Cool Weather

Hey yall, good to see everyone again. I’ve been working on some updates and I’m about ready to just update everything and then let the readers point out any thing I’ve missed or messed up. Let me know what yall think of that idea. The updates aren’t enormous, but they are a little more tidy recipe format, and hopefully some of the new recipes we’ve been using.

We are still Gluten and Casein free and hopefully will be for the rest of forever. My kids are still on the autism spectrum, one with Asperger’s and one with ADHD, but they both respond well to dietary therapy and I wonder now if I have celiac sprue, or maybe some other form of wheat or gluten intolerance because I feel better than I ever have since setting gluten and wheat by the wayside. It’s hard, yes, but wow are the results life-changing.

I’m working on some doll stuff. I collect and sew for dolls and I’ve not shared much of that over the internet, but I hope to share more as I’m inspired. I’ll probably get up a subdomain to Frugal Abundance and focus my doll stuff on it. I love to sew and making doll clothes is easy for me, so I’m hoping to put a few doll thing up for sale on the Doll subdomain. If I had daughters who played with dolls I wouldn’t enjoy dolls as much as I do. In my house though, it’s all boys, all the time. Sewing for dolls helps me increase the estrogen level in the atmosphere, even if it’s only vinyl estrogen, every little bit counts.

I’ve been visiting with Anna from Veiled Glory on a weekly basis. We have coffee while my boys are at Karate. I cannot describe the encouragement it is to share an entire hour every week with another christian, headcovering lady who shares the same values and the same desire to serve the Lord while living deliberately. I thank God over and over again for his generosity and grace.  I’m much better able to focus on my goals and zero in on the things I want to do, instead of getting lost in all of my options and not being able to see any specific tree because the whole forest has me overwhelmed.

All is well on the home front. Boys are doing better. Fred’s diabetes in under good control, my PCOS has improved, although I still hope to work towards improving it more. My Granny is healthier than she’s been in years and at last check my cousin is doing very well. The Lord blesses us so abundantly.

Hugs and affection all around. I hope to be blogging regularly, perhaps once or twice a week.

GFCF Update

First off, I feel more confident, just because we’ve all become more used to it.

(GF=Gluten Free. CF=Casein Free)

I’ve learned that GF for autism is different from GF for celiac disease. For celiac it’s necessary to be extremely vigilant and watch for even the most minute traces of gluten. For autism, we’ve found that miniscule amounts don’t really make much difference one way or the other. That teeny tiny bit of  leeway makes it much easier to maintain our budget too. For instance I don’t have to buy the specialty GF cornflakes, I can but the regular ones which have some malt in them. Malt is usually derived from barley which contains some gluten. Regular cornflakes would be out of the question if we were battling Celiac, but with autism, regular cornflakes don’t appear to cause any reaction, at least in my kids. Like with all things though, Your Mileage May Vary (YMMV). I’ve also found that small amounts of soy sauce that contains wheat doesn’t seem to cause a reaction, I wonder if it’s because the soy sauce is brewed or fermented and that somehow the gluten properties are changed through the fermentation process. I have no proof or anything, just my own pondering. Since wheat-free soy sauce is cheap and widely available (Kroger Brand) I use wheat-free at home, but if we get fried rice out in public, then we don’t worry too much about where the soy sauce came from, because we know that tiny amounts won’t be any problem.

According to their labels, some foods are processed in factories that also process wheat or dairy products. There is a chance of cross contamination. For the most part, I don’t worry about cross contamination. I did once find a few milk chocolate chips in the bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips, but I simply removed them (they were a lighter color) and continued on with the rest. It wasn’t a problem. As long as the product I’m buying doesn’t contain any of the offending products in the ingredient list I trust the Lord when it comes to cross contamination. Non-Christians may find that difficult to understand, but it’s simply a normal part of the Christian lifestyle. Trust God with the stuff I can’t control, cause really He is in charge of all of it anyway. It’s a comforting way to look at the world.

We’ve developed a method for the kids to identify what they can and can’t eat, that’s pretty easy for them and I find it helpful too. We had trouble explaining to them that some foods they could eat in very small amounts and it would be still be okay, but other foods they shouldn’t eat at all, ever and then others were fine to eat in unlimited quantitites. We finally hit upon the Traffic Light: Red light, Yellow light and Green light.

Some foods are Green Light Foods. They can be eaten as much as desired and there is no need to worry about them. Fresh fruits, vegetables, Rice, Corn, Oats, plain meats, plain beans, soy milk, potatoes and others.

Some foods are Yellow Light. These can be eaten in small servings such as french fries from Fast Food stores (they often have small amounts of wheat added to them), Dark Chocolate (some has small amounts of milk and some do not. It’s not always convenient to read the label when out with friends, so choose dark chocolate, and you’re better off than eating milk chocolate.) Soy yogurt cultured with dairy based bacteria. Heavy Cream & Real Butter (they’re  mostly fat, and fat doesn’t have any protein in it, thus no casein) And lots of others.

Finally are the Red Light Foods. These are not eaten at all, ever, except on Christmas. And even then, it’s okay to refuse them. Except if you must eat them, it can only be on Christmas. These foods include flour, cheese, milk, ice cream, and the regular offenders.

This method of identifying foods has been a huge blessing on us. Asperger’s kids like everything to be in tidy boxes in their thought processes. Giving the kids 3 boxes to mentally divide thier food choices into has helped them be able to eat in the world and to make their own choices at pot lucks and family gatherings and restaurants. AS a matter of fact, the whole Traffic Light concept has made them much easier to feed and empowered them to take more control over their own diets. I find myself using it too, for high calorie and low calorie foods. Being allowed yellow light foods, in small portions makes a diet much easier to customize. Some days we don’t eat any yellow light foods, and other days, entire meals may be made up of yellow light foods (like fast food meals out with friends)

Altogether I am very satisfied with this diet and plan to stay on it forever and ever until we’re dead. I admit to not following it as faithfully as my kids have, especially over Christmas (ugh!) but day in and day out we all eat the same foods and the stress level in our home has really diminished with these dietary changes.

I’m open for questions now. If anyone has any, please feel free to ask. I’ll answer them as best I can.

Oh, and one final note, thanks so much to everyone who is praying for my cousin Christina and special thanks for all the comments on her blog. I cannot even express my gratitude, it means so much that yall are so willing to offer your support, strength and hope. Hugs & Love all around.

Miss Maggie, Miss Maggie, where have you been?

I’ve been to my Granny’s to watch her recover from brain surgery. I’ve also had some really bazaar hormonal reactions to the GFCF diet. Good reactions, my body seems to be growing younger some how. Lost some weight without even trying, still obese, but less so. Got a new spark in my marriage and a big full load of adolescent puppy love for my hubby, have more energy than I have in years, since the PCOS set in over a decade ago, and my hair, well, it’s my favorite side effect: my hair is growing faster than it has since I was pregnant with Jamie, and so little of it’s falling out that all the birds who were using it to make their nests are fussing at me because their eggs are getting cold without my fur to keep them warm.

I had some breast pains, sort of  like when your milk comes in cause the baby cried, and the doctors did lots of tests only to discover that it was because of the hormonal changes. I’m getting closer to menopause, like the last hurrah of summer before the snow flies. And my summer is blooming brilliantly, which is sort of wonderful for a lady of almost 40 whose had some early winter years due to PCOS.

My granny had her brain surgery to remove the brain tumor which turned out to be the size of a grapefruit. It had roots that went down and around, so the surgery was a little dicey, but at 87, she recovered more quickly than women my age, and is now up and around–doing dishes, hanging laundry on the line, walking down to the mailbox, walking the dogs down to the creek, shopping at the Walmart (without the scooter cart, mind you, she pushes her own cart, under her own power). She was in the hospital for just over a week and now has a horseshoe shaped scar on the side of her head, but it’s a pretty scar as they go, healthy, healed up just as pretty as you please, and her hair is growing back nicely. I’m proud of my granny. She says she’s  feeling better than she has in 20 years, feels stronger, has better balance and is just doing so well that we sit around and praise the Lord all day long, because He is the only power that could make all of this turn out so well.

So, I’m here, I’m back at my computer, and hope to update weekly. Next time I write it will be about the boys and how they are faring on the diet, and how our family has adjusted to it.

Thanks for all the support. Hugs & Love–M

Menus for approximately 2 weeks

Just for the record, I am superstitious about writing menus. I suspect that the moment I write them they will turn into a ball and chain and transform me into an evil victorian school marm forcing children to eat mush and powdered milk for every meal. I try to avoid that scenario, but it’s still haunting me around the edges.

The next point I’d like to make is that I am making these menus because we are so hard hit by the current economy that my choices are either make the menus or eat every meal at my mom’s house. And the gas it would take to get there every day would actually cost more than groceries for the week. This fortnight I have $130 or $65 per week. I have been steadily emptying my freezer the past few months and also using up the stuff in my pantry. I have some dried veggies and beans that I haven’t opened yet, but I expect that I’ll be opening them soon as most veggies go out of season and get more expensive.

2008 has been a difficult year for us financially. We have a “New Normal” that is less prosperous than our “Old Normal” and we are still adapting to it. At least we’re out of the denial stage that was making us spend more than we could afford, because for a few months we didn’t realize that a new normal was upon us. So we kept up our old habits only to quickly realize that our old habits were too expensive and that we needed to economize IMMEDIATELY! Which we’ve done. Praise the Lord for the ability to that, and to still have such a luxurious life. Everytime I feel poor I look at my stove and refrigerator and the bags of beans and rice stocking my pantry and I thank God for His abundance. A frugal abundance to be sure, but abundance none the less.

DINNER MENUS–leftovers for lunch the next day

1. Bowl of Beans (Spicy pinto beans, cooked in crockpot overnight); Ketchup; Chopped Onions; Chopped Jalapenos; Fried Corn Tortillas; Fruit Cocktail (this is one of our favorite meals and very easy on the cook)
2. Roast chicken; Mashed Sweet Potatoes; HM stuffing (leftover bread); Peas; Cranberries from freezer made into relish.
3. Chicken Gumbo with Onion, Green Pepper, Okra, Frozen Italian Veggies, Hot Sauce & Tomatoes; Hoecakes; Gumbo broth is made from leftover chicken bones and any leftover chicken.
4. Lentil Stew with GFCF Dumplings (lentil stew from my old site, new recipe for dumplings made from rice flour and cornstarch to try out) Pineapple & Carrot gelatinized in orange & Pineapple juice.
5. Turkey Sloppy Joes with Chipotle for zing; HM rolls; HM Coleslaw; Potato Chips (naughty, I know), carrots & celery as alternative (or in addition) to Potato Chips.
6. Meat Loaf; Green Beans; Mashed Potatoes (instant cause I’m lazy); Broccoli & Cauliflower Salad (thawed broccoli & caulifower marinated in Italian dressing).
7. Snake Bites (chicken nuggets coated with seasoned, spicy cornflake crumbs); Carrot Raisin Salad; Oven Fried Potatoes; Boiled Squash & Onions.
8. Black Bean & Veggie Soup; Corn Tortillas fried in margarine; Fried Eggs to go in soup (one for each person)
9. Mock Lasagna made with layers of cooked really yummy and cheap oriental rice noodles; spaghetti sauce (from a can) with added sausage flavored TVP; HM Cottage Cheese made from Tofu and egg and a little mayonnaise; HM Fake Parmesan; Garlic Bread; Broccoli & Cauliflower Salad
10. Beef Stew made with Potatoes, Carrots, Onions, Celery, Tomatoes & some frozen peas; Muffins; HM Lime Juice Gelatin with some fruit, probably canned pears.
11. Dirty Rice made with Ground Turkey, Mixed Vegetables, Onions, a handful of added sausage flavored TVP and lots of red pepper; Mixed Greens; butter bread
12. Turkey Chili–1 lb of meat & 1 pound of dry beans, cooked in crock pot overnight; Tomatoes, peppers, celery; Cornbread; Celery Sticks (and peanut butter)
13. Chicken Rice Casserole (made from canned chicken from my pantry) with peas & mushrooms and white sauce made from HM Soymilk; Pickled Beets;
14. Choice of Butter Beans or Split Pea Soup–some hot bread–toast if necessary–oatmeal cookies if possible. Yum.
15. Fried Rice; Hot & Sour Soup with many Veggies & Tofu; Fried Spam coated in brown sugar before frying (I know, it’s horrible, but we love it) and then caramelized to a golden brown. Pineapple on the side.

DESSERTS & SNACKS

1. Rice Cakes spread with peanut butter and sprinkled with raisins
2. Rice Cakes spread with peanut butter and topped with bananas slices
3. Rice Cakes with Marshmallow Fluff & Chocolate Chips
4. Apples (from our tree)
5. Bananas
6. Celery with Peanut Butter and Raisins
7. Monster Cookies
8. Brownies
9. Cake (looking for recipe) with thawed frozen strawberries and Tofu whipped Topping to make Strawberry Short Cake of sorts.
10. Pizza Bread
11. Refried Beans & Chips
12. Sandwiches: Ham, Turkey, PB&J, Fried Egg, Tuna
13. Vegetarian Tacos made from TVP & Refried Beans, fast and easy–topped with shredded cabbage and well drained canned no-salt-added tomatoes. Also HM tofu sour cream if desired
14. Tater Tots as desired (kids make for themselves in big oven or toaster oven)

I have no idea how I’ll do about sticking to these things. I’m just going to give it a try and see how things go. The boys are now doing dishes, after school (at 3.pm) every day, it’s only the lunch dishes (mostly easy dishes from reheating leftovers in the microwave). This is the way I cook most of the time, only I’m not always so organized about it. Since I’m using up stuff already in the house, as much as possible, it was a necessity to make the menus to keep myself on track.

BTW, for breakfast we have both hot and cold cereal (with soymilk), Also fried eggs, fried turkey sausage; sausage gravy & biscuits; french toast, pancakes, fruit smoothies with added flax seed & soymilk, and that’s about it for our every day stuff.

GFCF & my Hair

My hair has always been one of my best features. Long, thick, curly, brown with red highlights. My sister-in-law says I have African American hair, and she’s not far off base. Well, when I got PCOS (or rather, when it “bloomed”), my hair started thinning. Everyone said to me “Well, you’re older now, your hair is bound to fall out more than it used to.” Hearing folks say that to me always made me feel resentful–with a vain, self-righteous anger, because how dare they lump me in with all the other women my age with thinning hair! My hair’s not supposed to thin because I don’t dye it. I don’t blow dry it. I only wash it a couple of times a week, because there’s so much of it, it doesn’t get dirty very fast. I’ve done all the right things to preserve my hair, but it was still falling out. I developed a receding hairline up near my temples and the top thinned significantly. Unless you’ve known me forever you wouldn’t notice the thinning, because there was still an abundance of hair, just not as much as there used to be.

Anyway, my point is that my hair was falling out and it was making me especially sad. Then something happened. I gave up gluten and casein. And now my hair is growing back. I’m serious. The hair I’ve lost over the past 8 to 10 years, is growing back. I have scores of little baby hairs growing back on the top of my head and in my receding hairline, which is now pro-ceding, not re-ceding. Praise the Lord.

If I had known my hair would grow back, I would have done this years ago.

Thank-you God, for my new Hair. Amen.

The Cost of a GFCF Diet

We’ve been on our diet for 2 months now and we’re getting more of a comfort zone about it. We don’t go out to eat anymore, ever. Because it’s just too hard to make sure things are gluten-free and because we’re trying to limit our expenditures. All of our bills have gone up, but our income is the same. We have been able to save money in times past. But these days we’re using every dollar just to make ends meet. I know we’re not doing everything we can to reduce our costs, so I’m trying to do more every day, or every week, to use less cash.

The first month of giving up gluten and casein I spent too much on groceries. It’s easy to do when making the transition from one way of eating to another. We’re finding new favorites and adapting some old favorites to the new diet. I made a list of shopping techniques that are helping me keep the food budget under control. One day I hope to write an entire article (or several of them) on these things. For now though, writing these out reminded me of each of them and it’s helping me follow them more faithfully. Every little bit helps.

1. Analyze the market. Compare prices. Shop the ads.
2. Shop carefully. Always carry a list. Resist supermarket tricks and impulse buys.
3. Compile a record of the least expensive staples. Build meals around these staples. 
4. Avoid convenience foods. Cook from scratch. 
5. Give up food prejudices and status foods. Adjust our comfort-zones. 
6. Substitute cheap ingredients for expensive ones. 
7. Buy in bulk when it saves money but avoid waste like the plague. 
8. Communicate with the family about what they want to eat.
9. Develop new favorites; keep them in a recipe binder.
10. Plan menus and shopping lists ahead of time.

I’ve written extensively on similar ideas in the past, but I feel like the GFCF diet has really propelled me to a level of carefulness that I haven’t always had in the past.

Numbers 5 and 6 above have been major players in my weekly planning. There are several status foods I used to buy every now and then–Frozen Chicken Nuggets for the Kids, Brie Cheese for me–and all of these are out of the picture now. This is probably for the best, but giving up old favorites is hard because at first there’s just an empty vacuum that sits like a gaping hole. Eventually new favorites rise to fill the hole, but new stuff can’t fill it, until the old stuff is chucked out. Then the transition time of waiting and being empty is uncomfortable.

I’ve been substituting cheap things for expensive ones too. This is especially true with gluten-free starches and baking. I’ve learned that Rice can be used instead of spaghetti under Tomato Sauce. Cooked rice can replace cooked pasta in casseroles. Brown Rice is 60 Cents a pound (at it’s cheapest, bulk price) and GF pasta is $3 to $4 a pound. Holy Buckets! For that much savings I gladly take 45 minutes to cook brown rice. ACtually I’ve found that if I cook up 3-cups of dry brown rice, in 6-cups of water (making 9-cups of cooked rice), at the beginning of the week, then we have rice to use as a base for quicky meals all week long. I’ve only done that one week, but it worked so good I will try to do it every week.

I’ve worked really hard on developing some gluten-free bread recipes that the family likes and that don’t cost too much either. I’ve tried to avoid using Xanthan in as many of our homemade breads as I can, and so far the results are good. Xanthan costs $10 to $12 for 8-ounces. Usually recipes just use 1 or 2 teaspoons and it really does make GF breads mimic wheat breads more closely, especially yeast breads. For many quick breads though, Xanthan isn’t necessary in the least.

I’m particularly proud of my Xanthan-Free Bread Collection [Click here]. I hope to develop some more of them in the future. Some Garlic Bread Sticks would be especially yummy. I’m working on a recipe for Xanthan-Free Pizza Crust that uses Rice Flour and Cornstarch as the only flours. The recipe still needs a little tweaking and I don’t want to share it until I get it perfect.

 

Snack Tray

This is my new toy. It’s a plastic snack tray that has 3 compartments. There were several colors available (blue, white, green) but I chose red because red stimulates the appetite, as do orange and yellow. Think of every fast-food joint you’ve ever been to, all the colors are designed to make you hungry and eat more. Red, yellow and orange everywhere you look. I figured I could use phsychology in my kitchen just as effectively as the big guys. The tray cost $1 at Dollar General and it is revolutionizing my kitchen.

I have teenagers, well 1 pre-teen (almost 12) and 1 teen (15). They are hungry children. They are slender children. They need food, lots of it, all the time. I hate cooking for them more than 2 or 3 times a day. There are always leftovers in the fridge and fruit in the fruit basket, but they want to graze like cattle, instead of preparing a complete, hearty snack themselves.

We are currently in famine zone, meaning we have enough for bills, and little else. So right now I’m going through my food storage, picking out things I’ve bought during times of plenty, and using them to best advantage. In the past my boys wouldn’t eat dried fruit, I think because they didn’t get their Gluten/Casein buzz from it. That has changed though. As a matter of fact, both boys are expanding their appetite horizons which is wonderful for me, because it makes cooking easier.

So, I’m filling our snack tray every morning, and then the kids have snacks all day long, without needing my help or input. Probably most kids in their teens are able to do a lot of their cooking for themselves, but my guys have been slow about it. I’m happy to report though, that my asperger’s boy has started helping me in the kitchen every single day for our evening meal and any baking I may do. It is sooo much easier to cook when I have a helper. This just started the past week, so it’s big progress for us. Actually every single week we seem to have a little progress, sort of out of the blue, and it’s like there’s a bunch of catch-up work going on, in the life-skills department. Praise God for his grace.

Fun Trial Menu & Jamie’s Success

I’ve read that a lot of folks are thinking about trying GFCF and thought I’d help out by providing an easy to follow, relatively inexpensive menu plan for a week. It includes a menu list, shopping list, work schedule and recipes. The only specialized gluten-free product that is used is GFCF bread, which can be found in most large supermarkets. Sometimes it’s frozen and sometimes it’s on a shelf. GFCF bread is pricey–$4 to $5 a loaf, and you’ll need 3 of them for the whole week. Everything else is easy to find, at least in my area. Soy yogurt, vegan sour cream, and vegan cheese may be hard to find for some. In any case, these are used in small quantities, mostly to give you the opportunity to try new things. The bulk of the food is made up from low-cost staples like cornmeal, rice, soymilk; ground beef; canned tuna; roasted turkey breast; fresh fruits; fresh, frozen and canned veggies. The recipes do make use of several soy products. If you are sensitive to soy, then the menus may require some tweaking, and you may feel they are not appropriate for your dietary needs. The menus include packable lunches for week-days and family-friendly meals for the most part. Snacks are included for each day.

CLICK HERE FOR GFCF TRIAL MENU PLAN (pdf document, right click and save as).

My next update is that my youngest son is indeed feeling the results of the diet, apparently he was just a little slower to feel them. On Saturday they spent the night with their grandparents and went to church with them on Sunday. Jamie (my youngest), forgot his ADHD meds. His behavior was almost completely normal, even without his meds. He went to church and sunday school without his meds. He sat thorugh the sermon peacefully and thoughtfully, without his meds. No one even noticed until the late afternoon!

Only a few weeks ago he forgot to take his morning pill and the entire family noticed he was too hyper by 9 AM. Jamie’s been on Adderall since he was 5. He literally could not do anything without his meds. Couldn’t sit down, couldn’t stand still, could only manically flit about. This is a HUGE and significant change. I’ll be talking to his doctor soon about either reducing the dose or getting him off of meds all together. Something we literally never thought would be possible. The effects of a GFCF diet on my family have simply been miraculous.

Update on Status of My Family’s Diet & GFCF Bread, again

First the bread, I am trying a new recipe, will share results later today or tomorrow. The recipe is from Gluten Free [Cooking School].  It uses a flour mixture made with masa harina (a type of cornmeal) plus soy flour, cornstarch and brown rice flour, all relatively cheap in my neck of the woods. Once again, I have high hopes for it. It’s rising right now, and I’m anxious to try it.

Next, we have been on our Gluten-Free, Casein-Free (GFCF) diet for almost a week now. These are our results.

Maggie (Mom)

• Fewer headaches, down to once a week instead of daily. Haven’t had a migraine since starting GFCF.
• Much, MUCH more energy. I think I had chronic fatigue, but never bothered to get it diagnosed because, well, my schedule allows for daily naps when necessary. Since starting diet I am sleeping 5 to 6 hours a night, waking naturally, and taking a nap in the afternoons. I feel more energetic, more vital, than I have in a while. This extra energy alone is worth the dietary change.
• Haven’t gained any weight. I’ve been eating sugar and starches, and haven’t gained a single pound. Not sure why. I hope it means that weight-loss will be easier in the long run.
• No tummy troubles. Zero indigestion, zero heartburn, zero bloating, zero gas.
• A very painful rash I used to get on my hands, made up of tiny blisters that both itched and ached, has cleared up. When it used to bother me really bad, I noticed that Benadryl (an allergy medicine) would give me some relief. Doctors have told me it’s eczema, due to stress. I never agreed with that diagnosis, but did pray often for the Lord to reduce my stress level (What stress level? I have to ask) so the bumps would go away. Certain dishwashing liquids helped, but nothing alleviated it completely. Today, it is almost all gone. Amazing!
• I feel happy. It’s a simple thing, but very satisfying.

Tommy (Asperger’s Syndrome).

 Describes himself as . . .

• Feeling more energetic
• Focusing energy is easier
• Having higher self-esteem
• Being more self-confident in public
• It’s easier to concentrate

 Mom notices . . .

• Much more patience
• Kinder
• Much more talkative
• Friendlier
• More social with family members and at church
• Thinking more clearly and quickly too
• Lighter spirit, not so heavy and serious, more open
• Less repetitive behavior
• Happier. Definitely happier

Jamie (ADHD)

• No changes what so ever. None. Zippo, finito, nada.

So, I have talked with Fred (who admits to seeing some changes, but not as many as I do) and to my Mom (who sees the same changes I do and others besides) and the boys. We have decided to be a GFCF family. Outside of the house if Jamie wants to eat “regular” food then that’s fine. In the house though I’m keeping everything and everyone on the same diet. Tom is very happy about the changes he feels and wants to continue the diet. He explains it like this “I’m autistic, so I have to eat a special diet. No gluten. No dairy.” This is the very first time he has actually said the words “I’m autisitc.” So that in and of itself is HUGE progress. It’s sort of like he’s blooming. Slow and steady, a little more every day.

In all honesty I really thought that the GFCF diet for autism was probably a bunch of wishful thinking on the part of the parents. It seemed like “New Age Mumbo Jumbo” to me. Before “resorting” to the diet we tried several different meds, none of them worked and some made things worse. We tried psychiatrists, psychologists, and a handful of doctors. I took him out of public school, in part because I could see that it was nearly killing him to go there everday. I saw how much he was hurting. We also have religious beliefs that made us take the boys from public school and teach them at home, but a big part was that the school could not treat Asperger’s Syndrome with any effectiveness. If anything their so called “treatment” made it worse.

I’d heard about a GFCF diet helping kids with autism for a few years. I read things online, but never really researched it in any depth. In fact I think I ignored and even avoided any information on it because I thought it was pointless. I was also terribly reluctant to even think about changing our diet. It would be too expensive, it would be too hard, too limiting, too different.

Finally I reasoned that if there was anything to the diet, that my kids at least deserved a shot at it. Praise God I finally did it. I think He had a lot to do with guiding me in this direction. So we tried it and I am now a True Believer. I’m willing to admit when I’m wrong, and I was wrong about this diet. It really does make a difference, and I’m seeing that for us (a family who cooks most things from scratch) the changes in our diet are pretty minor. I have to switch some of my formulas for baking. I have to use cornstarch for thickening instead of flour. I have to use non-dairy products instead of dairy. For the most part though, I’m still cooking normal food. Our grocery bill will go up. I can see that. But I will simply do what I do best, and that is learn cheaper ways to create the stuff we want to eat. I mean, God gave me that skill for a reason, so I might as well use it.

So, I will be making a few changes to my website (Frugal Abundance) as I sort out this GFCF thing. I will update recipes. Add more recipes. Maybe even write new articles.

We are now a GFCF family, and we will be here on out.

Fried Rice Recipe & Interesting Blog: Gluten Free Frugal

Gluten Free Frugal–a blog I stumbled upon today. It’s not dairy free, but the information is good. Thought some other folks might be interested in it too.

Includes an interesting article My 5 Basic Rules for Eating Gluten Free On A Budget.

 

KID FRIENDLY FRIED RICE RECIPE

• 4 slices bacon, cut into small pieces
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 3 cups cold, cooked rice (1-cup dry makes 3-cups cooked)
• 1-1/2 cups frozen mixed vegetables or peas and carrots
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt or 1 or 2 tablespoons GF soy sauce or Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
• Optional: 2 eggs-beaten, tofu, chicken, beef, pork, ham, sliced hot dogs etc., about 1-cup chopped into bite-sized pieces.

Cut the bacon into small pieces. Place in a very large skillet or wok. Add onion. Fry until the onion and bacon are both lightly browned. Add the rice, frozen veggies and black pepper. Stir-fry until the rice is coated with the bacon fat and the veggies are thawed. Add salt or soy sauce and if desired any combination of the optional ingredients. We usually add 6 to 8-ounces of cubed tofu because the kids both like it. (I don’t know why my kids like tofu, but they do.) Adding the eggs is traditional, but we don’t always do it. If you do add the eggs then move the rice mixture to one side of the pan. Pour the eggs into the empty side of the pan and scramble as desired. After cooking them a minute or two, stir them in with the rice and veggies.

Continue to fry everything together until piping hot. Serve in bowls with chopsticks or a spoon. If you’re kids are veggie-friendly then a pound of frozen stir-fry veggies may be substituted for the mixed veggies. This isn’t as popular at our house, so I usually use mixed veggies instead. If you’re avoiding bacon then feel free to omit it and use 3-tablespoons of vegetable oil instead.