Menu Plan Monday - holiday edition - and Allergy tests

My poor little munchkin - she scored dustmites too this time...

We had Miss 2's allergy testing 2 weeks ago - it had been a year since her last one and I didn't hold much hope for any changes. The big surprise then was that she didn't react to the wheat skin prick test! I could hardly believe it! Egg had also gone down and that indicates she might be ready for a baked egg challenge in hospital in 6 months time (baked egg meaning baked foods that have egg in them like a cake/muffin etc). So we followed the Doctor's advice and gave her part of a water cracker (nice and plain wheat, no complications) and 20mins later, a bit more and so on. It seemed ok. So for the rest of the week we tried bits and pieces of wheat in meals but soon found that she was getting spots around her mouth and on her body and her eczema was returning. So I rang the Doctor and they told me to let it clear and start again. So we are almost ready to do that - Miss 2 is very sick at the moment (unrelated to allergies) so we think we will wait until she is in full health to start challenging her immune system again. Fun fun.

We were on holidays over the last 10 days at a house near the beach. It was fabulous. Here's the menu - a reasonably easy holiday menu. Note that some of the meals weren't wheat free but could easily be made so. The best thing I did was travel both ways with frozen bolognaise in a container which meant all I had to do was to cook pasta when we got there/home and heat up the bolognaise.


Wednesday - Spaghetti Bolognaise
Thursday - Pizza (using store bought bases)
Friday - Chicken and Vegie stirfry (using store bought honey, garlic & soy sauce) on rice
Saturday - Soft Tacos with mince and vegies
Sunday - Fish and Chips (from the takeaway shop - grilled fish for Miss 2)
Monday - Pasta with Bacon, Mushroom & Spinach - I substituted spinach for peas in this recipe
Tuesday - Spaghetti Bolognaise (cooked enough to freeze for Saturday night)
Wednesday - Chicken Stir Fry (to use up the rest of the sauce)
Thursday -Sausages, mash potato and vegies.
Friday - Roast Chicken and Vegies

I think I might put my spag bol recipe up soon. I just realised I don't think I've put one up.

A change is as good as a holiday

I've been trying to think of a more concise name for this blog and I think I'm happy with this one. Does anyone get what I'm trying to do with the name? My husband thinks it's a bit of a stretch :) Oh well, even if you don't, I think it rolls of the tongue better than the sentence that was my blog name before!
I had a great week away with my family and am looking forward to getting back into blogging proper on Monday.

Holiday time

I'm taking this week off while the school holidays are on. Looking forward to sharing some exciting news with you next week!

If you haven't already, feel free to subscribe to my feed (see the 'Keep Up With Me' section on the right).

Have a great week

Chicken Noodle Soup

A yummy chicken noodle soup.

2L Chicken Stock (I made my own similar to this recipe, using a chicken carcass and kept the carrots to use in my soup)
2 chicken breasts
2 portions rice vermicelli noodles
half a cup frozen peas and corn
1/4 cup roughly chopped parsley (I kept it mostly out of the kids' soups and just gave them a little bit and mixed the rest in for us)


Make your own stock. B

Guest recipe: Muesli (Granola) Bars

If only I'd waited while it cooled - it was still yummy

It's been a while since we've had a guest recipe but here's another from my good friend. Her children also had to avoid soy as well. Muesli bars are often a source of nuts or traces of nuts and they are unbelievably expensive too! Here's one you can make at home that everyone will enjoy.

180g Nuttelex (dairy free spread)
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup each of dried apricots and dates – chopped
1/2 cup plain GF flour
1/3 cup pepitas
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
1 egg equivalent of no-egg (Egg substitute)

Place Nuttelex and sugar into a small saucepan and stir over a low to medium heat until Nuttelex has melted and the sugar has dissolved, set aside to cool slightly. In a large bowl, mix oats, apricots, dates, flour, pepitas and sunflower seeds. Make a well in the center of the dry mix and add the cooled butter mixture, egg and vanilla.

Stir until well combined. Spread evenly into an 18x28 greased tray and press down firmly, bake for 25-30mins at 180 degrees or until golden brown. Then allow to cool and slice into fingers.

We didn't have pepitas so added puffed amaranth instead. We also halved the recipe so it didn't fill the tray but it still worked. I reduced the amount of apricots and added in sultanas instead because we try to avoid sulfites. I was a bit keen and took the slice out before it cooled and it all fell apart so I encourage you to be patient - I think it will cut better if you wait! :)

Menu Plan Monday

Also egg free!

It's been a while since I've done my Menu Plan Monday but here it is again!

Monday - homemade fish & chips
Tuesday - chicken sausages and vegies (thanks Soph!)
Wednesday - Roast chicken and vegies
Thursday - Pasta with mince (we had some frozen leftover burrito mince the other week to use - yay for minimal cooking!)
Friday - We had friends over for dinner so the kids had chicken nuggets and vegies
Saturday - We tried a new pizza base by Old Time Bakery that I found at the supermarket - the kids both ate it so as not to waste any and both really enjoyed it. I had a taste and thought it was pretty nice with a not as nice aftertaste but overall a good thin and crispy base. We'll use the other one when we go on holidays and I'm not up for making our own. I like the fact that you can freeze the 2nd one for up to a year!
Sunday - Chicken noodle soup and toast - I made my own chicken stock (we bought a chicken carcass for about $1 from the butcher - bargain!) and we used vermicelli rice noodles. I will post this recipe later in the week.

Vanilla - a flavour saviour

In general, allergen free foods don't taste anywhere near as nice as 'normal' foods. It has been hard to work out how to make things more enjoyable. Here is one tip - use vanilla in baking. Most of the recipes that I've liked when I've baked allergen free have had vanilla essence or vanilla beans in them. It's a pantry essential.
Here's a few recipes that I use vanilla flavouring for -
Sultana and Oat Cookies
Vanilla Bean Biscuits
Brownies
Berry Muffins
Wacky Cake
Coconut Vanilla Icing