Dairy-Free

Okay I decided to put my daughter on a Dairy-Free diet as well as keeping her on Non GMO.  It's been a week and she is having more regular bowel movements.  When I made the switch to Non GMO it worked really well for a month and then she started not being as regular.  Her bowel movements were now softer but she wasn't going on a consistent basis nor was she having normal size bowel movements.

This week has been an extremely hard week for my milk, cheese, and pizza loving girl.  Also, there were a number of snack crackers that were GMO Free, but contained milk so we avoided those.  My odd daughter also doesn't like chocolate and didn't like plain or vanilla soy or almond milk.  We finally found a mixed berry flavor made by Silk that she is drinking.

I've gotten though enough recipes to get me though this week, now I'm looking for more.  Last night I came across Vegan recipes and found that they are dairy free, egg free, and most of them stress to buy organic.  I'm thinking I'll have to try some of these types a recipes and see which ones go over well.

Homemade Bisquick

Here is a recipe for Pancakes or Biscuits that you can use with Non GMO and Dairy Free ingredients.  I made them yesterday and they were a huge hit.  The girls asked for them not only for breakfast but also wanted them for afternoon snack!  After breakfast I let the leftovers cool and then put them in a ziplock bag and froze them.  Now I have a quick breakfast in the freezer that I can zap in the microwave to reheat.

Homemade Bisquick

10 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
4 tsp. salt
2 cups shortening, that does not require refrigeration

Combine all ingredients except shortening in a large bowl.  With pastry blender cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Store in airtight container, up to 6 months.  Use as you would any other baking mix.  Makes 12 1/2 cups.

Pancakes
2 cups mix
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk

Combine all ingredients.  Cook as you normally would.

Biscuits:
2 cups mix
1/2 cup milk

Mix together, turn onto floured board.  Knead 10 to 12 times.  Bake at 450 degrees for 12 minutes.  Makes 10 biscuits.

Spelt Bread

Well, I've been making spelt bread these last few months and it taste pretty much like homemade bread made with bread flour.  It doesn't take as long to rise or need as much kneading as regular bread.  Also, spelt is easier to digest with is helping with my daughters digestive problems.  I've been replacing all purpose flour with spelt flour and have notice a difference in my daughters bowel movements.  This is a simple enough recipe and easy enough to find non-GMO ingredients. 

So here's the recipe:

Spelt Bread - 2 loaves

4 1/2 tsp Active Dry Yeast

1 Tbsp White Cane Sugar

7 Cups Spelt Flour (mine only took 6 cups)

2 Cups warm water (110 degrees)

1 Tbsp Salt

1. Stir yeast and sugar, gradually adding warm water.  Add about half the flour and the salt and beat well.  Add the remainder of the flour radually to acquire a stiff dough.  It may require more or less than 7 cups.

2. Knead 5 to 10 minutes until smooth and elastic.

3. Put dough into a buttered bowl and turn once to butter surface. Cover with a towel and let rise until doubled, keeping it between 80 and 90 degrees F during the entire time of rising, about 2 hours.

4. Punch down dough with your ifst and divide into two parts.  Knead and shape into 2 loaves and place into greased loaf pans, Cover again and allow dough to rise to tope of pans.

5 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 

6. Bake at 350 degrees F for 50 minutes.

My 3 year old did not like this bread at first but has gotten used to eating it and now it's the only bread we have in our house.

The Non GMO Change

First of all I want to share why I have started the process of moving to Non GMO foods for my daughter.  I live in Dubuque, IA with my husband and two daughters, which are 4 years old and 3 years old.  My eldest daughter is 4 and has had constipation problems for 2 years.  I have put her on probiotics and that worked for about a year as well as helped build her immune system.  Then when that wasn't working I was in search of what to do next.  I was told to try laxatives, I'm sorry but I do not feel that is a way to treat a problem for the long term.  I was trying to find a way to change her diet.  I gave her more fiber, put flax seed in her oatmeal, and even gave her up to 3 Fiber One bars a day and she could still go 5 to 8 days without a bowel movement.  I was getting desperate, then my aunt told me she heard on the radio that switching to Non GMO had helped people with constipation issues in as little as 2 weeks.  So I was all for it.

I was looking up what brands carried Non GMO and got the list of 'hidden ingredients' that could have GMO's in them.  I went to the local health food store and after and hour in the store I walked out with 2 items!  So I decided to see if by chance Wal-Mart had any items, I found 4 fairly quickly.  But lets face it a total of 6 food items were not enough to feed by daughter.  Not to mention 3 of them were juices.  Did I get frustrated and give up?  No, I had planned on going to Madison, WI the following week to take the girls to the zoo so after the zoo I made plans to stop at Whole Foods because that was a store that was suggested to me and carried many items that are labeled Non GMO.  I was very happy with what I found that Sunday afternoon 3 weeks ago.  Now I wasn't able to get everything I would have hoped for since I had a trunk filled with a stroller, cooler, and extra clothes for the girls.  I was only able to purchase a few bags of different items and make the 1 1/2 hour trip back home hoping this would help alleviate my daughters’ constipation problems.  I only had snacks and had planned to start that afternoon by only offering her Non GMO snacks I had just purchased and Non GMO Juice.  Guess what within 24 hours my daughter had a bowel movement!  But wait, it didn't stop there.  The rest of the week (remember I only replaced her snacks with Non GMO items at this time) she had one regular bowel movement every day!

Now in that first week after I had seen the changes and my daughter was no longer sitting on the toilet every 15 mins with tears down her face saying her butt hurt and she didn't want to poop.  She wasn't crying anymore.  That was enjoy to tell me I needed to find more items that were Non GMO even if I needed to order them for make a trip to Madison every so often.  I have found more and more items as I get more familiar with the brands and read labels as I go.  I was surprised to find some of the items at one of the Hy-Vee’s in town, Wal-Mart, Target, and I was just made aware that Kmart offers a health food section that I'm going to have to try out.

The first 3 things she kept asking for the 1st week I changed her snacks to Non GMO is Pizza, Chicken Nuggets, and Peanut Butter Sandwiches.  I found a bread recipe and all the ingredients I needed to make Non GMO bread and bought Non GMO peanut butter at Whole Foods.  My next step was to find Pizza and Chicken Nuggets.  I orders some online, then later found Amy's brand Pizza's in one of the stores I've started going to, and found an ad for Ian's breaded chicken nuggets in Freeport, IL that I might be going to check out in the next month or two.

Now, everyone's also been asking if I've noticed a large price difference.  Well in some things yes, in others no.  But you also have to understand I am still searching for products my daughter likes and will eat and then once I find some that I know she loves and will eat that are offered at stores out of town I will be able to compile a list to ask stores in Dubuque, IA to offer.