The recipe I posted for Easy Roast Chicken can easily be transferred, slightly altered, to other types of poultry. My son saw cornish game hens in the grocery store and asked if we could make them. They are called poussin where we live and the cost for two of them is less than a whole chicken. So I just adjusted the recipe slightly and it turned out to be a fun alternative that actually takes less time. 

Really the only thing I have to do differently with this soup is omit the noodles or rice that I would normally add and simply up the vegetables. I also have to nix the bouillon cube because it is ILLEGAL, which is why I start with the sauteing of the garlic, onions, lemons, and vegetables to add flavour, when I normally would just throw stuff into the water and the let the bouillon do its thing! It's still pretty good, though, and fairly easy to make. It's not as smooth as the tomato soup so it feels a little more hearty and works great for school lunches, too. 

Ingredients:

1 breast of chicken

3 Tbsp of olive oil

1 red onion

3 cloves of garlic

1 lemon

3 celery sticks

4 carrots

Broccoli florets

2 bay leaves

1 Tbsp dried parsley

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried rosemary

A pinch of salt and 

Pepper to taste 

Directions:

My son starts 7th grade today! It's so hard to believe we are already here. He got sick in the spring of his 5th grade year and he ended elementary school under this cloud of confusion and chaos as we scrambled to figure out what was wrong. Then, he started middle school with such hope only to burn out because he just continued to be relentlessly sick. He needed to homeschool for the first semester of 6th grade as we moved back overseas and in with family. Last year was a struggle to get into a schedule of any kind and we started this diet as he was ending the school year in June. Now, we're in a pretty good rhythm with it, so we'll see how it goes once we're in the swing of things again. 

He is excited for the new year and doesn't have a uniform for the first time in 3 years. He asked if he could die his hair blue. Now, I have had blue hair, pink hair, rainbow highlights - you can see just some of the evolution of my hair here. But my pragmatic lil scientist has never asked for anything like this. So, I let him have fun with it! It took a couple hours to bleach out his thick, dark hair, but he patiently submitted to it and is so happy with the results. Decked out in a Pokemon shirt and Star Wars shoes, and he's off!

For school lunch this week, this is the plan. My son loves celery and carrots. I know not all kids will like that, but he does. I also invested in a thermos and a fun-insulated R2D2 bag to carry it in that you can find here. So I have prepared: 

Make sure they have a solid breakfast and drink plenty of water first thing! School mornings are already so chaotic. You're gonna need to give yourself and them extra time in the morning. My son feels very sick after he eats. So I need to wake him up early enough that he has at least an hour between finishing his breakfast and getting ready to walk out the door. I'm hoping he can eat at school without feeling miserable the rest of the day. We shall see!

I tried to make tomato soup from scratch recently. I slaved over the stove for over an hour sauteing carrots, and sweating fresh tomatoes. It took forever and was positively mediocre. My son wasn't even that thrilled with it. Then something occurred to me that was much simpler. I tried it and it has been a life and time saver!

Ingredients:

3 cups Tomato juice 

(PURE tomato juice. 

It must be just tomatoes 

and maybe salt added, 

nothing more!)

1 cup Almond/Cashew/Coconut 

or other nut milk

Salt and pepper

Dried Parsley

Paprika

Dried Oregano 

Dried Basil

Garlic Salt

Onion Flakes

Directions: 

Combine the tomato juice and milk in a sauce pan.

Add a pinch of everything else, depending on your taste.

Bring to the boil and then simmer over low-medium heat for 20 minutes,

Eat and enjoy!

You can add red pepper flakes, fresh tomatoes or other vegetables, or fresh onions and garlic if you want to cook for a bit longer. So easy and my son loves it!

This is one of my son's favourite meals, but I warn you: It's gonna take over 2 hours. 

You can always make the marinara sauce and save it for later. Your choice. 

Here goes: 

Tools: An immersion blender, 

regular blender, or food processor

Ingredients:

Meatballs of your choosing 

(We use beef ones that are already formed in balls. 

Make sure there is no added flour or bread crumbs, 

which happens with ready-made meatballs sometimes.)