Cottage Living: What's for breakfast?

Spending time away from the daily grind of up, dressed, fed and out, allows for some extra thought to go into meals that typically have very little thought put into them.  I've been trying to move away from cereal several times a week to more varied options, but some days go better than others. We're vacationing with my sister, my niece, and my parents, but only my son is gluten free.  We came up with some breakfast ideas that are not only delicious, but gluten and dairy free, so that everyone can enjoy breakfast together.

Monday: Bacon & Eggs and a Fruit Salad

Tuesday: Gluten Free Chex Cereal with Blueberries and Rice Milk

Wednesday: Gluten Free Pancakes with real Maple Syrup

Thursday: Fruit Smoothies made with Rice Milk, Banana, Strawberry and Honey

Friday: Omelette using up leftover veggies, with Orange Juice and Sliced Papaya

Gluten, Dairy and Nut Free Gathering

Yesterday a friend of mine came over for lunch with her two kids.  My son is gluten and dairy free, and her daughter is nut free, but it didn't stop us from providing a fantastic meal for everyone. 

My friend brought along:
-lentil chips & hummus
-organic strawberries
-tea

And I provided:
-BBQ chicken
-Greek Salad (the only thing my son couldn't have, but he's not a huge salad fan)
-Vegetable platter
-Nacho chips and salsa
-Veggie Chips

The kids ate everything put in front of them and even shared a bowl of nacho chips:

 

Nothing fancy, nothing fussy, just simple finger foods that we were able to pick up at the grocery store and put out with minimal effort.  The focus wasn't on the food.  It was on catching up with a friend and watching our children try to catch bubbles, invent new ways to go down a slide, and just generally run around until they were exhausted.  That's the way it should be. 

And it was a lot of fun!

Getting my gluten free world in order and...snow.

Today was the day to put everything in order now that we're back home.  We sent the little one off to daycare (he was NOT happy to go back after two weeks of fun with us) and set about laundry, groceries, etc.  After spending two weeks feeding my son foods that are naturally gluten free, I saw a difference in his behaviour.  He was better behaved generally and in better spirits than usual.

Just to clarify, we're not people who regularly eat a lot of packaged foods, especially since the gluten free ones are so expensive.  I post my menu plan each week and prepare his daycare lunches as well, but we do still serve him some prepared foods; waffles, gluten free cookies, fish sticks, etc.  I think we're going to cut this out as much as possible.  His behaviour while we were away was fantastic, except for the one time he was given a handful of some covered nuts with gluten in the coating by a well meaning relative before we could stop him.  For two days my son was a little terror.  We always knew that gluten-containing foods changed his moods, because we saw evidence of it when we originally cut it our of his diet.  But his change in behaviour when he started eating all natural foods was remarkable as well. 

I'm not going to lie and say that I'll never serve my son a frozen fish stick again, or that a prepared gluten free waffle won't occasionally be part of his routine, but I'm going to try and make those foods the exception, rather than the rule.  My husband poured himself a bowl of GF cereal this morning, and I laughed because for two weeks our breakfast was fruit, or yogurt (not for the little guy), or eggs, or some other food that we had to prepare from scratch, but the first thing we turned back to was prepared cold cereal when we got home.  It opened my eyes a little bit.

So I'm starting with breakfast.  Our counter currently has mangoes, bananas, a papaya, a canteloupe and oranges, and our fridge has strawberries and blueberries.  He loved his fruit filled breakfasts on vacation, so I'm going to continue with them here.  I chopped a bunch of fruit when I brought them home from the store, so in the morning I just have to dump them in a bowl, ready to go.

I'm not superwoman- there will be waffle-filled mornings, I can guarantee it.  But instead of cereal, waffles, cereal bars, etc. being the go-to, I'm going to try to make them the last resort. 

Baby Steps. 

And just in case you were wondering, it snowed today.  Yes, that's right, snowed. On April 19th.

Looked lovely against my tan.