Happy Valentines! Experiences and insights shared by Amanda

 Happy Valentine's Weekend, everyone! I hope you all have a safe, reaction free, happy weekend! Since treats are always sought after for this holiday, I thought I would give out a few recipe ideas. Here we go!

1.Coconut macaroons:
 http://www.thehealthycookingcoach.com/2010/04/eggless-coconut-macaroons.html
(see here http://babybeesfpiestestkitchen.blogspot.com/2011/02/i-love-sharing-check-out-this-coconut.html for my photos and alterations)


This is a great recipe if coconut is safe for you! The only other ingredient you need (aside from coconut ingredients) is a starch--- either arrowroot or potato starch. I am confident that tapioca starch or corn starch would work as well, though you might need a little less than the recipe requires. If food dyes are safe for your child, you could even dye the coconut flakes with red food coloring in a Ziploc bag before using them in the recipe!

2.Simply sorbet!
http://babybeesfpiestestkitchen.blogspot.com/p/recipes-that-have-passed.html (third recipe from the top)


If you have one safe fruit, you can make this sorbet! It is essentially fruit puree, water and sugar. For added fun, add some food coloring to the fruit puree (works best with banana, apple, or pear) and create an extra festive look! Just be sure to start making this a day in advance of when you want to serve it, as it requires being frozen, re-blended and then being refrozen before eating (for best texture!)

3.Heart Shaped Pancakes:
http://babybeesfpiestestkitchen.blogspot.com/2011/02/inspired-by-yet-another-mama.html


You can use different flours in place of the ones mentioned in the recipe-- wheat or corn flours would work exceptionally well, and I am fairly confident nut flours (like almond) or bean flours (like garbanzo) would do nicely in this recipe as well. See below the recipe for added information.

4.Dum Dums, smarties and sweet tart hearts are allergen friendly for most! As always, check the labels!

5.Puddings! You can create pudding from elemental formula, or simply from a safe milk and a safe starch or flour. Add food coloring or serve in a valentine's day cup for fun! See the following links! http://www.neocate.com/aaa_neocate/_download/products/FoodAllergy_Cookbook.pdf
(page 27)
http://babybeesfpiestestkitchen.blogspot.com/p/recipes-that-have-passed-part-2.html
(see 8.25.10 recipe)

6.Food free Valentine's Day fun!
~Engage your LO in a project making valentines (age appropriate of course-- best for toddlers and up)

~Make your child a no-sew pink and red fleece “lovey” (if they are old enough, they can make it with you)
http://www.instructables.com/id/No-Sew-Fleece-Blanket/

~Make your child a fleece heart pillow with two fleece heart cutouts and funky yarn to whip stitch it together (if you aren't a sewer). Stuff with batting.

~With projects #2 and #3, you can then curl up and watch a favorite movie together, snuggling with pillow and lovey. What a nice way to spend the holiday, with the ones you love!

I hope these ideas get the wheels turning! Be sure to check out the many allergy friendly pages online for more ideas! Happy valentine's day everyone!!!!

http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org/resourcespre.php?id=96&title=Celebrating_Valentines_Day_with_food_allergies_%28safe_activities%29

http://www.livingwithout.com/

http://www.cookingallergyfree.com/

The Protein Intolerant Kitchen: Recipes! perspectives and insights shared by Amanda

You have the equipment. You have the ingredients. Time to put them together and make some well-deserved treats for your little one! I will include some links to helpful recipe sites at the end of this article, but I will mostly be discussing how you can put together your own recipes.

Dealing with PI in the kitchen can be daunting. Even cookbooks labeled “allergy friendly” do not exactly fit our children's needs and require much revamping.

So how do you adapt a recipe? The ingredient information from last week gives some ideas for substitutions, but the list is not exhaustive. Once you have your list of safe ingredients, determine what each ingredient can be used for (Do you have a flour? An oil?). Now that you know what building blocks you have available to you, you can start selecting recipes to fit your list.

Only one ingredient? No problem!!! If you have a flour, water and flour can typically be combined to make a flat bread (millet, corn, wheat, sorghum, rice, barley, oat and quinoa flours work well independently). For many flours (though not all-- you may have to do some playing around here) the ratio for water to flour is typically between 1:1 and 2:3. For a little extra softness, decrease the water to 2/3 cup and add in 1 Tbsp of oil.

If you have only safe fruits or veggies, you can roast or pan sear them for a different flavor/ texture. Brown sugar creates a lovely caramelizing effect for both fruits and veggies. Roasting them in foil packets with a dash of oil can be a great way to prepare those veggies as well.

Another single ingredient recipe is creating a nut or seed butter--- quinoa, hemp, almond, and their “friends” all make excellent butters. Simply roast the nuts/seeds on a cookie sheet, add a little salt and sugar (if freebies are safe), and pulverize in a food processor or blender. Adding oil will give a creamier texture.

Two ingredients? Great! If you have two safe ingredients and some freebies, you can make a muffin, a cookie, and other baked goods. If your two ingredients don't include a flour, you can do variations on the previously described fruit and veggie preparation. Maybe freeze some fruit chunks and make a smoothie with breast milk or formula!

I know I was so excited the day that I could finally make multiple ingredient recipes, and I really hope that we all can get to that point! Often, as more foods become safe, you can modify previous recipes to go from being one ingredient to multiple ingredient recipes. An example: I make a flat bread for B out of Masa (a type of corn flour), with a touch of oil and water. As she passed more foods, I was able to substitute hemp milk for the water, add in some beet or spinach puree for extra nutrients, and use a combination of flours (I use quinoa flakes and Masa now) instead of just one. As seen here, finding recipes that are easy to modify and easy to accommodate new safe ingredients can make life much easier when baking everything from scratch! Who wants to reinvent the wheel every time a new safe food crosses your kitchen door?!

This is a really brief overview, but I hope it can get the wheels turning. In a sense, I have found baking for B (as opposed to reading labels in search of safe prepared foods) to be extremely liberating. I feel like we are less restricted in the diversity of her diet, despite her small list of safe foods, because we can do more with the safe foods when we take control of the cooking. There is a short list of some helpful recipe links to get everyone started. 100% of the recipe links will not be safe for everyone, but almost all of them should have something for your little one after a few modifications. Good luck and happy baking!

http://www.babybeesfpiestestkitchen.blogspot.com/
http://cindalouskitchenblues.blogspot.com/2008/11/table-of-contents.html
http://www.egglesscooking.com/2008/11/20/egg-replacement-event-flax-seed-meal-round-up/
http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org/recipes.html
http://www.cookingallergyfree.com/
http://www.spewdfree.com/