MSN, 12 food additives to avoid

http://health.msn.com/nutrition/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=100204508&imageindex=1

MSN, 12 food additives to avoid

beef and potato burritos

http://www.pbs.org/everydayfood/recipes/beef_and_potato_burrito.html

use acceptable oil or butter
use always acceptable sour cream with just cream and salt
use acceptable tortillas or make your own (gf if needed)

These were sooooooooo good!

snack sized...

Just a note here, I can't remember if I've posted about this or not. I love snack sized containers! I like to get them from the grocery store, dollar store, or ichiban kan online.
My kids see a snack and they go crazy eating the whole thing. So, right when we get it home we put it in snack sized containers. We also do this with yogurt, homemade jello, and anything else that needs portion control.

Lentil soup and dumplings

Here's a recipe from hillbilly housewife. Usually we like our lentil soup with homemade bread and butter but we've tried these dumplings and they're great. You can use the dumplings in any soup. I think they're great with veggie. Soup 1-1/4 cups dry lentils 8 cups water (2 quarts) 4 carrots, peeled and sliced 3 or 4 celery stalks, peeled and sliced 1 large onion, peeled and sliced 4 approved bouillon cubes or 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1/4 teaspoon black pepper Dumplings 2 tablespoons approved vegetable oil or melted butter 1 egg or 3 tablespoons more whole milk (see note below) 1/2 cup whole milk 1-1/2 cups flour 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon each salt & sugar Begin by making the soup. Rinse the lentils under running water. Then place them in a large pot and cover them with 2-quarts of water. Bring the mixture to a boil and allow it to simmer over medium heat for about 20 minutes. The lentils will be almost tender. Add the vegetables, bouillon, garlic and black pepper. Stir gently and allow the mixture to simmer for 20 minutes more. The vegetables and lentils will both be tender. Taste and add salt if you think it needs it. Now look over the amount of liquid in the pot. Add enough extra water so that all of the solids are well covered with liquid. They don't need to be swimming over their heads, but they should be wading up to their waists. Bring the mixture to a slow lazy simmer, not a boil. If the soup boils it will disintegrate the dumplings instead of cooking them up into fluffy, glimmering jewels. While the soup is simmering, prepare your dumplings. Get out a big bowl. In it combine the oil, egg and milk until they are well blended. Add the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Mix it up to a stiff batter, like for drop biscuits. Set it aside until you need it. When the soup is simmering slowly, it is time to drop in the dumplings. Take small rounded scoops of the dough with teaspoon and drop them into the simmering broth, on top of the vegetables. Keep dropping the dough blobs until you have scraped the bowl clean. Now put the lid, or a handy pizza pan over the pot and let it simmer for 20 minutes. Do not peak. Let the dumplings simmer covered for the full 20 minutes. The thing about dumplings is that they cook partly from the boiling soup and partly from the steam. The steam is what makes them fluffy, and the simmering broth is what cooks them all the way through. If you peak while the dumplings are cooking then they will turn into lumpy, doughy rocks. When the time is up, serve the soup and dumplings as soon as possible. The soup will be thickened and the dumplings will be light and fluffy. Makes between 4 and 6 servings. NOTE: If you don't have any extra eggs, then leave out the egg and replace it with 3 tablespoons of milk. The dumplings will still be good. Here's another great bean, lentil and dry pea recipe you may want to try ... Chickpea Tacos. My family will just gobble those up.

Menu #2

Sorry, I forgot that I was going to post my menus...here's my #2 menu

Sunday:
start lentils in crock pot, soak red beans for tomorrow, thaw roast for tomorrow night, start bread if you're soaking it.

Breakfast:
Waffles, eggs, approved bacon, frozen 100% orange juice

Lunch:
tortilla pizzas (use approved tortillas or homemade, tomato sauce, whole milk mozzerella cheese, and veggies

Dinner:
Crock pot lentil soup, bread and butter

Monday

Make bread for tonight, cook red beans and rice for lunch, start roast in crockpot for dinner

Breakfast:
Impossible Coconut Pie

Lunch:
Red beans and rice

Dinner:
roast, veggies, bread and butter

Tuesday

Remember to start potatoes for lunch, make extra for Wed and Thurs

Breakfast:
Hootenannies and real maple syrup, honey, fruit,

Lunch:
Baked potato bar (save extra for tomorrow and thursday

Dinner:
Spaghetti with approved or homemade tomato sauce

Wednesday:

Breakfast:
Potato fritatta

Lunch:
Pasta salad

Dinner:
chicken salad

Thursday:
Start soup in crockpot for lunch

Breakfast:
hot rice cereal with honey and milk

Lunch:
Potato Cheese soup

Dinner:
Taco salad

Friday

Soak oatmeal for tomorrow morning

Breakfast:
approved cereal and whole milk

Lunch:
Impossible dinner pie

Dinner:
Mac and cheese, veggies

Saturday

Breakfast:
overnight oatmeal

Lunch:
Sloppy joes, salad

Dinner:
approved chilli, tamales, or canned something day

Reader questions from Laura

Laura commented and asked, "I'm raising my 5 year old grandson. He is so intelligent but is struggling in kindergarten. He was just diagnosed with ADHD combined type and childhood antisocial behavior. I ordered the Feingold program to try to help him. I spent 3 hours shopping the other night to purchase foods he could have.

What do you find the most challenging about the program?

Do you share recipes?

I appreciate your blog as it certainly gives me encouragement and hope."

Laura, good for you for making the change! Shopping will get MUCH easier. I think that one of the most challenging things was actually the beginning shopping. Looking at the food list and looking up every single item that was prepackaged was a bear of a job. I think my first trip was about 3 hours. I was very glad that I didn't take my kids. Here's a couple of tips to make it easier.
Study the food guide at home. Pick out some foods that are brands sold at the local stuff-mart or wherever you shop. Highlight them with a yellow crayon. As you get more familiar with the brands that you like you can use orange to underline them or make a checkmark. I rarely use my food guide anymore. I just bring it along in case of a great sale to check the product.
Second, use a lot of always acceptable ingredients. Not only will this save money but it is much easier to shop when you know you're picking up fruit and veggies, beans, meat, eggs, and whole milk.
I do keep some easy packaged stuff on hand but mostly we eat basics.
I think it took me about a month before I knew which brands I wanted of what and what was really safe. It was about 4 shopping trips. In the beginning we're all excited about the huge food list and we buy tons of "safe junk" just because it's safe.
I'd buy chips once every 6 months before but when we started Feingold I bought 4 different kinds every shopping trip!

We've been doing this for a while now and I honestly don't even think about it anymore. It was only a challenge for the first 3 months. We keep some pre-packaged snacks around for that spur of the moment birthday party or long day, we have homemade beef jerky and fruit roll ups and approved suckers in the car. Our taste buds are used to water so it's very easy to refuse that special drink that someone makes. The kids know that if I don't happen to have an approved treat in my purse that it's easy to wait an hour till we get home and then I'll substitute their treat. And, there's always the fast food guide for real food when we're out. We don't feel like we're missing out on anything...well, Andrew will still sneak sometimes but he's getting TONS better at knowing that I have things at home.

I don't quite understand what you mean by, "do you share recipes?" I think you mean do you share them with friends or those who need to feed your child so I'll address that and if it's not what you mean please let me know otherwise.
Since the Feingold association is a non-profit organization we do not copy the food list or discuss in detail (on a list or blog) the approved foods. They put so much time into research and they need the funds to keep that going. We encourage others who are interested in the Feingold diet to get their own food list. I copied the "Dear Grandma" letter for my family and those caring for my kids (including church workers and friends who watch them) and created my own list of simple foods, and some packaged treats that my kids could have. I also share a product or two on this blog to encourage people that worry about everything being health food and expensive. I want people to know that there are plenty of everyday foods on the list. I share plenty of recipes with those caring for my kids.
There is also the Feingold discussion board that you get a password to when you register. There are many recipes there and since everyone is a member they use brand names to make it easier.

I hope that answered your questions. Feel free to ask more. It helps me know what readers need to hear. That's why I answer all questions online and not privately.

Skill building buddies

http://skillbuildingbuddies.com/

Just a website I found with free videos online to help kids with autism or other people who need to build certain skills.

I'm on a youtube kick

ewwwwwwwwww

I don't know why, I just had to post this. We used to eat this stuff!

Just something interesting, science experiment

Today Adam showed me his science experiment from his homeschool co-op. They all grew beans in petri dishes. He happened to be goofing around with his green marker and colored one bean all over. Guess what? He checked them today and most are "literally exploding with life" as he says, and that one bean didn't grow and is molding.
Of course this is just a kid's science experiment and it was just one so it could be a total fluke but we thought it was funny.
We may try to recreate this experiment again but with more beans and just see what happens.