Crok pork roast -- an easy gfcf dinner

Now that my children are a little older -- 4 & 6 -- and not so stuck in the burger, nuggets, sticks phase -- I've dared to experiment a little, branch out our taste buds into some more adult areas. Like pork roast. Why? For a few reasons, and some very selfish. I'd like my kids, who would love to eat chicken pieces and potatoes for the rest of their lives, to learn to appreciate other foods. I know this will be a challenge. Like so many of our kids, mine are stuck in a rut. Deviation from their menu will not be accepted lightly. But, I've learned a few tricks over the years. The one that works best is to make my plate first, sit and eat while their food continues to "heat up." They always, well 75% of the time, want to try my food. So, here's a recipe I'm going to try with them. I chose it because I miss roasts -- beef and pork. They are delicious and often very simple in terms of time and ingredients. That's the selfish part. I realize some younger kids may not digest the beef, so wait until they can. And, I know some kids actually have a white pork intolerance. So, beware of that too. But, most will be able to handle this. I'm making the crok pot version, since that is the easiest.

Ingredients are simple:
-- pork roast: any size
-- Carrots, cut up, or the small salad size
-- onion, chopped into halves
-- 1 apple, any kind
-- Potatoes, cut into quarters
-- water, 1 cup
-- garlic: powder or minced will do, or two real cloves, crushed
-- salt and pepper to taste

Wash off the roast and place it in the crok pot. Wash the carrots and dump in as many as desired. Cut onion in half, toss in. Cut apple into quarters, toss in, pitch core. Add garlic, salt and pepper if desired and the water. Cook on low anywhere from 6-10 hours, based on size of the roast. Add the potatoes in the last two hours so they cook through.

I'll let you know how my experiment works. Either way, I'll be sure to enjoy it. If the kids don't -- hot dogs :)

GFCF Sandwich Wrap

Like many of you, I've had a difficult time getting my kids to eat a GF bread, whether it's store-bought or homemade. My youngest has eaten Noah's Bread at times, but not regularly. I created a deviation of Tom's Bread that I dubbed Lindsay's Bread that she once ate but wasn't overly fond of and eventually got tired of it as a lunch bread. So, I've figured the best thing for my kids is variation, having a few breads that I can get them to eat if I mix them up and don't serve them daily. I know, it's a real pain. But, by using them sporadically in lunch and dinner menus, it's not that bad. So, that brings me to this very simple recipe for a sandwich wrap. You'll find many variations of this recipe on websites and in cookbooks. I use a mashed potato base. That's essential to give the wrap some flexibility. Without it, you come up with a dry tortilla that easily cracks. Here's how I make it.

Ingredients are potatoes, salt, Darifree (or milk sub), 1 cup gf flour, xanthan gum, water.

First, boil enough potatoes to make two cups of mashed potato.

Next, when done, take two cups of the potato in a bowl and mash them, adding enough Darifree or milk sub to the mix to make them "mashy" but not too wet. Add 1/2 tsp salt in the process.

Now, heat a pan on high without oil.

While heating, add the cup of flour. I use 1/2 cup rice flour, 1/4 cup tapioca flour and 1/4 cup corn meal. You can use any mix you want. If you're corn and rice free, consider using sorghum and tapioca mix.

Add 1/2 tsp xanthan gum.

Now, mix the flour in and start making a dough. Add water by the tbsp if necessary.

When the dough is ready and the pan is hot, sprinkle some tapioca flour on a surface, grab a handful of dough (like 1/4-1/2 cup), and with floured hands (or a floured roller), flatten into a circular shape, but not too thin. When flat, put it in the pan. Heat a couple minutes on both sides until they start to brown. Continue doing this with the rest.

All in all, this is a very easy recipe and becomes very versatile. I have a pizza wrap recipe I'll post soon. You could use this with lunchmeat, ground beef like a taco, etc.

Stop the presses! You can treat autism through diet!

Yeah, there's a little sarcasm there. You may have seen this item from the Feingold organization circulating across webland. If not, save these links, print out the article and post it on the fridge. Yippee.

A doctor from Children's Hospital in Boston wrote an article for the American Academy of Pediatrics' AAP Grand Rounds publication on the impact that food additives have on people with ADHD. Those of us dealing with the spectrum know how additives, colorings and preservatives really can screw your day up.

So, here's the links for you to enjoy.

-- the actual AAP article is at this link: http://www.feingold.org/Research/PDFstudies/AAP08.pdf

-- a previous study on this issue published in Lancet, in the UK, is at this link: http://www.feingold.org/Research/lancet.html

-- the Feingold write-up on this is at this link: http://www.feingold.org/aap.html

-- Feingold's "Behavior, Learning and Health" publication is at this link: http://www.feingold.org/BLUEBOOK.pdf

I'm not a strict follower of Feingold but we certainly share many of its beliefs.