Bring Your Own Pancake Mix

We have started feeling bad that Laurel is never able to eat hot food when we go out to eat at a restaurant.  It's always fruit or cereal...boring.  Katie decided she would give the place we were headed to this morning a call to see if they would use our batter to make pancakes.  To my surprise (not Katie's) they said yes!

Ready to go

My grandparents were in town on their way back to Wisconsin so we met with them and my parents for breakfast at Larry's Diner in Plainfield.  We handed our little cups of milk and Cambrooke Mix Quick powder to the waitress and out came two golden brown silver dollar pancakes which Laurel quickly devoured!

Yum!

Gus, the owner, told my dad on the way out that we can bring anything we want in for Laurel and he would be happy to prepare it in their kitchen.  Needless to say we were really grateful that they would do this for us and hopefully every restaurant is just as accommodating in the future.  

Portobello and Zucchini Tacos

       


Five ingredients, easy, and delicious.  The recipe below is just for the filling.  You can improvise with your toppings, we went with colby jack cheese and black bean corn salsa.

Ingredients

• 5 portobellos - (480g, 365 phe)
• 2 teaspoons dried oregeno - (2g, 6 phe)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil (free)
• 2 zucchini, cut in 2 by 1/2 inch sticks (550g, 220 phe)
• 1 red onion (100g, 50 phe)

641 mg phe / 646g total weight = 0.99 mg/g

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees
• Toss mushrooms with one teaspoon oregano, one tablespoon oil, and 1/4 cup water then place on a baking sheet
• Toss zucchini and onion with one teaspoon oregano and one tablespoon oil then place on separate baking sheet
• Place both sheets in oven and bake for 25 minutes tossing occasionally
• Serve with tortillas and toppings of your choice

You can use low protein tortilla shells for the PKU version, we went with 6 inch Mission flour tortillas (120 phe) since Laurel was a little low today.  Laurel only picked at the filling but devoured the tortilla or taco bun as she referred to it.

Creamy Avocado Pasta Sauce

This sauce could not be any easier, it is totally raw and heats itself a bit when you mix it in to the hot pasta.  We used Loprofin Animal Pasta for the PKU portion and a radiatore pasta for ours.

Ingredients

• 3 avocados - (364g, 339 phe)
• 2 garlic cloves - (11g, 18 phe)
• 1/4 cup cilantro - (8g, 8 phe)
• 2 tbsp lemon juice - (28g, 3 phe)
• 1 tbsp olive oil - (free)
• salt and pepper to taste

368 mg phe / 425 g total weight = 0.87mg / g

Instructions

• Mix all ingredients in food processor
• Blend until smooth
• Mix with pasta of your choice

Tips

• Reserve some pasta water to thin out the sauce if it seems to thick
• Roast the garlic if you want to take a bit of an edge off the finished product
• Garnish with lemon if you want to be fancy

Sweet Potato Chili

This was dinner tonight and it was delicious!

We made both a PKU and Non-PKU version of this one.  Since we were cooking for an 18 month old (and because I didn't want to weigh it all out) we went with the taco season rather than traditional chili spices.  Once the PKU version is separated out you can go ahead and add chili powder, cumin, etc if you so desire.

Ingredients

• 1/2 onion, diced - (48g, 16 phe)
• 1 bell pepper, diced - (197g, 49 phe)
• 1/2 bag frozen corn (227g, 282 phe)
• 2 sweet potatoes, diced (642g, 501 phe)
• 28 oz can diced tomatoes (794g, 397 phe)
• 1/2 packet McCormick taco seasoning (18g, 129 phe)
• 1 cup water (free)

1374 mg phe / 1982g total weight = 0.69 mg/g

Instructions

• Cook onions in oil until slightly browned
• Add pepper, corn, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, taco seasoning, and water
• Bring to boil, reduce heat to low and cover for 20 minutes
• Move PKU portion to to smaller pot and continue to cook on low for another 20 minutes

Additional Ingredients for Non-PKU Version

• 2 cans of chili beans
• additional seasoning if desired

Additional Instructions For Non-PKU Version

• Add chili beans and additional seasoning
• Cook on low for 20 minutes

We made the Cambrooke Corn Bread recipe to go along with the chili and it was awesome!  Laurel ate a ton of it (as you can see, quite literally).

Low Protein Coconut French Toast

I was very skeptical of this one when I saw a version of it on Pinterest.  It seemed to me that eggs were what made french toast well, french toast.  I stand corrected.  This turned out golden brown and delicious.  

We brought this along with us to Uncle Dan's birthday breakfast, Laurel loved it!  We made the dip the night before and threw it in a Tupperware.  It was made along with the traditional french toast on an electric griddle.

The best part is the dip itself is only 0.17mg/g so really the amount of phe depends on the bread you choose to use!

Ingredients

• 1 banana (78g, 38 phe)
• 1 1/2 cup canned coconut milk (340g, 27 phe)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla (free)
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon (1g, 1 phe)
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg (1g, 2 phe)

68 mg phe / 391g total weight = 0.17 mg/g (for the dip)

Now choose your bread!

67 phe

34 phe

101 phe

Instructions

• Puree banana, coconut milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg in food processor or blender.
• Pour in to shallow dish for dipping.
• Heat griddle or skillet to medium heat and spray with non-stick cooking spray.
• Dip the slice of bread you choose in the liquid.
• Cook until golden brown on both sides, turning once.

Low Protein Irish Stew

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Recipe from Cook For Love and it came out great!

This Irish Stew is Laurel's special St. Patrick's Day dinner!  The recipe came from the website cookforlove.org.  

You should definitely go there, sign up, and check out the amazing recipes if you have not already!  We also made the Irish soda bread...can't wait to try it!

Laurel...St. Patrick's Day 2012

Hope everyone has a wonderful St. Patty's Day!

Newborn Screening and PKU

Obviously all of those numbers are estimates but you get the point

Newborn screening was introduced as a public health program in the 1960’s and as you can see, made a huge difference in the lives of those born with PKU since then (info from NPKUA.org).  PKU was the first disorder to be tested for using modern newborn screening.  Robert Guthrie developed a simple method to detect high levels of phenylalanine in the blood shortly after a baby was born. 

Robert Guthrie looks exactly like Steve Higgens, 

the announcer from the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

Guthrie realized at the time that a simple, inexpensive (some things never change) method would be needed if testing were to be done on a large scale.  Through the years, using mass spectrometry, we can now detect a wide variety of conditions from just a single drop of dried blood on a piece of filter paper based on the original methods used by Guthrie.

Newborn Screening is essential for PKU because any damage done is irreversible.  We are forever grateful for the advances made in health science and the work of Robert Guthrie.

Cute Video of Laurel (Finches and Doves)