Merry Christmas To All!

From our to yours,

wishing you peace and love,

....a season of brightness and light,

.......with lots of joy and cheer (watch out for the sneeky Grinch)!

Wishing you A Very Merry Christmas!!!

Brownies in a Flash

Most brownie recipes call for 2-3 eggs as one of their ingredients to help bind all the ingredients together. When I bake, I can usually replace one egg without a problem but 2-3 eggs are much harder to replace so we have not tried making brownies with Egg Replacer or any other egg replacement method. The problem is that every time we made brownies I would feel bad that Katie could not eat them. I remember a friend of hers asking Katie if she liked brownies. She turned to her and said “I don’t know, I've never had one.”

It was time for me to figure this out! Right about that time, my son came home all excited because his gym teacher had given them a recipe for “Brownie in a Cup” and he knew that Katie could actually eat it. I tried it out on both kids and they loved it so I thought I would share it with you. 

Another reason I love this recipe is that instead of having a whole pan of brownies to eat up, you only have one cup to eat and clean up. I also love that it only takes a couple of minutes to make this.

Brownie in a Cup

4T       Flour

4T       Sugar

2T       Cocoa

Dash of salt

2T       oil

2T       water

¼ tsp.  vanilla

Mix the flour, sugar, cocoa and salt in a cup. Add oil, water and vanilla and stir. Microwave for 1 minute and 30 seconds until it is the desired consistency. The exact times will vary depending on your microwave.

Christmas Alternative: Add a drop of peppermint to the brownie mix before cooking and top with crushed candy canes.

Enjoy your sweet treat!

Vegan Wednesday

The other day, I was in one of our local downtown areas when I remembered that it was Vegan Wednesday! Vegan Wednesday is the one day a week this restaurant bakes vegan cupcakes, which are made with no dairy and no eggs. Thinking about my daughter, I thought I'd just pop in and buy her a vegan cupcake, just to surprise her. There are vanilla cupcakes with decadent chocolate frosting and red velvet and chocolate cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese frosting. As my eyes finally found the sign that says "Vegan Cupcakes" on it, my excitement quickly turns to disappointment. The only vegan cupcake they had made for that day was a peanut butter cupcake. I know there are many people who love anything with peanut butter in it. I for one am not one of those people.The other problem is that my daughter is also severely allergic to peanut butter and all other nuts.

What is frustrating to me is this seems to happen to us quite often and in many different places. There has been many a time when we have been excited to walk into a bakery that has some vegan bake goods on display only to find that they have peanut butter or nuts in them. We are getting pretty good at hiding the disappointment on our faces, especially my daughter, but it gets harder and harder each time. So for now I can dream that one day when I walk in to buy my daughter a vegan cupcake that maybe, just maybe, it will be a red velvet cupcake with vegan cream cheese frosting. Yummy! So for those people out there who are nice enough to make those delicious vegan baked goods, hold the nuts and peanut butter please!

The Evolution of a Teenage Birthday Party

Now that we have hit the preteen years, it’s no more ladybug or My Little Pony birthday parties. Now its sleepovers, movies and dance parties. Katie just got invited to her first “spa” birthday party. We are talking hair, facial masks, and nails. It’s pure girl time! This is the best thing for Katie because I am not a girlie, girl kind of Mom. I am one of the few mothers who have never gotten a manicure. Yes, this is true!  I also admit that while I can do a basic braid on someone else’s hair, I cannot do a thing with my own hair. And I’m not sure I even know how to put on make-up anymore. So I know Katie will love this spa” party idea!

Since starting middle school, Katie has met a lot of new friends which I am very grateful for. The only problem is that many of them do not know about her allergies. So when Katie’s new friend and her Mother dropped by to hand deliver her party invite, I got the opportunity to talk to them about the party. One of the things they were very excited about was a chocolate facial they were going to give everyone. That’s when the bells starting going off in my head. As a Mom of a child allergic to dairy I kept thinking that chocolate = dairy so we had to come up with some alternative solution. I wanted her to go to this party but I want to make sure she is going to be safe.

Instead of panicking, I thought about how I could make this work for Katie. My best option was to look at what fun recipes I could find on the Internet. In my search, I found several great sites for natural facials. Some of the sites we looked at include Birthday party 4 kids and E Facial Masks.

Katie just got back from her party and had a great time! They did each other’s hair and even though Katie decided to not to do her own handmade facial there, she had a great time and she did not feel like she missed out. She did try her own “special” facial when she got home and she looked marvelous! I’d show you a picture but she would not be a very happy if I did so you will just have to use your imagination!

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Here is the recipe we modified for Katie to use:

Ingredients:

·         4 Tbsp. finely ground espresso or coffee beans (I use my own grinder, but already ground coffee and even instant coffee work, too)

·         4 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder (your basic Hershey's is perfect here)

·         6-8 Tbsp. dairy product. I used plain soy yogurt.

·         2 Tbsp. honey (use for dry skin)

Preparation:

If you have whole beans, finely grind beans in a grinder. Remember, beans should be finely ground so they don't scratch your face. If you just made coffee, you can use the freshly brewed coffee grounds, but they won't contain as much caffeine.

Mix coffee and cocoa powder in a bowl. Add the soy yogurt and stir until it forms a smooth paste. We used 6 Tbsp. but you can use more yogurt if you like a thicker paste. Stir in the honey. Try warming up the honey in the microwave so it mixes better. Apply the paste to your clean face and neck. Let the mask dry.

Use a wet a washcloth and to loosen the mask, then rinse with warm water. Remember you do not want to rub your face because the coffee grounds could scratch your skin. You can store the leftover paste in the refrigerator for several days.

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Here are some more Non-dairy Facial Ideas for you to try:

Apple Zinger Mask (For the treatment of acne and oily skin)

1 medium size fresh apple, grated
5 tablespoons of honey
Cool water to wash the face afterwards

Mix the grated apple with honey to make a mask. Apply a thin layer of this Apple Zinger Mask on your whole face. Let it sit on the skin for 10 minutes and dry up a bit. Wash the mask off with cool water. Use this facial mask when fresh so apply immediately.

Carrots and Honey Facial Mask (For normal to oily skin and for protecting the skin from wrinkles)

2 to 3 large carrots, cooked and mashed
4-1/2 tablespoons honey

Stir ingredients together. Apply.

My Bloody Scarecrow

Katie always has the best costumes for Halloween and this year she wanted to be a Bloody Scarecrow to scare all the kids.

What do you think? Did she pull it off?

A Halloween Treat Gets Spooky

A couple of weeks ago, I was at my parent’s house for a visit when my phone starting buzzing. It was my daughter, Katie with a question “what is the difference between confectioner’s sugar and regular sugar.” Then, a minute later, it buzzes again and its Katie again, “where is the teaspoons?” Okay, it sounds like Katie was trying to bake something but what is she making and who was helping her?

As it turned out, Katie wanted to make a Halloween treat for us and she wanted to make it all by herself. Katie and I have always baked together so I was excited that she wanted to do some baking by herself but I was a bit worried on how she was going to do this without help. With all of Katie’s food allergies, you would think that I would have been worried because she might use something that she was allergic to, but Katie has always been very careful about what she eats, she is an avid label reader and she will not touch a food item unless she knows she can have it without getting sick.

That day was an eye opener for me because not only was I feeling confident in Katie’s ability to bake safely but it also showed me that she was like other pre-teens her age who love to cook even though she has severe food allergies.

Here is Katie’s recipe for her Creepy Halloween Eyeball Cookies

2 C          Flour

¼ tsp.      Salt

½ C        Confectioner’s Sugar

2 sticks   Dairy-free Margarine (I use Fleishmann’s Unsalted Margarine)

Green Food Coloring

Dairy Free Chocolate Chips

Red Hot Candies

Red Icing

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using an electric mixer, combine the confectioner’s sugar with dairy-free margarine. Mix until thoroughly combined. Add vanilla and mix well. Next, add the flour and then the salt to mixture and mix briefly. Add a couple drops of green food coloring to the mixture for the desired effect. Mix dough until it comes together into a ball.

Use a cookie scooper to measure out the dough and roll in between your hands to form a round ball. Place on the cookie sheet and use your finger or thumb to make an indent in the middle of the ball, pressing down slightly. Fill the ball with the diary-free chocolate chips and place one Red Hot candy on top and push down lightly to make sure they do not fall out. 

Bake 15-18 minutes or until just barely golden brown. Cool on a cookie sheet. Decorate the cookies with red squiggly lines coming from the chocolate chips to the edge of the cookie. Now you have your Creepy Halloween Eyeball Cookies. Enjoy!

My Daughter Grows Up!

My daughter, Katie who is a 12 year old, soon to be teen, seems more like a teenager every day. Long gone are those days of playing on the playground and running around outside. Now clothes, hair and cell phones are SO important.

With Katie’s new found interests comes the need for more independence. Instead I hear, “Can I go out with my friends” and “Mom, you don’t need to go with us.” No Mom Necessary! This need for more independence is scary enough for most parents, but for us it is every scarier because Katie is severely allergic to dairy, eggs, sesame, peanuts and all other nuts.

There are so many wonderful sites out there for Moms who have children with food allergies and many more sites for people who are adults with food allergies. While I love reading everyone’s wonderful stories, insightful suggestions and yummy recipes, I was having a hard time finding any sites for kids with allergies who are just starting to become more independent--the pre-teen and early teen years.

So here we are, Katie and I, ready to embark on a new journey together. This seems a bit daunting to us but hopefully this will be an experience that we will both learn from and maybe you will learn something as well.

Come join us in our adventure…….

J  Jeanne and Katie