The 40 minute food dash

After returning from another out of town trip recently I was struck with just how far I had come from where we started this journey nearly 2 years ago. I have an out of town routine now that is like a well oiled machine. I no longer fear it and in fact it's something I have started to look forward to now because it means I get a chance to visit friends and other parents and isn't as taxing as it used to be. However, visiting with people always brings food and the questions about what Jackson is eating, what's that cute box and stuff and wow that's a lot of vitamins. I try not to be the crazy nutrition lady, I really do, but it's hard to go unnoticed when I have to nearly tackle my kid at a party because someone just handed him a biscuit to eat without checking with me first. True story. I know how I sound, and I try not to make the diet sound so hard but it's all just so foreign to people that it makes all this gluten free cooking sound so scary and time consuming. I see the looks in people's eyes when they ask me questions and I start talking...LOL...I see it I really do. All I have to say about this is that it's all not really that hard and it sounds much worse than it is. . Trust me we used to do a lot of pre-made foods for the kid and ourselves so this all was quite a switch for us too but we started small and worked our way up. When that new routine became our new norm and we felt comfortable then we tried something new. That brings us up to where we are today. If you had told me 2 years ago what I am capable of now I would not have been able to see myself doing it but I am, and you can too. If you plan and simplify things for yourself then you can make the most of your time and the diet will become your new norm too.

I have perfected a few simple dishes that Jackson loves and I make them often. It works out best for me to just make him a dish for dinner one night and serve it only to him and we eat leftovers. Then I bag everything up and put in in the freezer or fridge for a quick serve later. This is a good way to keep your freezer stocked with things you can just microwave later without the extra effort. If you are the type of person, like me, who has a hard time setting aside a big chunk of scheduled time once a week to cook. Then this is a good option for you. That is so not me but every once in a while I get motivated and do just that.

This past week I was going out of town so I decided to make some easy serve foods to take with us since my supply was low. I decided to cook a bunch at once. Now these are things I have made many times and it's not a race but I decided to time myself and see how long it took me to make the stuff I was planning to make. Turns out only 40 minutes, and I was taking the picture at 44 minutes. Check out what I made:

Almond milk, cinnamon spread (made from the pulp leftover while making the milk), Chocolate protein powder pancakes, sausage balls, rice penne pasta, spaghetti sauce (made with blended in fresh green beans..garlic hides so much). That's a hot breakfast for two weeks at least, and a bunch of other stuff for lunches and snack times too. All accomplished in 40 minutes.

The trick for me are the time savers that I have invested in. Such as an electric pancake griddle, blender, and portioners (mini ice cream scoops available at kitchen supply stores) of all different sizes. These little guys are major work horses in my kitchen and save me tons of time. I use them to make the sausage balls quickly and evenly. It only takes me like a couple minutes to ball up 2 pounds of sausage and toss it in the oven (350 f0r 30 minutes). The pancakes are all the same size because I use a ice cream scooper to portion them out and it makes it go faster as well. I try to modify recipes to save time just as I do when I substitute out the ingredients. This combined with time savers like a stand mixer and bread maker make going GFCFSF much easier.

So my point is just that if you are thinking about trying the GFCFSF diet for your kiddo just take it easy, don't let other parents' levels of involvement or boasting (or my blogging for that matter)intimidate you into thinking you could never do that or that you could never find the time. It looks a lot harder that it really is and it takes real courage to go down this road but you'll be happy you did. It's like a picnic once you get here.

I'll post the recipes for cinnamon spread and the pasta sauce to this blog too for any interested, both are a great way to get veggies into your kid.