My quest for varied and nutritious recipes that meet Martin’s dietary requirements has led me to some cookbooks thick with dust on my kitchen shelves. I adapted this dish from The Vegetarian Resource Group‘s Vegan Handbook, a book I acquired a decade or so ago and hardly have cracked since. I made the soup for dinner tonight. It met the Martin approval test.

1/2 cup navy beans, soaked overnight
1 cup almond flour
2 parsnips, peeled and diced
1/4-1/2 cup minced cilantro
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt, kelp flakes, or dried celery
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

Cook the beans for an hour in six cups water. (I also tossed in a kombu frond, which I removed at the end of the hour.) Then add the rest of the ingredients except for the lemon juice and cook another half-hour, until the beans are cooked thoroughly. Use an immersion blender or a food processor to purée the soup. Add the lemon juice right before serving.

With the beans and almonds, this is like a tasty protein blast. Adding plenty of cilantro boosts mitochondrial processing.

This recipe comes, with very minor modification, from a book called Kristen Suzanne’s Easy Raw Vegan Dehydrating. The chips are easy to make and yummy. If you pack them up for school or to travel, include an unbleached paper towel in the container to help soak up any extra oil and keep them from getting soggy.

4 medium zucchini or yellow summer squash
1/4 cup oil (pumpkin seed oil gives a nice taste but also tints the chips slightly green!)
2 tbsps fresh lemon or lime juice
2 cloves garlic, pressed (right now, I substitute white pepper and dehydrated celery)
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt or kelp flakes
dash of cayenne (right now, I omit)
dash of paprika (right now, I omit)
1/2 cup finely minced herbs of choice

Mix all ingredients other than squash in a large bowl and set aside. Wash the outside of the squash well. Without peeling them, slice the squash into 1/8″ discs (a mandoline slicer works well). Stir the squash discs into the other ingredients, being sure to coat each piece well. Remove the discs one-by-one, shaking off any excess oil, and transfer to a dehydrator. Dehydrate on medium heat for 14-24 hours, to desired crispiness.

Keep away from adults. These are addictive.

Some foods I never cheat on when it comes to Martin’s diet. For example, I never slip in “just a little bit of soy” or “a pinch of refined sugar.” But every once in a while I do try to treat him with a scoop of an item typically off-limits. Tonight is one such occasion. As I’ve written, Martin’s diet now includes gluten-free grains, in moderation (typically no more than 1/4 cup per day). This is because he was getting some ketosis from all the fats, and because we’ve made good progress in eliminating yeast overgrowth. For dinner, I’ve made him buckwheat soba noodles with this nut sauce. The special ingredient? Chickpea miso. The original recipe called for sweet white miso, which as a soy product is totally off limits. I replaced it with chickpea miso. Chickpeas generally are too starchy for Martin’s diet, but hey, every kid needs to party now and then.  I use the South River brand, which is made with rice but gluten- and soy-free.

I’ve also sautéed some cauliflower in sesame oil with sesame seeds, which I will put on top of the noodles and nut sauce for a nice, complete meal.

I adapted this recipe from an old cookbook on my shelf, called The Peaceful Cook by Harriet Kofalk. One benefit of the cookbook, for us at this time, is that it uses nothing in the onion/garlic family. (According to the introduction, “These are stimulants, much like caffeine, and can negatively affect the subtlety of our internal processes.” Hmmm….)

1 cup walnuts or pecans, pre-soaked and dehydrated
1 cup vegetable stock, according to your child’s diet
3 tbsps chickpea miso

Roast the nuts in a dry pan until they are crisp. Combine the miso and stock in a blender or food processer and then, with the blades running, add the nuts a few at a time to form a saucy consistency. Toss with gluten-free noodles or pour over rice.

This began as a recipe for “vegetarian white bean chili” that I had found someplace and copied onto a note card. Of course, the loss of tomatoes, peppers, onions, and garlic from Martin’s current diet means that “chili,” in its usual form, does not work for us. So I changed nearly every ingredient in the recipe and came up with something between root-vegetable chili and a stew. It was delicious. Martin ate the chili/stew as is. After Martin went to bed, I set aside a portion for his next-day lunch and mixed the remainder into tomato sauce, which I served with gnocchi for me, Adrian, and our houseguests. Happiness all around.

1/4 cup oil (I used sunflower)
1 cup navy beans, pre-soaked
1.5 cups vegetable juice (I juiced an acorn squash, two parsnips, and some celery)
1 turnip, diced
3 ribs celery, diced
1 yellow squash, peeled and diced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 tbsp fresh oregano leaves
1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp celery salt (I used my mother’s, which is all celery and no salt)

Half-cook the pre-soaked beans in filtered water, until they are softened but not squishy, then drain. Combine the half-cooked beans with the vegetable juice and squash; cook over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, sauté the turnip and celery in the oil until soft. When the beans are almost cooked through, add the turnip-celery mixture and the spices. Finish cooking.

I promise to return, tomorrow, to my ASD recovery six-month review. Meanwhile, I realized this evening, as I prepared it, that I have not yet posted the recipe for my most-favorite go-to dinner for Martin: Indian broccoli-and-greens purée. You may be thinking that broccoli-and-greens purée sounds too healthy to be tasty. This dish is indeed healthy. On the other hand, I pile on the fats and spices to make it rich and delicious. As evidence of its appeal, I offer an anecdote: This evening Adrian was helping Martin eat, while I meted out the day’s final supplements and prepared Martin’s room for bedtime. Martin was watching a Sesame Street video and obviously content with the food. Nevertheless, at some point Adrian (who had already polished off his own portion of purée) called, “Martin says he doesn’t want any more of his dinner. He says I can finish it.” Yes, my husband was attempting to steal food from our three-year-old son. It’s that yummy.

As to why this is a favorite go-to dish, it requires very little that is fresh, except for sweet potato or squash, and ginger, which can all hang around for quite a while before going bad. That means I can schedule broccoli-and-greens purée toward the end of the grocery-shopping cycle and not worry about the ingredients spoiling before I prepare the meal.

The most challenging ingredient is cashew cream. I make cashew cream at home. I soak raw cashews overnight in purified water, drain and rinse them, Vitamix them at high speed with more purified water, strain through a nut-milk bag to make cashew milk, then cook the milk over medium heat (stirring constantly to prevent scorching) until it becomes creamy. This concoction keeps well in the refrigerator. If you want to avoid making cashew cream at home, replacement options for this recipe include (1) a nondairy cream cheese that fits the requirements of your child’s current diet, such as Dr. Cow; (2) a nondairy yogurt that fits the requirements of your child’s current diet; or (3) creamed coconut (I like the Let’s Do…Organic brand), very modestly diluted with warm filtered water.

This recipe is adapted from a version of nariyal sak found in Lord Krishna’s Cuisine: The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking. That’s a book about Vedic cooking, which among other things does not use onion or garlic—very helpful to me in these trying months until Martin is allowed to have them again. As I’ve made clear, I think onion and garlic are sustenance of the gods, except (apparently) Lord Krishna.

10 oz. frozen broccoli
10 oz. frozen spinach or kale
10 oz. frozen something else green, like asparagus or green beans
1 sweet potato (or 1/2 acorn squash), peeled and diced
2 green chili peppers (I leave these out right now)
1″ chunk of ginger root, peeled and sliced
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 tsps ground coriander
1 tsp salt (I replace with kelp or dried and ground celery)
1/4-1/3 cup ghee
2 tsps cumin seeds (preferably pre-soaked and dried)
1 tsp garam masala (this is an Indian spice, available at most groceries)
1/4-1/3 cup cashew cream (see introduction, above)

Put the frozen veggies, sweet potato or squash, chili peppers if using, ginger root, turmeric, coriander, and salt or salt replacement into a large pot, turn the heat to medium, and cover. Stirring occasionally to prevent sticking, let everything simmer until the sweet potato or squash is very tender, about 45 minutes. Then purée the cooked mixture in a food processor.

Heat the ghee over medium-to-medium-high heat in a large frying pan. (I know it seems like a lot of ghee, but everything else in the recipe is salubrious. Cut yourself a break and throw in ghee with abandon.) When the ghee is hot, add the cumin seeds and let them sizzle for 30 seconds until they darken a little, then scoop in the entire puréed greens. Cook until all the ghee is absorbed into the greens mixture, about five minutes.

Reduce the heat to medium-low and stir in the garam masala and cashew cream. Warm through and serve.

If your child is able to have grains, rice makes an ideal accompaniment to this dish. I try to complete the Indian effect by quickly frying, in ghee, the quinoa “pita breads” my mother makes for Martin and pretending that they are naan. That is mostly for my own amusement. Martin wouldn’t recognize a naan if it crawled into bed with him.

If a food is vaguely pasty and not clearly identifiable as puréed broccoli, my son calls it “hummus.” Skordalia, blended dahl, even nut butters—in Martin’s palate, they’re all hummus. I don’t mind so much; after all, he likes hummus, in all its iterations. Nevertheless, I crave some variety in monikers, and I’m not above going cutesy to get it. That’s how this recipe, a version of which Kathleen Reily sent me as “zucchini hummus,” instead became known in my home as eenie-meenie-zucchini-tahini. If you can throw a bunch of stuff in a food processor or Vitamix, you can make eenie-meenie-zucchini-tahini. Saying the name ten times fast is much more challenging.

2 peeled zucchini, roughly cut
1 cup raw tahini
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice, or mixed lemon and lime juice
1/2 cup olive oil (or another light-colored oil such as macademia, to taste)
sea salt
1-2 tsps ground cumin

Process all ingredients in a food processor or Vitamix until smooth and creamy. Among other small variations, this recipe can also be made with garlic (I would say four cloves raw or six cloves roasted). When Martin can eat garlic again, I’ll go back to adding it, because with the exceptions of hibiscus tea and (some) desserts, everything tastes better with garlic.

This is another recipe adapted from the Vegan Planet cookbook. The cookbook suggests serving the patties with three-fruit chutney. That’s not available for Martin, but I find that either homemade cilantro-coconut chutney or else a cilantro-avocado spread make a nice alternative. Another variation is to dice fresh curry leaves (if you can find them) and sauté them with the squash, then decrease the curry powder accordingly.

olive oil
1/2 cup minced onion (I substitute celery)
1/2 cup lentils, pre-soaked
1 cup diced butternut or acorn squash
1/2 cup raw almonds, pre-soaked
2/3 cup sunflour (or sesame seeds, soaked and dried)
1/4 cup minced parsley leaves
2 tsps curry powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne (I leave this out)

Cook the lentils and drain them well. Bake or sauté (do not boil, because it makes the patties too wet) the squash until soft. Heat a spoonful of olive oil in a frying pan, add the onion, cover, and cook five minutes until soft. Transfer the onion to a food processor, leaving as much oil as possible in the frying pan. Add the remaining ingredients to the food processor and process until smooth. Form into patties, about ½-inch thick. Add some more oil to the frying pan and fry the patties until browned on each side.

In yesterday’s post about Martin’s menu, I referred to Indian-spiced sweet-potato-and-yellow-split-pea cakes with fresh cilantro. These are pretty good, so I thought I’d post the recipe. In the event that your child is not up to sweet potatoes yet because of the carbs, winter squash makes a good substitute. This recipe is very heavily adapted from one for potato cakes that I found in a little “In a Nutshell” volume called Indian Vegetarian Cooking: A Step-by-Step Guide. I find that it makes sense to soak the split peas overnight, and then to set them to cook around lunchtime for that evening’s dinner. You can also cook the sweet potatoes in advance. Another option is to make the whole recipe in advance, right up to forming the patties. Then refrigerate them and dip and egg and cook when ready. I also cook a few without the egg for myself, as I don’t eat egg.

1 cup pre-soaked yellow split peas
2.5 cups filtered water
2 tsps oil (I prefer coconut with this recipe)
oil or ghee for frying
5 fenugreek seeds
1 onion or 4 stalks celery, finely minced
1 tbsp seeded and finely minced green chilis (I leave these out right now)
pinch of ginger powder
minced fresh cilantro (I pile it on, like half a cup)
2.5 cups mashed sweet potato
1 egg, beaten (duck egg works fine)

Cook the split peas thoroughly and allow them to cool. Heat the oil and cook the fenugreek seeds for a few seconds, until they become fragrant. Add the onion or celery and fry until it softens and begins to brown. In a bowl mix together the split peas, oil with seeds and onion/celery, and all other ingredients except egg and cooking oil or ghee. Form this mixture into flat patties. Dip each patty in the beaten egg and immediately fry in hot oil or ghee, until brown on each side. I usually drain them on brown paper bags, but that’s not completely necessary.

This recipe I can’t credit to any particular source, because by now I’ve made it so many times and changed it around so much that it’s an amalgam of different recipes and my own kitchen needs. This is our most basic recipe for baked cookies. Let me forewarn that, without eggs or anything that should not be eaten raw, the dough is edible. That’s a danger.

3 cups nut flour (usually, I use 2 cups almond and 1 cup hazelnut)
1 ripe pear, puréed
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup coconut oil
3 tsps vanilla extract
1/4-1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Form into little balls, place on an oiled (my choice is usually coconut, almond, or macademia oil) cookie sheet, and flatten into cookie discs. Bake 10-15 minutes at 300° until the cookies are golden but not yet brown.

I made these cookies this morning, for Martin to take to a birthday party this afternoon. For an added kick a whisked I quail egg and used it to glaze the cookies before baking. This had a two-fold benefit. First, it gave the finished cookies a shiny professional appearance. Second, because I don’t eat eggs, it will keep me from stealing the delicious morsels from Martin.