RECALL Chef Pierre Gourmet Lemon Meringue Pie Day Code 9159 Only

This recall was just announced. Pls click on link for details

Voluntary Prodcut Recall: Chef Pierre® Gourmet Lemon Meringue Pie, Day Code 9159 Only
Sat, 29 Aug 2009 13:29:00 -0500

Chef Pierre® is voluntarily recalling a partial production run of the following foodservice product as a precautionary measure as the product may contain milk, an undeclared allergen, posing a potential serious and life-threatening health risk to milk-allergic individuals. This recall affects 4,380 cases of Chef Pierre Gourmet Lemon Meringue Pie labeled product that actually contained chocolate meringue pie.

Lunch date at Por Que No Taqueria with Mia Rose

Mia Roses' school is closed for a couple of weeks. So that I could get a couple of hours of work done, a friend invited her over for a play date (thank you so much!!!). When I picked her up I asked her if she wanted to go on a lunch date for taco's with me. Mia wanted taco's so we went to Por Que No Taqueria on Hawthorne. We have been there before, but I never realized just HOW friendly their menu is to the CG diet. It is wonderful. All food is fresh, sustainable, and if possible local. There are a bunch of tacos which do not even have cheese on them, the "Pollo Verde" is one of them an it is delicious. We ordered one "Pollo Verde" for Mia Rose, one "Porque Tingua" for myself, and a side of beans without the cheese. Quite delicious. Mia Rose also loves chips, I think probably all kids do :), and guacamole. The chips are made fresh, and the guacamole is also CG safe. It is FANTASTIC. They have homemade juice, and Horchata. Both are safe for the kids. But you know what? There is even dessert the kids can eat. Isn't that great?! They also have pop sickles...just wonderful because it just does not happen often that there is a dessert the girlies can eat :)

Please check out Por Que No Taqueria. They have two locations in PDX. One right here in SE, and the other one is in North PDX. Here is the link http://www.porquenotacos.com/

Update on the Pizza Party at Mia's School...

...you may remember my post from last week about the party at Mia Rose's school. In the end it worked out fine. We started the day with our German playgroup at Sellwood Park, and at 11 drove to Pizzicato to order the pizza for the girls. But you know what? They do not open until 11:30, but a delivery person just walked into the restaurant to drop something off, so I decided to just try and see whether they would make a pizza for the girls. The three of us went in, and I plead my case by telling the nice gentleman that the girls were going to a pizza party, that they love pizza, but that they cannot have pizza with cheese. And you know what?! - I am sure you are already guessing this one right, he said "yes" and I ordered one kids pizza with peperoni without cheese for take-out. It just shows that you just have to ask and plead your case. The Sellwood store really went above and beyond. They could have easily said no, but now I have them dear to my heart (a little too "cheesy"?! no pun intended...) Anyway, if you feel like pizza and you are in Sellwood (or just in PDX) go and give Pizzicato a try. Really yummy pizza, and CG safe too ;))) http://www.pizzicatogourmetpizza.com/

Now back to the party. We arrived with our pizza in hand and everybody had a ton of fun. Everybody was eating together. The girls ate their pizza, and the other kids had the cheese pizza. It was so nice to see everybody at the table eating together. The only thing I did not think about was that there might be cookies. Well, there were and of course had milk products in them. The girls were not the least bit bothered...but I am sure you are guessing that it bothered me. And yes, it did...

RECALL - KROGER KIDS SUPER ENRICHED WHITE SANDWICH BREAD

This recall was just issued. I will update the sidebar soonest.

Kroger Recalls Super Kids Enriched White Sandwich Bread Due to Undeclared Milk in the Product
Sat, 22 Aug 2009 20:56:00 -0500

The Kroger Co. is recalling Kroger brand Super Kids Enriched White Sandwich Bread sold in 13 states because it may contain milk not listed on the label. Customers should return the product to stores for a refund or replacement. 

Uncalled for reaction...sometimes it just stings a little

Strange title?! Maybe I think of something better as I write this, but for right now it stands. Do you want me to keep you in suspense ;)...So first of, the uncalled reaction was by me. Here is what happened. Today was Mia Rose's last day at her little preschool (she will graduate to the "big" house in September). To commemorate the end of the year there will be a little celebration tomorrow at 11:30 at Mia Rose's school. The teacher's made sure to invite us (as Mia Rose usually is home on Friday's). When I picked Mia Rose up her teacher came up to me and said "...I just want to let you know that to celebrate tomorrow we will have cheese pizza. So maybe your girls could already have eaten lunch...". And here comes my totally uncalled for reaction I said "...Fine. We will not come!!!..." It came out just like that. Wow! I shocked myself. What a strong uncalled for reaction. Why did I react that way?! Well, truth be said I honestly felt like crying. Crying because my kids are excluded from a very fun kids thing. Pizza with their friends. True, I always say it they are not excluded there is a ton of non-cheese pizza out there but they are different and cannot take part exactly as the others do. Just like I cried out of happiness a couple of weeks ago when Megan made sure to include Alena, I could have (***note I did NOT) cried. But instead of having tears came up, there was stubbornness...Ron came along to pick-up Mia Rose and he did not understand the way I reacted either. Sometimes it just still stings...

We worked things out and actually go to the party tomorrow. I will pick up a slice of pizza from Oasis for the girls to take along to Mia Rose's school, and party with the rest of the group. In retrospect I feel all guilt ridden and hope that the girls did hear what went on. Surely I do not want them to feel left out...OK now I have to get back to happy thoughts and have to remember that the glass is always half full :).

Ice "Cream" - Coconut Bliss by Luna & Larry's

Shopping this week I bought a different kind of ice cream. http://www.coconutbliss.com/. It comes in a ton of different flavors. We got "Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge" and let me tell you it is delicious. The whole family LOVES it. It is creamy, just like the Hemp ice cream, and just delicious. You really do not miss any dairy here. - It is not yet available in Canada, but it looks like it will be available across the border in 2010.

As always, please let me know what you think. By the way, Alena, the chocoholic :), loves the chocolate hazelnut fudge ;)

Eggplant "Lasagne"

Now that we are getting our local produce delivered once a week, I am really getting pushed to cook a lot of different foods. It is pushing me a little outside of my comfort level. I do see that as a good thing so :) How can it not be better for you to eat a much more varied diet?!

In any case, yesterday's box from Organics to You included a couple of eggplants. Interesting....I was stomped what on earth would I make with Eggplant. Eggplant Parmisiana, Mousakka, etc. were recipes I thought of but all of the recipes I found had mozzarella, or other "young" cheese in it. I thought that taking out the cheese would change the recipe too much. I first looked on the web, but then looked through my quite extensive cook book library. The recipe I adapted is Pasticcio Di Melanzane Con Lasagne - Eggplant and Lasagne Casserole (so really not lasagne, but it certainly looks like it when its done :) ) by Julia Dell Croce, The Vegetarian Table, Italy.
It turned out fantastic, a little bit of work, but very well worth it. I did take a couple of short cuts, and went to buy fresh lasagna sheets from Pastaworks (absolutely CG friendly) http://pastaworks.com/. You can either make the tomato sauce from scratch, or you can use a jar if there is one that you really like. FYI - I used Parmigiano Regiano but I think that it will also taste great if you leave the cheese out. I would not use a fake cheese (I do not really like that anyway). Here is the recipe:-

2 Eggplants (about 2 lbs.)
Salt
Olive Oil
6 oz. of lasagna (if using "boil" pasta cook pasta not quite al dente before assembling"
1 Cup of Parmigiano Regiano grated (if using)
2 large eggs lightly beaten
2 tablespoons PLAIN Silk Creamer
2 tablespoons Parmigiano Regiano (if using)
1 - 2 large jars of Pasta Sauce, or make your own using canned tomatoes, onion, garlic, olive oil

- Trim navel and stem off the eggplants
- Cut eggplants into rounds
- Sprinkle eggplants with salt, put them upright into a colander for about 40 minutes (liquid will
drain from eggplant)
- Make sauce, or heat pasta sauce using gently
- Heat Olive Oil in pan - when Olive Oil is hot add eggplant (should sizzle)
- Fry eggplant from each side until they get color (browned) from each side
- Set fried eggplant on paper towel
- If using "boil" type pasta bring water to boil now, and cook pasta sheets
- Preheat oven to 400 F
- Pour a little bit of sauce in a 9x12 baking dish (the one I used was larger it still worked OK)
- Place about 1/2 of the eggplant on top of the sauce
- Put a thin layer of sauce on top of the eggplant
- If using sprinkle about 1/4 of the cheese on top of the eggplant/sauce
- Place one layer of pasta sheets on top of the eggplant/sauce/cheese mixture
- Spread layer of sauce on top of pasta sheet
- If using sprinkle about 1/4 cheese on top of the sauce
- Place remaining eggplant on top of the sauce
- Top with a little bit of sauce
- If using sprinkle with 1/4 of the cheese
- Place second layer of pasta sheet on top of the eggplant/sauce/cheese mixture
- Top with remaining sauce
- If using top with rest of the cheese (but for 2 reserved tablespoons)
- TOPPING
- Lightly combine the beaten eggs with the 2 tablespoons of the PLAIN Silk Creamer, and (if
using) 2 tablespoons of Parmigiano
- Pour the topping evenly over the assembled "lasagna"
- Bake in oven at 400 F for about 20 - 25 minutes

It turned out fantastic and is well worth the effort. I ended up using more sauce as I made my own and then ended-up also using a jar. That may have been due to the fact that may baking dish was larger. Using fresh pasta is not only a time saver, but it also tastes fantastic. But I am sure that this will also turn out fantastic with the regular "boil", or even "non-boil" sheets.

As always, please let me know if you like this. I think it can also easily adapted for a meat lasagna. I will let you know when I try it out...one thing that cannot be omitted here however are the tomatoes. They are good for you, and good for the kids. :)

One excited little summer-camper...

When I picked Alena up from preschool/summer camp this afternoon she was so, so, so very excited. She ran to me almost screaming "...Mommy, Mommy guess what?! I had a Cutie. Smell!!!.." Ok, ok I know that sounds a little gross but then she literally made me smell her mouth :) Yup, it surely did smell like Vanilla-Chocolate Cutie!!! - Honestly, it made me teary eyed all over again...thank you so much, Teacher Meagan.

You wonder why this gets me so excited? Well, when Alena was first born I was just totally happy. One week later we were totally sick with worry. We had received this strange diagnosis of Classic Galactosemia and our little Applehead (as we called her) had developed E. Coli Mengengitis and Sepsis. It was pure horror. We did not know if our baby would survive. The following week she stabalized and we slowly researched what Classic Galactosemia meant. It was sombering what we found on the Internet. Next we looked what the diet for a child with Classic Galactosemia was supposed to look like. - I first did not think that it would be difficult. Just avoid cheese, butter, etc. Then I looked further and saw how restricted the Acosta diet really was. No tomatoes, no legumes, no apples, no soy milk, no strawberries and the list went on, and on, and on, and on...In my mind there was no way that I ever could send my child to school without a constant worry. So at first we were determined not to allow our child anything that remotely had any amount of Galactose in it. But then we got more and more comfortable..and here we are today...both children go to Preschool, both children eat every vegetable, fruit, and legume there is, both children even eat Paremsiano Reggiano, both children eat Soy Ice Cream...and both children have GREAT LEVELS! They are healthy little girls. Both girls LOVE school, and everything is A-OK. Of course, they may have more blood draws than other kids, and maybe see a physician a little bit more than other kids. But what is that in the scheme of things, from the point when we first found out about Classic Galactosemia. Really, its nothing. Its a piece of cake, and it only proves to me that anything can be accomplished just as long as we keep a positive attitude, are willing to try new things, and don't ever give up.

Yikes, I think I kind of got carried away with this entry.

Childswork has preschool spots available for the 2009/2010 school year

We love Childswork. It's the most amazing school, and everybody has been so wonderful about learning about Galactosemia, making sure that Alena is included and never feels left out. So if you are in Portland and are still looking for a great Preschool check out Childswork. This is a great school for any young child. Just wonderful. Alena has grown so much in this school...There are still spots available for the up-coming school year. http://www.childswork.org

Today I cried...the most wonderful teacher & preschool

I could not help myself this morning but cry. Tears of joy, which I could not stop...What happened?! OK - let me tell you. When I brought Alena to camp this morning one of the teachers asked if I had a moment. Of course, I had a moment to talk. The teacher told me that it today is the B-day of another teacher and that she had gotten a treat for the afternoon class. She bought Tofutti Cuties, and wanted to make sure that Alena can eat them. Of course...when I asked why she got Cuties her response was "...I wanted to make sure to get a treat Alena can have as well and I thought she (Alena) told me before that she likes them..." Is that not the most thoughtful, sweetest thing ever...I cried. Later I talked to the Director of Education to share this great story. The philosophy of the school is to make sure everybody is included...

There is something else I want to say. When we first got the diagnosis I would never thought that any of this is possible. Never, did I think it would be possible for my child to have the same treats in school and just be a regular kid. I am just so, so overwhelmingly happy :) Thank you for reading ;)

Check out the school http://www.childswork.org...

Mia Rose is ready to hike into the cave

Our little explorer...

The girls favorite camp dinner...baked beans and hot dogs

Alena was jumping up and down when she heard that it was "Baked Beans with Hot Dogs" for dinner...

Alena the explorer

Alena exploring the area of the cabin site...BTW - this is right by the cabin...

View out of the cabin

The view from our cabin during the huge Thunderstorm

Our cabin at Lake Billy Chinook

It really is that amazing...

We went camping in Central Oregon

This past weekend and part of this week we went on a camping trip to the High Desert. The first night we stayed in a "Deluxe Cabin" at Lake Billy Chinook Lake. Amazing! We experienced a very violent Thunderstorm, saw a ton of lizards, us adults were amazed by the landscape , and the effect of the change in light...We cooked out and had great fun. Here is a link to the park, if you are interested to see what the cabins look like just click on "more pictures" http://www.oregonstateparks.org/park_32.php. BTW - the picture I posted yesterday is taken at the Marina of Lake Billy Chinook.

The next day we drove about 30 miles to Tumalo State Park which is only about 5 Miles away from downtown Bend. We set up our tent, but went into town for dinner on one night. Great campground. It is right of the Deschutes River where it is really slow. The girls had a ton of fun playing in the water, or on the playground. Check out Tumalo State Park here http://www.oregonstateparks.org/park_45.php. Once we ate at Bend Brewing Company and it was such a great experience http://www.bendbrewingco.com/. Eating out has become pretty low stress for us by now. The girl's diet is just second nature to us and we feel that you have to put some trust into people. Also, we know that their levels are great and that they will not go into any type of shock should they mistakenly get a bit of whey, etc. In any case, the server was great. She made sure that their food was safe, and we all enjoyed a great outdoor dinner.

The next day we visited the Lava Butte, and Lava Flow http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/LavaButte/Locale/framework.html. Again, amazing...on our way back to the campground we stopped to get ice cream at a store. Fully expecting to only be able to offer Popsicles for the girls, we actually found Rice Dream Chocolate Covered ice "cream" bars...The following day we went back past the Lava Butte to hike the Lava Cave. Alena almost hiked the entire way in, Mia Rose however was really scared and decided to nap instead in the Ergo on Ron's back :) http://http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/centraloregon/newberrynvm/dayuse/lavariver-du.shtml, after we cooled off in the 42 degree temperature we headed to the High Desert Museum for lunch and a visit. Just one word fun :)

The staff at the cafe was also wonderful. The girls shared a kids Turkey Sandwich which they brought out on two plates. Also there the staff was so helpful when I asked about ingredients, and we checked out the labels. It is so empowering to be able to go out, eat out, and not worry...Oh, and here is the link to the High Desert Museum. http://http://www.highdesertmuseum.org/. - I will post more pictures later...Better get going and make the girlies some waffles for breakfast now :)

Flag Cake 2009

finally, the picture of this year's Flag Cake :). Featuring the girlies and the cake

Camping at Lake Billy Chinook

Here is a picture of two happy girls enjoying the morning...

FYI - my computer was out, and then we went camping for a almost a week :)