What's for dinner?

When Alena was a young toddler I was so overwhelmed and wondering WHAT I was going to cook, let alone make something a toddler would like. Alena is 5 now and it is so much easier than I ever thought. Actually it is no different than before. Well, there is one major adjustment I needed to make. It is simple, I try to plan the meals for the entire week ahead of time. This is probably something I would have made anyway going from two adults to a family with small children. But I probably would use more convenience food, and include a lot of cheese. To plan ahead I look through my cook books, recepies I cut out from the newspaper, etc. I do not discount anything just b/c it has a milk product in it. If something sounds good and it has milk/cheese/butter in it I try to figure out a way to get around it. This is not possible for some recepies, but for a lot it works and still tastes great. I swap items milk = soy/rice milk, creamer/half&half = Silk creamer, breadcrumbs = Panko breadcrumbs, buter = margarine, etc.

I admit that there are weeks when I do not plan, and those are the weeks I am more crabby :) This week so I planned, and everybody is happy at least so far....So what do we eat. Yesterday we had Veggie Stew. Great way to add all the veggies to the diet and the girls actually loved it.

Today we had oven baked Tilapia, mashed potatos, and sauteed greens w/garlic (kale). Alena loved the fish, and kale. Mia Rosie on the other hand was more of a mashed person today...

The fish really was yummy I adopted it from a recepie I found at www.makedinnereasy.com

Baked Tilapia
- Panko bread crumbs
- Paprika, pepper, salt, italian seasoning
- Olive Oil
- Tilapia filet (we had two)
* Preheat oven to 400F
* Mix Panko bread crumbs w/spices - and put on a large shallow plate
* Brush fish with olive oil (I actually poured some on a plate and put the fish through it)
* Place fish in Panko crumbs and cover each side with crumbs
* Line a baking dish with aluminum foil add a little olive oil to it so entire surface is coated
* Put coated fish in baking dish and bake at 400 for 15 - 20 minutes

Alena LOVED it. I served it with Trader Joe's Tarter Sauce

Mashed Potato
- Cook potatoes
- Mash w/masher
- Add silk creamer, salt, bit of olive oil

Kale
- Garlic
- Olive Oil
- Salt
- 1 bunch of Kale

* Chop garlic coarsely
* Heat Olive Oil in pan
* Add garlic and a pinch of salt
* Chop Kale (I used Lacinato Kale)
* Add Kale to garlic/Oil mixture. I start from the bottom up - once they get lighter green I add
the rest of the kale. Put lid on kale
--> It is done when it is lighter in color. We still like it a little crunchy...


Tomorrow it'll be chicken with yams...I will let you know if it turns out good...

Metabolic Clinic...

We just got back from clinic at OHSU. Both girls are doing fantastic, that is always good to hear :)

I am so happy with our physician and dietitian. Our dietitian is really interested in Galactosemia and it is empowering to work with a professional who really cares. Our doc of course is outstanding. Incidentally he is the same doc who tracked us down when Alena's Newbornscreen came back positive for CG. We credit him and our pediatrician for saving her life. He has been such a great advocate for us and empowering us in every way. We are raising the girls bi-lingual and never once did he raise any concern about that. Today he was impressed with the speech of both girls, and also that there is no fuss about items they cannot eat. Makes me happy...

Happy Tuesday...

Another pancake recipe, this one can be sweet, or savory - Its a German recipe

Its Sunday and I have not been to the store so there is no ready-to-eat food in the house. What to do? - I do have eggs, flour, and soy milk. We also have a few apples left so I made pancakes with apples in them. This is a German recipe and it does not go very well with maple syrup (which is a good thing because we are out :) ), we top it with a cinamon-sugar mixture. Here is the recipe:-

2 cups flour
2 cups soy milk (for the sweet version I use vanilla, for the savory I use plain)
3 eggs
1 pinch salt
4 Tbsp Oil (Safflower, or Canola works well - do not use Olive Oil here)

• Mix the first 4 ingredients together and blend well
• --> If you want savory pancakes you can also mix in some chopped herbs
• Let rest for about 30 minutes
• Add the oil, mix in well
• Heat some oil in a pan and laddle some batter into the pan
• Swirl the batter around the pan so it is entirely covered
• Once the batter starts to firm a little add the sliced apples (if you make them sweet)
• --> The savory pancakes can be "filled" with chopped ham
• Turn when the lower side is completely baked and bake the top

We top the sweet apple pancakes with cinnamon and sugar.

The savory ones are good for dinner when served with a salad its a complete meal.

Happy Sunday to all :)

Deschutes Brewery Pub & Restaurant in PDX

OK - we really do not go out that much but it's a Friday night...We picked up Ron from work today and had dinner at Deschutes Brewery Pub & Restaurant. I wrote about this place before and its really a very good option. For the kids there are burgers (be sure to ask for it on either a Hoagie roll, or Ciabata as the regular Hamburger bun is NOT OK), BBQ Chicken, Pizza (pepperoni of course cheeseless), for the adults there are salads, Wings (also OK just not the dipping sauce), and again GREAT beer....The waitstaff is really helpful and they do know the ingredients of their food. When in downtown PDX be sure to give it a try. http://www.deschutesbrewery.com/brewery/brew-pubs/portland-pub/default.aspx

Happy 2nd day of 2009 everyone...

Roasted Vegetable Pizza - frozen - from Trader Joe's

The girls had frozen pizza for lunch - yup I admit that I did not get around to make something from scratch...:)

If you have not had this pizza, try it. It is fantastic. It is available in the frozen pizza aisle at Trader Joe's and I think it is as good if not better as Amy's frozen pizza. And it is also more economical than Amy's :)

One caveat, the pizza does contain tomatoes which we allow.

Happy New Year to all!

Happy New Year, and Dungeness Crab...

Happy New Year to all. We had a great start into the New Year. Our traditional dinner has been fresh Dungeness Crab and we were lucky to get them this year :) The girls, as both of us, love crab. I am of course the person cracking, and getting all the meat out for everyone. We serve the crab with small potatoes, lemon, and melted Earth Balance. Very delicious. As for dessert I will have you guess...please see the new poll. You won't need to register to vote, its just for fun. Will you please vote?

Fruit Pie at Trader Joe's

We just went shopping at Trader Joe's and what did I see in the middle of the isle? Yup, fruit pie. I am not generally one for pie, but out of habit I just checked the label anyways. You may have guessed it, the pies do NOT have any milk products in them. Based upon that great discovery (I would have bet they have milk products in them) I of course had to buy one, and again I am really not crazy about pie. In any case I bought a Cherry Pie, other types I saw were Blueberry, Mixed Fruit, and Apple there may be more. The box is still closed and nobody has tried it yet so I cannot speak to taste yet. I will let you know.

Happy pie eating to all :)

Rescheduled clinic appointment...new year, new deductible...

I am just venting. The girls had an appointment at the Metabolic Clinic last week. We had a major snow storm here, the once every 40 years kind of storm, so the clinic was cancelled. Made sense b/c we would not have been able to go. The streets were not cleared off, chains required, and OHSU sits on top of a major west side hill...(pictures of the snow are posted on my other blog - http://germanpdx.blogspot.com/). In any case, the appointments are now rescheduled for next week Tuesday which is great but it is a brand new insurance year. So we have to start up again with the $500 deductible for each person before insurance pays...OK I really should not gripe, I am so happy that the girls are well taken care off, but you know it just never ends. Right?!

Pharmacy Listing - New Feature of the Blog

Finding a pharmacy where we feel comfortable has been challenging until we found the pharmacy at New Seasons Market. Unfortunately they closed down the pharmacy (due to the competition), but provided a list with pharmacies which are independently owned, and/or also compounding pharmacies. Look for the list on the left hand side of the blog. We chose one pharmacy from the list and have been pretty happy. In my experience large corporate owned pharmacies have not been as good. In any case, I added a list of all the independent/compounding pharmacies in the PDX area. Some of the mail order ones are located in Medford, Grants Park, Colorado Springs, and Youngtown, Arizona. Not sure if they also provide pick-up. I have also added links to their respective website (if they have one).

We use the Brooklyn Pharmacy and the girls thankfully did not have the need for any meds since New Seasons Market closed their pharmacy. We have NOT tried out any of the other pharmacies. I hope that the list is useful to you. Will you please let me know?! Thank you!

Hopworks...great pub, restaurant and (dare I say) beer...

Today we went swimming and the girls really wanted hamburgers for dinner. We decided to go to Hopworks in SE Portland. This place is fantastic. There is a play area for the kids, they serve you (if you ask for it) pizza dough as play dough for the kids, and just really fun. Their menu is sustainable and most items are made out of organic ingredients. There is a kids burger (we of course ask for it w/o the cheese), but they also have "Grilled free range chicken" on the menu which is served with BBQ sauce. The chicken and the BBQ sauce are fine, and we also allow the girls to eat the burger. They also have pizza which can of course be ordered without cheese. The dough does not contain any dairy. - Oh, and just to mention it again their beer is fantastic :)

This is just another great option for a casual fun dinner here in PDX where we do not need to worry about the ingredients. The official link to the restaurant is http://www.hopworksbeer.com/ Happy dinning everyone :)