Chocolate Brownies – Dairy-free, Egg-free

Chocolate Brownie

A warm chocolatey brownie on a chilly Fall day sounds about right.  These are vegan and easy to make.  The original recipe calls for a 9×9 inch pan, which I don’t have, baked for 25 minutes.  If you use a larger pan then you get more brownies!  I think I should buy a bigger pan…

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 Cups flour
1/2 Cup cocoa
1 1/2 Cups brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 Cup strong coffee **
1 Cup soy milk
1/3 Cup vegetable oil
1 Cup chocolate chips (dairy free)
**if using espresso, make sure total liquid added (including soy milk) equals 1 1/2 Cups

DIRECTIONS

Line an 8×8 pan with parchment.  If you grease the bottom of the pan first, the parchment will stay in place.
Sift together dry ingredients.

Bownie ingredients

Mix together wet ingredients.

Cup of nespresso

Add wet to dry and mix well.    Stir in chocolate chips.  Pour into pan and bake at 325F for 45 minutes. If using a larger pan, decrease bake time.

Chocolate BrownieEnjoy!

Allergy Halloween – not so scary

Jach O'Lantern

Here comes Halloween! Candy,candy,candy! Makes my teeth ache just thinking about it.  I was the type of kid who had Halloween candy left at Easter.  Drove my sister nuts!  What she saw as hoarding, I saw as saving (for what, I’m not sure, probably just to torture her!).  My kids like candy and all things sweet, but they are a bit like me, the first few days after Halloween are great – treats every day, but it wears off pretty soon and my kids’ candy sits around getting “in my way” (very difficult to refuse a mini aero when I’ve walked past it five times and no one is watching).

The overload of candy coming in at Halloween also has to be dealt with from an allergy perspective.  Mini chocolate bars seem to be the most common treat given out at Halloween and many of them are peanut free and say so on the wrapper (Mars has a dedicated peanut free facility in Canada).  Problem for us is, no mini chocolate bar is dairy free so most of the candy G collects, he can’t have.

We’re lucky we have two kids.  On G’s first night of Trick or Treating we set up a tradition that has worked really well.  When the boys get home they dump out their candy and the trading begins. By the end of it G is usually trading four mini chocolate bars for one yellow lollipop, but he doesn’t mind, they both always end up with far more candy than they could/should eat.

For a couple of years I traded all the kids’ their uneaten candy near the end of November for a fancy battery powered tooth brush of their choice.  Don’t think that would fly now.  My eldest is 17 and he is planning on going out with a couple of friends to Trick or Treat.  I warned him people might think he’s too old, but he’s stoked about his costume and wants to show it off and have fun with his friends.  G is going out too as Queen Elizabeth and like his brother just wants to go out and have fun with his friends.  I think for both of them the candy haul has become secondary.  Well, I guess I’ll find out at Easter…

Pear Pudding

Pear Pudding with Pears

Thanks to a friend of mine for an ample supply of the most delicious pears I have ever tasted.  Her backyard tree has been laden this year and she has generously shared the bounty!

Pears

This recipe is for a pudding in the English sense; it is a dessert not a custard. In our home it was always made with apples and it became a fall tradition the year we lived in New England where delicious cooking apples were in abundance.  We called it “Apple Top Pudding” because we used to fight over the crispy/gooey top.  Sometimes when we were young it would be our main course after a bowl of soup, our favourite autumn meal.  Apples, pears, doesn’t matter.  It’s so easy to make.

INGREDIENTS

6-8 pears (or apples)
1 Cup flour
1Cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 Cup dairy free margarine (butter if you are able)
1 Cup water

DIRECTIONS

Peel and core fruit and cut up into chunks.

pear cut up
Put cut up fruit into baking dish.

Pieces of Pear in baking dish
Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and cut in margarine.  I use my standup mixer for this because it’s easy, but using a pastry cutter or knife would work as well.

Pear Pudding batter
Cover top of cut up fruit with pastry mixture and pour one cup of water all over top.

Pear Pudding adding water

Bake at 325 F for 90 minutes

Pear Pudding cookedEnjoy!

My first time

Epipen photo

The first time, my first time, was unplanned, awkward and ended with a trip to the emergency room.  I realize most Epipen uses ARE unplanned, that’s the whole point of always having it with you, but I really didn’t see it coming and when it came to the moment, I didn’t feel ready and I didn’t think G would be so young when I had to use it.  It wasn’t how I imagined my first time to be.  I thought I would be calm and in control.  I knew what to do, I had seen the demo, I had tried the trainer, heck I OWN a trainer.  Should be straight forward when the time comes…

We were at a friend’s house for a play date, kids in the living room playing and mums in the kitchen sipping a much needed coffee.  My eldest son came in to the kitchen very concerned and said that G had spilled his ‘soy juice’.  Ummmm… G didn’t have any ‘soy juice’.  We raced into the living room and found G holding a sippy cup with milk in it.  Had he drunk any?  Apparently he had as his lips began to swell slightly and his nose began to run.  I was still so unsure.  I was looking at him and thinking ‘does he normally look like this? was he wheezing like this before? does he have a cold?’  Seems weird, but these thoughts were racing through my mind.  I had never actually used a real Epipen and I was so full of uncertainty.  I picked up G and held the Epipen.  I looked at my friend and said ‘I think I have to use this’.  She nodded ‘Ya me too’.  Having her confirmation was enough and I pushed the pen into G’s thigh.  He let out a huge scream, but immediately the medicine began to work. Now I was annoyed with myself for hesitating.  Why was I questioning whether or not to use it?  I vowed never to do THAT again.  When in doubt, use the Epipen!  Like I said, I had never done this before and I didn’t realize how long the needle is.  G was never a chubby baby and I wouldn’t be surprised if the point of the needle went all the way to his bone.  As I had been stabbing, my friend had called 911 and the hunky first responder firemen arrived very quickly.  A short trip via ambulance to the hospital for observation and all was back to normal by the end of the day.

G has no recollection of this day.  Good because being jabbed by your mother with a giant needle is probably not a pleasant childhood memory, but bad because the reality of his allergies is something he should not forget (especially as he enters the teenage invincibility stage!).  Me, I’ll never forget that day.  I’ve done it again since, but like with most things, I’ll never forget my first time.

When is a sandwich not a sandwich?

Soynut butter sandwich

A boy with braces on his teeth brings a paring knife to school to help him eat his apple.  Is the knife a weapon?  The boy threatens another child with the knife poking it at his face and taunting him.  Is the knife a weapon?  Should the boy be reprimanded? If so, how?

A boy brings a peanut butter sandwich to school for lunch.  Is the sandwich a weapon?  The boy threatens a peanut allergic child with the sandwich, poking it at his face and taunting him. Is the sandwich a weapon?  Should the boy be reprimanded? If so, how?

The results in both scenarios could be dangerous or even life threatening, but does the sandwich scenario sound silly?  Unfortunately, I know this has happened and it is very serious.  People have strong opinions about how to handle situations like this.

What do you think?

Travel With Food Allergies

Eiffel Tower-food allergy travel

First Steps

G is a bit of a home-body.  The rest of us are trying to convert him to loving travel.  We’ll drag him kicking and screaming over to our side if we need to.  I do understand his reluctance for travel.  Leaving the familiar can be a giant step when you have food allergies and travel to foreign countries where English may or may not be spoken can be frightening.  We figure if he gets comfortable traveling with us as his security blanket then when he is older he may come to enjoy travel adventures.

We didn’t jump off the high diving board into the deep end of the Czech Republic on our first trip with G, we started off wading in the baby pool.  We dipped our toes into Hawaii (usually with a self catering unit), Disneyland, cruises and visits to understanding relatives.  Over time we came up with some strategies, one of which is to plan ahead and bring lots of allergy friendly food.  For example we now make a batch of dry pancake mix ready for the soy milk.  Beware though… traveling with a large ziplock full of white powder may get you into trouble at the border, as we found out!  That story another time…

Two years ago we ventured overseas to the UK.  We had a house for a week in London so we did most of our own cooking.  Shopping was a dream!  Their labeling laws are fantastic.  Clear, easy to understand and I didn’t need my new dollar store reading glasses to decipher what the food contained.  I’m envious.  Here in Canada even young 13 year old eyes can have trouble seeing the print on some ingredient lists.

Then it was time to try a foreign language country.  Embarrassingly enough, even though I am Canadian, I do think of France as a foreign language country (my high school French just doesn’t cut it).  Being an EU country, France has great labeling laws as well and many of the foods in stores have English ingredients printed on the labels as well as the French.  Stick to these and you’ll do fine.  G couldn’t indulge with us in fresh from the bakery croissants for breakfast but he did enjoy homemade pancakes from the suspicious white powder.

Next stop the Czech Republic!  We’ll have to be extra prepared.  How do you say “Honest… it’s not cocaine” in Czech?

Summer Camp – with food allergies!

Kids Camping

Remember summer camp? …would you get along with your bunk mate? …would you have to like the person across from you at dinner?…would there be anyone to talk to? …separation anxiety.  And that’s just the parents.  For our kids we hope they return, sun kissed and earth smudged.  Our older son had a fantastic time at camp and I had always hoped there would be a way for G to experience the same thing.  I debated the pros and cons and how to’s in my head for years and finally last year we took the dive into summer camp with food allergies.
I decided that the only way I could let G go to camp and maintain my sanity is if I supplied all his meals.  Sounds a bit crazy when I write it down, but it wasn’t that difficult.  Besides, unless the camp is set up to cater specifically to children with food allergies I don’t think a camp could handle this extreme request, nor would I expect it.  We chose a camp my friend’s daughters were going to which is only 90 minutes from town.  I emailed the registrar and asked if it was possible for the camp to accommodate a child with food allergies if I supplied the food.  They were very welcoming.  They had a fridge set aside for him to keep his food and soy milk in and a microwave only he used to heat his meals.  The Tuck Shop was open on check in day so we checked out all the safe snacks he could buy (there never seems to be a lack of G friendly junk food!).  I supplied cookies he could have for ‘Mug Up’ at the end of the day and marshmallows for a treat.  I went up in the middle of the week to replenish his supplies.
The only snag was my own fault.  I had made containers of casserole type food for his dinners and frozen them.  Turns out they were frozen too well.  The under powered microwave G used couldn’t actually thaw the dishes so he ended up eating cold scrapings of casserole from around the edges.  I think he lived off of cold hot dogs and Wine Gums bought at the Tuck Shop.  There’s protein in the gelatin, right?
He had an amazing week and came home with a new sense of independence and confidence.  He still stays in touch via email with a couple of the friends he met there.  They have arranged to go to the same camp together again this year and this Saturday we will be heading up to camp loaded with sleeping bag, pillow and food – this time not quite so frozen!

Chocolate Cupcakes – dairy free, egg free

 

Chocolate Cupcake

I have been making these for years.  They are so fast and easy that they are great for last minute treats when an allergy friendly alternative is needed.  We always have a stash in the freezer, ready to grab one to take to a party or to dinner out or just whenever.   The ones in the freezer are un-iced and G’s favourite way of having them is to nuke the frozen cupcake, add a marshmallow and smother it in chocolate syrup.  Not exactly gourmet, but after all, he is thirteen.

This recipe goes by many names: wackycake, oil and vinegar cake, salad dressing cake (yuck), but is the only cake I’ve seen that actually gets eaten by kids at Birthday parties.  Normally the icing gets licked off Birthday cake and the cake left, but I have often served kids seconds of this one.  If you are baking a cake rather than cupcakes, use an 8×8 pan and increase time to 30-35 minutes (test with a tooth pick – it should come out clean unless you accidentally stab a chocolate chip).

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup water
1/3 cup oil (canola or similar)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon vinegar
1/2 cup dairy free chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl; I use a whisk.

Chocolate Cupcake dry ingredients

Combine all wet ingredients, I use a liquid measuring cup and fill water up to 1 cup level and add oil up to the 1 1/3 mark and then add the vanilla and vinegar to this.  Mix well.

Chocolate Cupcake wet ingredients

Add wet to dry and mix well.  Add the chocolate chips.

Pour into cupcake pan using paper cupcake cups.  Bake at 350F for 25 minutes.  Makes about 10 cupcakes.

Chocolate Cupcakes baked

Enjoy!

Chocolate cupcake iced

Avocado Chocolate Pudding

 

Avocado chocolate puddingWait!  Don’t turn away!  It’s delicious, honest.  My friend Jen gave me this recipe because it is egg and dairy free.  It is rich and chocolaty and very creamy.  Super simple to make and fits in with many alternative dietary needs.  It is vegan, wheat free, nut free, raw and you can get your serving of veggies in your dessert!  Worth a try for that last one alone.  Warning: It’s very sweet.

INGREDIENTS

2 avocados, pitted and peeled
1 cup soy milk (coconut milk or rice milk would work)
1/2 cup agave nectar (maple syrup, or honey would work)
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of salt
Avocado

agave nectar

DIRECTIONS

Blend ingredients in a blender really well until smooth.  (My Vita-Mix did nicely)

Avocado chocolate pudding mixed

Enjoy!

Avocado chocolate pudding

Grammar Police

This blog entry has nothing to do with food or allergies or foodallergies.  I have decided that it is time for me to come up with a disclaimer for my blog.  I have noticed that quite a few blogs have disclaimers stating things like , ‘Opinions expressed here are mine only’ (isn’t that the point of a blog) and some bloggers put stuff in their disclaimer section about ‘Don’t steal my stuff’.  Fair enough, but my disclaimer is a wee bit different – for the time being at least. I really don’t think anyone wants to steal my stuff.  My disclaimer is as follows…

‘All spelling errors and grammatical failures are solely the fault of my neighbour’.

This may seem a bit unorthodox but I think you’ll understand.  You see, she is a member of the Grammar Police (GP).  We all know the type.  They just about have a fit holding it in when someone says something like “I did good on my test”.  I think my eldest son is a member of the GP because he would respond with, “Superman does good, you did well”.  Ya ok Smartie Pants point taken. I desperately want to be a member of the Grammar Police, but my spelling is atrocious and my grammar wouldn’t pass the qualification exam.  My Mum is a member from way back and she has the credentials to back up her English grammar superiority.  She was educated in Scotland where even today real grammar is taught.  I seem to be digressing…

Back to my neighbour, she has been known to not only correct restaurants with their misspelling of Caesar salad, but she actually challenged a poor sales person in a department store about a misplaced apostrophe.  She means business and question her conjugations at your own peril.  She was the first person to subscribe to my blog and she has been my unofficial editor ever since.  If you spot an error please tsk, tsk her, not me.  It means she hasn’t yet read my current post and she is falling behind in her duties.  I have thrown a few misplaced modifiers into this post to see if she spots them.  I think I’ll time how long it takes for her to send me an email telling me of my shortcomings.  Have to keep those GP members on their toes.

 

image from openclipart.org

Next post I will be back on topic with a recipe for chocolate pudding.