Saturday Cookfests
Posted in Uncategorized on 06/14/2009 06:57 pm by LaurelWell, Esther, having made it through her first year of college, is working this summer at our church denomination’s Camp and Conference Center, not quite 20 miles away. She is on staff as the Head Counselor, which is a great position for her, since she is such a people-person and has years of experience as camper, Junior Counselor, and Counselor. During the week she lives there, and then comes home Friday evening bearing piles of dirty laundry, to rest up at home before the staff meeting for the next week of camp on Sunday afternoon.
Back in March I got together with the Programs Director at Camp to discuss the food issues. I explained Esther’s difficulties and director said that it would be easy for her to give me a list of the food they would be serving the campers, since they have basically the same menu each week. It is kid-friendly stuff like chicken nuggets and smiley-face fries, juice boxes, pancakes, tacos, spaghetti, and so on. Absolutely not tummy-friendly food for Esther. It was immediately obvious that she could not make do with the obligatory banana halves and oranges at breakfast and the carrot and celery sticks at lunch.
The director was perfectly happy for us to supply food for her Head Counselor, however, and assured us that the cooks would be very cooperative to prepare whatever Esther needed them to do. With a little thought we came up with one breakfast, one lunch, one dinner meal, and various snacks….multiplied by five, and started cooking and packing. Every Friday and Saturday is a marathon of shopping for fresh produce, and cooking. On Sunday we head out to Camp with a cooler packed full and a box of non-perishable foodstuffs. She has her own shelf in the industrial-sized fridge, and a place for her box; her rice steamer is in the kitchen ready for use. She also needs to take her own distilled water for drinking, since she is taking an expensive probiotic formula that we don’t want killed with the Camp’s heavily treated water. When you are outdoors and on the go all week, that means about 4 gallons a week, plus a half gallon of fruit juice.
By the end of the week she is getting a little tired of eating the same thing every day, but then she comes home to a few home-cooked meals and we cook a whole new set of meals for the following week. The cooks at Camp are great, bringing her food to her at the same time the others are eating, and assuring her that it is no inconvenience.
By the end of the weekend I am sick of cooking, though, and it is all I can do to plan menus for us here at home for the week. Never thought I’d see the day when I would say that about cooking!
06/23/2009 at 12:05 am
Thanks for sharing your blog! Gluten and dairy free living certainly is an adventure — but, the relief makes it all worth the effort. Here’s the brown rice pudding recipe I mentioned to you; this is a favorite of my whole family. (If candida is still present, though, you’ll want to hold off on trying this dish.)
2 C cooked brown rice
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 C soy milk
6 T honey or 1/3 C pure maple syrup
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 to 1/2 C raisins
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (omit if using maple syrup)
1/4 – 1/2 C chopped raw almonds (optional, but, oh SO good!)
Combine all ingredients, except vanilla, in a saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until thick. Take care not to boil. Cooking will take 10 to 15 minutes. (If desired, pudding can be prepared in the top of a double boiler; with this method, cooking takes about 30 minutes, but requires less attention.) Stir in vanilla after cooking. Pour pudding into a single bowl or individiual dishes. Serve warm or chill as asoon as pudding has cooled down. For baked rice pudding, combine all ingredients in a greased 8- or 9- inch baking dish and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes until nicely browned. Umm, umm good!
06/23/2009 at 12:07 am
Just an afterthought, are you familiar with the publication, Living Without? It’s a great gluten free, dairy free magazine. You can check out their website and peruse some of their recipes for some new ideas
06/27/2009 at 5:34 pm
Stacey– Thanks for the tip about the magazine Living Without! I can’t believe we haven’t stumbled across that before. The website has some good recipes, but I had trouble signing up for their free newsletter/recipe of the week. Will have to get my IT guy to check it out. Thanks for sharing your rice pudding recipe too– I am anxious to try it.