If only, if only I were creative, if only

A long time ago now I posted about dairy- and soy-free. I think y'all know that's an ongoing deal; we actually tested Luke and he is very strongly allergic to both food types. I was assured that infants typically outgrow these allergies once they get to be about 1 year old, and really they're not supposed to have much dairy prior to that age anyway.

But yeah, it's not easy for me. Whine whine. ;) Here are some things I have learned:

- Even "Hershey's Special Dark" chocolate has dairy in it.
- Even true dark chocolate chips, sans dairy, have soy lecithin in them. So no chocolate chip cookies for me.
- Earth Balance soy-free margarine is actually very good and I have no complaints.
- You cannot buy store-bought cookies that have no soy in them. You can buy wheat-free, gluten-free, nut-free, dairy-free cookies but you can't buy any freakin' soy-free.
- You can easily make soy-free cookies but they might be kinda bland, particularly because you cannot have chocolate chips in them.
- Carob sucks. (I didn't just learn that. I've always hated carob.)
- You will resent the hell out of Halloween, and Thanksgiving as well, if you have to give up soy and dairy and aren't sure of other ingredients right before these holidays.
- After two weeks of your only grain/starch side dish being quinoa, a baked potato is a culinary work of art. And it remains that way for a month or more.

Additionally, although Luke is generally a happy kid, he still has reflux and still spits up a great deal. So far he doesn't have bleeding reactions to eggs, mushrooms, potatoes, and today I'm trying wheat bread; unfortunately I think these things make him gassy instead. Poor kid.

Well. Why is this post titled about my being creative? Because I feel like, with the foods I know I *can* eat, if I had more time and more imagination I could probably make some really intereting meals. I mean, I'm nearly at a point where I have the basics for everything. Instead I just usually take those basics and make basics out of them. Meats get broiled or pan-fried, grains get boiled, and vegetables get steamed. Everything I eat is one-ingredient, with the exception now of Whole Foods wheat bread. Oh, and the afore-mentioned non-soy margarine. I guess some of that is because I really don't have the time to cook, but not a lot; a few times now I've made dinner for Dan and Dorothy, rather involved dinners in fact: turkey meatloaf, pancakes (technically not dinner, but shut up), and breaded chicken fingers. But I can't improvise to save my life, so for myself, it's just smack it in a pan and heat it up, then eat it later.

I'm going to be bringing a large portion of my Thanksgiving dinner for myself, just to be sure I can eat it (and so as not to put everyone else out), which is also what I'll be doing with my office's annual Thanksgiving potluck - even more so, in fact, since I'll have to provide my own bread, dessert, and quite possibly appetizers. (The dessert table at this potluck is intensely amazing every year so I am considering calling out sick that day.) It's not just the soy/dairy, it's that I'm only eating new foods one at a time to be sure Luke doesn't have a reaction, so I can actually write down a list of hte foods I can eat on a piece of paper and only fill about two lines. Honestly, I think it's under 20 total.

I DO have a delicious recipe for brown-sugar glazed carrots that I'll be bringing. You will all love it, guaranteed. Beyond that, I don't want to limit anyone, so I guess I'll just eat turkey and salad and bring my own dessert. Maybe something with apples.

Dairy- and soy-free life for me

Due to babies with sensitive tummies, I am completely off dairy for the next seven months or perhaps longer. And for the next week or so I'm told to avoid soy as well - then I can reintroduce it and see what happens. The end result here is that I'm at a loss as to what to eat most of the time! I mean , whole foods obviously - but that's such a lot of work that I'd love to find good snackie things that are soy and dairy free... and man, there is pretty much nothing. All-wheat crackers are about it... ohand Clif nectar bars which are all friut and nuts.

The big benefit of this is, WOW to healthy eating! Talk about being forced into eating your fruit and veggie requirements. ;) But I hope I get soy back. I don't even get many options for margerine. Anyone who knows of good soy-free options, pls let me know!

The downside is that if Luke's tummy troubles don't clear up soon, I may have to stop breastfeeding. :P But we're being optimistic!

Veggie Burgers From Scratch

Happy Labor Day, everybody! A day late.

We didn't do anything special in the Phil-Charlotte household- Phil's been working everyday, so when he got from work we decided to just relax together. We did, of course, get some beer and movies and make a lot of food.

I bought Happy Herbivore's Backyard Vegan E-Cookbook a few months ago and still haven't made anything, so I thought Labor Day (what I always think of as the last weekend in summer) might be a good opportunity to try out some recipes. I made the mushroom burgers and the potato salad. We loved both!

Here's Phil's:
His has mustard, sprouts, avocado, tomato (that's the thick green thing-- they were heirlooms) and onion.

And mine:
Same as Phil's but with lettuce instead of sprouts and the addition of ketchup.

I baked ours, then panfried them (without oil-- still frying?). They turned out well for the most part, but next time I might reduce the amount of water in the recipe. I had to bake them for a really long time for them to firm up enough to not fall apart, and even then only the outside was firm. Biting into them was sort of like biting into a casing full of mush ... that tasted good. The whole thing was really satisfying, however, and we have leftovers shaped up in the freezer for another night.

I really liked the potato salad. It was incredibly simple, but great. I also made garlicky sauteed kale. Here's my whole plate:


We devoured our food while watching the first disc of season 3 of Dexter, our new favorite show. All in all, a good night.

BTW, the buns we used are made by Ultimate Grains, and are 100% whole grain and "all natural". For a product review, check out my blog!

Lightlife Foods Lemon Flavored Tempehtations

I tried something new this past weekend. While shopping at Whole Foods recently, I noticed this little package of lemon flavored tempeh made by Lightlife Foods. I like tempeh but I wasn't exactly sure what to do with this stuff. So I let it sit for a few days until I got some inspiration. What I ended up doing was making the usual, a rice salad full of vegetables from my refrigerator and pantry that I thought would go well with the lemon-flavored tempeh. Since the tempeh was already flavored, I felt that there was not much need for me to add much in the way of seasonings. Basically, I started by making 2 servings of rice in the way I usually cook rice, that is, by sauteeing onion, adding the rice and then cooking the rice in vegetable broth for 15-20 minutes. While the rice was cooking, I chopped some garlic and sauteed that in a saucepan or skillet with enough spinach to serve 2 people. I added quartered artichoke hearts and some cherry tomatoes which I had heated in a pan with some olive oil until the tomatoes got a little bursted looking. I added everything to the spinach mixture, rice and all and then gave it a big tossing so that all was combined and then I ate half of it since it was essentially 2 servings. Personally, I have to say that the rice salad itself was delicious, but the tempeh with the lemon flavoring was so strong that I don't think I could have eaten it without the rice or artichokes or spinach. The tempeh was good in combination with those foods, but by itself I think it would almost have been unpleasant. But then I guess that's the way it is with tempeh. I ate the second half a couple of days later for lunch and it was a bit better. Very satisfying and very filling! Plus, I was surprised to find that it was not very high in sodium. That's always a good thing!

Try it, you'll like it - maybe

Tonight for dinner it was just me so I decided to heat up this chicken-less cutlet that I had picked up at Trader Joe's. I had gotten them (there are 2 cutlets in a package) for one of my vegetarian daughters who had visited last week; she ate one and said it was pretty good, and I was looking forward to trying one of them myself even though I am not vegetarian. Anyway, to make a short story short, it was pretty good! Very tasty and nice, the only problem is that you feel like you could eat several of them. So just be sure to have them with some rice and a salad or vegetable. If I were rating them, I would definitely give them 4 stars - I can't give them 5 since they are a little on the light side and leave you wanting more!

Pantry Staples Revisited

A short while ago, one of my daughters posted here about Pantry Staples. I would like to add my thoughts about pantry staples here because I think personally that these pantry staples should be everyone's pantry staples. The items I have listed here go a long way towards adding flavor, and should always be on hand.

Lemons - limes can be substituted for a slightly different twist.
Soy sauce - use low-sodium; soy sauce has so much flavor, and you really do not need the added sodium.
vegetable broth - again, low sodium works well. You don't need the sodium when you have the full flavor of the veggie broth which is so much better than just plain water.
vinegar - preferably apple cider vinegar, but you can try any variety. Go easy on balsamic, however. It has a lot of acidity.
capers - I don't know what these little buggers are but yum, they give a nice little kick when added with lemon juice. And just a small jar goes a long long way.
Roasted red peppers - chop them up and add them to rice, vegetables, or whatever and you've got a blast going on! They're great!

Well, that's all I can think of for now. But I think that's a good start to a well-stocked pantry of flavor.

how to prepare some pretty good rice

We eat a lot of rice in our house. My daughters grew up with rice as a regular side, one that was more commonplace than potatoes or pasta. Very early on I learned a valuable cooking tool from my mother-in-law who is quite a good cook. She taught me how to make really good rice. And it's very easy. Here's how: Take a little bit of chopped onion and saute in your rice pan with some olive oil. After the chopped onion begins to sweat, add your measured rice and toast the rice with the onion. It doesn't matter really how long you toast your rice, as long as you don't over-toast it. I actually walked away from mine the other evening while it was toasting and I forgot about it for a couple of minutes. When I came back to the pot, the rice was golden-toasty and no worse for the wear. I was afraid I had burned it but luck was mine and the rice was fine. After you have toasted your rice in the olive oil with the onion, you can add your liquid. Here you can use your own imagination and add or substitute whatever liquid strikes your fancy. I frequently use vegetable broth, low-sodium, but water works well here too. When the liquid comes to the boil, cover your pot and cook as directed, which usually means on a low flame for approximately 15 minutes. When your cooking time is up, voila! You have pretty tasty rice!