Snacks

Eating a diet that is free of dairy and soy is hard enough in itself, then add in you are a breastfeeding mom and you need snacks. Something that is quick and easy, something that will stop the hungry monster from visiting all the time. At first I found snacks to be the hardest. I was so use to grabbing whatever I wanted. Chips? Okay! Cheese Stick? Okay! Not anymore. Now I had to really think about what I was eating and finding quick easy stuff was difficult at first. Here are some things that I found are good, not too unhealthy for you and are quick.

Peanut Butter Rice Cakes:

1 original rice cake

1 tbsp of peanut butter (check your peanut butter, some have soy in them!)

Any fruit or veggie you like to eat whether it is raw or cooked. I love watermelon, oranges, apples, cantaloupe, etc. Apples are also great with some peanut butter.

Stacy's Pita Chips!! These are some of my favorite!

Quaker Oatmeal Squares. Love these as well because they are quick and easy. They also pack well in the diaper bag.

And my last favorite snack. Frozen grapes!! Super easy, wash your grapes, put in a gallon ziploc and freeze. Viola! Super easy, delicious snack!

Roasted Potatoes

For this recipe you can use several different types of potatoes; russet, little red potatoes, fingerling, yellow, pretty much whatever you have on hand. For this one I used little red potatoes.

Ingredients:

• 5-6 red potatoes
• canola oil spray (check the label, some canola oil will contain soy)
• seasoning salt

Directions:

~Preheat the oven to 375

~Wash the potatoes, then cut into cubes

~Cover cookie sheet with foil, spray foil with canola oil, sprinkle seasoning salt on the pan (approx. about 1 tsp.

~Place potatoes on the pan, sprinkle them with seasoning salt (again approx. about 1 tsp)

~Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the potatoes begin to brown and are soft when poked with a fork.

The finished product!!

Peanut Butter Cookies

This one is super easy!

Ingredients:

1cup of peanut butter
1 cup of sugar
1 egg

Directions:

~Preheat oven to 350

~Cream egg and sugar. In other words, mix them up until it is a nice creamy texture.

~ Fold in the peanut butter.

~Form mixture into 1 inch balls

~Place onto a greased cookie sheet and press down with a fork.

~Bake for 8-10 minutes until the edges are golden brown.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

• Ingredients:
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup of canola oil
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups of Eat Freely Chocolate Chips

Directions:

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat oil, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chips. 

Divide in half; wrap in waxed paper. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm. Shape each half into 15-inch log; wrap in wax paper. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.* Preheat oven to 375° F. Cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices; place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. 

* May be stored in refrigerator for up to 1 week or in freezer for up to 8 weeks. 

Okay so I totally missed one part of the recipe; the whole "refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm" part BEFORE you shape it into a log. You will see what happened in just a bit. So if you try this recipe, cool first, then shape. ;-)

My ingredients. I don't have special containers for my sugar, flour, etc., so don't be jealous of my ziploc bags! ;-)

flour, baking soda, salt all mixed together.

The cookie mixture (this is after I added the flour mixture to the sugar/oil mixture).

So after I finished mixing the chips in I promptly dumped half of it on the wax paper. Oops!

And I rolled it into a log.

Looks good doesn't it?! I put the pretty log into the fridge for approx 2 hours.

So my pretty log came out flat on the bottom. Oops!!

So I cut off the dough, rolled it and flattened it out into a cookie shape.

Ready to go in the oven!!

Viola!!! The finished product!!

Oven Fried Chicken Legs with Rice 'n Gravy

Pretty much since we found out that my son had allergies to dairy and soy I have been craving fried chicken. Well....no one around here makes fried chicken without dairy or soy. After scouring the internet I came across a recipe that I thought I could tweak to make it dairy/soy free. So here ya go....

Oven Fried Chicken Legs:

• 5 chicken legs (this is all I had so I worked with what was in the freezer) 
• 1/4 cup flour 
• 1 teaspoon paprika 
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper 
• 1/3 cup of canola oil 
• 2 dashes of seasoning salt 
• 2 dashes of garlic salt 
• 2 dashes of onion powder 

~Preheat oven to 425°.

~Wash chicken and pat dry with paper towels. In a pie pan, combine flour, paprika, salt and pepper. Coat chicken with the flour mixture.

~Pour canola oil in a shallow pan, make sure the entire pan is coated with oil. Arrange chicken in the baking pan in a single layer, skin side down.

~Bake at 425° for 30 minutes; turn and bake 15 minutes longer, or until chicken is tender and done.

Brown Gravy:

• 1 can (14.5 ozs) of beef broth (check the label on your brand!! Some of them have soy in them) 
• 1/4 cup of water 
• 3 tbsp of cornstarch 

~Combine cornstarch and cold water in a small bowl. Stir cornstarch mixture slowly into beef broth in a small sauce pan.

~Stirring constantly, cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil. Let boil one minute.

~After one minute remove from heat. Add salt and pepper to taste. Let sit to firm up.

Rice:

Follow the directions on your bag or box of rice! ;-) I used instant white rice because I wanted something quick and easy.

The Finished Product!!