Take it away, take it away. . . take away this ball and chain. . . .

A little Social D to get us started!! Well our "ball and chain" omeprazole has been taken away and we don't have to retry it again! Hooray! We were on a teeny tiny dose for this time around and it was still increasing her reflux a little and causing some issues with malabsorption. So now we can jump back in to the food trials, happily, and hopefully get some veggies under our belt. I am a vegetarian after all-- my kid has GOT to eat a veggie or two!!!

So this AM we started rutabagas, also known as "wax turnips" and "swedes." For rutabaga preparation, here is what you do. In selecting the rutabaga, you want to select one that is heavy for its size. I found other rutabagas similar in size and weighed them in my hands to find the one most dense. These are veggies that are really waxed up at the grocery store so it is super important that you remove the skin. You want to wash them of course before cutting. If you are really freaked out about the wax, I found that you can wash them in a bowl of water with a couple spoonfuls of baking soda mixed in. This is helpful in removing pesticides as well as wax. I used a sharp knife and cut off thick pieces of skin, leaving the somewhat peppery smelling, whitish-golden flesh exposed. I then cubed it and boiled the cubes, just as you would with potatoes. I let them boil until they were literally starting to fall apart in the water, drained them and mashed them. I scooped out 1 Tbsp and mixed it in with B's beloved pears. The rest I set aside for tomorrow's trial-- rutabaga pancakes! (Think potato pancakes!) I had a pretty big rutabaga, so I only used half of it for B (and I know there will be a ton leftover!).

With the remaining half, I cubed it as well and then decided to roast it. I love roasted potatoes so I thought-- why not this? After searching around online, I combined a few cooking suggestions and decided to add a few tablespoons of oil (I had 3 cups of cubes and used 1 Tbsp oil for each cup) and some spices, my current fav being Herbs de Provence (There was a spice sale at Big Y!!!) I threw in a little salt and pepper and tossed the mixture together in a stoneware baking dish. I covered it and baked at 375 degrees for a little over an hour-- until pieces were a nice golden brown and very soft. Also, since there was a lot of rutabaga in the dish, I stirred the mixture up every 20 minutes or so. My husband and I will have these tonight with dinner! Maybe one day B will get some spices under her belt and we can use this recipe for her!!!! Anyways, I of course taste tested this concoction and it was quite good. The rutabagas are pretty sweet so I added a little more salt than I normally would to tone down the flavor. They were delicious!