Sidney's Pasta Salad

My daughter goes through periods of loving and hating pasta. During one of her "love" periods she asked for this pasta salad a few times a week. She would tell me if she wanted the artichoke version or the palm version before I made it. I loved it because it was super easy to make and I usually doubled the recipe and put the other serving in the fridge for lunch the next day.

Ingredients:
1 Cup dry pasta of choice (boiled)
9 Kalamata olives (halved)
1 garlic clove (minced)
1/4 Cup celery (chopped)
1/4 Cup carrots (chopped)
Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing (to taste)

Cook pasta. While the pasta is cooking, cook garlic in a little bit of olive oil. Cook for 1 minute. Add celery and carrots to garlic. When they have softened a bit, take them off the heat. Drain pasta and put in a large bowl. While it is still hot, add all vegetables, olives, and dressing.

Total phe per recipe: 59mg

Variations--
84 grams of canned artichokes (total phe per recipe: 156 mg)
or
73 grams of canned Hearts of Palm (total phe per recipe: 131 mg)

Low Protein Egg Drop Soup

My kids and I went to a local Chinese place for lunch. Part of the lunch meal was a choice of soup. My daughter and I did not have any, but we did talk about the various kinds of soup the restaurant offered. Anyway, my daughter wanted to try Egg Drop Soup. After talking to my mom and brainstorming this is what we came up with. Sidney LOVED it.

Ingredients:
32 oz. Swanson's Vegetable Stock
45 grams sliced scallions
46 grams sliced onion (sliced at an angle)
58 grams carrot (sliced thinly at an angle)
1 serving cooked and chopped CookForLove.org Eggcelent Omelet
1 egg equivalent of Ener-G Egg Replacer

Total phe per recipe: 148mg
Phe in 1 cup serving: 37mg

Add a little olive oil to a pan and add the onions. Cook 1 minute then add the carrot. When the carrot is softened, but still firm, add stock. Heat to boiling. Add scallions and cooked egg. Take the pan off the heat and add the egg replacer. Stir soup with a fork three times over 10 minutes.

*You could serve this as a side to vegetable stir-fry or vegetable spring rolls.

Make Ahead PKU Friendly Breakfast

My daughter has been showing a great interest in making her own lunches. The problem is portion sizes are usually out of whack and she is not yet skilled enough to weight and write down everything needed for keeping track. So, I thought I would make some ready meals that she could take from the freezer to the microwave. That way I can be sure that the calculations for phe are correct and she can have her independence. I will be disscussing with her that these meals are already weighted and calculated for her. I will also be putting the phe amount and directions on the container for her. 

The first challenge is to come up with a list of recipes/meals she likes and figure out what to pair them with that would be microwave friendly. This is my favorite recipe site for PKU Cook for Love. I would highly recommend that you register for the site. It is fabulous and the site owner, Brenda, is always happy to answer questions. I also like to look on pinterest for other ideas.

Make Ahead Breakfast
Cook For Love (will be referred to CFL) Pancakes
- Make a big batch and freeze individually. 3 Pancakes, 36 mg phe each

CFL Quiche Me
- Make in mini (or regular) muffin tins. Freeze individually. 1 regular muffin, 40 mg phe.

CFL Banana Bread
-Make in muffin tins. 1 regular slice, 27 mg phe (will need to make adjustment to phe count if using muffin tin).

CFL Pumpkin Bread
-Same as above. 1 slice, 25 mg phe

CFL Bagels
-Make and freeze. 1 bagel, 43 mg phe

Pre-packaged Frozen Fruit Smoothie
In muffin tin, freeze 1/4 cup yogurt in each muffin tin. While that is freezing, put 1 1/2 cups fruit in each bag along with 2T orange juice concentrate. Place yogurt in each bag. When ready, thaw about 20 mins and then blend with about 1/4 cup rice milk. Using 1 C strawberries and 1/2 cup blueberries, I get the phe at 65mg per smoothie. 

This should be a good selection to keep her happy for a while. She already measures her own cereal and milk and occasionally she has a Trader Joe's waffle with fruit. Now I just need to stock the freezer! It looks like next weekend I will be baking and mixing!

-Michele

PKU in the News

There will be a news piece on KGUN9 on Thursday, May 10th between 10-11am showcasing PKU and ANPAD in honor of PKU Awareness Month.

PKU Rap

Here is DJ Sidney rapping about PKU and her special milk!

Homemade Veggie Patties

I have been trying to perfect a veggie patty for a long time. I just can't seem to get it low enough and still stay together and be tasty. Too much to ask? This is the latest attempt. It is propably fine for those with a highter tolerance, but I am going to keep working to get the phe down even more.

Ingredients:
100grams yam (peeled and shredded)
50grams carrot (shredded)
100 grams zucchini (shredded)
1/4 cup baking mix (Cook For Love recipe)
1/4 cup Baby Ray's BBQ sauce

Add the vegetables together and saute. This will help to dry out the veggies.

Add the baking mix and bbq sauce. Form the patties. I made 5 patties from this mix. "Fry" them in a non-stick pan.

The patties are about 39mg of phe per patty. My daughter loved them.

take care!
~Michele

Country Sunrise Southwest Burger Mix (a review)

At Camp Knot-A-Phe, in Arizona this year, I recieved a sample of the Country Sunrise Southwest Burger Mix from PKU Perspectives. It is sold on the site in a 1 1/2 pound bag for $29.99 or you can get a single portion size in their "vegetable meat sampler bag". The latter is what I got from camp.

All you do is put it in a bowl.

Add water and oil. Mix and shape.

My daughter wanted veggie balls, because everyone else was having patties. Sometimes it's best if I don't ask questions and just go along with the flow!

Next, you place the balls or patty into a non-stick pan and fry. In about a total of 10 mintues dinner is served.

My daughter loved them! I tried them too and they were pretty good. I will be buying this mix. It was so easy to make and the results were great. Sometimes I need a quick fix meal and this will certainly help. One serving of the veggie meat mix is 42mg of phe.

enjoy
~Michele