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Protein Bars gone Gluten Free Cookies

After about three years of disagreement with my son’s primary care provider I decided that I needed to find someone who could help us with his GI issues.  On most days he was doing fairly well from all the changes we had made, every once in a while he would get into something that was on our list of “no-no” foods and he would have issues.  The problem now seemed as if the issues were progressing and as the holidays approached the issues were not what I considered not acceptable.  After the holidays passed I rang his primary and said here is the deal, no more games I want a referral to see a GI specialist.  I lost the battle.  I was so disappointed.

I was not going to give up.  His issues were now a health concern I was not going to avoid.  I needed answers scientific proof of what was going on in his body.  Answers we got…I still think even more than the naturopath had expected.  Now two months later we are on the road to health and healing.  The only question left was “WHAT DO I FEED THIS KID?”

His allergies (or intolerances as some like to call it…my body sends its army I consider it an allergy…we are just blessed it is not life threatening) include gluten & wheat, egg whites, and citrus; we have avoided milk (except cheese) for so long that it may or may not be on that list and soy has been out for our family for a while as well.  Preservatives and food dyes have also been off our family list for some time.  There goes almost anything you might think of picking up at the store!!

Except for the blessed Go-Go Squeez’s, that is another story!!

The only recipe I had was my original bar recipe…I knew I could make that gluten free and he would not know the difference.  Mind you he was a super picky eater buy this time,  of course EVERYTHING hurt his little tummy!!

The other piece to this story is the transition from “bar” to “cookie.”  As much as my middle son liked bars my littlest loves cookies.  I worried for a while he would grow up thinking he could eat as many cookies as he wanted but since he has to be gluten free not really a worry anymore.  My daughter likes them better too because fourth graders can be mean and would tease her about her bars…nothing a cookies can’t fix.  So there you have it our Protein Bars have transformed to Gluten Free Cookies.

Protein Bars gone gluten free cookies

  • 1 cup almonds
  • 1 cup granola or rolled oats (GF)
  • 1 cup cashews
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup ground flaxseed
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 cup rolled oats
  • 1/2 cup milk (we use rice or almond milk because of milk allergies)
  • Optional: Chocolate chips or Craisins

Don’t forget to make sure all the ingredients you use are gluten free!!

Make a flour powder using the dry blade of a Vitamix combining the almonds, granola, and cashews. 

In large mixing bowl mix all dry ingredients.  Slowly add in milk to create a dough.  Scoop in to cookies shape.

Bake in oven 350° for 6-10 or until golden on edges.

Enjoy!  When cooled of course.

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Protein Bars

I can honestly say I have never been in a Adult Bar; we frequently sit in the bar section of a restaurant while on dates, but have never been to the “local bar.”  However, my husband used to work for the lottery which is mainly located in adult bar’s.  Our son used to get so mad when my husband would talk about work and which bar he had been to the night before.  To him a bar was a protein bar, granola bar, or the best a candy bar.  Being a kid had no idea what an adult bar was but thought dad was off enjoying bars without him.  We got so many laughs about this subject.

His favorite thing to eat was bars.  A staple in his diet from the early ages.  No surprise that his younger brother took a liking to them too.  Problem was that him and big sister could not have the store bought kind.  Sister was allergic to soy…good luck finding one without.  Baby brother was allergic to the preservatives and unnecessary ingredients.

I was left to find an alternative that would make us all happy.  Just like my home made crackers the bars don’t stick around long, other than that they are great!!

Protein Bars

  • 1 cup almonds
  • 1 cup granola or rolled oats
  • 1 cup cashews
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 cup flour
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 cup rolled oats
  • 1/2 cup milk (we use rice or almond milk because of milk allergies)
  • Optional: Chocolate chips or Craisins

Make a flour powder using the dry blade of a Vitamix combining the almonds, granola, and cashews.

In large mixing bowl mix all dry ingredients.  Slowly add in milk to create a dough.

Roll dough flat on pastry sheet and cut apart or for rounded edges make about a 1 inch snake and flatten with a rolling pin and slice into desired bar length.

Bake in oven 350° for 6-10 or until golden on edges.

Enjoy!  When cooled of course.

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Crackers


Crackers are an all time favorite of mine.  In fact the one thing I really miss with my families new organic chemical free diet is crackers.  We make our own but they DON’T LAST!!

This fall we realized that preservatives and phosphates in bread type items were a bother to our son.  We had kinda wondered about gluten as that is the big talk but as best as we can tell it really is not the gluten but what is put in those foods to preserve and keep them fresh.  If you look up what else sodium phosphate is used for you will realize why we don’t really need it in our bread.  I wont share this here…it would take away from the recipe.

I love Pinterest for researching recipes for my homemade stuff!  This one I have not really changed the basic recipe… I found it to work just great.  Simple with great taste and the ability to create a wonderful cracker!!

Basic Cracker Recipe

“2 ½ cups flour
3 teaspoons dried herbs/seasonings
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup olive oil
¾ cup cold water”

 

So just follow the link above to get the recipe that is so easy.  What I have done is add to it.  I have messed with the flour and used: almond flour, cashew flour, gluten free flour, or any other flour type you like.  For the spices I always add garlic salt and usually Italian seasoning (they are my favorite) but sometimes add: cheese, flaxseed, baking soda to make thicker.  Bottom line they Always taste great!

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Dairy Free Sugar Cookies

This recipe might be a work in progress but it got the job done.  Sugar cookies for my little guy!

 

Dairy Free Sugar Cookies

1/2  Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Sugar (Powdered with my Vitamix Dry Blade)
1/3 Cup Coconut Oil [I did not measure so might be a little less]
1 Egg
1 t Vanilla
1 1/2 Cups Flour
1/2 t Baking Soda
1/2 t Salt
 

Sprinkle of Sugar on the top before baking.  Bake 375° for 6-8 min.  Enjoy!

 

 

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Dairy Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

They turned out great!!

IMAG0795-1

A friend kindly offered my son a cookie yesterday as his sister quickly said, “he can’t have that!”  The tears started as she said, “sorry buddy,” and he realized…wait I am missing out!

As the group of mom’s discussed that he was dairy free and that was why he could not have them.  I stated there must be a recipe but cookies were the one thing I really had not found a replacement for on his dairy free diet.

I don’t want him to miss out.  I searched Pinterest last night until I found a recipe that I considered good enough to try.  Actually I ended up adapting my all time favorite cookie recipe.

Dairy Free Chocolate Chunk Cookies

1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Brown Sugar
2/3 Cup Coconut Oil [I did not measure so might be a little less than 2/3 cup]
2 Eggs
2 t Vanilla
3 Cups Flour
1 t Baking Soda
1 t Salt
1 1/2 Baker’s Unsweetened Baking Chocolate Squares broken to little pieces 
 

Bake at 375° —- 8-10 minutes

IMAG0797

 
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Dairy Free

I have learned so much over the last few years that some days it is hard to think about what to share…there is so much.

For about 6 months to a year we fought horrible allergies with my son.  The allergies were so bad, they were causing blisters on a nearly daily basis on the skin of my son’s diaper area.  It was horrifying.  Diaper changes were a nightmare.  I would often cry after diaper changes.  The doctors could not figure it out.  Eventually we ended up at a dermatologist and urologist at the children’s hospital.  The treatments would help but not eliminate the problem.  It was continually changing.  Yeast.  Staph.  Allergy.  Something would help then we would stop the treatment and the problem would come back.  It was miserable for him and me.

Eventually by luck we (me not the doctors that we paid the big bucks) figured out the main culprit was a neurotoxin, iodopropynyl butylcarbamate.  We had not changed the baby wipes we were using but the company had added this ingredient to the baby wipes causing a very adverse reaction in my son.  After it was completely eliminated from his products we have had no blisters. Yeah!!

While we were going through this above allergy issue my son was also having GI issues.  All the doctors insisted he was not allergic to milk.  I kept asking, are you sure?  No.  When I was nursing him as a young baby he would get oral thrush if I drank any milk within a few hours of him nursing.  I had not nursed in quite a while so had kinda forgotten.  He had been eating cheese for a long time so it did not seem like it should be the culprit.

One day I had just had enough of the GI issues and said I am just gonna stop milk again.  I started giving him soy milk again.  He got better for a few days then it got worse again.  We gave up again as the results were not consistent.  The next time he got sick the only thing he would eat was granola bars.  He was not getting better like he should have been after a few days of feeling ill.  I took the package and looked at the ingredients.  There was no milk but there was whey.  The same protein that is removed when making cheese.  We have a winner!  When we had stopped milk before we had not completely removed all products that had milk in them specifically, WHEY!

Whey, was the key to all successes.  He is a completely different child now.  After about six weeks he was nearly completely recovered and the best part he talks!!  He can use better descriptive words then his older siblings after all those months of no talking [by talking I mean no attempt to communicate verbally or non-verbally].

At first I was really worried about all the favorite foods that he would miss out on because they contain dairy or that it was going to be so hard to prepare food for him, constantly making something different.  It has been so easy and has benefited other family members as well.  For the most part we are a dairy free family now but we still eat our favorite foods.

HOW TO SWITCH

Most of the time it is really easy.  We are also soy free as it was worse for our family then milk.  Most recipes we just switch milk for rice milk or almond milk.  The first change was in pancakes if you have read my blogs you probably could have guessed.  I simply substitute either one of the other milks for the milk that is called for in the recipe.  Muffins same thing.  Butter is sometimes harder because of the texture, I use oil where I can or fruit puree if oil does not work.

My husbands favorite is Alfredo.  At first I thought it was no longer an option.  I was so wrong!  I made a cream white sauce with the rice milk and it is so much better then the Campbell’s soups we used before.  Tomato soup is the one thing that we have found is so much better with milk but we did make it dairy free too…fresh from the garden!

Yogurt was another favorite of my son’s.  He gets the coconut milk yogurts.  They are expensive but he loves them.  I am hoping to try and make them at home one of these days.

Dairy free takes a little more time but the reward is exponentially worth it!

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My Boys

It has been a while since I wrote.  I started my writing business because I loved writing and my young children gave me so many ideas.  I also had things I wanted to share with them like my time in the US Coast Guard but could not find a book that really shared the things they would be interested in learning, so I wrote and published one to share with them.  Now my oldest son’s favorite thing is his Coast Guard Lego set!

I started this blog with the hope of sharing some of our experiences with our son’s Asperger’s.  I was hoping to write regularly teaching all the things we learn and sharing experiences.  Our house went thru a lot of changes and I just did not have time for writing.  As the dust has settled I am ready to share and  have so much to share.  A year ago we were really just starting to understand the diagnosis…now we have so much to share.

Our oldest son was diagnosed with Asperger’s at the age of four.  He had a lot of behavior problems that resulted mainly from sensory issues.  His other struggles are social.  It is honestly hard for me to remember because he is a totally different kid now.  He completed 24 weeks of occupational therapy, has a home therapy room, and he is a great kid now.  He has learned so much about what makes him feel better and what makes him feel yucky it is a totally new world for him.  He told the dentist he could not have the toothpaste because it has red 40 and blue 1 and asked for a substitution.

My youngest son, our baby, in so many ways is opposite of his brother.  At 20 months the only expressive language he used was “NO.”  He had never cried for a diaper change, never asked for food or drink, just would not communicate verbally or non-verbally.  At first I thought I was over worried since his brother started talking at 7 months.  We looked and looked for therapy nothing was available; he is still on a waiting list.  He had a beautiful voice when he would talk but it was on his terms never to communicate, never imitate, and certainly not on demand even if he did want the water or snack.

I talked to a friend that was and audiologist she said don’t use categories.  She also said you will have to teach him what I’m gonna call the “threes” a dog in person, a dog in a photo, and drawing of the dog.  She also checked his hearing which was fine.  We had just figured out an allergy problem so she said he may just catch up if he was not hearing well with all the infections.  This was a very challenging time.  I had never taught my older two to talk, they just picked it up.

After about a week of no categories and lots of threes talk he used his first word “CUP!”  We found a college student who was wanting to go into speech therapy to work with him.  It was so great having her, he slowly got more and more words and started using them to express his needs.  If he was in a good mood he would sometimes imitate.  Cup meant he needed a drink and bar meant he was hungry, granola bars were his favorite.

The biggest change came when we figured out the other allergy.  I should have known earlier but the doctors kept telling me no he was not allergic to milk.  He had been really sick for about a week.  All he would eat were his bars .  We had taken milk away but it would get better for a while then he would get worse again.  It for some reason just clicked and I checked the bars ingredients, the only thing he had really eaten, they contained whey.  What is whey?  A protein that is contained in the liquid portion of milk a byproduct of making cheese that is waste…except…they put it in LOTS of other things in really high concentrations!  It has been six weeks since we eliminated ALL milk except cheese.  He is a talking machine!!  He is a completely different kid.  This morning for the first time he told me he was hungry!!

We had the amazing experience of attending the Autism and Asperger’s Conference in Salt Lake City, UT this summer.  We learned so much and confirmed so many things we had done with our boys to see huge improvements.  There is so much to share.  Little things can make a big difference but you are not likely to hear about them at the doctors.  I already had the joy of sharing this story with one friend that has seen positive changes in her little guy.  What a blessing!