My son has some food allergies. We deal with an anaphylactic reaction and fear of eggs on a daily basis... and he is allergic to soy as well. How allergic has yet to be determined. Actually we are going to his new doctor on Wednesday for a soy challenge. I'll keep you posted. 

Anyway, because of the egg issue, Riley typically does not eat with the rest of us. I was hoping he'd outgrow this one, but it only seems to be getting worse. We had 3 accidental ingestions last year and all 3 sent us to the Emergency Room. For a while, Riley was content to eat Kraft Mac & Cheese, or a grilled cheese, occasionally chicken breast. From Loops are a culinary staple for him. But he decided the other day that he wants to branch out. 

I could not be more excited. 

Guys, I sautéed plantains. Me. Seriously. I have never purchased fresh plantains before because, quite frankly, I have been intimidated by them. But part of the reason I chose to cook this recipe was the plantains. 

Thankfully, the Whole 30 Cookbook takes all the fear out of it. The book is full of tips... like when it told me that the plantains will be ready to use when the peels are almost black. I would have never known that. And let's be real, I would have tossed them thinking that they had expired. I will tell you though, they can take a while to ripen. I bought them thinking they'd be like avocados or bananas (quick to turn bad after you leave the Publix parking lot), but these guys took almost a week!

I could not find Jamaican jerk seasoning that was Whole 30 approved, so I made my own (also a tip in the book). It was easy and delicious. 

I added extra orange zest about halfway through the baking process. I liked it, but Stu and Reagan both wiped the orange off. Oh well. 

My plantains were not perfect. I think I used too much coconut oil, plus I forgot to add the vinegar. Oops. I still thought they were super tasty. Reagan thought they tasted like slimy sweet bananas. Stu (apparently) will only eat fried plantains from his favorite Cuban restaurant. He would not even try it. 

I am a sucker for BBQ. It's Reagan's favorite condiment. Riley is not such a big fan. Stu enjoys good BBQ too. 

I found this recipe in this magazine, although I did not follow it exactly:

This recipe is compliments of my grandma, Lala. I don't know the origin of the recipe. I have no idea if she created it or stole (I mean, adapted) from someone else. All I know is that is was in the cookbook she made for some of us. 

I love making these stuffed green peppers. They are super simple to make. You cook them in your microwave. They taste amazing. And *bonus* they heat up well for lunch the next day too. 

For the full recipe, scroll to the bottom of this post. 

I have decided to be healthier. Ugh. 

This morning, I decided to make a smoothie. Nothing special. I threw some spinach in with some frozen blueberries. Then added a touch of skim milk. Finally, I threw in some greek blueberry yogurt to make it creamier. 

Rea came in and wanted to make a smoothie of her own. So, we did. She wanted a banana and blueberry one. We added a bit of milk to her's also. 

As part of our homeschool curriculum, I am teaching Rea to cook. She has taken a liking to creating things in the kitchen. 

We picked up a kids' cookbook at Barnes and Noble the other day. She has read every page. And she has marked a number of things for us to try. Here is the first one: