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! 

Salmon Pasta with Bok Choy

I came up with this recipe because I wanted to try something new with salmon besides just grilling or baking it.  I got the bok choy from the Lake Farmparks Farmers Market. I always use E as a test for whether or not a recipe is good because he's a really picky eater :P He's not a huge fan of fish either and he really liked this recipe, so I guess that means it passes the test! If you can't' find bok choy, you could also use spinach. If you go that route, then I would omit the soy sauce and add cherry tomatoes, basil and maybe even a little lemon juice in it's place.

What you'll need:
8 oz. uncooked pasta (I used penne pasta, but any kind will do)
1 T. olive oil (don't use extra virgin olive oil because cooking it destroys some of the fatty acids that are good for you)
12 oz. skinless salmon filets, cut into pieces
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 green onions, chopped
1 t. ginger
1 head of bok choy, washed and chopped
4 t. cornstarch
1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
2 T. soy sauce

What to do:
1. Cook and drain pasta. Set aside.
2. Cook salmon in 1 T. oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir gently and cook about 4-5 minutes or until salmon flakes easily with a fork. Remove from pan.
3. Increase heat to medium-high and add garlic, green onions, ginger and bok choy. I added the bok choy a little at a time because it shrinks up when heated and is easier to stir if you don't cook it all at once. Cook until all of bok choy is wilted.
4. In a glass measuring cup, combine cornstarch, broth and soy sauce with a whisk. Pour into vegetable mixture and heat until bubbling and thick. Stir salmon back into the vegetables and serve over the pasta.

The First Flavors of Fall

Yesterday was one of the coldest days we've had in a while and was pretty yucky and rainy in the morning. To top it off, I'm coming down with a cold so C and I decided to take it pretty easy and stay home.

We made some phone calls...

And practiced walking...

And ate macaroni and cheese. (And yes, I mean REAL cheese!) C has been eating dairy for about a week now and is showing no allergic reaction. I am thrilled for him and of course this means that I can eat dairy now too. I think a trip to Dairy Queen is on the radar sometime soon :)
I got the recipe for the mac and cheese here: http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2010/12/31/recipe-whole-wheat-macaroni-and-cheese/

For dinner I went with a variation on one of our winter favorites.....chili! And of course, you can't have chili without cornbread (according to E). The cornbread is a regular recipe, except I substituted 1 T. of water instead of 1 egg since C can't have eggs right now.

Turkey Lentil Chili
1 lb. ground turkey
1 can chicken broth
2 cups lentils, rinsed
1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained
2 leeks, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 T. chili powder
1 t. cumin
1/4 t. pepper

In a dutch oven, cook the turkey and leeks until meat is no longer pink. Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 25 minutes.

Cornbread
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup cornmeal
2 T. sugar
2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1 cup milk
1 T. water (or 1 egg beaten if you want)
4 T. butter, melted

Combine the first 5 ingredients. Add milk, egg and butter and stir until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour batter into greased 8-inch square baking pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 400 degrees or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Although it's not your "normal" chili, it turned out very good and E (our chili connoisseur) loved it. I'm looking forward to enjoying the leftovers tonight!

The Perfect Trio

In my opinion, the best food trio out there is garlic, tomatoes and fresh basil. That's all you need to flavor this chicken recipe and it is ohhhhh so good (you won't even miss the mozzarella cheese). Today I made this dish with fresh rosemary instead of fresh basil because that was what I had on hand (but I think the basil is better). Usually I throw this together while C is taking his afternoon nap....except for today...because there was no afternoon nap :P However, he entertained himself by pulling everything out of our pantry cabinet and rolling it around the floor. As long as it keeps him busy long enough for me to make dinner it's fine with me :) The prep for this dish is about 15 minutes -- so easy!

Within the past week, I've been giving C some whole milk here and there and today he tried some cottage cheese and we haven't seen any big reaction so it looks like he outgrew his milk allergy! As much as I want to jump right in to tons of cheese, smoothies and ice cream, I'm trying to take it slow to introduce dairy back into my and C's diet.  So my recipes will be including some dairy here and there in the future. The egg, nuts and seed restriction still apply, but I didn't mind about those as much as I did about the dairy. Such a relief!

Baked Chicken
4-5 chicken thighs (boneless and skinless)
4 garlic cloves
1 pint cherry tomatoes
Fresh basil leaves
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper
4-5 Baking potatoes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place chicken thighs in a shallow baking dish and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Peel and cut up potatoes and place in dish with chicken. Cut cherry tomatoes in half and mash the garlic down with the back of a knife and throw those in on top of the chicken and potatoes. Drizzle olive oil over the dish and stir ingredients to coat. Season with fresh basil. Cover dish with foil and cook at 350 degrees for about an hour and a half.

Pineapple Chicken Lo Mein

I learned how to make this recipe in high school and it still remains one of my favorite things to make. Very simple and delicious!

Pineapple Chicken Lo Mein
1 can unsweetend pineapple chunks
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into cubes
2 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 t. ground ginger
3 T. oil, divided
2 medium carrots, sliced
1 green pepper, julienned
4 oz. spaghetti, cooked and drained
3 green onions, sliced
1 T. cornstarch
1/3 c. soy sauce

Drain pineapple, reserving 1/3 c. juice. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the chicken, garlic and ginger in 2 T. oil for 6 minutes. Add the carrots, green pepper and pineapple. Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes or until veggies are tender and chicken juices run clear.

Stir in spaghetti and onions. In a small bowl, combine cornstarch, soy sauce, pineapple juice and remaining oil. Stir into chicken mix. Bring to a boil and cook until thickened.

Enchillada Casserole

E and I absolutely love Mexican food, so I continued to cook it without the cheese once C's allergies popped up. There are so many ways that I have played around with this type of casserole, but this one has been my favorite so far.

Enchillada Casserole
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1 t. chili powder
1 t. cumin
salt
1 jar chunky salsa
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 c. frozen corn
soft tortilla shells

Spray a large skillet with dairy-free cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat. Cook onion and garlic for 1 minute, then add the ground beef and cook until browned. Drain any fat. Add the chili powder, cumin, salt, salsa, beans, and corn and simmer for 15 minutes. Spray a 9-inch cake pan with cooking spray. Layer the casserole with 2 tortilla shells, then the beef mixture and continue until you have 3 layers. Top with mexican blend cheese if you aren't restricted from dairy. Bake at 350 degrees for about a half hour. Serve with lettuce, tomato, and avocado.