairy switch ups.
I never thought I’d be shopping “Vegan” but hey, my baby needs some cheese!

Oh look, I just found some local spots as well:
Fountain of Health Natural Food Market in Amarillo

I also found this book:

The Dairy-Free Cookbook This book contains – a detailed introduction with expert advice on Dairy-Free diets, lactose intolerance and milk allergy. -Nutritional notes for each recipe. -Over 50 enticing and delicious dairy-free recipes. -Nutritional Notes for each recipe. -Stunning color photographs of each finished recipe with easy-to-follow step-by-step techniques to help you prepare each dish. -Cook’s tips throughout and ideas for planning balanced meals.

I’m working on a mock alfredo sauce. I’ll let you know how that works out.