Cranberry Orange Scones

Scones may conjure up images of fancy pastries and afternoon tea parties, but they are actually just glorified biscuits. These simple, vegan cranberry orange scones are one of our weekend morning favorites.

To create an allergy friendly treat for our kiddo, I adapted this scone recipe from King Arthur Flour by making them egg and milk free. If you are unable to use dairy free margarine, I would suggest trying either coconut oil or a shortening such as Spectrum instead.

Traveling with Food Allergies: Packing Meals for Three Days

When we've gone on vacation with our son in the past, we've either flown to a relative's home with a full kitchen for me to use or taken a road trip with our electric cooler plugged into the dash and occupying a full half of the back seat. This summer my son and I made a trip to New York by air, where we would be staying at a hotel with only a refrigerator and a microwave.

Petition to WhiteHouse.gov: Direct the Food and Drug Administration to require labeling of all food ingredients in prescription medications.

Yesterday I posted about how I discovered that my son has been taking a daily medication that contains an ingredient to which he has a life threatening allergy. After some additional research, I've discovered this wasn't due to an oversight, but rather a flaw in the system which provides drugs to patients.

Corn Chowder

I grew up in the Midwest with the phrase "knee high by the Fourth of July" and ate fresh, crisp ears of corn at the end of every summer. Living in Florida now means that our seasonal vegetables are a little out of sync with most of the country. This week I found a springtime crop of sweet corn at the grocery store. The weather is still cool enough for hot soup, so I decided to make a pot of our favorite corn chowder and to experiment a bit by using corn broth as the liquid base.

Banana Crackers Lunchbox

For years, one of my kiddo's favorite snacks, and occasionally meals, has been what we call Banana Crackers. Basically it's a graham cracker with a schmear of Sunbutter, a slice of banana and a raisin on top. Assembling them is as much fun as eating them, so I created a homemade Lunchable out of the ingredients.

Burrito Lunchbox

The Kid's lunch options have been somewhat limited lately, but he always loves burritos, even without tomatoes, garlic and cumin. This one has a wheat flour tortilla wrapped around leftover homemade refried beans, rice and corn. Grapes and plain corn tortilla chips are in the side compartments of his Easy Lunchbox.

Brussel Sprout, Apple and Cranberry Salad with Maple Dressing

If you're still looking for a food allergy friendly Thanksgiving side dish, this simple salad may fit the bill. It's vegan, nut free, gluten free and cooks in just minutes on the stove top, so it's not fighting the turkey and baked sides for oven space, and tastes delicious either warm or at room temperature.

Quesadilla Lunchbox

This was a super quick lunch to make. The quesadilla is made from two corn tortillas and about a quarter cup of daiya chedder style shreds. I used to add a couple tablespoons of mild salsa, but since the diagnosis of the kiddo's garlic allergy, commercial salsa is no longer safe. Although it's fast in the fry pan, the quesadilla does need some time in the fridge to chill for safe lunchbox packing. I cheated and put a single serving cup of applesauce in the bottom right section of the Easy Lunchbox, since the kiddo can open up it on his own nowadays. (Whether he does it without making a huge mess is a separate issue!) There's also a handful of chocolate teddy grahams for a treat.

Lazy Rice Cake Lunchbox

Once upon a time, my little boy loved rice cakes. Plain or smeared, he'd grab them in his chubby little fist and shove them in his face. Then one day, he announced that he didn't like them anymore. It's been at least five years since one passed his lips.

Chocolate Avocado Pudding

Years ago a friend of mine raved to me about chocolate pudding made from avocados. Shortly after the diagnosis of my son's food allergies I was complaining bitterly to her about how nothing I liked to eat was safe anymore. Make this, she said. It's so simple and tastes amazing. Just google the recipe.

Simple Watermelon Cucumber Salad

Sometimes I think that my son's general food pickiness is almost worse than his specific food allergies. Obviously the pickiness isn't as dangerous, but sometimes it's more annoying. For example, he won't eat apples, but he will eat applesauce as long as the applesauce has been warmed to room temperature if it's been refrigerated.

Fireworks Cookies

Ever since Martha Stewart featured Fireworks Cookies on the cover of her magazine a few years ago, these beauties have expoded over the internet every July. My vegan version is food allergy friendly and very forgiving to those of us who are not up to the Martha standard of cookie decorating. You can use any flavor you prefer for the jam and citrus zest, but for this batch I used my favorite combination, raspberry and lemon.

Eggplant Pasta Bake

Happy Earth Day! In the spirit of encouraging and celebrating a more plant based diet, I bring you my family's absolute favorite vegan meal, which desperately needs a better name. If an eggplant parmesan and a lasagna had a vegan love child, it would be this crunchy topped, vegetable filled, gooey centered dish. It may not be exactly health food, but it's certainly a healthier version of some classic kitchen comforts.

Banana Wrap Lunchbox

We've been in a bit of a lunch rut, sending in an endless series of Sunbutter sandwiches to school. This one at least has the virtue of having a banana in the middle! The banana wrap is cuddled up to a carrot pineapple cupcake sandwich with lemon buttercream in the middle. Trying to pack a cupcake with frosting on the top in a lunchbox never ends well! On the side are grapes and some hard, salty sourdough pretzels to contrast with all the soft and sweet. The whole thing is packed up in an Easy Lunchbox with a refillable apple juice box.

Cranberry Orange Sauce

There are some really lovely recipes for cranberry sauce out there, but they all seem to be based on a mythical one pound bag of fresh cranberries, which has yet to grace the shelves of my grocery store.  The standard seems to be 12 ounces, so even if you bought two bags, there would be cranberries left over.  This is my conveniently scaled down version, which can be made the day before Thanksgiving, to make it even easier.

Halloween Lunchbox

This year's Halloween lunchbox was much  less elaborate than some of the others in years past.  I made a couple small sandwiches by cutting two ghosts and two pumpkins out of whole wheat bread with cookie cutters.  For the ghost's eyes and mouth, I made small holes with two different sized piping tips.  For the Jack O'Lantern's eyes, nose and mouth, I used a small triangle cutter from my snowflake cookie cutter set.  Then I spread jelly on the uncut bread and spread Sunbutter on the backs of the pieces with holes, being careful to avoid spreading it into the holes or tearing the bread.

Hummus Lunchbox (Lunch for Mom)

Several years ago I was inspired by Alton Brown's Turbo Hummus, which is made with peanut butter, to create a hummus recipe from Sunbutter.  I was amazed that my child who loves Sunbutter, chickpeas and garlic immediately disliked the delicious stuff.  In contrast, I found the smooth spread extremely addictive, so much so that I still make it regularly for myself!

Tornado Watch and Tomato Soup

The view that greeted me from my patio Sunday morning was miserable.  Still, it turned out to be the meteorological high point as the day progressed and the sky simply grew darker and continued to dump endless buckets of water from Tropical Storm Debby.

We weren't going anywhere, including to the grocery store, which gave me just the excuse I needed to make bread.  I usually like overnight starter recipes that make chewy loaves with a sourdough tang, but this day I needed something quicker.  The recipe from King Arthur Flour for English Muffin Toasting Bread worked out perfectly.

I only had to make a single substitution for The Kid's food allergies:  plain soy milk for the full on dairy.  Although the recipe called for instant yeast, I used a packet of active dry, simply because that's all I had on hand.  Proofing did require a full 90 minutes instead of the 30 to 60 called for, but I was expecting a longer rise after switching up the yeast.  The only other change was to give it a quick spritz with water right as I put the loaf in the oven, both to give the oven spring a little boost and to help the crust brown.  (Since I can't do an egg wash, I almost always use my spray bottle on yeasted baked goods so they develop a nice golden brown color.)

This quickie bread recipe definitely gets high marks.  If you try it, though, be sure to apply the cornmeal generously, since my loaf wanted to stick to the pan in a few places where it was thinner.

The bread was a perfect match for the new daiya "chedder style wedge", that I finally found at the health food store, so my son is now able to experience a grilled cheese sandwich with his tomato soup.  (He hasn't been suffering, though, because he loves his grilled Sunbutter and banana sammies.)  I'll admit to being a bit disappointed when I first opened the package, since the shreds had given me such high expectations.  It looked like Velveeta, and not in a good way.  Then I tried it.  It actually tasted like cheddar, though the texture was also reminiscent of cheese product.  Velveeta needs to visit daiya's test kitchen and take notes!

The verdict on the wedge?  Great taste, fantastic for melting, but I wouldn't put it on a cracker.

By the way, did I mention the tomato soup?

Thick and Rich Tomato Basil Soup

(Click here for printable recipe.)

2 Tbs olive oil
1 large onion roughly chopped
2 stalks celery, sliced
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp kosher salt
half dozen twists fresh ground pepper
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes with liquid
6 oz can tomato paste
4 C water
1/4 C fresh basil leaves, chopped

Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large pot.  Add onion, celery and seasonings.  Cook for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are soft.  Mix in garlic, then add tomatoes, paste, water and basil to the pot.  Squish tomatoes against the side, stir paste until mixed with water, then bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium low and allow to simmer for 20 to 30 minutes.

Remove from heat.  Carefully use an immersion blender to puree soup to desired smoothness.  Or desired chunkiness, if you prefer.  Adjust salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Leftovers freeze extremely well, but may stain plastic containers.

I'm sharing my rainy day meal with:

• Allergy Free Wednesday hosted by Michelle of The Willing Cook,
• Allergy Friendly Friday at Cybele Pascal's place and
• Souper Sunday created by Deb of Kahakai Kitchen.

Butterfly Cookies and Silver Linings

My son's trifecta of food allergies, environmental allergies and asthma really puts a crimp in his childhood.  Forget the dangers of birthday parties and peanut butter in the school cafeteria, to my poor kid the real kicker is that he can't even have a puppy.  Not only are real pets, the furry, snuggly kind every child should have, out of the question, but even a fish tank is too dangerous because the food is made out of brine shrimp.

So in an effort to compensate, we innocently bought a few milkweed plants and started bringing home monarch caterpillars to raise and eventually release.  It seemed like a good idea, though it has since gotten somewhat out of control.  (At this time we have a screened in enclosure that my husband built with about a hundred caterpillars in it along with over twenty milkweed plants on our patio.  We've successfully raised and released several dozen butterflies already.)

Two of our first caterpillars we raised "free range" on a potted milkweed plant sitting on newspapers that covered about half of our dining room table.  As a result, the caterpillars were probably a little too comfortable with constant human observation and we were fairly attached to them, too.  After successfully making the transition from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly, we took them outside to release.  That's when we discovered our huge, gorgeous male monarch couldn't fly.

Not only were his fore and hind wings separated on one side, he couldn't close his wings completely.  To top it off, he had a gimpy leg and listed to one side when he was at rest.  We started him on a diet of melon Gatorade, and suddenly my son had a pet, which he promptly named Darth Butterfly.

Darth spent the nine weeks of his butterfly existence rotating between the patio and our living room.  He was extraordinarily tame and would crawl onto my hand when I would bend over to pick him up after he accidentally fluttered to the floor.  Darth sat calmly on our hands and perched happily on our shoulders.  We were able to observe him close up extending his proboscis like a straw to drink his meals, then wash his polka dotted face like a cat with his two front legs.

Eventually the inevitable happened, but before it did, my son asked if we could make butterfly cookies.  I decided to go ahead and attempt a complicated design on my usual egg, dairy and nut free roll out cookies.  I was very happy with the result, except that the icing wasn't as smooth as I would have liked.  (I'm not sure if it was because I made a vegan royal icing, didn't thin it enough, or if it was simply due to my amateur technique.)  To match the colors, I changed the flavors to anise and orange, which was a surprisingly addictive combination.

Monarch Butterfly Cookies

Dry Ingredients:
2 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1/2 C corn starch
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients:
1 C nondairy margarine, softened
1 C granulated sugar
2 Tbs orange marmalade or orange juice concentrate, thawed
1 tsp anise extract
zest of one orange (optional)

Additional:
Vegan Royal Icing (recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Cut parchment paper to size of cookie sheets.  Measure dry ingredients into a medium bowl and whisk together, then set aside.

Cream margarine with sugar until light and fluffy.  Mix in marmalade or orange juice concentrate, anise extract and orange zest (if desired).  Slow mixer and gradually add dry ingredients until completely combined.

Spread out one of the pieces of parchment paper on a flat surface.  Place about a quarter to a third of the dough on it.  Cover remaining dough with plastic wrap or place in plastic bag to keep from drying out.  Flatten the dough on the parchment paper into a thick disc by hand, then cover it with a piece of wax (not parchment) paper.  While keeping the wax paper in place on the dough, use a rolling pin to roll it out to between 1/4 and 1/2 inch in thickness.  (If planning to make cookie pops, make sure the dough is at least 3/8 inch thick.)  Peel off the wax paper and use a cookie cutter to cut out shapes with space between them, but leave them in place on the parchment paper.  Use an offset spatula (preferred) or butter knife to remove the dough from between the cookies.  Gently slide the parchment paper onto a cookie sheet.  The leftover dough may be recycled as many times as needed to use all the dough, since additional flour is not added to roll it out.

Optional step for Cookie Pops:
Use offset spatula to arrange cookies on parchment paper so that lollipop sticks will not overlap.  Gently insert large lollipop sticks into sides of cookies until at least halfway across width of cookie.

Bake cookies for 10 to 12 minutes and the edges just begin to lightly brown.  Remove from oven and allow cookies to remain on sheet for 5 to 10 minutes to firm up before removing to rack to complete cooling.

Once cookies are completely cool, decorate with royal icing.

Vegan Royal Icing

(Adapted from The Joy of Vegan Baking.)

1 1/2 tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer
2 Tbs water
1 tsp lemon juice
1 1/2 C powdered (confectioners') sugar
food coloring as desired

Combine Egg Replacer, water and lemon juice in a medium bowl and whisk vigorously until frothy.  Add powdered sugar and continue stirring until smooth.  Mix in food coloring.  (The thickness of the icing can be adjusted by gradually adding very small amounts of either water or powdered sugar.)

To prepare to make monarchs, trace the cookie cutter on a piece of paper and draw the design you will be using.  It helps to practice a few times on wax paper.  Begin by outlining design in black icing using a very, very small icing tip.  Allow to dry overnight, then flood inner areas with black or orange icing.  Allow to dry overnight again, then decorate with white polka dots.

Very late update:  This post from Brown Eyed Baker is an excellent tutorial on decorating cookies with royal icing.

The cookies were quite a bit of work, but I think I'll make them again at the end of the school year as thank yous for The Kid's teachers and other school staff, including the school nurse.  They truly are a sweet way to remember our pet monarch.

I'm sharing my winged cookies with:

• Allergy Friendly Friday hosted by Cybele Pascal,
• Allergy Friendly Lunchbox Love at Allergy-Free Vintage Cookery and
• Allergy Free Wednesday at Real Food Allergy Free.

Lemony Cookie Baskets with Surf Sweets Jelly Beans

I've been away from the blog for over a month due to a crashed hard drive and long delays in repairs and, oh, I'm so glad to be back!  I have quite a backlog of recipes and reviews to share, but I'll try to space them out.  To start I have these adorable little jelly bean basket cookies that came about because of a request from Surf Sweets Jelly Beans for a baked goody for their recent blogger recipe contest.

I'll confess I was almost as curious to find out who the other 15 bloggers were as I was to find out who won.  Huge congrats to Charmaine of Yummy Allergen Free for her grand prize winning scones!  She was one of the very few who didn't reach for a muffin tin or make a nest, and her creativity paid off.  I was happy to see that some of my favorite food allergy bloggers were indeed among the other entrants, such as Sarah of No Whey, Mama, Lindsey of Frugal Food Allergies and Katrina, the Gluten Free Gidget.  The entire list of bloggers and recipes is kind of awesome (if I may say so myself!), so just go ahead and scroll through this great list of recipes.  All of them are allergy friendly and/or gluten free, so there's something here for everyone.  (I discovered in the process of writing this blog post that there was an error in the recipe that I submitted, so if you decide to make these, please use the recipe below, rather than the one on the Surf Sweets site.)

For these dense, chewy little cookies, I decided on a tart lemon flavor to contrast with the sweetness of the jelly beans.  I also tried a version using coconut oil instead of margarine, which The Kid actually preferred.  Feel free to substitute it, but you may need an additional tablespoon to reach the perfect Playdoh texture for shaping the dough.

The recipe is very kid friendly if you have short people who would like to help make the dough, but I strongly recommend having an adult press the jelly beans and pipe cleaners into the cookies, because the muffin tin will be far too hot to allow little fingers near it!

Lemony Jelly Bean Baskets

(Click here for printable recipe.)

Dry Ingredients:
1 C all-purpose flour
2 Tbs corn starch
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients:
3 Tbs non-dairy margarine, melted (I used Earth Balance Buttery Sticks)
1/2 granulated sugar
2 Tbs lemon juice

Additional:
36 allergy friendly jelly beans (Surf Sweets Spring Mix, of course!)
pipe cleaners for basket handles (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line a mini muffin tin with 12 liners.  Measure dry ingredients into a medium bowl, then whisk together.  Melt margarine and combine with sugar in a separate bowl.  Once sugar is completely dissolved, stir lemon juice into wet mixture.

Pour wet ingredients into dry, then stir together until a dough forms.  Roll dough onto a flat surface, such as a cutting board, and mold dough into a flat disk or "snake".  (This is where the Playdoh skills come in handy!)  Divide dough into 12 equal pieces.  Roll pieces of dough between  palms until a ball is formed, then gently drop each ball into a muffin liner.

Bake cookies for 18 to 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and immediately press 3 jelly beans into the top of each cookie.  Insert pipe cleaner handles, if desired.  Makes one dozen cookie baskets.

I'm sharing my darling little baskets with:

• Allergy Friendly Friday hosted by Cybele Pascal,
• Allergy Friendly Lunchbox Love at Allergy-Free Vintage Cookery,
• Allergy Free Wednesday at Real Food Allergy Free and
• Slightly Indulgent Tuesday at Simply Sugar and Gluten Free.

I love how there are so many food allergy and gluten free round ups now.  I keep thinking I need to start one of my own, but can't quite decide on a theme.  Maybe one that is specifically kid and allergy friendly?  I'd really like to hear your suggestions!

Finally, I'm going to be at Techmunch in Tampa on April 21st.  (I wish I could also go to Nourished, but, alas, it is not to be.)  Hopefully I'll see some of my local Florida food bloggers in real life soon!