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

I’ve instituted the “One Taco Test” locally. Since I know you are all equally as interested in this as I am I’ll post my findings here.
“What is the one taco test ?” you ask. Don’t worry I’ll fill you in. First, I google mapped the lovely town of Dumas, TX then searched “nearby” for the word “Taco”. Eight restaurants showed up for Dumas, then I searched for “Mexican restaurant” and found one more local spot that serves tacos. This gives me nine locations to start with. After I finish with those I can start looking at the various other cafes and fast food joints that serve tacos.

So now that we know where we’re going I’ll tell you what we’re doing. We are my friends in search of the perfect taco. Said taco will be judged on taste, size, price, and accompanying condiments. Each restaurateur will be given one shot on one taco. No sides will be ordered and no drink added. While service and ambiance are valuable they will be left out the judging process. Why? Well, because I’m friends with some of the taqueria owners and I wouldn’t want to be biased. So no one tell Adrian I’m doing this, Okay? That being said I’ll still comment on service but I won’t count it in the final crowning.

View Larger Map

Yesterday we began the test. Where did we go?
La Herradura
423 S Dumas Ave
Dumas, TX 79029
(806) 935-3077

(the little D on the map)

Oh, how I wish I’d taken a picture of my little taco, I will in the future I promise.
La Herradura is easy to find it’s a bright yellow little building resting on the east side of HWY 287.
I used the drive through and ordered one taco, no cheese.
The sweet girl’s English was really good, but I think she was concerned that I might not know what I was getting. She made sure I wanted “steak on a corn tortilla” I said yes. She let me know the tacos were pretty little and showed me with her hands the approximate size. I assured her that was fine and I only wanted one for tasting. She smiled knowingly and disappeared into the kitchen.
After a reasonable amount of time she came for my money:
$1.60 +tax

She then returned with a Styrofoam container and a smile.
Upon opening the little square package I found a nicely foil wrapped package, accompanying it was a lime wedge (big points) and three small plastic containers. The first was filled with chopped cilantro (mucho points), the second with finely diced onion, and third with their home made salsa.
Inside the foil I found a soft corn tortilla of about 4 inch diameter. On it was a tasty mixture of carne asada and grilled onions.

After adorning my taco with all its fine accessories I happily scarfed it down.

Flavor Good!
Condiments GOOD!
Size: Small
Price: Ummm I’m not sure.
(Well let’s just say it’d take a minimum of three to stop my stomach from rumbling and more like four to make me happy so I’m not to impressed with the price/size ratio but that being said it’s my first stop, we’ll see as the days go on how it compares.)

One point of the taco test however is to see whether we want to venture a little further into the menu. It is possible that on a “meal” you could get much better value. We can’t take this into consideration thought because after all it is the “One Taco Test”.

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

The most anticipated birthday ever has finally arrived! Joshua has been looking forward to 6 and talking about it every day since the day before he turned 5.

Yesterday we celebrated by going to the pool in Sunray with the Glazner’s. Well actually Amy and I had already planned on going but I took the opportunity to build it up and get B-day credits for it. When I bought him a bag of Fritos at the snack stand he turned and said “Thanks for the birthday chips!” “Sure, kid. . .happy uh. . .birthday.”

Even when Kaleb did this dive he passed it off as a Joshua Birthday Surprise.

We do that a lot around here, manipulate I mean. In fact this morning I was even able to pass off the Cinnamon Toast Crunch as a grand birthday surprise.

mmmm cinnamon

Tonight we’re having his choice of menu for his birthday dinner, he’s chosen BBQ meatballs with Mac N Cheese, Carrots and Cinnamon Cake. (The kid likes cinammon) I’m going to have to come up with someway to make that meal dairy and wheat free. . .not sure how that’s going to work out.

I did find this recipe from our newestTaste of Home

Barbecued Meatballs- Dairy Free, Wheat Free
prep:25min / Bake 20 min
1 egg beaten
1 cup crisp rice cereal, crushed, divided
1 TB finely chopped onion
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 pound ground beef

Sauce:
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 TB ketchup
1 tsp prepared mustard
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

In a large bowl, combine the egg, 3/4 cup cereal, onion, salt and pepper. Crumble beef over mixture and mix well. For sauce, in a small bowl combine the remaining ingredients. Add 2 TB sauce to meat mixture; mix well. Shape into 1 1/2 in balls.
Place meatballs on a greased rack in a shallow baking pan. Brush with remaining sauce; sprinkle with remaining cereal. Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees for 20 -25 minutes or until no longer pink; drain Yield: 1 1/2 dozen

I haven’t tried it yet but I’ll let you know how it turns out.

His party is Sunday after church, the invite list is well over 40 so we’ll be cutting the menu down to hotdogs and chips. With of course, cinnamon ice cream and cinnamon cake. Mmmm cinnamon. If we know you and you’re not an internet wacko then you’re invited too! Just give me a call to RSVP. The food may not be great but the people that will be here are more than enough to make up for that! We have some pretty awesome friends and we don’t mind sharing them.

Allergy Warning:
The Cinnamon Toast Crunch is NOT wheat free.
(Joshua is not the one with allergies so this morning he was blessed with sugary cereal covered in REAL cow milk)

Also: In the meatball recipe make sure to double check the rice cereal and buy one without wheat or milk.

I thought it would be good to share a few of last years left-overs. Remember when we made these cute nests for Easter? The kids loved them. I’m going to try a dairy-free version but until then here’s the old recipe. Which, by the way, was link to by the Food Network website. Fun huh?

Bird Nests

4 cups Crunchy Chow Mein Noodles
1/4 cup Butter
2 cups mini marshmallows
1 pkg Mini Robin Egg candy
Package of Peeps
Cooking Spray

Use a 6 or 12 cup muffin tin depending on desired size of
nests.  We made only 6 nest with this recipe so we could overlap the top
and give an "edge" for our bird to sit on.

1.  Heat butter and marshmallows over medium heat

2.  Stir till melted

3. 
Add noodles and stir till completely coated

4.  Spray muffin tin then
hands with cooking spray.

5.  Place mixture into muffin cups and
shape with hands to form "nests".

6.  Refrigerate approximately 30
minutes later, gently remove nests from muffin tin and perch a Peep on the side. 
It helps if the nest is still a bit sticky, this will "glue" the peep on.

7.  Place nests on a tray and put back
in the fridge till completely set.

8. Fill with candy eggs.

 You could serve these right away or
wrap them in a pretty cellophane bag and give them as a gift. 

Actual work time: 6-8 minutes

Total time:  45minutes

These
nests are a great project for kids!  There are many various recipes
including chocolate and peanut butter but this is the one Joshua thinks looks
the most realistic.  It also happens to be the easiest and least time
consuming which makes mommy pretty happy too. 

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

For 5 years Dreamfields Pasta has been top choice in our house. I found them in my carb-phobic days and we’ve stuck with them since. This is a truly great tasting pasta. The family has no idea they’re eating something healthy. With only 5 grams of digestible carbs per serving and twice the fiber of regular pasta I have no qualms feeding this to my hypoglycemic Kurt and Charleigh. As the low-carb craze fades into yesterday it seems harder and harder to find our beloved brand. Then enters Amazon. All varieties are available either in bulk or in single packages. I recommend getting the six box pack. It qualifies for FREE Super Saver Shipping and the single boxes come with a hefty 4.99 shipping a piece. Ouch!

Diabetic, low glycemic, high protein pasta