Allergy-Friendly Strawberry and Chocolate Cupcakes

These are my go-to cupcakes for birthdays and everything!

I use my favorite icing recipe, Enjoy Life chocolate chips and Color Garden natural food colors and Surf Sweets jellybeans to decorate.

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.

Strawberry Cupcakes

1 3/4 cups oat flour or flour/blend of your choice
1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup pureed strawberries
1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon white vinegar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 and grease cake pan or muffin pan.

Combine flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.

In another large bowl combine the strawberry puree, oil, vinegar and vanilla.

Gradually stir in the flour mixture. Be sure to mix well.

Spoon the batter into the cake or muffin pan. Bake for about 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

*Note that these will not come out pink because the oat flour browns. I don't want you to be surprised!

Chocolate Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups oat flour or flour/blend of your choice
1 cup sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I use Vermont Nut Free)

1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup oat or rice milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon white vinegar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 and grease cake pan or muffin pan.

Combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.

In another large bowl combine the oat/rice milk, oil, vinegar and vanilla.

Gradually stir in the flour mixture. Be sure to mix well.

Spoon the batter into the cake or muffin pan. Bake for about 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Halloween and the Teal Pumpkin Project

I'm sorry I haven't been posting as often. Work seems to be getting in the way of writing new posts! Things will slow down after this month and I can get back to cooking new things and blogging. Halloween is my favorite holiday, so I will be posting a few things including some delicious pumpkin chocolate chip cookies I just made!

Halloween is coming up soon. It can be a difficult holiday for kids with food allergies, but there are lots of ways to make it fun.

This is the first Halloween that Cody really understands the concept of trick-or-treating. I want him to be able to participate and not be left out of this fun tradition. I personally love the idea of "trick-or-trade" where kids trade in the candy they get for safe treats, or for something special they want. That way it's still fun for them and they can safely participate.

There's a book called the No Biggie Bunch Trade-or Treat Halloween about this. I love the No Biggie Bunch books. They address food allergies in a positive way that's educational, but also easy for kids to understand and they can relate to the characters in the books.

Have you heard about the Teal Pumpkin Project? If not, click the link to read about it. The idea is to paint a teal pumpkin to put outside your house to let kids with food allergies know that you have non-food items. I love the idea! I'm really happy to see it getting a lot of attention and that people with and without food allergies are participating. Below is our teal pumpkin.

Hope you all have a happy, safe and fun Halloween!

Allergy-Friendly Zucchini Bread

I can't believe I haven't posted this yet. I thought I did, but looked back and it wasn't there.

This is one of the first things I made for Cody along with sweet potato bread when we found out about his food allergies. We were trying to figure out how to get calories in him and our whole new world of allergen-free cooking. It seems like so long ago.

I think if you are just starting out with food allergies it's helpful to hear that what seems impossible and overwhelming at first will get a lot easier. This is just the way we eat and cook now, I bake about one a week, Cody loves to help me and he enjoys the food we make. Josh has also learned how to make food for Cody. He made blueberry waffles for him the other morning. It really does just become second nature.

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.

Zucchini Carrot Bread

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup applesauce

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 small zucchini, finely diced or shredded

1/2 cup carrots, finely diced or shredded

1 1/2 cups oat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

pinch of salt
(If the batter seems too dry add oat or rice milk a tablespoon at a time. Be careful not to add too much because it can quickly become too gooey.)

I sometime like to add some diced apple to this recipe if I have extra apples around.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and oil a loaf pan.

In a large bowl mix the maple syrup, applesauce, and oil.

Mix in the zucchini and carrots.

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

Slowly blend the flour mix into the zucchini carrot mix.

Pour into a loaf pan and bake 50 – 60 min. or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool completely then slice.

Happy Birthday to Cody!

Happy 3rd Birthday to our sweet, funny, happy boy! 

Yesterday was Cody's birthday and we had a great weekend celebrating.

I made his favorite chocolate chip cookies into a Mickey Mouse cookie cake and he loved it. I also made some Mickey shaped cookies.

I've been really busy getting ready for Cody's birthday and with other things, so I haven't posted anything new lately. More coming soon. I promise!

Allergy-Friendly Southwest Pasta and Quinoa Salad

I can't believe summer is almost over! It's still really hot here and I love cold pasta salads when it's hot out.

This this healthy and delicious pasta salad makes a great side or main dish. And it's something you can prepare ahead to put in your child's lunch box for a healthy lunch.

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.

Southwest pasta salad

1 box rice, or other allergy-friendly fusilli or penne pasta 

1/2 cup quinoa

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup frozen corn, thawed

1 red bell pepper, finely diced

3 - 4 green onions, white and light green parts chopped

Honey Lime Dressing

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

2 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon chile powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

* You may want to double this if you like more dressing on your salad, or if you will have leftovers. I find that rice pasta tends to dry out a bit more, so you can add more dressing when you serve it later.

Prepare the pasta and quinoa according to the package directions. Toss them together in a little olive oil in a large bowl to keep the pasta from sticking.
Stir in the beans, corn, pepper and onions.
In a small mixing bowl whisk together the dressing ingredients.
Pour over the salad and toss to combine well.
You can eat it warm, or let it chill in the refrigerator for an hour. 

Cody's First Day of School!

Yesterday was Cody's first day of school ever. He loved it and I'm so happy for him! We spent a lot of time preparing him and ourselves for this and I was completely exhausted last night. We are extremely lucky to have found a school that is very food allergy knowledgeable and friendly and they don't do lunch which is good for us at this point. At least we don't have to worry about that until he's a little older and more able to manage his food allergies.

I thought I would be terrified when this day came and I'm just so grateful that I could relax and enjoy this big, exciting new chapter in Cody's life. It was a happy day for all of us.

Yesterday morning I made Cody his favorite strawberry and lemon pancakes.

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.

Lemon and strawberry pancakes 

Makes about 8 pancakes

5-6 large strawberries

1 1/2 cup oat flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup oat milk

1/2 cup applesauce

1/4 vegetable oil

1/4 cup maple syrup

Zest from 1 small lemon

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla

Purée the strawberries in a blender or food processor.

In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, bakng powder and salt.

In another bowl combine the strawberry purée and the remaining ingredients.

Combine the wet and dry ingredients.

Heat a lightly oiled griddle or skillet over medium heat.
Use a ladle or measuring cup to pour about 1/4 cup batter on the skillet or griddle.
Cook until bubbles appear and the bottom is golden brown, about 2 minutes.
Flip using a spatula and cook until the other side is golden brown, about 2 minutes.
Place on a plate and keep warm in a 200 degree oven.
Repeat until the batter is gone.

Allergy-Friendly Gazpacho

My plan was to post a dairy-free, allergy-friendly recipe for my Grandma's apricot ice cream. As sometimes happens with experimental cooking, it didn't work at all! But I learned something new. Apparently maple syrup doesn't freeze well. Oops! I'll try again next week.

So today I'm sharing one of my favorite summer recipes from my mom. She doesn't like when I share her recipes, but this is so good and refreshing I had to do it. Hopefully she'll forgive me for sharing it here. I didn't even have to change it to make it allergy-friendly. Thanks Mom!

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.

Gazpacho

2 lbs. fresh tomatoes 

1 cucumber, peeled

1 small red onion, chopped and rinsed (to mellow the flavor)

1 green or red bell pepper, remove stem and seeds

1 garlic clove

1/4 cup chopped green chile, or 1 jalapeño, remove stem and seeds (optional)

2 cups tomato juice

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

I leave the tomato skin on, but if you want to remove the skin you can do that by blanching them in boiling water for 10 seconds. This will loosen the skin and make it easy to remove.
Chop the vegetables into large chunks and place them in a blender or food processor (you may have to divide into batches if they don't all fit).
Add the remaining ingredients.

Blend until smooth.

Pour into a large bowl and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Chill in the refrigerator for at least a hour before serving.
I like to garnish with fresh avocado.