Ok, my kids love love love marshmallows and I hate hate hate the ingredients. They are just junk, and even the ones found in natural food stores have some ingredients that make me nervous (gelatin from a fish source??) My son also really enjoys rice crispy treats and of course one of the main ingredients is marshmallows so this week I decided to revamp the way I make rice crispys in order to get away from the marshmallows.
1cup brown sugar
1cup honey
3/4c Trader Joes Sunbutter
6c crisp rice cereal
In a large pot combine the brown sugar and honey and bring to a simmer, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves Reduce heat and add in your Sunbutter and stir until smooth. Pour in your rice cereal and stir to combine. Press into pan or make shapes if you desire. Then refrigerate for a few hours to to set.
Enjoy!
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Monday, February 25, 2013
Tasty Pork
This one is a keeper! I love finding recipes that I can use just as they are. I wrote this one down years ago, but came across it again over the weekend. Everyone liked it so it will be making an appearance on the regular menu.
2lbs pork roast
1 can whole cranberry sauce or you can boil and mash your own
3 shakes chili pepper sauce
2tbsp brown sugar
Place your roast in the slow cooker, mix the cranberry sauce, chilli sauce and brown sugar together and pour over the meat. Cook on low for 8 hrs.
Serve with brown rice and a green veggie
Enjoy!
2lbs pork roast
1 can whole cranberry sauce or you can boil and mash your own
3 shakes chili pepper sauce
2tbsp brown sugar
Place your roast in the slow cooker, mix the cranberry sauce, chilli sauce and brown sugar together and pour over the meat. Cook on low for 8 hrs.
Serve with brown rice and a green veggie
Enjoy!
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
What to eat when there's no electricity?
Here in the Midwest we are supposed to get a fair amount of snow mid-week. In this house we were warned that the power goes off pretty easily, so a storm bringing lots of ice and snow leaves me wondering just how and what I will be feeding my kids in the dark and cold that might happen. Thankfully we do have a gas stove, but I don't want to be opening the fridge if the power is off!
So here is what I came up with, not the most nutritious things, but easy to find and prepare came first! And you can always get some gummie vitamins, the bear shaped ones are allergen free! Hopefully this can help you think thru food you could serve in a electricity or gas free environment :)
Breakfast
Cereal plain and simple. We never ever have it around here because one of my kids can go thru half a box in one sitting and there isn't all that much nutrition in it. But we grabbed some GF chex (the chocolate and cinnamon kinds don't have any milk or nuts either) and GF Rice Crispies and are all set.
Lunch
This will be sunbutter (Trader Joes brand doesn't contain any soy) and honey sandwiches, we like Udi's bread, and potato chips. I also grabbed some raisins, bananas, apples and boxes of apple juice.
Dinner
Soup. There are many different options out there, even Walmart carries some organics now! Just do your due diligence and read the ingredient list and find ones you and your family will enjoy! If you have a fireplace or gas stove this is a great option. If you don't, sticking with the sandwiches and fruit might be the easiest rout.
If the power does go out my kids are going to think they have gone on vacation!
Enjoy!
So here is what I came up with, not the most nutritious things, but easy to find and prepare came first! And you can always get some gummie vitamins, the bear shaped ones are allergen free! Hopefully this can help you think thru food you could serve in a electricity or gas free environment :)
Breakfast
Cereal plain and simple. We never ever have it around here because one of my kids can go thru half a box in one sitting and there isn't all that much nutrition in it. But we grabbed some GF chex (the chocolate and cinnamon kinds don't have any milk or nuts either) and GF Rice Crispies and are all set.
Lunch
This will be sunbutter (Trader Joes brand doesn't contain any soy) and honey sandwiches, we like Udi's bread, and potato chips. I also grabbed some raisins, bananas, apples and boxes of apple juice.
Dinner
Soup. There are many different options out there, even Walmart carries some organics now! Just do your due diligence and read the ingredient list and find ones you and your family will enjoy! If you have a fireplace or gas stove this is a great option. If you don't, sticking with the sandwiches and fruit might be the easiest rout.
If the power does go out my kids are going to think they have gone on vacation!
Enjoy!
Monday, February 18, 2013
Simple Stroganoff
My hubby loves Beef Stroganoff but I hadn't attempted it since having kids with food allergies. However, on this journey of menu planning I am trying to add some of his favorites back in, and this was given the thumbs up! It was also surprisingly simple to do :)
I threw some leftover roast (about 1/4 lb) in the food processor and pulsed to resemble ground beef
In a pan I melted a tablespoon of butter and added onion powder. Stir for about a minuet Add in 2 tbsp of flour and stir for another minuet.
Add in 1 cup of rice milk stirring to prevent lumps. As the mixture thickens add in 1/2 of beef broth and 1/2c more of milk along with a pinch of nutmeg and a couple dashes of white pepper.
Stir and serve over brown rice fusilli noodles, cooked according to package directions.
Enjoy!
I threw some leftover roast (about 1/4 lb) in the food processor and pulsed to resemble ground beef
In a pan I melted a tablespoon of butter and added onion powder. Stir for about a minuet Add in 2 tbsp of flour and stir for another minuet.
Add in 1 cup of rice milk stirring to prevent lumps. As the mixture thickens add in 1/2 of beef broth and 1/2c more of milk along with a pinch of nutmeg and a couple dashes of white pepper.
Stir and serve over brown rice fusilli noodles, cooked according to package directions.
Enjoy!
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Valentines Day Allergen Free
So Valentines Day is tomorrow and the easy route (or at least compared to what we do now) has been dinner out, nice chocolate that easily bought in stores everywhere, or fancy desserts,also easily accessible in stores. But, no more. Now those things are just nicely wrapped trips to the hospital. So I have developed a few sweet treats and a main meal that still give those iconic valentines day feelings, and also allow your creativity to flow!
First, Dinner. One of the nice things about Valentines day was of course, not needing to cook. Well, unless you have a magic allergen free meal service, which is not a bad idea by the by, this is the next best thing. If you are doing a family meal you may want to use a full roast, but if this meal is just for you and your sweetie you can use steaks.
Dredge your meat in a mix of rice flour with a few turns of white pepper.
Sear the meat in Earth Balance soy free spread, and transfer to baking dish or crock pot to make it even easier. Also place your potatoes and other veggies around the meat.
In the pan you seared the meat in mix about a cup of beef broth with 3 to 4 shakes of onion powder. Pour in about 1 cup of white wine. Whisk and then pour over your meat and veggies. If using the crock pot, cook on low 8 hrs. If using a baking dish, cover and cook at 325 for 3 hrs for a roast and check at 1 1/2hrs if using steaks.
Next, Dessert. For the Kiddos check out the sugar cookie recipe and grab a heart shaped cookie cutter.
Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate ...yep that's what we are using. Chocolate Covered Strawberries, and Chocolate Candy here we come!
Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips are going to be your best friends for this, but if you can't get a hold of those then some stores have semisweet chips that will work, just make sure to read those ingredients, but you will need to add in sugar as you melt them and taste along the way!
Wash and cut your strawberries in half, place on a baking sheet lined with wax paper
Place chocolate chips in a bowl and melt in 30 second increments stirring every 30 seconds until smooth. I like to add vegan shortening or Earth balance to give it a creamier texture.
Using a fork spear the strawberries on the cut side and dip them into the bowl of chocolate Carefully place them on the wax paper.
Repeat until all the strawberries are done and place in the refrigerator for at least 30 min.
To make your own candy, well your imagination is your only limit! Add some orange zest, ginger, ho-made caramel or organic raspberry jam, I could go on and on.... You can get fancy and use candy molds, easily found even at Walmart, or just use mini muffin tins.
Melt your chocolate using the method mentioned above.
For strait chocolate just spoon the melted mix into a plastic baggie and snip off the tip, then squeeze into the mold.
If you are adding orange zest, ginger or chili powder stir them into the chocolate after melting and then put into the molds.
If you want to make candy with a caramel or jam center then squeeze a layer of chocolate into the mold, followed by a small dollop of the caramel or jam covered with another layer of chocolate.
Let the molds sit in the fridge for an hour or so and follow the manufacture instructions for how to get them out.
Enjoy !
First, Dinner. One of the nice things about Valentines day was of course, not needing to cook. Well, unless you have a magic allergen free meal service, which is not a bad idea by the by, this is the next best thing. If you are doing a family meal you may want to use a full roast, but if this meal is just for you and your sweetie you can use steaks.
Dredge your meat in a mix of rice flour with a few turns of white pepper.
Sear the meat in Earth Balance soy free spread, and transfer to baking dish or crock pot to make it even easier. Also place your potatoes and other veggies around the meat.
In the pan you seared the meat in mix about a cup of beef broth with 3 to 4 shakes of onion powder. Pour in about 1 cup of white wine. Whisk and then pour over your meat and veggies. If using the crock pot, cook on low 8 hrs. If using a baking dish, cover and cook at 325 for 3 hrs for a roast and check at 1 1/2hrs if using steaks.
Next, Dessert. For the Kiddos check out the sugar cookie recipe and grab a heart shaped cookie cutter.
Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate ...yep that's what we are using. Chocolate Covered Strawberries, and Chocolate Candy here we come!
Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips are going to be your best friends for this, but if you can't get a hold of those then some stores have semisweet chips that will work, just make sure to read those ingredients, but you will need to add in sugar as you melt them and taste along the way!
Wash and cut your strawberries in half, place on a baking sheet lined with wax paper
Place chocolate chips in a bowl and melt in 30 second increments stirring every 30 seconds until smooth. I like to add vegan shortening or Earth balance to give it a creamier texture.
Using a fork spear the strawberries on the cut side and dip them into the bowl of chocolate Carefully place them on the wax paper.
Repeat until all the strawberries are done and place in the refrigerator for at least 30 min.
To make your own candy, well your imagination is your only limit! Add some orange zest, ginger, ho-made caramel or organic raspberry jam, I could go on and on.... You can get fancy and use candy molds, easily found even at Walmart, or just use mini muffin tins.
Melt your chocolate using the method mentioned above.
For strait chocolate just spoon the melted mix into a plastic baggie and snip off the tip, then squeeze into the mold.
If you are adding orange zest, ginger or chili powder stir them into the chocolate after melting and then put into the molds.
If you want to make candy with a caramel or jam center then squeeze a layer of chocolate into the mold, followed by a small dollop of the caramel or jam covered with another layer of chocolate.
Let the molds sit in the fridge for an hour or so and follow the manufacture instructions for how to get them out.
Enjoy !
Monday, February 11, 2013
Easy, Inexpensive Allergen free snacking
If the prices of the store bought ready made allergen free snacks make you feel like screaming, throwing up, or just not eating then these ideas are for you! My children (almost 2 and 4) spend there time doing one of two things, or at least is feels this way to me, eating or talking about eating. I hungry, or Mom when are we going to eat? are frequent questions, and I am getting tired of baking three times a week and seeing the amount of sugar they consume. So we have recently come up with some healthier less time consuming and more wallet friendly options.
Hummus filled grape tomatoes
For a light tasting, protein filled snack.
Hollow out the desired number of grape tomatoes, all you need to to is slice off the end where they were attached to the vine and go around the inside in a circle with your knife to remove the seed and innerds.
Using a small spoon,, or medicine dispenser, or plastic bag that you fill and cut the tip off of, fill with desire type of hummus. We like roasted red pepper or plain around here.
Sunbutter fruit dip.
My mom made a great fruit dip when I was a kid, however it was full of dairy and I haven't managed to remake it allergen free yet. But, I did come up with this last week and the kids loved it, my oldest was licking his plate at the end!
Trader Joes Sunbutter (it doesn't have any soy in it, and is the only one that doesn't break my son out) put it in a small bowl by the spoon full (I used about one large serving spoon full to make enough dip for 2 sliced apples)
1 regular spoon full of powdered sugar
Drizzle Honey to taste and splash of rice milk to thin it out.
Stir with a fork until all ingredients are incorporated and smooth enough to dip out without that clumpy sticky texture.
Quick Smoothie
What kid or adult doesn't like a smoothie? Just toss a banna, some frozen fruit and a splash or two or rice milk in the blender and voila! You can even make it more like a dessert and add some allergen free chocolate chips or syrup to the mix.
Rice cake "Popcorn"
If you can't have corn and miss something to munch with your movies this one is for you.
Break up a rice cake into bite size pieces
Melt some Earth Balance soy free spread and drizzle over the top.
Gently mix to coat.
You can sprinkle on an other topping you desire, cinnamon sugar, vegan rice Parmesan cheese or add in some Enjoy life chocolate chips.
Hummus filled grape tomatoes
For a light tasting, protein filled snack.
Hollow out the desired number of grape tomatoes, all you need to to is slice off the end where they were attached to the vine and go around the inside in a circle with your knife to remove the seed and innerds.
Using a small spoon,, or medicine dispenser, or plastic bag that you fill and cut the tip off of, fill with desire type of hummus. We like roasted red pepper or plain around here.
Sunbutter fruit dip.
My mom made a great fruit dip when I was a kid, however it was full of dairy and I haven't managed to remake it allergen free yet. But, I did come up with this last week and the kids loved it, my oldest was licking his plate at the end!
Trader Joes Sunbutter (it doesn't have any soy in it, and is the only one that doesn't break my son out) put it in a small bowl by the spoon full (I used about one large serving spoon full to make enough dip for 2 sliced apples)
1 regular spoon full of powdered sugar
Drizzle Honey to taste and splash of rice milk to thin it out.
Stir with a fork until all ingredients are incorporated and smooth enough to dip out without that clumpy sticky texture.
Quick Smoothie
What kid or adult doesn't like a smoothie? Just toss a banna, some frozen fruit and a splash or two or rice milk in the blender and voila! You can even make it more like a dessert and add some allergen free chocolate chips or syrup to the mix.
Rice cake "Popcorn"
If you can't have corn and miss something to munch with your movies this one is for you.
Break up a rice cake into bite size pieces
Melt some Earth Balance soy free spread and drizzle over the top.
Gently mix to coat.
You can sprinkle on an other topping you desire, cinnamon sugar, vegan rice Parmesan cheese or add in some Enjoy life chocolate chips.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Maple Chicken- a meal steeped in cinnamon
We are having a warm week around here, but I'm not quite ready to give up on my fall and winter menus, especially not one this good! It is like a whole meal full of dessert, but since it uses lots of cinnamon and honey it has tons of nutritional benefit and hides the veggies the kids just can't wait to eat up!
Maple Chicken
2 chicken breasts
4tbsp pure maple syrup
2tbsp vegan butter
1tsp paprika
1tsp cinnamon
Melt the butter, mix in the syrup and spices and baste chicken. Place in oven on 350 for 30 min, then baste chicken again. Continue basting every 20 min until you have a good coating.
Cinnamon Butternut Squash
1 cooked and mashed up small butternut squash. Or you can buy frozen pre-chopped squash and just mash it up after steaming in the microwave. Add a small amount of butter. 1tbsp brown sugar and 1/tsp cinnamon and mix.
I also serve steamed broccoli with this meal and make a fruit cobbler with cinnamon in the crust mix for dessert.
Quick Fruit Dessert.
1cup GF bisquick
1 1/2c fruit of choice
1tsp cinnamon
1tsp vanilla
1/4c applesauce
1/2tsp baking powder
sprinkle of salt
1tbsp oil
Rice milk
Mix the bisquick, cinnamon, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Add the applesauce, oil, vanilla and stir. Add rice milk until all in well mixed, but still a thick batter. Stir in your fruit and pour into baking dish. Bake at 350 until golden brown on top. Serve with a sprinkle of brown sugar and cinnamon on top.
Enjoy
Maple Chicken
2 chicken breasts
4tbsp pure maple syrup
2tbsp vegan butter
1tsp paprika
1tsp cinnamon
Melt the butter, mix in the syrup and spices and baste chicken. Place in oven on 350 for 30 min, then baste chicken again. Continue basting every 20 min until you have a good coating.
Cinnamon Butternut Squash
1 cooked and mashed up small butternut squash. Or you can buy frozen pre-chopped squash and just mash it up after steaming in the microwave. Add a small amount of butter. 1tbsp brown sugar and 1/tsp cinnamon and mix.
I also serve steamed broccoli with this meal and make a fruit cobbler with cinnamon in the crust mix for dessert.
Quick Fruit Dessert.
1cup GF bisquick
1 1/2c fruit of choice
1tsp cinnamon
1tsp vanilla
1/4c applesauce
1/2tsp baking powder
sprinkle of salt
1tbsp oil
Rice milk
Mix the bisquick, cinnamon, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Add the applesauce, oil, vanilla and stir. Add rice milk until all in well mixed, but still a thick batter. Stir in your fruit and pour into baking dish. Bake at 350 until golden brown on top. Serve with a sprinkle of brown sugar and cinnamon on top.
Enjoy
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