Bento Box & Mini Burgers

I am sort of obsessed with the bento box plates. It almost forces me to feed the kids a well balanced meal because I have to fill the sections.

Tonight I made mini burgers, sort of a cross between meatballs and sliders. We are keeping Ava off gluten (for her sinuses & allergies). A slider without the bun is like a meatball. So I decided to mix worcestershire sauce, onion powder, garlic powder, salt & pepper with ground beef, roll into balls, and bake at 400 for 25 minutes. I put cheese on at the last minute.

While I was baking the burgers I threw in the oven Ore Ida Simply Fries and Broccoli drizzled with Olive Oil.

Prep work took five minutes, all three dishes were done at the same time, and no one complained about what I made. Success.

Disney with Allergies

Disney on a three day weekend was an awful idea! My son, Vince, wanted to go there instead of have a birthday party this year. I didn't realize there was a marathon, NJ teacher convention, and it was Veteran's Day. I thought we would pop in to the Food & Wine Festival, enjoy our wine while the kids frolicked around happy and high on Disney. I did not envision lines too long for an adult's patience and definitely too long for three hyper children. Vince kept asking to go back to the hotel. Thank God my kids didn't care what rides they went on and we just hung back and went on whatever rides had short lines.

While I was not worrying about how busy it was going to be, I was worrying about the food. I assumed there would be some options but did not realize how many. Thanks to a fellow mom of kids with allergies, who is also obsessed wit Disney, I was able to go to Disney worry free! (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Aspergers-and-Allergies-and-ADHD-Oh-My/498157626910265?ref=hl)

I had no idea, but Disney is the place to be if you have food issues. They have a more choices and educated chefs than anywhere I have been so far. We had a chef come to our table at every restaurant from the quick fast food places to the nicer restaurants. I even learned about a new brand while I was there, OMG (http://omgitsglutenfree.com). With sooo many options, I pigged out! We had their chicken nuggets, pizza, fries, mac n cheese, brownies, corn bread, ribs...OMG!

So if you are headed to Disney, you don't even need to research. Ask the nearest "Cast Member" and they will send out a handy, knowledgable chef to help you. So lines or not, enjoy the Disney Dining.

C.R. Chicks

In my search for peaceful afternoons, free of me screaming and burning food and the kids whining and telling me they don't like what I cooked, I have been on a hunt for take out restaurants. Now many of our friends have no issues with take out. Order and pick up, stress free. But I have to consider the ingredients and the likely hood that the teenager up front is not completely educated on the ingredients in the food they are serving (no offense teenagers if you are reading).

I have blogged about a few places (Chipotle & Your Pie) who are super conscientious about food allergies. I have found another one! Yay! C.R. Chicks (http://www.crchickswpb.com/index.shtml) is mostly gluten-free and they have a hand out with all the ingredients in everything on the menu. The food tastes fresh, healthy, and delicious. My kids loved the chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, and the cucumber salad. To top it off, it was not expensive at all. I fed my family of five big eaters for $25 (The Big Family Dinner-2 Chickens and 3 Large Sides). Kids meals are around $2-$4. The place was casual and so family friendly that after my kids ate the girls did a dance routine next to our table! I am sure that was inappropriate for me to let them but I was so happy they ate a big healthy dinner and I had no cleaning up that I didn't care.

So I hope I help you this week. Take a night off from cooking, fighting, and cleaning. Eat there or Take out. They have 7 locations in Palm Beach County. Enjoy!

Banana Muffins

I love when our bananas get too ripe to eat, an excuse to make banana bread. Today I decided to try banana muffins and I researched some sugar free ideas. I can't exactly quote a website or recipe because I took ideas from a few. Here is what I came up with:

Banana Muffins

In a VitaMix (or if you don't have one just mix)...
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup coconut oil
3 brown bananas
1/2 cup honey
3 tsp Ener-G egg replacer mixed with 2 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp ground flaxseed mixed with 6 Tbsp water

Once those are blended add...
1 cup All Purpose Gluten Free Flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Blend again. Then fill muffin tins 3/4 way full and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

So the house isn't clean, the laundry isn't put away, and the grocery shopping isn't done, but we have fresh banana muffins. Sunday Funday.

New Year's Resolution

L'Shana Tova to my fellow Jews.

Why does it feel like every year for the last 7 years I have had the same New Year's Resolution?... Stop Losing My Temper!

I lay awake almost every night or fear almost every day that something bad will happen to my children. It is my biggest fear in the whole world. I worry about their allergies constantly. I can't even go on Facebook lately because people continuously post the same story of the little girl who lost her life to a peanut allergy. It is my worst nightmare come true for another family. And just the headline of the article sends me into a deep dark hole of worry. I am constantly baking and cooking trying to make my kids happy, safe, and "like everyone else" at school and parties. I volunteer as much as possible at the school to keep an extra eye on my kids, make sure there was no food brought in that I missed, or any random hives on their faces. I am constantly shopping for food that is new and exciting for them. I bought them croissants yesterday just because I could, no eggs-who knew!

So I spend my whole life worrying about and trying to make my kids healthy and happy. Why is it I lose my temper at them almost daily?!?! It is devastating. As a trained therapist I KNOW that it is harder to raise kids well. I know it is easier to spoil kids and always say yes. I know kids who never have limits end up handicapped and almost always can't function in the real world. I know when I fight over bed time or bad behavior or homework or manners that I am doing the right thing but it is so painful!! I am sick of having to make my resolution to stop losing my temper.

So today I am setting my resolution to Lose My Temper Less. Never is unrealistic, but less is doable. I also pray for a happy, healthy, and safe New Year for my family and yours.

Baked Ziti, Gluten-Free

Back to school. I have been longing for this day for weeks. I was dying for a good routine, kids busy all day with mind enhancing activities, and my personal life getting back on track. I guess I set my standards too high, cause so far this week has been a spiritual let down. Nothing bad happened, in fact, it has been all good. Kids love going to school, love their teachers and friends, no tears, no clothing or hair meltdowns. The let down is all me. I am not good with transition and never have been. My mom said I cried every Sunday night. The simple transition from weekend to week was even hard for me. In the eight years since I have been a mother I always have a hard time during the 2 week winter break, the beginning of summer, and the beginning of school.

Anyways, I needed some comfort food this week. I need a good old fashion pig out night and a dinner no one would whine about. I needed an easy, yummy, kid friendly dish. BAKED ZITI. I pulled it together at the last minute with whatever was left in the fridge.

First, I sauteed ground white turkey meat. Then threw it in the crock pot.
Second, I sauteed a bag of broccoli slaw in some olive oil. Then threw it in the crock pot.
Third, I added a jar of Mario Batali sauce to the crock pot with salt and pepper.

I let that cook for 3 hours. Then I made Jovial Gluten Free Pasta. I added pasta, sauce, and shredded mozzarella cheese in a lasagna pan and baked at 350 for 15 minutes. Voila! Gluten-Free Baked Ziti. It totally hit the spot. The whole family liked it and in case you are wondering, the kids did not notice the broccoli slaw. In the 3 hours it disappeared into the sauce.

My side dish was a simple salad with cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, avocado, and mini fresh mozzarella balls with a balsamic, olive oil, and dijon dressing.

What I thought would be high fives and jumping for joy turned out to be an unexpected case of the back-to-school-blues. Nothing a few days and a good baked ziti won't fix.

Summer Traveling, Everything-Free Style

It has been a while since my last post. I spent a summer traveling, working, driving, coordinating, planning, packing, unpacking, and EATING!

My trip to New York City was without children. So without having to worry about eggs, nuts, or sesame, I was on a Gluten-Free mission. First, we first went to Risotteria (http://www.risotteria.com/), which has GF bread sticks, risotto, meatballs, pizza, paninis, and gluten-free dessert. Everything was great and even greater was not having "food anxiety". 

Next, on the way to my friend's Brooklyn wedding we headed to Park Slope where my cousin Shuna bakes for Brooklyn Larder (http://www.bklynlarder.com/). There I got to try a GF Pistachio Cake, Almond Cheesecake Crust crumbles, and an assortment of dinner foods. You can order her Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour (which I posted about) and many other things on their website. Needless to say, when I went to put on the dress for the wedding I could not breathe. 

Thanks to my cousin Jesse and his GF friend Sami, I found the MOST delicious raviolis I ever had in my life. Bistango (http://bistangonyc.com/) was a dream come true. I actually almost never made it there. As we were getting ready to leave our apartment for the airport, I got an email that our flight was cancelled. We rescheduled later in the day and booked it to Bistango. I sat down and a plate of GF bread and oil was served. It was so good I had to double check that it was really missing the gluten. Then we ordered the Spinach & Ricotta Raviolis with Pesto Sauce and Sundried Tomato & Goat Cheese Raviolis with Marinara Sauce. Both were perfect. 

My last trip was a 2 week road trip to North Carolina. On the trip I discovered the app called Find Me GF. You plug in an address or city and a list of GF friendly places come up. I only wish I found the app sooner. It made roadtripping with allergies much easier. Even though the kids are not gluten-free, a place that is gluten allergy conscious is usually conscious of all allergies. One of those places I found was a bakery in Jacksonville, Sweet Theory (https://www.facebook.com/SweetRevolutionBakingCo). I am coming off a cupcake high at the moment. All of their cupcakes are Gluten-Free, Egg-free, Dairy-Free & Nut-free (they only use coconut oil) and their other desserts are all Egg-Free, Dairy-Free, Soy-Free, and Nut-free.  I got the kids donuts and cinnamon rolls, things they never get to eat, and I got us all a dozen of their Everything-Free Cupcakes. We spent all weekend testing the different desserts and I swear to God every single one was perfection! I am dying right now after eating (sharing with the fam) banana, carrot, and chocolate chip cupcakes. Earlier we had vanilla lavender and chocolate brownie cupcakes. I just have to call and see if they mail their desserts. If not, I will have to make a trip up there more often.

Another place I found on the Find Me GF app is Zoes Kitchen (http://zoeskitchen.com/). They are a fast food, mediterranean style restaurant with locations all over the country...not in South Florida, yet! Their food is fresh and simple. They label Gluten-Free, Vegetarian, and Vegan dishes which makes a lot of lives easier. They cater too! Their kids menu is great, offering "chicken fingers" which are actually grilled chicken strips with a side of fruit. 

So here I am full, tired, and looking at piles of laundry. School starts in a week, back to work tomorrow after 2 weeks off, toys and clothes busting out of the rooms, and I truely think it was one of my favorite summers since the kids were born.