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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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Good Bread

My youngest has never liked bread.  After we learned some of his allergies I just figured it was because he knew it made his tummy upset because he does not tolerate milk well and most bread you buy in the store has milk.  I went to the bakery last week to get some fresh bread to go with our homemade broccoli cheese soup and he loved the bread.  I was a little surprised, but once in a while he will eat bread so was not a big deal.

A couple of days ago we were given some bread from the same bakery and he almost threw a fit about having to have some.  That was a little weird, that is normally his brothers roll on bread not his.  That is when I realized maybe it was not just the milk but the preservatives too.

I had just read an article about the history of Pepperidge Farms, those little goldfish he loves, the mother that started the company had a son that had allergies to the preservatives and artificial ingredients in the breads she bought.  Hum, this sounds very familiar.

Along with the food allergies our son has allergies to preservatives too.  At the first sign of allergies it was so hard to figure out the problem because there was a combination of things that were contributing to making a really big problem.   We have been trying to add fresher foods and eliminate all the processed foods.  I guess I never thought of bread as processed food but of course they add preservatives to keep it fresher longer.

We went to the bakery this morning and he walked out with a baguette in his hands saying, “Good Bread!”  I think we will be visiting the bakery more often.

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Back to Pancakes

I’m gonna go back to pancakes today.  Hands down my middle son would pick pancakes for 90% of his meals if given the choice.  He LOVES pancakes although for some reason he is on a waffle kick right now.  It works out great because they warm up in the toaster better than pancakes.  He has his waffles while the rest of us can choose something else like the smoothie my daughter and I had this morning.  Strawberries that had been frozen, yogurt, and orange juice mix it up in the Vitamix and a delicious breakfast drink.  We like pancakes but not every morning like brother.

My pancake recipe is one my dad made when I was a kid from scratch.  I first started modifying it when we realized that my youngest son had a milk intolerance.  Same recipe just different type of milk.  I sometimes would throw in oatmeal, applesauce, or a banana.  [I hated when my dad would try and sneak things in…I could always tell…for me it was the chunky and the smooth textures.  I remember feeding that smooth baby food with the chunks to a toddler in my daycare and he would gag every bite.  Who likes that texture anyway?]  Anyway, that was as far as I had modified my pancake recipe.

At the convention the nutritionist had a recipe for chicken pancakes.  My first reaction was, GROSS!  Well when we arrived home I had this huge zucchini that had been growing for two weeks.  What was I gonna do with it?  Well they love zucchini bread maybe zucchini pancakes?  So I have learned that all you really need for pancakes is some wet ingredients with some dry ingredients to make the thickness of the batter you like.  So I took my basic pancake recipe and added zucchini plus a banana blended in the Vitamix toss in a little cinnamon.  To my surprise they all loved it including my husband who is not a huge pancake fan.  Success, he thinks he is getting a pancake but he is getting the nutrition.

My youngest is a granola bar fan, that would be his meal choice.  I am trying really hard to limit him to two per day.  That is all he wanted for lunch so I convinced him a pancake would be good.  [1 egg, applesauce, oatmeal, a little flour to thicken the batter]  He gets a pancake, which he loved, and I get him more nutrients.  Success again.

Besides from the mention of “chicken pancakes” the other thing we really learned at the convention was to move our expectations into our child’s world.  Often times we forget our child’s feelings and try and move them into our world…get them to do what we want.  It should not be about bribing them to do what we want or rewarding them for going to the store or taking a nap.  If he wants to play trains then we find the train tracks on the way to the store.  It is a win-win not that constant win-lose battle.  I know I would not have thought about this without someone talking about chicken pancakes [I still have not tried :)] but am so glad I could think outside that box and into my child’s world making our world together a happier one.

By the way those waffles he is eating every morning this week are zucchini-banana waffles.  🙂

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Kiss the M & M’s Goodbye

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The first thing that I changed to help change my son’s behavior problems was to eliminate red 40.  You have to really pay attention to labels because it shows up sometimes in places you don’t expect.

My mom was actually the one to suggest it.  She had parents over the years of teaching tell her about it affecting their kids.  I had thought my son had some sort of allergy or reaction to something he would eat but could never pin point it.  He would be fine and then all of a sudden jumping from couch to couch which really doesn’t go over well at Grandma’s!

It has been two years since we removed red 40 out of his diet.  I admit it was hard at first so I would let it slide and for something special or a party…oh, a little won’t hurt.  They have a lot of birthday celebrations in Kindergarten!  It got to the point with in five minutes of getting off the bus I would ask “Who’s birthday was it?”  The absolute worst day VALENTINE’S DAY!  We should just rename it to RED 40 day.  [It is not the sugar that make kids crazy…it is the food dyes!]

Last spring, the end of Kinder, he kept coming down with these ear infections.  We could not figure it out…it was constant ear infection but nothing the doctor’s would treat.  The treatment was Sudafed which has red 40, aahh!  It was the second Ninja Turtle birthday party that solved the mystery.  Blue 1 and Blue 2 is worse than red 40…it was actually causing ear infections.  We had been in this vicious cycle of blue dyes causing infections which needed meds to clear that make him feel yucky and have out of control behaviors.

This was pretty much the breaking point where my family would become a dye free home.  We still have those lingering Marshmallows I don’t want to just throw away but I do not support the food dye industry anymore!  We have also notice after about two weeks of being off all food dyes we feel better and don’t even want the nasty foods we believe have addicting dyes in them.  The final boot on the food dyes came at the Autism convention this summer; every speaker touched on eliminating food dyes.

It takes some training your kids especially when they are out at parties but they can learn.  Once you eliminate it they wont even complain because they feel better without the chemicals.  Even my 2 1/2 year old gets it makes him feel yucky.  The six year old informed the dentist that he could not have the toothpaste and requested an alternative without dyes.  Now that is something for a mamma to be proud off!