No Tomato BBQ Sauce

I am sooo excited! Something happened today that had my #3 child jumping for joy.

We have searched and tried for quite some time to find BBQ sauce without tomatoes that is palatable for a child. (There's a reason they put sugar in the ketchup.) Since nightshades and additives are a big "no-no", store bought sauces have not worked for us. Today we had a roast in our old friend the crockpot and a some serious hankering for BBQ.

Once again I googled and searched. Then viola'!!!  There was this allergy friendly recipe made with common household items. (What a concept!) I cut, paste and printed that bad boy then handed the recipes to my hubby. "Have at it," I said. "Let us see how it turns out."

Umm.... YUM, it was!
Thank you Mr. Riches at About.com for making one night-shade free kid happy and his mama proud.


(By Derrick Riches, About.com Guide)

Sweet Mustard Barbecue Sauce

This is a mustard-based barbecue sauce, which might sound strange to a few people, but is actually a delicious Southern barbecue sauce. The combination of mustard and molasses gives barbecued meats a sweet and sour flavor.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Yield: Makes about 2 cups

Ingredients:
• 1 cup prepared mustard
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1/4 teaspoon powdered oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon powdered thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne (we left out the cayenne, because we think it's a nightshade and it was totally yummy without it)

Preparation:

Combine dry ingredients in a saucepan. Add enough vinegar to make a mixable paste. Mix well. Place over high heat and add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
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NOTE: throw this stuff in with your roast and let is simmer on slow.... melt in your mouth BBQ shall ensue.

Quick Rice YUM!

This recipe was born out of a need to make something quick with what was on hand. Also, I was truly hankering for some recipes with some coconut flavor but lacked some ingredients. So I played around and it turned out great!

Quick RICE Yum

2-3 c. cooked brown rice (sweet is yum)
2 Tbsp oil
1 tsp sesame seeds
1 large carrot, shredded
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tsp garlic, powdered (or use fresh)
1/2 tsp curry
1 tsp cilantro
1 tsp salt
1/4 c. dates, chopped (or raisins)
1/4 c. chopped almonds
2-3 c. water (or you could use coconut milk and omit coconut flour)
1 c. green beans (already cooked)
1 c. kidney beans (already cooked)
¼ c. coconut flour

In a skillet, heat oil and add sesame seeds. When they begin to pop, stir in onion and carrot shavings. Cook for a few minutes until the onions begin to get soft, then stir in curry, garlic, cilantro and salt. Combine well, then add rice, beans, nuts and dates. Add the water and stir well. Cover, bring to a boil, then simmer on low until flavor is cooked through.

Serves 4-6

The fun part of this recipe if that you can vary the beans/vegetables. You can omit the coconut if it’s not your thing. You can cook the rice/fresh green beans with all the seasonings on low (or use your handy, dandy crockpot). Have fun!

Rice Yogurt! Coconut Yogurt!

I just love discovering new things.  I've always been a yogurt fan... long before it was cool and people even knew what "probiotics" were.  After we found out about the diary allergies we switched to soy yogurt for the kids.  However, my hubby and now forth child just can't do soy.  (Little man breaks out in hives!)  So yogurt has only been snuck into the house when no one was looking and eaten behind closed doors.(Seriously.... it's sad... I know...)

Until now....
Viola'!  Rice Yogurt!  Coconut Yogurt!!!! 
I soooo am digging out some cake recipes that use yogurt in them!  Just wait.... they are coming soon! However, smoothies will take on a new meaning.... fruit and yogurt swirled together, maybe even some agave nectar.... ummmm......

Sorry, I must go pull out the blender!

Have fun...
http://www.ricerafoods.com/
http://www.turtlemountain.com/products/coconut_yogurt.html

Easy Watermelon Sorbet

Sometimes, I just want to go to the store and buy some ice cream! Or sorbet! Or some frozen dessert that is allergy friendly and not loaded with lots of chemicals!  Sure, I can head off to the health food store and find something... but when you have to pay a ginormous price for an eensy-weensy cup of dessert... well, with four kids... that just doesn't go very far. 

So I had a watermelons and some hungry chitlins wanting some "zert" [i.e. what my four year old calls dessert].  Sorbet sounded wonderful to me... but I had to look around and experiment a bit to find something that worked without alcohol or corn syrup.  There are tons of marvelous recipes out there if corn or alcohol or dairy isn't an issue for you.

Easy Watermelon Sorbet

Watermelon
1 c. Water
1 c. Sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 tbsp. Lime Juice




1. Take the equal amounts of sugar and water and stir them together.  Heat them in a microwave to bring them to a boil (stir every minute or so to keep the sugar dissolving).  You are basically making a sugar syrup out of this.  Once you have this nice sticky syrup... let it cool down.
2. seed and chop up some watermelon (or buy seedless)
3. puree the watermelon (you need 4-6 cups of puree)
4. add the syrup, vanilla and lime juice to the blender/food processor and make it nice and slushy. 
5. Immediately put in a covered freezer container to freeze. 

Takes 4+ hours to freeze, then you scoop and serve!!!

Tip:  I didn't let my "syrup" cool down enough and my sorbet didn't want to freeze.  My kids were dying to have some, so I took out have of the slush mixture, put it in the blender with some ice and made one awesome slushy/sorbet mixture.  It really froze up nicely with the ice added.... yum!!!  But very sweet!

Praise the Lord and pass the Pepper!!!!

... The BLACK pepper that is!

For those who may not know, we have been avoiding the night-shades family of foods the last couple of years.  You know... tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, egg plant and anything with nitrates and nitrites in it [preservatives... in bacon and lunch meats, etc.]

We started doing this after much research and exhausting many other means of helping our dear son through a bout of what the docs considered to be juvenile arthritis.  Even though we had diligently been following our gluten free, dairy free, et. al. life style... little man just kept not feeling well.  We would have to drag him out of the bed in the morning.  Honestly, we thought he was just having growing pains.  Then one day we finally noticed how swollen he knee was! 

Months later.... and many doctor visits, x-rays, two knee taps and and MRI later... a dear PA friend was chatting with a specialist in Atlanta about JA (Juvenile Arthritis).  The specialist was rambling on about the many things they seemed to notice we somehow linked to the onset of JA.... gluten enteropathy being one of them.  Our friend told the specialist... "Funny you should mention that... You should know his family history..."

So off we went to do more research and tweak on little man's diet.  We sort of "accidentally" discovered the preservative/night shade link up.  All I know is that after months of being preservative and night shades free... little man was on the mends!  [Here are some links to some research in this area.  Many of the current research are still being studied and aren't really available publicly.]

You can look up info about Juvenile Arthritis here.

So there I am surfing the web and viola'!  Somehow, I had missed that black pepper [the kind you keep on the table with your salt] was not a factor in the arthritis situation. 

Tonight.... the pepper shaker goes back on the table baby!  Little man is gonna' love his grits in the morning!!!

Southern Grits (Polenta)

We don't buy the major name brand names in the regular aisles of the store.  They have preservatives.... and little man can't have those.  They have great options in the health food section though.

1 c. old fashioned corn grits
2 c. water
2 tbsp. real butter or oil
salt/pepper to taste

Dump it in the pot, bring the water to a boil, then turn it down to simmer and leave the lid on.  Go dry your hair... then come back and serve it up with some sausage and OJ!

Northern Grits (kinda like cream of wheat, but corn/rice)

1 c. old fashioned corn grits or rice grits
2 c. water OR 2 c. rice/almond milk
brown sugar or honey or fruit preserves

Dump everything in but the sweetener, bring to a boil, turn it down to simmer with the lid on it.  Stir in the sweetener when you are ready to serve it.

Chocolate Belgian Waffle Recipe

I was in a funky mood.

My sweet daughter (my morning child... which she does NOT get from her mother) comes to my bedroom the other morning.  She sweetly asks me if I would like for her to make waffles.  I smile.  (I mean really! Who would not want someone else to make them homemade waffles from scratch..... seriously!)  She asks me, "Blueberries or no blueberries???" 

I look at her and think of the little containers of fresh strawberries I had bought the day before..... "Hey, sweetie.... Do you think you could make mine with some strawberries on top?"

She looks at me and says, "Sure, Mom."

Then I thought about the other things I had bought at the store, the days gone by when we could actually visit a restaurant that serves breakfast and had this incredibly wild hair.... "Hey, sweeeeetieeeee."  [with all the sweetness I could muster that early in the morning] 

She says, "Yeeesssss???"

I say, "What do you think about adding some cocoa powder in there and making them chocolate.  Then I could cut up the strawberries for a sauce on the top and then sprinkle it with powered sugar!"

She looks at me as if I had lost my mind.... [we do not typically serve sugar as a breakfast item around our house].... "What???" 

I crawl out of bed, tell her to get the ingredients out while I run a toothbrush over my morning breath, drag myself to kitchen,  and sweetie pie and I began our concoction.......

Chocolate Belgian Waffles

1 c. white rice flour

1 c. brown rice flour

1 c. corn starch (or potato or tapioca starch)

4 tsp. baking powder

3 Tbsp. cocoa (more or less to taste)

2 Tbsp. sugar

2 tsp. xanthan gum

1/2 c. oil

1 Tbsp. vinegar

2 tsp. vanilla

3 c. water

3 Tbsp. flax meal + 1 tsp. gelatin (heat this in a microwave and stir for about a minute)

Topping:

Strawberries (washed and chopped or make into a gel with some tapioca & water and puree)

Powdered sugar

Heat the waffle iron and coat with a cooking spray.  In a small bowl, sift together flours, baking powder, salt and sugar. 

Beat flax mixture (like an egg replacer) in large bowl.  Add in oil, buttermilk, vanilla extract, and the sifted dry ingredients.  Beat just until blended.

Pour 1/4 of the batter onto the heated waffle iron.  Close and bake until steaming stops.  Repeat with remaining batter.  Makes about 6 waffles (depending on the size of your waffle iron)

Note: you can also drizzle chocolate syrup across the tops instead of syrup.

Warning: Pretty much be prepared to have hyper children after this breakfast!

Crock Pot Roast & Cobbler

There's a nippy feeling in the air. I even saw a small flock of geese in their V formation flying over just the other day! Fall is coming. It makes me think of the fair, hay rides, wearing jackets in the morning waiting on the bus and running barefoot in the afternoons when the day warmed. Also, the last of the garden was usually coming in and grandma would make lots of soup. Mom would have that crock pot a bubbling.... the smells getting off the bus would make you run to the house to just get a taste!

I got so excited last week I ran out and change my lawn decorations then came in and threw a roast in the crockpot! 

Then I tried something I had wanted to for a long time.... Crockpot Cobbler!  It worked wonderfully. 

I threw it all in and we came home Sunday to a dinner my sweet grandmother would have been proud of!

My crockpot seems to be my best friend on busy days. One of the few things you can just leave running and come back in a few hours to enjoy! With not eating out very often I have come to appreciate this little device in so many ways in the last several years. So dearies.... pull that thing out of the back of your closet, remove the dust and crank it up! It's time for some yum!

Cobbler in a crock pot!

Easy Roast!
Roast
Salt
Garlic (opt.)
Onion
Carrots, celery, potatoes (or sweet potatoes!), green beans or other fresh veggie.
Water (apprx. 2 cups)

Brown the roast in a pan first with the salt, onion and garlic then place in the bottom of the crockpot.  Chop veggies and mound on top of the meat.  Pour water over the top.  Place on lid and turn it on.

3-8 hours depending on your crockpot settings!

Tip:  You can make cobbler in your crock pot too!  Just place the fruit and liquid in the bottom, pour on the topping, place the lid on and keep the setting low.  Fresh fruit or frozen fruit works best for this.