Lunchboxes

Back to School!

Well the holidays are almost over...

some of us have little ones starting school for the first time, others are excited to be returning (and maybe a few mums counting down the days!) 

How can we get organised and pack their lunches quickly in the morning... what can we pack so our child's lunch box is not full of artifical colours flavours and allergens? It takes a bit more work, but is worth it!



lunch boxes... one with lots of artifical ingredients, one with none

Here are some tips to take some stress out of your busy morning

 

What to pack

 

PROTEINS

It is hard to include protein when you are concerned about amines... the amines will be increasing as the meat sits there uneaten. I give my children protein for morning tea... they eat meat for breakfast and then have a small portion in their morning tea box. I cook it while we are getting dressed for school, and then pop it in the box. That way it is eaten as close to cooking as possible. It will be cold, keeping it warm will increase the amines more... My children are happy to eat these protein snacks cold... choose one that your child will too.

If you have a very sensitive little person, you might not be able to send meat protein with that time delay (I couldn't at first either). My solution for that was to offer a serving of meat at breakfast and one for straight after school, the lunch box is just snacks. If you can have legumes, you could send hommus as their protein snack.

MEAT

meat balls, sausage rolls, schnitzel, drumstick

SNACKS

cupcake, pretzels, cookies, rice muesli bar, millet slice, cruskits, water buttons, chips, crimpers, custard

If you really want to send some bread, try a gluten free roll or slice of focaccia... these keep well till lunch

 

FRUIT and VEG

hommus and celery sticks or crackers for dipping, choko sticks, diced pear, choko and pear crumble, pear or choko jelly, whole pear (teacher to peel)

 

How to cook and store in advance

 

PANTRY

Cookies, pretzels, water buttons, rice muesli bar slice can all be made in advance and store well in the pantry

FREEZER

Meat balls - can be made in advance and frozen raw ready to pop in the oven
Schnitzel - can be crumbed and frozen in layers on baking paper ready to cook
Sausage Rolls - can be made and frozen ready to pop in the oven
Drumsticks - freeze individually raw and pop in the oven while getting ready
Cupcakes - can be made and frozen... put in lunch box frozen
Bread Rolls and Focaccia - make and freeze, reheat and crisp in the oven

FRIDGE

Hommus - make and store in little containers
Celery - chop and keep a bag ready to pop into lunchbox
Custard - make and put into 'Squeezy Bags' ready to eat or in little containers
Crumble  - can be made and then divided into little containers ready to eat
Diced Pear - Pears in Syrup are low chemical and come in very large tins... chop and divide into individual serves ready for lunch

 

 

All recipes for these protein ideas and snacks can be found in my recipe book...

Kersten's Kitchen: Allergy Free, Not Flavour Free

 

They are free from gluten, dairy, egg, nut, soy, corn, sugar and are Failsafe

and suitable for the RPAH Elimination diet

Cooking Classes Term 1 2013

Cooking Classes for Term 1, 2013...

Failsafe Thermomix - tips and tricks to help

We will be looking at what the TMX can do to benefit and save us time in the kitchen...
You don't need to be an owner to come, would be a great opportunity to see why you might want one :D


Saturday 2nd, Wednesday 13th and Saturday 23rd February
10.30am - 1pm
Peakhurst, Sydney
$90 per person (all ingredients are included)

full payment is required to secure your spot...

places are limited as I will be running these classes in my kitchen :)

RSVP with date preferred and your email address please to kerstenskitchen@bigpond.com

NOTE: Class will be suitable for those following RPAH Elimination and Failsafe diet.

All cooking will be free from gluten and dairy.

I am not a Thermomix Consultant... just a fan

Children's Journey

My Children's Journey so far from Failsafe to healing...

My little ones have been on a low chemical diet since birth... proteins caused bleeding bowels and food chemicals caused lots of pain which in a baby means loads of crying. I maintained a very limited diet as I was breast feeding and they reacted to what I was eating through the milk. Their safe foods were lamb and rice. We eventually were able to add in chicken, potato, celery, iceberg lettuce and choko.

Their diet stayed this way until late last year when I had been having success with healing, thought I would make a start with them. I waited until they had been on their Biomedical journey for a few months. Zinc levels were very low and initially their Doctor has been working on bringing that to within normal ranges.

 

Coconut Oil

I started adding 20g of coconut oil to their cookies, to replace some of the Nuttelex. They initially had one cookie each a day. Once that was tolerated I increased that to two cookies a day. I now add coconut flour and have increased the coconut oil to 40g. They eat as many as they like.

Once the cookies were going well, I started replacing some Nuttelex with coconut oil in their cupcakes. They initially had one coconut cupcake every few days. Now they eat a couple a day.

Meat - ghee and coconut oil

Previously I cooked in sunflower oil and always baked their meat balls and any chicken in the oven very lightly so there was no browning at all. Now I fry their meat balls and chicken sticks in Ghee on the stove. I also bake with coconut oil.

Broth

They are having very small amounts of chicken broth, only cooked for 2 hours. I add 4 tablespoons to their shepherd's pie twice a week.

Fermented Veg

Every few days they have half a ml of fermented veg juice. It is a strong probiotic so I am going very slowly with this.

Kefir

Instead of increasing their food chemicals even more by using coconut kefir, I made some rice milk kefir. I then subsituted 50% of the rice milk in my icecream recipe, for rice kefir. They have 1-2 scoops of this daily. It has a nice tangy taste.

Vegetables

I have been slowly increasing their salicylates. Initially started with some cucumber and carrot in small amounts every few days. They now have some every day. They are also having small amounts of kale and sweet potato. Will be trialling avocado this week.

Fruit

This is has been tricky. Small servings create a big reaction. With the aim of increasing tolerance, I am perserving with tiny servings once a week. For example, a sliver of banana or a half a strawberry.


The children have been so excited to try new foods and it has been a delight to watch their faces light up at all the new experiences.

 

With the aim to increase the healing foods and decrease the servings of grains, I am slowly building their chemical tolerance so that will soon be achievable. This progress has all been made in just a month of food changes.

 

 

 

Goat's Yoghurt

Making homemade yoghurt (24 hour ferment)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

1L goats milk
1/2C goats yoghurt (left over from last batch or from the shops)
1/32t starter culture
1/32t probiotic
5 drops calcium chloride

Method

Heat the milk on the stove until it is 90 degrees celcius (use a thermometer)
Once it reaches temp, turn off the stove and leave to cool until 40 degrees

(this will take a while, leave the thermometer in there and stir occasionally to check temp)

Once the temp has lowered, pour a small amount into a jug and whisk in all the other ingredients until really well combined. Now add the rest of the milk and stir well.

Pour into the yoghurt machine's inner bowl and seal, insert into the machine and set to heat for 24 hours. Leave and do not disturb.

Once the time is up, I drain some of the whey from mine, so the end result is a lovely thick yoghurt and I also have the whey to use for fermented vegetables and grains.

Line a strainer with cheesescloth, and pour your yoghurt in... tie the cheese cloth together with an elastic band and leave to strain... The time you leave it is personal, depending on how you like your yoghurt. I leave mine for about 45 mins to an hour (remember it will firm further in the fridge)

Now spoon the yoghurt into smaller containers for the fridge. I fill 4 small ones when strained for this length of time, and have a small jar of whey as well.

Put yoghurt in the fridge where it will continue to firm. Once cool, enjoy!


Some ideas....

SWEET YOGHURT

Add some homemade jam (fruit and honey) and stir through for a commercial style treat (strawberry is delish!)

Add some honey and chopped nuts...

SAVOURY YOGHURT

A spoonful of yoghurt in soup is really yummy...

For some extra flavour, add a squeeze of lemon, some chopped garlic and fresh dill, salt and pepper to taste... great in soup, on salads, meats... everywhere really!




Remember to keep a jar of yoghurt for next time...  This makes a very small quantity so is suitable when you are first introducing goat's dairy and working at building tolerance, and so only consuming small amounts daily.




I bought my starter culture and probiotics from www.greenlivingaustralia.com.au

They are not really necessary once you have established your yoghurt, there should be enough good guys to get a batch going then...

(I also bought tiny spoons from them to help with the measuring)

 

NOTE: When you leave the yoghurt to ferment for 24 hours, it is meant to reduce the lactose and the casein, so it is more easily digested and tolerated