Frankfort mom wins CF recipe contest

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Erin Burns with her 19-month-old son, Dean, at their Frankfort home. | Brett Roseman~Sun-Times Media

Quick and Colorful Chicken Salad

2 cans premium chunk chicken breast (12.5 ounces each)

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup sour cream

1/4 cup Greek yogurt

1/4 cup sliced grapes

1/4 cup chopped apples

1/4 cup chopped red or orange bell pepper

1/8 cup dried cranberries
(or raisins)

1 tablespoon lemon pepper

1 tablespoon salt

Drain chicken and shred with a fork. Slice grapes and combine with chicken.

Chop apples and bell pepper and add to mixture. Mix
mayonnaise, sour cream and Greek yogurt into chicken mix.

Add cranberries and mix. Add lemon pepper and salt and mix.

Nutritional Information: 6 servings; 200 calories per serving; 12 g Fat; 1850 mg Sodium;
18 g Protein; 18 mg Calcium

Article Extras

Updated: January 2, 2012 8:03AM

While the rest of America struggles to trim excess fat and calories from their meals, Erin Burns is doing her best to chub up some of her dishes.

That’s because her 19-month-old son, Dean, has cystic fibrosis, a condition that requires him to eat 50 percent more calories than the average toddler.

One of her son’s favorite dishes is chicken salad, which Burns makes with extra salt, mayonnaise, Greek yogurt and full-fat sour cream.

“I also put grapes in it, which he loves,” said Burns, who lives in Frankfort.

Little Dean is hardly alone in his endorsement of his mom’s recipe. Burns was recently named one of four winners of
the 2011 CFChef Challenge recipe contest.

The contest was a kick-off event associated with the launch of CFChef, an online resource
developed to help meet the unique nutritional needs of people living with cystic fibrosis.

Burns’ quick and colorful chicken salad was selected as the top recipe in the lunch category based on nutritional value, ease of preparation, taste and the story behind the recipe.

“My goal is to keep ‘Deano’ as plump as possible,” she said. Right now, he’s in the 75th percentile for his weight and that’s where she’d like him to stay.

A newborn screening revealed that Dean had cystic fibrosis, an inherited chronic condition that affects 30,000 children and adults in the United States. Until recently, it typically wasn’t diagnosed until age 3 or 4. CF affects both the respiratory and digestive systems.

In addition to receiving twice- daily lung treatments, Dean must consume 18 to 21 capsules of digestive enzymes a day.

“The pancreas doesn’t work; he doesn’t produce any digestive juices,” Burns said. “The capsules help him digest things.”

Because his body also can’t process vitamins A, D, E and K, he also needs to consume extra calories.

“We usually add extra butter or sour cream to his meal,” Burns said. “This way of eating is a different mind-set.”

An uncle told Burns about the contest, which was judged by Food Network Iron Chef Michael Symon, former NFL player Boomer Esiason, who has a child with CF, as well as a dietitian and CF patient.

Burns said she won a chef’s hat signed by the judges and a dietary scale, which shows the dietary content of foods when placed on it.

Erin and her husband, Jim, have set up a website, eatpraydean.com, to explain Dean’s condition and to fundraise for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

The couple have three other children, Cali, 8, Owen, 6 and Evie, 3. Having to fatten up meals for one child can be challenging, Burns said.

“It’s forced me to look at labels more,” she said.

“But we’ve always considered ourselves to be extremely blessed that he was diagnosed early,” she said.

For more information on cystic fibrosis and for recipes, visit
www.chef4cf.com.

For more information on Dean Burns’ condition, visit
eatpraydean.com