Healthy Brownies

Who doesn't like brownies?  How about healthy brownies??  I was browsing the Internet for an easy gluten-free brownie recipe recently and found something called black bean brownies.  Hmmm...didn't sound all that appealing at first, but I decided to give it a try anyway and was pleasantly surprised!  I still haven't told my oldest son what exactly is in these tasty little treats, but he sure does gobble them up!  ;-)

So how about making some healthy brownies for Valentine's Day?

Gluten-Free Black Bean Brownies
1 (15 oz) can of black beans, drained & rinsed
3 eggs
5 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup chocolate chips
Powdered sugar, optional

Preheat oven to 350.  Puree black beans, eggs, cocoa powder, vanilla, salt, and sugar in food processor or blender.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Pour into greased 8 x 8 pan.  Bake for 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Homemade Allergy-Friendly Cadbury Eggs

A couple of days ago Brody asked me what a Cadbury Egg was.  What?!  For some reason the fact that he has never been able to enjoy one of these popular candies, and in fact had no idea what it even was, really bothered me.  Of course with all of his allergies there are lots of foods that he has never been able to try, but I remember how much I always looked forward to finding a couple of these candy eggs in my Easter basket each year.  So I decided it was time Brody finds some (allergy-friendly) Cadbury Eggs in his Easter basket too!

Homemade Allergy-Friendly Cadbury Eggs
Marshmallow Fondant (recipe below*)
Yellow Food coloring
Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips

Tint a portion of the marshmallow fondant yellow, kneading until color is fully mixed in.  Take about 1/2 tsp of the yellow mixture and roll into a ball.  Now scoop out about 1 Tbsp of the white fondant and while holding it in your palm make an indent in the center and place the yellow ball (yolk) in it, then pinch the white fondant around the yellow ball and roll into an egg shape.  Continue this process until all your "eggs" are complete.  Place them in the freezer on a wax paper lined tray for a few minutes to harden.  Meanwhile, melt the chocolate chips in the microwave and stir well.  Using a fork, dip each "egg" into the melted chocolate and let the excess drip off before placing back on the wax paper lined tray.  Place the chocolate covered "eggs" in the fridge for 10 minutes while the chocolate sets.  If desired, wrap each treat in a foil candy wrapper!

*Note*  The marshmallow fondant recipe makes a large amount.  If you are only using it to make these homemade Cadbury Eggs, I would suggest cutting the recipe in half.

Marshmallow Fondant
16 ounces white mini marshmallows
2-5 Tbsp water
2 pounds powdered sugar
1/2 cup Crisco

Melt marshmallows and 2 Tbsp of water in microwave.  Stir every 30 seconds until melted.  Place three-quarters of the powdered sugar on top of the melted marshmallows and mix.  Grease hands and counter generously with Crisco.  Dump the bowl of marshmallow/sugar mixture onto the greased counter.  Start kneading the mixture like you would bread dough.  Add the rest of the powdered sugar and knead some more.  Re-grease your hands and counter when fondant is sticking.  If the mix is tearing easily, add about 1/2 Tbsp of water and knead it in.  Keep kneading until you get a smooth elastic ball that will stretch without tearing. 

Prepare the fondant for storing by coating it with a good layer of Crisco, wrap in plastic wrap, and then place in a Ziploc bag.  Squeeze out as much air as you can.  MM Fondant can be made up to a couple of weeks ahead of time.  To soften again for use, unwrap and knead a few times again with greased hands.

Valentine's Day Treats

Looking for something to make with your little one for Valentine's Day? Here are a few quick and easy ideas free of many of the top allergens...

• Microwave Brownies cut into heart shapes and dusted with powdered sugar! (see recipe below)
• Candy Cane Hearts! (place 2 mini candy canes on a wax paper lined tray so they form a heart and fill with safe melted chocolate and sprinkles)
• Rice Krispies Treats cut into heart shapes! (swap some of the Rice Krispies cereal with Pebbles cereal for a little extra flavor and a pop of color)
• Melt some safe chocolate chips and pour into heart shaped candy molds. (I used Enjoy Life Mega Chunks)

Microwave Brownies
1 banana, mashed
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour (can use 1/2 cup white & 1/2 cup whole wheat)
4 Tbsp cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips

Mix all ingredients well and pour into a greased 8x8 glass pan. Microwave on high for 4 minutes. Let cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Reindeer Pops

Here's a quick and easy Christmas treat you can make with your little elves!

Dairy-Free Reindeer Pops
Large Marshmallows
Mini Pretzel Twists
Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips
Pillsbury Vanilla Frosting (or make your own)
Red Food Coloring
Lollipop Sticks

Insert a lollipop stick into the side of each marshmallow.  On a wax paper lined cookie sheet, lay out sets of 2 pretzel twists so they are touching each other.  Melt chocolate chips in double boiler or microwave.  Dip each marshmallow into melted chocolate, tap off excess.  Place the flat side of each dipped marshmallow onto a set of pretzel twists.  Chill for 10 minutes.  Color a small amount of frosting red.  Spoon the white and red frosting and also the remaining melted chocolate into 3 decorator bags fitted with a small round tip or spoon into Ziploc sandwich bags and cut off the corner to make a very small opening.  Use these to add eyes and a red nose to each reindeer pop.

(I originally found this idea on Pinterest, which then took me to this website... http://www.makenmold.com/Create/Projects/Christmas.aspx )

12 Days of an Allergy Free Christmas - Kyle Dine

A great Christmas song by the awesome Kyle Dine!

Recipe of the Month

Who doesn't love having their house filled with the smell of pumpkin bread fresh from the oven?  This recipe makes about 50 cookies so it's perfect to have on hand for any fall festivities you may be attending!

Pumpkin Bread Cookies with Cream Cheese Icing
(dairy, peanut, tree nut-free)
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg*
15 ounce can pumpkin
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a medium bowl, cream together the shortening and sugar.  Add egg, pumpkin, and vanilla and beat until creamy.  Add remaining ingredients and mix well.  Drop onto baking sheet by tablespoonfuls.  Bake for 10-12 minutes.  Let cool and frost with the Cream Cheese Icing.  If desired, sprinkle frosted cookies with extra cinnamon!

Cream Cheese Icing
1 (8 oz) container Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese
4 Tbsp Fleischmann's Unsalted margarine
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Combine the cream cheese and margarine. Add in the powdered sugar and vanilla and blend until smooth. 

*Note*: To make this recipe egg-free, replace the egg with 1 Tbsp flaxseed meal mixed with 3 Tbsp warm water.

Pinterest Love!

I've mentioned before that I love cooking/baking and I absolutely adore browsing through any cookbooks I can get my hands on to search for recipes that I can easily adapt to fit my son's food allergies.  Then I stumbled upon Pinterest.  Oh. My. Goodness.  This online "pin board" quickly became my latest obsession and has been for a while now. 

If you're looking for some new recipe ideas feel free to follow my Food Allergy Recipes board where I list easy ingredient subs to make the dish free of milk, eggs (unless it is baked-in, which Brody can have), peanuts, and tree nuts! 

http://pinterest.com/foodallergylife/food-allergy-recipes/

I'm Back!

Where has the time gone?  I seriously can't believe it's been 5 months since I lasted updated the blog!!  So much has happened in that time frame.  Here's a little overview...

• At the end of April my husband and I decided to finally put our house up for sale and start looking for our dream house.  Okay, maybe not "dream house" but we definitely needed more space for our boys.  They had been sharing a bedroom their entire life and are now 12 and 15.  It was time to move on!  Luckily we found a house we absolutely love and our old house sold in just 2 weeks from putting it on the market!  I really think it was all meant to be!
• In May Brody and I went to Washington DC for his sixth grade class trip.  This was extremely stressful, especially amidst the process of selling/buying our house!  I will definitely be posting more about preparing for the DC school trip with food allergies.  Ay-ay-ay!!!
• In June we spent a week relaxing in Eagle River before the total chaos of packing up and moving to the new house would take place at the end of June/beginning of July.
• July consisted of settling in to our new house and loving every minute of it! :)  My husband and I also started training for our first 5k run coming up in October.  Very excited about this!
• August was quite a busy month.  We helped out with the annual Food Allergy Awareness Walk hosted by the Food Allergy Association of Wisconsin, I met with Brody's new teachers for 7th grade to discuss food allergy symptoms and how/when to use an EpiPen, I started a new job, AND....Brody got braces!  Again, this is definitely something I will be posting about separately as it certainly adds a whole new dimension to daily life with food allergies!
• And finally that brings us to September.  Josh started Driver's Ed and just today he passed the test for his temps!  Wow, I'm still not sure how I'm feeling about that!  At one point in Josh's life we weren't even sure if he would ever be able to drive because of his vision, but here we are!  We still don't know for sure if he will have a restricted or unrestricted licence, but at least he will have some independence with driving throughout his life!  He's nervous, we're nervous...we'll just take it slow and see how it goes.

So, that's what I've been up to the past 5 months.  I promise I will try to keep updating more often from here on out, but sometimes life just gets a little hectic and crazy!

Easter treats

                    Happy Easter! 

I hope the Easter Bunny found some yummy safe treats to bring your little allergic kiddos!  I decided to make Chocolate SunButter Eggs with my boys today and we had a hard time not eating all the dough before dipping it in the chocolate!

Chocolate SunButter Eggs
4 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups SunButter (or soybutter)
1/4 cup dairy-free margarine, melted
3 Tbsp rice milk (or soy milk)
1 pkg. dairy-free chocolate chips
1 Tbsp shortening

Mix together the powdered sugar, SunButter, and melted margarine.  Add the rice milk and mix until it becomes a workable dough.  Form the dough into egg shapes and place in the freezer for 1 hour.  Place the chocolate chips and shortening in a bowl and microwave until completely melted.  Dip each egg in the melted chocolate and place on waxed paper until set.  I used 2 forks, one to lift the egg out of the chocolate and the other to help slide the egg onto the waxed paper.   If you want to decorate the eggs, quickly add sprinkles before the chocolate sets.  Place the eggs back in the fridge until completely set.  Enjoy!!

Mt. Olympus Family Fun Day!

Please Join us on April 15th at Mt Olympus Water & Theme Park!

If you mention Food Allergy Association of Wisconsin not only will you be allowed in at the $6.00 rate you will also be allowed to carry in small snacks. Usually they do not allow in outside food but since our group is a Food Allergy Group they are making an exception. Please no coolers of food, and if you can purchase your drinks at the park please do so.

See flyer for details... http://foodallergywis.org/eventsmadison_554_1263663923.pdf

We hope to see you there!!

Pink Slime

Every once in a while I hear about something that makes me think Brody's food allergies are actually a blessing in disguise.  All this talk about "pink slime" in our children's school lunches actually makes me feel grateful that Brody has to eat cold lunch every single day!  Of course that doesn't help the fact that my other son, who has no food allergies, chooses to eat hot lunch almost all the time.  Makes me cringe just to think about it!

In this video Jamie Oliver explains just what exactly "pink slime" is...

Love This!

Written by a food allergy mom...

Allergy Parents

Recipe of the Week

I love browsing through cookbooks!  Old, new, whatever.  I would definitely consider it a hobby of mine.  Finding new yummy recipes that I can easily convert to being allergy-friendly to fit our family's needs puts a smile on my face!

Here was my latest finding...

SunButter Sandwich Cookies
1 cup shortening
1 cup SunButter
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2-3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Filling:
1/2 cup SunButter
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
5-6 Tbsp rice milk

In a large mixing bowl, cream the shortening, SunButter, and sugars until light and fluffy.  Add eggs and vanilla and beat well.  Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture.  Shape into 1 inch balls.  Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Flatten with fork.  Bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes or until golden.  Remove to wire racks to cool.  In a mixing bowl, combine filling ingredients and beat until smooth.  Spread on the bottom of half of the cookies; top with remaining cookies.

Note:  If Brody wasn't able to tolerate baked-in egg, I probably would have substituted the eggs with a flaxseed/water mixture.  1 Tbsp ground flaxseed + 3 Tbsp water = 1 egg.

College with Food Allergies

Brody may only be in junior high, but one question that is always floating around in the back of my mind is "how will he manage going to college with food allergies?"  I love reading articles that put a positive spin on this topic, because the thought of sending my little guy off to college someday with life-threatening food allergies is a tad bit terrifying to me at the moment!  Good thing we have plenty of time to figure it all out!

Here is a recent interview with a college student:   http://www.allergicchild.com/allergicblog/?p=122

And here is a brand new blog I just stumbled upon today.  It is written by two college students who want to share their experiences of living at school with food allergies. http://collegeallergy.com/index.php/blog/

Baked-In Milk

I came across this very in depth article about the extensively heated (baked-in) milk study that was done several years ago.  I've read abstracts of it before, but had never actually seen the full version.  Brody had a check-up with his allergist a couple days ago and I again brought up the fact that I'm very interested in trialing baked-in milk.  Dr. G still isn't sure if he thinks Brody would pass the challenge, but we'll discuss it again this summer when Brody has his next RAST test done.  We've been on this food allergy journey now for 12 years, so being able to add baked-in milk to his diet would be wonderful!  I'm still holding out hope that some day he'll be free of at least his egg and milk allergies!!

http://www.jacionline.org/article/S0091-6749(08)01111-1/fulltext

Recipe of the Week

For once I'm sharing a recipe that isn't sweet and doesn't include chocolate! :)  I made this recipe for chicken enchiladas last week for my family and everyone went back for seconds!

Chicken Enchiladas
4 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken
1 can (4 oz) chopped green chilies (can use less or leave out if desired)
1 cup soy sour cream
1 pkg Daiya, cheddar
12-15 flour tortillas
1 can (10 oz) red enchilada sauce

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Combine chicken, chilies, sour cream and 1 cup Daiya cheese.  Spoon down centers of tortillas and roll up.  Spread some sauce on bottom of 9x13 pan.  Add enchiladas and top with remaining sauce.  Cover with foil.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Sprinkle with remaining Daiya cheese.  Bake, uncovered, 5 more minutes.  Serve with soy sour cream and salsa.

A Must-Read Article!

This is an excellent article explaining what exactly happens to the body during anaphylaxis and why Epinephrine saves lives. 
http://theallergistmom.com/2012/01/12/the-science-of-anaphylaxis-an-allergic-storm/

Really??

Maybe I'm just a little overly sensitive due to the fact that a 7-year-old girl died last week at school due to her food allergies, followed a few days later by another death of a 15-year-old girl due to a "severe asthma attack" shortly after eating lunch at school (also nut allergic), but does anyone honestly find this video clip funny?  :-(

Recipe of the Week

I love popcorn for a quick healthy snack, but add this ooey-gooey sunbutter and honey mixture to it and you'll be addicted! Okay, I admit, I have a major sweet tooth!

SunButtery Popcorn
8 cups popped popcorn
1/3 cup corn syrup
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup SunButter (or soybutter)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup dairy-free chocolate chips

Put popcorn in a large bowl and set side.  Pour corn syrup, honey, SunButter, and vanilla into a saucepan.  Cook for 5 minutes over medium heat.  Stir mixture occasionally with a wooden spoon until well combined.  Turn off heat. Pour mixture over popcorn.  Add sunflower seeds and chocolate chips.  Stir until everything is well coated.  Enjoy!