Another dessert and a kiddo update!

So last night I modified a lemon cake recipe that I was a little apprehensive would turn out... But it wasn't bad! I made these super awesome lemon brownies before I went on this diet and they sounded so good so this was the next best thing...

I used brown rice flour but I think it would have tasted better with an oat or some other gluten-free flour, but I'm still experimenting. On to the recipe....

Lemon Cake

Cake:

1 1/2 c. brown rice flour (or your choice)

1 c. sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1 lemon, juiced and zested

3 tbsp. oil

1/2 c. applesauce

1 tsp. vinegar

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 c. water

Glaze:

1 lemon, juiced

1 c. powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine dry ingredients. Juice and zest lemon, add to dry ingredients along with remaining cake ingredients. 

Pour into a greased 9x13 inch pan... Looks like a cake so far...

  
Bake for 25 mins... As the cake cools, combine juice from the lemon with the powdered sugar until desired consistency... Yup, I'd say it turned out like a cake...

Well, I liked it! Husband not so much... Either my taste buds have been deprived of the real thing for long enough or I was just desperate :)

So here's a little update on my life at this point. I'm just over three weeks into this "diet" with no progress from Sawyer and I'm really missing regular food, even food I don't normally eat! We were watching a show on Netflix the other night and a guy was eating a candy bar, I really want a candy bar... the funny thing is, I can't even remember the last time I had one!

Last week I called Sawyer's pediatrician and asked if we could get a referral to a gastroenterologist since I haven't seen any progress. I called to set up the appointment and they are booked through the end of July but I set up an appointment anyways and got on a waiting list. I'm just feeling discouraged, not just because I want a candy bar, but that it's been seven weeks since he started having blood in his stool and I don't have any answers yet as to what it could be. 


I'm not going to rule out allergies just yet since it has only been three weeks, but I called the pediatrician again today to find out if there is anything else we can try ruling out before his appointment with the gastroenterologist. We are going to bring him to get some lab work done to test for an infection and to check his white blood cell counts, which can give some indication of whether he has allergies, and make sure he is not anemic from blood loss.   


Sawyer is still thriving and an otherwise healthy baby! Praise God for the blessings we do have! Here's my little guy testing out the pool water this weekend, he's super serious about it :)  

Quinoa- taco salad style!

A friend referred me to a blog called the gluten-free goddess and I spent some time finding recipes that also fit my other food limitations. I came across a quinoa recipe that the gluten-free goddess calls the Quinoa Taco Salad. We had friends over for dinner last night and I needed a side dish to go along with our tilapia so I thought this would pair well.

First, boil 2 cups of water and add quinoa. Simmer for about 12 mins until water is absorbed and fluff quinoa with a fork. Toss cooked quinoa with olive oil (I used about 2 tbsp), the juice of two limes, about 2 tbsp chopped cilantro and sea salt to taste.

Next, add one diced bell pepper (I used 1/3 of each red, yellow and orange pepper)

Now add a cup of corn (I unthawed frozen corn) and add 1 avocado, diced (my favorite part!)

Combine all ingredients and chill until ready to serve. It was really great tasting! The original recipes says you can also add black beans, tomatoes, cheese or mango. I also omitted the onion. Look how pretty!

 

Grillin' Night

Thursday night was grillin' night at our place! My husband is an awesome grill master and cooked us up some yummy steaks while I steamed some fresh green beans and threw together this chickpea salad that I pretty much made up and was pretty much super delicious!

Chickpea Salad

1 can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), rinsed and drained

1/2 avocado, diced

1/2 green or red pepper, diced (I used a little of both)

1 roma tomato, seeded and diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 lemon, juiced

1 tbsp parsley

2 tbsp olive oil

(You can also add onion which I didn't do)

Combine all ingredients and chill until ready to serve. 

 

Mmmm.... Chocolate Muffins!

I made some super awesome chocolate muffins last night that I wanted to share! I'm either learning to put up with how different gluten-free foods taste or they were just really that good :) I started reading some recipes on this website and when I came across chocolate muffins I knew I HAD to try them! So here's a pretty picture to entice you:

I wasn't kidding, they're really chocolate muffins and they're really good! Now here's the recipe so you can get to baking:

Ingredients:

3/4 c. brown rice flour (or oat flour which you can make here)

1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 c. unsweetened applesauce

1 tsp. oil

1/2 c. organic sugar (or sweetener of your choice)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350. Grease 8 muffin cups. Combine first five ingredients. In a separate bowl combine remaining ingredients. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well. Spoon into muffin cups and bake for 20-22 minutes until muffin tops are firm to the touch.

Hope you enjoy this chocolaty goodness as much as I did! (I've eaten half of them since last night... whoops!)

Coconut Curry Chicken

I decided to try out a curry recipe for dinner last night. I had curry one time a couple years ago and I loved it! I used this recipe which was super easy because all you do is cut up the chicken, throw it into the crock pot, place all the remaining ingredients in a food processor, pour it on top of the chicken, then let it slow cook away! It wasn't bad for my first shot at a curry dish! I roasted up some squash, peppers, onions and tomatoes on the side too.

I seriously love crock pot recipes! I have another crock pot recipe cooking up now for dinner tonight! It makes my life so much easier especially now that I'm back at work part-time :)

Cookie Fix

A little treat that has helped me get by the past few days has been these cookies I found at Walmart in the gluten-free section: 

Really they're not too bad for being gluten-free and I love that I can get a little chocolate fix! The Enjoy Life brand has a whole spread of gluten-free products which you can check out here, but they can be a little pricey. 

This season of picnics has been killer! It's so tempting to dig into all the delicious treats but I know this will all pay off for Sawyer's sake. I can already tell that he's feeling better since two weeks ago when I started eliminating the top eight allergens from my diet. He rarely spits up anymore which he used to do every time he ate! I'm still finding some blood in his stools but not as often. If this whole thing doesn't end up being an allergy issue, I know that at least my healthier eating habits have made him healthier too! 

Pancakes!

I decided to try out the Bob's Red Mill gluten free pancake mix for some "brinner" (breakfast for dinner!) and it was surprisingly pretty good. It at least looked and somewhat tasted like a pancake :)

I replaced the milk with rice milk and the egg with a half of a mashed banana. I added some blueberries and cinnamon which definitely helped the flavor. I'm going to store the extra batter in the refrigerator for a quick tomorrow!

Slow Cooker Pork Roast

I'm a little behind on posting but I've made a few really great meals the past week. Wednesday night I made a pork roast in the crock pot using this recipe as inspiration! Here's how I made it:

-Place the pork roast in the crock pot and cover about half way with apple juice, cook on low for about 6 hours. 

-Peel and slice two apples, coat with cinnamon and brown sugar

-Drain most of the juice from the crock pot and added the apples and about a cup of dried cranberries, cook on low for another 2 hours

I also made some mashed sweet potatoes and added a little brown sugar, no butter :) My husband actually loved this so much, he took one bite and looked at me and said, "You can eat this on your diet?!"

Sunday Mornin' Breakfast

I tried another recipe from the Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook this morning called Caledon Baked Oatmeal. It was oh so delicious and super simple to make! I substituted the milk for rice milk and omitted the almonds. Here's the recipe and finished product!

Cereal, my meal of choice

I love cereal! That's probably the thing I've had the hardest time parting with... But! I found out that Chex is safe for me to eat! Even better, Cinnamon Chex :) Paired with vanilla rice milk, this has been a delicious treat. I'm on the hunt for some other great, non-cardboard-tasting cereals but for now, Chex has made my day!

Cooking Day

I managed pretty well the past two days! I walked out of Walmart on Wednesday night, $120 later, and ready to try out some of the recipes I found! Yesterday I started the day with throwing together this taco soup recipe. I've used it before and didn't have to make any changes. I just made sure to use a homemade taco seasoning since there may be soy in the packet kind. Here's the recipe for the taco seasoning I used:

 

Homemade Taco Seasoning

1/4 cup chili powder
1 1/2 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
Mix all the ingredients above in a small bowl. Keep fresh in an air tight container for up to 6 months.

Double or triple recipe as needed. Use 2 Tbsp. for 1 packet of taco seasoning.

 

I also kicked out a split pea soup recipe from a book called The Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook. Here's a picture of the recipe, I don't want to type it all out :) I didn't have celery so I couldn't include that and I didn't have turkey so I used cubed chicken breast instead. Overall, not a bad recipe. It did take a lot longer for the peas to get soft, like two hours instead of one.

I made a taco salad for lunch with red and green peppers, tomato, and ground beef (seasoned with the taco seasoning recipe above) and the cilantro lime dressing from this recipe. I was bummed my avocados weren't ripe yet but it was still a great salad. The dressing was amazing!