So now Gabe has heat rash all on his neck and a little on his bottom. Plus really red face :( I don't know what the cause is. I'm calling the allergist to see about testing again.

Hrm.

So I gave Gabe a pumpkin muffin yesterday. No reaction. So that wasn't what caused it. Soooo. I DUNNO.

Scary.

Did you know?

Almost all canned pumpkin is not really pumpkin? But a kind of squash. That might be why Gabe reacted. Odd. And the really scary thing? Is that the label said pumpkin! I'm gonna call the company tomorrow to find out.

?

So Gabe has got an awful rash all over his face today. He's having a reaction to something. ONLY thing that he's had today that he doesn't have all the time is pumpkin. I made that pie and then some muffins with it.

But here's the curious part. He eats pumpkin seeds ALL the time. Can you be allergic to pumpkin but not the seeds? I know you can be allergic to whites and not yolks so maybe? Anyone know?

Today

I started by making graham crackers with sucess! Yummy yummy!

Then I made pudding. Yummy!

Then I made a graham cracker crust and a no bake pumpkin pie!

THEN I make pumpkin muffins since I had extra pumpkin. THEN I made powdered sugar THEN I made whipped cream.

I also made a cheesy potato casserole, but that isn't allergy free.

The pumpkin pie filling was delicious!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Off to post the recipes :)

How to.

I just realized I should post how I break down the recipes.

The school recipe calls for

can pumpkin
vanilla pudding mix
milk
pumpkin pie spice
cool whip
graham cracker crust


I then break each ingredient down.

Can of pumpkin should be fine on it's own.

vanilla pudding mix-
3/4 cup sugar
3 tbs vanilla flavor
1/4 cup potato starch
2 tbs plain stick butter
1/4 ts salt
2 cups milk

milk is fine by itself

pumpkin pie spice
cinnamon
nutmeg
ginger

cool whip
whipped milk
powdered suger -broken down again into sugar blended with potato starch

graham cracker crust
rice flour
brown sugar
baking soda
butter
honey
milk
vanilla extract
then crumble and mix with butter and press into pie pan. :)

Make each element (start with graham crackers and then when they are cooking make pudding so it can cool while you make other stuff) Then proceed like you would if you had a normal child who wasn't allergic to everything LMAO!

First real school challenge for me.

Ok so Gabe's teacher wants to do a few cooking things in class. She sent home the recipe today asking if her allergy kids (Gabe's not the only one!!!) could have it. Of course Gabe can't. So I called her. I asked if he could participate in the making of it and then I could send in his own that is allergy free. She was THRILLED with that idea! She also said that I was awesome for all the cooked stuff I send in and that Gabe is always thrilled to show her what I have made for him. :)

So the recipe calls for a can of pumpkin, 1 pack vanilla pudding, milk, ginger and nutmeg, cool whip and graham crackers.

Most of that I already know how to make Gabe ok. The only one that eludes me is graham crackers Soooo today I found a recipe for homemade ones.

This is the recipe I found. I'm just going to replace the flour with rice flour.

Graham Cracker Recipe2 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons unbleached pastry flour or unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
7 tablespoons (3 1/2 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen
1/3 cup mild-flavored honey, such as clover
5 tablespoons whole milk
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
For the topping:


3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade or in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pulse or mix on low to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off on and off, or mix on low, until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal.
In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, milk, and vanilla extract. Add to the flour mixture and pulse on and off a few times or mix on low until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 2 hours or overnight.
To prepare the topping: In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon, and set aside.
Divide the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Sift an even layer of flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will be sticky, so flour as necessary. Trim the edges of the rectangle to 4 inches wide. Working with the shorter side of the rectangle parallel to the work surface, cut the strip every 4 1/2 inches to make 4 crackers. Gather the scraps together and set aside. Place the crackers on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets and sprinkle with the topping. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough.
Adjust the oven rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Gather the scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and reroll. Dust the surface with more flour and roll out the dough to get about two or three more crackers.
Mark a vertical line down the middle of each cracker, being careful not to cut through the dough. Using a toothpick or skewer, prick the dough to form two dotted rows about 1/2 inch for each side of the dividing line.
Bake for 25 minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the tough, rotating the sheets halfway through to ensure even baking.
Yield: 10 large crackers

Found this recipe here! http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/000126.html

I found something even cooler!!!!
And simpler! Gabe's bday is gonna be Pirate themed!

Now here's the predicament. Do I make the whole cake allergy free? OR do I make it chocolately goodness and then make the little mini cake for Gabe? Both have appeal. Soooo I'm not sure what I'll do. But I've got 8 weeks to think about it.

Plus if I do the mini cake like this picture then I can make the cocolate modeling clay to cover it. (it's very similar to fondant, but tastes better! It's just chocolate!!! Thinned out with some goldensyrup.) So that would be kinda cool. IDK. We shall see.

To make life easier I don't think there will be any other food. Just some juice and such to drink.

So I've found a recipe for chocolate modeling clay! The really cool part is if I can find a white chocolate that is corn free then I can can color it and the possibilites are ENDLESS for cakes! However finding corn free white is not so easy. I'm gonna really have to hunt for it.


So if I can find the white chocolate I think I'm gonna do a super why cake for Gabe. If not then I'll have to figure something else out.

But I am going to do an ice cream cake!

Chocolate ice cream, homemade oreo cookie crumbs, vanilla icecream with vanilla pudding mixed in, then homemade frosting :)

I really loved decorating cakes, but I'm still learning and need more tools. Maybe Gabe's allergies will help me get a chance to tune my skills. :)

Trial fail

So this is day 2 of 100% soy/nut free for me! Sami has been doing pretty good! So hopefully this will help with the colic.

We did a trial for Gabe on the corn. We let him have some bacon (corn syrup) Yea he failed. He had red all over his face. Sigh. Next trial I think will be wheat. :)

So far since May? We've tried eggs again and corn. No go. Sigh.

Donut heaven

So I made several things today.

Another batch of blueberry jam. MMMMmmm!

I made monkey bars (oatmeal bars) The blueberry came out perfect as always, BUT I decided to try to make sunbutter ones. Yea.....did not work. It was too dried out and then I burned it. Yea. No go. LOL.

Then I made donuts. This time I used some ideas to make it easier and I used just straight rice flour MUCH cheaper! To make things easier I wrapped my table in 3 sheets of plastic wrap before rolling out the dough. This way I saved myself a mess AND when I was picking up the dough I was able to slip my hand under the plastic to help me manipulate it. :) I put all the donuts in then I took all the holes and extra and rolled it to make donut holes.

I ended up with some very yummy donuts (even better than the first time) 36 donuts and a little over 5 dozen holes. YUMMY! Tomorrow I'll probably make some powdered sugar to sprinkle on them. MMMMm!

Don't want to eat at McDonald's? Come here!

I made the YUMMIEST chicken nuggets EVER!

Namaste Pizza crust
Thin sliced boneless chicken breasts.

Make up the pizza crust according to directions (water and ts olive oil) Bring a med sauce pan of olive oil to boil. Cut the chicken into small pieces. The using your hands coat each piece of chicken with the crust and toss in. (be VERY CAREFUL!) When it's nice and brown on all pieces pull pan off heat and using a fork put it onto a plate with a paper towel. Let cool. DO NOT use a fry basket! I tried that as well and all the stuff stuck to the bottom and fell apart! (still yummy, but not as good).

So I couldn't wait! I made a second attempt at cotton candy. Yea...it doesn't really turn out like cotton candy. ALTHOUGH I ended up with rock candy for the boys. Which they are quietly devouring as we speak ;) And I made some really pretty spun sugar designs! Which I didn't think I would be able to do, but I was and I really liked it! I plan on figuring a reason to make a cake soon just so I can decorate with it! LOL!

So final ruling on homemade cotton candy. It can't be done. BUT the recipe is awesome for making spun sugar designs or rock candy!

I'm back!

To experimenting in the kitchen.

Today I attempted to make.....cotton candy! (Evil chemicals and corn syrup in commercial)

I went to Wiki How. (OMG I love that site) and looked around.

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Cotton-Candy

I then played with the recipe. Instead of corn syrup I used my favorite find ever golden syrup (I can find it at stop and shop it's made from cane sugar)

So my recipe went like this

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 ts golden syrup

I then plastic wrapped my counter (See I learned from the marshmallow mess!!! LOL)

I stirred the ingredients, then heated to 310. Then I immediately pulled it off the burner and let cool. HOWEVER this is where I screwed up. I was excited and kept messing with it, stirring it and such...:( Instead of spun sugar I have candy crumbs LOL. Still great though! Just not what I wanted. I'm like 500% sure that it I had some popsicle sticks I could have just kept dipping it in to make rock candy too, but again not what I was going for. Soooo I'm gonna have to try this again!

Well the doctor says colic for Sami, but he thinks it's very probable that it's caused by food allergies. :( Poor guy.

thin sliced chicken
celery
carrots
broth
garlic salt.

Bake at 350 til chicken is cooked.

MMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmm~

So today I experimented with making soup.

Ingredients
1 butternut squash, halved and seeded
2 large onions, peeled and quartered
1 medium head garlic
6 cups vegetable broth
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon mild curry powder
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (optional)
Directions
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
2.Place squash halves and onion onto the prepared baking sheet. Wrap garlic in foil and set with other vegetables.
3.Roast in the center of the oven for 45 to 60 minutes, until the squash is tender. Remove from oven and set aside until cool enough to handle.
4.Squeeze garlic cloves out of their skin like paste into a food processor. Scrape the flesh from the squash and place into the food processor along with the roasted onion. Puree until smooth. Add vegetable broth if necessary. Transfer the pureed mixture to a stockpot and stir in vegetable broth. Season with the bay leaf, brown sugar, curry powder, oregano, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in yogurt.
5.Remove bay leaf and serve hot. Garnish with fresh parsley if desired.


MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM! Soooo yummy!

I'm drooling!

So I am in a fall mood. And my friend Carrie was talking about pot pies the other night. Soooo Today during the boys nap I made a chicken pot pie. It's cooking now and I'm drooling it smells soooo good! And the best part? It's healthy, there are NO preservatives, dyes, chemicals etc, AND it's Gabe safe!

I made the crust by altering my great grandma's recipe.

2 cups namaste perfect flour mix
1 cup butter
less than 1/2 a cup cold water.

Put the flour and butter together and mix well then add just enough water to get it to be the perfect flour texture (this varies by person)

Take half and put in 9 in round cake pan. And bake til it's cooked.

ETA It was soooooooooooo yummy! And the rice pasta made it moist but fiirm enough to stay in 1 piece!
Now take 2 chicken breasts. (boneless) boil. Set aside to cool.

Take probably about 3 or 4 cups of milk. (sorry i did this by eye and didn't think to measure til after!) About 2 1/2 in deep in a med sauce pan. Add any spices you like. I did onion powder, garlic salt, celery salt, and peper. Add 1/4 a cup butter and mix. Put it on med heat and stir like crazy til it starts to get thick. I did add a little bit of flour (very little) to help it thicken a little more. Then add whatever veggies are around. I added lima beans, okra, carrots, peas and then some rice pasta (half a small box) Let boil just a little bit, continue to stir so it doesn't burn! While I was doing this I chopped up all my chicken into tiny pieces! Then add the chicken! Mix really well.

Pull out the pie crust and pour chicken mixture! Then I cheat I take a piece of plastic wrap and put it on my table. I then spread out the remainder of the crust and thin it out to make the top crust. Then just pick it up using the plastic wrap and place on top of the pie! Pull of plastic and put into the oven at 360 til the crust is golden brown!