Chicken Fingers

With a wheat, soy, dairy, peanut, tree-nut, and egg allergy it was going to be challenging to find foods that would be fun, tasty, nutritious,  and provide calories. I guess Mickey D's was out of the question. At the same time, I think I might even be thankful for Nick's food allergies in that I know exactly what he's eating and I know I am providing a healthful diet for him. Calories and fats are the main issue we have as well as food intake (volume). It 's  ironic that while we are fighting obesity in this country that I have someone on the other end of the spectrum who has been underweight and never  on a growth chart since he's been born (well below the 3rd percentile). But Nick is growing, not as fast at his gastroenterologist would like, but nonetheless he makes strides in height and weight each month. Thank goodness for EVOO (extra virgin olive oil).

With a recipe from Enjoy Life Foods and some re-arrangement of ingredients and cooking methods I've been able to provide tasty chicken fingers that kids enjoy. Just add dipping sauce.

Ingredients:

3-4 slices of rice or tapioca bread
1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon parsley
A little handful of freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
2 teaspoons EVOO (extra virgin olive oil - or vegetable oil) plus enough for frying if you choose this method
1/4 cup water*
3 tablespoons tapioca flour*
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into fingers (4-6 pieces)

* These ingredients mimic the effect an egg would have allowing the bread crumbs to stick. If you can tolerate egg then place 1 cup of bread crumbs in a shallow dish. Place 1 cup of tapioca flour in a second dish and 3 beaten eggs in a third dish, positioned between the flour and the breadcrumb mixture.

Coat the chicken fingers by dredging them in the flour, egg, and breadcrumb mixture.

Follow the remaining instructions to bake or fry the chicken fingers.

Preparation:

Dry out bread slices by letting them air out overnight or by heating in the oven. For the oven method, preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. Place on cookie sheet. Bake for 30 minutes or until the bread is crunchy. Cool.

Increase oven temperature to 375 degrees F if you want to bake the Chicken Finger - otherwise skip this step.

Place the dried bread in a food processor and blend into fine crumbs or a little larger if you prefer for more texture.

Add seasonings to 1 cup of bread crumbs; save remaining crumbs for later. Add oil and mix with a fork until coated. Place the crumb mixture in a shallow pan or plate and set aside.(You can disregard adding oil to the breadcrumb mixture if you are using eggs in this recipe).

In a separate bowl, mix together water and tapioca starch.(Skip if using eggs in this recipe).

Dip chicken into the liquid mixture and drain any extra. Roll chicken in crumb mixture until coated.

Place coated chicken pieces in a shallow lightly greased pan. Bake for 15 minutes or until chicken is tender and juices come out clear. The internal temperature should be a minimum of 165 degrees F. Enjoy!

Frying method:

Heat a half-inch of frying oil in a very large skillet over medium to medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, cook the chicken fingers a few at a time, depending on the pan size. As the chicken fingers are done, place them on a baking rack to drain or on a plate lined with a thick paper towel. The chicken fingers may be served at room temperature, but you want them to remain crisp.

Buon Appetito!

Happy Birthday to You! Allergy-free Birthday Cake

When I found out about all of the food allergies/insensitivities that Nick had I was worried about how I was going to make a birthday cake for him that would taste good. I remember my first attempt at a carrot cake that was allergy-free when Nick turned one. My husband loves carrot cake and I thought it would be great if Nick shared his love of this cake as well. The cake ended up being the most awful thing I have ever made. It had so much juice concentrate in it and other nasty ingredients that I could have used it as a weapon. I give my husband John credit though in that he actually ate some of it. We laugh a lot about this baking experience and I have since found many other alternatives to a tasty birthday cake.

The recipe that I am sharing with you is from a cookbook I found by accident at Boarder's Bookstore called, Allergy-free Cookbook, Copyright 2010 Publications International, Ltd. It is an awesome chocolate cake recipe for being allergy-free. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Ingredients:

3 cups gluten-free all purpose flour blend, plus extra for cake pans
2 cups sugar
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons xanthan gum ( you can substitute guar gum - cheaper than xanthan)
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups chocolate soymilk (I used chocolate rice milk - or plain white milk of choice is fine since it is very chocolaty already)
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla

No-Butter Buttercream Frosting to follow

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 2 (9-inch) round cake pans with shortening or dairy-free margarine. Sprinkle with gluten-free baking mix; tap out excess.


Whisk together gluten-free flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, xantham gum and salt in large bowl. Combine milk, oil, vinegar and vanilla in small bowl.


Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients; stir until smooth, being sure to incorporate ingredients at bottom of bowl. Immediately pour into prepared pans.


Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean. (Middle of cake may look darker than edges.) Cool in pans 5 minutes. Carefully invert onto wire rack to cool completely. Meanwhile prepare frosting.


Fill and frost cake; decorate as desired.


I have made this cake as a half-batch, as cupcakes, and I have used a special birthday cake tin and the cake has worked out well 100% of the time.

No-butter Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) dairy-free margarine (the recipe says to not use a spread but I did because it was the only thing I could find that did not contain soy. It was fine).
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 to 4 cups powdered sugar
4 to 6 tablespoons soy creamer (I used rice milk)

Preparation:

Beat margarine with electric mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add vanilla.


Gradually beat in cocoa and powdered sugar. Beat in creamer or milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until spreading consistency is reached.


tip: for white frosting, omit cocoa; tint as desired.

Buon Appetito!

Nonna's Chicken Soup

Nothing says yummy like a fresh pot of grandma's chicken noodle soup. Delicious and nutritious. The vegetables are cooked to tender so even those struggling to chew can bite into this dish. My Grandma Quinzi used to make this soup many years ago and I have used the recipe ever since. This was and still is Nick's favorite dish.

Ingredients:

5 lb Chicken fryer (diced after poached)
2 large carrots* peeled and thinly sliced on an angle
2 ribs celery, thinly sliced on an angle (leafy tops optional)
1 bunch green onions (leeks) - trimmed, soaked and dried, sliced
Salt and finely ground black pepper (to taste) 
1-2 Tbsp Parsley (to taste) or a few sprigs of fresh parsley

Rice or noodles of choice optional (make rice or noodles according to directions in a separate pot and add hot to individual bowls of soup otherwise rice and noodles will bloat and leftovers will not be as good as the original soup.)


* Other vegetables can be used in the soup such as yellow squash, zucchini, peas, and broccoli to name a few that I have substituted.

Preparation:

To poach the chicken: Place chicken in a large pot and fill with 3-4 quarts of water (until the pot is 2-3 inches full from the top. Cover and bring to a boil, then uncover and reduce heat to simmer.  Cook, uncovered, for 2 hours. Remove the chicken to a large plate or bowl. Strain the cooking liquids with a hand strainer and skim off excess fat off top of liquid. The is the chicken stock. Pull the skin and carcass away and chop the meat.

To make the soup: to the chicken stock add celery, green onions, carrots (or other vegetables), parsley, salt and pepper. Stir. Bring stock to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 1 hour until vegetables are tender. Put cut-up chicken back into pot and cook an additional 10 minutes.

Boil water in a large pot, salt the boiling water and cook pasta noodles (al dente) or rice. Drain pasta water and drizzle with oil (olive oil preferred); stir to combine and coat noodles evenly.

Pour the soup over the noodles or rice in soup bowls and top with fresh parsley (optional).

Leftover soup may be frozen and any leftover chicken stock can be poured into ice-cube containers and frozen for use at a later date to use in making other dishes. 

Buon Appetito!

In the Beginning - What's wrong with my Baby?

My son Nick who will be 4 years old in July was diagnosed with food allergies/in-sensitivities as well as Periventricular Leukomalacia, otherwise considered Cerebral Palsy.  He is allergic to dairy, peanuts, tree-nuts, soy, wheat, strawberries, avocado, coconut,  and eggs (until recently).  Nick was born full-term by emergency c-section and weighed only 4 lb 6 oz. No explanation other than I was "old." I was 47 years old when Nick was born.

I pumped breast-milk  for Nick for the first 6 weeks until my supply ran dry. Nick never could "latch-on" properly so I provided what I could for as long as I could.  At that time we switched to Nestle baby formula. Even-though Nick had always had the vomiting issues it seemed as if they just got worse.  The pediatrician at the time said it was "colic" and that the rash he had developed all over his head was "cradle cap." He was to young to have allergies.  I had no reason to think otherwise as I had heard of these terms before and it seemed to make sense.  He would outgrow this, eventually or so I thought.

In the months that followed Nick did not get better.  He cried, a lot. Vomiting was a daily event and the rash never went away, it was only manageable with olive oil (Dr. Sears).  I also started to smell acid after the vomiting and the crying was from pain now.   They say you get to know your child's cry's and know if they cry because they are hungry, tired, or in pain.  I only knew the cry's for pain and more pain.   I diagnosed Nick's reflux and insisted on medication to help reduce the acid.  When one medication didn't work I insisted on another until we had some relief.  We changed formulas as well to Alimentum.  They, whoever they are, say babies don't come with manuals.  I disagree as I had the best manual of all, my neonatal/pediatric nursing manual from school.  I dusted that bad boy off and proceeded to figure out what was wrong with my child one symptom at a time since the pediatrician was not listening to my concerns.

Nick seemed to be doing better as he got older.  He was gaining weight.  I would let him sleep on my chest at night while I was propped up on pillows in order to help reduce reflux issues.   He was so small and with all the problems we had been having I was not comfortable putting him in his crib that was just down the hall but felt like he was in the next state.  I needed to hear and feel him breathing.   By the time he was a year old I started changing the formula over to cow's milk.  Just as I was about to make the final change he started having the vomiting again and the rash was back.  This time inside his elbows and behind his knees.  In addition, he had not been following his developmental milestones the way I thought he should have.  After we returned home from a couple of summer trips my husband and I went back to the pediatricians office, this time armed with a plan, to get appointments/referrals to a gastroenterologist and a neurologist.  I had my suspicions that Nick had CP and could only guess what was causing the reflux.

The GI doctor told us that Nick did not have colic as this is more of a catch-all phrase for "I don't know what's wrong with your child."  She sent us to an allergist and told us to go back on the Alimentum formula. We stopped introducing baby foods as well.   The neurologist scheduled an MRI.   The results were food allergies/insensitivities and periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) - in short, an ischemic brain injury, mostly in premature infants and/or low birth weight babies that can lead to CP.  The rast, scratch, and patch tests all came up positive for allergies/insensitivities to dairy, peanuts, tree-nuts, soy, wheat, and eggs.  We were given a prescription for an epi-pen and what I call the gold standard for reflux, Nexium.  Now I knew I wasn't a crazy mom anymore and I certainly stopped doubting myself as a nurse.  It's amazing what a lack of sleep and proper nutrition can do to a person.   Now we could go forward...or so I thought.

After 1 year of age Nick was not growing as fast as he should have been.  We were always off the scale but we couldn't seem to catch up.  He is still below the 3rd percentile but he is growing on his own scale.  He drinks a special formula that we receive through our insurance, called Elecare.  It contains all the nutrients that he needs if he can drink 30 oz/day at 30 calories/oz.   Nick averages about 21 oz/day.   We continue to struggle with foods. Our issues now are trying to get enough calories with the limited foods that are available as well as his issues with chewing and swallowing.   Granted since Nick was first diagnosed, until now, there has been a tremendous amount of new products out on the market and they have been made available in a lot more stores.   At first I had to cook all of Nick's foods for him.   Traveling was difficult because you had to bring all the foods with you.   I won't say that things are better...but they aren't getting worse.

So if the recipes and resources I find over time can help someone else like Nick, then I have done my job in paying it forward.   It has been an extremely difficult road cooking and finding foods that are nutritious, tasty and easy to prepare but I hope that this blog can help provide you with some interesting and delicious meal ideas for anyone that may be having issues with food allergies/insensitivities.

Buon Appetitio!