Mica’s World Loves Queer Eye: DIY Food

We made it!

This is the final article from my Queer Eye binge and how it changed my life for the better. I was so happy with those changes that I wanted to shout it out to you and your family because SHARING IS AWESOME!

We’re talking about food this week because who doesn’t love food? Well, some of our autistic friends don’t actually love most foods, of course, so keep reading to find several resources with tips and tricks just for your picky eater (if you have one). You’ll also learn the changes I made for my family in the kitchen plus you can download one of our favorite easy, healthy recipes right now.

I hope this series has helped your family as well!

 

My number-one take-away from the improve-your-relationship-with-food part of Queer Eye with Antoni was to buy local as much as possible.

I’ve learned so much about my local farms and farmers’ markets recently that it’s difficult for me to buy my fruits, veggies, flowers, honey, and other cool stuff in our regular grocery stores.

The order of places I prefer to shop:

1. Farmers’ markets
2. Trader Joe’s
3. Harris Teeter because it’s near my house, so convenience for the win!

Here’s the list of the changes I’ve made to improve our food supply:

1. Buy local fruits, veggies, honey, soaps, and other products as much as possible.
2. Buy vegetables and actually eat them. Hah! So, really, my second step was to find recipes for the in-season vegetables we were able to get.
   Michael, my son on the autism spectrum, works with Dr. Kilbane. You can sign up for her helpful 10 tips to have food be your new pharmacy and you can read more about her here.We are exploring new ways to cook vegetables, so our current goal is to eat a seasonal vegetable at least once a week. So far, we’ve done beets (I just cut them up and boiled them–boring but was okay), spaghetti squash (baked it and then ate it with ghee and salt–yum!), and this week Mason is working on a pumpkin. Once we learned more about alkalines (post-cancer research), we now try to have a leafy dark green salad three – six times a week.
3. Add in some traditional meals from our heritage. I’m half Russian and I love borscht so that’s definitely coming back into the rotation. My former spouse is from India, and I’ve learned to cook an easy and delicious vegetable dish, which my youngest son loves. “Mom, you can make that anytime if you want.” Translated: Make more of that tomorrow.
   Of course, it has way too many flavors and textures for my son on the spectrum, but it’s a super inexpensive way to cook a delicious meal that can last for several days. Here’s the recipe if you’re feeling brave enough to try a new Indian recipe: Mica’s Version of Gujarati Green Beans
4. Meal plan. I plan only a few meals a week so far (mostly breakfast for Michael so we can get out the door in a reasonable time with him eating enough), but I’m working on this. My goal is to cut down on my grocery bill, not end up with some really weird meals (Bubba Burgers, leftover rice, a small salad of only lettuce, and a banana . . . yummy?), and create dishes that my kids really love to actually eat.

Here are the two sites where I find most of my recipes:

Allrecipes

Minimalist Baker

Feel free to add your own favorite food resources in the comments. . . we can all use no-fail recipes that our kids might eat!

Autism Info:

Here’s a very science-y article that shares lots of different studies you might find interesting that include children on the autism spectrum: Changes in food selectivity in children with autism spectrum disorder.

My son finally decided to be gluten-free, casein-free, and sugar-free after an impactful meeting with his meds doctor at the age 15. With his awesome autism brain, he stopped eating all of those things THAT VERY SAME DAY! Don’t we all wish we could do that?!

You can read more about those restrictions here, but please know the internet is a very, very, very, very deep well of different opinions, experiences, and options. Wow.

Thanks as always for being you and for sticking with me through my Queer Eye phase. Watching that show really did make my life better, and I absolutely hope you improved even one small area of your life as well.

Lots of love,

Mica

Next week you can look forward to some feel-good stories about autism and our world! The world is a wonderful place!