Week 3 - Day 2

(April 25, 2011)

Kids headed back to school today.  Another week of struggling as to what to give Jeannette for lunch and snacks.  Breakfast was cinnamon rolls and lunch was cinnamon toast/stevia, sugar free jell-o and chocolate coconut milk.  She ended up not eating the jell-o, which she probably shouldn't have had in the first place.  I was desperate!!!!  For her snacks, she had popcorn and a rice cake.

Today Jeannette had soccer practice and she did amazing.  She was really participating and getting involved and being a little more aggressive than usual.  Before she would linger back and not run as much and just looked tired all the time, but today it was like she had a bolt of energy.  After practice, her coach told her she must have eaten her Wheaties today.  Jeannette had no clue what Wheaties were.  I had to explain to her that it's a cereal that's advertised to provide you with all the nutrients and energy that you'd need to play hard.

For dinner I made organic pork medallions with a strawberry sauce (recipe below).  To make it edible for Jeannette, I didn't have gluten free bread crumbs, so we used panko crumbs which were lower in carbs.  Instead of buying a pork loin, I ended up buying individual boneless pork chops.  By accident my husband cut up the pork chops into bite site nuggets.  She ate quite a bit of the nuggets minus the strawberry sauce and even went back for seconds.  I have to admit, even though he made a mistake, they turned out really good, especially for kids.  Kids just like nuggets.  Jeannette didn't use the strawberry sauce, but she dipped the nuggets into her homemade ketchup that my husband made.   She, of course, had her supplement smoothie.  Tonight I left out the protein powder, but not sure why I did that.  Then after dinner I read that pork is supposed to be off limits.  There it happens again.  In one book I read that pork is off limits, but somewhere else it says that organic pork is okay in small doses.  It all goes back to doing your best and trying to work with what you have.  That's all I can do.  If I can find something that she likes, then I'm going to stick with it.  She doesn't like much, so when I find something, it's like striking gold!!

Pork Medallions with Garlic-Strawberry Sauce

1 pork tenderloin (1 lb), cut into 1/2-in. slices
1/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1/2 cup all-purpose flour ( we used brown rice flour which is okay for Candida dieters)
2 eggs, beaten (organic)
2/3 C seasoned bread crumbs (we used panko b/c it had a better crunch, but there is gluten free crumbs)
1/2 C butter, divided (unsalted)
2 C fresh strawberries
1 t minced garlic
1/4 cup hot water
1 t chicken bouillon granules
Sliced fresh strawberries, optional

Flatten pork to 1/4 inch thickness; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place the flour, eggs and bread crumbs in separate shallow bowls.  Dip pork in the flour, eggs, then bread crumbs.

In a large skillet over medium heat, cook pork in 1/4 cup butter until juices run clear: remove and keep warm.

Meanwhile, place strawberries in a food processor.  Cover and process until blended; set aside

In the same skillet, saute garlic in remaining butter.  Add the pureed strawberries, water and bouillon; heat through.  Serve pork with sauce.  Garnish with sliced strawberries if desired.

Yield: 4 servings

recipe gotten from Simple & Delicious magazine