In my previous post I mentioned several foods that I never ate growing up, because of the high protein count. While people around me ate pizza and hamburgers, I had to eat some sort of low protein food that was often something completely different.
I remember one instance I was on vacation with my family, my entire family. My great aunt had (and still has) a cottage "up north" in Michigan. One summer, I must have been in late elementary school, we took a trip up with all my cousins. I mean all my cousins. There were probably about forty of us staying in the cottage that week. The first night we were at the cottage one of the cousins decided they would make sloppy joe's, since this was an easy way to feed such a large crowd.
Sloppy joe is definitely not a PKU-friendly food. Whenever it was possible, my mom would make me an alternative to what people were eating that resembled everyone else's food. This time, since the meal was sort of spur of the moment, there was no substitute for the sloppy joe meat. We would always take several packages of low protein pasta and other foods when we travelled to ensure I had something healthy to eat. Well, obviously, 11-year old me did not want to have pasta when everyone else was having sloppy joe. Of course I never had sloppy joe and probably would not have liked it, but the idea of having to have a special meal in front of all my cousins made me pout and refuse to eat. In retrospect, I probably called more attention to myself by refusing to eat than to have just eaten my pasta and shut up about it.
As I mentioned above, my mom would always try to replicate what everyone else was eating with my low protein foods. When the family had spaghetti for dinner, this was very easy because many diet food companies carry low protein pastas. The only major difference would be that I would have a meat free tomato sauce.
Meals such as this were easy, but my mom would get very creative when trying to replicate a meal where meat was the main dish. One example would be when she made schnitzel. For those of you who don't know, my mom is German, so this was a rather regular occurrence growing up. Schnitzel is traditionally made with pork, yet again not a very PKU friendly food. The sides however, usually some for of potatoes and salad, were fine. Rather than just eat the sides (and, heaven forbid, have a meal different from everyone else!) my mom would take a piece of my low protein bread and prepare like the meat. It wasn't an exact replica, but it looked similar to everyone else's plates- and I loved it!
I have very fond memories of these meals. A piece of bread that has been cooking in juices and gravy takes in so much more flavor than a piece of meat! As I try to get my low protein diet back to where it used to be, this is a method I really want to implement in my life again.
I would love to try that low protein shnitzel! :) I totally know what you mean though -- with PKU you sometimes have to just eat something totally different. This is something I try to tell parents and care-takers -- it's OK if your child has to eat something else. Reading your post though reminded me that sometimes the kid doesn't FEEL like it's ok. Maybe I'm just a go with the flow personality, but I don't remember it being too big of a deal to have a different meal myself. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
ReplyDelete-Elisa Skidmore, Me, You and PKU
The low protein schnitzel is delicious! Basically, all you do is fry a piece of low protein bread in butter- if you do this after having prepared traditional schnitzel it soaks up some of those flavors, too. My mom would salt and pepper the "schnitzel" and add a little paprika for some extra flavor. You can also make a creamy mushroom and onion sauce to serve on top- like a "Jaeger Schnitzel." This is delicious, too!
ReplyDeleteI see that you have PKU, do your kids have PKU as well?