Chicken Thighs in a French Onion Sauce

EJ loves onions. He stands next to me, stealing raw slices, as I'm chopping them. No joke. So this meal is a big hit for him while I'm prepping and when it finally hits the table.

I came across the recipe and decide to modify it and make it safe for my food allergy family. It does take some time to pull together, so it's definitely a weekend meal. But it's worth the work.....plan on everything taking 2 hours.  I like to serve it with a simple green salad and a Schar Gluten Free Baguette.

Ingredients:
3 tbsp or vegan butter or olive oil
2 lbs sliced onions
2-3 chopped garlic
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
2 cups chicken stock, divided
1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb boneless-skinless chicken thighs, dried, seasoned with salt and pepper
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp dijon mustard
Chopped parsley for garnish
Optional:
1 cup grated gruyere cheese

Equipment Needed:
Large oven-safe pan with lid (or cover with foil)
Cheese grater
Foil

Let's Cook!
Heat oven to 350 degrees
1. In a large pan, melt vegan butter or warm oil over medium heat
2. Add sliced onions, stirring occasionally until golden brown (about 30-45 minutes)

3. Stir in garlic and thyme until fragrant, 1 minute
4. Add 1 cup of the chicken stock, bring to boil, simmer 5 minutes
     Chicken cooked in new pan
5. In another pan, heat 1 tbsp of olive over medium-high heat
6. Sear chicken thighs for 3 minutes per side, set aside 
     Return attention to original pan
7. Add remained 1 cup of chicken stock to the onion sauce mixture
8. Stir in balsamic vinegar and mustard
9. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, simmer until sauce is reduced to half, 5-10 minutes
10. Place the chicken in the onion sauce, cover pan with lid or foil
11. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until chicken is cooked through
12. Remove pan from oven
This can be the last step, if you are dairy free.

This is EJ's giant bowl!

13. Sprinkle with cheese and broil 2-3 minutes, until cheese is melted
14. Garnish with parsley

Serve!

Contains: Optional milk (cheese topping), mustard

Recipe inspiration: http://www.closetcooking.com/2015/04/french-onion-chicken.html

Apple Pie Crumble | VEGAN | GLUTEN FREE

One of the hardest parts of the holidays, making sure we have a safe dessert for EJ! Imagine being a kid and watching everyone else enjoying an amazing piece of pie....and you can't have any. I've purchased all the frozen safe versions and they are just ok. Nothing beats a nice slice of FRESH homemade pie.

With a little trial and error, Mission Accomplished! Even the non-allergy family members were going in for seconds. Truth be told, nothing beats the real thing but this a nice runner up.

Ingredients: 
Wholly Wholesome Gluten Free Pie Shell (found at Sprouts in frozen section)

Filling: 
4-5 medium Granny-Smith apples: peel, core and slice
2 tbsp vegan dairy-free butter (I used Earth Balance)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 to 1/3 cup of sugar (to taste)
3 tbsp water
1 tbsp cornstarch + 1 tbsp water (make a slurry)

Crumble Topping:
1/2 cup of gluten-free all-purpose flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)
1/2 cup of gluten-free quick cooking rolled oats (I used Bob's Red Mill)
1/2 cup of firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup of vegan butter (I used Earth Balance)
1/4 cup of vegetable shortening (I used Spectrum)

Equipment Needed:
Medium sized mixing bowl
Sauce pot
Baking sheet
Foil

Let's Cook! 
Heat oven to 375 degrees
1. Melt vegan butter and cinnamon over medium heat
2. Stir in apples, sugar and water
3. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally for 4-6 minutes or until lightly softened
4. Remove pie shell from freezer and put it on a baking sheet
5. Lightly poke the shell with a fork (as stated on the shell directions)
6. Stir the corn starch slurry to the apple mixture
7. Continue to cook until for about 1 minute until bubbly the mixture is thickened
8. Let the apple filling slightly cool while you prepare the crumble
9. In medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, oats, sugar, cinnamon and salt
10. Cut the vegan butter and shortening into the mixture until is resembles coarse crumbles
11. Pour the apple filling into the pie shell
12. Sprinkle the crumble evenly over the pie filling

13. Cover the edges of the pie crust with foil to avoid scorching (as started on shell directions)

14. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes or until juices are bubbly and topping is golden brown
15. Cool slightly

Serve! 

Contains: corn (cornstarch), soy (vegan butter), palm fruit (sustainably sourced shortening)

Chicken, Mushroom, Carrot, and Potato Soup

It's that time of year.....cold season! And when one kid gets sick, the whole house gets sick. Time for soup. Luckily my kids love soup! Homemade soup always tastes better than store bought and you can control what goes into it. With food allergies, knowing exactly what's in your food is mandatory.

Ingredients:
1 package chicken thighs or breast: cut into pieces
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp granulated garlic
1 yellow onion: halved and thinly sliced
1/2 lb of mushrooms: halved and sliced
1/2 cup of wine (sub water if needed)
2 large carrots: peeled and sliced
4-5 medium red potatoes: diced into 1" squares
2 cups of chicken broth or stock
2 cups of water
2 tbsp cornstarch: make a slurry by adding 1 tbsp of water
Fresh thyme and parsley: coarsely chopped
Olive oil, salt and pepper

Equipment needed:
Cast iron dutch oven or large pot with a lid

Let's cook!
1. Dry the chicken pieces with a towel and then season with the paprika, garlic and salt and pepper to taste.
2. Heat pot over medium-high, warming 1-2 tbsps of olive oil until hot
3. Add the chicken and cook 2-3 per side, until lightly seared but not cooked through
4. Transfer the chicken to a plate.
If the pan is dry add 1-2 tsps of oil
5. Add the onion to the pot and cook until it begins to soften, 2 minutes
6. Stir in the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper ,cook until the juices start to release, 4 minutes
7. Slowly pour in the wine, deglazing the pan and scraping up any brown bits from the pan, 30 seconds
8. Add the carrots and potatoes to the pot, stir, and cover for 4-5 minutes, occasionally stirring
9. Pour in equal amounts of chicken stock and water until everything is submerged
10. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, return chicken to the pot, cover
11. Cook, stir occasionally until chicken is cooked through and vegetables are tender, 12-15 minutes
12. Remove from heat and stir in herbs, season with salt and pepper

Serve! 

Contains: corn (cornstarch) 

I served the soup with hot bread: https://www.schaer.com/en-us/p/baguette

Recipe inspiration: https://sunbasket.com/recipe/braised-chicken-with-carrots-potatoes-and-thyme 

Do not feed the animals

It's pretty common that you see this sign in parks and zoos. You take notice and hopefully don't feed the animals anything. Maybe the animals are on a special diet, they don't want them being overfed, fed the wrong food....either way, don't feed the animals. It's clearly stated, you follow the rules.

Now there are some rules that aren't posted but should be common sense. DON'T FEED KIDS YOU DON'T KNOW. Outside of food allergies and special diets, you are teaching the kid to accept candy from strangers!!

As parents, we try and teach our children to be safe. Look both ways before crossing the street, hold my hand, don't leave the park with anyone but Mommy, watch where you're going, don't take food from strangers. I don't care how cute you think my kids is, how my kid is looking at you while you're eating (believe me, they are well fed) or even if my kid asks you for food......DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS.

Things you should do as a parent; find and ask the kids parent, tell the kid to go get their parent, just say no....be a responsible adult.

Teaching a child that it's ok to accept something from a stranger is wrong. No matter how many times I can tell my kids, don't take food or candy from a stranger....it's CANDY! So as responsible adults, we should teach kids to ask their parent first. So when someone tells them, "you don't have to ask your mommy," their sensors will go off!! I want to empower my kids to make the right decisions but it does take a village of people who respect the rules.

DON'T FEED THE ANIMALS.

You do too much!

"You do too much with those kids!" I hear that a lot. Yes, I'm exhausted and tired but it's all worth it. No, it's not just for the smiles on their faces. Or even just to wear them out. 

Until I had EJ, I worked full-time. I remember sitting in the office wishing I could be the one spending the day with Sophia. When we moved to the Silicon Valley, I got that opportunity. I'm taking full advantage of being able to spend my days with them. We are creating memories. They'll be able to look back at pictures and see all the fun things we did together. One day, I may not be able to stay home. And the last thing I want to be doing is sitting back in an office saying, "Shoulda, woulda, coulda when I wasn't working." 

We made a list of places we wanted to explore and we are crossing them off our list. It's as much for me as it is for them. 

And have you ever stayed in the house with 2 kids all day long? How does the house look at the end of the day??? A DISASTER! Every single toy is thrown across the floor, the house is tee-peed with toilet paper, dishes piled up in the sink and anything you thought you'd get done.....still sitting there. We leave the house in order to keep it IN ORDER. I'd rather kill myself being out of the house doing something rather than have 2 kids bouncing off the walls and cleaning all day! 

The Quiet Dinner

With 2 kids a quiet dinner is rare. Most nights consist of me shoveling the food down my throat in a race to finish eating before the kids. They usually have a 5 minute advantage on me! Basically leaving me 2 minutes and 43 seconds to consume as much food as I can before a plate goes flying to the floor. I've become a winning marathon eating champion with only a few losses under my belt. With quick reflexes, I've been able to add a few saves to my title too! Never knew I could simultaneously shovel food with one hand and quickly grab a flying plate with the other. If this was an olympic sport, I'd be on the team for sure.

On Sunday, I cooked mussels in a white wine sauce. I cooked the kids their own dinner prior to ours, not because the kids wouldn't like it, but because I didn't want to share. AND we got the kids down before we sat down to eat. Just the two of us were sitting there, it was so quiet and calm. I was slowly eating and enjoying my meal. By enjoying I mean being able to actually chew my food rather than swallow it whole. Such a treat!

As much as it was an enjoyable treat to have a quiet dinner, I realized that it was only nice because of the daily chaos. The craziness, crying, screaming, fighting, running and flying plates....with all that drama I am able to appreciate the quiet moments. It made me love my daily chaos a little bit more. Because in that chaos you discover smiles, laughing, dancing, learning and teaching.

No it wasn't a nice, fancy dinner out. We don't get to do that very often. It was just a moment at the table with my hubby enjoying a delicious meal. Some couples without kids have that every evening. It made me think. Sure it was nice but I did pick the right path for me. I wouldn't feel complete without my kids. It's a rough, bumpy path filled with gallons of coffee and wine.....but it's my perfect chaos.

Boxed Dinner for 2

I've always loved finding new recipes, shopping for ingredients and cooking. Now with 2 kids, that's been challenging....to say the least. My recipe rotation has gotten B-O-R-I-N-G due to the lack of newness. And with the added stress of EJ's allergies, finding new recipes for the whole family is nearly impossible. Find me something delicious that doesn't include Wheat, Milk, Eggs, Peanuts or Tree-nuts....and that also doesn't include his other possible allergens; soy, mustard and peas. And while you're trying to find that recipe, imagine 2 screaming children behind you.....yeah. Oh and did I mention, I need meals 7 days a week since we really can't eat out. Good times.

A few people had mentioned the box meal delivery services. They ship you the ingredients, you cook. I honestly wasn't sure how it would work for my family but I gave it a shot. I was able to try Blue Apron for free through a fellow member of a Mom's group!

I only got a picture of 2 of the meals because I ended up doing the steak meal as a lunch on Father's Day. The lemon-pepper sauce that was supposed to accompany the steak did not turn out correctly. The instructions said to add the butter then the lemon and water, the butter sizzled to nothing but oil. So it ended up just being a plate of mashed potatoes with sugar snap peas and radishes. The ingredients were fresh and the meat was of great quality. Just didn't turn out like pictured without the sauce, so I didn't snap it. (I did remake this recipe and nailed the sauce by adding the butter last, not first.)

Seared cod with an asparagus, potato and radish salad. This was surprisingly better than expected. It called for tarragon, which I'm not a fan of, so I did cut how much I used. Super light dish with interesting flavors. Only complaint, they sent 2 dishes with radishes included. I felt it should have been a bit more mixed up.

Last, the hoisin glazed chicken meatballs with zucchini and brown rice was my least favorite. About halfway through, I couldn't handle the sweetness of the hoisin sauce. I would never attempt to make this again.

After seeing my photos on Instagram, a friend told me about Sunbasket. Same concept as Blue Apron and the same price point. They do offer 2 free meals with your initial order but I did have to pay for this box. And honestly, it was worth every penny! I was able to select the 3 meals from 7 different options. Which is important to not have 2 dishes with the same ingredients on back to back nights. But most importantly, the flavors were superior!

First up was the salmon with mango salsa. Bonus, I learned a new cooking technique for salmon! I had NEVER attempted to pan sear the salmon with the skin on. I may never cook it any other way. HA! The mango salsa was so good but next time I will probably cut the pieces a bit smaller. Not pictured was a coconut cream sauce.....to die for.

Pork belly and kimchee fried rice. My mouth is watering just looking at the photo. I had never attempted a dish like this before. Now I am trying to find out where to find some pork belly so I can recreate this one!!!

Last up, thai turkey lettuce cups that we had for lunch. I wasn't sure these would be filling enough for dinner but I was wrong. We were stuffed! My hubby said it smelled like a restaurant in the house. HA!

I honestly am so excited for this weeks box to arrive. These are going to be our weekend meals and I'll be making the kids a separate easy meal like gluten-free pasta and baked chicken strips. We'll also keep my boring rotation during the week. Or maybe because we've added in these yummy meals, my rotation won't seem so boring. Either way, I'm excited to have some new flavors and cooking techniques in my kitchen!!!