Oooh!

I havne't tried this yet, but I can't wait!

http://www.eat-drink-smile.com/2011/04/cauliflower-crust-pizza.html

Navy beans and ham....mmmmm!

Mmm.

So I got yet another wonderful chance to try a new (well new to me) Enjoy Life product.




This time I got to try these Not Nuts nut free trail mix.

They are stinking awesome! Seriously.




The Beach Bash was a big hit with my kids. It has dried pineapple in it so it is very sweet. My 4 almost 5 year old came home from school to find the bag on the counter and he picked it up and brought it over to me.....with this sad look in his eyes. He's outgrown most of his food allergies, but he's very well aware that with a nut allergy he can't have most trail mixes. He handed me the bag and said..."I can't have this can I?" I was so excited to tell him that other than giving his mommy a few bites he could have the whole bag. His face lit up! Apparently someone in his class gets to have trail mix all the time and Gabe has been very jealous. LOL! (I was thrilled to send that bag into school the very next day) The mix is super yummy and I really liked it. It's got all the sweet stuff. This mix contains raw sunflower kernels, pineapple, roasted hulled pumpkin seeds, cranberries and apricots. The mix is top 8 allergens free (as always with them) vegan, kosher and sulfite free! Super yummy!




Now I have to admit I only let my kids have 1 bite each of the Mountain Mambo. It was so good I kept the whole bag for myself. (sadly not kidding, I kept it at my desk for my snack this week LOL!) This mix contains raw sunflower kernels, roasted hulled pumpkin seeds, raisins, dried apples, chocolate chips (dairy-free) and cranberries. OHHHHHH SOOOOOOO GOOOOOOD! Seriously I did not want to share any of it. There's not a lot of chocolate, just the perfect small amount to give each bite a small flavor of it. MMMM. Yea I will be buying this again for me. And I can eat any darn trail mix I want! LOL! Also now is where I'll admit I'm slightly allergic to sunflower seeds. I can eat some with no problems, but a large amount will make me sick. Yea.....I risked it. LOL! This was just too good to miss! (and luckily no reactions! LOL!)

These are great products, easy to grab and go and healthy. I mean how can you go wrong with seeds and fruit?!?!?!? Enjoy Life really is one of the leading companies in the food allergy field and I love the time, attention to detail, and love that they put into their products. :)

GIANT THUMBS UP!!!!

Strawberry Souffle

This recipe I found tonight is obviously not safe for people with egg allergies, but After some searching I found a recipe for vegan (egg free) meringue that should work awesome!

So the regular recipe goes like this

3 cups strawberries, process til smooth and add 1/4 cup sugar. Then in separate bowl whip 6 egg whites and 1/4 cup sugar until fluffy peaks form. Then mix with puree. Put into custard cups and bake 400 for 8-12 minutes til sides turn brown.....

For an egg free version Puree the strawberries by themselves. Set aside. In a new bowl mix
1 1/3 teaspoons agar powder (or 1 1/3 tablespoons agar flakes) mixed with 1/4 cup cold water
1/2 cup powdered egg replacer
3/4 cup cold water
1/2 cup sugar
4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pure lemon extract

Once mixed add pureed strawberries and bake in custard cups at 400 degrees for 8-12 minutes. Til sides are brown.


I found the egg less meringue recipe at this site which btw looks awesome for those of you with egg allergies!
http://www.theveganrd.com/2010/05/the-quest-for-a-vegan-lemon-meringue-pie.html

Using up the veggies!

In honor of my getting back into the posting I made an allergy free dinner tonight! (and used up the last of my zucchini and squash from my garden)

Peel and seed 1 large summer squash and 1/2 a large zucchini Chop into small pieces. In a LARGE pan (I actually used our large wok to give you an idea of how big) melt 1 stick of butter then add in 1 container of kitchen basics broth. If you have a corn allergy do not use vegetable broth!) Let this saute on med or med high a little while til the veggies are getting soft. Once they are almost soft throw in a cup or two of rice (if you want it like a peel-off do 2 if you want it more like soup then 1 or less) Stir and let it finish on med for 5-10 minutes til rice and veggies are all done. Serve. :) Takes maybe 20 minutes total and is Yummy and buttery! Can't go wrong there!

Calling all followers!

Okay guys. My crazy busy summer is over and I was just noticing that I've actually started getting a few followers. So this post is for all of you. What do you want to see me make? What foods are impossible for you to find allergy free? What foods seem too out of reach? (remember I have made corn bread corn free :P) We have been very lucky that Gabe has outgrown most of his allergies and so I haven't been running into any baking inspiration.....HELP! What do you want?

Found a totally corn free pectin today!

Pomona's Universal Pectin

back in the sadle perhaps?

Corn/wheat/egg/soy/nut free salt water taffy!!!


•2 cups sugar
•2 tbs. potato starch
•1 cup golden syrup
•3/4 cup water
•2 t tbs. butter
•1 tsp. salt
•3 drops food coloring
•1/4 to 1 tsp. flavoring, such as vanilla, maple, mint or lemon

Original recipe taken from
How to Make Salt Water Taffy | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_2098894_make-salt-water-taffy.html#ixzz1TG4kAU8d


Put all ingredients except flavoring (vanilla or maple), baking soda and food dye in a large pan. Put the pan on the stove over high heat and stir the ingredients until all of the sugar dissolves.

Stir the mixture continuously. Stirring, until the temperature reaches the soft ball stage on a candy thermometer. (it is ok to go over a LITTLE, however we've found that going all the way to the soft crack stage makes the taffy too hard to work air into once cool)


Remove the pan from the stove and add any flavorings or food colorings that you desire and gently stir them into the hot syrup. Then add baking soda (this will create bubbles)

Pour into a greased metal bowl and use 1 or 2 wooden spoons to stir. The more you stir the more air you will work into the candy. Once the candy is cooled enough to handle it with your hands (slather in butter) work it like you would dough. Twist and pull and play with it for 10-15 minutes. Eventually after quite the workout you will have ropes of taffy! (it's fun to do 2 colors and then twist the 2 ropes together!) Let it rest half an hour or so and then cut into 1/2 inch pieces and wrap up in plastic.

A helpful hint for the dishes, let soak in hot hot water :) Melts all the stuck on taffy.

Crazy Summer!

I'm so very sorry all! I have neglected you all horribly! This summer has just been so very very busy! Plus now that Gabe is only allergic to mold and tree nuts I've found that I have so much less that I have to alter or change!

BUT We got to try some AWESOME cookies from Enjoy Life recently!




Now I decided to open the first box of chocolate, chocolate chip while we had our friends over. They have no food allergies (LUCKY!) Yea in about 3 whole minutes the 6 boys devoured the entire box! LOL! I BARELY got to have 1!!!! Not one person knew they were allergy free. Everyone LOVED them! The crunchy texture is like perfectly almost over cooked homemade cookies. You know the kind, not burnt, but cooked as close as you can get. So yummy.



These were the next box to be devoured. My husband even sneaked some! And if you've read my blog you will know this is the HIGHEST of compliments! He's picky and HATES anything that is allergy free. He really liked these. He didn't realize until later that they were allergy free! These were SO good! We really loved them!



Now these the boys really loved. I thought they were pretty good. Not blow me away good, but good. Very like store bought Pillsbury mix. But then again the boys devoured these so maybe I'm just not the biggest sugar cookie fan. LOL!



Now the Vanilla graham cookies I'm ashamed to admit were so good I hid the box from my kids and ate the whole thing myself! LOL! These were SOOOOO perfect. The best texture for a graham cracker and super yummy in milk.

Now for those of you who live under a rock Enjoy life just released these cookies.




They are Top 8 free, potato, corn (there has been debate about this with livecornfree.com she says some of their stuff has MINUTE traces so proceed with caution if you are UBER sensitive), casein, sesame and sulfite free! Whew! They are great about how they list stuff on their products and really boil it all down to the most simple terms for everyone! It's great!!!! I really love this company. They are the perfect quick run into the store and grab it item. :)

Our house gives all the crunchy cookies 2 big thumbs up!!!

Oh Enjoy Life How I love thee!

A short while ago I was asked to try 2 new products from Enjoy Life.




And




The Chocolate granola was great. A little boring though so I added in raisins. After I did that though EVERYONE ate them up! We had friends visiting and between my 2 (little one didn't get any) and my friends two the whole bag got eaten up!!!! I hardly got any!!!! So definitely a win! And great because you can add more if you want, raisins, craisins etc. Great grab and go treat!!!!!

The chocolate chunks I saved for my super fabulous chocolate, raisin, oatmeal cookies! TO DIE FOR!!!!!!!!!! EVERYONE loved them! The chunks were also great by themselves :) DOUBLE THUMBS UP!!!! Sorry no pictures of the cookies they got eaten to fast!!!!

Enjoy Life really is a great company and I love their products. They are easy, fast and free of so much!!!!! You really can't go wrong here! Also their customer service is GREAT! :)

breakfast!

Ingredients
1 cup sunflower butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup golden syrup
1/3 cup butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 1/3 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (enjoy life is a great corn free)
Directions
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2.In a large bowl stir together the sun butter, the butter or margarine, the brown sugar, the syrup and the vanilla until smooth.
3.Add all the other ingredients. Stir well.
4.Press the mixture into 13 x 9 inch greased pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool on wire rack before cutting into bars.

I'm in a desperate need to find a recipe for ritz crackers.

Coookies!

Brown sugar cookies

SOOO good! And I passed them out to people and got a 9 on a scale of 1-10. Then I asked what they thought if they were allergy free! Got a 10 and they were SHOCKED that it was allergy free!

Ingredients
2/3 cup shortening (if you are allergic to corn just sub this with butter same amount so it would be 1 and 1/3 a cup of butter when you add this line and the next)
2/3 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup applesauce or if your not allergic 2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups white rice flour
1 cup tapioca flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
Directions
1.Mix shortening, butter or margarine, sugars, eggs and vanilla thoroughly. Stir in all purpose or unbleached flour, baking soda and salt.
2.Turn dough onto lightly floured board. Shape dough into ball with lightly floured hands, pressing to make dough compact. Cut dough in half.
3.Shape each half into a roll 2 inches in diameter and about 8 inches long by gently rolling dough back and forth on floured board. Roll dough onto plastic wrap: wrap and twist ends tightly. Dough can be refrigerated up to 1 month or frozen up to 3 months.
4.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

The pumpkin bars turned out super yummy, but a little too crumbly. Not good for easy grab and go eating! I think adding carrots will help with that too though. But anyways they are very good and will certainly not go to waste! LOL!

My next challenge is going to be muffins. :)

Breakfast or dessert?

Not sure what this will count as, but the batter was YUMMY!

Tonight I decided to try pumpkin bars. This is NOT the final recipe though. I didn't have any carrots and next time I'm gonna add a cup of carrots and try to cut some of the white sugar.

LOL!

2 cups white rice sugar
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ginger
2 teaspoons baking powder sub (baking soda and cream of tartar)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup oats
1/3 cup softened butter (I always just nuke mine for 10 seconds)
3/4 cup applesauce (original recipe calls for 2 eggs 2 egg whites which will make it fluffier if you aren't allergic to eggs)
1 cup pumpkin

Mix well, then spread in a well greased 9x13 pan and bake at 350 for 25 min or until knife comes out clean. Let cool then cut into bars. :)

Next time I am hoping to cut about half a cup of sugar (the applesauce adds sweetness so I don't think it will be missed AT ALL) and adding shredded carrots, maybe even dried rasins.

The recipe I stole this idea from also used a cream cheese sauce to make it even sweeter (that would push it into dessert for me) so I MAY try pouring a tiny bit of condensed milk on top when it comes out but I doubt it. The batter was really yummy.

breakfast?

So I'll admit, I'm NOT a morning person. So as I'm sure you've noticed, I don't have a lot of breakfast recipes! Normally I'll just make oatmeal.

Today I decided to switch it up though.

SMOOTHIES FOR BREAKFAST!!!!

2 avocados
2 bananas (the mushier the better!)
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon sugar
honey

Put everything but the honey in blender and blend. Pour into cup and then top with a drizzle of honey. MMMMmmmmmmmmm GREAT healthy fats, potassium, fiber, calcium AND other great vitamins! Can't go wrong! Also it kinda tastes like a banana vanilla shake LOL!

special not so special?

Okay so today I want to talk about how having food allergies makes you or your kid special in a not always so special way.

It can make you feel alone and singled out. Not only do you have the frustrations of the food allergies themselves, but then you have to constantly tell people no you can't eat the same thing as them, you can't do the same activity, you can't, you can't.

Did you know one of the main reasons diets fail is because it ostracizes a person from their peers....You can't eat out with them, drink with them(if you drink) you can't go get ice cream together...people don't want to be left out.

So what do you do when you have no choice? When being like everyone causes hives, itching, belly problems or even worse....risk of death?

First realize it's food and food does not need to define you.
Secondly find other things to do!
Thirdly find a way to make safe food that EVERYONE can enjoy.
Try being open with your friends and family so that they can find thing that are safe for you! Most people really will want to help!!!! And they might not be comfortable asking questions.

We do eggs with tiny army men in them for Easter instead of candy. I volunteer to make a food for every single class party and event. Gabe and another boy in his class LOVE that there is always something they can have and that no one else realizes is special for only them. I try my hardest to match anything the class does. (not always easy, but always inspiring!)

So basically what I'm trying to say is...it isn't always so special to be special. It can make you feel bad, but even when it's not always fun remember that it's making you a stronger person, it's teaching you to be responsible for what you do, for what you eat and to be considerate of others. It is making you a strong, intelligent, amazing person! And when all else fails, go pick up some treat that is pre made and that are safe for you to eat and enjoy like everyone else ;)

Sad news.

A lot of crazy and sad news in the world of allergies.

A sad mistake that could cost a girl her life...
14-Year-Old in Coma after Suffering Peanut Allergy
A very very weird allergy I've never heard of before....
N.Y. Girl, 9, is Allergic to Cold

Taco shells

Add vegetable oil (or your oil of choice as a corn sub) to a pot or frying pan until there is 3/4 to 1 inch of oil. Heat the oil up to about 250 degrees F.

Place one tortilla into the oil, making sure it is completely submerged momentarily. The tortilla will float to the top of the oil once it begins frying.

Use a fork to hold the bottom half of the shell down in the oil and use another fork to fold the tortilla in half. Hold the top half away from the bottom half and allow the shape to set as it cooks.

Turn the shell over in the oil after about 30 to 60 seconds. The half of the shell that was out of the oil is now submerged and the part that was in the oil is now out of it. Continue to use the forks to hold the shape of the shell as well as to hold the bottom half under the oil.

Test if the shell is done after another 30 to 60 seconds has passed. If it has not hardened yet, continue to hold each half of the shell under the oil for as long as it takes to become crispy. Make sure to turn the shell so that each half gets equal time in the oil. (Or else one half will be crispy and the other soggy!)

Remove the shell from the oil and place it onto a plate or pan covered in paper towels. This will drain the shell of excess oil and allow it to set to its final crispiness.

Repeat these steps for as many shells as you wish to make.


Recipe for tortilas if you don't have any that are allergy free for you.


•3 cups all-purpose flour ( for this I'm gonna use 2 3/4 cups white rice flour with maybe a teaspoon of flax seed meal to give it a more normal textrure
•2 tsp. baking powder sub (baking soda and tartar sauce)
•1 tsp. salt
•2 Tbsp. lard or shortening (I always sub equal parts of butter in baking it changes the textures, but taste wise is great or you can use bacon drippings)
•1 ¼ cup lukewarm water


Read more: How to Make Handmade Flour Tortillas | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_2034682_handmade-flour-tortillas.html#ixzz1HQkSfokE

In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and salt together.

Using a pastry cutter or 2 table knives, cut the lard into the flour mixture. Keep cutting the fat into the flour mixture until the dough starts to look like cornmeal crumbs. Make sure that the flour and fat are evenly distributed.

Add the water to the flour mixture in ¼-cup increments. Using a large wooden spoon or your hands, make sure to thoroughly incorporate the water after each addition.

When you have added all of the water, the dough should come together in a fairly stiff and smooth dough.

Once the dough is finished, cover the bowl with a slightly damp towel and let the dough rest for 30 minutes in a warm place.

Once the dough has rested, evenly sprinkle a small amount of flour onto your work space. Spread a small amount of flour onto your rolling pin as well.

Turn out the dough onto the work space and sprinkle a little more flour on top of the dough.

Knead the dough for approximately 2 minutes to make the dough smooth and pliable. The dough should not stick to your hands.

Form the dough into a roll shape. Divide the dough into 12 equal portions and roll each portion into a neat ball.

Line the balls on a floured sheet pan and cover the balls with a few slightly damp towels. Set the sheet pan in a warm place to let the dough rest for approximately 10 minutes.

Once the dough has rested, sprinkle more flour onto your work surface (if you need more flour to keep the dough from sticking to the surface) as you roll the balls out.

Take 1 ball of dough and roll it out to a thickness of 1/8-inch. When rolling the balls out, roll 2 to 3 times one way, then turn the dough a quarter turn and roll an additional 2 to 3 times. This ensures that the tortillas stay as round in shape as possible.

Once you have rolled one tortilla out, store it under a towel so that the dough doesn't dry out.

Heat a large cast iron pan or tortilla griddle over medium heat. Heat the pan for at least 5 minutes before cooking a tortilla on it. This ensures that the tortilla will cook evenly.

When the pan has been pre-heated, place a tortilla onto the dry heated pan. Almost immediately, the tortilla will develop bubbles on the surface. Once you see these bubbles, flip the tortilla over and press down with a large spatula.

After approximately 15 seconds of pressing, flip the tortilla again and press again. The bubbles on the underside should have started to brown.

Once both sides of the tortilla have browned bubbles (and this should not take longer than 1 minute), take the cooked tortilla off the pan and store it under a kitchen towel. The towel will absorb the steam from the tortilla, but will keep humidity near the tortilla which ensures that the tortilla will not dry out.

Continue cooking the remaining tortillas.

You can store the tortillas under a towel until it is time to serve them.



Got the frying part from here
Read more: How to Make Homemade Taco Shells | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_2054535_make-homemade-taco-shells.html#ixzz1HQgNzpH4

Tortilas recipe (before alterations)

http://www.ehow.com/how_2034682_handmade-flour-tortillas.html

Mmmm Noodle soup! (friends reference)

Soup.

Mmmmm. It's always good to have soup on a cold day!

Today I am making a bean and ham soup.

1 applegate farm ham (love this company!)
1 bag of mixed beans
1 kitchen basics broth (if you are allergic to corn you can't get the veggie stock! It has to be a meat broth)
4-5 cups water water
onion powder (or a small onion)
garlic powder
ground thyme
celery salt

Put it all in a crock pot (spices I normally do about a teaspoon of each but spice to your tastes) on high for the afternoon. It's yummy and super easy to make! Can't go wrong with something you can cook while you are not there!!!!