By Shannon Penrod

Okay, three times this week people have asked me to make a list of what Jem eats. The requests in two cases were people who want to be helpful in the event of an emergency and the third was a mom who is looking for hope. It’s time to BLOG!

So here it is – this Jem’s GFCF, Soy free, No Yeast, No Sugar, No artificial flavours, color or sweeteners, no potatoes, no corn, no eggs, no almonds, no apples, no rasins, no grapes or strawberries, Feingold modified, Specific Carbohydrate modified diet – fondly refered to in my home as “The Autism Miracle in my Kitchen!”

Breakfast

Usually this is 2 peices of Food For Life Yeast Free, Gluten Free, Brown Rice Bread – toasted in the GF designated toaster – served plain. With breakfast he gets a Ecological Formula Co-Enzyme B and what ever Probiotic we are currently using (we usually alternate between Kirkman Labs and Klaire Labs) he takes these pills with water.

For a special breakfast treat he gets pancakes – Namaste sugar free pancake mix mixed with either carrot juice, pear juice, water, flavored seltzer water or around halloween- pumpkin, we do not add eggs or any kind of milk. For an extra special treat – maybe twice a year – we make pineapple upside down pancakes by adding three tidbits of pineapple (packed in its own juice) to each pancake. He will eat 3-5 pancakes.

He will occasionally ask for cereal. This is puffed brown rice cereal, make sure that it is gluten free, many are processed in factories along side wheat! He likes just a little carrot juice or seltzer water on the cereal. We get Trader Joe’s carrot juice (no sugar, no preservatives)

Lunch and dinner

Lunch and dinner are fairly similar and can be broken down into categories:

Protein

Shelton’s Hot Dogs, Free Range, Gluten Free, Chicken or Turkey -they come in two sizes big and small, Jem likes both. He will eat 4 of the small hot dogs or 2 of the large ones. He will ask for more, we don’t let him have more.

Chicken – I usually roast two chickens a week, I buy them at Sam’s – I think they are Tyson. I rinse the chickens, stuff an organic lemon in its butt and roast the hell out of them. 400 degrees for four hours, the meat falls off the bone but is not dry because of the lemons, make sure to prick the lemons many times. Jem loves to eat the legs, thighs and wings bone in. A leg/thigh and wing is great for one meal, he will eat it hot or cold.

Later in the week I slice the breast meat and coat is with Namaste’s Sugar Free Pizza Dough mix and lightly fry it in Canola oil to make chicken nuggets. Be careful with these they are so good Jem will over stuff himself with these to the point of making himself sick if not monitored.

I also use the breast meat to add to burritos. We use Food For Life’s Brown Rice Tortillas, spread a little Cedar’s Hummus with Roasted Red Peppers on it (All hummus is not created equally, much of it is not gluten free – Cedar’s is available at Whole Foods Markets) and then throw almost any fresh or grilled veggies in.

Shelton’s Gluten Free Turkey Sausage Patties – we call these meat cookies in our house. They have to be cooked for a minimum of 20 minutes, so when I cook them I cook the whole package by boiling them in water and when the water boils out pan searing them to get them brown. 3 is an appropriate amount, he will ask for more.

Fried or Baked Chicken – thighs or drumsticks – bone in or out, coated with Namaste Pizza Dough mix or not.

Chicken roll ups – when chicken breasts are on sale I buy them and butterfly them and then pound them thin. I roll them around green beans (Trader Joes Frozen) and then pan fry them.

Turkey Burgers/ Meatloaf. To bind the meatloaf I use brown rice bread crumbs or rice cakes sent through the food processor along with pureed, steamed veggies (what ever is in the fridge)

Once in a blue moon I will roast a turkey, he likes the dark meat and I make nuggets from the white meat.

Jem loves salmon and tuna. I never give him fish more than once a week because they can raise metal levels. He loves salmon in any form – on picnics I take a can of Trader Joe’s no salt added and he loves to eat it right out of the can. He will eat tuna, but not as enthusiastically.

Carbs

Lundberg Brown Rice Cakes – Low or no Salt – He will eat them plain or with Hummus (Cedar’s) or Mutabul (Sam’s Flaming Grill).

Bicuits, bread sticks or buns made from Namaste’s Sugar-Free Pizza Dough mix.

Pizza – made from Namaste’s Sugar-Free Pizza dough mix, topped with shredded beets (not pickled) tri-colored peppers (Melange a trois, Trader Joe’s frozen) carrots and broccoli.

Vegetables

Canned Beets (not pickled)

Carrots (cooked or raw) Walmart carries cooked carrots in a plastic cup which are perfect for lunches.

Green Beans (Trader Joe’s Frozen)

Broccolli – Fresh, Steamed or boiled

Cucumbers, peeled and sliced

Green, Red, Yellow and Orange peppers – his favorite, preferably organic

Squash – butternut, pumpkin or acorn – he won’t eat much

Sugar snap peas – he won’t eat much

Eggplant – steamed

Mushrooms – raw

Cauliflower – raw, steamed, mashed – he won’t eat a lot.

Treats

No, No Nana’s Lemon or Ginger cookies – give sparingly, no more than one a day – you will get a reaction.

Fruit – Melon, bluberries, pears, bananas, mangos, pineapple, peaches, cherries and nectarines – these must be given sparingly or he will have a reaction -so less than 1/2 cup a day and not given every day – just special occasions.

Cashews – Jem loves cashews but should not have them often, he is already allergic to almonds and we certainly don’t want to add on to that list.

Pink Lemonade – 1 tbs. Lemon juice, 1/8 tsp of water from can of beets, 2 cups of lemon flavored seltzer water – served on ice with a straw.

That’s pretty much what my kid eats!