Egg Free Spaghetti and Meatballs

Here's another easy egg free dinner! It's great for Mom's with little ones because you can quickly put it together in the afternoon while your tot is napping and then heat it up and make the pasta right before you're ready to eat.  A couple notes: If you do have an egg allergy, make sure you buy pasta that is egg free. Also, make sure you don't buy meat that is too lean. I used grass-fed organic ground beef that was 85/15 and it held together really well without egg. If you don't want to use red meat and opt for turkey instead, make sure it is the dark meat turkey. Meat with too little fat on it won't hold together without the egg binding it. There are many significant health benefits to choosing grass-fed beef. Here's a good site that explains what you will be missing out on/gaining in return when you buy grass-fed: http://www.eatwild.com/basics.html.

 Egg Free Meatballs
For the sauce:
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 cup spinach
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
1 tsp. dried basil
3/4 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 Tbsp. dried parsley
salt and pepper

For the meatballs:
1 lb. ground beef (or dark turkey if you prefer)
3/4 cup panko crumbs
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 Tbsp. water

Preheat oven to 425 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, combine the meatball ingredients until mixed together. Roll into balls and place on the baking sheet. Bake 15 minutes or until no longer pink.

Combine spinach and 15 oz. can sauce in a food processor. Process until spinach is mostly chopped. Place the olive oil in a large stockpot over medium high heat. Add the celery and onion and sauté until tender. Add the garlic and spices and heat for another minute. Add the crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce mixture and simmer for 15 minutes.

Once the meatballs are done cooking, remove them from the oven and place on a plate covered with paper towel to blot off grease. Add the meatballs to the sauce and simmer for 10 minutes.

If you are making this ahead of time, at this point you can remove the pot from the burner, allow to cool and then place in the refrigerator until you are ready to eat. Once it's dinnertime, just reheat the sauce over low heat on the stove and serve over pasta. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese, if desired.

Homemade Nut-Free Granola Bars

If there's one thing I've missed since we began our allergy journey, it's granola bars. It was always a great healthy snack to fall back on and I've seriously been trying to come up with a recipe since last spring. I am pleased to share with you that I have FINALLY came up with one! I searched and searched for nut free granola bar recipes online, but if they were nut free then they had some sort of seed in them (which we can't have either). So after many tries, I have finally come up with one that stays together like a granola bar should and is pretty delicious as well. You can also substitute chocolate chips for the dried fruit if you'd like.

Nut Free Granola Bars

4 cups oats

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup organic raw sugar

1 cup mixture of raisins and cranberries

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup coconut oil, melted

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup maple syrup

Preheat oven to 325. Combine 1st 5 ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and mix. together until fully coated. Place granola mixture in a greased 13x9 inch glass baking pan and spread evenly.

                         

Bake 40 minutes. Cool for 15-20 minutes and then cut into bars. Store in a tupperware dish.

Egg Free Vanilla ("Nilla") Wafers

Prior to our son's allergies, our favorite snack was the "Nilla". It was not uncommon to have an open box of Nilla Wafers on our kitchen table in the evening, grabbing a handful whenever we passed by.  Shortly after we found out about the allergies, I came across a devastating discovery on a trip to the grocery store.

Ingredients: UNBLEACHED ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], FOLIC ACID), SUGAR, SOYBEAN OIL, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED COTTONSEED OIL, WHEY (FROM MILK), EGGS, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, SALT, LEAVENING (BAKING SODA AND/OR CALCIUM PHOSPHATE), EMULSIFIERS (MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, SOY LECITHIN). CONTAINS: WHEAT, MILK, EGG, SOY.

No more nillas!!!!!

Sad.

That is, until last night when I finally came up with a worthy egg free vanilla wafer.

Delicious. While I had the opportunity to make an egg free version, I also took it upon myself to make them healthier than the original nilla. Whole wheat flour and just honey to sweeten, you'd never know they were better for you! We now have an open tupperware container of these homemade vanilla wafers sitting on our counter. They probably won't last long, so it's a good thing they're easy to make!

Egg Free Vanilla Wafers

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

Place 1st 3 ingredients in a bowl and combine.

Place butter in a stand mixer and beat until creamy.

Add vanilla, applesauce and honey and mix for another minute or until combined. 

It won't be completely homogeneous because of the applesauce, but will end up looking something like this.

Add the flour mixture and mix until combined. Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes or longer. Preheat oven to 350. Roll 1 tsp. of dough into a ball and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Flatten each ball into a disk and bake for 15 minutes. 

Cool and serve

With a glass of milk.

Egg Free (and Healthier!) Chicken Nuggets

I made a couple of changes to the original egg free chicken nugget recipe and reposted it below.  Before going on a trip a few weeks ago, I looked up ingredients in various fast food restaurants to be prepared in case we had to stop there on the road. Much to my surprise, McDonalds chicken nuggets do not have egg in them. They have plenty of other ingredients, but egg is not one of them.  I'm not so sure if real chicken was on the list either! I got kind of dizzy trying to make out the various chemical names posing as food and gave up. However, for those with allergies, McDonalds is not clear as to whether or not they cross contaminate with foods containing egg so it's still best to stay away.  Egg or no egg, I'd go with these nuggets over McDonald's any day!




Egg Free Chicken Nuggets
1 pkg boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1 lb.)
4 Tbsp. olive oil (if you can eat eggs, you would use 2 eggs here instead of the oil)
2 Tbsp. whole wheat flour
1 cup bread crumbs
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. basil
1/4 tsp. thyme

Preheat oven to 425. Cut chicken tenders into 1-inch chunks.  Combine flour and olive oil in one bowl. In another bowl combine the bread crumbs, salt and all the spices. Dip chicken pieces in the oil/flour mixture and then coat in the bread crumbs. You don't need to submerge the chicken in the oil, just lightly dip it and then rub the oil around with your fingers before coating with the breadcrumbs.  Depending on how much chicken you have, you may need a little bit more oil. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, place nuggets on sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes or until cooked through.

Ingredients don't have to be complicated...so simple and so delicious!

This post is shared in the weekly allergy blog hop! http://www.realfoodallergyfree.com/2013/01/easy-5-second-cheesecake-dip-pumpkin-pudding-best-choc-chip-cookies/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:

BYOD (Bring Your Own Dessert)

Tonight we are having dinner with some friends and I am bringing an egg and nut free dessert to share. I usually always offer to bring dessert whenever we go somewhere for dinner because typically any kind of egg and nut free dessert needs to be made from scratch and I don't want others to have to do that for us. Tonight I am bringing a raspberry-pear crostata! It is a modification on The Food Allergy Mama's apple-cranberry crumb crostata.

I typically try to stay away from white flour and sugar in our everyday eating, but I do use it for special occasions. I declared tonight a special occasion :)

Raspberry-Pear Crostata

Easy Pie Dough * (see below)

3 small pears, peeled, cored and cut into 1-inch chunks

1/2 cup frozen raspberries, defrosted and drained

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup light brown sugar

sugar for sprinkling

Prepare the easy pie dough as directed below. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat oven to 400 degrees. Transfer the dough disk onto the prepared being sheet and shape into a 12-inch circle. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the pears, raspberries, lemon juice, vanilla and brown sugar. Place the pear-raspberry mixture on top of the dough, leaving a 2-inch border. Fold the dough gently toward the center, crimping as needed.

(Please excuse my dry hands and chipped nail polish)

Sprinkle with sugar and bake for about 30 minutes or until the dough is golden brown. 

If you bake this the day before, just pop it in the oven to warm a bit before serving. It goes great with vanilla ice cream!

*Easy Pie Dough

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup organic palm shortening, chilled and cut into pieces

5-7 Tablespoon ice water

Combine the flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Add the shortening and pulse a few times until you have small crumbs. Add the ice water, 1 T. at a time, to the flour mixture, pulsing until the dough comes together. Transfer the mixture to a sheet of plastic wrap and shape into a rounded disk. Chill for at least 30 minutes before using. 

Sweet Avocado Hummus

C and I were out at the library and running errands all morning, so we were quite hungry when we got home. I wanted to make us sandwiches for lunch to use up these homemade bagels that I had, but I don't like giving him deli meat and peanut butter isn't an option either (of course). Usually I will just make him a cream cheese sandwich, but today I was inspired by a couple ingredients I had here at home that I hadn't used yet. One avocado and a can of chickpeas. Hmmmmm.....sweet avocado hummus.

Sweet Avocado Hummus
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 avocado, peeled, cored and cut into chunks
2 Tablespoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 garlic clove, minced
1 T. honey
water, if needed
optional add-in: fresh cilantro

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until smooth. Add water if needed to help mix.

You can serve this as a sandwich spread or as a dip with veggies and crackers.

 Nutritionally, this is actually a good substitute for natural peanut butter because it has protein and good fats. He'll eat anything with avocado!

Sloppy Joe Cornbread?

Tonight I did something kind of different. I got the idea from another blog, but I modified it a little and made it egg free. The result was two of my husband's favorite meals in one incredibly simple but yummy dish. I basically made some sloppy Joe meat and poured cornbread batter on top, sprinkled some cheese on top and baked it in the oven. It was delicious. We ate over half of an 8x8 dish of it! This is definitely a kid (and adult) pleasing meal.

Sloppy Joe Cornbread


For the sloppy joe:
1 lb. ground beef
1 T. minced onion (I just used dried)
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 t. garlic powder
1/2 T. worchestershire sauce
1/2 green pepper, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Brown the beef and onion in a skillet over medium heat. Drain. Add the ketchup, garlic powder, worchestershire sauce, salt, pepper and green pepper and simmer for 5 minutes.

For the cornbread: (cornbread recipe from peasandthankyou.com)

1 cup white whole wheat flour

1 cup cornmeal

1 T. sugar

1 T. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

½ t. baking soda

1 cup milk

¼ cup butter, melted

Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl with a wire whisk. Mix melted butter and milk together in a glass measuring bowl. Add wet mixture to dry mixture and stir until combined.

Preheat the oven to 425. Pour sloppy joe mixture in an 8x8 baking dish and top with the cornbread batter. Sprinkle cheese on top and bake for 19-22 minutes or until golden brown on top. 

Oven Beef Stew

Recently I got my first cast iron Dutch oven and I could not wait to find the perfect recipe to try it out. The snow started last night so I figured a nice hearty beef stew would work. Plus, I am spending my first weekend away from my little guy and I knew Daddy would need some leftovers to dish out over the weekend.  I don't make beef stew that often, but now with my new pot I have a feeling it will become a more frequent visitor to our kitchen table :)

For the rest of the weekend I am leaving them with a batch of spaghetti meat sauce, leftover chicken noodle soup, plenty of snacks and some oatmeal raisin cookies. They'll hardly know I'm gone!

Oven Beef Stew
6 T. all purpose flour, divided
1/4 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper, divided
1 1/2 pounds beef stew meat
1 medium onion, chopped
1 T. olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups beef broth
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
3/4 t. dried rosemary
1/2 t. dried thyme
1 T. worcestershire sauce
3 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed

In a large resealable plastic bag or a bowl, combine 4 T. flour, salt and pepper. Add the beef and toss to coat. In a dutch oven over medium high heat, brown the beef in batches. Remove and set aside. Add onion to the pan and cook until tender. Add garlic and cook 1 minute longer. Stir in remaining flour and pepper.  Gradually stir in broth. Add the beef, tomatoes, rosemary, thyme and worcestershire sauce.  Cover and bake at 350 for 1 1/4 hours. Add the potatoes and carrots. Cover and bake for 1 hour longer. Stir in peas. Cover and let stand 5  minutes before serving.

Toddler Lunch Idea -- Homemade Hot Pockets!

Kids with food allergies can't do most pre-packaged food items including one of my favorites from growing up, Hot Pockets. Here's a version that will be fun for kids because they can choose their fillings and help you assemble them and they're great for either lunch or dinner. You can even make them ahead of time, freeze separately and pull them out and pop them in the microwave as you need them. It's also a great way to use up any leftovers you have in the fridge. And the best part? They're a lot healthier than the real thing!

Homemade Hot Pockets

For the dough:

1 cup water

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 cups whole wheat flour

For the filling:

This is where you can get creative!

We tried: tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese and green peppers. 

You can also do:

tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, leftover meatballs

leftover chicken, salsa, black beans and mexican cheese

cheddar cheese and broccoli

roasted garlic, spinach and chicken

pesto and chicken

Have fun with it and let your kids think of their own creations!

Topping:

Olive oil

parmesan cheese

garlic powder

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 F. In a glass measuring cup, heat 1 cup water until warm (but not too hot). Drop in 2 t. yeast and let rise for one minute. Add the salt and olive oil and gently stir. In a stand mixer with a dough hook (or a food processor), add the 3 cups flour and water mixture and process until a dough ball forms. Coat a large bowl with olive oil and let the dough ball rise in the bowl for 15 -30 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the other fillings by mixing the cheese, sautéing or chopping any veggies you are using, etc. 

Divide dough into 6 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a ball and then flatten out with a rolling pin. Add your desired filling and seal the edges together as best you can with your fingers. Flip the pocket over and lay seam side down on a greased baking sheet. Make a couple of holes with a fork, brush tops with olive oil and sprinkle with parmesan cheese and garlic powder. 

Bake in the oven fro 12-15 minutes. Enjoy!

Mommy's Secret Smoothie

All parents go through the frustration of having to navigate through picky eating habits to get their kids to eat as healthy as possible.  If you throw allergies into the mix, it's even harder because there's already so much they can't have.  Here's a great smoothie recipe that is nutritious enough to fill in the gaps, but tasty enough that they'll think it's a treat.

Let me assure you won't even taste our little green friend who slipped his way into this smoothie

If you have a hard time getting your kids to eat their veggies, this is a great recipe for them.

Mommy's Secret Smoothie
1 banana
1/2 cup frozen raspberries
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 cup organic whole milk plain yogurt
handful of organic baby spinach leaves
splash of either orange juice, milk or water

Combine all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.