Picky Little Darlings and my Meatloaf Recipe!

I have a picky dairy-free darling! I've learned that, for her, selections with dinner end badly. She doesn't do well to have the typical food pyramid protein with a vegetable and a starch. She'll only eat one and usually the least nourishing option. That's why I make all options dense in nutrients like my corn bread. I'm working on some new things and trying to make single item dinner's with all needed nutrient's. For her, I think it seems easier to have to eat just one item. There's many schools of thought on this, some say if you appease them they continue to be picky. I say whatever she'll eat that I know is good for her I'm good with. I made a new meatloaf and it went so well. I mean she ate more than me! I just had to share. Also, ketchup is a food group at my house, so if your house is the same consider buying organic, natural ketchup like the brand WoodStock. I can taste a difference and there's no high fructose corn syrup or added chemicals. Considering our kids eats so much of it, it's worth considering the quality of the product.

My Darling Meatloaf
1 lb of ground meat (beef, turkey, ground tofu, whatever you want)
1 1/2 C of panko crumbs (I used Kikkoman Japanese style)
4 large peeled carrots
3 cups of organic spinach (you should always go organic on spinach)
1 egg (or 1 tbl of Chia seeds soaked for 5 minutes in tbl water)
3 tbl shelled hemp seeds
1/2 peeled yellow onion-large size
2 tbl thyme
1 tsp Himalayan sea salt

Put carrots and spinach in food processor then add to meat. Add egg. Sprinkle Thyme and salt seasonings and mix well. Add panko crumbs and hemp seeds and mix more. Put mixture into a loaf pan and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Serve with a side of organic ketchup!

Welcome to Dairy-Free, and my corn bread recipe!

Have you ever noticed that EVERYTHING monumental to childhood has milk? Popcorn at the movies, ice cream cones on a hot summer's day, hot cocoa on a cold day, birthday cakes and donuts, pizza parties at school, trick or treating and ALL holiday goodies. So now, just for a moment, imagine what childhood looks like without cow's milk....I mean really close your eyes and try to imagine it....

A blank canvas comes to my mind because it's a virtually untraveled path, unless you were raised vegan-- and I was not. We are so programmed as a society to have cow's breast milk be our go-to for basic nutrition that it's in everything we eat! Milk-free families have to get thinking and at some level reinvent the wheel of childhood food nostalgia. It can be a bumpy start because when you first decide to live dairy-free, and become aware of what cow's milk really has become and where it is, a sudden wave of overwhelming anxiety hit's you. It is EVERYWHERE! You think "how in the world can I recreate all the wonderful foods that I had as a kid, without feeling that my child is missing out on something?" Welcome to Dairy Free Darlings! Here we will do just that and BETTER!

I like the simple things in life. I like fresh and wholesome over processed and decadent any day. I always have that's just me. I also like simple to make, and easy to do type of things. I improvise if I'm out of an ingredient, and I am constantly trying to redo popular things with a healthy kick. I don't just mean substituting apple sauce for oil, or a banana for an egg. I mean like trying to infuse a recipe with calcium, protein, and added vitamins and minerals for my picky eater. I like to know that if she only eats her corn muffin and nothing else with dinner she's getting some really needed things. More so even than a popular processed whole meal containing cow's milk.

Learning to cook dairy-free is enlightening. First you learn how to simply substitute non-dairy milk and vegetable based butters to common recipes. As you begin to switch things up you'll find yourself switching more and more. You'll stop reading recipes as directions and you'll start improvising and paying attention to more than just dairy alternatives. Soon you'll become an enlightened, health conscious chef. Dairy-free and fabulous and unable to return to the ignorance is bliss phase. Rules are made to be broken people.

Here's my beginner just-transitioning dairy-free corn bread recipe:
( My little girls will eat 3-4 of these little muffins each)

1 box of Jiffy corn bread
follow instructions on back
-1 egg (you could use a small banana or 1/2 of a large one very ripe, if you're vegan or egg allergic).
-1/3 cup of (coconut) milk: I like the fresh coconut milk in the refrigerator section for baking and cooking. The fresh coconut milk is enriched with calcium and vitamin D2 and minimally processed.
Now, my additions:
2 tbs raw (white) sesame seeds-( I believe to be a must have in dairy free cooking)
1 very small zucchini shredded and minced in my food processor (you could add any vegetable)
1 tbs raw shelled hemp seeds
2 tsp ground ginger
Makes 9 muffins

A quick nutritional review:
2-3 g protein each (kind of hard to be exact)
These have substantial calcium because of sesame seeds (there's 88mg per tbs), more calcium +vitamin D in the coconut milk, hemp seeds have 5 mg of protein per tbs and egg has 6mg of protein per egg, the zucchini adds fiber, vitamin b & c. Ginger is a natural tummy tonic with great medicinal properties. These little muffins pack a punch of nutrition!