Posts Tagged Food Allergies

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

February 3, 2010 at 5:35 am · Filed under Recipes, What worked ·Tagged , , , , , , ,

These just came out of the oven, but I don’t think they’re going to last long.  I’ve already gotten a score of “Delicious!” from the “diet” child.

I adapted this recipe from one at Allrecipes.com, using my flour mix and some of the reader comments to come up with this combination.

First, mix up a batch of the flour mix that I got from the Gluten-Free Goddess:  1 c. sorghum flour, 1/2 c. potato starch, 1/2 c. millet flour, 1/2 c. buckwheat flour, 1 t. xanthan gum.

Mix the dry ingredients:

  • 2 c. flour mix (see above)
  • 3/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp ground cloves
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

In a separate bowl, mix:

  • 3/4 c. brown sugar
  • 1/4 c. unsweetened applesauce
  • 2 eggs

Add:

  • 1 c. canned pumpkin
  • 1/4 c. water

Mix the wet and dry ingredients, then stir in:

  • 1 bag (10 oz)  miniature chocolate chips (I use Enjoy Life chips.)

Spoon into 18-24 paper-lined muffin tins.  Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

These muffins are moist and tasty.  This recipe’s a keeper!

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New Recipes

January 31, 2010 at 10:34 pm · Filed under Journal, Recipes, What didn't work, What worked ·Tagged , , ,

I tried two new recipes today: Applesauce-Oatmeal Cake and Pumpkin Corn Muffins.

No one liked either one, although we’re planning to take spoons to the browned butter icing I used on the cake.

Experimenting with new recipes that fit into our world is frustrating.  On paper, they may look promising, but when no one in our family of six likes them, it’s disheartening.

It’s also expensive.  When using tiny little bags of flour that cost several dollars each, each experiment has a financial side to it.  We don’t want to be wasteful, yet our goal is to make this diet as easy on our son as possible, finding things that not only meet his dietary needs but taste good to him.

Tonight he told me that he’s feeling really left out, and as much as I try to keep things normal for him at home, and have the rest of the family eat what he’s eating, he’s still missing out on things.  It just doesn’t seem fair.

Successes this weekend included the Gluten Free Goddess’ Delicious Bread (made into buns) and Annie’s Organic Bunny Fruit Snacks, plus a roast beef no-cheese omelet that my son gobbled up even though the roast beef was kind of spicy.  (Finding sandwich meat that doesn’t contain sugar is a bigger challenge than one might think.)

The eczema seems to be settling down; hopefully by about Tuesday we’ll be able to reintroduce something and make some headway into figuring out what the real triggers are.  We’re a week behind already, but we want to do it right so we don’t have to do it over.  At least that’s what logic tells me.

We’ve been following this diet for a month now, and I’m not sure if it’s going to get easier or harder from here on out.

Comments (3)

Week 3: Restaurant Ingredient Listings

January 18, 2010 at 6:56 pm · Filed under What worked ·Tagged , , , , ,

We tried eating out again today, and it takes a lot of preparation.  I know how to speak to a restaurant manager about food allergies, but if I’m having a hard time keeping track of the 39 things we have to avoid, as well as their secondary names, I’m not going to expect someone who’s just met us to be able to know them all.

I’ve become very thankful for restaurants and fast-food joints that publish their ingredient listings online.

Back in the days when we only had to avoid peanuts, tree-nuts, and eggs, the allergen grids were good enough.  But the allergen grids only go so far.  They help people who must avoid the “top 8″ allergens, but when you have to keep away from things like beet sugar and basil, they don’t have nearly enough information.

McDonald’s and Burger King both publish their ingredient listings, and we have learned that my son can have a plain hamburger, apples, and apple juice or Sprite at those places, as well as ketchup and mustard.  It’s not much, but it’s something to go on, and broadens our list of restaurants to four.  Hopefully we’ll find more, but for now, it’s a start.

Thank you to those restaurants who publish their ingredients online. It makes our lives much, much easier, and improves the likelihood that we’ll be frequenting their establishments.

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