GFCF Lemon Garlic Chicken served with Lemon Dill Carrots

I recently made a delicious and easy meal consisting of 2 basic ingredients we regularly keep in our fridge: chicken and carrots. I’ve made this dish many times before, but have never taken the time to write down how I did it. I’m one of those pinch-of-this and a dash-of-that kind of gals. Most days I don’t really think about measurements and I just go with my gut. Generally things turn out pretty well, but there have definitely been times where my husband and kids turned up their noses at a few of my creative dining experiments!

This particular dinner is one we do fairly regularly with a few modifications here and there. I thought it would be good to share, so I wrote things down as cooked and I even managed to take a few pictures in the process. All this for you, my dear readers! I hope you enjoy this simple anytime dinner!    

GFCF Lemon Garlic Chicken

1 tbsp organic coconut oil (or olive oil, etc.)
2 cloves minced or finely chopped garlic (add more if you prefer a stronger garlic taste)
1 pound organic, free range chicken (we used thighs)
Pinch of dill and sage
Sea salt and pepper to taste
¼ to ½ cup white wine (or chicken stock)
Juice from ½ to 1 lemon (depending on size of lemon and how much you want to taste it)

In a large sauté pan, heat up the coconut oil and add the garlic. When the pan is hot and the garlic is caramelized, add chicken pieces and spices. Cook on medium high heat until the chicken has a nice color on both sides. Reduce heat to medium, add wine, cover and cook chicken. When chicken is almost fully cooked (as determined by a meat thermometer), uncover and simmer, reducing sauce if needed. Just before the chicken is ready, add the lemon juice, stir and cook for 1-2 minutes.

GFCF Lemon Dill Carrots

6 medium organic carrots, sliced
1 tbsp organic coconut oil (or olive oil, etc.)
2 splashes white wine (or chicken stock)
Pinch of dill
Sea salt and pepper to taste
Dash of ground ginger (a little goes a long way, or use approximately ¼ tsp freshly grated ginger)
1 overflowing tbsp raw honey
Juice from ½ lemon

In a small/medium sauté pan, heat up the coconut oil and carrots to medium heat. Stir and after a couple of minutes, add the wine and spices. Cover and simmer until carrots start to become tender. Uncover to reduce sauce, add honey and mix thoroughly. Right before the carrots are cooked perfectly, add the lemon juice, stir and cook for 1-2 minutes.

Plate the carrots, spooning a little of the lemon dill sauce from the pan over the top of the carrots. Add chicken to the top of the carrots and drizzle some of the garlic lemon sauce from the pan over the top of the chicken.

Add a cheese crouton for a little crunch, if you like (as pictured above). Stay tuned...I will post the directions on how to make a sheep’s milk pecorino romano cheese crouton very soon.

The chicken and carrots complement each other very well, and you will find that everything tastes light and fresh, yet very flavorful. This is an easy, simple and delicious dinner that everyone will enjoy.



Prince Charming

Monkey



Stress of autism similar to that of combat soldiers

Today is Memorial Day 2011. As we all take a moment to remember the fallen that have protected our freedom, I thought it would be interesting to share an article that draws a comparison between combat soldiers and that of autism moms.

The article states, “Mothers of adolescents and adults with autism experience chronic stress comparable to combat soldiers and struggle with frequent fatigue and work interruptions. They found that a hormone associated with stress was extremely low, consistent with people experiencing chronic stress such as soldiers in combat.”

Now, this should come as no shock to those of us in the trenches, particularly those parents who have children functioning at a low to moderate level and/or who have concurrent medical conditions. Even though I am personally stressed out quite a bit with the raising of my boys, I know I cannot even begin to imagine what other parents go through with much more complex situations than that of my boys.

Another article along the same lines discusses stress among autism dads. “More than 30 percent of fathers of grown children with autism experience symptoms of depression so severe that they warrant clinical attention. Fathers of adolescents and young adults with autism experience high levels of depression and are pessimistic about what the future holds for their son or daughter, much more so than dads whose kids have other disabilities like Down syndrome and fragile X.”

As with the first article, I don’t think this is a surprise to anyone. I have come to learn (from my own experience and that of my friends) that men process the diagnosis differently than women. They can really struggle moving forward into action mode. I think this is where symptoms of depression can easily come into play.

For good measure, I found one more article about the stress of autism from a study done locally at the University of Washington. “The parents in the autism group had higher levels of parenting stress and psychological distress compared to moms of children with disabilities without autism. They had higher levels of stress, but the relationship of the stress to problem behavior was different. Problem behavior accounted for more of the stress in moms of children with development delays without autism.”

If you are a parent to a child with autism you know what the stresses are. None of the information in any of these articles should be astonishing news. If anything, you now have undeniable proof that you are most definitely not alone in your experience.

Memorial Day weekend is a time to reflect on the service and sacrifices of our troops as well as relax and spend some time with your family. We are the veterans of autism and our duty is a lifetime of service. I hope you are able to take a moment to recognize and appreciate the daily efforts you make on behalf of your child.

  

It just keeps gettin’ better and better!

**First, a disclaimer: What you are about to read is the whiny rant of a mom who is financially strapped, tired of fighting, stressed out, exhausted, and angry as hell. This post is not long, but it speaks to the struggle that thousands of families face both in my home state and across this nation. I know my situation is a walk in the park compared to others out there, but I just needed to vent. Thank you!**  

A couple of weeks ago I got a letter in the mail from our health insurance company in regard to an appeal for over 6 months of therapy charges that they denied. Their letter states:

“Based on a review of the submitted information in conjunction with the plan document language and healthcare policy, it has been determined that the charges…would not be medically eligible for benefits. Based on the documentation received, this child is autistic and there are no habilitative benefits under the medical plan.”

Welcome to insurance discrimination against autism, people. It runs rampant here in Washington.

As if it could not get any better, last night we got our new open enrollment packet for my husband’s work. The letter included stated:

“We must unfortunately raise the…plan rates this year…with an overall increase of 25%.”

We already pay close to $700 a month for medical and dental alone. With the new price increase, our cost is almost $800 a month, not including our other elections and deductions. I may have to sell a kidney here soon to pay for the benefits that my kids need (even though the dang insurance company refuses to pay on medically necessary claims).

So, instead of spinning my head around and spewing forth all of the venom I feel about our health insurance and financial situation, I thought it would be best if I just stopped writing now and simply posted a few more comics.

I removed a couple of letters on this pic. I think you get the idea! 

Is there a 2-year old in there?

If you are a regular reader, you know that we’ve been having some behavioral issues escalate recently with Monkey regarding his honesty (or lack thereof). I reached my breaking point a couple of weeks ago when I caught him stealing vitamins and food. I wrote about that day here, explaining what happened and what the repercussions were. I knew something had to be done. After speaking with my husband that morning, I immediately called the school to talk with his teachers.

They promptly set up a strategy meeting to discuss Monkey with all of the teachers and professionals that are regularly involved with him. A few days later we arrived to a room full of his IEP team members. I have to say, it was really nice to have everyone’s involvement, including a person from the school district’s special education office. Thankfully it was not an IEP meeting, so there was a distinctly lighter mood in the room. We began by each discussing the problems we had seen with Monkey from our various perspectives. Then we brainstormed together for solutions.

In the middle of this meeting one of the participants said something I will never forget.

“If you think about all of the things he’s doing, this is what you would typically see with a 2-year old who is exploring his boundaries. When they’re 2, it’s not as big of a deal when they do little things to test you. They might put their hand in the cookie jar to try to take a cookie, but they are easily caught because you’re standing right next to them and they didn’t think to look beyond the cookie jar. Unlike a 2-year old, he can be sneaky and manipulative because he's 8 and he’s really smart. He’s obviously got more maturity and experience than a 2-year old, but he’s still going through all of those phases of development. He was delayed in some areas so it took him longer to get there."

"Basically, it’s like you’ve got a 2-year old inside of an 8-year old body.”

When I heard those words, I almost couldn’t speak. I nodded my head in agreement and let the words sink in. “It’s like you’ve got a 2-year old inside of an 8-year old body.”

The words stung. But, they were true. I almost began to cry right on the spot. I looked over at my husband and saw the same look of shock and recognition on his face. As much as we both didn’t like it, we had just been given an accurate description of our son. Titan looked over at me and I could see that it had clicked into his brain just as it had in mine. She was right and we both knew it.

The meeting concluded after we came up with some good ideas and a game plan. My husband and I conferred in the parking lot as he was getting into his car to head to work. All we could talk about was how Monkey was like a 2-year old. We knew it would impact our approach with him at home, but we just had to get our mind wrapped around this new information.

How had we not figured this out before? It seemed so obvious once it had been said.

Both of our boys are on the autism spectrum. We have no other children. Even though the boys are polar opposites, they still have the same diagnosis. We’ve been watching both of them grow up under the altered development that autism brings. We have had no tangible experience with raising a “typical” child. And, that’s why we had no clue whatsoever that we were dealing with an 8-year old acting like a 2-year old. That’s truly some news we needed to hear. And, we hope to use that information to make positive changes.       

Wordless Wednesday: Do not disturb



Monkey posted this sign on his door. He has a computer
game that teaches 51 languages. I think he might be
learning them alphabetically. He was telling me how
to say some words in Albanian the other day!