Simple Pizza

Summer is here and I am in need of simple recipes for my girls to eat at lunch time. They would be perfectly happy consuming spaghetti every single day throughout the summer - but some variety is needed before they burn completely out. So, Doodle and I invented a super simple way to make 'pizza' for her.

Simple Pizza:

1 Gluten free Tortilla
1-2 Tbsp Pizza Quick Pizza Sauce
10 slices pepperoni
Handful of Daiya Mozzarella & Cheddar cheese each

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place Tortilla on a Pizza cooking sheet and top with Pizza Quick sauce, pepperoni, and Daiya cheese.
3. Place in oven and cook until cheese is melted - 5 to 8 minutes. Remove from oven and slice into 4 pieces. A perfect simple pizza is born!

Apparently Dad tried to make this recipe while I was traveling and ended up using regular tortilla's rather than the gluten free variety. The good news is that Doodle didn't have a reaction! She's not as sensitive to gluten as she is to dairy and eggs - but we keep it out of her diet just to be on the safe side.

Doodle informed me today that she would rather be in school because summer is boring! How refreshing since she was begging for school to end just one month ago. Glad to know she will be happy to start early mornings, homework, and long days of learning all over again in the first grade.

I've been very impressed with how Doodle has learned to read and write. She has written her kindergarten teacher several letters now, all by herself. She diligently sounds out the words and writes them in the letter - it's so adorable. Her wonderful teacher is great about responding and sending a note back. Wish she was coming with us to first grade!

A long break

I've been re-miss in posting on my blog - mostly because I haven't been inspired to create new recipes and Doodle is doing so well. First of all, let me start with a progress updated. Doodle completed her 7 year old assessment at school and the results were what I had hoped to achieve by the time she left 2nd grade - so a whole 2 years early she tested out of the special ed program! She is by no means a genius, but she does test equivalent to her peers. Main concern, of course, is her ability to pay attention. We're still working on that - but she will no longer need any adaptive services next year - all of our hard work, consistency, and dedication has paid off!

Second, an egg update. Back in April, I wrote that we had taken Doodle off of eggs and tomatoes to see if it would help her pay better attention. It didn't. So, we added eggs and tomatoes back into her diet, one at a time. Funny thing happened, she started complaining about stomach aches. Then one morning I fed her eggs before school and I received a call from the nurse that she was in her office puking and had diarrhea - exactly the same thing that happens when she has milk. Guess eggs are an issue after all - so we are now egg free permanently. Tomatoes don't seem to cause the same issue. We will try corn next - it may also be a culprit to her lack of ability to pay attention.

Finally, to our delight today at the grocery store, we found Gluten Free Rice Krispies from Kellogg's! We've been waiting for Kellogg's to get on the Gluten Free band wagon and today was the day our store stocked their shelves! I purchased 2 boxes and rushed home to make one box into Gluten Free Dairy Free Rice Krispy treats - they were delicious! Doodle was so happy, I think she gobbled up 3 bars right away. So happy she can experience these simple joys once again -- and they taste exactly like the regular Rice Krispies. Thank you Kellogg's! You've made on little girl very happy.

One Week Without Eggs

It's probably completely coincidental, but two amazing things happened this week, the first week Doodle has been egg free.

1.  Doodle's teacher sent home a note on Friday stating that Doodle was initiating conversation at school and had asked several kids to play with her. During her conferences, her teacher expressed concern that Doodle would play near other kids, but she hadn't ever seen her initiate conversation. 
2. Usually getting Doodle to clean up anything takes a herculean effort with lots of reminders to finish her task. Last night, I asked Doodle to pick up her room before bed, then left for a few minutes. Upon my return, her entire room was spotless! Who was this child?

Is this due to the removal of eggs? Time will tell. We're trying it out for the next 5 weeks to see if any positive behavior changes result - specifically her ability to focus at school. Stay tuned to find out the results.

By the way, I made my first batch of egg-free brownies last night - they were fabulous! I found the recipe from the Gluten Free Goddess here. I'll have to try them as cookies next time around.

Residual Autism

We had conferences for Doodle this week with her Kindergarten teacher. Doodle is in the midst of being tested through the school to see if she continues to qualify for special education. We will have that update in another month, but I wanted to see how she was doing in the classroom, prior to getting the test results back. Doodle has just the nicest, kindest, sweetest Kindergarten teacher you can imagine. She is very loving and patient - at least as far as I can see. I was very impressed with how far Doodle has come, as was her teacher. Doodle keeps up with her class academically and has made terrific progress in both reading and math. We just need to work on forming numbers correctly and in the right order all of the time.

One area of concern continues to be her ability to pay attention. Her teacher expressed concern again about being easily distracted. She can stay on task during an assignment at her table, but has difficulty focusing when doing other things like tying her shoes or getting ready to go outside for recess. She also mentioned that Doodle has a hard time making eye contact. She will initially look you in the eye, but turns away quickly. She also has difficulty approaching someone to play with her. She will play near other kids and wait for them to address her. I'm calling this residual autism. Once the kids notice her, they will invite her to play, but she rarely asks other children at school to play with her. It's hard for me to see this, as she constantly is asking other children in the neighborhood to play with her. She's best friends with our neighbor's daughter and they are constantly running between the two houses. I'm thinking she takes a long time to warm up to kids, but once she does, she is comfortable asking kids to play with her. Hopefully she will learn to overcome this trait.

As a result of the conferences, my husband and I have decided to try to eliminate more from her diet. Seems daunting to eliminate even more than dairy and gluten. I recently read an article where the researchers found that diet is equally effective in treating ADHD as medication.  The researches had children follow the Restricted Elimination Diet where they eliminated milk, gluten, eggs, and tomatoes from the children's diet. Since we are already gluten and dairy free, we've decided to eliminate eggs and tomatoes. Just like when we eliminated milk and gluten, I didn't really realize how often we use eggs and tomatoes. Eggs, in fact, are a staple in our house and it won't be easy finding a substitute for our morning breakfast routine. If you have any tips, let me know - I'm sure I will be fumbling around with this diet change for the next few weeks until we get it right.

Pizza Quesadilla's

A few weeks ago we were given some gluten free products to sample. I'm normally skeptical, as most commercial gluten free products don't compare to our own homemade versions. However, this time we were given some gluten free tortilla's from French Meadow Bakery in Minneapolis to try from a friend. Doodle was so excited to try them as Quesadilla's with her Daiya dairy free cheese. She has been hooked ever since!  The other day she took it upon herself to make her Quesadilla's while her dad was in another room. She pulled the tortilla's out of the freezer, added her dairy free cheese, and topped the whole thing with pepperoni. Then she hunted down her dad to cook the whole thing on the stove top. Their super easy to make and Doodle LOVES them.  The tortilla's are soft and taste just like the regular gluten filled version. I'm going to have to pick some up next time I'm in the Minneapolis area.

Pizza Quesadilla's

2 Gluten Free Tortilla's
1/4 Cup Daiya Dairy Free Cheese
6-10 slices pepperoni
Dairy free butter or Olive Oil

1. On one of the tortilla's spread the dairy free cheese and pepperoni. Top with the second tortilla.
2. Heat frying pan and butter or olive oil over medium high heat. Place tortilla's in pan and let fry for 1-2 minutes or until slightly brown.
3. With a spatula, flip the tortilla's and brown the other side. Remove and enjoy!

If you haven't tried French Meadow Bakery gluten free products - I encourage you to do so. They are delicious! Become a fan on Facebook, too...It's wonderful to have great gluten free food, so nearby. A rare find!

Great Bread Recipe

Finding a decent Gluten Free bread is like finding a needle in a hay stack....elusive! Most of the bread found in the local store tastes terrible and crumbles when you try to eat it. We used to buy Doodle GF hamburger buns for when we were grilling out, but she would inevitably just pick the hamburger off the bun and eat it plain. What a waste of $5.00! So, we had completely given up on bread in our house, until a few weeks ago. I tried a recipe from a new blogger that I am following and the bread was delicious - I even liked it and I'm not Gluten Free. It was simple to make and didn't take much time at all.

The Simply Sugar and Gluten Free blog is by Amy Green and I have to say I love her story! Have a look at her website, try her new cookbook, and definitely whip up a loaf of this tasty bread. Just tonight I made Doodle a grilled cheese sandwich from this bread and she gobbled it up.  Pair the sandwich with some Kettle Cuisine Gluten Free Chicken Noodle Soup, and you've got yourself a hearty lunch.

Dairy Free Grilled Cheese Sandwich

2 slices Perfect GF bread
2 tsp Dairy Free Butter
Handful Daiya Cheddar Style Cheese Shreds

1. Heat skillet on medium high stove top.
2. Spread butter on one side of each piece of bread.  On the non-buttered side of one slice of bread, place Daiya Cheddar Cheese.
3. Place the non-buttered side of the second slice of bread on top of the cheese.
4. Place butter side down on skillet and fry until golden brown. Turn over sandwich with spatula and fry the second side until golden brown and cheese is melted in middle.
5. Serve with soup and enjoy!


I hope to try out some of Amy's desserts soon - I love that she doesn't use sugar in her baking! Something we try to avoid in this house as well, because Doodle is addicted to sugar and it makes her quite cranky if she has too much of it. Tonight we made a new version of gluten free oatmeal cookies which I will post soon as well as an updated version of sugar cookies with added protein.  In the mean time - hope you are enjoying some spring weather! We had a nice reprieve this week and most of the snow melted. I'm, however, avoiding the blizzard that is currently raging outside and preparing for another late start of school tomorrow morning. Just a few more weeks until spring officially starts - I can't wait!

Chocolate Chip Cookies - Remake

This week we have seen the best and worst of winter - temperatures ranging from 30 degrees above zero to 30 degrees below zero. I like to call January and February in Minnesota the dark days of winter. I'm hopeful that the Ground Hog was correct in its prediction and we will truly see an early spring, because I've had just about enough of winter!

Being cooped up this week, as school was canceled twice, I had the opportunity to remodel my chocolate chip cookies. I'm always looking for new ways to add protein into any dessert that I make for Doodle. She gets super cranky if she has too much sugar (I'm talking colossal meltdowns!) and not enough protein. So, during the hiatus from school, I made chocolate chip cookies and incorporated a new flour I discovered at Trader Joe's: Peanut Flour. One serving has 16 grams of protein - yes 16 grams!   Plus, it doesn't alter the taste of the cookies, so Doodle doesn't know the difference.

Chocolate Chip Cookies - Remake

1 1/3 Cup Sweet Rice Flour
1 Cup Peanut Flour
1 Cup Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Gluten Free Flour
2 tsp Xanthan Gum
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 Cup Shortening
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Light Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Agave Nectar
1 T Vanilla
2 Large Eggs
1/2 Package Dairy Free Chocolate Chips (I use Ghiradelli Semi Sweet)

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine Flours, Baking Soda, and Xanthan Gum in a small bowl. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl combine Shortening, Sugar, Brown Sugar, Vanilla and Eggs. Cream together on high speed.
4. Add to mixture dry ingredients and mix on high speed. With a spatula, stir in chocolate chips. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.
5. Prepare a baking sheet with non-stick spray. Drop cookies by the spoonful onto baking sheet and bake for 9 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on baking sheet for 1 minute. Remove cookies from pan and place on cooling rack.

This recipe makes about 3 dozen cookies. Normally, this will last in our house for 2 weeks, but I couldn't keep these cookies around for more than 4 days. Doodle's sister had a sleepover with a friend Friday night, and the two girls cleaned me out of these cookies! So, I found myself whipping up another batch today while I wait for the Super Bowl to start. They will make a great treat after we all enjoy some GF DF pizza and watch the big game.