No Egg Italian Dishes

After some experimenting, I am pleased to report that I was able to come up with egg-free versions of two of our favorite italian dishes -- chicken parmesan and lasagna. Usually eggs are used in chicken parmesan in the breading and lasagna uses them in the cheese mixture. There are a couple of easy ways to get around using eggs though and it tastes just the same. I hope you enjoy these as much as we did!

Chicken Parmesan

4 chicken breasts

1 cup flour

1 cup Italian bread crumbs

2 T. flaxseed (or 3 T. chickpea flour)

3 T. water

salt and pepper

¼ cup parmesan cheese

1 jar tomato sauce

4 slices mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Line up 3 small mixing bowls. In the first bowl, put the 1 cup of flour and sprinkle some salt and pepper mixing well with a wire whisk. In the second bowl whisk together the 2 T. flaxseed (or 3 T. chickpea flour) and 3 T. water.  Put the breadcrumbs in the 3rd bowl. Take one chicken breast and coat it with flour, followed by the flaxseed mixture and then the breadcrumbs. Place chicken on a plate and repeat with the 3 other chicken breasts. Heat a frying pan over medium heat and add 1 T. oil. Heat chicken for 3-5 minutes on each side or until browned. 

Pour 1/4 cup of tomato sauce on bottom of a 13 x 9 baking dish. Place chicken in dish, sprinkle with parmesan cheese, and top with slices of mozzarella cheese. Pour tomato sauce over chicken and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Lasagna

1 T. olive oil

1 cup chopped onion

2 medium carrots, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

1 cup chopped peppers (variety)

6 garlic cloves, minced

1 pound ground beef

3 T. tomato paste

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes, undrained

1 cup tomato sauce

1 ½ t. sugar

½ t. crushed red pepper

1 t. oregano

½ cup torn fresh basil (or 3 T. dried basil)

1 t. thyme

1 t. rosemary

salt and pepper to taste

32 oz. cottage cheese

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

½ cup grated parmesan cheese

2 t. dried parsley

salt and pepper

9 no boil lasagna noodles

½ cup water

Slice all your veggies.

 In a dutch oven over medium high heat, cook the onion, garlic and celery in 1 T. oil for 3 minutes. Add the beef, carrots and peppers and cook until the beef is browned. Drain. 

Add the ingredients from the tomato paste to the salt and pepper, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for at least 30 minutes (longer if you have the time). 

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the cottage cheese, 1 cup of mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, parsley, salt and pepper. 

Spray a 13 x 9 baking dish with cooking spray. Spread 3/4 cup of the meat mixture on bottom of the pan. Place 3 lasagna noodles on the bottom of the dish, top with 1/4 cup meat mixture and half of the cheese mixture.

 Repeat the layers twice. Top with 3 noodles, remaining meat mixture, remaining mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese. Add 1/2 cup of water to the edges of the pan, cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 10 more minutes. Place a baking sheet on the rack under the lasagna to catch any dripping sauce. 

Mmmmmm.

Delicious Egg and Nut Free Fall Treats

We got little C's allergy blood test results back and basically our house will need to be an egg and nut free zone (at least for now).  The results were a little confusing for me to understand, but basically he has a pretty bad allergy to nuts and eggs and could have a severe reaction. He only showed moderate allergies to sunflower and sesame seeds, but he'll still need to stay away from those. He was negative for milk which is good! My main question is can he only just not eat a nut or can he not even eat anything that may have touched a nut in the manufacturing process? Obviously we will play it safe for now, but I'm hoping to get some clarity on that in the near future.

So, I guess it's a good thing I like to cook because it looks like our family won't be eating out much! I'm thankful for all these great recipes and websites I've come across giving us delicious egg and nut free options. Here's a couple that I got from foodallergymama.com. I tweaked the pumpkin muffins a bit to make them a good breakfast option. Speaking of breakfast, C has been refusing to eat cereal or oatmeal of any kind and since he can't have eggs that leaves me with having to make him muffins and pancakes. So expect a lot of new recipes up here soon!

Egg and Nut Free Pumpkin Muffins

1 c. butter
1 c. sugar
4 T. water
1 tsp. vanilla
1 15 oz. can pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
2 c. whole wheat flour

1 c. all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 c. raisins

1/2 c. dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray 18 muffin cups with baking spray, set aside.

In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter, sugar, water, vanilla and canned pumpkin puree thoroughly.

In a separate medium bowl, combine the flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger with a wire whisk. Add to the pumpkin mixture and mix on low until combined. Stir in the raisins and cranberries using a rubber spatula.

Use a cookie scooper to divide batter among the 18 muffin cups.  Bake for about 18 minutes or until  lightly browned and a cake tester comes out clean. Cool and serve!

Apple Crisp

Apple filling:

6-7 large apples, peeled and cut into 6 wedges

 1 t. grated lemon zest

2 t. fresh lemon juice

1/3 c. sugar

2 1/2 t. ground cinnamon

Crisp topping:

1 c. unbleached all-purpose flour

1 c. quick-cooking oats

1/2 c. light brown sugar

1 t. ground cinnamon

1/8 t. salt

1/2 c. butter, chilled and cut into pieces

Spray an oval 14 x 9 inch casserole or 13 x 9 inch glass baking dish with baking spray. Combine the apples with the lemon zest, lemon juice, sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl, and pour the mixture into the prepared dish. 

To make the topping, in a medium bowl, combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Cut in the margarine using a pastry blender or your fingers. The mixture should clump into pea-sized pieces. 

Preheat oven to 375. Sprinkle the crisp topping over the apples, and place the dish on a baking sheet. Bake 50-60 minutes, or until the topping is golden brown and the fruit is bubbling. 

Taco Thursday and a Cooking Contest

I was never a big fan of mexican food until I met my husband.  He requested it all the time, so I started experimenting with different recipes for tacos, burritos, enchiladas, etc and now I'm obsessed. So far my favorite is slow cooker chicken soft tacos and I am currently trying to perfect my recipe so I can submit it to the most recent Taste of Home cooking contest.  I'm not expecting to win (most of the women who enter are older and more experienced), but besides the grand prize there are smaller cash prizes and opportunities for your recipe to be published in their magazine or on their website. You can submit as many recipes as you want, so I already submitted a banana cake with peanut butter/chocolate frosting that I made for my husband's birthdays prior to our son's peanut allergy and I am planning on submitting the pumpkin cake and a BBQ recipe that I'm playing around with. I'm sure they get a ton of entries, so who knows if anything will come of this but I thought it would be fun to submit some of my favorites :)

Here's what I have so far for the chicken tacos:

Chicken & Black Bean Soft Tacos

1 lb. chicken

¼ cup lime juice

½ t. chili powder

¼ t. ground cumin

¼ t. garlic powder

dash of black pepper, salt and ground red pepper

¼ cup green onions

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

½ cup salsa

1/4 cup water

Tortillas

Mexican shredded cheese

Lettuce

Avocado

Combine ingredients through salsa in a bowl. Place chicken in a crock pot and pour mixture over chicken. Add 1/4 cup water. Cook on low for 4-5 hours or until chicken is cooked through. Allow to cool, then shred chicken.  Place chicken back in crockpot and cook on low for another 30 minutes. Serve with tortillas topped with cheese, avocado and lettuce. 

So now I just need to add something special so it will stand out a little. I am considering adding some lime zest and chopped pineapple.  I'll probably try that for dinner next week, and if we like it then that will be the entry. Thoughts?

Also, I totally forgot to take a picture of the food. I'm really bad at this whole blog thing!