Book it

If you have school-age children, you're probably familiar with the BOOK IT program. It's a reading program through the schools where children earn prize for reading books each month. The prize... a coupon for a free Pizza Hut personal pan pizza. A great prize for kids who can eat pizza, but for kids with dairy allergies, it's anything but a prize.

Preston's class is doing Book it, and he's less than thrilled. He can't use the prize, and he feels left out- and I can't blame him! This is making him not want to participate in the program, something I'm torn about. Do I make him do it for the sake of reading and him be grouchy about the prize, or do we just not do it- it's not like we don't read tons of books anyway.

Today, I contacted Book It via email and told them exactly how I felt about their encentive. They need to have an alternative prize for children who can't have dairy- something that they can be excited about, too! I know they have a deal with Pizza Hut, but they should still find some other something for our kids. Here is Book It's contact page. Please take a few minutes to email them or call them to let them know that there needs to be an alternative. Our kids already have to go to school and feel different because they don't have the same treats or lunches as the rest of their friends, they don't need something else to make them feel different.

Chicken and Rice

I found this recipe in a cookbook, made it a few times, and just didn't love it. I was hungry for chicken and rice last week, so I decided to try again, and tweaked it to perfection (at least for my taste). It was delicious! Frying the chicken before adding it to the rice gives it so much more flavor, and the rice cooks up to such sticky softness. Ahhh. And I apologize for 2 recipes in a row with no pictures!

Chicken and Rice

boneless, skinless chicken breasts
flour
2 T. olive oil
1 1/2 c. white rice
2 1/3 c. water
1 c. rice milk
2 chicken bouillon cubes

1. Take desired amount of chicken breasts and dredge them in flour. Heat oil in skillet and fry until both sides are brown.
2. In a 9x13 baking dish, combine rice, water, milk and bouillon cubes. Tip! I take a small amount of the water and boil it in the microwave to dissolve the bouillon faster.
3. Top rice mixture with chicken, cover loosely with foil and bake at 350 for 55 minutes.

Enjoy!

Cinnamon Apples

Our scrappy little apple tree surprised us this year with apples for the very first time. They were small and the skins were spotty, but they were the tastiest apples I've ever had. They were green and very firm like a Granny Smith, but were sweet. I decided to make some cinnamon apples from them using my Crock Pot, which I absolutely love. If you like Cracker Barrel's fried apples, you'll enjoy these!

Cinnamon Apples:

6 Granny Smith apples
6 T. dairy-free margarine
2 T. flour
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. sugar
cinnamon

1. Peel and slice apples to desired thickness and place in crock pot. Cut margarine into small pieces over apples and add remaining ingredients. Cook on low 3 hours.

With the cinnamon, add as much or as little as you like.

Enjoy!

Apple Crisp

Fall is just around the corner. The air is cooler, leaves are starting to fall, and I refuse to put on another pair of shorts. Ha! As much as I LOVE to grill, it's always nice when the season changes and I can start making more warm comfort foods. Today was my Granny's birthday, so I decided to surprise her with an apple crisp, using her recipe. I also made us one while I was at it. Please note that the above picture is NOT my crisp, although I sure wish it was! Mine wasn't pretty enough to be picture-worthy, but I can tell you that there is only one more helping of it in the pan, and it was made this morning.

Apple Crisp

6-8 apples, peeled and sliced thickly
1/4 c. water
2 T. cinnamon

topping:
1 stick melted dairy-free margarine
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 c. flour

Slice apples and place in a deep baking dish. Mix water and cinnamon and pour over apples, stirring to coat. Mix topping ingredients and using your hands, crumble over the top of apples. Bake 1 hour at 350 or until golden brown.

Meatloaf

Photo courtesy of FoodNetwork

Kids are notorious for not liking meatloaf (mine included), but growing up, I loved meatloaf, as long as it was my mom's. In fact, I have never even tried any other meatloaf, nor no I ever plan to. I stick with what I know is good! What makes this meatloaf so good? It's the delightful glaze on top. It is sweet, sticky, and not at all ketchup-y, and it is nothing short of magnificent! Like a good frosting on a cake- it's the best part!

Meatloaf

2 pounds ground beef
2 eggs
1 cup oats
1/2 cup ketchup

Glaze
1/2 cup ketchup
3 T. brown sugar.

In a large bowl, mix meat, eggs, oats and ketchup until well combined. Place in loaf pan. Mix glaze ingredients together and pour over meat, covering well. Bake 1 hour until done.

And I can't tell you how many times I typed oars instead of oats. THAT would be lovely...

This recipe makes a lot, more than what our family of four will eat. I usually divide it between two loaf pans and freeze one (without glaze) and cook the other.

Enjoy!

Corn Fritters

Last summer when we vacationed in Gatlinburg, TN, we had a fantastic dinner at The Old Mill in Pigeon Forge. The food there was nothing short of fantastic! It was served family-style, and along with an enormous main entree, you got salad, soup, mashed potatoes, green beans, desert, and the best of all... corn fritters. They were like little fried balls of heaven and they were just fantastic! A while back, I went to their site looking to buy the mix and found something even better... the recipe! This allowed me to tweak it to fit our needs and to be dairy-free.

I made these tonight and they were just as fabulously delicious as I remember! Granted, they weren't as pretty, but they were absolutely delish! Preston came into the kitchen as I was cooking them because he thought he smelled waffles. When he saw them, his face lit up. It took him only seconds to realize that these were a cross between his two favorite foods- doughnuts and corn bread! He loved them until we sat down to dinner and he realized that there was actual corn in them... Darn! He and I did eat several before dinner even began. They are that good! I remember they were still super yummy the next day last summer, so I plan to enjoy them again for lunch tomorrow. Mmmmmmmmm!

Corn Fritters!
1/2 cup bread flour
1/2 cup self-rising flour
2 tbs rice milk
1 tbs melted dairy-free margarine
1/4 cup frozen cream style corn
2 tbs sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. baking powder

Mix all ingredients and drop into hot grease by spoonful. Fry to a golden brown.

Now, copying this recipe directly from their site, I realized that I wrote it down wrong and instead of a 1/4 c. of creamed corn, I used a whole can! No wonder it was runny batter! They still turned out deliciously!

Refrigerator Pickles

These are a summer staple. I love cucumbers and all different ways to fix them. This is my Granny's recipe that I grew up with. Back when I was pregnant with Preston, I craved anything with vinegar- mustard, pickles, and well, vinegar. Being summer, there was an abundance of cukes at Granny and Pa's, so they shipped me home with a ton of them. I was in full-on nesting at that time and felt an overwhelming urge to stock our freezer and pantry. So I had this wild idea to can pickles. I had never canned before, and had no canning supplies. I made them up (a whole gob of them), and canned them in a large cooking pot. They looked good, and they all sealed, but I was way too terrified to ever eat any of them. They sat until we moved 4 years later before I dumped them. Food poisoning scared me to death- and that was before I got salmonella! Anyway...

Refrigerator pickles

Cucumbers sliced thinly
salt
1 c. sugar
1 c. water
1/2 c. vinegar

Boil together sugar, water and vinegar until sugar dissolves. Set aside until cool.

Slice cucumbers and put into a large bowl of water with a generous amount of salt (I just dump until I think it's enough) and let sit for 1 hour. Drain and pour the "brine" over the cukes. Refrigerate a few hours before eating, but they're best if they wait overnight.