The Fourth of July with Feingold

Working the Feingold Program to eliminate artificial colors and flavors, preservatives, and salicylates is as enlightening as it is challenging. We’re motivated by our desire to manage our child’s severe ADHD symptoms, of course, but we’ve gained some unexpected benefit from our efforts.
It really is a lifestyle decision, when I think about. On the Fourth of July, many of us like to barbecue, and we’ve enjoyed many a meal cooked on the grill that our daughter could eat. This year, however, we chose not to cook out. Instead, I decided to go with a Mexican theme and make homemade tortillas and refried beans. It was a brave choice for me. I’m a lazy cook, I might as well admit it, and homemade tortillas and refried beans is the most labor-intensive dish I make besides spanikopita.
The first thing I discovered as I studied the recipe is that I had no acceptable shortening. The popular name brand shortening I had in my cupboard had TBHQ on the label, so I knew my daughter couldn’t eat the tortillas I’d planned to make. I had acceptable tortillas from Trader Joe’s (I also find acceptable tortillas at Whole Foods Market) so my daughter wouldn’t notice the difference. She claims she doesn’t like them anymore, so I wasn’t concerned. Out of curiosity, I checked the Feingold Foodlist and found two brands of shortening I can buy when I run out.
I used several cooking tools to make this dish—the KitchenAid mixer with the dough hook to work the dough, a potato masher to mash the beans, a rolling pin to roll out the tortillas (I can never seem to make them come out perfectly round), and a griddle to cook them. I use the recipes for Refried Beans and for Flour Tortillas from Joy of Cooking. Joy is an excellent resource because the recipes are all from scratch and they don’t call for processed ingredients.
The hardest part is getting started, so I jumped right in and prepared the dough. While I let the tortilla balls rest, I prepared the beans. My husband started the rice in the rice cooker as soon as I announced my intention to make the meal, and he kindly grated the cheese, chopped the tomatoes and avocado for me.
Tomatoes, by the way, are to be avoided in Stage One of the Feingold Program because they are high in natural salicylates. Fortunately my daughter responds well to tomatoes so she can eat them, but in this dish, a corn salsa made with lime juice and cilantro makes a nice substitute for tomatoes or even a nice addition to the dish as a whole.
Cooking from scratch does take more time and effort than preparing convenience foods. However, much of what we make from scratch—from salad dressings to easy cakes—doesn’t take that much more effort since we’re in the kitchen preparing a meal anyway. We’ve gotten comfortable with our style of cooking, it tastes better, and we feel that it’s worth it.