Cranberry or blueberry apple muffins.

It took me a few tries to get these mini muffins just right, but I finally have the right texture and taste.

I usually make these with dried cranberries, but since we have a ton of blueberries, I used those this time around.

I can't seem to keep these around very long because we all love them. Well, Cody usually loves to eat them except when he decides they are a great "throw" (his word for ball) and wants to test his arm. I can tell you that it's pretty good!

These are wheat-free, dairy-free, egg-free, soy-free and vegan.

Enjoy!

Mini apple and dried Cranberry muffins

Makes about 20 muffins

1 1/2 cup oat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup oat or rice milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup chopped, dried cranberries or blueberries

1 small, finely diced apple

Brown sugar for sprinkling on top

Preheat oven to 350 and grease mini muffin pans.

In a large bowl combine the maple syrup, applesauce, milk, oil, cranberries/blueberries and apples.

In another bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Gradually stir in the flour mixture
Spoon the batter into the muffin pan. 

Sprinkle with brown sugar and bake for about 25 - 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Pestolata Pasta. It's not quite pesto, not quite gremolata.

I call this pestolata because it's a little like pesto and a little like gremolata. Either way, it's delicious! 

The problem with pesto is that is has nuts and parmesan cheese. Here's my recipe for nut-free, dairy-free, allergy friendly, vegan pestolata pasta. I often add veggies like asparagus or peas, Cody's favorite. Seriously, this kid just can't get enough peas. He eats them by the handful every day, all day and I buy an astonishing number of bags of peas every week. But I digress.

Enjoy!

1 cup basil
1 cup spinach
1 small garlic clove
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1 lb. rice pasta

Salt and black pepper

Combine the basil, spinach, garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice and oil in a food processor. Add a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper. Blend until smooth.
Cook pasta according to package directions. Reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta water.
Place the hot pasta in a serving bowl and immediately stir in the pesto. Add pasta water to reach desired consistency. Add more salt and pepper if desired.

 

Buffalo hummus burgers

I have always loved 4th of July. It was one of my favorite holidays as a child. Then I met my husband at a 4th of July party and we got married three years later on 4th of July weekend, so I enjoy this holiday even more now!
 

Who's grilling for 4th of July weekend? To me, a good 4th of July weekend has to include grilling. I love burgers and I like using buffalo meat instead of beef because it is much leaner than beef. The problem is that because it is lean, it can dry out easily. That's why I like to add hummus to my buffalo burgers. It adds great flavor and moisture.

Use your favorite hummus, or here's the recipe for my Sesame-free hummus. I like to serve the burgers with my Allergy friendly potato salad.

 

I have been trying to make hamburger buns, but I have not perfected it yet, so use your favorite allergy friendly hamburger buns or bread.

Happy 4th of July, happy grilling and enjoy!

 

Grilled buffalo hummus burgers

1 lb. ground buffalo
2 tablespoons finely chopped onions
1/4 cup hummus
1/4 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper
Vegan rice cheese
Your favorite allergy friendly hamburger buns

In a large mixing bowl combine the buffalo, onions, hummus, salt and pepper.
Shape into 4 burger patties
Grill over medium high heat for about 4 minutes on each side.
Top with cheese and toast the hamburger buns on the grill.
Serve on the buns with your favorite toppings.

Allergy Friendly Potato Salad

We love grilling out! I used to always make potato salad, but with the mayo and egg in it I thought our days of creamy potato salad were over. That is until I discovered soy free Veganiase!

This is another of my Grandmother's  recipes adapted to make it allergy friendly.

Happy grilling and enjoy!

This recipe is egg free, peanut/tree nut free, dairy free, soy free, corn free, wheat free and vegan.

Potato Salad

8 Yukon gold potatoes
1/2 cup minced onion
1/2 cup soy free Veganaise
2 tablespoons dill pickle relish*
1 tablespoon yellow mustard*
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon fresh chopped chives or dill
1 teaspoon celery seed**
Salt and pepper

*I make sure I get dye free mustard and pickle relish since most contain yellow dye.
**Feel free to use some celery instead. I use celery seed because I like the celery flavor, but not the texture.

Peel the potatoes and cut them in half.
Bring a pot of water to a boil.
Add the potatoes and boil for about 15 minutes until tender, but not mushy. If the potatoes get too mushy you end up with mashed potato salad!
In the meantime combine the rest of the ingredients in a bowl.
Drain the potatoes and let cool completely.
Cut the potatoes into cubes, season with salt and pepper and mix with the dressing.
Adjust seasoning if necessary.
Chill in the refrigerator overnight, or until ready to use.

Awesome Allergy Friendly Chickpea Omelettes

I really can't believe how tasty these are and they're egg free and soy free!

My mother-in-law recently sent me the link to a recipe for chickpea flour omelettes. I decided to try it last weekend and we all really liked them including Cody. He finally gave it a try after making his "this is going to be yucky" pfffft noise and sliding it back and forth around his tray. He ended up eating the whole piece I gave him.

Here's the link to the recipe I used from the blog Vegan Richa:

http://www.veganricha.com/2012/08/chickpea-flour-omelette-with-spinach.html

I used zucchini, spinach and only some salt and pepper for seasoning.

Seriously, you have to try these. I know I will be making them a lot!

It's apricot season!

I get so excited when I start seeing apricots in the stores. I love them and they always remind me of my childhood.

My grandparents had apricot trees and I remember the fun of picking buckets of apricots and then watching my grandma make yummy apricot everything!

One of the things that stands out in my mind is the apricot ice cream we used to make every year. It was my favorite. I am going to try to figure out an allergy friendly version soon.

For now I made an allergy friendly version of her apricot crisp. Our grocery store recently had a huge blueberry sale and we bought a LOT of blueberries, so I added blueberries to the crisp.

Here's the recipe. Enjoy!

Apricot blueberry crisp

Fruit filling:

8 apricots pitted and chopped

1/2 cup blueberries

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1 tablespoon oat flour

Crumble:

1/4 cup oat flour

3/4 cup oats

3 tablespoons maple syrup

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

In large mixing bowl combine the fruit, maple syrup and flour.

In a food processor combine the flour, oats, maple syrup, oil and salt. Pulse to form a course crumble.

Pour fruit into a greased baking dish. Top with the crumble.

Bake until the fruit is bubbly and the crumble is golden brown about 20 - 25 minutes.

Sesame-free hummus

We don't yet know if Cody has any problem with sesame, but I do know that sesame is a fairly common allergy, so we haven't tried it yet.

I decided to make him a sesame-free version of hummus. I have not been able to get him to eat beans, so I thought I'd try a different approach. I just used cannellini beans, olive oil,  a little bit of garlic and lemon juice.

I tried it and I think it's yummy. I use it on sandwiches and I add some to buffalo burgers for moisture and extra flavor.

Cody is still not quite sure about it. He takes a couple nibbles of it on a piece of bread, but that's about it. Actually, for him, that's a good sign!

This is really easy to make. Here's the recipe. Enjoy!

Sesame-Free Hummus

1 can low sodium cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon Lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
Salt and pepper

Add 1/2 tablespoon olive oil to a skillet over medium heat.
Add garlic and cook for about 1 minute until soft and fragrant.
Let cool and add to a food processor with the remaining ingredients.
Blend until smooth.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

Allergy-Friendly Blueberry Waffles

I made these for all of us last weekend and they turned out really good! I have a mini waffle maker that does perfect Cody size waffles.

You can freeze extras and put them in the toaster for a quick and easy breakfast.

Enjoy!

Blueberry waffles

1  1/2 cups rice or oat milk

1/2 cup applesauce

1/4 cup vegetable oil

3 tablespoons maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup blueberries

2 cups oat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

In a large mixing bowl combine the oat/rice milk, applesauce, oil, maple syrup, vanilla and blueberries.

In another bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Slowly add the flour mixture to the blueberry mixture to make a batter.

Follow the directions on your waffle maker. 

Serve with maple syrup or fruit topping.

This recipe is egg free, dairy free, peanut/tree nut free, wheat free, soy free and vegan

Cody's Favorite Foods: Easy Oven Baked Fries

Cody loves these, we love them and they're so easy to make!

Easy Oven Baked Fries

1 sweet potato

1 yukon gold potato
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cut potatoes in half and then cut into 1/4 inch strips.
Toss the potatoes with the olive oil in a large bowl.
Place sweet potatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt.
Bake for about 25 - 30 min minutes until tender and golden brown.

Feel free to play with seasonings. Try adding garlic powder, paprika, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, brown sugar, or any seasoning you like.

Grandma's Allergy-Friendly Tortillas

I grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I have so many childhood memories of my grandmother making beans, chile and especially her homemade tortillas. I decided to try to modify her recipe to make oat flour tortillas for Cody. 

The first one was a disaster, but I kept making changes until I finally managed to make a tortilla that really looked and felt like a tortilla. My husband and I used them to make chicken tacos and they actually stayed in one piece! Oh, and Cody loves them.  He calls them toto cookies!

I'm so happy with these I can hardly contain myself and I think Grandma would have been proud.

Enjoy!

This recipe is free of the top 8 allergens (egg-free, dairy-free, wheat-free, peanut-free, tree nut-free, soy-free, fish-free and shellfish-free) and vegan.

Grandma's Tortillas

2 cups oat flour                                
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 - 2 1/4 cups water
2 tsp. baking powder                    

In a large mixing bowl combine flour, salt and baking powder.
Stir in the oil and water to make a batter.
Heat a griddle or pan over high heat. Pour or ladle about ¼ cup of the batter for each tortilla. Cook for 2 minutes, you should see bubbles forming. Turn and cook on the other side for 2 minutes. Continue to turn frequently and press occasionally with a spatula to brown evenly.     

Cody's favorite foods: allergy-friendly smoothie

A few weeks ago I decided to try to make a smoothie for Cody. I wasn't terribly optimistic since he has never been much of a fan of fruit. I used a frozen banana as the base, added some other fruit, applesauce, juice and rice milk. I gave it to him in a cup with a straw and he took a sip and said, "mmmm!" Wow! I couldn't believe it. Now he helps me make a smoothie every day and we share it.

Enjoy!

This recipe is free of the top 8 allergens (egg-free, dairy-free, wheat-free, peanut-free, tree nut-free, soy-free, fish-free and shellfish-free) and vegan.

Fruit smoothie

1 ripe, peeled banana frozen overnight
1/2 cup applesauce
1 /2 cup fresh or frozen berries, peaches, or other fruit of choice
1/4 cup apple or white grape juice
1/4 cup oat or rice milk

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Allergy-Friendly Sweet Potato Bread Recipe

This is Cody's favorite bread. I like using maple syrup instead of sugar, but feel free to use sugar if you like.

Enjoy!

This recipe is free of the top 8 allergens (egg-free, dairy-free, wheat-free, peanut-free, tree nut-free, soy-free, fish-free and shellfish-free) and vegan.

Sweet Potato Bread

1 cup cooked, mashed sweet potatoes

¼ cup vegetable oil

2 tablespoons maple syrup

2 tablespoons oat or rice milk

1 ¼ cups oat flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl mix the sweet potatoes, oil, maple syrup and milk.

In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder and salt.

Slowly add the flour mixture to the sweet potato mixture.

Pour into a loaf pan and bake for 50 – 60 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cool completely then slice.

Zucchini Sauce

Below is my recipe for zucchini sauce that I use as tomato sauce replacement since tomatoes make Cody itchy and rashy. I have used it on pizza and as a pasta sauce. I plan to also use it to make tacos and sloppy joes. It is never going to taste exactly like tomato sauce, but I think it's a pretty good substitute.

Enjoy!

Zucchini sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons chopped onion

1 garlic clove chopped

10 medium zucchinis diced
Juice from 1/2 a lemon
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil (if desired)
Salt and pepper

In a large saucepan heat olive oil over medium high heat.
Add the onions and sauté until softened, about 4-5 minutes.
Add garlic and cook for another minute.
Add  Lemon juice and zucchini.
Reduce heat to medium and simmer covered for about 20 minutes stirring occasionally until the zucchini is soft.
Stir in the chopped basil.
Transfer to a food processor and puree until smooth.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

This recipe is egg free, dairy free, peanut/tree nut free, wheat free, soy free, corn free gluten free and vegan.