Delayed until later

I am not able to take the time and blog this morning. You can check back later if you'd like for more food allergy recipes. Have a great day!

Making Sunbutter

I could talk all day about how great the product of Sunbutter is. It opened up a world for Kaden. Now, he could have sunbutter & jelly rice crackers. I do understand though that if you don't live in an area to get some, it makes it hard. So, I have a recipe for making sunbutter - not as creamy as sunbutter, but it's better than nothing. :0)

Sunbutter

1 1/2 c. sunflower seeds
6+ Tbsp. sunflower/safflower oil
2 T. honey
1/2 t. salt

Preheat oven to 350*. Bake sunflower seeds 6-8 min. Careful not to burn.

Grind up sunflower seeds in a blender little by little until as small as possible. Then, add oil and honey to desired consistency. Add salt for flavoring.

It's Friday!!!

You made it! Welcome to Friday! :0) Let's celebrate...

Chocolate Oatmeal Bars
Ingredients:
1/3 cup oil
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup corn syrup/honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups oatmeal
1 package (11-1/2 ounces) Ghiradelli chocolate chips
less than ½ cup of sunbutter/creamy peanut butter
2 c. mini-marshmallows

Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar until and fluffy. Beat in corn syrup/honey and vanilla. Stir in oats; press into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan.

Bake at 350° for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

In a microwave, melt chocolate chips and sunbutter/peanut butter; stir until blended. Spread over cooled bars. Top with marshmallows. Chill until set; cut into bars. Yield: 2 dozen

Poor Man's Pizza

Well, I'm stretching it a bit to make pizza international... :0) But, here you go.

Poor Man's Pizza

Ingredients
1 lb ground turkey or beef
1/8 tsp. oregano
2 eggs
or (1 Tbsp. egg replacer + ¼ c water)
2/3 c. milk of choice
1 15 oz. can tomato or pizza sauce
1 small onion, chopped
1 c. GF flour
¾ tsp. xanthan gum
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. salt
2 c. mozzarella cheese (opt’l)

Recipe Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400.
Lightly brown meat and onions, season with salt and pepper. Set aside. Combine flour, salt, pepper, oregano, egg replacer, water and milk, making a soft batter. (If too sticky add a little more water until it is spreadable.) Grease a 9x13 pan and sprinkle lightly with corn meal (GF flour). Pour batter into pan, sprinkle meat over batter and bake at 400 for 15 minutes. Remove from oven; spread pizza sauce over meat and sprinkle with cheese. Return to oven and bake 15 minutes more.

Note: After the first time in the oven, before topping with cheese I’ve also added Canadian bacon, mushrooms, and zucchini as toppings. So make pizza to your liking.

Chicken Fajitas

I love fajitas -- they are so flexible for allergy eaters.

Ingredients
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut up into 1/2 inch strips
1 medium onion, sliced
1 pepper, green or red
1 tsp. crushed oregano
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
4 Tbsp. orange juice
4-6 tortillas

Other optional toppings for fajitas:
Rice
Lettuce
Corn
Salsa
Refried beans

Recipe Instructions:

In a resealable bag, combine chicken, oregano, cumin and orange juice. Seal and shake bag to cover chicken with marinade. Let marinade at least 10 minutes or as long as overnight in the fridge.

Spray a large heavy skillet generously with oil. Heat until very hot. Saute unions and peppers until tender. Remove from pan. Spray again with oil. Drain chicken strips and saute until done. Add vegetables back into pan and reheat. Serve on warm tortillas with toppings of choice.

Gyro Meat

Ever had gyro meat? YUM! My family loooves gyro meat on pita bread. Because Kaden can't have pita bread, we put it on tacos for him.

1 lb of ground lamb, goat, beef or turkey
½ c. finely chopped onion
2 tsp. fresh garlic
¾ tsp. salt
½ tsp. marjoram
½ tsp. rosemary
¼ tsp. black pepper

Mix everything together. Let sit in fridge 1-2 hours.

Make as a log in meatloaf form. Bake 45 min to one hour at 325 degrees. It should be a bit dry. Or, cook in a crockpot for 4 hours on high or 6 hours on low.

Serve with Pita bread or GF tortillas, lettuce and yogurt cucumber sauce.

IF you can tolerate dairy, here's the recipe for yogurt cucumber sauce.

Cucumber Sauce

Ingredients:
1/2 c. grated cucumber
1 c. plain yogurt
1/2 t. garlic

Recipe Instructions:
Mix & let sit 1/2 hr before serving.

Sweet & Sour Chinese

Well, I thought I'd go international this week... So, today I thought I'd post a recipe that our family eats weekly. I love this recipe because it requires pretty simple ingredients that I have on hand.

Start off by making your favorite rice recipe.

Next, make the sweet & sour sauce.

Sweet & Sour Sauce

Ingredients:
1/3 c. vinegar
½ c. brown sugar
¼ c. ketchup
¾ c. pineapple juice or water
2 Tbsp. cornstarch mixed with water
¼ c. canned pineapple, cut up

Mix the vinegar, sugar, ketchup and pineapple juice together well in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Mix together the cornstarch and water. Add to other ingredients to thicken. Stir in the oil. Just before serving, stir in pineapple chunks.

While letting the sweet & sour sauce simmer, start the stir fry.

Chicken Stir-Fry

Ingredients:
3 carrots, diced into small pieces
½ onion, finely chopped
4 small chicken breasts, cut up into bite size pieces
½ - 1 c. precut bite-size frozen broccoli

Recipe Instructions:
Place oil in a large saucepan. Turn heat onto med-high. Let pan heat up. Add diced carrots. Cook for 3 min. Add onions. Cook for 2 more min. Add bitesized raw chicken. Cook until both sides are cooked. Add frozen brocolli. Cook on high for 3 more min. Turn to low and cook for another 5 min.

To serve, top rice with chicken stir fry and then sweet and sour sauce.

It's Friday!!!

Here's the second recipe for popcorn. Last week it was psuedo-cracker jacks, this week it's caramel corn.

Ingredients:
2 c. brown sugar
½ c. light corn syrup
½ lb. Margarine
¼ tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. baking soda
24 c. popped popcorn

Recipe Instructions
Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Put popcorn in pan for oven. In 2 1/2 qt saucepan, combine all ingredients EXCEPT baking soda and popcorn. Bring to a boil over medium heat until hard ball stage. To test, drop sugar mixture into cold water. If it turns into a ball it's done. Remove from heat. Stir in baking soda and pour over popcorn in a large pan. Bake caramel corn in 250 degree oven for 1 hour stirring every 15 minutes.

Apple-Cranberry Sauce

Apple-Cranberry Sauce

1 c. apple juice (or hot mulled apple cider recipe)
½ c. honey
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 c. fresh or frozen cranberries
3 c. peeled and chopped apples
½ tsp. cinnamon

In a saucepan over medium high heat, combine apple juice, honey and brown sugar. Bring to a boil. Add cranberries and apples. Reduce heat to medium and cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes or until fruit is tender an sauce has thickened. Remove from heat and cool until warm. Add cinnamon before serving. Serve warm.

Honey Roasted Pears

Honey Roasted Pears

8 firm pears, chopped up into bitesized pieces
¾ c. apple cider
1/3 c. honey
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 9x13” pan
Place pears in 9x13 pan.
In a saucepan, combine cider, honey and lemon juice. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour over pears in pan. Cover and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for another 15-20 minutes or until pears are tender. Let stand before serving.

Note: In the fall, this is a delicious recipe put on top of a “plain ol’ ham”.

Pumpkin Muffins

Pumpkin Muffins:

15 oz can pumpkin
¼ c. maple syrup
1 egg or (1 ½ tsp. egg replacer + 2 Tbsp. water)
2 Tbsp. oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 ½ c flour or (1 ½ c. GF flour + 1 tsp. xanthan gum)
½ c. brown sugar, firmly packed
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. cinnamon (opt’l)
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. ground cloves (opt’l)
½ tsp. allspice (opt’l)
1/3 c. raisins or chocolate chips (opt’l)

Recipe Instructions:
Place the pumpkin, syrup, egg, oil and vanilla in a large mixing bowl and mix to blend, but don't over mix. In a separate mixing bowl, blend together the rest of the ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix until blended.

Fall recipes

It's fall, so I'm going to post some of my favorite yummy fall recipes:

Hot Mulled Apple Cider

Serves 6-8
¼ c. instant tea
2 c. water
1 qt. Apple cider
Juice of ½ lemon
4 cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
¼ c. sugar

Combine tea, water, cider, cloves, cinnamon stick, sugar, and lemon juice.
Heat… stirring occasionally, but do not boil. (Optional: core apple, cut into wedges, float on cider. Serve with additional cinnamon sticks in cup/mug).Note: Cloves are NOT optional. It tastes unfinished without the cloves.

Itchy Winter Skin

Ok... I know I'm not a doctor, but I want to tell you what we found worked for our son Kaden. His food allergies were tied to eczema, which meant his skin was often irritated - and it would be worse in the winter because of the dry air.

We went to a pediatric allergist for Kaden and he told us to get TWO SETS of 100% cotton long sleeve shirts and bottom pajamas. Before bedtime, I’d give Kaden a bath with no soap (he couldn’t have soap either). Afterwards, I’d seal his skin with Vanicream. You can get Vanicream from a pharmicist behind the counter. Anyway, I’d put vanicream on him. Then, I’d put him in a warm, WET set of 100% cotton pjs. ON TOP of the WET pjs, I’d put the DRY pair of Pajamas. Then, put him to bed to sleep in it during the night. He fussed the first couple of times. But, it did a marvelous job getting his skin into beautiful shape. It was something about keeping the moisture close to his skin – created a seal of sorts.

Ingredients in Vanicream: purified water, white petrolatum, cetearyl alcohol and cetearteth-20, sorbitol solution, propylene glycol, simethicone, glyceryl monostearate, polyethylene glycol monostearate, sorbic acid and BHT.

It's Friday!!!

We made it to Friday! Congratulations! :0)...

My Friday celebration food is a modified Cracker Jacks (it contains no nuts or butter). My family tried it this week and it was just truly fun! I do have another Caramel Corn recipe that I will post next Friday - it is tasty, just takes longer to make.

Modified Cracker Jacks
12 c. prepopped popcorn (popped in oil, not airpopped)
2 T. canola/vegetable oil
1 c. molasses
1/2 c. sugar

Combine oil, molasses and sugar in a saucepan over med-high/high heat. Stir continually until you hit 290* on a candy thermometer, which is the crack stage. When it reaches that point, immediately pour over popped popcorn. Immediately stir as it is starting to harden into candy as it cools. Place on parchment paper/silicon mat and let cool. Will be ready to eat as soon as it cools.

It was surprisingly delicious! I got really tired of stirring the candy mixture and I was about to quit. But, my husband stepped in and kept on doing it. And, wouldn't you know it, there was something about when it reached the 290* the mixture changed form/texture and if he had let me give up, it wouldn't have worked as well! So, stick to stirring constantly until it reaches the 290*!

Quick Chicken Soup

I make this recipe once a week - last night in fact. It's easy and my family loves it.

Quick Chicken Soup

2 cans chicken broth (or 2 c. homemade chicken broth and 4+ c. water)
1 cooked chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces
1 carrot, diced (opt’l)
1 onion, diced (opt’l)
1 celery, diced (opt’l)
1 c. noodles of choice
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. salt (or to taste)
Pinch of pepper

Put chicken broth in medium sized saucepan on high heat. When starting to boil, add carrot, celery and onion. Let cook for about 5 minutes. When carrots are starting to get tender, add noodles. Cook for 10 more minutes. When the noodles are about done, add the cooked chicken, oregano, salt and pinch of pepper. Cook for 5 more minutes.

Note: For the noodles, I use Tinkayda fettucini. I break them in pieces to make them easier to eat in a soup.

Chicken Broth

You might find yourself in the predicament I was that you couldn’t have yeast. Almost all store bought broths contain autolyzed yeast. Here’s the basics on how to make chicken broth. When done, I freeze it in 2 c. bags for immediate use.

One 3-4 lb chicken carcass, well rinsed
12 c. cold water
Bring almost to boil, reduce the heat and simmer gently, skimming often until impurities no longer appear. Add finely chopped
1 medium sized onion
1 carrot, peeled
1 celery stalk
Add chopped vegs to pot. Simmer uncovered until the chicken is cooked, about 40 min. Remove the chicken and keep the meat. Strain the broth into a clean pot or heat proof container. Let cool, then refrigerate. Remove the fat when ready to use or freeze.

Cornbread to go with your chili

Cornbread

1 ¼ c. yellow corn meal
¾ c. flour or (3/4 c. GF flour + ½ tsp. xanthan gum)
3 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
2 eggs or (1 Tbsp. egg replacer + ¼ c. water)
1 ¼ c. milk of choice
1 tsp. vinegar
3 tsp. oil

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease a 8x8 baking pan.

Mix the dry ingredients together in one bowl. In a separate bowl, combine wet ingredients. When both sets are mixed, combine with a few strokes. You want the mixture to be mixed, but not smooth textured.

Pour into the 8x8 baking pan. Bake 20-25 minutes. Poke a toothpick in the cornbread in several places to make sure that it comes out clean. If not, continue baking.

Top with honey.

It's cooling down...

Here where we live, we are expecting the weather to dip at or below freezing this week, so I'm starting to think of cool weather foods. I thought I'd pass along my chili recipe. It's really tasty on a cold winter night.

Chili
1 lb. browned ground turkey or beef
2 Tbsp. instant minced onion
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. salt
1 ½ Tbsp. minced garlic (opt’l)
1 Tbsp. hot pepper flakes (opt’l)
Pinch of sugar
15 oz can tomato sauce
15 oz can kidney beans

Brown one pound of ground turkey or beef. Drain off excess fat. Sprinkle seasonings over the meat, stirring well. Add one 15 oz. can tomato sauce, ¼ c. water, and one 15 oz. can undrained kidney beans. Simmer uncovered. Serve hot.

Note: I will make a triple batch of chili and freeze in individual freezer bags for other meals.

Xanthan Gum

Well, I'm continuing on the basics of Gluten Free recipes from last Saturday. If you want more information on what xanthan gum is you can refer to this wikipedia article. And if you need to purchase it and don't live close to a health food/gluten free source, it is relatively easy to find online.

To modify recipes for gluten free, I’ve found that it is relatively simple. Use ¾ tsp. xanthan gum to 1 c. GF flour. So, if your recipe calls for 2 c. flour, use 1 ½ tsp. xanthan gum. If you find that it’s too crumbly add a little more xanthan gum. But, use less first as it can get really clumpy and not spread out in the pan. Also, give your batter a little time after adding the liquid to the dry ingredients because it takes it a minute or two for the xanthan gum to thicken.

Another tip I've found is that when you use xanthan gum wash the pan soon after use or you'll spend a whole lot of time later soaking it. The xanthan gum makes the flour stick together, but it also makes it stick to the pan!!!

I’ve also found that the best recipes to modify are the ones that you’ve had in your family because as a rule they are time tested and good! Don’t be intimidated, just try it! You might find that you’re really good at it! I went through a lot of specialty (allergy) food cookbooks to find I didn’t like the taste. Only to find out that once I knew how to fit the pieces of the puzzle together, I modified my mom’s, grandma’s and mother-in-laws recipes and they turned out wonderful.

Vanilla Syrup

Oh, it's Friday afternoon and I haven't even gotten a chance to blog yet. This week has just flown by! I usually like desserts on Friday to celebrate that the weekend is here, but I'm actually going to put a recipe up for vanilla syrup.

I found a website that you can order vanilla beans from www.topvanilla.com. I paid about .65 for each bean, which is a much better deal than I can find around here. The closest I've been able to find is $1.30, so it's 1/2 the price. They look identical to what I get at my local health food store.

We use vanilla syrup in our coffee... and yes, our kids drink coffee too. So, it goes rather quickly for us.

Vanilla syrup

1 c. sugar
1 c. water
1 vanilla bean, split

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Once mixture boils, reduce the heat and simmer the syrup for 5 minutes, swirling the pan occasionally. Cool the mixture completely and pour into a glass container with a screw-top. Store in refrigerator for up to 4 months. Remove the vanilla bean before serving.

Rumaki (or Bacon Wraps)

I ran across this in my recipes. It's been awhile since I've made this. It just makes my mouth water to think about eating it. (sigh, smile) The one thing about putting up all kinds of recipes on this blog is that I'm constantly thinking about the next meal I'm going to make to incorporate what I've just talked about. ...So many recipes, so little time...

Rumaki (or Bacon Wraps)

Ingredients:
1 8 oz can whole water chestnuts
1 lb. Bacon
Toothpicks

Recipe Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cut bacon strips in half, then wrap water chesnuts in bacon and spear with a toothpick.
Place in a baking pan with sides. Bake in oven for about 20 minutes.

These can be made ahead, baked and reheated in a microwave.

Citrus Barbeque Chicken

Using the BBQ recipe from yesterday, here is a recipe for citrus barbeque chicken. It is just delicious!

Citrus Barbeque Chicken

Ingredients
1/2 c. barbeque sauce
1 tsp. grated fresh ginger
1 Tbsp. orange juice
5 chicken breast
1 20 oz can pineapple slices

Recipe Instructions:
Combine barbeque sauce, orange juice, and ginger in bowl. Grill or broil chicken 8 minutes, brushing with 1/2 sauce mixture. Turn chicken over. Add drained pineapple slices to the grill or broiler. Brush chicken slices with remaining sauce. Continue cooking 8 to 10 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in center. Serve barbequed chicken topped with pineapple slices.

BBQ sauce

My Mom gave me this recipe when Kaden was first diagnosed with food allergies. I used to make this all the time, but now that he can eat Heinz ketchup I've gotten lazy. My view on cooking is that you tailor it to what you can tolerate.

BBQ sauce

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
¼ c. minced fresh onion
1 ½ c. water
½ c. tomato paste
½ c. white/apple cider vinegar
½ c. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. honey
1 Tbsp. worchestershire sauce
1 ¾ tsp. salt
1 tsp. liquid smoke
¼ tsp. ground black pepper
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
1/8 tsp. paprika
3 Tbsp. molasses

Recipe Instructions:
In a medium saucepan, fry minced onion with vegetable oil until softened and translucent in color. Lower heat. Add the rest of ingredients. Mix well. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes or until thick. Let cool. Store in the refrigerator.

Spicy Pork Rub

Welcome back! It's Monday! :0) Well, I thought I'd spice up this day with the following recipe. I made this last Friday night. It's sooooo good!

Spicy Pork Rub
½ c. brown sugar packed
½ c. paprika
¼ c. chili powder
2 Tbsp. salt
2 Tbsp. black pepper

To use: Mix spices in bowl together. Spoon onto both sides of pork loin or chops. Let rest in fridge from 30 minutes to 4 hours. When ready to cook, preheat greased pan on stove at medium-high heat until grease is hot, but not burning. (3-4 minutes with no pork in pan.) Place pork in pan and brown each side for one minute. Then, turn burner to low and continue cooking for 5 more minutes or until when cut the juices run clear.

Tips:
I buy bulk spices from our local health food store. If you live in a rural area, you might search online for spices.
I make a batch of this spice rub about once or twice a year and keep it for use in the freezer.
Also, I watch for sales on pork loin and buy several meals worth. I divide the meat up, bag it in plastic freezer bags and freeze it for future use.

It's Sunday...

I'm taking the day off to rest. If you'd like to read something with a purpose, follow this link to Our Daily Bread: http://www.rbc.org/odb/odb.shtml

The basics

I usually like to designate Saturday to write encouraging words, but instead I thought I'd give you my recipe for the basics of gluten free flours... as I know it. Mind you, I'm not a dietician or a doctor... I'm just a mom that did alot of research to feed her baby who was allergic to wheat and came up with what works for us.

I went to buy Bob's Red Mill GF flour, but found that it had cornstarch in it. At the time, Kaden was still allergic to corn. So, it sent me on a hunt. I found the basics of this mix on the internet over five years ago. I wish I could give credit, but I have long lost the original paper that I printed out for parts of this combination. Then on top of that, I found another recipe that said you could interchange the potato starch, cornstarch and arrowroot. Combining what I've read this is now what I use for gluten free flour mixes:

3 c. garbanzo bean flour
2 c. potato starch (if allergic, use cornstarch or arrowroot)
2 c. cornstarch (if allergic, potato starch or arrowroot)
1 c. tapioca flour
1 c. sorghum flour

Mix together and store in an airtight container. Place in a cool, dark cabinet away from light.

Currently, I do garbanzo bean flour, potato starch, arrowroot, tapioca flour and sorghum flour. It's been so long since I priced it, I can't really tell you if it's cheaper than prepackaged GF flour. I now do it more out of habit than necessity.

I do have to say that if you can tolerate and afford Bob's Red Mill gluten free flours, buy it! It makes the process so much easier.

Gluten free flours don't taste like real flour - it's something you have to get used to. And, don't plan on eating batter and it tasting good. (smile) The garbanzo bean flour is bitter until baked - then it tastes much better.

I'm sure there's much more information I'm not including, but if you have questions, you're welcome to ask. Next Saturday, I'll show you my combination for xanthan gum and GF flour.

We made it!

It's Friday and we made it...YAY!

This recipe is my chai tea recipe. It's yummy!

Chai Tea Mix

2 c. non fat dry milk
2 c. powdered non-dairy creamer
1 ½ c. French vanilla flavored powdered non-dairy creamer
2 ½ c. white sugar
1 ½ c. unsweetened instant tea
2 tsp. ground ginger
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. ground cardamom

Recipe Instructions:
Combine all ingredients. To use: Warm up an 8 oz. cup of hot water, add ¼ c. chai tea mix (or to taste) and stir.

Note: If you cannot use the milk products or all the spices above, do not despair. Mix together what you can. Warm up your 8 oz version of milk, add 1 spoonful of mix, 1 tsp vanilla and taste. Keep adding spoonfuls of mix until you find the taste you like. Write the amount of mix you added to your milk on this recipe to use for future reference.

Easy Enchilada Sauce

Here's an easy recipe for making enchilada sauce.

Enchilada Sauce

Ingredients
2 Tbsp. Oil
2 Tbsp. flour or 1 Tbsp. arrowroot powder
2 Tbsp. chili powder
½ tsp. ground cumin
1 can tomato sauce or puree (8 oz)

Recipe Instructions
If using flour, heat oil in large 2 qt saucepan; stir in flour and chili powder; cook for 1 minute.
If using arrowroot, measure arrowroot and chili powder in pan and whisk together. Add oil and whisk again.
Add remaining ingredients, whisking as you add. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 10 minutes. Use or refrigerate for later use.

Homemade Tortilla Chips

We used to buy chips, but there is nothing as fun as fresh hot tortilla chips. Making tortilla chips has become a weekly event at our house. (smile).

There are a few cooking instruments you do need before you start - a deep pan to hold oil, a thermometer to watch the heat of the oil, and a metal slotted spoon to take the chips out of the oil.

NOTE: This is very hot oil!!! So, you need to be careful and shoo any young children out of the kitchen when making these!

Ingredients:
10-15 fresh corn tortillas, cut into quarters
2 quarts canola oil
1 tsp. kosher salt

Place the oil into a 5-quart pot or Dutch oven and heat to 365 to 375 degrees F. Gently lower the chips, 5 to 6 at a time, into the oil and fry for 20 to 30 seconds. Using a slotted spoon or spider, remove the chips to a paper towel-lined sheet pan. Sprinkle with salt. Allow to cool 3 to 4 minutes before serving. Continue process until all the chips are fried.

Refried Beans

Since Kaden has been diagnosed as being allergic to garlic, it really made alot of shelf foods no longer available. But, the one that I found was very worth learning how to make was refried beans.

I usually make 2lbs (or 10 c.) of cooked pinto beans at a time. I process each cup of beans as shown below and pour it into one big pot. When I'm done, I mix it all together to blend the beans together to even out the flavors. Then, I will freeze bags of refried beans in 1 c. increments for meals. I bag all the refried beans, then put them in a gallon size ziploc bag - so they aren't scattered all over my freezer. Then, when I need some, I go to the freezer and warm it up for eating.

Please note that I don't have the directions for cooking pinto beans because I always take it from the bag the pinto beans are sold in.

Refried Beans

Ingredients
1 c. cooked pinto beans
½ c. reserved liquid from pinto beans
¼ tsp. paprika
¼ tsp. cumin
½ tsp. salt

Recipe Instructions
In a blender, blend pinto beans, reserved liquid, paprika, cumin and salt.

Mexican Foods

If you haven't already figured out, I like to follow themes. This week, I thought I'd go with the theme of Mexican foods. I'm just a huge fan of Mexican food. I love the spicy flavors. Today, I'm going to start with a mango/pineapple salsa. I love it just on a regular baked/fried piece of chicken. It's really flexible to what you can tolerate.

Mango or Pineapple Salsa

Ingredients
1 c. diced fresh mango or pineapple
1/3 c. diced red/green pepper or cucumber
1/3 c. diced red onion or chives
1/3 bunch of cut cilantro or 2 Tbsp. mint
1 Tbsp. lime juice
1 jalepeno or Anaheim, seeded and minced

Recipe Instructions:

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and mix. Chill.

Note: I find the best time to make this is when mangos or pineapples are in season and cost about $1 each.

It's Sunday...

It's Sunday and I'm planning on taking a nap (let's hope so... but with 5 kids...). If you want to read, here's a website from some of my most favorite people, Ernie & Moni Guyer - http://www.standfast.org/.

Kindergarten here we come...

Well, my Kaden finally made it into kindergarten! YAY! It WAS the dickens to get him there, though! We had went last Thursday to see the school and bring in the allergy paperwork. They told me it wasn't sufficient. So, my husband went home immediately to fax the paperwork to the allergist. The allergist was not available.

On Monday, after pestering the poor office staff of the allergist, they asked a substitute allergist to sign the paperwork so Kaden could go to school on Tuesday. However, the allergist would ONLY sign ONE of the medication pages (we have two). (grrrr...) I don't get the signed paperwork by fax until 4pm and the school closes at 4.

I emailed the head of the school and told her that we were planning on coming anyway. She kindly called back at 6:30pm and said that as long as I stayed on campus (if the school nurses didn't approve the paperwork), Kaden could go to kindergarten.

We left by 7:40 the next morning. Kevin took Kaden to class while I headed to talk to the school nurses. They ended up not accepting even the paperwork the sub-allergist had signed because I didn't have the prescription in the original packaging. Huh, who'da thunk it?!

But, they did let me leave to go get the correct box.

So to summarize, they had no paperwork for Kaden on his first day because the one medication paper that was signed they refused the medication. But, he still got to go to his first day of school. Awww... my little boy is growing up!

It's Friday!!!

Denver Botanical Gardens - Aug 2009

Happy Friday! Friday is desert day to celebrate!

Well, last weekend, I tinkered around in the kitchen. I was making carrot cake for my cousin's birthday. I didn't have anything for Kaden to eat. So, I worked on making him a carrot cake. It turned out delicious! Gotta tell you, though, I haven't found a good frosting to top the carrot cake. I made a delicious sunbutter frosting, but when I put it on the carrot cake... it just didn't do anything for the cake. So, I'm still working on the frosting part. But, the cake is just great!

Carrot cake

Ingredients:

2/3 c. GF flour + 1/2 t. xanthan gum (or 2/3 c. flour)
1/2 c. sugar
3/4 t. baking soda
1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. cloves
1/4 t. allspice
1/4 t. salt
2 t. egg replacer

1/3 c. oil
3 T. applesauce
(if you do use eggs, do 1 egg + 1 egg white and remove egg replacer & apple sauce)

2/3 c. finely grated carrots
1/4 c. finely chopped pineapple

Preheat the oven to 350*. Grease a 9x9 pan.

Mix the dry ingredients together. Then, mix the wet ingredients. Grate the carrots (either by grater or blender). Chop the pineapple (with a knife or blender). Mix the dry and wet ingredients well. Stir in the carrots and pineapple.

Pour batter into the pan and even out the batter for even baking. Bake for about 25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cool. Then serve.

Ginger Peach Chicken

Ugh! Is it Thursday already? This week has just flown by. (sigh, smile)

Here's a surprisingly good recipe (with rice in it). My mother-in-law gave it to me just after Kaden was diagnosed with all his food allergies. I had very little that I knew how to cook with so many allergens at that time. I was nursing him and had to follow his diet because every formula had something he was allergic to. This became one of our main meals for awhile while I had a crash course in cooking with no eggs, wheat, dairy, corn, soy or garlic (...and etc.). There were many tears that first year. Thankfully, it's past...

I'm not one to pair fruit with meat, but this is a wonderful, nutty (water chesnut) combination:

Ginger Peach Chicken

Ingredients
4 medium chicken breasts (boneless & skinless), diced into ½” pieces
15 oz. can peach slices
1 tsp. cornstarch or arrowroot starch
1 tsp. grated fresh ginger or 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. sliced water chestnuts
2 c. hot, cooked rice

Recipe Instructions:

Spray a large skillet with oil. Cook diced chicken breasts over medium heat until tender and evenly browned. Drain peaches reserving juice. In a separate bowl, measure in cornstarch or arrowroot. Slowly whisk in reserved juice and water to equal 1 cup. Continue whisking making sure there are no lumps and add ginger and salt. Add thickening liquid to skillet. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Cook 1 minute more. Gently stir in peaches and water chestnuts. Serve with rice.

Chicken chimichangas

This week I wanted to do recipes with rice. This isn't exactly a rice recipe. This is more of a chicken recipe, but it has rice in it and it's oh-so-delicious!

Chicken Chimichangas

Ingredients
2 c. shredded cooked chicken
1 c. picante sauce
OR 1 c. diced tomatoes and 2 Tbsp. canned green chilies
½ c. tomato sauce
2 c. cooked rice
¾ tsp. cumin
½ tsp. oregano
8 – 12 flour or GF tortillas

Recipe Instructions:

Combine first 6 ingredients in bowl.

For a GF rice tortilla, lightly spritz oil on one side of tortilla.
Spoon 1/2 c. mixture onto oiled side of tortilla. Fold with seams down. (If you are not allergic to cheese, top with shredded Monterey Jack cheese. If you are allergic and don't like the crispiness of the tortillas, top with salsa or diced tomatoes & green chilis)

For a 6" corn tortilla, oil both sides of two tortillas. Place one tortilla on the bottom of the pan. Spoon 1/2 c. mixture on tortilla, spreading it evenly. Top with second oiled tortilla. (If you are not allergic to cheese, top with shredded Monterey Jack cheese. If you are allergic and don't like the crispiness of the tortillas, top with salsa or diced tomatoes & green chilis)

Bake at 425 degrees for 13 minutes uncovered

Note: For a more efficient use of the meal, use ½ c. of chimichanga meat mixture for adults and ¼ c. mixture for children.

In the past, I have made big batches of this and bagged the chimichanga meat mixture and froze it (and froze the cheese seperately for our regular eaters). Then, when I wanted to have a quick meal, I'd defrost the meat mixture and wrap it into fresh tortillas. It worked really well and it was fast.

Cajun rice

Ok... well, I have to tell you that I'm not sure if this really IS Cajun rice. My Mom always called this recipe "Dirty Rice", but when I started cooking this for my kids I was afraid they wouldn't eat it if I called it "dirty". So, I thought that I'd call it Cajun to make it sound different enough that they'd know what it was each time I made it. (grin)

My family ate this alot when I was in high school and just thinking about it makes my mouth water.

Cajun rice
1 lb ground beef or turkey
1/3 c. diced onions
1 tsp. creole seasoning*
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. garlic powder (opt'l)
1/2 tsp. celery flakes (opt'l)
1/2 tsp. pepper
4 c. precooked rice
2 T. oil

Heat oil in a skillet on medium high heat until oil begins to shimmer. Add onions. Let cook 2 minutes. Add ground beef or turkey. Cook onions and ground meat until meat is browned. Add seasoning, salt, garlic powder, celery flakes and pepper. Stir well. Add in cooked rice. Serve warm.

Note: Because my son is allergic to garlic, I have modified the recipe from 1 tsp. creole seasoning to 1/4 tsp. paprika and salt to taste. It's probably not as flavorful without the garlic, but it's still tasty!

Rice

I've decided that I like themes or else I just flounder for ideas... For the next couple of days, I'm going to type about rice.

I'm not sure what kind of access you have to health food, but we have access to Tinkyada rice pasta and it's opened up a world of possibilities for us. In the following noodle rice pilaf recipe, I use Tinkyada fettucini noodles broken into pieces. So, even though it looks/sounds different, it's just all rice.

Noodle Rice Pilaf
Ingredients
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 c. rice
½ c. wheat or rice fettucini noodles, broken into ½ inch pieces
2 ¾ c. chicken broth
2 Tbsp. fresh parsley (opt’l)

In a sauce pan, measure olive oil. Add the rice and noodles, cook and stir until lightly browned. Stir in broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20-25 minutes or until broth is absorbed and rice is tender. Stir in parsley.

Yield: 4 servings

Resting...

It's Sunday and I'm resting... But, if you are in the mood to check out interesting links: here's an inspirational website about Ray "Bubba" Sorenson II, painter of the Freedom Rock: http://www.thefreedomrock.com/

See you tomorrow!

Letting Go...

Well, we've hit another milestone - Kaden will be starting cottage school kindergarten this next week. (sigh, sniff) On Thursday, we visited the school to see where the kids' rooms were going to be. They met their teachers. Wow! He's really a kindergartener...wow, wow, wow!

Our one roadblock we've hit is that I had a special appointment with the allergist to fill out the necessary paperwork for Kaden to go to school. I brought the paperwork with me on Thursday and the school said it wasn't enough. So I've called the doctor hoping to get the paperwork filled out. If we can't get it done, Kaden won't be able to attend school until then...

Oh, letting go... sure isn't easy... :0)... I'll update you next week to see whether or not Kaden actually is able to attend school.

Have a great weekend!

We made it!!

We made it!! This is my second week of homeschooling... what a busy two weeks it's been. I always think busy means running around town or hurry-scurry in the office...not at home! Whew! So glad it's the weekend! I have tried not to drink caffeine for about 12 years now. This week I was so tired, I broke down two afternoons and had coffee... just to make it through the rest of the day. So, should you need a coffee break (caffeinated or not) here's a fun treat!

Homemade Blended Coffee
(kind of like Starbucks Frappaccino)
Ingredients
1 ½ c. cold coffee
1/2 c. milk of choice

½ c. sugar

1 tsp. chocolate syrup, carmel or your favorite flavoring (look for chocolate syrup recipe on 8/14)
1/8 tsp. vanilla extract

¼ tsp. salt
3 c. ice

Recipe Instructions:

Combine the coffee, milk, sugar, chocolate syrup and salt in a blender and mix on medium speed for 15 seconds to dissolve sugar. Add the vanilla extract and ice, then blend on high speed until smooth and creamy. (Stir with a spoon if necessary to help blend).

Pour into two 16 oz. glasses. Makes 2 large drinks. Top with whipped cream (opt'l) and drizzle chocolate syrup on top.

Corn Dogs

While I was still pregnant with our little girl Joelyn, my kids were at my parents eating tv dinners. The "favorite" dinner was corn dogs and french fries. My Kaden asked me why he couldn't have corn dogs - even though he could have the fries. I don't remember my answer, but it generally is, "because it has eggs and wheat in it." However, I've thought about it off and on, but have been too tired to think too hard about it.

This last weekend I was tinkering in the kitchen and made gluten free, egg free & dairy free corn dogs. The best part is that when Kaden ate them he was very pleased with my work. Mind you, it's not going to look ANYTHING like the smooth store ones because they are homemade, but they are tasty!

Here's the recipe:

Corn Dogs

1/4 c. GF flour

just under 1/4 tsp. xanthan gum

1 T. cornmeal

1 tsp. ground mustard

pinch of salt

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. egg replacer

7 T. milk of choice (I used rice milk)

1 popsicle stick

1 turkey hotdog

canola oil for deep fat frying

In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Whisk well. Start heating 2" oil in a pan - oil will need to reach 375* before frying. Mix in your choice of milk, don't stir too much. Let sit for 2-3 minutes and stir again. Dry the hotdog off with a paper towel so there is no moisture on it. Spoon (or finger paint) batter onto hotdog. Drop into hot oil. Fry corn dog for 5-8 minutes or until golden brown (I did mine a smidge too long). Place on plate with a paper towel to absorb grease.

Serve hot with ketchup.

Note: If you have corn allergies but this looks good, try it without the cornmeal. I do think it adds a crunchy texture, but I don't think it has to be in there. (Personal opinion only... :0)...)

Oops!!

I just realized that I forgot the best part of making pancakes on Monday, so I'm doing a tag-along day today.

One of my favorite things to do with pancakes is to create a bag of pre-mixed pancakes. Actually, I do it with all the normal mixes I make (see chocolate cake recipe) -
I love it because I make a big mess just one time and I reap the rewards for it later. It also lets me feel like I can prepare foods in a hurry because I have prepped them.

Enough of my ramblings... if you try it I think you will like it to. :0)

Pre-mixed Pancakes
9 c. flour or (9 c. GF flour + 7 ½ tsp. xanthan gum)
4 ½ tsp. salt
6 Tbsp. baking powder
3/4 c. sugar
3 Tbsp. egg replacer

Mix dry ingredients together.
Place in gallon plastic bag.

Write the following on gallon plastic zip bag:
"7 Tbsp. pancake mix
1/2 c. milk of choice
1 1/2 Tbsp. oil

Start warming greased pan on medium heat on stove. Add milk and oil to dry ingredients. Once warm, pour pancake batter into pan in 3” – 5” circles (they rarely come out round). Let batter sit in pan until top bubbles and dries slightly, flip pancake over and continue to cook until a light brown. Serve warm with syrup."

Serves 1 person.

Mapleine

When Kaden was still allergic to corn, we couldn't go out and buy our "normal" syrup. We tried real maple syrup, but it seemed expensive... along with all the other dietary changes we were making.

One time while Kevin's parents were staying with us, Mom (T) introduced me to Mapleine. It's an imitation maple flavor that you can make syrup with. It only requires sugar, water and mapleine (no corn syrup). It is also gluten free.

And, if you are curious, the ingredients costs about 50 cents for 2 cups of syrup (which is just about the same size of container as a regular syrup bottle).

Tip: I buy one "normal" syrup bottle every several years. We use it up. Then, I refill it with Mapleine syrup. :0)

Good Monday Morning!

There's nothing like a good batch of pancakes to start the morning off right. :0) Here's my recipe for pancakes:

Pancakes

Ingredients
1 ½ c. flour or (1 ½ c. GF flour + 1 tsp. xanthan gum)
¾ tsp. salt
3 tsp. baking powder
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 egg or (1 ½ tsp. egg replacer + 2 Tbsp. water)
1 c. milk of choice
3 Tbsp. oil

Mix dry ingredients first. Add egg/replacer, milk and oil to dry ingredients. Place pan on stove, grease pan and warm on medium heat before making pancakes. Once warm, pour pancake batter into pan in 3” – 5” circles (they rarely come out round). Let batter sit in pan until top bubbles and dries slightly. Flip pancakes over, smoosh pancake with spatula to make pancake flatten for even cooking and continue to cook until a light brown. If your pancakes are burning, turn down the heat on the stove. Serve warm with maple or fruit syrup (and in our family, powdered sugar).

Resting...

It's Sunday... so, we're resting. Here's an inspirational story of Nick Vujicic... food allergies are nothing!

Cinnamon & Sugar

Sorry I am late at blogging this morning. (sigh, smile)... But, I usually give myself a break on Saturday mornings.

This week I thought I should write about one of the most simple and effective things I do to get my kids to eat oatmeal.

But, before I keep going I have to preface this with: I have read different gluten free books and haven't come up with a "for sure" if people with celiac can eat oatmeal. Kaden is different from a celiac in that he is allergic to wheat, not a celiac. He rashes out with wheat, not stomach disturbances. So, if you can't tolerate oatmeal this article may not apply to you...

An easy thing I do to get my kids to eat oatmeal is I have an empty, clean spice bottle that I have labeled as "cinnamon & sugar". I take 5 Tbsp of sugar and put it in the spice bottle. Then, I add 1 Tbsp of cinnamon. I (we) shake it up to mix. Then when I prepare oatmeal for breakfast, I let them top their oatmeal with the mix. Because they get to spice up their own oatmeal, they are more than happy to eat it.

That's my simple idea for the day... I'd love to hear yours...

Marshmallows

Well, it's Friday... you've made it through the week! Congratulations!

Just for fun I thought I'd type out a recipe on how to make marshmallows. It's been awhile since I've made this since Kaden isn't allergic to corn anymore.

Homemade Marshmallows

Ingredients
2 Tbsp. unflavored gelatin
1/4 c. water
2 c. white sugar
1 c. water
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 c. marshmallow coating mixture (1/4 c. cornstarch or arrowroot , 1/2 c. powdered sugar)

Recipe Instructions:

Soak gelatin in 1/4 c. of cold water in a small bowl and set aside to swell for 10 minutes.

In a large saucepan, pour the sugar and second measure of water. Gently dissolve the sugar over low heat stirring constantly.

Add the swollen gelatin and dissolve.

Raise the temperature and bring to a boil. Boil steadily, but not vigorously for 15 minutes without stirring.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool until luke warm.

Add the vanilla and whisk the mixture with an electric mixer or beater until very thick and white.

Rinse a 9"x9" pan under water and pour the marshmallow mixture into the wet pan. Refrigerate until set.

Cut into squares and roll in marshmallow coating mixture.
Variations: add drops of food coloring or replace vanilla with flavoring of choice.

Note: When Kaden was little, he couldn’t tolerate store bought rice krispies or marshmallows, so I would add puffed rice to this homemade version of marshmallows. It was a good fun treat for him.

New Potato Find

Well, I am going to go refer back to a previous post on Monday about Rosemary potatoes. I like the flavor of the rosemary in the potatoes, but I can't convince my kids. :0) So, I've changed our recipe to look like this:

__________________________________________________

Plain Roasted Potato Wedges

Ingredients

3 med. Unpeeled potatoes

olive oil

¼ tsp. pepper

½ tsp. salt

Scrub potatoes; cut each potato in half lengthwise, then cut those halves again in half or thirds creating wedges.

If you have time, place in a bowl and cover with cold water. Let stand 30 min. Drain. Pat wedges with dry paper towels.

Toss wedges with olive oil. Place skin side down on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray (or olive oil). Sprinkle salt, then pepper evenly over wedges.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 50 minutes to 1 hour or until wedges are tender and browned.

_________________________________________________

However, I've done some experimenting the last two weeks. I've found that if I make more potatoes than we need at a meal when we are done, I cut up the leftover potatoes into 1/2 inch pieces. Then I put in a plastic freezer bag and freeze.

When I need some, I pull the potato pieces out of the freezer that I want. I put a skillet on the stove with enough oil to coat the bottom. Then, turn on to medium heat and wait until the oil is warm & shiny.

While I'm waiting for the oil to heat up, I put the potato pieces in the microwave for 1 min to defrost.

Once oil is warm, I put in the potatoes to fry. I fry them for 5-15 min depending on the amount.

This recipe cuts down on the frying time by 30+ min. And they are tasty & fun!

Oven French Fries

For a year plus after Kaden was diagnosed with food allergies, we couldn't easily eat out. In that time, I craved french fries. So, I worked on making a baked version:

Oven French Fries
4 large potatoes
oil
1/2 -1 tsp. dried powdered onion
1/2 -1 tsp. chili powder

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Wash potatoes. Peel if desired. Cut lengthwise into slices. Then, cut lengthwise across slices to form a French fry shape. Lay on a greased 9x13 baking pan. When all potatoes are cut and laid in pan, drizzle back and forth on the potatoes with oil (not drenched just drizzled). Then, sprinkle powdered onion and chili powder on French fries. Bake for 45 min or until golden brown.

Serve hot (with ketchup or barbeque sauce).

If you want to find a recipe for deep fried french fries, try http://www.econobusters.com/ blog and do a search on "The Ultimate French Fry". Yum! :0)

Zesty Fries

Still on the topic of potatoes, I found this recipe for Zesty Fries in "Miserly Meals" by Jonni McCoy way before Kaden was born. But, it has ended up being a long term favorite potato to spice up our meals.

Zesty Fries

Ingredients

6 brown potatoes
¼ c. vegetable oil
3 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. garlic powder (opt'l)
1 tsp. onion powder
1 Tbsp. Italian seasoning
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper
½ tsp. Tabasco (green or red)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 9x13" pan. Clean and cut potatoes into wedges. Lay potatoes skin side down on pan. Combine oil, lemon juice, garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and Tabasco in bowl. Dribble or brush mixture over potatoes. Bake in oven at 400 degrees for 35 or until tender and golden brown.

Note: Use an old pan or one that you don't care if the teflon finish is ruined in the pan. For some reason during the baking of the potatoes (I think the lemon juice) causes the finish to be dulled. The teflon doesn't come off, but it's not the same pan afterwards. But, the potatoes are delicious!!!!

The humble potato...

For our family, potatoes are a staple. I often overlook them for recipes because they are just so easy to do. But, I will work on posting a couple of ways I use the ordinary potato to make our meals tasty.

Roasted Rosemary Potato Wedges

Ingredients
3 med. Unpeeled red potatoes
¼ tsp. pepper
olive oil
½ tsp. rosemary
½ tsp. salt

Scrub potatoes; cut each potato in half lengthwise, then cut those halves again in half or thirds creating wedges.

If you have time, place in a bowl and cover with cold water. Let stand 30 min. Drain. Pat wedges with dry paper towels.

Toss wedges with olive oil. Place skin side down on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray (or olive oil). Combine salt, dried rosemary and pepper. Sprinkle mixture evenly over wedges.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 50 minutes to 1 hour or until wedges are tender and browned.

Resting...

I don't have time to watch all things YouTube, but I was sent this in an email awhile ago and it makes me smile each time. Enjoy!



The Lord's Prayer by Zoe Itoh

Just to encourage you to think creatively...

This week my son Kaden was eating pancakes and said, "Mommy, why can't I have margarine." My normal response that sounds like a broken record is, "Because you have food allergies" and I leave it there.

But, he just seemed so upset that he couldn't be like others. So, I got up from the table and walked over to the kitchen counter and got a banana and said, "Kaden, try a banana on your pancakes. The color looks alot like margarine." I sliced it very thinly and he put syrup on the banana on top of the pancake. He ate his first pancake. Then, continued on to his second one - this time slicing the banana himself. It changed his heart and mine from pity to thinking outside the box.

... Food allergies aren't easy, but you can do it! ... and happily!

It's Friday!...

Friday is ALWAYS a day of rejoicing for me... Something in me says, "YAY! Let's celebrate we made it through the week!" So, for me rejoicing always means some form of chocolate. (grin). So, I thought I'd write down this easy recipe for chocolate syrup, so you can make your own chocolate milk. :0)

Ingredients
1 c. cocoa or carob powder (unsweetened)
2 c. sugar
¼ tsp. salt
1 ¼ c. water
1 Tbsp. vanilla

In a 1 qt saucepan, combine the cocoa, sugar and salt. Mix together until no cocoa/carob lumps remain. Add the water, and stir. Place over medium heat, and stir occasionally until the sugar is dissolved (but do not boil), then remove from heat. Stir in vanilla once syrup is cool.

Store in a covered jar in refrigerator for 2-3 months. It will be thick when cold, and thin when reheated.

A couple of notes:

-When you have a someone that can not tolerate regular milk, add this to their milk to create a chocolate milk or warm up for a hot chocolate.

-Another option is to blend it with bananas and create a chocolate banana smoothie. :0)...

Have a Happy Friday!!!

Moist Chocolate Pudding Frosting

This recipe for moist chocolate pudding frosting makes a great topping for the chocolate cake. It's simple and it keeps the cake tasting moist.

Moist Chocolate Pudding Frosting

Ingredients
3 Tbsp. cocoa
1 c. sugar
3 Tbsp. cornstarch or arrowroot
1 c. water
1 tsp. vanilla
3 Tbsp. butter or 1 Tbsp. oil (opt’l)

Recipe Instructions:

If using arrowroot, add cocoa, sugar and arrowroot in saucepan off the burner. Mix well. Add ¼ c. water whisking constantly until smooth. Finish adding water. Then turn on the pan to heat it up. With arrowroot, you need to get it warm to thicken, but not to the boiling point. Boiling will break down the arrowroot. Remove from heat. Add butter/oil and vanilla. Butter is not necessary to make the pudding, but it gives it a smoother texture. Mix until ingredients are thoroughly incorporated. Spread on a cake while frosting is still warm. Let cool before serving.

If using cornstarch as a thickener, mix cocoa, sugar and cornstarch together. Then add cold water. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add butter/oil and vanilla. Butter is not necessary to make the pudding, but it gives it a smoother texture. Mix until ingredients are thoroughly incorporated. Spread on a cake while frosting is still warm. Let cool before serving.

Note: You can substitute carob for the cocoa.

Happy Birthday!

Well, this month is Birthday month in our family. It does make it difficult for an allergy person who usually has to eat something separate. For us, I've found that I can make premixed bags of chocolate cake and store them in the cupboard for when we need it. (Picture shown above). Then, I whip it up in short order and bake it along with a "regular" cake for the rest of the family.

In March of this year, I prebagged a dozen chocolate cake/muffin mixes. I used to hand write directions on all the bags, but Kevin had a great idea to type it up and then laminate it. Inside the mix, I put a laminated card that tells me how to finish making the recipe - just like you would have on a store boughten cake mix. When I dump it out I have the directions on how to finish it and don't have to continuously look up the final directions.

The following chocolate cake mix is dairy free, egg free, and wheat free. It actually is tasty even for a non-food allergic eater. We have served it at all special occassions for my son Kaden and everyone eats it with no complaints. There is a slight difference from boxed cakes because it tastes homemade. But in my opinion unless you buy a cake mix, any cake will always taste homemade. :0)

GF Chocolate Cake

1 ½ c. flour or (1 ½ c. GF Flour + 1 tsp. xanthan gum)
6 Tbsp. cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt
1 c. cold water
¼ c. oil
2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and/or parchment paper an 8x8 pan.
Combine flour, xanthan gum, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Add in water, oil and vanilla. Mix well until there are no lumps. Place in baking pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool in pan before cutting.

_____________________________________________________________

When making the prepackaged cake mixes, I will put the following in a bag:

1 ½ c. GF Flour

1 tsp. xanthan gum

6 Tbsp. cocoa

1 tsp. baking soda

1/8 tsp. salt

The directions on my laminated tag say:

Preheat oven to 350*. Grease 12 muffin tins.

Mix together:

1 c. cold water

1/4 c. vegetable oil

1 Tbsp. vinegar

2 tsp. vanilla

Add in dry ingredients. Stir until smooth. Bake 16-18 min until toothpick comes out clean.

-Can also use as a cake in 9x9 pan; bake 25-30 min.

Baking Powder

When our son Kaden was diagnosed with food allergies, not only was he allergic to eggs, wheat, dairy, beef, peas, yeast and garlic... but, he was allergic to oats and CORN! Have you ever noticed that CORN is in everything?!! So, I had to go back to the basics to find out ways to make things without corn. One of the basics was baking powder. Here's how you can make baking powder and tailor it to your diet:

Ingredients
1 part baking soda
2 parts cream of tartar
2 parts potato starch, arrowroot or cornstarch

Recipe Instructions:
Mix well and store in an airtight container. Lasts three to six months.

Note: If you are in this position also, try and find cream of tartar by the pound. I could go to our local health food store and they could order it for me. Cream of tartar is expensive by the pound, but it’s much, much cheaper than getting it in smaller quantities as usually sold by grocery stores.

Gluten free, egg free, dairy free Cornbread...

Ok... if you are following the posts. The last post, I said I was going to add the cornbread recipe, so you can enjoy it with the taco soup. I do have to say that there is a slight difference from regular cornbread to gluten free, egg free and dairy free cornbread. The difference is slight and I personally would go for the modified cornbread before the regular version.

Once again, I am giving you all the ingredients and modifications - so that you are able to fit it to your dietary needs.

1 ¼ c. yellow corn meal
¾ c. flour or (3/4 c. GF flour + ½ tsp. xanthan gum)
3 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
2 eggs or (1 Tbsp. egg replacer + ¼ c. water)
1 ¼ c. milk of choice
1 tsp. vinegar
3 tsp. oil

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease a 8x8 baking pan.
Mix the dry ingredients together in one bowl. In a separate bowl, combine wet ingredients. When both sets are mixed, combine with a few strokes. You want the mixture to be mixed, but not smooth textured. Pour into the 8x8 baking pan. Bake 20-25 minutes. Poke a toothpick in the cornbread in several places to make sure that it comes out clean. If not, continue baking.

Top with honey.

Taco Soup - Taco Meat (part 3)

This by far is one of the easiest soups I like to make for our family on a cold winter night. I like to pair taco soup and corn bread together. Yum! I'm wishing for winter as I type... (smile). Maybe next blog, I'll add cornbread to the menu... ahhhhh!

Taco Soup

2 c. to 1 lb of premade taco flavored meat
½ c. onion, chopped
2 c. water (opt’l for thinner soup)
32 oz (2 cans - 16 oz each) Mexican style stewed tomatoes
(OR 32 oz of diced tomatoes and can of green chilis – if allergic to garlic)
16 oz can of tomato sauce
(OR 16 oz of condensed tomatoes – if allergic to corn syrup or garlic)
32 oz (2 cans - 16 oz each) kidney beans

Cook onions in small pan of oil. When done, pour into a pot along with taco meat, water, Mexican style stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce and kidney beans.

Heat to boiling and simmer 10 minutes.

If not allergic, serve with tortilla chips, grated cheese and/or sour cream.

Note: I have found at different times that the condensed tomatoes overwhelm all the other flavors, so I go back to the original taco meat recipe and add another batch of spices from that recipe to enhance the taco flavor of the soup.

Tamale Pie - Taco meat (part 2)

Ok... so, I said I had a three part use for taco meat. I'm going to give you the recipe for tamale pie. It is one of my all time favorite meals! I love tamales, but have no idea how to make them. So, tamale pie fills that gap for me.

Tamale Pie

Corn meal crust
4 c. cold water
1 ½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. chili powder
2 c. yellow corn meal

In saucepan over medium heat combine the above ingredients. Cook about 15 minutes, stirring to prevent sticking. Press into a 9x13” pan.

Mix the following ingredients:
1 lb taco meat
14 oz can tomatoes
2 oz can green chilis (opt’l)
1 c. creamed corn
1 Tbsp. minced dried onions
1 Tbsp. chili powder

Pour meat-tomato mix over corn meal crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. When out of oven, top with 1 c. grated cheese.

Notes about recipe: Because one in our family is allergic to milk products, I top each individual plate with cheese instead of doing the whole tamale pie. That way if there are leftovers, the allergy eater can have leftovers without the cheese too.

Taco Meat (part 1)

For my family, taco meat is one of the most flexible meats I store in our freezer for quick preparation. Today, I am showing you the taco mix recipe I use for taco meat.

Taco Seasoning Mix

Ingredients
2 tsp. instant minced onion
1 ½ tsp. chili powder
½ tsp. oregano
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. instant minced garlic (opt’l)

Recipe Instructions:

To use: Brown 1 lb. ground turkey or beef. Add spices. Mix well. Add ½ c. water and 1 Tbsp. catsup to the meat mix. Stir. If you have time, you can simmer uncovered for approx. 10 min or until water has evaporated. (I never have time.) Spoon into taco shells and top with your preferred toppings (grated cheddar cheese, tomatoes, ketchup, lettuce, onion, salsa and/or sour cream).

I personally make two 3 lb packages of ground turkey taco meat at one time. When I'm done, I will package the meat in plastic freezer bags.

To make six pounds at a time, the ingredients look like this:

1/4 c. instant minced onion

3 Tbsp. chili powder

2 Tbsp. cumin

2 Tbsp. salt

2 tsp. oregano
3/8 c. ketchup

Lemon Pepper Chicken

Ever just wanted to eat some delicious chicken?! Here's a recipe for lemon pepper chicken:

1/2 c. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 c. vegetable oil

3 Tbsp. chopped onion

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 garlic clove (opt'l)
10 chicken thighs

In a large resealable bag, combine ingredients. For better flavor, refrigerate for 8 hours or over night.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or spray 9x13 pan. Drain and discard marinade from chicken. Place thighs in baking pan. Bake uncovered 40 to 45 minutes or until the juices run clear.

Or take frozen chicken thighs, place in crockpot with spices. Add 2 c. water. Turn on low temperature. Crock pot for 6-8 hours until done.

Note: I’ll make several batches of the lemon juice, oil and spices by measuring out into individual snack bags. I seal them. Then, put them in a freezer bag and freeze. I’ll take out one packet with the chicken when ready to bake/crockpot. Make the mess once and it saves alot of time in the future.

HOPs

Well, I can't take credit for supper! HOPs stands for Hotdogs, Onions and Potatoes. I learned of the recipe from Clara with Depression Cooking on YouTube. She is a 91 year old lady that shows you how to cook depression era foods.



Anyway, when I first saw her on youtube I thought this recipe wouldn't be acceptable to my family at all! However one of the few prepackaged foods my son can tolerate is Jennie O turkey franks. So I thought I'd give it a try... Do you know it is one of my kids favorite meals?! I might make it a little different, but the concept is the same.

Here's my version of HOPs

4 large potatoes
1 medium size onion
4 hot dogs


Wash potatoes. Heat large skillet with a layer of oil on medium high heat – watch for the oil to glisten before adding potatoes. Grate potatoes (large grater size) and carefully put into skillet (oil will splatter as it’s hot).

Next dice onion into smaller squares. Place on top of frying potatoes.

Check to see if potatoes are brown by carefully lifting up the bottom of the potatoes with a spatula. Don't be in any hurry, turn potatoes only when brown. The goal is to let them sit. And don't cover them with a lid. Flipping a lot or covering with a lid will create soggy fried potatoes.

Once potatoes are browned, flip with a spatula so that the onions and raw potatoes are now on the bottom of the skillet. If the bottom of the skillet seems dry, add in more oil.

Cut hot dogs lengthwise and then cube them into bite size pieces. Place on top of potatoes and onions. Once potatoes and onions are browned flip again, this time the hot dog pieces should be at the bottom of the pan. If the pan seems dry, add more oil.

Keep frying until you are content with color of the potatoes and the hotdog pieces are fried.

You can keep finished HOPs on low for a short time before serving, but it will create softer fried potatoes.

Serve hot with salt, pepper and ketchup.

This recipe makes 4 servings.



Note: If you can't tolerate any type of hotdogs but this recipes sounds tasty, try cubed cooked ham instead.

Cookies!

It's been almost 9 months since I made gluten free, egg free, dairy free Sunbutter Choc-chip cookies for my Kaden. I thought I'd share the recipe with you. It will take some work on your part to modify it to fit your situation as most people do not have the same amount of allergies. So, if you print out this recipe, highlight the recipe the way that you need to use it. I would also encourage that if you are allergic to sunflower seeds or peanut butter - try another nut or sesame seed butter that you can use.

Being the frugal person that I am, I calculated that these cookies cost about $5 per batch and I can get 2 dozen cookies out of it.

Sunbutter oatmeal cookies

1 c. Crisco or 1 c. lard or ¾ c. oil

1 c. brown sugar

2 c. flour or (2 c. GF flour + 2 ½ tsp. xanthan gum)

2 eggs or (1 Tbsp. egg replacer and ¼ c. water)

1/2 c. sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 c. oatmeal

1 c. sunbutter

1/2 Tbsp. vanilla
1 c. semi sweet chocolate chips (opt’l)

In large bowl, add all ingredients alternately and mix well. Using a teaspoon, drop dough on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 14-16 minutes. Let cookies sit for 5-10 minutes to cool.

Fun and easy frozen grapes

I know some people are allergic to grapes/raisins. BUT if you aren't allergic to them, you can freeze them for a delicious addition to any meal.

All you need to do is buy seedless grapes, wash them, pick them off the stem and lay them on a piece of wax or parchment paper on a baking pan. You can continue layering in the pan if you have room in the pan. When done, put them in the freezer and freeze for a short time. When semi to all the way frozen, take them out and put them in a plastic freezer bag.

I personally like the red seedless grapes for freezing. Each fall when the prices of grapes are low, I will buy 15+ lbs for our family to eat. I will freeze them in quart size bags for easy serving. Then, when the nights are cold and we want to add a little pizzaz to our meals, I pull out the grapes. They are a hit to eat - whether you are little or big!

It's HOT out there...

Whewy! It's one hot day! Ok, if you heard that the high today was 82* you'd probably laugh. But, for where we live that's really hot!

So on days like today, popsicles are my kids' highlight of the day. I use three of popsicle makers (similar to the picture above) to make popsicles. It's easy, it's cheap and best of all I can fit it into our dietary restrictions.

Here's the low down on how to make them... if you've never tried it.

You need:

1 packet of Kool-aid (or a similar type of product)

1 quart of water (or if you're like me and can't remember what a quart is... it's 4 cups)

1/3 cup sugar

Mix all ingredients well in a pitcher. Pour into popsicle makers. Freeze.

When frozen, my kids happily run downstairs to the deep freeze and pull them out. However a word to the wise, if you want to avoid stains on carpet, send them outside. (smile)

If the allergic person can't tolerate dyes, you can try juices or fruits blended together in place of this recipe. The goal is to make something cold, tasty and fun.

Also if you don't need as many popsicles as I do and still want to make this treat, add more water and turn the rest back into Kool-aid to drink.

It truly is a treat on a hot day!

Easy Salad Dressing

Here's an easy salad dressing:

1 part sugar

1 part vinegar

2 parts oil

salt & pepper to taste

You can use what you are able to tolerate as far as vinegars and oils.

Just grab a measuring cup and a container a little larger than 3 times the size (the sugar mostly melts in to the mix). For 1-2 salad servings, I uses a 1/8 measuring cup. Mix together well.

Toss on lettuce. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix into lettuce well.

You can add additional ingredients of your choice. I personally like to add fruit, sunflowerseeds and onions to the lettuce.

Enjoy!

First Zucchini of the Season

Today I had the privilege of picking my first zucchini in two years! Last year between the ground squirrels and hail, I lost all of my garden. So this year, I tried again and I was rewarded today with one zucchini. YAY!

Because I'm in the mood for zucchini, I thought I'd pass along my recipe for gluten free, egg free zucchini bread... and, yes, I do realize that it was only one zucchini. (smile) But, I've already started dreaming of a huge bounty of zucchini, which for now is only a dream. (sigh)

Let me preface the recipe with a little bit of information going into it. I ALWAYS grate and freeze zucchini before I make zucchini bread. I've found that freezing the zucchini breaks down the cell walls. So when I defrost it, I squeeze out as much zucchini juice into a measuring cup as I can and add the necessary "milk" to it to complete the required measurement of liquid.

This does two things for the recipe. 1 - It dries out the zucchini, which if not drained makes the gluten free bread mushy and hard to completely bake. 2 - It lowers my need to add rice milk (more expensive than the already present zucchini juice) to the recipe.

If you find that you have all the zucchini juice needed to replace the milk in the recipe, add 1-2 Tablespoons of additional oil to make the bread moister, as zucchini juice has no fat in it.

Zucchini Bread

1 ½ c. frozen, shredded zucchini, drained

2 c.GF flour + 1 ½ tsp. xanthan gum (or 2 c. flour)

½ c. sugar

1/8 c. brown sugar

¾ tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. salt

2 ½ tsp. baking powder

¾ c. milk of choice/zucchini juice

3 Tbsp. oil

1 tsp. vanilla

1 ½ tsp. egg replacer + 2 Tbsp. apple sauce (or 1 egg)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 3 mini loaf pans.

Mix the dry ingredients together in one bowl. In a separate bowl, combine milk/zucchini juice, oil, vanilla, egg/replacer (and apple sauce). When both sets are mixed, combine both until well mixed. Gently add the zucchini stirring until moist. You want the mixture to be mixed, but not smooth textured. Pour evenly into the three mini loaf pans. Bake 40-50 minutes. Poke a toothpick in the zucchini bread in several places to make sure that it comes out clean. If not, continue baking. When finished, let cool in pan a few minutes before taking out of pan. Let completely cool on wire rack.

Note: Because this is three mini pans and one kid with allergies, I will freeze the extras to use at a different time.