What's for Supper? (link-up) - Volume 1

A favorite blogger of mine, Simcha Fisher, hosts a link-up every week where she posts what she had for dinner every night that week, for inspiration for other families.  Maybe this could help LPLD moms out there, too!  I have decided to link with hers, mostly to help encourage me to actually get my post up once in a while.



So, what did we eat last week?

Monday
frozen tuna filets with a side of roast butternut squash with fennel

Every time we move, it's an effort to find fish that we like.  We haven't yet found a source of fresh fish yet in Germany, but these were decent frozen ones!  The butternut squash is one of our favorite vegetables of all time.  It's basically this but without the apple... or the honey...  Hmm.  Well.  I think my mother-in-law made it up and it's the only thing I know to do with fennel.
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Tuesday
St Daria's feast day - sushi in Trier!

My confirmation saint is a little-known saint, St Daria, and we love to celebrate our feast days in our family.  So!  Sushi it was!  It is amazing how much sushi our girls can put away.  The waitress doubted our choice of two full california rolls for them, but we showed her!  California rolls are just white rice, sea weed wrapping, cucumber, avocado, and (fake) crab.  So if you have the space in your fat intake for a little avocado, it's delicious!
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Wednesday
Tamales (from a work fundraiser) and ratatouille

Monica had half of a tamale and mostly some leftover noodles with pasta sauce, one of her favorite foods.  And ratatouille because I definitely consider tomatoes a vegetable, so load them on that plate!  I don't think tamales can ever be LPLD friendly.  Sigh.  But ratatoulli is a family favorite - basically sauteed tomatoes, eggplant, and basil. It's what made me realize I liked eggplant and I highly recommend trying it!  Add some chicken or (fat free) mozzarella the first time you make it to be sure you like it :)
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Thursday
Beef and mushroom stir fry from here

Well... loosely adapted.  Served over rice for the girls instead of noodles and without capsicum and just broccoli instead of broccolini.  And no kecap manis.  Just soy sauce.  It was good!
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Friday
Pasta Primavera

My husband made the recipe up. He sauteed red peppers, onion, cherry tomatoes, probably some tomato paste and spices, and we served it over rotini.
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Saturday

Chicken and sausage gumbo from Better Homes and Gardens

It can be tough finding smoked sausage that's low enough fat for LPLD. We use this:

Smoked turkey sausage

5 g of fat for 2 oz, or 1/7 of the package

I add twice the amount of okra that it calls for, since we all like okra, and it's both delicious and low fat.

We'll be having a lot of pictures of whatever was leftover from dinner until I can remember to take pictures on the day of the meal.... For now, behold my lunch this week!

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Sunday:

Pork shoulder, roasted and topped with roasted bell pepper and gouda/Northwoods  Garden Vegetable cheese

We should have had another vegetable. But we forgot.

See you next week!  I hope!

An LPLD Meal for Baby Fingers...

... and adult forks!


Teresa is now 17 months old and seems to have decided that if she can't keep up with her big sisters intellectually or with gross motor skills, she will keep up with them in weight.  We have never had a toddler eat this easily and readily!  I can't remember Monica or Mary every asking for food before they could talk, we always had to offer it and then they would daintily take a bite... and then meticulously put every other morsel into their glass of water and stir it contemplatively with their spoon.


Not to say Teresa is getting overweight or chunky, I don't think my children will ever have that problem when they are little, especially with LPLD!  But here is a recipe that is healthy, LPLD-friendly, and that Teresa ADORES since it has lot of chunks that are easy for her little fingers to grab and stuff in her mouth.  Mom and Dad have to follow with a spoon to get the last of it into her mouth, but at least there's a good degree of independent eating, which is nice for when Teresa is screaming in starvation but dinner isn't technically done yet.


As a meatless meal, it's also great for Fridays and for saving some money.  Dried beans make it even cheaper, if you can remember to get them soaking and cooking with time to spare!

I usually tweak my favorite recipes and type them up directly on this blog, but I really have nothing to change for this fabulous recipe:


Vegie Bean Burritos from Kitchen Stewardship


For Teresa, we'll either just feed her the filling, or if there's leftovers where the filling and the sauce is mixed, we serve her that just as easily.


For adults (and bigger kids), we serve it in our favorite low- or non-fat tortilla, plus or minus some fat free cheese on top.


Guten appetit!

German pancakes!

After all, it is only appropriate to make German pancakes when living in Germany!

I'm excited to post this recipe because it's not only low fat and tastey, but also because it's a good example of how we make do with having some of the family with LPLD, and some not, and how to serve a little girl food that is super low fat, but also looks the same as what her sister is eating.  No one wants to feel left out!

The key to this recipe is having a large fry pan that can also go in the oven.  We use a cast iron skillet, and have burnt our hands more times than I'd like to admit after we've taken it out of the oven, since we're not used to the handle being hot!  I highly recommend putting a hot pad on the handle and leaving it there so you don't forget and try to pick it up!

I've adapted the recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks, America's Test Kitchen.

The basic (adapted) recipe:

1/4 tablespoon coconut oil
3 apples, cored and sliced thin
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon white sugar
2/3 cup skim milk
3 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt the coconut oil in the skillet on your stovetop over medium heat; add the apples, sugar, and cinnamon, stir frequently, until the apples are just a little brown and soft.

In the meantime, preheat your oven to 425 degrees F and combine the flour, sugar, milk, eggs, and vanilla; whisk until there are no lumps.

When the apples are cooked as above, pour the batter right onto the apples, starting around the edge first.  Bake about 18 minutes, or until the pancake is lightly browned.

Serve by flipping the whole thing out onto a big plate, and dust it lightly with powdered sugar for extra specialness.

Monica approved!

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So that recipe is fine if you only have folks with LPLD to serve, but in our family, our other daughter NEEDS fat in her diet, and I enjoy a fatty breakfast sometimes, too.  To meet everyone's needs, this is what I've had success with, and it's not all that much extra work!  Just use a BIG skillet!

Super Adapted Recipe!

1/2 tablespoon coconut oil
5 apples, cored and sliced thin
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon white sugar
2/3 cup skim milk
3 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon white sugar
2/3 cup whole milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt the coconut oil in the skillet on your stovetop over medium heat; add the apples, sugar, and cinnamon, stir frequently, until the apples are just a little brown and soft. 

In the meantime, preheat your oven to 425 degrees and make the two varieties of pancake, fat free and fat full; mix in separate bowls the flour, sugar, milk, eggs, and vanilla; whisk until there are no lumps.

When the apples are cooked as above, pour the batter right onto the apples, starting around the edge first.  To separate the fat free and fat full, I will either add a little food coloring to one (the girls like pink food!) or just make the pan half and half, usually the fat free side is next to the handle of the pan.  Bake about 18 minutes, or until the pancake is lightly browned.

Serve by flipping the whole thing out onto a big plate, and dust it lightly with powdered sugar for extra specialness.  I'll cut it right away to separate the fat free and fat full sides while I remember which is which.

I like to serve with maple syrup, but it's great on it's own, too.