49er Furikake Chex Mix

I know I promised you more Chinese New Year recipes, and I swear they're in the works, but I had to address something a bit more urgent for us San Franciscans.  I mean, we'll celebrate Chinese New Year for another three weeks, but the 2012 NFC Championship will only come around once.  In our fair city.  On Sunday afternoon.  Incredible!

I have two brothers.  Therefore, I was forced to watch games every Sunday growing up (or at least they were in the background while I played with my dollhouse).  There was church.  There were football games.  Then dinner and bed.  So for all you Niner fans who've waited patiently for this day, don't make the same mistake I did--30 minutes before last week's game I tried to get takeout on Clement St. along with everyone else grabbing something to munch on while watching the game.  Get to the market.  Buy the ingredients.  Make the Furikake Chex Mix.  You know you want to...

And unlike the traditional Chex snack mix, this one doesn't contain nuts (note: Furikake and soy sauce do contain soy)!

49er Furikake Chex Mix (from my friend Sarabeth, who reminded me of the existence of this delicious and addictive snack!)

Wheat, Egg, Dairy, Nut Free

Ingredients

½ cup Earth Balance margarine

½ cup sugar, heaping

½ cup white (light) corn syrup

2 T. soy sauce

2 -- 12oz. boxes of Crispix or 1 box corn Chex 1 box rice Chex (I use which ever is cheaper)

½ bottle of Furikake (I like to use the Nori Komi Fumi flavor because some other ones have fish in them)

1 large roasting pan or two sheet pans

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 250*

Put cereal into large foil-lined roasting pan and set aside (use large bowl if using sheet pans).

Melt margarine, sugar, corn syrup, and soy sauce in small sauce pan or pot stirring until dissolved. 

While you're waiting for mom to mix the cereal and syrup mixture in the other pan, sneak a few bites of cereal.

Pour syrup mixture over cereal and mix gently. Sprinkle furikake evenly over cereal and mix well, gently. Stick pan into oven and bake for 1 hour stirring every 15 minutes. (If using two sheet pans, distribute cereal equally and then bake following same baking instructions.)

I know, I know, not the healthiest of snack ideas...but in small doses guarantees to be a crowd pleaser.  For some other NFC Championship-worthy ideas, check out Irene's allergy-friendly recipes for hummus and guacamole, or make a batch of kale chips.  Go Niners!
 

Year of the Dragon Checklist

Although I grew up in San Francisco's Chinatown, Chinese New Year was little more than saying "Gung Hay Faat Choy" to our friends and family, receiving red envelopes filled with money, and counting up our spoils at the end of the day.  We didn't know to receive them with two hands.  We didn't know how to say "thank you" in Chinese.  It was bad enough we didn't speak or understand the language, but not knowing or practicing the customs was even worse. 

So when I met and married my husband, whose family is much more traditional than mine, I had the task of learning, understanding, and finally embracing the traditions associated with Chinese New Year, so that my children would also learn to make the customs their own.

It has been a several year-long journey for me, but this year I've finally become proactive and intentional about preparing the family for a happy and prosperous year of the dragon.  You see, in my interpretation of the customs, there are several foods you can eat and things that you can do which symbolize luck, and one does as much as one can to bring in the new year.

Here is our Chinese New Year Check List:

1. Clean the house--Sweep out the old, in with the new.  Don't clean on New Year's or you'll risk sweeping up good luck.  (Oh, how this one haunts me!  But I'm determined...)

2. Get haircuts--Same concept--don't get your haircut on New Year's or you risk cutting off some luck.

3. Buy new red clothes  for the family.  Now this is definitely something I've got covered (shopping, anyone?).  And with leftover holiday merchandise left on racks, and Valentine's Day around the corner, shelves are stocked with red clothes.  Everyone sports their new threads on New Year's Day.

Addi is happy to try on her new red dress!

  4.  Prepare red envelopes with lucky money to give out to family and friends' children.  Children are taught to say "Gung hay faat choy" or other phrase wishing luck, happiness, health, etc. and are given two envelopes from each couple, one from each person.  The envelopes can be filled with any denomination of money, but when considering how much to fill each envelope, note that 4's are considered unlucky and 8's are considered especially lucky.

5. Select orange, round tangerines with stems for freshness and beauty to create a display in a bowl.  My mother-in-law will also add a pomelo and some red envelopes to her bowl. 

If you lack space or just want a fun craft project for little ones, try making an orange bowl collage with various textured paper. 

6. Try a few Chinese New Year recipes.  There are many foods considered lucky because their names are homonyms for various words or phrases for wealth, luck, or happiness.

I will leave you with one recipe today, and post a few more later on in the week.  Irene posted a link to a lettuce cups recipe last year, and I had to tap into my greatest resource (my mother-in-law) to get some advice about making her kid and allergy-friendly version of my childhood favorite, traditionally made with oysters.

My Mother-in-Law's Lettuce Cups for Kids (Egg, Dairy, Nut-free; can be made soy and wheat free by eliminating the hoisin sauce)

Eat lettuce cups for good fortune

Ingredients:

6-8 oz. of Chicken Breast (alternatively, use ground chicken)
2 Aidell's Chicken Apple Sausages (or use Chinese sausages--"lop cheung")
1 small can of Water Chestnuts (or use Jicama)
1 oz. of Dried Black Fungus*, soaked for at least an hour in a bowl of water
5-6 Dried Chinese Black Mushrooms, soaked for at least an hour in a bowl of water
1 head of Iceberg Lettuce
Hoisin Sauce* (plum sauce--contains wheat and soy)
2 T. Oil
Garlic Powder, Salt, & Pepper to taste (about a tsp. of each)
1 tsp. Cornstarch
1 tsp. Sesame Oil*

(*Optional ingredients)

1. Dice the chicken breast.

2. In a small bowl, add about a tablespoon of oil, garlic powder, salt, pepper, cornstarch, and sesame oil to the diced chicken and let sit while you dice the sausage, water chestnuts, dried black fungus, and black mushrooms.

Diced black fungus

3. Peel, wash, and dry the lettuce leaves and set aside.  You want to try to keep them whole and intact.
4. Add 1-2 tablespoons of oil to a pan and stirfry the chicken until cooked through.  Add sausages, water chestnuts, fungus, and mushrooms until heated through.  Remove from heat.
5. Serve immediately by scooping chicken mixture into lettuce cups and drizzling with hoisin sauce.

The boys got this version because they're not big mushroom fans

Get to your Asian market today, because although they may stay open for Thanksgiving and Christmas, they'll all be closed for Chinese New Year.  Happy shopping!

Dan Dan Noodles: peanut-free goodness

Happy, happy birthday to Martin Luther King, Jr.  Hope your families are taking the time to reflect upon his legacy, his beliefs, and what you are doing to serve others.

Truth be told, Sarah and I are still in recovery mode from the holidays, the winter cold/flu season, and the reboot of the usual hustle &bustle of stay-at-home life with kids and their many activities.  Both of us have been working on recipes, meal ideas, and crafts for the blog but have had a bit of a time/energy challenge with transferring it over to the blog for our fabulous readers.

As we talked at a birthday party on Saturday, Sarah reminded me that Chinese New Year is just around the corner.  Yikes!  (Monday, January 23rd to be exact.)  For those of you that aren't familiar, Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year goes by the lunar calendar so the date is different from year to year.  Sometimes it's in late January and other years it's as late as President's Day.  This year it has truly crept up on me but I'm more than happy to dive into some Chinese cooking.

We shared some allergy-friendly traditional lunar new year dishes last year.   In preparation for this year's meal, I've been playing around with some noodle dishes.  A popular Chinese noodle dish is dan dan noodles.  Served cold and traditionally made with peanuts and Chinese noodles, it's a good target for making allergy-friendly.  It makes for an easy meal that is full of flavor thanks to the loads of fresh garlic and ginger.  Because it's a cold dish, parts or the whole dish can be prepared ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator until you're ready to put it all together.

There are a lot of different ways to make dan dan noodles some of which are completely free of vegetables.  It would make me feel a little too guilty to eat a whole bowl of the stuff without some plant goodness so mine calls for fresh carrots, zucchini or cucumber, and cabbage.  Feel free to experiment with different fresh, steamed, or stir-fried veggies or use the more traditional pickled cabbage (canned or jarred) that you can find in Asian grocery stores.  Add more minced garlic it you like.  Be really conservative with the sambal oelek if you're little ones or you aren't big fans of spicy food.  A little of the stuff already goes a long way!

Dan Dan Noodles

Adapted from Alton Brown's recipe on the Food Network

8 to 12 oz. of your favorite safe spaghetti, ramen, or other noodle/pasta (I've used fresh Chinese noodles and TJ's organic whole wheat spaghetti.)

1/4 to 1/2 head of cabbage. thinly chopped (In a pinch?  Trader Joe's sells already shredded cabbage.) 

For the sauce:

1/3 cup sunflower seed butter 

4-6 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbsp freshly grated ginger

2 Tbsp soy sauce (Use gluten-free soy sauce or tamari if you are avoiding wheat or gluten) 

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1 Tbsp sesame oil

1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar

1/4 cup vegetable or chicken broth
chili paste (sambal oelek) to taste

1 or 2 carrots, peeled and julienned

1 cucumber or zucchini (I used the latter), julienned

2 green onions, finely chopped

1. Boil noodles accordingly to package directions.  Drain and rinse, and set aside.
2. Steam cabbage until wilted.  You can do this over the stove.  Alternatively, you can do steam with your microwave by putting the cabbage and a couple tablespoons of water in a covered bowl or deep dish.  I've done both methods and check every few minutes.  It usually takes less than 10 minutes.
3. Drain cabbage and set aside.
4. Mix sauce ingredients together.  
5. Toss cooled noodles and cabbage with sauce mixture until evenly coated.  Add julienne vegetables and green onions and re-toss until well combined.
6. For a spicy kick, add a little sambal oelek and mix well.  Taste and stir more in until you get your desired heat.
7. Refrigerate until you are ready to serve.

Easy Comfort Food: Ribs, Collards, & Cornbread (NO dairy, egg, nut, soy*)

Are you still recovering from the holidays?  It shouldn't take this long to unpack all the snow stuff, put holiday decorations back in the garage, or find homes for all the new stuff the kids received for Christmas.  But for some reason in our house, it does.  So I'm still in survival mode.  I guess my number one resolution to keep the house cleaner is a work in progress.  And meal planning goes something like, "Hmm...what's in the fridge?"

So tonight, we had a simple yet satisfying meal of our favorite comfort foods--BBQ ribs, collard greens, and cornbread muffins--all dairy, egg, and nut free (*can be made soy-free by substituting rice milk or other soy-free milk in the cornbread) for my food allergic brood.

Slow-Cooked BBQ Pork Ribs

Ingredients:
Rack of Pork Ribs
Salt, Pepper, & Garlic Powder to taste
BBQ Sauce

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Season ribs on both sides with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Cut between ribs into sets of threes or fours, and place on foil-lined pan meat side down.
3. Seal tightly with foil.
4. Bake at 300 degrees for 4 hours.
5. Remove from oven and turn it up to 425 degrees.  Coat both sides of ribs with KC Masterpiece BBQ Sauce.

6. Bake at 425 for about 20 minutes or until crispy on the outside.  They're fall-off-the-bone tender and delicious!

Collard Greens

Collards (I buy the collard greens mix in a bag from Trader Joe's.  It's already washed and cut.) 
1/2 Yellow Onion, roughly chopped and 3-4 whole garlic cloves (or just use garlic powder)
Olive Oil
Salt, Pepper
1-2 cups of Chicken, Vegetable, or other stock

1. Saute onions and garlic in a heated pan with oil.
2. Add collard greens and salt and pepper, and saute for a minute or so.
3. Add 1-2 cups of stock, cover, and let simmer until stock has evaporated.
4. If you want it more tender, add more stock or water and let it simmer until the desired tenderness.

Blueberry Cornbread Mini Muffins (Note: Mix is made on shared equipment with wheat, milk, egg, and soy)

Adding blueberries to anything easily tempts by berry-loving 7-year-old, who said, "These are the best muffins in the world, mom." 

I use the Cornbread Muffin Mix from Trader Joe's, and use soymilk instead of cow's milk (use rice milk or other alternative milk to make this recipe soy-free), and Ener-G Egg Replacer instead of an egg.

Ingredients:
1-1/2 teaspoons of Ener-G Egg Replacer plus 2 tablespoons water
1/2 cup oil
3/4 cup soy (or other) milk
1/2 pint blueberries

For mini muffins:
1. Preheat oven to 325.
2. Add Ener-G and water to a mixing bowl and beat with wire whip or fork.
3. Beat in oil and milk.
4. Mix in cornbread mix until moistened.
5. Add blueberries if so desired.
6. Pour into lined muffin tin and bake about 25 minutes or until golden brown.

I love the whole corn kernels and moist texture of these muffins.  Save leftover muffins for quick off-to-school breakfasts.

Enjoy!

A chat with Chef Amy Fothergill

When Amy Fothergill's daughter was put on a gluten-free diet, the chef and mother of two was challenged.  Flour had been such a pervasive ingredient in her cooking but now she was faced with the need to go without it immediately.  Amy accepted the challenge to learn to cook without gluten - she jokingly refers to it as her "gluten-free immersion program" - and began experimenting with different ingredients and techniques to recreate familiar dishes.  (Incidentally, Amy completely eliminated gluten from her whole family's diet as well and found that it greatly improved her digestion, sleep, and overall well-being!)

Amy was a guest chef for Sprouts Cooking Club where she made gluten-free pancakes.

Amy's journey as a reinvented chef has influenced her work as The Family Chef, a cooking instructor for people with busy lifestyles.  Her goal is to make cooking easy for anyone be it families, friends, and people with special diets.  More than half of her clients manage food allergies and sensitivities, gluten being the most common.  Amy offers classes for those with special diets like her family and includes instructions on how and what to substitute for other common allergens.

Amy led parents on how to make a gluten-free Italian Family Dinner at Whole Foods.

Amy has been gracious enough to share with Get Allergy Wise her recipe for carrot muffins, a personal favorite and what she admits started her off on her adventures in gluten-free cooking!


Gluten-Free Carrot Muffins by Amy Fothergill, The Family Chef

Ingredients
1/2 oil
3/4 cup pure cane sugar
2 eggs (if subbing out eggs, use enough substitute for 3 eggs)
3 Tbsp water
1 1/4 cup gluten-free flour blend

3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 cup raisins

1 1/2 cups packed grated carrots (about 4 medium carrots)
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, combine oil and sugar.  Mix well.  Add eggs and water and mix.
3. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients.  Mix well.  Then add raisins making sure they are coated with flour.
4. Mix flour mixture into wet ingredients.  Then add in carrots and coconut.
5. Pour batter into greased muffin tins.  Bake 18 to 22 minutes until muffin springs back when pressed.



Cooking gives kids practice at focusing.



I made the muffins with the help of my sous chef son, Ryken.  To grate the carrots we used vegetable peelers instead of a box grater, and then I cut the strands into shorter pieces.  Vegetable peelers are easy to use and clean, both important factors when cooking with my milk-allergic kids.  (I admit it - I have a healthy fear of old cheese particles lurking around the edges of those grate holes!) 



We used the same gluten-free flour blend that I've been using lately for other baked treats.  Also I only used half the raisins called for in Amy's recipes due to personal preference.  The muffins were light and flavorful and a huge hit with my boys!



The finished product -- moist and delicious!



Taste tester Callan needed a second helping before he could verify the awesomeness of the muffin.



Amy teaches classes in markets and restaurants in San Francisco and nearby cities.  This winter her class offerings include ideas for integrating more grains into your meals, gluten-free cooking, 5 ingredient dishes, and brunch menus.  For more information on Amy's class schedule for the months of January, February, and March, check out her website and blog, or her Facebook page.

Bon Appetit!



New Year's Resolutions for Kids

As moms, it's easy to get overwhelmed by all of our resolutions.  So many things we want to improve on, for ourselves, our families--the list is practically endless.  I thought I'd pick a few things that have been in the back of my mind that would give me a bit more peace of mind (and therefore less stress) on a daily basis.  First, I will focus on keeping the house cleaner (I write this as I look around at the aftermath of the holidays still ever present) second, I promise to read for enjoyment (simple, yet perfect for a little quiet escape time), and third, but most importantly, to have my child's Epipen on me at all times. 

I was talking to a friend of mine about her conversation with her 4-year-old about New Year's resolutions.  For some reason I never really thought about involving the kids in this tradition, but after speaking with her realized it was a great opportunity to talk about goal-setting and what we think about improving for the New Year. 

So at breakfast the other day, I started the conversation and we discussed a few goals we had for each of us.  They ranged from breaking bad habits to watching less TV. 

As a reminder of our goals, I added them to our winter mobile I made with holiday card cut-outs and a twig I picked up on our Tahoe trip.  Some kind of visual reminder is a great way to start follow-up discussions to revisit our goals and what we're doing to achieve them, what help we might need, what challenges we've faced, and of course, to share lots and lots of praise for our efforts. 

Goal setting is a valuable exercise, but remembering all that we do is sometimes even more important.  Cheers to another fantastic year!

New Year's Resolutions

Happy New Year!

Some people do not believe in making new year's resolutions but, for me, the fresh start on a new calendar is the perfect time to reflect upon where I am.  Like some of you, my good intentions get lost somewhere between the piles of laundry (clean, of course -- just not folded) and the ever-present scatter of cars, dinosaurs, and Legos in the family room; my goals get sidelined by poorly timed fevers, impromptu playdates, and tired kids (mine) and parents (my husband and me).  The promise of a whole new year is full of hope and this motivates me to try again.

Here are my resolutions:

1. To continue exercising.  A couple of years ago, in the midst of Ryken's tumultuous preschool years  (the Dark Ages, I sometimes call them!) I was on the brink of stay-at-home parent burnout.  I was exhausted most the time from caring for two little ones and I would fall into funks regularly.  And being a parent to kids with food allergies only increases my daily stress level.  I realized I needed to take control.  I started being better to my body by caffeinating less and sleeping more, and exercising regularly with cardio like this and exercise classes.  Yoga class has been a great escape because it forces me to slow down and focus mentally and physically on only me.
2. To eat more naturally.  Every year since we were "blessed" with food allergies I have improved what I feed myself and my family.  We are buying fewer processed foods and preparing more fresh fruits,  cooked legumes, and vegetables on a daily basis.  However, eating vegetables is the real challenge for my kids -- they just don't like 'em! -- and therefore a challenge to me as the sole chef.  But after seeing this film and arming myself with plant-based, vegan cookbooks, I'm ready to try again.
3. To eat fewer sweets.  This kind of goes along with the previous resolution but I thought I should 'fess up and say that I indulge myself in way, way too many sugary treats.  The first step is admitting you have a problem, right?
4. To try to balance my roles as parent, spouse, employee, and human being on a weekly basis.  Raising children is an incredibly challenging, endless marathon.  And to survive succeed at it, I need to pace myself.  Yes, there are some things I have to do but I also need to do what makes my heart sing --and it sure isn't catching up on laundry.  I need to take time every week to regroup, recharge, and reflect whether it's through exercising, meeting a friend for dinner, carving out weekly quiet time to blog or read, or simply escaping the house for an hour to run an errand alone.  Balancing for me doesn't mine being accomplishing all my duties as a parent to perfection.  It's come to mean doing some things well and some things acceptable so that I can still have energy for my own goals.
5. To not be so hard on myself.  In the continuous attempt to balance it all, there is a lot of opportunity for mother's guilt:  My son wants me to play Mastermind but I told him I'm busy finishing this blog piece.  I'm hanging up laundry when I could be reading to my youngest.  I yelled at my kids for creating a big mess although it's really because I'm just plain exhausted.  I often question whether some of my choices were right.  And I will need to remind myself that (a) I'm doing the best I can with what I've got, (b) my kids are happy, healthy, and safe (no small feat for those with multiple food allergies!) and (c) tomorrow is another day when I will make more choices.

So there you have it -- the things I will think about as I'm driving the kids to school and as I'm putting my head down after another long day.  Do you have any personal goals or resolutions for the new year?