Santa's Elves Have Food Allergies, Too

An adorable and customizable letter from Santa to children with food allergies.

Letter from Santa for your Child with Food Allergies

Zibbet!

An Etsy search for "peasant dresses" currently loads 13,787 listings over 250 pages. Egads! So I will slowly be adding ready to ship dresses over to my new Zibbet shop. (Soakers will remain on Etsy.) See you there!

http://www.zibbet.com/ModernOlive

Milk-Free, Soy-Free, Gluten-Free Cream of Mushroom Soup Recipe

From the Kids with Food Allergies Foundation

Even My Husband Giggled

Cooking for Callum: Zucchini Spaghetti (Gluten Free Dinner)

I hate taking pictures of food, which is why I don't food-blog more.

1. Let's eat already. (The above is last night's leftovers for lunch, and I'm hungry.)
2. There is nothing white and clean in my house for a proper backdrop without oodles of wrinkles or fold lines.
3. Lighting vs. my cheapo camera and the only thing I can do in Photoshop is crop.

Last summer I had the most amazing zucchini spaghetti ever at Farm & Table. Theirs had wine, and lots of it. Mind POOF! BLOWN. This is not comparable, and by that I mean non-alcoholic and kid friendly, but still super delish and getting added to our favorites. Recipe via Pinterest, which I am loving for food these days, as we are all just repinning the same stuff over and over which beats pouring through way too many bad hits in a regular ol' web search.

As mentioned in an earlier post, Alexandra's Summer Squash Spaghetti received our family's highest ranking of Olive not only ate it but has declared she loves it AND asked for more AND also ate the more she asked for despite being chock full of highly visible green stuff. She's 4, and with the exception of broccoli and peas has a thing against green stuff based on a bad experience with cilantro, but a single bite won her over. Yes, it is that good.


What's in it?

Gluten-free spaghetti noodles, olive oil, zucchini, garlic, red pepper flakes, lemon zest, fresh basil, parsley, cheese, and pepper.


Our notes and tweakings:

I was out of lemon and parsley (added extra basil) and omitted the salt. Recipe calls for grated Parmigiano Reggiano, but I substituted a leftover Trader Joe's "Freshly Shaved Parmesan, Romano & Asiago" combo that needed to be used. Next time I plan on adding more color with some pretty yellow squash. As leftovers I found it to be meh cold, so don't be lazy like me and give it a zap.


Find the full recipe and way better pictures here. Bon appétit!

Cooking for Callum: Grilled Pineapple Pork Chops (Gluten, Dairy & Egg Free Dinner)

One of Callum's earliest favorites, it's both sweet and safe for little ones under a year as it does not contain honey.  Three out of three kids in our family gobble it up, even when grumpy.  And it's fast!  Less than 5 minutes prep the night before, and then a quick trip to the grill.


CALLUM'S GRILLED PINEAPPLE PORK CHOPS

1 (8oz) can pineapple rings, juice drained and reserved
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup (gluten-free) soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
pork chops (we do 2+ lbs, any cut other than super thick)
black pepper, when I remember

Dump pineapple juice, brown sugar, soy sauce, and garlic powder in a large plastic zip-lock bag. Get your squish on until sugar dissolves in marinade.  Add pork, squeeze out any air, and refrigerate overnight, the longer the better.  Done!  (Making it same day, no matter how early, is not long enough.)

Next day remove from marinade and grill until browned and meat shows good grill marks.  Brush with marinade as it cooks, discard excess.  Grill pineapple.

Once again, we serve with my bff Trader Joe's 3 minute microwave brown rice (gluten-free) or Rice Medley (contains barley) + veggie and a salad.
 
Bon appétit!

Cooking for Callum: Crock Pot Honey Sesame Chicken (Gluten, Dairy & Egg Free Dinner)

Pinterest crashed on me yesterday, right as I was getting ready to make one of our everyone-eats-it favorites. It was more of a bummer than panic, as I am quite adept at throwing my hands up in the air and declaring, "Chipolte!" (Callum goes bonkers for their guac -- it was one of his first eat out baby foods as we tried to figure out this allergy stuff.) Still, would have been sad, as what's better than coming home after dark from winter swimming lessons to a house that smells good from the garage?

Which is why I'm here now. Save a tree and jamming more things into a recipe box that doesn't close, or just blog the darn thing as I'd always intended...

The first time I'd only glanced at the ingredients to make sure I had everything on hand, not the actual measurements, so when I went to make it I sorta freaked. That is a lot of honey, a lot of ketchup, and a lot of low sodium (gluten-free) soy sauce! Not being much of a crock potter I didn't realize until later it was just for marinating purposes. Even when the kids get a hold of the ladle and drown their plates we throw more than 1/2 of it out for about twice the chicken. It's tablespoon(s) you'll ingest, not fractions of cups, but you probably already knew that.


What's in it?

Chicken, salt and pepper, onion, garlic, honey, ketchup, (gluten-free) low sodium soy sauce, olive oil, and red pepper flakes.

Optional: Cornstarch, sesame seeds, and scallions.


Our notes, tweakings, and sides:

We, and by that I mean me, (the rest have learned to adapt), are crazy onion and garlic people, so I double both. I love Sprouts Orange Blossom Honey. I use 3.5-4lbs of chicken and I skip thickening it all up at the end with cornstarch because, whatever, I say it's done already. I omit the salt, as I don't think it's needed. The sesame seeds are easily left off for allergy sensitive folks, like our guy Callum. Sometimes I forget the scallions. Don't do that! Scallions are onions, too! Nom nom.

To keep it quick we add my bff Trader Joe's 3 minute microwave brown rice (gluten-free) or even better Rice Medley (contains barley) and broccoli steamed à la microwave. DONE.

Three out of our three children get excited when this is what's for dinner, and it's brought us back out of a sick of chicken slump. Bam!


Full recipe at The Comfort of Cooking. Contains honey = not for children under one year of age.


What else am I loving on Pinterest these days? Grilled Artichoke Pesto Zucchini Bites, which I hope to try tomorrow night. Our newest favorite, bloggy review forthcoming, Zucchini Spaghetti, has received our highest ranking of (4 years old and suspicious of all green food + hates pizza* + many things pasta) Olive not only ate it but has declared she loves it AND asked for more despite being chock full of highly visible green stuff. Whisper with me now, "Great white buffalo."

(*Contains no pizza.)

Cooking for Callum: Balsamic & Apple Cider Vinegar Mushrooms (Free of the Top 8 Allergens)

We currently have three happy to eat anything mushroom eaters in our family of five. One of these days I'm sure Callum (21 months today!) will revolt along with his big brother and sister, but right now he super digs these. Double up if you love mushrooms, this only serves 2+ little sides, just right when you have mushroom leftovers hanging around.


CALLUM'S BALSAMIC & APPLE CIDER VINEGAR MUSHROOMS

1.5 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 tablespoon fresh minced garlic
4oz fresh mushrooms, sliced (I was desperate this last time and ended up buying Baby Bellas from Target, and they were gooooood!)
2.25 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon water
pepper

Sauté garlic in olive oil for 1 to 2 minutes. Do not brown garlic. Add mushrooms and cook 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add balsamic vinegar, apple cider vinegar, and water. Cook 2 minutes. Season with pepper.

Yummy hot or cold. Bon appétit!


Adapted from allrecipes.com

Baking for Callum: Almond Meal Banana Muffins (Gluten, Dairy, Soy & Peanut Free)

No oil, flour, or butter.  Yes almonds, baking powder, eggs, sugar, cinnamon, and bananas.  Cocoa powder optional.

I love simple.  And delicious!

Updated to add: The sound of my abused food processor sends my husband off the deep end. It doesn't bother me, he says, because it has already robbed me of hearing. I now use half of a 16 ounce package of Trader Joe's "Just Almond Meal" which is even better and lazier.

Find the full recipe at Honest Fare.

High Altitude: No changes made at 5490.

International Postage Rate Increase Tomorrow

New USPS postage rates go into effect 1/27/13 with HUGE rate increases on small international shipments, including Canada. The shipping on a single item in most cases is...gulp...doubling, or worse! I will be adjusting my shipping rates on ready to ship items to reflect the increase for sales after Friday, 1/25. Domestic rates will see little to no change.

Bummed? We are, too.

UnPaper Towel Tutorial

UnPaper Towel Tutorial