Menu Plan Monday

This week is crazy busy for us, with lots on the schedule including a small trip out of town.  That means picking simple meals that are fast, and ones that I can cook away from home without taking the entire kitchen with me.  Her goes.

Monday
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunchbox: ham roll up, red pepper strips, peas, strawberries, v8 fusion
Dinner: pulled pork, fries, watermelon, applesauce

Tuesday
Breakfast: zuchinni muffins
Lunchbox: apples with sunbutter, carrots, beetbox berry smoothie, terra chips, v8
Dinner: sloppy joe, broccoli, peaches w/raspberry sauce, baked potato

Wednesday
Breakfast: grits with cranberry sauce
Lunchbox: sloppy joe, tortilla chips, fruit snacks, carrots
Dinner: Qdoba (road food)

Thurdsay
Breakfast: Buckwheat pancakes
Lunch: three bean salad, corn w/red pepper, canteloupe
Dinner: squash pasta, oven roasted brussel sprouts, blueberries

Friday
Breakfast: bacon and fruit salad
Lunch: lettuce and ham wraps
Dinner: turkey burgers, baked sweet potatoes, cauliflower

Saturday
Breakfast: Pumpkin muffins
Lunch: salmon, asparagus, berries
Dinner: Qdoba (road food)

A Night Off

Reality: Moms are busy people. (Dads too.) Whether you are a stay at home parent, or a working parent matters not, life has a way of filling up with events that require your attention. Every parent has had that day full of productive errand running, successful playdates for the kids, school, dance class, whatever filled up your day. Maybe you yourself had a quiet day because *gasp* you were sick. No sick days allowed here! Walking into the kitchen knowing you need to get a meal on the table QUICKLY to prevent the overtired overhungry little people from coming completely unglued is not unheard of in the parenting world.

As a parent of a child with multiple allergies we do not have a "safe" fast food option. No drive-though solutions for us. No matter how long and exhausting my day has been, there will be cooking in it. No matter how much effort it takes to stand up there will be cooking involved. That is my reality. I know many of you share it.

Yes, I have had days when I walk into the kitchen, open the cabinets, then sit in the floor and cry. Why? Because I'm too tired, too sick, too (insert adjective here) to face cooking again. Breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, sometimes another snack. All day. Every day. Food. Some days I JUST WANT TO ORDER PIZZA. I want easy. I want a Night. Off. Cooking.

If you can relate to this, if you need a night off now and then, some relief from the never-ending parade of meal preparation... start planning now. Because yes, you can have a night off. You just can't decide to take the night off with no advance preparation. Spontaneity is a thing of the past.

I can almost see heads nodding in agreement. YES! I do get tired of cooking. Yes! I'd love a night off. Yes! How do I sign up?

Step one: Leftovers are not for lunch. Or at least not all the time.  I know! I love the ease of serving reruns too.  And I promise that you can still do that, just in moderation.  When you have taken the time to cook a meal that a) your allergic person loves, or b) takes more time than you usually have, freeze any leftovers.  This can mean the one serving that escaped being devoured, or the three servings left because snacks were served too late.

I like to use quart size zipper bags.  I put a single serving of sauces, soups, or entrees in each bag, and gently press it flat while using the contents of the bag to press all of the air out.  I'm left with a vacuum sealed individual portion that stacks wonderfully in the freezer.  Label it with the contents and date and lay it in there to wait for you.

The reason for freezing in individual portions? Two.  First, if you throw the bag into a lunchbox, it is defrosted in time to warm gently and enjoy at lunchtime (for the older crowd).  Second? If you run screaming into the kitchen at just after meltdown o'clock and need to put a meal on the table for your allergic person you simply cut the baggie open and dump the contents into a large skillet and it heats before Barney even sings his first song.  You can do the same with multiple portions.  Because you freeze them in such thin layers, they heat/defrost quickly.  You can serve just as much as you need.  One portion for the kiddo while you have cereal, or two portions to share because Daddy is working late. Whatever.  You are not committed to a family sized meal.

Sometimes I actually plan to cook extra, so I can have enough to freeze.  Isn't that a crazy idea?  Rather than gamble with the chance of leftovers I just double the recipe.  If I'm already cooking it, it really isn't much extra work to just cook more of it. (Although, some days the kids foil that plan by just eating more of it!)

That, my dear, is the easy way to get a night where you don't have too cook. Just heat and eat.

For those of you with fabulous family and friends, that you love and trust... you can teach them to cook a safe meal or two.  Give them the recipe, specify which brands you use for the ingredients.  Teach them about cross contamination.  Decide whether they should cook in your kitchen or their own.  It's a lot of up front work, training someone to meet your comfort level.

But then? You can call at lunchtime and let them know how very sick you are and ask if they could cover dinner for you.  Or plan in advance one night a month where they will cook for you just because.  (Don't forget to offer to do the same for them! All parents like to skip cooking sometimes.)

One more option for you.  Restaurant.  Ask your support network for ideas on where you could eat.  Which places are known for working well with allergic customers?  Check out AllergyDining.com or  AllergyEats.com  for reviews from other allergic families.

And I think my next post will need to be tips on how to eat out successfully.  Because there are ways to increase your success and your comfort level when eating out.  After all, a night out of the kitchen doesn't count if it creates more stress than it saves.

Monday Menu Planning

Here it is Monday again. Already.  Somehow the weeks are flying by at a blinding pace, and right now I'm going to blame it on the hectic holiday season.  Because I am not getting older, and my perception has not been colored by viewing time through aged glasses.
Eventually I will again wow you with my witty remarks on allergy free living, and stun you with my amazing insight on current allergy wisdom.  Right now that's not happening.  Strictly stripped down post on what's on our plate this week.  Once I come up for some post-holiday, post-move air, then.... well. Then I'll likely have some other time stealing project to manage. Because that's how life works.  And I will find time to share my thoughts on it with you. Really.

Monday
Breakfast: carrot muffins, green tea
Lunch: cantaloupe, harvest potato saute with veggies, salad with pumpkin seeds and pomegranate
Dinner: turkey fajitas, corn cake, mandarin oranges

Tuesday
Breakfast: black bean and sweet potato saute, hot cider
Lunchbox: apples with sunbutter, carrots, smoothie, v8 fusion
Dinner: quinoa pasta with squash sauce and roasted fennel, broccoli, berries

Wednesday
Breakfast: cereal and oj
Lunchbox: ham and lettuce wrap, red pepper strips, smoothie, v8 fusion, terra chips
Dinner: crock pot ham and bean soup, cornbread, applesauce

Thursday
Breakfast: apple cranberry coffee cake
Lunchbox: leftover soup
Dinner: tomato basil shrimp over curried quinoa, corn salad, honeydew

Friday
Breakfast: zucchini muffins, berries
Lunchbox: apples with sunbutter
Dinner: turkey meatloaf, mashed potatoes, roasted beets with honey balsamic glaze, spiced peaches

Saturday
Breakfast: donuts (because I skipped them last week)
Lunch: leftovers
Dinner: lentil dahl, rice, peas

Sunday
Breakfast: sausage and super smoothies
Lunch: dunno
Dinner: Pizza night!

Monday Menu Planning

I apologize for leaving you all blowing in the breeze without a menu plan last week.  Between the upcoming holiday and a three day migraine, last week was largely unscripted at our house.  The only plan was to stay upright until the children were all tucked snug in their beds. I could post a summary of what I fed the family, but...well. That'd just be embarrassing.  Suffice it to say no one starved, and this week I'm making a plan to help keep us on track.  

Monday

Breakfast: Buckwheat Pancakes

Lunch: leftovers (ham, mashed potatoes, clementines)

Dinner: Quinoa pasta with spaghetti sauce and ground turkey, green beans, beets, applesauce

Tuesday

Breakfast: Apple Cranberry Crisp, Sausage balls

Lunch: sunbutter and jelly sandwiches, grapes, mixed veggies

Dinner: Squash soup, oven roasted cauliflower, watermelon, dinner rolls

Wednesday

Breakfast: Pumpkin cinnamon rolls

Lunch: sunbutter and jelly

Dinner: salmon, sugar snap peas, mango

Thursday

Breakfast: Baked sweet potatoes and breakfast millet

Lunch: dunno yet

Dinner: Pizza night!

Friday

Breakfast: Cereal

Lunch: veggie soup and grilled cheese

Dinner: Irish Cottage Pie

Saturday

Breakfast: hash browns with veggie saute

Lunch: Ham, oven roasted veggies, raspberry applesauce, gf pumpkin pie

Dinner: see lunch  (family gathering, all day grazing anticipated)

Sunday

Breakfast: Donuts

Lunch: leftovers

Dinner: veggie pot pie

Please note: I post a link to the original recipe whenever possible, but this does not show the modifications I make to each recipe.  Modify each recipe as you need in order to make it safe for your own dietary restrictions.  Enjoy the last week of the year!

Monday Menu Planning

Here it is, Monday again.  Goodness how the week flew by!  Happy to report that last week was much simpler at meal time with a plan in place.  Hope this week will prove to be the same.  Here is the weekly line up, with links where applicable. (Remember that these are the original recipes, and do not include the modifications I make to adapt to our families dietary restrictions.) No frills, just meals. Let's cook.

Monday
Breakfast: Oatmeal or Grits
Lunchbox: Lettuce/Ham wraps, carrot sticks, grapes
Dinner: Split pea soup w/hambone, cornbread, peaches

Tuesday
Breakfast: Cranberry Apple Crisp (yes, really!)
Lunchbox: sunbutter and apples, green beans with pumpkin seeds, raspberries, popcorn
Dinner: Chili Mac, peas

Wednesday
Breakfast: Baked sweet potatoes with cider millet
Lunchbox: sunbutter and apples, melon, peas, terra chips
Dinner: Vegetable Chili, flatbread

Thursday
Breakfast: Blueberry muffins
Lunchbox: veg chili
Dinner: Shrimp shish kebabs, corn salad, broccoli, blueberries

Friday
Breakfast: Sausage and oven roasted veggies
Lunchbox: ham/lettuce wrap, corn salad, grapes
Dinner: Mandarin pork, roasted cauliflower, carrot salad

Saturday
Breakfast: Pumpkin waffles
Lunch: leftovers
Dinner: spaghetti with meatballs, california veggies

Sunday
Breakfast: hash browns with sauteed veggies
Lunch: sunbutter and jelly on gf bread
Dinner: Veggie pot pie, salad w/cranberry dressing

Note: Unless I run out, all lunch boxes are packed with a v-8 fusion or 100% juice juice box, a smoothie, and fruit snacks.

Monday Menu Planning

Raise your hand if you frequently find yourself standing in the middle of the kitchen with every cupboard door open, blankly staring at the contents within as if a volunteer will miraculously hurl itself from the shelf and shout "Me! Pick Me! I would make a GREAT dinner!" C'mon now. No one is looking, you can put your hand up.

While I know that dinner needs to be prepared every night, it still seems to creep up on me until WHAMMO. It's witching hour, the little people are cranky and hungry, and I'm still trying to decide what to make.  

Honestly, though, staring into the cabinets waiting for inspiration to strike is far less perilous than googling dinner recipes. That is just a time warp guaranteed to end in a bowl of emergency cereal to hold the natives over until dinner is actually *made*.  I could recipe surf for hours.  And I have.

In an effort to return a small amount of sanity to my life, I have decided to embrace menu planning.  With this powerful tool I will eliminate the nightly debate, avoid dinner delays, feel less inclined to wine while the children whine.  Well, maybe we won't get that carried away. But knowing what to make for dinner really could alleviate some of the last minute decision making stress that happens here, so it's worth a try.

Going forth, I shall post my weekly meal plan here on Monday.  I hope it will help people to see that while I do avoid a lot of foods in my home, we still eat pretty typical fare.  And if nothing else, I'll have a much better grocery list for shopping on Wednesday!

I'll link to the original recipe when I can, but please understand that I modify most of them to meet our dietary needs.  You can cook along with me if you'd like.  

Monday

Breakfast: Pumpkin Pie (yes, really), hot tea or cider

Lunchbox: cubed ham, carrot sticks, grapes, V-8 fusion, fruit snacks, smoothie

Dinner: Spaghetti marinara over quinoa pasta, california mixed veggies, pineapple chunks, orange juice

Tuesday

Breakfast: cereal

Lunchbox: sliced apples with sunbutter, grapes, carrot sticks, zuchinni muffin, V-8 fusion

Dinner: Hearty potato soup, buttered bread, mandarin oranges, cranberry juice

Wednesday

Breakfast: sweet potato and black bean saute

Lunchbox: sunbutter and jelly on bread, mandarin oranges, smoothie, terra chips

Dinner: sauteed salmon with mango salsa, oven roasted beets, steamed broccoli, orange juice

Thursday

Breakfast: Pineapple coffee cake, hot tea or cider

Lunchbox: salmon salad, smoothie, fruit snacks, beets, grapes

Dinner: Pulled pork, oven roasted cauliflower, honey glazed carrots, pineapple chunks

Friday

Breakfast: breakfast quinoa with cranberries

Lunchbox: bratwurst, apple slices, carrot sticks, V-8 fusion, fruit snacks

Dinner: Irish Cottage Pie, grapes

Saturday

Breakfast: Pumpkin Donuts

Lunch: quinoa pasta with squash sauce and navy beans, peas

Dinner: Pumpkin and mushroom soup, flatbread

Sunday

Breakfast: Sauteed potatoes and vegetables, cantaloupe

Lunch: leftovers

Dinner: Baked orange roughy, green beans with pumpkin seeds, cherries

Granted, this may not be the most nutritious week we've had, but I tried to keep it easy this week.  Come back next week for more!

Attitude to Advocate

My allergic daughter recently underwent an upper GI scope, to check for EE among other things. The hope was that we would discover the reason for so many of her persistent tummy aches. Thankfully she does not show any signs of EE at this time, and we were able to rule quite a few maladies out.

One discovery that I did make that was quite startling is that the medical facility we used seemed inadequately prepared to care for my food allergic kiddo. There were mis-steps throughout our visit that added up to a picture of inadequate food allergy knowledge among the staff. My husband and I were surprised and upset by this, but we maintained our focus of getting my daughter calmly through her procedure.

Once home I had the ability to reflect upon our experience. Anger and frustration bubbled just under the surface. The things that could have happened played through my mind. Action needed to be taken. Determination to address the issues took hold.

My first step? To reach out to my fabulous food allergy support group. I sent out an email to the group, currently 150 families, to ask them to share their experiences with this facility and ask how they had addressed any issues. Before approaching the hospital, I wanted to understand how they had dealt with past complaints so that I could properly prepare myself. I was prepared to hear stories of families that had voiced their concerns and been ignored or dismissed, I was prepared to get angry and take my complaints past the hospital to the public eye. I was raring for a fight! Go!

My allergy support group didn't let me down. They sent their experiences, their stories of how food allergies were not properly accommodated. Yes! I knew it couldn't be just me. This problem really IS systemic.

The down side? When you have a child in the hospital the focus is on getting your child through whatever brought you there, not on tackling administrative issues. Very few, and I mean VERY few, of my fellow allergy parents had addressed their issue with the hospital.

The anger in me fizzled out, and the logic took over. There can be no attack on an unprepared administration. Obviously if they are unaware of the problems, they can not take steps to correct them. My new approach: bring these issues to the hospital and give them a chance to respond.

Step one: Write a letter. I included not only what had happened that concerned me, but offered to work together to find solutions. I included quotes from other allergic parents about their experiences to illustrate that this was not an isolated incident. I was very specific about the issues that were unacceptable, and very firm in requesting corrections, and very positive in offering to help. As this problem is bigger than one person, I sent my letter to...well... more than one person. Twelve, in fact. Anyone in administration who I thought would have an interest in correcting systemic problems.

My letter got a response. Yeah me! I was invited to a meeting at the hospital to discuss my experience and my ideas for improvement. Woot!

Really? I expected a combative mood at the meeting. I expected to be patronized, patted on the head, and told that they had their policy under control, thank you very much. By the way, sorry for your isolated experience. This is what I expected.

Preparation was key in my mind. The need to walk in with credibility, and the desire to stay focused on the issues at hand. First up? Put my recommendations in writing. I drafted a paper that focused on changes that could be made throughout the hospital to improve their ability to care for food allergic patients.

I printed FAAN's guideline on how to establish food allergy procedures in a hospital setting. (Which, by the way, is quite good.)

When I walked into that meeting I was dressed professionally, so as to be respectful of the professionals meeting with me and to be taken seriously by them. I sat down with a handout for each person in the meeting (and a few extras, just in case) that included my original letter to the hospital as well as my ideas for improvements. I handed each of them a copy of this, I put the FAAN publication out for them to scan, and I started by thanking them for meeting me.

The conversation was inquisitive, positive, and encouraging. Every person at the table was actually listening to me! Granted, I did note varying degrees of skepticism, but no defensiveness or hostility. The atmosphere in the room was of sincere interest in improving their processes, and genuine curiosity about my ideas. It was fabulous.

I have gotten several follow-up letters detailing changes that are being made based on the discussions at that meeting. I am impressed not only with the facility for being so open to making improvements based on customer feedback, but with myself. I am proud to have approached such a large institution with my requests in such an organized and professional manner. I am ecstatic to have impacted the experience of food allergic little people that will be staying there in such a positive way.

The lesson here? I was ready to be irate and demanding, which would likely have gotten me exactly nowhere. Stepping back I was able to approach with logic rather than emotion, suggest solutions and build an attitude of teamwork rather than merely point to problems and demand change. This situation could have been much different, but my attitude made a world of difference in the way I was received. Remember when you are advocating for your child to be respectful, come to the table with solutions, and focus on being a team player. Together, we can make a safer world for our food allergic children.