GFCF Crispy Chicken Tenders

2 Tbsp. Earth's Balance (non-dairy) Buttery Spread (or margarine), melted
1 Cup GF Cornflakes, crushed
1 Cup all-purpose GF Flour mix (I used Bob's Red Mill)
1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
1 1/2 tsp. Seasoned Salt
about 10 Boneless Skinless Chicken tenders (or breasts sliced)
2 eggs, beaten

Melt the butter substitute in the bottom of a 13 x 9 in. pan. In a shallow bowl, mix GF Cornflakes, GF Flour, xanthan gum, and seasoned salt. Dip chicken in egg, then roll in cornflake mixture. Dip again in egg and roll in cornflake mixture again. Arange chicken in pan. Bake uncovered at 425 degrees for 20 minutes. Turn over and bake about 15 minutes more. Serve with GFCF BBQ Sauce or GFCF Ranch Dressing.

My son asked for 3 helpings of chicken tonight. I was amazed. He was esecially pleased with my recent purchase of GFCF Ranch dressing and literally savored every bite of chicken. This will become a staple for us. Now, if anyone can tell me how to prepare these in bite-sized fashion and freeze them so I can pop them in the toaster over...I will be one happy mom!

A couple of tips...the xanthan gum is key. If you do not use it, your breading will fall apart and right off the chicken. Trust me...tried it before. Not good. Also, I put my cornflakes in the food processor tonight for a much finer finish and it worked great. I will do this again in the future. Enjoy!

Yogurt Smoothies

Before Joshua became "Dairy Free" the one food we could ALWAYS count on him eating was a yogurt smoothie. He had at least one per day and we figured that was the best way to get probiotics into him at that time. I know, I know...some of you are cringing right now because they are LOADED with sugar. That was a hill I was not willing to die on - at least I knew he wouldn't starve to death when there were yogurt smoothies around.

Flash forward to him becoming Dairy Free and think of how he cried when I told him he couldn't have them anymore. I tried making smoothies and "milk shakes" but they just weren't the same.

Until today...I had a revelation!


We recently stumbled upon "Coconut Milk Yogurt." It is very tasty and Joshua loves it! It is is a bit thinner than cow's milk yogurt, so today I decided to add some rice milk and stick a straw in it. Then I thought...what the heck - I threw in his Omega's and his Calcium/ Magnesium and by golly...

HE LOVED IT!

He thought it was a "REAL" Yogurt Smoothie. And of course, I wouldn't dare tell him otherwise!

PS: Downside to Coconut Milk Yogurt - $2 per container. He darn well better love it at that price!

The Fog is Lifting

The smile seems so much bigger...and brighter these days! Joshua is on a high right now and we are just riding the wave! His language skills are booming (even his SLP is surprised at his progress) and the fog has lifted from his eyes. He is acting like a little boy again. Of course that means he is in to mischief and tormenting his sisters...but I'll take it! Even his gross motor skills are improving right now. He is jumping from 2 feet and running faster than I have seen yet. He smiles and laughs, eats (for the most part), sleeping better and has far less tantrums than before.

** Side note: We were at Grandma's house last week for a birthday party for Nicole. When it was time to serve the cake, I took his plate inside and got him a piece of "his" cake. Luckily, both the gluten and gluten-free cakes were chocolate w/ pink icing. His looked like every one else's cake. Before eating he asked me, "Mom, is this gluten-free cake?" I said, "Yes son, yours is gluten-free" and he responded, "Good, then I can eat it." Then he told me, "Thanks Mom for bringing me gluten-free cake." For those of you who KNOW Joshua, this is huge. Of course, no one else on earth would have had any idea what he was saying - but I did, and that is all that counts in that case!

Anyhow, what is different? Well, in our usual fashion - we changed many things at one time. The major thing is removing dairy. I think that is making a difference. Also, we have added 1 capsule of Omega 3-6-9 by Nordic Naturals (supposedly a great tool for apraxia), Calcium, Magnesium, Vitamin C and Probiotocs.

Other items of interest: Joshua now has his own big boy room! He has always shared a room with Nicole (and the baby had her "own" room). On Nicole's 5th birthday we decided to switch things up a bit. We now have a "girl's" room and a "boy's" room. At first, Joshua was a little sad that he was going to be by himself but then he realized that Samson (our 2 year old yellow lab) is a boy and that HE should live in the boy room too. So we moved Samson's bed into Joshua's new room and now they are roomies! I'll try to get some pictures of his room - it is cute. He has a "Red Car" (Lightning McQueen) poster, 2 Monster Truck posters, and a WWII Airplane poster. We have a military helicopter poster on it's way too. He is sleeping through the night in his room now and even better- he doesn't wake Nicole up in the mornings!

While I am sure this "wave" will not last forever...I will ride it with joy till it ends. Praising God for His goodness and small miracles that bring hope today!

GFCF Cornbread - Yum!

1 Cup Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Gluten Free Flour Mix
1 Cup GF Cornmeal
1/4 Cup Sugar
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Xanthan Gum
1 Cup Dairy Free Milk (I used Vanilla Rice Milk)
1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil
1 egg, beaten

Combine all dry ingredients and mix well. Mix wet ingredients in separate bowl. Pour all at once into dry ingredients and mix until combined. Pour into greased 8" pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Serve w/ DF buttery spread and honey. Yum!

*My husband said - "I assume this is gluten free because Josh is eating it, otherwise, I couldn't tell." That is when I KNOW i have a good recipe!

Apraxia Speech Cards

OK, so we are back to the business of speech therapy with the oh so talented SLP Megan. We are paying out of pocket until we convince the insurance company that Joshua's speech therapy IS medically necessary (I mean, really...they have never heard the child speak. Who are they to decide it is not medically necessary?). It is pricey, but how can we not? This is his future ability to speak that is at stake! Anyhow, Megan asked us to take some pictures of things around that house that Joshua uses or plays with on a daily basis. We came up with about 30 pictures so far. She is going to take them and make flash cards (much like the Kaufman Cards, for those of you who are familiar) and break the words down into manageable chunks, eventually working up to the complete word. I am really excited to see how they turn out. She will write the word sequencing on the back of the picture and we will take them to get laminated. I'll let you know how if it works! Here are a few of the pictures we used:

"Shoes"



"Pretzels" (GFCF, of course)



"Movies"



"Monster Trucks"



"Teddy"

Getting Back to Business

So much has happened in the past few months! For those of you who are disappointed in my lack of posting (which, I am not exactly sure that anyone follows this blog), go read my apology at my 3 Angels Blog. Joshua is now 3 1/2 and I guess the most significant thing over the past few months has been the confirmation of his Apraxia diagnosis. When he was first diagnosed, I admit I was skeptical. I thought that maybe it was a hip new diagnosis that was being handed out frivolously. However, after seeing an audiologist, 2 additional speech therapists and a video evaluation from Nancy Kaufman herself...I guess it is true. His evaluation at Children's Hospital was sad but revealing. He tested out at the higher end of 4 years old for congnitive understanding. Actually, she had to "make" him fail the test there because she knew he was getting worn out. His expressive language (what he can say), however, was still equivalent to less than a 2 year old. So basically, he gets it...more than we give him credit for...he just cannot communicate back to us. How frustrating!!! (for him and us)

Over Christmas I was able to read Jenny McCarthy's book, "Mother Warriors" and it was very enlightening. I began to grasp that perhaps Joshua's "issues" are bigger than just the Apraxia. He has always had texture issues and has recently started covering his ears and yelling "Too Loud" when I turn on music. While I am quite certain that he is not autistic, (many doctors have assured us that he is not because of the relationship he has with Nicole...and autistic child could have the personal relationship he has with her) I do realize that he may fall somewhere on the outskirts of the spectrum. We saw a DAN provider (Defeat Autism Now) at the beginning of the year and he confirmed that Joshua shows "soft signs" of being on the spectrum, especially when he eats gluten. He recommended we keep Josh off of gluten (not that putting him back on was an option) and that we eliminate dairy from his diet as well...too promote healing of the gut. He also recommended a host of supplements and physical exercises to do at home to promote brain development and help repair his neurological functioning.

So, Joshua is now GFCF. And oh, it is fun. I realize now just how much dairy he was eating. Yogurt smoothies and cheese were daily favorites. And the hot chocolate...but we won't go there. So now we live on Chocolate Almond Milk, Enjoy Life Cereal Bars (which someone pointed out to me on a GFCF discussion site...have no nutritional value what-so-ever), and Ian's GFCF French Bread Pizza and French Toast Stixs. I am finally getting motivated to cook GFCF, so I will share recipes with you as a find them!

"A" for Effort

So my sweet, wonderful, amazing, perfect husband has a mental block about our son's food allergy. For all intensive purposes we'll call it D-E-N-I-A-L. I caught him sneaking Joshua some saltine crackers the other day and when I calmly and sweetly reminded him that "Joshua can't eat those!" he sighed deeply and confessed that he had forgotten - again.

Flash forward a few days - my hubby was being a real angel to me (see my 3 Angels Blog about our Fireproof experience) and offered to go to Sam's Club to pick up a few things. He called me on the way home to tell me about his exciting find - he had gotten our dog (Samson, the 2 year old yellow lab) some canned dog food to mix-in with the dry food and it was GLUTEN-FREE! Can you believe it...gluten free dog food. It was so cute...he was so proud of himself for buying something gluten free - just because he recognized the term. I thought - well, at least I won't have to worry if I find him eating the dog food again!