Treats for the Trip

Tomorrow morning we are leaving for a small road trip to visit family in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. We have taken our toddler out there 3 times already, but he was either only breastfeeding or eating baby food purees so we didn't have to think too hard about his allergies. Here's what I've learned today -- planning a trip with a child with food allergies takes packing and preparing to a whole new level! I know it will be fine keeping his allergies under control once we're there because we'll just be eating at my family's houses and I can either check packages, labels, etc or make him something separate. What I was most worried about was the car trip since I don't trust most fast food restaurants to be completely allergy free and I also didn't want to have so many restrictions on where everyone else could eat.  I have two great recipes here that I made for Caleb to eat in the car that are filling and healthy enough for lunch. I will use the banana bread to make a cream cheese sandwich and I am also bringing applesauce, plenty of allergy friendly cookies, cheerios,  "happy tot" fruit and veggie mix pouch and fruit leather.  I think we'll be good to go :)

Egg and Nut Free Banana Bread
2 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour
1 3/4 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup coconut oil
1 t. vanilla
2 T. water

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a loaf pan. Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the mashed bananas, yogurt, honey, oil and vanilla. Fold the banana mixture into the flour mixture and mix until blended. Add the water to moisten and be careful not to over mix. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 40-50 minutes.

Sweet Potato Muffins
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup honey
1 cup sweet potato puree *
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 t. vanilla

* For the sweet potato puree, cook about 3 medium sized potatoes on 350 for about 1 1/2 hrs. Let cool and then slice and scoop out the sweet potato. It should be soft enough to mix into a puree. Measure to 1 cup before using.

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a muffin tin. Place 1st 6 ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk together. In a separate bowl, mix together the remaining wet ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until combined, but do not over mix. Bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Recipe: Egg and Nut Free Snickerdoodles

These are the cookies that I brought to the play date yesterday. I knew right away they were a keeper.  After Caleb took his first bite he said "mmmmmmmmm!" and started nodding his head up and down as if to say "oh yeah, these are good!" He absolutely loves these cookies and I am going to make another batch to bring on our trip out east. Make sure you don't over bake them, they are so deliciously soft and chewy if you bake them for just 12 minutes.  Seriously, these are the softest cookies I've ever tasted!

Snickerdoodles
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup applesauce
1/2 t. vanilla
1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1/4 t. salt
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. cream of tartar
2 T. sugar
1 t. cinnamon

Beat the butter and sugars until creamy. Add the applesauce and vanilla and continue beating until mixed. The batter will look a little lumpy at this point. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and add to the wet ingredients. Mix until incorporated. Chill the dough for 30-60 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 300. In a small bowl, combine the 2 T. sugar and 1 t. cinnamon. Take about 2 T. of dough and roll into a ball. Roll the ball into the cinnamon sugar, flatten it and place it on an ungreased cookie sheet. Repeat for remaining cookies. Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes and no more. Makes about 16 cookies.

Little Tooter's Chocolate Chip Cookie Balls

These are C's absolute favorite cookies!

Little Tooter's Chocolate Chip Cookie Balls

The Recipe:
2/3 cup organic palm shortening*
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup organic raw sugar
1/4 cup applesauce
1 t. vanilla
1 T. milk
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
3/4 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2 t. baking soda
1 t. kosher or sea salt
1 cup allergy free chocolate chips (I use Enjoy Life)

*Organic palm shortening is an allergy friendly and healthier substitute for regular Crisco shortening. If you enjoy baking, I highly recommend purchasing some.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, combine the shortening, sugars, applesauce, vanilla and milk.

In a medium bowl, combine the flours, baking soda and salt with a wire whisk. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and stir until combined.

 Fold in chocolate chips.

Using a cookie dough scoop, or your hands, shape cookies into small round balls and drop on the prepared sheets.

 Bake 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Do not over bake.

Our Favorite Chili

My husband and I aren't big fans of the winter time. Brushing snow off the car, getting dark at 5pm, bundling up, wrestling C to the ground to get him in his snowsuit that he knows will inhibit his every move. However, there is one thing that gives us something to look forward to during the cold winter months...a nice warm bowl of chili.  I never liked chili until I met my husband, and it took some begging and pleading before I started making it on a regular basis and now I am hooked.  We've tried beef chili, turkey chili, white chicken chili and even loaded it with different kinds of beans. (Diaper duty was not fun the day after that meal so we're limiting the beans for now). Although we always like to try a new variety, this one is our absolute favorite.  It's your basic chili, full of flavor, a little bit of beans, and lots of colorful peppers.

Now THIS is something we can get excited about!

Beef Chili

1 lb. ground beef

1/2 cup diced onion

2 stalks celery, diced

1 1/2 cups peppers (combo of green, red, yellow or orange)

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 1/2 T. chili powder

2 t. oregano

1 t. cumin

1 t. basil

1 t. marjoram

1 14 oz can pinto beans, drained and rinsed

1 28-oz can diced tomatoes, undrained

3 T. tomato paste

1 T. lime juice

2 t. worcestershire sauce

1 cube beef bouillon

1 cup beef broth

1/2 t. sugar

salt and pepper to taste

Optional toppings: cilantro, cheese, avocado, sour cream

Cook beef and veggies in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add garlic, chili powder, oregano, cumin, basil and marjoram and sauté for 1 minute. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes or longer to allow flavors to blend. Spoon chili into bowls and serve with toppings.

Pumpkin Bread

I've been testing out pumpkin bread recipes for the past month or so trying to come up with a good and relatively healthy one that is egg and nut free.  Coming up with an egg free version of various baked goods is quite a challenge because you substitute based on what you need the "eggs" to do....leavening, moisture, binding, etc. I had one loaf that was too chewy, one that was kind of mushy and one that was just plain gross (I think I dumped in too much ginger lol), but I think I finally found our "favorite" recipe.  You can add dried cranberries, raisins, chocolate chips, or you can even add a layer of cinnamon cream cheese in the middle. Either way, it's delicious :)

Pumpkin Bread
1 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
1 1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. ginger
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/8 t. cloves
3 t. baking soda
1/4 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup honey
1/2 t. vanilla
1 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
2 T. warm water

Preheat oven to 350. Mix dry ingredients in a medium bowl with a wire whisk. Make a well in the center and add the wet ingredients and mix together with a fork (do not overmix). Fold in pumpkin.
For bread: Add batter to a greased loaf pan and bake for 30-40 minutes
For muffins: Add batter to a greased muffin pan and bake 18-22 minutes