Corn Thins

Photo from here

Corn thins are such a great snack for all kids as well as kids with allergies - tasty, easy to eat and healthy. I often have them with me when travelling in the car. They are the staple, alongside fruit, at the creche my kids go to when I go to my women's bible study. There is a good range of plain ones as well as flavoured. I tend to go for the original corn thins - low salt and still tasty.

This is my last post for 2010. I'm going to take January off from blogging and am looking forward to coming back refreshed in February. I hope you enjoy celebrating the birth of Jesus with your families and friends.

Gingerbread Recipe

Merry Christmas!
I am doubling up posts today just so you can have this in case you want to bake before Christmas. I adapted an already adapted recipe based on Sheriden Rogers 'Entertaining at Home' (1994 p143 - I think!) that my friend gave me. After the results of my recipe, I can only imagine how yummy the 'normal' version is. The kids loved helping with the cookie cutters.

This gingerbread is crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. I gave it to friends last night and they commented on how delicious it was even before they knew it was allergen free! And as my son said, they were 'Yummo!' I divided the recipe into 2/3 amounts and got about 60-70 small cookies.

250g dairy free spread
185g brown sugar
2 eggs worth of egg replacer
300g honey
750g plain g.f. flour
pinch salt
3 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice
3 tsp bicarbonate of soda dissolved in
125ml boiling water

Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celcius (325F)
Cream dairy free spread and sugar until light and fluffy (use a large bowl and a mixmaster is best but I managed with electric handbeaters)
Beat in egg replacer
Add honey and mix
Sift together dry ingredients and then add to mixture in parts alternating with dissolved bicarb soda
If dough feels too soft, add a bit more flour (I didn't need to)
Refrigerate for 2 hours - overnight
Roll dough out and cut out with cookie cutters
Place on trays with baking paper lining
Cook until lightly browned
Remove from oven but leave on tray for 5 mins before transferring to a wire rack.

Tip - I found the dough got easier to work with after it had been out of the fridge for a couple of minutes.

Guest recipe: Brownies

Photo (not recipe) from here

How great to have a brownie recipe up here!

1.5 cups apple sauce
1 cup cocoa
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
1 mashed banana (not too ripe or the whole mix tastes very 'banana-y')
2tsp vanilla essence
1 1/3 cups rice flour
2 cups of vegan choc chips (can use Sweet William if soy is not a problem).

Combine all ingredients. Mix well and pour into greased 8x8 pan.
Cook in preheated oven at 180degrees C for 45 mins.
(Mine took more like an hour).

Opportunity for feedback

I might be catching up with a General Manager from Woolworths about their allergen-free range and so I am trying to think of all the things that I wish that Woolies stocked.

Do any of you have ideas that I could also pass onto her? Please comment below!

Hot Chips & Chicken salt: KFC & Oporto

Yesterday we went searching the food court for hot chips for my daughter. The only options for hot chips were KFC and Oporto. I went to Oporto first and their allergen info was easily accessible for the person serving (she knew where it was) and it showed that the chicken salt had gluten, seeds and soy in it. So on to KFC we went and asked the girl there - she had to check with the manager where an ingredients list was, he couldn't find the brochure but thankfully thought of getting the chicken salt box. It had gluten and, I think, dairy, in it (as well as other things that I didn't bother listening to once I knew she couldn't have them). So I asked if we could buy chips with no salt and that was easy. Not sure if Oporto could do unsalted chips, but I assume they could if you asked? It just means getting them out of the fryer and not putting them in the storage/salting area.

So - be aware of chicken salt - it can contain allergens.

Guest recipe: ANZAC biscuits

I figured I'd do this one next in case the last post made you want to make ANZAC biscuits (cookies!) at home. Here is another tried and tested guest recipe.

Anzac Biscuits
1.5 cups rolled oats (if you wanted to avoid oats, you could use puffed rice - that's what the one in Pages Cafe had)
1.5 cups plain GF flour
1 cup sugar
125g nuttelex
1 tbsp golden syrup
1 tsp bi-carb
2 tbsp boiling water.

Combine oats, flour & sugar in large bowl.
Combine nuttelex and golden syrup in sml saucepan. Stir over low heat until butter in melted. Combine soda and water and add to nuttelex mixture.
Stir wet mix into dry mix while it is warm.
Place large tsp of mix onto greased tray and bake in preheated oven at 150 degrees for about 20 mins.
Allow to cool on rack. Biscuits will harden as they cool.

Koorong Cookies

Koorong is a Christian Bookstore that has a great cafe (Pages Cafe - and they make good coffee) and a great little fenced and undercover playground for the kids. I took my son on a bus ride the other afternoon and we headed there and then my husband drove our daughter once she woke up. They have an ANZAC cookie that is 'everything' free so we ordered one and it was very yummy. They also have another allergen free cookie but it has nuts in it so we couldn't try that one. It's great to know that everyone can have something when we visit.

Allergen free on the Central Coast

photo from here

We recently had a week up the central coast (NSW) and I found this bakery via google and found that there was a stockist near us. We bought some of their buns and they have been thoroughly enjoyed by our little girl who loves having rolls like us.

Guest recipe: Apple Crumble

A good friend of mine has just emailed me a fabulous stash of tried & true dessert recipes that are wheat, dairy, nut, soy and egg free. She even tested them on adults who can eat normally and they enjoyed them! I'm going to start posting them as guest recipes because they are worth sharing.
This recipe isn't gluten free due to the oats and my daughter still gets a rash from oats but hopefully soon she will have grown out of it. And hopefully it will be good for those of you who can.

4-5 apples, sliced and stewed (or 1 large tin of pie apples)
1 cup blueberries
cinnamon
50g Nuttelex
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup plain GF flour

Stew apples (or open 1 large tin of pie apples). Add blueberries. Sprinkle with cinnamon.
Rub Nuttelex into rolled oats. Stir in sugar and add flour.
Sprinkle crumble mix over apples and bake in preheated oven at 180 degrees for about 45 mins.

Tip: Topping doesn't really brown when using GF flour

Look in different places

This year, we have been shopping for our fruit and vegetables at a local fruit and vegetable shop rather than the big supermarkets. 

Only recently I ventured into the shop's deli/pantry section and discovered that they had a gluten/allergen free section with lots of the products I regularly buy and some ones I hadn't seen before. The prices were almost the same (the dollar amount was the same, the cents may have been different, so really not that different!) and so I bought them there.

I went into another fruit and vegetable shop and found the chocolate mousse mix that I blogged about last week. I've never seen that in the supermarket.

I think it is worth looking in different places every now and then - you may find something you've never seen before and that is always worth it when there is so little for your child (or you) to eat in this world.

Chocolate Mousse!

 

We saw this in a shop the other day and had to buy it. My kids and I made it together and it looked beautiful. It didn't taste very nice straight away (to me or my daughter) but my son licked the beaters clean. We put it in the fridge for the day and had it after dinner with sliced strawberries on top. My husband reckoned people wouldn't know that it was 'everything' free and my son gobbled it up. My daughter even had a couple of spoonfuls (she's never really liked chocolate flavoured things or things that have textures like this). Personally I thought it was pretty good. I love my chocolate mousse and it wasn't the same as 'normal' mousse but it was a very good effort. I think we may well make it for my daughter's birthday party and put it in tiny cups and serve it out.

It is so easy to make (just add water and mix with electric beater for 3min!) and quite yummy given the limits of ingredients. Orgran is amazing.

NB it is also nut-free - the photo doesn't show it but it is on the list below soy free.

Women's Weekly Allergy Free Cooking for Kids

I don't normally post about things I haven't tried but I'm still undecided as to whether or not I'm going to buy this cookbook. Given that it is Women's Weekly, I am pretty sure there'll be some tried and tested and good recipes in here. My reservation about buying it is that it seems not to have many recipes that have multiple allergens removed, but since I've only read descriptions online, I can't confirm that.
So after that disclaimer, here it is: Allergy Free Cooking for Kids. It looks fun, well-organised and full of nutritional information. It has recipes that are dairy, egg or gluten free.
Let me know if you have seen it and share your thoughts.

Click here for a website that has a really great price for it, although you should always shop around before buying it. I can't confirm that this is the cheapest price. Wow - so many disclaimers in this post!

Update July 11 - I now own the cookbook and I was right - the book is divided into 3: egg-free then dairy-free and gluten-free, no combinations at all. With some adaptation you can still use a good amount of recipes but it is certainly not as good as I had hoped for someone with multiple allergens.

Beef Marinade #1 - Balsamic and Soy

photo from here

I found this recipe here and tried it on some rump steak. It was really yummy.

This is my version:

3 shallots, finely chopped

3 Tbsp GF soy sauce

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

4 tsp (or you can get away with less) fresh thyme (or 1 tsp dried)

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 tsp cracked black pepper

Combine ingredients in a bowl/jug and then use it to marinate the meat. According to the website, 30mins should do tender cuts or 3-24 hours for tougher cuts.

We have thyme and shallots in our vegie patch - gotta love fresh herbs!

Chicken Marinade #3 - Honey Soy

Honey Soy Chicken Marinade

30ml GF soy sauce
decent squeeze honey (maybe about a tablespoon)

Mix together and combine with chicken. Leave for about an hour and then cook.
So simple yet so delicious.

San Choy Bow

I made my own version of this recipe from the 'all recipes' website. Here's what I made:
This served 2 adults and 2 young children (but we were left wanting more - so I'd double it for 4 adults or older children)

25ml gf soy sauce
20ml Chinese rice wine
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp Chinese 5 spice powder
10ml rice bran oil
250g pork mince
1 tsp each ginger and garlic, minced
3/4 cup cooked rice vermicelli, chopped
3 button mushrooms. diced
1-2 shallots, finely sliced
100g water chestnuts, rinsed and chopped (water chestnuts are a grass not a nut)
6 iceberg lettuce cups
1 tsp sesame seeds, toasted (optional)

Combine soy, rice wine, sesame oil and five spice in a bowl
Heat oil in wok, add the mince and brown well
Add ginger, garlic, shallots and vegetables and stir fry 2-3 minutes
Add vermicelli, mix and then soy mixture and stir until heated through.
Spoon into lettuce cups, 2 per person and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Extra thoughts:
I think you could add finely diced red capsicum to make this dish more colourful and vege-ful, plus you could probably substitute finely diced celery for the water chestnuts, but it would need to be cooked more. The flavour tasted a lot of the vinegar so if you wanted it more salty, change the ratio. You can also do half pork mince, half chicken mince.

Autumn Spicy Rice

This is a Donna Hay recipe that my sister-in-law introduced us too. So yummy. You can get less spicy Chorizo sausage reasonably easily if the kids aren't keen on spice.

Serves 4-6 - it makes a lot!

1 tbs olive oil
1 red onion, sliced (but you can use any type of onion)
2-3 chorizo sausages, sliced (ensure GF - usually are)
200g butternut pumpkin, peeled and chopped
1/2 tsp chilli flakes (less if you prefer)
2 cups long grain rice
3 cups chicken stock
2 zucchinis, thinly sliced
Rocket to serve (optional)

Heat a deep fry pan over a medium heat. Add the oil, onion, chorizo, pumpkin and chilli and cook for 2-3 minutes or until onions are soft.
Add the rice and cook, stirring for 1 minute. Add the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low, cover with a tight-fitting lid and cook for 15 minutes.
Stir through the zucchini and allow to stand for 2 minutes. Top with rocket to serve.

Margarine

I have been using Nuttelex for my daughter's replacement margarine since the beginning. While I was at the supermarket the other day I spotted Meadow Lea has a Dairy-free spread as well, and it was on special! As much as I appreciate Nuttelex providing for us for so long, I also really appreciate saving money where I can, so I think I'll be going with Meadow Lea while it's cheaper. The only thing to be cautious of is that it is much more easily confused with a normal Meadow Lea so you have to be extra careful to avoid accidentally contaminating it! I have written my daughter's name on top as an extra visual cue.

Popcorn

I make popcorn the old-fashioned way - in a pot on the stove. I saw it being done a number of years ago and ate the results and I was a convert! Now that my daughter is old enough to cope with it, I now make it about once a week as part of afternoon tea. It's very easy. I think the hardest bit is to take it off at the right time so that nothing burns onto the pot - then it is hard work!

Choose your saucepan with a lid - small to serve 2-3 as a snack
Add enough oil to thinly coat the base (I use rice bran due to it's high smoking point)
Add a little salt (1/4 teaspoon I think)
Add enough popcorn kernels to cover 2/3 saucepan base when oil is hot (a kernel will sizzle a little when you put it in). Put lid on immediately.
As the kernels start popping, give the saucepan a little shake over the heat (sideways, not up and down!) and do that intermittently as the popcorn continues popping.
Once the popping slows to less than 1 pop per 2 sec, get it off the heat and out of the pot asap.
Be careful not to burn yourself.
No need to add more salt, they should be tasty already.

Dairy Free Adventures

I found this blog - Dairy Free Adventures - a while ago and there are some nice looking recipes on there. She tends to blog a few times a month but it is worth a peruse for some inspiration.

Cheezly

I have seen this product mentioned on websites but never found a place that sells it, until I went to Choices Bakery and saw it in the fridge (it comes in a roll). Having had other soy cheeses without success, I thought I'd give this one a go, given its claims to being yummy and able to melt. I always feel my daughter is missing out on the true pizza experience when I put her pizza in the oven without cheese!

We tried it and it didn't quite melt as you would expect normal cheese to melt, but it did it better than the other ones I've tried. It also tasted reasonably cheesy and my daughter actually ate it all compared to the absolute 'No' we got with the others. I don't know if she'd like it without it going in the oven but we'll try it soon. It's a pity it's supposed to be used within 5 days of opening - we won't get through it.

Choices Gluten and Wheat Free Bakery

photo from here

Hello again.

A friend told me about this store and I finally had some time to go and visit. It's simple and small but it has a great range or foods that are mainly gluten & wheat free but many are dairy and egg free as well. They have 4 locations around Sydney - Turramurra, Bella Vista, Mona Vale and Bondi Junction.

They specialise in breads, pastries, pies and cakes but have other things as well. You can check out their website here and I realised that they deliver all over Sydney and delivery is free if you spend over $40. It's not hard to spend $40 because it is expensive, but having tried it with my daughter and seen how she eats it really well has encouraged me to go back. We have tried the fruit loaf (smells fabulous and my 3 yr old eats the crusts she won't eat!), hamburger buns and par-baked buns. They are all able to go in the freezer which makes bulk-buying a great idea. I just placed an order for the fruit loaf (2 of them!), and buns as well as a banana loaf pre-mix and noticed that they have started selling Christmas items so I have ordered some mince tarts to keep in the freezer. And it's nice to know I don't have to do the drive out to Bella Vista again unless I want to!

Sick

Apologies for the lack of posts this past week. I have a sore throat that is taking a long time to go, despite antibiotics and time. So blogging hasn't been on the priority list.
I will get back to it soon, God willing.

Tortillas

Soft tacos are a great meal for kids - I find that my son will even eat lettuce when it is wrapped up in a tortilla! I have not yet found a pre-packaged tortilla that is gluten, dairy and egg free (usually the egg is still there) and they usually don't wrap very well either.

Laucke's Easy Baker's Gluten free bread mix have a tortilla recipe on the side of the box. I used it tonight to make some tortillas for my daughter and they went down a treat. They smell and taste pretty disgusting to the normal eater but she was happy to have something the same as us that she could "woll" (roll up). She even ate the grated carrot! I didn't attempt the lettuce - I just wanted her to eat it.

We filled our tortillas with taco seasoned beef mince (with finely grated zucchini and carrot plus cannelini beans), lettuce, grated carrot, mushrooms, tomato, avocado and (for those who could) cheese and sour cream.

Berry Muffins

2 cups GF self-raising flour
2/3 cups castor sugar
1/2 teaspoon xantham gum (if you have it - if not it isn't a big deal - click on the link for why to use it)
Equivalent of 1 egg with No Egg
3/4 cup soy milk (you may need a little bit more but see what the mixture looks like)
125g melted butter substitute (Nuttelex)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/2 cup frozen berries

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius. Grease 12 hole muffin pan. Combine dry ingredients and then stir in wet ingredients. Mix until just combined (muffins turn out better when you haven't mixed them too much) and spoon into prepared pan. Bake for about 20mins.

I made mini muffins today with this recipe and halved the recipe - it made 17 mini muffins although I probably could have made the mixture go further.

These are the best allergen-free muffins I have made so far and our visiting friends said they quite enjoyed them!

Bacon and Mushroom Pasta

This is one I made up (although I'm sure it has been done before me!) and it has become one of our favourites.

Serves 4

4 rashers bacon, chopped into 1cm sqaures
4-5 large button mushrooms, chopped
1/4 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup olive oil
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
gf spaghetti for 4

Cook spaghetti as per instructions. Add the peas into the water just before spaghetti is ready so that they are ready together.
Meanwhile, cook the bacon until cooked as much as you like.
Make the heat low and add most of the oil and then the garlic. Gently fry the garlic for 2 min or so. Add mushrooms (they will suck up most of the oil) until cooked, add the rest of the oil and then return bacon to pan to reheat.
Drain pasta and peas and add them to the fry pan. Mix it up until well combined. Serve.
Add pepper, and parmesan for those who can have it.

Psyllium

Fibre is something that is often lacking in a gluten free diet. Psyllium husk is gluten-free and helps add fibre to the diet. My daughter's regular breakfast cereal seems to have gone out of production so we are using another rice puff and adding psyllium. It's a good thing to have in the pantry.

Play Dough

I'm still mastering this...

Cooked playdough
3 cups gf flour
1.5 cups salt
6 tsp cream of tartar
3 tbsp oil
3 cups water
few drops of food colouring

Pour all ingredients into a large pot. Stir constantly over medium heat until a dough ball forms by pulling away from the sides. Remove and knead dough until the texture matches playdough (1-2 minutes). Store play dough in plastic container. It should last for 3 months.

Morrocan Lamb Shanks

This is a fabulous recipe from www.taste.com.au

I haven't tested this on the children yet, but I think they would like it because of the sweetness of the dates. I would serve it on rice or potato (or maybe even polenta if I was up for the challenge) for them rather than the couscous (it is made of wheat).

Click here for the recipe.

Hamburgers

Here's a recipe I adapted from Jamie Oliver's Botham Burger (Return of the Naked Chef page 196)

500g beef mince
equivalent of 1 egg using No Egg
1/4 cup or so of rice/corn crumbs (or fresh ones if you have some leftover gf bread), so that it isn't too sloppy basically
a shake of ground cumin and coriander (depending on your child's tolerance of spices)
half zucchini and carrot, finely grated
salt and pepper
Other hamburger toppings
Allergen free bread slices or bread rolls

Mix all the ingredients (except other topping and bread rolls!) together under well mixed. Form into patties.
Cook in oil and when browned through, place on paper towel to soak up some of the oil.
Serve in rolls with toppings and sauce etc.

When I made this for us, I made my daughter's pattie separately first and then used normal egg and breadcrumbs in the rest of the meat. I also added finely diced onion and dijon mustard and a bit more of the spices. Just don't forget to cook the allergen-free patty separately/first.

Travelling in non-English speaking countries

We are planning a trip to Japan in January and are very much looking forward to it! We are going skiing with friends. My only major concern is the fact that I can't speak/read Japanese and we will go to restaurants and I have a child with a life threatening allergy. You can only imagine my relief when I read on an SMH article (4th comment) that there was a Japanese restaurant in Sydney that not only provided allergen free (and environmentally friendly ways of eating/presenting etc) food but that they offered to provide a free personalised information sheet in Japanese to present to restaurants telling them about the allergy and asking them to provide appropriate food. I have been in contact with the owner Yukako and she has been very diligent in asking questions and being in regular contact. I just received an email telling me that she is starting to write up the information sheet now.

Here's the link, just in case you ever Japan is on the itinerary - Wafu.

If you are planning a trip, it might be worth finding someone who speaks the language to write up a sheet for you (in the language and corresponding English). I'd be happy to pay for that peace of mind!

Baked Pumpkin Risotto

My Mum gave me this recipe when I got married. It is simple to prepare and you just put it in the oven. I've adjusted it to be allergen free, but it's also great with 'normal' ingredients!

Serves 2-3 adults (or 2 adults, 2 toddlers)

1 cup Arborio rice
2.5 cups hot chicken or vegetable stock (ensure gluten and dairy free if powder)
4 tbsp dairy free spread (Nuttelex)
350g pumpkin, peeled & diced
1/2 onion chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
cracked black pepper
sea salt
1 tbsp flat-leaf parsley

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (for those who can have it you can stir it in after taking enough out for those allergic)

Preheat oven to 190 degrees C
Place arborio rice, stock, Nuttelex, onion, garlic & pumpkin in an oven proof dish and cover tightly with lid or aluminium foil.
Bake for 45min or until rice is soft
Stir through pepper, salt, parsley (and parmesan if possible) and serve.

You can add more vegetables to this like fresh spinach (chopped) and peas in at the same time as the pumpkin etc.

Nachos

Serves 2 adults, 2 toddlers

300-400g beef mince (depends on how much meat your family eats really)
1 packet plain corn chips
1 sachet of taco seasoning or just some mexican chilli powder (mild/medium). If you want it a bit saucy, use the taco seasoning, if more plain mince with flavour use the powder.
1/2 carrot, finely grated
1/2 zucchini, finely grated
1/4 cup rinsed canned chick-peas or red kidney beans or cannelini beans
1 ripe avocado, mashed
1-2 tomatoes, diced

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
Cook mince until browned, add in carrot and zucchini then add in seasoning/powder and some water. Once it has reduced again, add in chick peas/beans to heat up.
Place corn chips in individual bowls. Add meat on top. For people who can have cheese (or you could use soy cheese), put grated cheese on top. Place in oven for ~5min or until chips are heated and cheese is melted.
Add tomatoes and avocado on top. You could add more things like rocket or lettuce or more grated carrot. For those who can, add sour cream.

Persevere

My daughter has had a well-documented struggle to drink milk of any type. Since the allergy specialist told me to give her soy formula, I have offered it to her every day, despite rejection every time for 4mths. It was easy to be frustrated at the wasted formula and money (I think most of the first tin of formula went down the drain) but looking back, my perseverance paid off.
Earlier this month we had a breakthrough. 60ml as a drink was a huge deal. Now, almost a month on from that, she is drinking 200-300ml a day! We praise God for this and are really glad we persevered. 4 months (when you look back) isn't so long and it is worth it for the result. She's looking a bit chubbier (in a good, healthy baby kind of way - she's a slim girl) and seems to be more content.

Another story of perseverance to success was with her vitamin supplement. It's a liquid and doesn't taste particularly nice. When we first gave it to her, she screamed, cried etc. It would have been much easier to give up. But we calmly gave it to her each day (unlike the milk, we actually made her have the vitamins) and now she happily takes it. It's just part of the routine. Worth persevering.

So, if your child needs to have something, I encourage you to persevere with your plan and not let your child take control. They don't always know/like what's best and it will get easier over time.

Vitamin supplements

When your child has numerous allergies, it is likely that they won't be getting all the vitamins and minerals they need, especially if, like our daughter, they refuse to take formula (which has a lot of the vitamins and minerals in it). We saw our GP a while ago and she suggested going on Pentavite with iron (available from chemists). Thankfully we had had a blood test that helped us work out what she was missing (iron and calcium). The change in her appearance was substantial - we had grown so used to what she looked like that we didn't even think she looked anaemic. Looking back, she looked quite unwell!

Can I suggest that you see your GP and/or a dietician and get advice regarding vitamin/mineral supplements. Your child might not need a blood test to work it out either. Supplements are not worth the expense if they aren't justified, but very much worth it if they are.

Smooze for summer

I discovered these last summer and have been waiting until it became warm again before posting about them, Smooze fruit ices are dairy free ice 'blocks' made from fruit juices and purees and coconut milk. Keep them in the freezer for hot day. They are very yummy for everyone. Find them in the non-frozen ice block aisle in the supermarket.

Spag Bol

I threw this together today with what I had in the fridge and it was very yummy I thought.

Serves about 4 adults and 2 toddlers (who aren't very keen on it so they only were given small amounts)

500g beef mince
4 'rashers' short cut bacon (ensure gf. Most are in Australia I think)
1/2 large carrot, grated
1/2 medium zucchini, grated
3 mushrooms, chopped
1/2 red capsicum, chopped
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 small garlic clove, finely chopped
400g tin diced tomatoes
3/4 of the tin of water
1/2 tsp salt

Gluten/egg/dairy free spaghetti to serve

Heat tbsp olive oil in pan, add onion and garlic and cook for a couple of minutes. Add mince and cook until browned. Add bacon, cook for a few minutes and then add vegetables and cook for a minute or so. Pour over tomatoes and water and stir. Add salt to taste.

Allow to simmer gently until reduced sufficiently (I think it was about 15-20min).

I prepared mine during the kids' rest time and then had it in the fridge so that when we came home from swimming, I could just cook the spaghetti. Much easier.

I added pepper to taste at the end. For those who can, freshly grated parmesan cheese is a must as well. Yum. I think the bacon is the secret ingredient.

A yummy biscuit

Biscuits (cookies) are a common occurrence when we go somewhere for morning tea. Usually my daughter cannot have them, so I always bring along my own. I read in this book about how when you go out you should take food that is similar to the food that will be there (ie, if it is a party, then take party food, because it's hard enough on the allergic child that they miss out on the food, only to then be given non-party food as a substitute) and now that my daughter is old enough to realise the difference between biscuits and watermelon, I have to come prepared. Since I'm not always able to bake something for her, I tend to have these in the cupboard - Leda's Gingernut Cookies. They are yummy, and not as unhealthy as some cookies (the sugar is golden syrup rather than white sugar - that's a bit better isn't it??!) and my daughter is very content with them.

Soy Cheese

Kingland Soy Products (website not great but you can see the logo) make a soy cheese without the dairy protein starter. It comes in a roll (like devon/polony) and wrapped in a pale yellow wrapper. I found it in Coles (finally!) and bought it. My daughter has had a bit of cheese a few times before we realised the dairy allergy and she loves it. So we tried the soy cheese today and she popped it in thinking it was normal cheese and unfortunately she didn't like it very much.

I think it would be best used mixed into other foods, like on a hamburger or something else. I don't know what I'll do with the rest. I'm not going to pursue it with her. It's not fortified with calcium. It just would have been a great extra food.

I also bought Tofutti's soy sliced cheese. I tried one and it was a bit yukky for me, but it could be nice mixed in a sandwich etc. She's yet to try it, but I think it will be a similar reaction.

Oh well.

Devon #2

Since my last post, a new devon product is on the shelves. It's Little Chef Devon 500g. It only contains soy so that's good news for my family. It doesn't taste too bad at all (on the devon scale, that is!).

I can't find a link about it, and so far I have found it only in Woolworths.

Holiday time

I'm going to take a week off blogging while my husband is on holidays. Have a great week :)

Friday Fish & Chips

We treat ourselves maybe once every 2-3 weeks. My tip is to find an understanding takeaway joint and make friends with them. Even though we aren't that regular, we now go in and she says "Grilled fish with nothing on it?". She then cooks it on the grill in another pan so that no contamination occurs. We didn't even ask her to do that. How great is she?!

Veal Schnitzel

I have rediscovered schnitzel. It is a great one for doing an individual portion for the allergic person and 'normal' portions for everyone else. If you do the allergen free one first, you can rinse or add to the prep plates so as not to use as many.

Serves 4
4 schnitzel cuts of veal (you can also get chicken ones and we did that this week)
2tsp 'No Egg'
4 tbsp water
1/3 cup dry gf bread crumbs (I have used Orgrans rice crumbs and their corn crumbs, both were good)
1/4 cup gf plain flour

Prepare the No Egg and water by mixing them together in a bowl. Place the bread crumbs and flour on separate dinner plates.

Coat the veal in flour then dip into 'egg', ensuring total coverage. Then coat veal in bread crumbs and place on another plate. Repeat for all. You may need extra bread crumbs.

Heat fry pan and add a decent amount of oil (the crumbs need to fry in the oil - it's almost a shallow fry really. See what you think works for you). Fry each side over a medium heat until it is golden brown. If you are doing chicken, ensure it is cooked through.

Serve with mashed potato and other vegetables.

Frozen food

I mentioned Bayview Seafoods a while ago. They contacted me to let me know of their new website. Click here to see their gluten free range of things like chicken nuggets, crumbed fish, vegetable patties etc. Please note that they are not always dairy or egg free, so do read the ingredients list before buying it.

Milk

I don't normally post on the weekends but I thought this was worth a mention. My daughter (who normally refuses all things milky) just asked for a cup of milk (to be the same as her brother) and proceeded to drink about 60ml of it (soy milk)! Now that is a milestone for her and my husband and I were quietly cheering across the table as she did it (so as not to distract her!). Will be praying it continues!!

Wacky Cake

My friend reminded me of this recipe last week. The normal recipe has no egg or dairy in it, so it is fantastic if you are just avoiding those. It apparently has its origin post-war when eggs and milk were scarce. I made a normal one and a small one with gluten free flour as well for my daughter. Even it was delicious.

1 1/2 cups gluten free plain flour
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon bicarb soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup cold water (not iced)

In a 20x20cm (or similar) cake pan or pyrex dish, mix flour, sugar, cocoa, soda and salt. Make three wells in the flour mixture. In one put vanilla; in another the vinegar, and in the third the oil. Pour the cold water over the mixture and stir until moistened. Bake at 180°C for 25 to 30 minutes, or until it springs back when touched lightly.

You can use white vinegar but I read that balsamic is a bit sweeter and also helps with the colour of the cake. This recipe is a great one especially because you tend to have all the ingredients in the cupboard already!

Hearty Beef Casserole

I forgot that I loaned my slow cooker to my Mum and had planned to do one this morning - oops! So, I googled for a beef casserole recipe you can do in the oven and this should work perfectly and it will be ready when we get back from swimming lessons.

Hearty Beef Casserole (click this to link to the original recipe at Best Recipes - there's some good ideas on the comments section)

3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion chopped
2 tsp garlic, crushed
1kg chuck steak, cubed 2.5m
2.5 tbsp gf plain flour
2 cups allergen free beef stock
400g can chopped tomatoes
2 carrots sliced
1/2 cup peas
1/2 cup corn kernels
3 bay leaves
1/3 cup chopped parsley

Preheat oven to 160degrees celcius. Heat 1 tbsp oil over medium heat in a stove-top safe casserole dish. Add garlic and onion and cook until soft. Remove to a plate.

Toss meat in flour and season with salt and pepper. Increase heat to high and add 1.5 tbsp oil to the dish and then add half the meat.

Cook, stirring until browned. Remove to plate and repeat with the rest of the oil and meat. Remove to plate.

Add 1 cup of stock to the dish and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the flour mixture on the dish. Then add everything into the dish. Bring to the boil, cover and place in oven.

Bake for 1.5-2 hours or until tender. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in parsley and serve. I plan to serve mine with rice but mashed potatoes is suggested on the original recipe.

Use only 1 cup stock if using a slow cooker.

Lamb Roast

A great and delicious way to have red meat.

Serves 4 with leftover meat

500g leg of lamb
1 clove garlic, halved lengthways and sliced
1 sprig rosemary, divided into small bits
Olive oil
Vegetables for roasting

Preheat oven to 200 degrees celcius. Place lamb in roasting tray (or on roasting rack) make vertical slits on top of the lamb and slide a slice of garlic and bit of rosemary into each of the holes. Drizzle lamb with olive oil and rub in gently.

Cook lamb for 15min in oven and then reduce temp to 180C. Continue cooking for a further hour and a quarter or until you think the lamb is cooked. Rest the lamb before carving. Serve with vegetables.

The leftovers are great the next day too.

A great website - Everyday With Allergies

I stumbled on this website while looking for a scone recipe. I'm yet to try any of the recipes but they look fabulous. I'm definitely bookmarking this site and am tempted to buy her recipe book too. I think I'll try making the chocolate cake first! Her post about soy cheeses also encouraged me to go looking again.

Click on this link - Everyday with Allergies

Morning Tea with a group

Twice a week my kids eat morning tea with a large group of children. This can be quite a stressful situation.

The first morning tea is a creche situation when I go to a women's bible study. Here the morning tea is totally provided and due to the allergy situation, the only things that are served are fruit and plain corn thins. It is a very healthy morning tea for all the kids as well as being safe and means I don't worry that my kids might get someone elses food while I'm not there to control it.

The second morning tea is at playgroup. There can be up to 25 kids and parents there so it's pretty crazy. Thankfully the kids all sit at tables but they have a shared morning tea. We bring a piece of fruit but some parents bring other things like popcorn, biscuits, cake etc. When we started playgroup this year, the playgroup coordinator made an announcement about my son's allergies and asked that people don't bring anything with nuts in it. So far so good.

Since then, my daughter was diagnosed with gluten, dairy and egg allergies - non life-threatening but health-affecting. I spoke with the playgroup coordinator this term and we worked out some guidelines that would make it better for everyone.

These are what we agreed on:
- Morning tea is only to be eaten in the morning tea room at the tables (this was expected anyway, but not always abided by) and no food in the play area where possible.
- People can still bring biscuits, cakes etc to share but know that my daughter can't eat it and protect her from it eg: fruit is on a separate plate to other foods and try not to cross-contaminate serving implements (something that still happens, so I try to serve her early)
- A reminder of no nuts (My son's allergy is life threatening. The group needs to care for him) We avoid things with nuts in the ingredients list. My allergy specialist said to ignore the warnings of 'this product may contain traces etc' because it is used too widely now in this litigious society.

The playgroup coordinator announced it to everyone and thankfully, no-one seemed to have a problem with it.

I bring a container of food my daughter can eat (including something yummy, like "Itsy Bitsy Bears" - everyone else gets something yummy so she should too really) and she gets to have a bowl of the fruit as well.

It's a lot less stressful knowing that everyone in the playgroup is aware of my children's allergies. They ask about it and I can educate them. By them knowing, they can help me protect my children as well. Preschool will be our next hurdle. I'm thankful for all the kids with allergies who have gone before us - paving the way would have been hard work.

Can I encourage you to tell coordinators about your children's allergies. The more people who know the better. And I think it's important for the kids to keep hearing it as long as it's presented in a way that doesn't bring any shame on the children. Keep an eye on their reaction to announcements and keep talking to them about it and help them know that it's ok to have an allergy (we have no control over who gets them) and that they must not eat what makes them sick. Teach them to ask before they take food as well - a self-control skill that is good to teach to any children - but one worth being strict on early with children with allergies.

Try it again

My daughter is a pretty good eater, but she has gone through fussy phases. One example is fruit. She would refuse banana, orange, mandarin, apple and pear and only want watermelon. For a while I had to just have watermelon in my fridge at all times, but I kept offering and offering and all of a sudden she is eating them all! The biggest surprise and relief was banana.

As a baby, I refused banana and as an adult (despite a few attempts) I still can't eat it. So I assumed she might be the same. The only reason I kept trying was because it's such a great fruit (a meal in itself at times!) and with her limited diet, it would be wonderful to have in her diet. So, praise the Lord, she now eats one a day - apart from about a bite's worth at the end...don't ask me why, but she won't eat it. Strange and kind of cute, but since I can't eat it, a bit of a waste :)

Book review: Friendly Food

Friendly Food is a recipe book created by the RPA Hospital allergy unit and has great recipes in it helping you to avoid allergens, chemicals and/or additives. Although a lot of the recipes aren't useful to our family (eg they have nuts or something else in them that can't be replaced), a lot of them are great and enough to make it worth buying. We are currently borrowing one from a friend but have bought one online and hopefully it will arrive soon.

So far I have made fish patties, crunchy chicken bites and vanilla cookies from it and all have been really tasty.

Breakfast

Breakfast is quite limited for my daughter (17mths) really. She is allergic to most breakfast cereals, and doesn't have enough teeth for a lot of the allergen-free ones :). So she gets a concoction which I created and she seems to enjoy it. It's texture allows for her to feed herself with a spoon because it doesn't fall off the spoon and it gets some calcium, iron and fibre into her.

Here's what she has:

2 dessert spoons of cooked apple, pureed roughly
5 overloaded teaspoons of Farex (Contains: ground rice, maize flour, soy flour, vitamins (Vitamin C, Niacin, Thiamin), mineral (Iron)
1/4 cup GF rice bubbles (Freedom Foods)
40-50ml soy formula

She also sometimes has a slice of GF toast with Nuttelex spread and then, about an hour later,a banana.

I think once her molars come through, we might look at something more crunchy but it's suiting us so far.

Bread again

We had been using Springhill's fabulous bread mix until I realised that I could be getting more calcium into my daughter if I could put soy milk in the bread mix. Springhill didn't suggest milk as an alternative to water, so I have gone back to Orgran's bread mixes (white and wholemeal) I use up to 500ml in the loaf, so that makes a big addition to her weekly intake of milk, given her dislike of it.

Book Review: Managing Your Child's Food Allergies

I heard about this book on the radio and went out and bought it that same day.

The Complete Australia Guide For Parents: Managing Your Child's Food Allergies

It goes through the following things, plus more:

- What is a food allergy
- Understanding anaphylaxis
- Food-allergy testing
- Getting the message across to family, caregivers and schools
- Understanding food labelling
- Keeping your food-allergic child well fed
- Living positively with food allergies

It is a great way for parents new to their child's diagnosis to familiarise themselves with everything about allergies, plus a few chapters of it would be helpful for extended family or friends to read, if they are having a hard time coming to grips with the news. It also considers possible reasons for the unbelievable increase in food allergy in the western world. There are many options but I want to point out (because lots of people think this and say it to the mother) that maternal diet while pregnant/breastfeeding has nothing to do with causing food allergy. That has been scientifically proven.

I am going to go back and read a few chapters again, especially about keeping my child well-fed. I encourage to you get your hands on a copy. I am pretty sure I've even seen it at Big W (which would, no doubt, be the cheapest place to buy it) and you can get it from numerous online stores like Borders (free postage) and Angus & Robertson.

Chicken Noodle Soup

I made a chicken noodle soup the other night based on this recipe. It was delicious but not devoured by the kids. The chilli could have been responsible, but also soup is a bit tricky for kids. The noodles were fun for them both though. :)
Here's my version.

~ 400g chicken breast, cooked and shredded. (I actually used chicken leftover from a stir-fry the night before and they were tenderloins, my favourite bit of the chicken)
125g rice vermicelli (Changs do a pack of 4 individual portions and I used 2)
1L chicken stock
1L water
2 carrots, diced
2 sticks celery, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tsp dried rosemary
1/4 tsp dried chilli (up to 1tsp if you like it hot and don't have to worry about kids not liking it)
salt and pepper
3/4 cup fresh parsley (I didn't have any so didn't put it in, but I can imagine it would be better with it)

Heat 1 tbsp oil in large saucepan over medium heat and add onion and garlic. Stir for a couple of minutes until softened. Add carrots and celery and cook, stirring regularly until vegetables are slightly softened (6mins or so).
Add stock and water to pot and bring to boil. Season with salt, pepper, rosemary and chilli.
Add chicken and parsley. Simmer uncovered for 15-20min.
Add noodles and simmer for 5min.
Season with pepper as required and serve.

Xantham Gum

I've just bought some because I've read about it on various allergen-free websites as being useful in baking etc. It can be used to thicken and stabilise dairy replacements like soy milk so that you can re-create the richness of sauces normally created by cream, butter or eggs. It also adds volume and viscosity to gluten-free breads and doughs.

My only concern from reading wikipedia is that it can be produced from wheat and therefore can have a wheat gluten residue. So check that it is gluten free before buying it.

I am going to use it the next time I make pizza dough and see what difference it makes. Normally the dough breaks up quite easily when you roll it. So I'll let you know how we go.

For cakes, add 1/4 tsp xantham gum per 150g (1 cup) gluten-free flour.
For breads, add 1 tsp gum per cup of flour.
For pizza dough, add 2 tsp gum per cup of flour.

Menu Planning

After a recent melt down when I was feeling the strain of cooking for my daughter and thinking of meals to cook her that she would eat, I realised that I was doing it the hard way. I was trying to think of what to cook for dinner on the day, with no real planning apart from having staple meats/vegies etc in the fridge. It really makes things a lot more difficult for someone who isn't very good at just throwing fabulous kid-friendly meals together.

So, I have started menu planning my weeks again. I plan a week at a time, make my shopping list and then only have to shop once a week (unless we run out of bananas or yoghurt as tends to be the case!). I have felt a lot less stressed this week. It also helps me look at what my daughter is getting and can show me if I am missing any food groups/nutrients too.

Green Olive Baked Chicken

Here's a classy recipe that my Mum loves to cook

3/4 cup pitted green olives, halved
1.6kg chicken (8 pieces. My mum uses deboned thighs)
4 cloves garlic, peeled and halved
1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 tbsp grated lemon zest (about 2 lemons)
250g cherry tomatoes
Cracked black pepper & sea salt
2 tbsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 200C. Soak olives in cold water for 5 min to remove excess salt. Drain.
Place chicken in baking dish, a piece of garlic under each portion.
Combine olives, parsley, lemon zest, tomatoes, pepper, salt & olive oil and spoon over chicken.
Bake 45-55min or until chicken is golden and cooked. Place on serving plates and serve drizzled with pan juices.
My Mum serves hers with broccolini, roasted halved potatoes and boiled/microwaved sweet potato.

Because our kids are keen on plain tasting food at this stage we baked some plain chicken as well and then gave them the vegies as well. It didn't take any extra time and we had a fabulous meal.

Cooking for big groups

We are part of a church community and so cooking for big groups sometimes happens. It is a wonderful thing when those cooking can provide a meal (or one of a few) for people with special dietary conditions.

I read this blog post a while ago by Nicole (her blog is 168 hours) that gave a great and easy recipe that would suit my daughter. There's also a link to a downoadable cook book by Petersham Baptist Church that you might like to take a look at. The Ratatouille, Chicken Noodle & Corn Soup and Tacos can all easily be free of dairy, egg and gluten, and a few others are reasonably easy to adjust. It's great to have the numbers done for you when you want to cook big!

Here's the recipe:

Thai chicken

3 kgs chicken
5 tins coconut cream
1 medium bottle sweet chilli sauce
1/3 cup fish sauce
2 x 1 kg bags of frozen 'oriental vegies'
3 bunches coriander (to add at the end)

Put it all in the pot and cook until chicken is cooked through. That's it!

Meat and 3 veg

You really can't go past meat and 3 veg for a healthy complete meal. I mean, we lived on it when we were growing up. It is perfect for my children because there is nothing they are allergic to. that being said, they both seem to react to tomatoes, so we are going to avoid them (how to make cooking even harder!) because they get an itchy rash around their mouth.

Last night for dinner I gave them steak with vegies (boiled potato, broccoli and crunchy carrot sticks). I cooked the steak (half a piece of blade steak, seasoned lightly with salt and pepper) til it was medium, rested it (for half the time it was cooked - thanks Masterchef!) and cut it up into manageable pieces. Yum.

Rice in stock

If you are looking to add more protein/goodness to your child's dinner, especially if they aren't keen on meat (or you don't have a meat to put in their dinner that night), you can cook their rice in chicken stock. To get the goodness, it really has to be real chicken stock, and given that allergies create limitations in what you can use, it's really your only option. I had 250ml in the freezer the other night and so I defrosted it and added some water and cooked the kids' rice in it. Makes it more tasty too.

Egg substitutes

Although nothing is ever able to totally replace the glorious egg, there's quite a few things you can use in different ways to still have a similar result. Here's what my research (google only) has brought up:

1. Synthesised egg replacer such as No Egg (by Orgran)
2. Milk/Soy milk
3. Bananas (good for baking cakes, muffins etc)
4. Applesauce (mixed reviews but use for cakes and muffins - won't bind as much I would think)
5. Tofu - good for more egg-dominant meals like quiche (I don't know if I could do it though...! Anyone tried it?). Silken tofu can be used in baking etc as well.
6. Flaxseed - 1-2tbsp ground, add boiling water until it's an eggy consistency and let stand for a little while, adding more water if necessary.
7. Sometimes just adding more water will be sufficient.

I tend to use the No Egg because of it's versatility and it is also a source of calcium (which is a good thing for us).

Rowie's Cakes

Rowie has created some fantastic products for people with allergies to eat. Qantas have taken on her little cakes/muffins and I enjoyed one the other month when I chose the 'vegan' meal (the closest I could get to allergen free - I was still breastfeeding my daughter). Woolworths stock her pantry items (shortcrust pastry and cake mix) - what a great thing!

Coconut Vanilla icing

This was the recipe I used for my daughter's 1st birthday cake a while ago. For her cake I used a Rowie's cake mix.

1/3 cup Nuttelex
1/8 tsp salt
2 cups castor sugar
3 tbsp coconut milk (canned)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Cream Nuttelex and salt. Add the sugar, coconut milk and vanilla extract and mix on high until icing is smooth and creamy. Add more coconut milk if it is too thick. You get about a cup of icing.
I added pink food colouring to mine :)

Curried Sweet Potato Soup

A great recipe from Julie's blog that we have tried a few times. The kids don't really like many orange vegetables currently but the adults loved it and it will be a good one for the future. I love how coconut cream makes things creamy without the dairy!

Curried Sweet Potato Soup
This recipe serves 6 people.

Ingredients:

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 brown onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 3 teaspoons curry powder
• 1.2 kg sweet potato, diced
• 5 cups chicken stock
• 1 large apple, peeled and grated
• coconut cream and crusty bread, to serve

Method:

• Heat oil in fry-pan. Cook onion and garlic 3-4 mins or un til tender. Add curry powder and stir for 1 min
• Add onion mix, sweet potato, chicken stock and apple to the slow cooker
• Stir to combine ingredients
• Cook on LOW for 6-7 hours or HIGH for 3-4 hours
• Turn slow cooker off and blend with stick blender until soup is puree and smooth
• Serve with 2 tablespoons coconut cream (per bowl) and bread.

(If you don’t have a slow cooker, you can simmer all ingredients covered for 30+ minutes, or until sweet potato is cooked, then blend and serve as above)

BBQ Sauce

BBQ sauce has so many ways of being made. It's really important to check the ingredient list and the allergy warning section to make sure your child can eat it. And even then, you need to be wary as you try it. We found one that looked fine for my daughter to eat and then she reacted to it. So we don't tend to give her BBQ sauce at the moment. We discovered one the other night that one brand even has peanuts in it (just as my son was about to eat it!) - so make sure you read the ingredients list and the allergy warnings (the peanuts weren't mentioned specifically in the ingredient list, but were in the warning section).

The main lesson I learnt from this is to assume nothing - read the back of every label if you haven't used that specific product before. Don't assume that because you've had one version of it, the rest will be the same.

Sausages

Sausages are such a kid-friendly food. They aren't particularly good for you (unless you know what goes in them or have a butcher make them for you).

We have sausages once a week, sometimes less. I just buy beef sausages from either Coles or Woolworths and make sure they are gluten-free. Coles has a larger range of gluten-free sausages but sources tell me that Woollies are working on it. Great for a BBQ or big family dinner where the kids eat first :)

I usually serve them with boiled potatoes, broccoli, corn on the cob and some 'crunchy carrot' (my son's favourite way to eat it) and have tomato sauce on offer.

BBQ chicken beware

So far we have been fine with BBQ Chickens, but today my daughter had a reaction. We can't be sure what it was - the seasoning, what the chicken was sitting next to at some point, or if it was cooked on the same rotisserie that cooks ones with stuffing (?? is that possible or does the stuffing go in afterwards?), or the person cooking mixed in something when serving it (the tongs to pick it up, the gloves etc). So, we will just have to take note of the store we bought it at, keep asking questions about the seasoning when we can and keep buying the plainest ones we can, making sure there's no stuffing.

Tonight I served it with corn, broccoli and my rosemary potatoes.

$$$

My husband did the shopping the other day and couldn't quite believe he was paying $6 for 750g of flour (gluten-free of course!).

The expense of having gluten-free, etc food in my home is something that we have had to reconcile in our minds so that we don't baulk every time I go shopping. We need it for our daughter's health, we have to buy it.

I just have to keep reminding myself that it is food, we need it, we are thankful for those people who developed the technology to make it so well, so forget about the price and look for other ways of saving money.

Lamb 'sausages'

I wasn't going to post this, because when I cooked them, they looked a bit suspicious... I think it is worth trying to get them long and skinny, or maybe make them into patties instead! Maybe also add a spice, like cumin and/or coriander. I will post about these again when I have another go.

300g lamb mince
1/3 small zucchini
1/3 small carrot
1/3 preparation of 1 egg, made with No Egg (I made up enough for 1 egg and used the rest in a pikelet batch)

Finely grate zucchini and carrot. Mix all ingredients together until well mixed.
Roll small handfuls into sausage shapes. Refrigerate until firmer. (I prepared this while the children were having their afternoon nap)
Cook sausages in a frying pan. You probably won't need oil (if you have a non-stick pan) because the lamb mince is quite fatty anyway.

Serve with vegies. I served mine with broccoli and potato

Savoury Pancakes

These were inspired by a friend who used to make them for her kids regularly.

1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup GF plain flour
Equivalent of 1 egg using No Egg
pinch salt
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup milk
1/2 zucchini, finely grated
1 small carrot, finely grated
small can corn, drained (or fresh cut off 1 cob)
tomato sauce

Mix flours, No Egg, salt, water and milk until you have a batter. Add in vegetables and mix until well combined.

Add oil to heated frypan and pour mix into fry pan. Brown each side and transfer to a plate.
Serve with tomato sauce.

For those who can eat cheese, add grated cheese to the batter before cooking.

Play with the amounts of buckwheat (maybe put less in, it is pretty bitter and darkens the mixture) and liquid (more milk, less water; less of all liquid to make them thicker). You could add meat on the side if you wanted to add more protein.

Travel food

It's difficult travelling with a child with allergies to mainstream foods.

Whenever we are going out for dinner or lunch, I tend to pack my daughter's meal and take it with us, rather than risk trying to find allergen-free food. For lunch I take a thick slice of her bread with Nuttelex to spread on it and some fruit. For dinner I pre-cook GF pasta and some veggies. Then for the lunch or dinner I take a Rafferty's 'spout pouch' (our allergen-free choices are 'Hearty Beef and Veggie Puree', 'Tuna & Rice Vegetable Puree' and 'Bangers & Mash Vegetable Puree') for her to have as well. She loves the spout pouches and those particular choices. We have tried a few in the lumpy range but she's rather specific on flavour. They are great to throw in the bag, you don't need spoons or bowls and you know it is organic and reasonably good for them.

Jam cookies

My friend gave me this recipe and it was a hit with everyone!

1 cup GF self-raising flour
4 tbsp sugar
1tbsp jam (we used raspberry)
80g Nuttelex

Cream nuttelex and sugar, then add jam and mix, then add flour and mix well.
Use teaspoon sized amounts and bake on a greased tray at 180 degrees for about 15 mins.
Allow to cool before removing from tray as they need to harden.
Makes approximately 16.

Devon

Polony, Balony, whatever you call it :)
It isn't a particularly healthy option but is an Australian favourite with kids, especially with tomato sauce. It is usually made with wheat flour but I have discovered that Woolworths now makes a pre-sliced and packaged Devon that is gluten free. It isn't as nice but it is great that it is there. I am pretty sure there is another brand in WA that is gluten free but Woolworths appear to do the only one available in NSW. There doesn't seem to be very much available at all these days. Ham seems to be the popular one these days!

Hurry Tuna, Please

From what I can gather from Google, this is a pretty well-known recipe in the US.

Serves 4

2 tbsp olive oil
1 apple, chopped and cored
1 small onion, chopped
3 tbsp GF flour
1/2 cup rice/soy milk
1 cup chicken stock (ensure gluten and dairy free if using store-bought)
475g can tuna (you can get away with less if you only have a smaller can), drained
1/2 tsp curry powder (ensure gf. I use Keen's.)
GF Pasta or rice for 4

Fry apple and onion in oil until lightly cooked.
Add flour and slowly stir in milk and stock to make a white sauce.
Add tuna, breaking it up well and sprinkle in the curry. Mix well.
Serve over pasta or rice.

The other night I served it with broccoli on the side, but if you want more vegies, I tend to use frozen peas & corn and a little fresh/frozen chopped spinach and put them in before the tuna to allow for a few minutes cooking time.

Muffins

I adapted this recipe from a Sunbeam Foods brochure.
I halved the amounts and it made 12 mini muffins.

1/4 cup rice bran oil
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 tsp No Egg made up with 2 tbsp water
2 cups GF SR flour
2/3 cup rice milk (or soy)
a few tbsp of fruit medley or fresh berries or whatever you like.
Nuttlex to grease the muffin tray

Mix all of the ingredients until just combined. Spoon into greased muffin tray/s and bake for 15min at 180C.

I really like the crust the muffin had once it cooled. Yum.

Pizza base

I adjusted this recipe from a sister-in-law who got it from a Super Food Ideas magazine years ago.

2 cups plain GF flour (I have discovered F.G. Roberts brand flour and it is working really well)
1 packet dried yeast
3/4 cup warm water
1/2 tsp caster sugar
2 tbsp olive oil
pinch salt

Put yeast and sugar in water and leave to become frothy.
Sift flour (I didn't do this - I think the flour might be a bit weird to sift but I haven't tried it) into bowl, add salt, oil and yeast mixture. Mix to combine.
Turn onto lightly floured surface and knead until it is 'playdough like' (the real recipe suggests til it becomes elastic, but you won't really get that with GF flour).
Add more flour if necessary. Cut in half and roll out to make two rounds.

I reduced the amounts so as to make one small pizza for my daughter. I found I had to add more water but maybe I got the math wrong.

I topped it with tomato paste, sliced mushrooms, diced red capsicum, sliced zucchini and cannelini beans and cooked it at 180C for 15min. Best to put it on baking paper so that it doesn't stick to the tray. I also cooked up a beef steak, planning to put it on the pizza in slices but ended up just putting it on the side since the pizza went in the oven before the steak had cooked enough.

Avoiding contamination

When you are continuing to serve allergens to other family members, you have to be careful not to contaminate your allergic child's meals. This means using separate utensils, saucepans and even different jars of jam etc if you don't dip a clean knife in every time.

Since my kids are still quite young, we still use face washers to clean them up after each meal. My husband and I have developed a 'code'. My son gets the darker coloured washer and my daughter, the lighter coloured one. This helps us make sure that we don't, for example, wipe dairy or wheat onto our daughter's face from our son's breakfast that we just wiped up on him. Trouble is, sometimes, like today, I do something silly like choose the same colour washer... had better do something about that right now :)

Macaroni with beef

Changing the type of pasta you use makes meals exciting!

San Remo GF (etc) macaroni - enough for 2 toddlers
100g beef mince
5 large cherry tomatoes, cut into eighths
3 tbsp Cannelini Beans
2 tbsp canned corn kernels
1 tsp olive oil

Cook the pasta as per directions.
Brown the mince with the oil in a frying pan, add in the other ingredients and cook until tomatoes are heated through.

Add cheese on top for those who can eat it.

Better Pikelet recipe

I have been making pikelets each afternoon for my daughter because she loves them and it's her biggest calcium intake for the day. Here is a better recipe that I adapted from the cookbook my husband's kindergarten class made!

To serve 2 toddlers and an adult for afternoon tea,

2/3 cup GF (etc) SR flour
tiny pinch salt
1 tbsp sugar
dash of oil (I use rice bran)
1/2 cup soy milk (or rice milk, although I haven't tried it yet)
1/2 tsp No Egg

Mix all together in a bowl with a whisk until smooth. It should be a thick batter.
Pour small amounts into a lightly oiled fry pan and cook until golden brown (bubbles have popped usually), then flip.

My daughter eats them plain and just wolfs them down. I think she would eat them all if I let her and wasn't concerned about her eating dinner! My son doesn't love them. I think I'll have to make 'normal' ones for him soon. He's fine with just fruit anyway.

Calcium rich foods

We have just discovered through a blood test that my daughter has a calcium deficiency. This wasn't surprising given her dairy allergy and her rejection of any other type of milk drink. So, with her doctor, we are considering calcium supplements. Children aged 1-3yr need 500mg daily.
I've just googled food rich in calcium that aren't milk drinks and here are some of the non-dairy ones.
- Calcium-fortified orange juice
- calcium-fortified tofu
- white beans
- almonds
- bok choy
- rhubarb
- red beans
- broccoli
- calcium fortified soy yoghurt

For us the orange juice isn't great because of the sugar content and the almonds are difficult because of my son's nut allergy. We know that he isn't seriously allergic to almonds specifically though so they could be an option for her when she's a bit older.
We'll be praying she starts drinking the soy milk (she didn't even like it when it was chocolate flavoured!!) but work with our doctor to make sure she is getting all she needs.

Things in the freezer

For an easy Sunday dinner tonight we gave the kids chicken nuggets from the freezer with baked shoestring fries, cauliflower, avocado, broccoli and carrot. On a trip to Coles the other day I discovered Bayview Seafoods' Gluten Free Range. I bought the Crumbed Chicken Breast Nuggets and the Fish bites. They will be good to have in the freezer for throw-together meals. The homemade ones were still better for my daughter because, with only 4 teeth, she found the crust a bit too hard to get through. I quite enjoyed the bits I had off her plate. I think they will be better once she is older and more into things like chicken nuggets. A great one to remember.

NB The website says that some are lactose free, but they are actually dairy free (the nuggets and fish bites at least), which is good news for us.

Potato Fritters

We had leftover chicken from our roast the night before so I decided to make potato fritters. I had never made them before so I used this recipe from Taste and modified it for my daughter. I made normal ones for the rest of the family and apart from having to have 2 lots of bowls, frypans, flippers etc, it wasn't too much more effort.

Here's the recipe for our allergen free potato fritters -
Serves 1

1 potato
1 teaspoon No Egg (or equivalent) mixed with 2 tablespoons water
salt
pepper
1/4 cup (or maybe lss depending on your frypan size) rice bran oil for shallow frying.

Place potato in cold water in a saucepan. Heat water until boiling and then remove potato to cool.
Peel potato and grate. Place in bowl. Mix in No Egg mixture and salt and pepper to taste.
Heat oil in frypan. Prepare 'patties' of potato and then place carefully into oil. Fry each side until golden brown.

We served with leftover roast chicken, peas and cauliflower. They could be a snack as well really.

Homemade Chicken Nuggets

 

To serve 2 toddlers (with extra just in case they are hungry)

4 chicken tenderloins, chopped into nugget size chunks
1/3 cup rice crumbs (we have Orgran - it's brown rice)
Equivalent of 2 eggs using "No Egg" or similar
1 tsp salt
pepper
Rice Bran oil (or another oil good for shallow frying). It has a high smoke point and no cholesterol and, as far as I am aware, no nasties that vegetable oil can have.

Mix rice crumbs, salt and pepper together in a small bowl. Prepare egg mixture in another small bowl.
Dip chicken fully into egg mixture and then roll in crumb mixture until covered. Place on plate and continue until all are done.
Shallow fry in oil over medium heat until golden brown and chicken cooked through.
Rest on a paper towel on a plate to take away excess oil.

Serve with vegies. Tonight my kids are having them with broccoli, boiled potato, carrot and baby tomatoes