Looks Good in Polka Dots

Everytime I write about TeenGirl being healthy… on the road to recovery, we hit another darn speed bump.  As I write this, we are sitting in the ER at Doernbecher.  Evidently TeenGirl has developed an infection from the chemical burn she developed on her left foot during her first night in the PICU last month.  She got this lovely burn from a potassium IV that infilterated.   Six weeks have passed and the burn is still not healed… it looks like a big, ugly, oozy ulcer.  Today it has really started to swell and turn red… up her calve in addition to her foot.  It’s really not a pretty sight.  I decided that I really wasn’t comfortable hanging out until morning to take her in so I called the peds on call Doctor and they said to bring her in… So here we sit.  I was forewarned to be prepared for admittance for a course of IV therapy.  Yippee.  Why is it that every little thing turns into a major deal with this kid?

TeenGirl is bouncing back to health and is spending nearly every free moment in HS Drama.   Friday night I had to drive her to the school to get ready for the show and Oregon Dad requested I stop at the little market in town to bring him some Swiss style chocolate rolls.  It’s his downfall… well that and Rockstar. 

As I am wandering through the market I decided to grab a box of heart shaped chocolate cakes as well as the Swiss rolls.  I was having a chocolate craving.

Once in the car, I opened the box and bit into a little chocolate heart.  ICK! That’s all I can say for it.  All I can taste is the wax and chemicals used in the creation of this food.  I tried to finish the one little heart I had opened, but ended up tossing it out.

Have I become so used to the all natural, chemical free foods we consumme that I can no longer enjoy a commercial treat every now and then?

Oregon Dad evidently doesn’t share my problem… he happily inhaled a couple packs of the Swiss rolls.

Chicken Noodle soup is a kid favorite in our household.  I haven’t been able to find a canned GFCF variety of this old standby… Today I decided to make my own!  We also made a twist on Krisp Rice Treats.  These are hits with the entire crew! 

 I am much too busy with 4 kids age 7 and under, a busy teen, terminally ill mother and career driven hubby to spend hours in the kitchen.  I am learning quick ways to make fun foods our kiddos will eat.  I am confident ANYONE can make these in less than 20 minutes.

(Did I mention we found fun, fabulous and tasty noodles?  No?  Shame on me… try them!  Tinkyada Pasta Joy.  We got the Brown Rice Pasta Little Dreams, they are all fun shapes the kids adore!) 

Tasty (AND EASY!) Homemade Noodle Soup….

1- 32 oz carton Organic Free Range Chicken Broth

1 Cup Tinkyada Pasta (or other GF pasta… the fun shapes make this a super soup!)

8 Organic Baby Carrots cut into little round discs (Whatever thickness you desire)

1 cup chopped Organic Broccoli  (once again in desired size)

1 TBS Kosher Salt

1 tsp Ground Black Pepper

Bring chicken broth to a boil, add pasta and carrots.  Cook until pasta is tender (about 15 minutes).  Add Broccoli, salt and pepper to taste.   Enjoy.  We save the remainder in the fridge for easy reheating! 

GFCF Krisp Cereal Treats (Takes less than 20 minutes!)

Equipment- Medium Saucepan, Medium Mixing bowl, 8×8 Glass Pan, Wooden Spoon, Wax paper

1/2 C. Rice Syrup (Corn syrup also works) … we add a little over 1/2 C., especially if using the Chex type of cereal.

3/4 C. GF Natural Peanut Butter  (Watch some fresh roasted varieties add unsafe roasting ingredients, we found a great fresh honey roasted peanut butter we LOVE!)  You can use smooth or crunchy based on your culinary tastes!

2 C. Crisp Cereal… some ideas- brown rice, chex style, panda puffs, koala krunch… whatever you have on hand!  (Keep in mind, branded RICE KRISPY cereal is NOT GF… it contains malt.)

3/4 C. of a “Fun” add in.  Such as Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips, Roasted Nuts, Dried Cranberries… once again whatever you have on hand!  We love to mix things up with banana chips and chocolate or cranberries and chocolate… TASTY. 

Bring the rice syrup to a boil, lower heat and allow to simmer for about 2 minutes (this is important to have everything set up well!).

Add peanut butter, keep heat on low.  Mix well and cook for about 3 minutes (You don’t have to stir constantly, but don’t ignore it either!)

 While the peanut butter mixture is cooking, Combine your cereal and “fun”  (except chocolate chips) ingredients in the mixing bowl.  Line your pan with wax paper (one big piece, ends should come up the sides so that you can lift it out of the pan.)

Add peanut butter mixture to the cereal and combine well.  If adding chocolate chips do it at the very end, mix in lightly and spread mixture into prepared dish.  (If you want more of a chocolatey mixture, put chips in with dry cereal before adding peanut butter… it will give it more of a melty chocolate finish!) Allow to cool.  Lift square out of pan by gripping ends of wax paper.  Use a pizza cutter to smoothly cut into 2×2 squares.  Enjoy!  We store these in zippie bags to grab for a snack.

Tater Tot casserole has been a longtime favorite in our household.  This is something I had to learn to modify to meet a GFCF diet.  As long as I purchase the correct tots, we are okay on the gluten free part.  Figuring out a sub for the cream of mushroom soup is another thing entirely.  The recipe below includes a quick method (gravy mix) and the long method (homemade cream of mushroom soup).  

GFCF Tater Tot Casserole

1 bag GF Tater Tots (read carefully, not all tots are GF)

1 lb. ground fresh turkey- browned or 4 cooked chicken breasts, cut into small pieces

2 Cups GFCF Cream of Mushroom soup (best- recipe follows)or  2 packages GF Gravy mix prepared as directed (we use Road’s End Organics Golden Gravy Mix)

Desired amount of cut up fresh broccoli (1-2 cups) you can sub frozen if needed

1 C. Grated GFCF Cheese (This can be omited)

Layer tots on bottom of 9×11 casserole pan

Layer meat on top of tots

Layer broccoli on top of meat

Pour Soup or Gravy mix over entire pan

Top with grated/crumbled GFCF cheese

Bake at 400 degrees F for about 25 minutes (sauce should be bubbly, cheese melty and slightly golden in color)

Let rest for about 10 minutes before serving

GFCF Cream of Mushroom Soup- Makes abt. 2 cups

(We usually make this x4 and freeze the extras in ziploc baggies for future use!)

16 good sized button mushrooms- sliced into desired size for soup

1 tsp. Kosher Salt

2 Tbs. Earth Balance Margarine (or other non dairy margarine)

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

2 garlic cloves minced

2 Tbs. Tapioca Starch

1 C. organic free range chicken broth

1 C. Soy Milk (we use Silk, stick with the regular flavor)

Melt the butter in large, heavy skillet.  Add the kosher salt, pepper and mushrooms.  Cook for about 4 minutes, add garlic and cook for about 1 minute longer.  Sprinkle starch over mushrooms, mix well and cook for 2 minutes.  Add the broth, mix well to insure no lumps and simmer for about a minute.  Lower heat to med/low (about 3) add the soy milk and cook until begins to thicken, stirring for about 6 minutes.

We use this cream of mushroom soup for everything!  It freezes well.  Enjoy!

Because K2 has Scarlet Fever, we had to haul the ENTIRE crew to the Docs for testing.  Not one of us is feeling 100%.  I took K1, K3 and K4 at the same time, their Doctor was kind enough to swab me while we were there saving the trip back this morning for my appointment.  Daddy was swabbed at his Docs this morning.  Final Verdict—- So far, anyway… K1- Strep, K2 Strep/Scarlet Fever, K3 Double Ear Infection, possible strep medicine will cover both, K4 tests negative but is whiny and running low grade fevers, Mommy strep negative but feels like crap and has had sinus congestion for about 4 weeks paired with a sore throat and general fatigue… Oregon Dad has strep.  So far TeenGirl doesn’t look like strep, but her immune system is weak and she has the same virus kind of ick I have… watching closely.  I have decided that a family of 7 is NO FUN when everyone is sick at the same time.  Lucky for us we are all home, but I am going stir crazy with kids who are feeling better but banned from school.

I noticed something new in the refrigerated milk section recently… a blue RICE DREAM carton. Curious, I picked it up and scoured the label. Right there on the front is an upside down triangle proclaiming “Gluten Free”. I was thrilled at this find as my daughter loves Rice Dream and doesn’t care for the other “milks” and the shelf stable kind is NOT GLUTEN FREE. We took home a carton of the vanilla Rice Dream and sure enough, K3 loves it! No more battles over “yucky milk”. Thanks to Rice Dream for finally hearing our requests for a GLUTEN FREE product. From label reading, it also appears that the Rice Dream Non-Dairy Frozen Dessert is Gluten Free… however they do not proclaim it on the packaging (at least not the carton I have!). Further research is required. Happy Cereal Mornings Again!

UPDATE**********

Thanks to Tori’s comment, I did a little reearch on Rice Dream and Gluten. The website has some conflicting information.

From the Rice Dream website

Click YOUR HEALTH, then SPECIAL DIETARY RESTRICTIONS, then GLUTEN-FREE PRODUCTS

Here is the list as of 23 May 2008

Gluten Free Products

The following products do not contain gluten:

Soy Dream Non-Dairy Beverages

* All varieties

Rice Dream Non-Dairy Frozen Desserts and Novelties

The following varieties only (pints/quarts):

* Vanilla
* Strawberry
* Cocoa Marble Fudge
* Orange Vanilla Swirl
* Carob Almond
* Neapolitan

Soy Dream Non-Dairy Frozen Desserts and Novelties

The following varieties only (pints/quarts):

* French Vanilla
* Mint Chocolate Chip
* Green Tea
* Butter Pecan
* Strawberry Swirl
* Mocha Fudge Swirl
* Vanilla Fudge Swirl
* Vanilla
* Chocolate

Rice Dream Non-Dairy Beverages

* All varieties

NOW CHECK PRODUCT FAQS UNDER RICE DREAM NON-DAIRY BEVERAGE AND YOU’LL FIND:

“Is Rice Dream Beverage a gluten free product?

No. Rice Dream Beverage is processed using a barley enzyme. Even though the barley enzyme is discarded after use, the final beverage might contain a minute residual amount (less than .002%) of barley protein.”

I wrote to the company asking for clarification on the conflicting information contained within the website. I haven’t heard back yet. Further inspection revealed that I haven’t missed any bad ingredients on the labels… they no longer list the barley enzyme that was used to make RICE DREAM Beverages. There is no warning about the possibility of any gluten and the Organic Rice Dream containers we have purchased all have the stamp “GLUTEN FREE” on them. It’s looking like nothing changed except the labeling. The company decided that they qualify legally to use that label since there is less than 20ppm of gluten in the product.

I call that misrepresentation. We have a right to know if the foods we are feeding our children may make them sick. For more information, read my updated post - Rice Dream and Gluten.

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The sickies just don’t want to leave our house!  Now K2 has Strep Throat and Scarlet Fever.  Lucky for us Scarlet Fever is not the virulent illness it once was. 

K2 developed a fever running at least 101-103 since Saturday.  Her throat hurt, she felt punky.  At first I thought it was the flu that we have all had because a sore throat went with it.  I gave her Motrin for the fever/discomfort so she could rest.  By Monday morning she wasn’t getting better like everyone else had from the flu.  When she drank the Motrin, tears ran down her face because it hurt to swallow the liquid.  She also developed a red, sandpaper like rash starting on her cheeks, then moving down her neck and covering the rest of her body.  Her tongue also had a yellow coating and her throat looked swollen and mucousy.   We had to visit the urgent care as her doctors office was booked.   She is banned from school for the rest of the week, which has her devastated.  This is the first time in two years she has missed school!

Sure enough, she is strep positive and the doctor said she developed Little Scarlet Fever or Scarletina as well. 

Now the fun really starts… everyone else has been feeling slightly scratchy in the throat and all around ickey.  So today I get to haul the other four kids and myself in for cultures.  Daddy has an appointment in the morning. 

We don’t do V-Day at our house.  It’s a consumer holiday, I’m anti-consumerism so we just don’t do it.   However, the kids do get to give out Valentines to their entire classrooms.   I refused to go buy $3.00 boxes of cards marketing some cartoon character and my bid for the “I Choo, Choo, Choooooose Free Trade” Chocolates and Train cards were vetoed by Oregon Dad… So, what did I do today? Well let me tell you.  Starting at 8am this morning, I began a GIANT batch of homemade dough.  I then proceeded to knead red coloring throughout the balls of dough.  I swear my hands will be red for days!   Then Little Critter and I began rolling the dough out and cutting out hearts with a metal cookie cutter.  We then placed each heart into a cute, Valentine-y cellophane bag and tied them closed with twisties.  The kids all made their own labels out of a 2×2 piece of cardstock, they wrote… “Here is some play-dough fun for you!”   We attached the labels to the twist tie and Viola… we have 75 Valentines.  Yep,  75 heart shaped balls of dough later we have all 3 classes completed.   I really should have ordered the Free Trade Cards!  
 

So Hubby and K1 stayed home sick yesterday.  This proved challenging for my day of work.  I have yet to log a fully successful, 8 hour day.  I think the closet I have gotten is about 6.5 hours. 

 Much of the work I am doing requires that my environment is QUIET.  I have to speak on the phone with peeps.  The calls are recorded.  The peeps aren’t suppose to know we are working from home versus an office environment.  Of course, what office is quiet?  None…. but I don’t make the rules. 

When Daddy is home… it is NEVER quiet.  They can’t seem to grasp the concept that even talking in hushed voices still carries into the phone when they are in the same room as me.  My answer is to send the kids into another room with the mini DVD player and TeenGirl blocking the door so they can’t escape without warning me first!  Daddy lets them play Wii or whatever… carry on “whispered” conversations… etc.  That’s just not working in my world. 

The terrible part is I am currently stuck where I am working.  And the noise carries to my workspace.  Today I am sitting here waiting for the internet company to come move my connection.  As of right now… they are 4.5 hours late.  Surprise… Surprise.   Once the connection is moved, I will be able to put a couple of closed doors between me and everyone else while I am working.  That should make life a lot easier.  Initially we thought I would be able to do that anytime others would be home anyway… but because of technical difficulities it didn’t work out.  Normally it’s not a big deal because I am home all day by myself… but when Daddy and K1 both chose to stay home… I managed to work for about 2 hours!  Pathetic.

Guess who just knocked on the door?  The internet dude.  Yippee.  My connection will be moved and I will be snuggled behind LOCKED doors by the time everyone gets off the bus today.  Woohoo. 

Gotta Run.  Wish me luck!