Doughnuts Donuts

100% Whole wheat flour doughnuts

There is one doughnut I know of we can eat. It's a gluten free doughnut in the freezer section at our local natural foods market, and it's pricey. So, we make our own, and it's much nicer to have a fresh one from the fryer. All other doughnuts seem to be loaded with milk, soy, and nuts are everywhere in a bakery.

With all of our food restrictions we try not to worry about fats, and less about sugar. I do use organic sugars, and syrups and healthy fat oils however. We like Rice oil for frying.

Recipe:
Again, I don't follow one directly. I often google recipes, and for this doughnut I used the a yeast risen dough. I also like a "cake doughnut" recipe, putting to use all of our substitutions. They are quite good with fresh grated nutmeg in them. Whenever a recipe calls for shortening I replace it with oil and applesauce. Something about that combination is perfect for making this moist and delicious.

Because I don't stick to a recipe, sometimes the donuts aren't perfect, but anything deep fried with a sugar glaze is still pretty good!

Mix powdered sugar with water, or milk, and a touch of oil, vanilla and food coloring optional, to glaze the donuts out of the fryer. I've used beet juice to color frosting's before because I was worried about a reaction. I hope to find some natural food coloring that don't change the flavor, because the beet juice was a little overpowering (although the kids didn't notice).

These things are gone faster than you could imagine, and I can feel good about my kids eating them--that can't be said about most doughnuts!

Our Pizza

dairy and soy free pizza

You just have to pizza to survive, right? My kids love it, I love it, and even my dairy loving husband loves it.

The crust:

I use a standard pizza crust recipe, and use my milk alternatives and olive oil. I don't usually measure, just add a cup or two of flour, proofed yeast, a splash of "milk" and olive oil and kneed in my stand-up mixer. I let it double then spread it out on a floured pizza pan. Sometimes I add garlic to the bread, but not when I split the dough in half and make doughnuts with the other half, yum. I haven't found a pre-made crust we can eat. I know there is a dairy-free one in the pizza topping isle, but it does contain soy.

Toppings:

crushed tomatoes with Italian seasoning OR jarred marinara sauce (be careful for allergens here)
-spread the tomato then drizzle with olive oil
caramelized onions (brown on low for 7 mn or so)
diced green peppers
olives
sausage
artichoke hearts
onions
-drizzle with more olive oil and salt and pepper to taste
*on this pizza we tried goat cheese, which our son picked off, but the rest of us enjoyed with mild reaction to it. Next time I won't try it. We just have to keep trying new foods in hopes there isn't a reaction this time.

Put the pizza in a HOT oven, 475 degrees or more. I like a pizza stone for a crispier crust, but the kids like a more bready crust. Cook 12 mn

This pizza doesn't last long, and we serve it with organic soda so we really feel spoiled.

I've also mixed nutritional yeast flakes in water, added some salt and garlic, and dotted the pizza with it. The nutritional yeast has a very cheese like flavor. And lately we have found a great cheese subtitute the whole family loves. Check out Mayfare Food Products out of Bozeman, MT. It is made by parents with allergic kids :) http://www.wayfarefoods.com/ I found it at Huckleberry's Market. ENJOY!

Nuts and Bolts

Here's some of the things that keep us together day to day; the groceries, the quick recipes, the standards.

Where I shop

I shop at least twice a week, perhaps more especially if you count the farmers market. I run around to pretty much every grocery store in the area, really. Here's the best of what I've found ranked by preference

Huckleberry's: you really can't beat their sales on the wide variety of grocery items with allergies, organic, and overall ethical sources in mind. We spend some denero there for sure.

Independent farms: I've found since switching to homemade rather than processed this is obviously where the bulk of our food comes from. From eggs, to chicken, to beef and local veggies we love to support our GMO free farmers. These good srouces have taken time to research.

Pilgrim's Cd'A: This is the first place we discovered Hemp milk in the stores, so we are so grateful to them. They also have a good selection, but not quite as big as Huckleberries. I do shop there often and LOVE the customer service.

Main Market, Spokane Public Market, and Fresh Abundance: I love everything about these stores, but it's hard finanically when you're feeding a family of 5 to shop at these speciality organic stores when I know I can get things less expensive at Fred Meyer. I do support local, where I can. Plus, these are a drive for me.

Grocery Outlets, Bargain centers: Nothing like finding a good deal on organics for cheap. I scour the places and buy all that I can because they won't have the item around long. These include Grocery Outlet, Big Lots, Toys R Us (not bargain, but they have snack items you won't find anywhere else) and TJ Max (yup, they get organic oils, and organic convenience items in).

Chain stores: Safeway has "O" Organics, Albertson's has Wild Harvest Organics, and most Western Family stores have "Natural Direction" Organics. If I go around to all the different stores (preferably without the kids) I quickly scan for sales or good organic foods. It helps us have more variety. And Fred Meyer has an excellent, although small, natural food selection.

Costco: They have some great prices, but not very many organic items. I do try to steer clear of them though, because their company is hand in hand with the largest corporations pushing genetic modification in our food. For instance their "chocolate cake" like many other foods you buy is nearly all corn and soy based (Check Harmful Food Additives .COM)

I would love to grow our own produce, but have not had much luck there, unless you count a million radishes. I am trying to set up an organic garden, so perhaps next year we'll be ready?

When we're out of town I hit their stores too. I wish we have a Trader Joes and Whole Foods. Wish.

Staples

Breakfast might pancakes, waffles, french toast, oatmeal cereal, eggs, or muffins. Most often pancakes with real maple syrup.

Sweet Potato Piecakes

1 1/2 C whole wheat flour

1 egg

2 T oil

1 small jar sweet potatos

1 t baking powder

1 t apple cider vinegar (substitute for buttermilk flavor)

dash salt

"pumpkin pie spice"

1 C milk alternative or enough for right consistancy

Sometimes I use white flour, but then I add more "good stuff" like flaxseed meal, fruit, more hidden veggies, or protein powder (we use rice protien powder).

BREAD:

Rudi's Organic, any viriaty is the best bread we've found. I tried to make my own, but as much bread as we go through I'd never leave the kitchen, and mine doesn't always turn out!

Lunch: Sandwiches of some sort, lately egg sandwhiches with homemade mayo (it's easy). I am going to start making my own veggie burgers and see if they like those (we have our meat course at night). Our sensitive one gets very sick from procesed meats, even the organic ones, so we're still food journaling this interaction. It's been 3 days since he's had some processed sausage, and I still smell in on his breath. Yuck, poor kid, it must just stew in his tummy unable to digest. It takes awhile for him to work it out. I don't want to give him medication for it though, as that is what we did in the past to help his stomach "empty". I hope this bout is over soon.

Pop Tarts: Those deserve a catogry in themselves. Unfrosted, milk and soy free. http://www.naturespath.com/products/toaster%20pastries?tid=All&brand=All&nutri=All

This is my daughter with her cookbook, mixing bowl, feeding her animals. I think she's seen me in the kitchen often lately.

The Winners and the Loosers

I remember a serious flop I had in trying to make wholesome food for my family. Something about lemon juice, flour, vinegar, and hemp milk that made a perfect explosion in what should have been very yummy blueberry muffins. We all scraped the muffin tins anyway. Here's another try at new recipes.

Energy Bars

1 C Sun butter, or other peanut and tree nut substitutes
1/2 C Organic Oats
1/2 Honey

Glaze
1/2 C Organic Powdered Sugar
~1 T milk alternative

Stir, press into pan, and refrigerate. Drizzle with glaze
These were a winner. The kids thought they were getting store bought cereal bars. I wrapped each one up in foil and put it in our to-go bags. I think the frosting really helped :)

Colorful Coleslaw

1/2 head red cabbage
1 carrot grated
raisins
1/2 C Mayo (I make my own with rice oil, as there are no mayo's on the market that are soy free or Organic)
2 T honey or agave, or Organic sugar

Mix mayo and sugar first, then add to chopped ingredients.

Even though I made this extra sweet and lots of raisins, you could probably guess the kids still didn't enjoy this one. We are exposing them to these veggies though, and perhaps next time they'll try a bite!

Allergy +Link of the Week

http://www.allergykids.com/defining-food-allergies/what-moms-in-europe-know/

Becoming a Food Snob

Documentaries to watch regarding the nature of our food:

Food Inc.
http://www.foodincmovie.com/

King Corn
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/kingcorn/index.html

Supersize Me

Please recomend others to me. I'm trying to learn more, and trying to change our food life. It's not easy, but we feel it's our right path.

Muffin Tin Meals

Some days are just snack days. The kids are sick, so I am serving cold cereal, pudding (made with coconut milk), jello, Popsicles and ice cream (we like Tempt Hemp milk Ice cream, Turtle Mountain Coconut Ice Cream, and some Sorbet's as some do contain milk).

These muffin tins make eating a bit more fun. There is a website out there; Muffin Tin Meals, that can give you more ideas such as themes, color grouping etc., and an allergic kids should be able to have fun too! My kids especially like to "stab" their choices with cocktail toothpicks.

Bye Bye to Plastics

Dinner sans plastics, serving Mediterranean Cous Cous, Apple Sauce, and White Bean Soup with Sausage and Kale

In an effort to help our seemingly super sensitive child heal, after doing some reading up on it, we decided to rid our house of all plastics. Well, at least the ones we eat directly off of. This was really hard for me because I carefully chose each sippy cup, plate and bowl to fit the personality of each kid. For my 2 year old, it was Bob the Builder sets, for my 4 year old girl Disney and Hello Kitty, and I even had some chic table wear for our infant, BUT they were all plastic. The plastics were degrading from the dishwasher, and dimpled from the microwave, they even started to have that plastic "smell", you know the one.

With a bit of determination I boxed it all up (3 overflowing boxes), and bought some glass from the local thrift store. I am not sure if ceramic is that much better than plastic (I would guess it depends), so I am still on the look out for safe eating wear. We've had quite a few broken glasses, but I still feel it's worth limiting the amount of PCB's, flame retardants, and other toxins leaching off the plastic into my sons already taxed immune system. I am also amazed by the amount of plastics used all around us. I had never stopped to notice. I haven't decided to decide on that yet :)

Will it be the answer to our household allergies? Probably not, but here's tyring, and what can it hurt? My kids do know to FREEZE at the sound of broken glass though :)

What inspires you?

Dairy Free Au Gratin Potatoes

These were so good. I think I should have made more. Rich, creamy, and no cheese!

Dairy Free Au Gratin Potatoes

Adapted from the book pictured

2 T olive oil
3 T flour *or gluten free flour mix
1 1/2 C milk alternative *We like Hemp Milk for it's good fat and calcium qualities
2 tsp salt
1/4 t ground white pepper
1/4 C chopped fresh local parsley
4 thinly sliced Organic potatoes

Make a "white sauce by heating the fat (oil), whisk in the flour, cook for 1 minute than stir in milk and remaining ingredients. Pour over thinly sliced potatoes. It's important in a dish like this not to skimp on the salt, as you're trying to replace some cheese and butter flavor. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes or until soft and lightly browned.

The parsley and any herb also effects the taste so even a dairy friendly person couldn't tell this was vegan.

We served this with local organic sausages from Main Market and organic cinnamon applesauce from our orchard.

"Green" Smoothie; Snacktime

Allergy Friendly Snacking

Favorite Green Smoothie

1 C organic Frozen Strawberries
1 C organic Frozen Mango
1 organic Banana
2 TBSP Organic Honey, Agave, or Real Maple Syrup
1 C raw organic baby spinach
1 1/2 C Hemp milk, rice milk, Organic Soy milk, your choice

*I hadn't added the spinach in the picture, and the powder is a rice protein powder that helps my son who doesn't digest proteins easily

Blend. Serve in colored glasses if your kid don't like green! These are yummy, I promise :)

Air Popped Organic Popcorn

Drizzle with Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil and sprinkle with Sea Salt
sprinkle with nutritional yeast *optional (this makes it taste more "buttery")

For Further reading please view the documentary FOOD INC., and search under "GMO's" and "allergy".

Quick Chili with Organic Heirloom Blue Corn Tortilla's

Soy Free, Dairy Free, Nut Free, Gluten Free, Organic, Vegan

Time gets in the way of cooking healthy, or so it's said right? I've found just the opposite. With just a little bit of planning, healthy allergy-friendly meals can be "thrown" together. Here's a quick nutritious meal and what helped to get us there, that I cannot live without; the menu plan.

Quick Chili

1 can of Organic Pinto Beans (buy lined cans to avoid PCB's)
1/2 cup Organic frozen Corn (google "GMO" and "Organic" to find more about this choice)
1 T Chili seasoning (cumin, chili powder, paprika, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onions)
1/2 Cup reserved Organic tomato sauce or spaghetti sauce
1/8 C Organic Olive Oil (for healthy fats)
browned ground Organic Turkey or Free Range Beef *optional

simmer for 10 mn until warm through

Rustic Organic Heirloom Blue Corn Tortilla's

*I don't use recipes, but just throw things together. I am not a perfectionist, and neither is my family, so everyone is very forgiving. This does give me courage to try things out. Please feel free to add and take away as you feel, it's OK!

1/2 C Organic Heirloom Blue Corn
1/2 C Organic Flour *use gluten free for this allergy
1 teas. salt
1/4 C Organic Oil (I like Organic Safflower)
water to moisten

mix into a dough consistency, roll into small balls, and roll with a rolling pin. If you have a tortilla press you can make perfect shapes; I don't mind the rustic shape however. Cook in an oiled skillet on medium until browned on either side.

The kids (ages 2 and 3) weren't huge fans of the chili, but did eat enough to suit me. They filled up on the Tortilla's with honey, jam, and dipped in the chili. I almost always serve a Green Smoothie (recipe to come) for dinner as well, to boost the nutrition choices on the table.

This took about 20 mn to make total, not bad for covering so many food groups!


Here is a typical menu hanging on the fridge. I menu plan on Sunday nights, usually by sitting with a few cookbooks to get ideas, and some snack food cause it'll make you hungry!

It Started Long Ago

This is Cook for Allergies first post, and hopefully not last! My goal of this blog is to record the amount of time and energy I spend cooking for my children whom have various allergy needs, to document recipes I love and want to use again, but most of all Cooking for Allergies is here to support those of us striving to do everything we possible can to help our children with allergies thrive and grow. Cooking healthy is something we should all do because we deserve it, but there are often too many unhealthy shortcuts standing in our way of succeeding in this effort. Fortunately for myself we have our muse.

Liam was born a healthy, screaming, brutish 9 lb boy. Fast forward to 2 1/2 years of screaming, vomiting, rashes, weight loss, reflux disease diagnosis, medications, food intolerance's, testing, specialists, lack of sleep, chronic diarrhea, hives and overall discomfort, we were against a wall. If you're a mom like me, or grandparent/caregiver, then you know what it is like to be awake in the middle of the night with a sickly child. I spent hours every day (night) researching what could be wrong with our cute son, and something was indeed wrong. After doing some elimination dieting (google this), and a new pediatric gastric-enterologist, our son's condition was diagnosed as the result of "unknown food allergies".



How do we FEED our child, but yet limit so many foods? How do I cook with so many restrictions? What should I feed him, and what on earth are these 34 different ingredients in a package? How we do control for the food term "flavorings"? Can we even trust the foods in our supermarket? Will my entire family eat the allergy friendly food? Can we afford it?



After a million or more questions, heartache, and confusion, somehow along the way we opened up to determination. Going all ORGANIC seemed to be an answer that was staring us in the face. I've always wanted to go "crunchy", if not a true "hippy", but I wouldn't allow myself to go there, for various reasons. Here was a child whose whole existence is yelling at me to follow my dreams, to do what I want, and to live the way I think we SHOULD.



Is it possible to get results over night? YES! After years of questions and strife, finally we had answers. We still don't know what our "smoking gun" is, but we do know we see a drastic remarkable change in our son. Sleep, happiness, eating, no medication, and healthy growing boy again is worth it in uncountable ways. Going all organic worked. Cooking from scratch was totally doable. And shedding our life of unnecessary things happened along the way.



So lets get to it.



Here you'll find pictures, recipes, ideas, stories, failures, successes, networking, substitutions, shopping tips, meal plannning, whole house greening, gardening, sharing, teaching, learning, and hopefully inspiration through 3 allergy-minded meals a day 3 snacks a day and all in between. Please note that I am not a dietitian and this blog is of opinion, as I am not a doctor but just mom who cares for the feeding of her family.



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