Graham Crackers

I'm excited to get fancy square or circle cutters for this recipe so they look nice. I found the original recipe on Thirty Handmade Days. Hers look phenomenal. As I'm sure you've gathered, however, we can't have dairy. Here is a picture of ours.

So here is my recipe:
 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
 1 cup brown sugar
 1 teaspoon baking soda
 1/2 tsp. salt
 8 Tbs of a cold oil (refrigerated coconut oil, non-dairy margarine, lard, etc)
 1/3 cup honey 
 1/4 cup coconut milk
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract (being SURE that it's the real stuff, no vanillin)

Using the paddle on low, mix flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Add cold oil butter substitute. Mix until coarsely combined. 
In a separate bowl, add honey, coconut milk, and vanilla. Slowly pour the liquid mixture into the dry mixture. When it looks like cookie dough, separate it in 2 sections, put 'em in saran wrap or a ziplock and refrigerate them for about 2 hrs.

After your nap (or errands, or getting the kids to bed, or lessons or whatever you do), take the dough out, roll it onto a  lightly floured surface or a surface coated in cinnamon & sugar. Roll it until it almost covers a jelly roll pan or cookie sheet. If you're into measuring, 30HD says that it's about 1/8" thick.

When I made these, I just used a pizza cutter and kind of free handed it, but next time, I'll either use cookie cutters or a straight edge (WHO is this perfectionist I'm becoming?!?!) Once you have your cookies marked, use a fork or a toothpick or whatever to make the little dimples in the cracker.

We sprinkled even MORE cinnamon & sugar on the top, then baked in preheated 350* oven for 15-20 min (I do 17 min). You want them a little bit brown. Pull them out, cool them, then break them apart on the lines you made earlier.

Store them in an airtight container. They are delicious, but you should probably share some with your kids.

Pretzel Bites Bento Box

Tonight's dinner wasn't intentionally a Bento Box. I was not TOO comfortable with the new recipe I tried and we made a big 'ol mess of the kitchen table. I made pretzel bites and they were delicious! Instead of trying to clear the table, we threw the yummies into the Bento Boxes and had a BLAST eating. Even the adults got Bentos! Now, it's a good thing we weren't really going anywhere because it was not nearly enough food the adults, we had seconds and thirds, lol.

Here's how pretty they look!!

Xman and Puppy wanted photos with theirs!! I will eventually get the picture thing figured out!

Ok, now to the recipes!! We have to alter almost every recipe. First, the Pretzel bites. I got the recipe from A Cozy Kitchen. The only alteration we had to make there was replacing the butter with canola oil.
To dip the pretzels, Hubby made a Honey Mustard Sauce. He got the recipe from Food.com and left out the Paprika so my kids could eat it (Paprika is Feingold Stage 2)

Now to the surprise of the night- the salad!!! I chose this recipe simply because I happened to have cabbage and chicken that was already cooked. I was honestly nervous about making it because I wanted to like it so badly. Well, guess what? I LOVED IT!!! And so did the kids. There was not one single complaint about dinner. The original was from The Urban Poser, but I'll repost OUR version here.

Chicken and Cabbage Salad

Ingredients:

Leftover chicken, shredded

1 small head Savoy Cabbage, thinly sliced

1 cup julienned carrots

3 green onions, the whole thing!

1/4 cup  Mint leaves, roughly chopped

1/4 cup  Basil leaves, roughly chopped

1/4 cup  Cilantro leaves, roughly chopped

Dressing

1/4 cup water

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice (to taste)

1 tablespoon Sweet and Sour Sauce

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 1/2 tablespoons honey

1/2 teaspoon vinegar

1 tablespoons Olive Oil

Just put them all together and pour the dressing on top. SO FRIGGIN DELICIOUS!!!

Bento Boxes

Ok, I have a tendency to get a little carried away when an idea hits me. It is July. Every July, my kids write their letters to Santa. This year, they have all decided to ask for a family pass to Thanksgiving Point. Because our entire lives currently revolve around food, I thought it would be fun to also get them each a Bento Box so we can take lunches or what not with us! Whether these will be from Santa or as Mom and Dad's "something to need" gift, we haven't decided. However, I decided that I need to start practicing. I hit up the dollar store and bought a bunch of small bentos, disposable ones to play with.

                                           Um, not sure why the picture is upside down.....

                                           These are some smaller ones that I love!

For our first Bento box, we went super simple. It also was NOT ENOUGH. Three minutes after finishing, they kids were starving.

I sliced cantaloupe... I tried to do triangles, but I'm not that cool yet. I added strawberries (they are Feingold Stage 2). For most of the kids, I added some cheese cubes, but Puppy is Dairy Free, so his has a hard boiled egg. The toast has coconut oil, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and a tiny bit of onion powder. The chickpeas were a recipe found  Modern Parents Messy Food. We did the honey cinnamon variety. My kids liked em. My husband liked em. To be honest, they weren't my favorite. But that's ok! Like I said, everyone else liked em!

My favorite go-to recipes

I love finding recipes where I don't have to change anything at all.

I bought myself a bread machine at DI for $5!

I was lucky enough to find this recipe that is TECHNICALLY for hamburger buns, but I use it for rolls very often, just make them smaller. I am to the point where I have this recipe memorized!! I'm not even joking, though- if I can do these, ANYONE can!!!

To make it dairy free, don't spread the tops with butter- instead use a non-dairy substitute or coconut oil. I make these 3 times a week, at least.

Another recipe we use often that doesn't need any changes at all is for a ranch mix. SUPER yummy ranch dressing! The kids love it! You can find it here at Real Food Healthy Living

Adventures in Feingold, pt 2, the answer

We knew from experience that my kids were affected by Red40. It had pretty much not been allowed in our home for around 6 years. Occasionally, I would wonder every now and then if it was just in my head and let them eat something red. HA! For two days I would wonder why on EARTH I had doubted myself!

I will admit, I had heard of the Feingold diet before, but every time I had, I mentally stuck my fingers in my ears, closed my eyes, and went "LALALALALALALALA!" It was just TOO foreign. No way could food be that closesly related to behavior. Artificial colors, sure, but enough foods that you have to purchase a special list? No way could we afford that anyway. So it had always been dismissed quickly.

Remember, though, we had hit bottom. It was time for me to face the facts and to look at more options. I spent hours reading stories of other people who had started the program and had kids just like mine, but they improved with food. After much prayer, much study, much more prayer, and lots of conversation, we decided to give it a go. It helped that it was tax return season, so if we needed to a big shopping trip (we did), we could.

When you purchase the Feingold program, they send you a handbook. It includes facts, stories, recipes, letters to give to grandparents, menus, and extra resources. You also receive access to the foodlists- 4 times a year, the people at Feingold release a list of companies and products whose ingredients are considered "safe." This means it does not include any artificial color or flavor, no vanillin, no petroleum based preservatives (BHA, BHT, and TbHQ). These are all things that affect those with neurological issues. You also get access to a search feature so you can quickly find approved brands. My favorite perk of being a member, access to the Facebook page. The people on this board are AMAZING! So much help, people who have kids JUST LIKE MINE. People struggling fighting the same fight I'm fighting.

Within days of starting the new program (I hate calling it a diet), we noticed a change with ALL of the kids! They played together. They got along. They still had fits, but the fits didn't last for 20 minutes at a time. I only had to ask twice instead of ten times. We had new lives! Granted, we did have a week of detox, but that's totally normal. A couple months in, I had to go dairy free to try to keep the Captain from getting constant ear infections. We knew Puppy needed something besides basic Feingold and decided to go that route since he was already Lactose intolerant. It was what he needed. Our first Saturday (Big Chore Day), Puppy did everything he was asked the FIRST time and without complaining. This had literally NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE. Anyway, things are going really well on Feingold!!

Now, one thing about ADHD is that if I fail at something more than a few times, I give up entirely. I have no desire to even TRY that particular activity again. Cooking was one of these things I had no desire to try. But I had to choose to learn to cook or to more than double my food budget. With lots of prayer (and new yeast- there's a story there) and serious necessity, I decided that I needed some kitchen skills.

This is where we stand right now. It's been a few months now and I have learned a TON about substituting foods to make things Feingold approved and Dairy Free. I need a place to put all these revised recipes. My cute niece, Sara, suggested that I put them here, to share with everyone!