Spinach Parmesan Crackers (SCD)

paper by sandylion sticker designs

Here's another cracker seasoned with dried vegetables. Eddie dried a bag of fresh baby spinach leaves for these. You can use Parmesan cheese or Romano cheese, which is very similar to Parmesan but much cheaper.

2 cups Almond Flour
8 oz Parmesan or Romano Cheese, grated
1/3 to 1/2 cup Dried Baby Spinach, crumbled fine
1/2 teas. Sea Salt, plus more for tops
1 TBSP Olive Oil
1/4 cup water

Food processor, rolling pin, parchment paper, rubber spatula, 2 cookie sheets

Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Cut three sheets of parchment paper to the size of your cookie sheets

In a food processor, combine almond flour and cheese. Pulse until combined. Add spinach and sea salt, pulse a few times until combined. Add olive oil and water. Pulse until a dough ball forms. If it is too dry add more water, about 1 or 2 teaspoons at a time and pulse until the ball forms. Remove and form into two balls. Place one ball between two sheets of parchment paper and roll into a large rectangle. Place on a cookie sheet and peel off top parchment sheet. Score into 2" by 2" squares and sprinkle with sea salt. Repeat with second dough ball. Bake for about 23 minutes. Makes about 50 crackers.

Go Ahead Honey It's Gluten-Free...Creamy Creamless New England Clam Chowder (SCD, GFCF)

Here's an interesting soup article that was posted on Yahoo News today

Fellow SCD blogger Penny of Elysium Eatery gave this wonderful tip for making creamy soups with frozen cauliflower. I have found it works great. Here's my dairy-free, potato-free version of New England Clam Chowder, nice and creamy. It's for this months "Go Ahead Honey It's Gluten-Free! Laura of Mouthgasmic is the hostess and the theme is International Stews. Since I can't imagine that anyone in the world would not love New England Clam Chowder, that would make it "international" right?

3 strips of Bacon
1 small Onion, diced
1 or 2 stalks Celery, diced
1 Carrot, diced
1 (8 oz) bottle Clam Juice
1 or 1 1/2 cups Chicken Broth
1 (16 oz) Bag Frozen Cauliflower
2 (6.5 oz) cans Clams (packed in water), do not drain
Minced Green Onion or Parsley for Garnish (optional)
Salt and Cracked Pepper to taste

In a tall soup kettle cook bacon until crisp. Remove and set aside. Add diced onions, celery and carrot to pot and saute until tender. If you want these veggies pureed, leave them in the pot. If you don't, remove them now and you will add them back later.

Add clam juice, broth and cauliflower. Simmer until cauliflower is tender. Remove from heat. Puree in a blender or use and immersion blender. Add back to soup pot and heat. Add clams with their juice and cooked minced veggies and heat through. Crumble bacon and add to soup. Serve.

Butter'em Up!

I love tips that help make food more nutritious and taste great. Who doesn't? Here's an interesting post from Chris Kresser of The Healthy Skeptic. I usually add a little pat of butter to my cooked veggies for flavor, but I had no idea it was greatly improving the utilization of the nutrients.

Setting the Table

When my son was a newborn he would cry in twelve to sixteen hour bouts. My husband worked long hours and spent three hours a day commuting. He would come home from work and watch our son while I took a two hour nap. Since I was up all night the night before, for each day this was all the sleep I would get. Friends and family would call to check on our new baby and I would tell them what was happening. Most would reply, as if they hadn't heard a word I'd said, "Enjoy this time, it's when they sleep the most". (Grrrr)

We had only lived at our residence for barely a year and I hadn't really had time to meet our neighbors. Luckily one of them stopped by to say hello and congratulate us. It was obvious how tired I was and she could completely understand. She had been through something very similar with both of her sons. I commented that I couldn't imagine going through that twice. In a very comforting tone she told me this story:

She had a friend who she had known her whole life that only wanted to have one child. Her friend was certain of this. She grew up, got married and had one child. Something was missing though, actually someone was missing. Whenever she sat down at the table, and looked around, it seemed like someone was unaccounted for. So they had another child. Of course, this would be it, after all, she had started out only wanting one, right? Now there was a family of four. However, when they sat down to eat, once again, she could not get over feeling that someone else was still missing. So they had another child. Then, as she sat at the table and looked around, everyone was present. And that was the end of the story.

When our son was two and a half we realized our little boy had come down with autism. This was at the same time we became pregnant with twins. In the back of my mind I wondered how we would have enough time for him and twins. I had faith that everything would be fine, but I could not help but worry. When we lost the twins, we grieved for awhile, but at the same time it easier to accept knowing we would have more time for him. We spent about every moment we could working with him on speech, play, motor skills, research, etc. The twins became a memory.

Time went by, and so did many miracles. Our child has only a handful of issues left. The difficult two's were replaced by a very delightful preschooler. We've really come to enjoy this stage. The house is cluttered with toys and yet our busy little boy seems to get more entertainment out of boxes, pots and pans. Somehow it seems, that amongst the toys and clutter, there's room for one more little face.

One day at work, I commented on a coworkers family photo. He went on to tell me that his children were foster children and they were in the process of trying to adopt them. He said that lots of these children come up for adoption all of the time. I got that "Hmmmm" feeling. That night I nonchalantly told told Eddie about it, not mentioning the "Hmmm". But I could see he might be thinking the same thing. Soon after we went to an information meeting at the CPS office. We found out there would be alot of paperwork, classes, etc. We decided to wait a few months. That was one year ago. This last fall we completed the classes, interviews and paperwork. We just found out it's all been approved.

The luxury of going this route for our next child is that we can pick the gender and general age range. It just seems natural to have one in the toddler/preschool range so our children can play together. It would also be nice to have a girl, I don't think our house will still be standing with another boy in the mix. In many ways this is much like a pregnancy. On one hand, just because you get pregnant doesn't mean you'll be bringing home a baby and just because the paperwork is approved means the same thing. But it also brings the same excitement, what will our little girl look like? What will her temperament be? Will she be one of those little girls that wants everything pink or not? (I wasn't). Then, because we're adopting, there's a whole other set of questions. What if she has tall genes? (We're short). What if gluten is the only food she can eat? What if her name is "Vidalia Sue" or "Moonbeam"?

So now we wait and see what happens. Will the stork come to our house this year? Will there be another sippy cup to add to the table? If so, will she insist on a pink one?

Curried Spinach Coconut Soup (SCD, GFCF)

What does good in bed mean to me? When I'm sick and I stay home from school propped up with lots of pillows watching TV and my mom brings me soup - that's good in bed.
Brooke Shields

Soup is the best comfort food there is. This is one of my favorites. I love the combination of curry and coconut. This was adapted from "Fields of Greens" by Annie Somerville

1/2 small Onion, chopped
1 or 2 Garlic Cloves, minced (optional)
1 TBSP Oil, a light kind such as Grapeseed
2 teas. Madras Style Curry Powder
1 (9oz) bag of Spinach Leaves, or one box of frozen
3 cups Chicken Broth
1/2 teas. Sea Salt (omit if your broth is salty)
12- 16 oz Coconut Milk
1 TBSP Lemon Juice
about 1/2 cup Shredded Coconut, unsweetened

In a stock pot heat oil over medium heat and saute onions just until tender. Stir in garlic and curry powder. Add spinach. If you are using a box of frozen spinach then cook until spinach is thawed and heated. Add chicken stock and salt and simmer, uncovered until spinach is tender. Puree in a blender or with an immersion blender. Return to heat and add coconut milk, cook for about 10 more minutes. Add lemon juice. Garnish with toasted coconut.

There are two ways to toast coconut. You can put it under your oven broiler and watch it constantly. You can also use a small dry skillet, cast iron works well, and saute over medium heat until toasted.

Here's a link for a Madras Curry Powder recipe.

Sorry to Mix Food with Politics, but...

I know, food and politics, it's a nauseating combination. Yet food makes all of the difference in health and disease, and our current political climate seems to carry us further away from that notion. I suppose it's the latest autism headline "Diet Has Nothing to do with Autism" being shouted from the rooftops of every major publication that's got my feathers in a bunch. Bottom line: food and drug companies supply alot of advertising dollars to the media. This means we have to dig deeper if we want real facts on nutrition, we simply cannot put our trust in the media. I ran across this little rant, (actually it's quite long) but it fits the current climate quite nicely. It was written in 2005 by Mike Adams, Editor of the NaturalNews.com and it's titled "Where's the health in health care reform?". My own political views, on this and many other matters are usually quite laissez-faire. I believe in empowering yourself with knowledge to make the best decisions you can. This usually has served me well. Maybe you have some comments or rants you would like to share?

By the way, here's the link to the American Academy of Pediatrics study article, it reads very differently than the flurry of headlines would have you believe:

Savory Vegetable Dill Crackers (SCD)

I've angered the camera gods, yet again, and left our back-up camera at a Christmas party. The hosts, my husband's grandparents, split for a retirement home a few days later. Retrieving the camera may take awhile... (my camera is back now)
Anyways, here's a savory little bite. The flecks of dried carrots, celery and dill make these crackers quite lovely.

2 cups Almond Flour
6 oz Mild Cheese, grated (I use Alta Dena Goat Cheese, it's very similar to an extremely Mild Cheddar)
2 TBSP Vegetable Seasoning
1/2 to 1 teas. Onion Powder
1 teas. Dill, dried
1/2 teas. Sea Salt, plus more for tops
1/4 cup Water
1 TBSP Olive Oil
Parchment Paper, Food Processor, Rolling Pin, Spatula, Cookie Sheets
Oven 325 Degrees

In a food processor, combine almond flour, cheese, seasoning, spices and salt. Pulse until cheese is well broken down. Add water and oil and pulse until a dough ball forms. You may need another teaspoon of water.

Divide dough into two balls. Place each ball between two sheets of parchment paper and roll thin. Place onto a cookie sheet, then peel off top piece of parchment. I have found that the edge of a rubber type spatula is the best tool for scoring. Score into 2" x 2" squares or diamonds. Sprinkle with sea salt. Bake for about 20 to 25 min. Once they begin to brown they can burn easy so keep an eye on them towards the end. Also, I use aluminum baking sheets. If you are using darker pans you may need to adjust the temperature and time.

Vegetable Seasoning (SCD, GFCF)

Our food dehydrator has been a wonderful kitchen tool. I'm beginning to experiment with using dehydrated vegetables as seasoning. My husband thinly chopped a batch of carrots and celery and dried them at 135 degrees until crisp (about 14 hours). I used an electric coffee grinder and ground them, a little at a time, into a fine powder with small bits. I combined equal parts of carrots and celery and used them as a seasoning in a cracker recipe. The results were great. In the future I'm hoping to try out different veggies, like spinach. Plus, we have to hide all veggies in our son's food and this is a great way to do it. If you do not have a dehydrator but would like to try this, Honeyville sells cans of freeze dried veggies. I have not tried theirs but it would probably be the same. You can purchase almond flour from them as well.

Happy New Year!

I started this blog with high hopes of organizing piles of research so that it may be of use to someone else. Then I was going to sprinkle in a few recipes. It appears the opposite has happened. 2009 has been an exhausting year career-wise, leaving little time for family, let alone organizing anything! From where I stand there's not likely to be a break anytime soon. (You'll have to excuse me, I get whiney when I'm weary) 2010 will be a time for rethinking and making changes. This years resolution is devoted to finding a way to enjoy more time with my husband and son. This is going to require me to make some big decisions in my career, but I feel it will be well worth it. As for this blog, there's probably going to be lots of recipes designed for a frantic lifestyle, a time when we need nutrition the most. Our story and the research posts will be a bit sporadic, for now, at least. I have to say I've really enjoyed blogging, it's been my creative outlet. Thank you for reading and I wish you the best in 2010!!

Much Love,

Tracee (Mrs. Ed)