Emily's Allergies: Favorite Banana Pancakes on Fathers Day

It's Father's Day and there is nothing like a great breakfast with that special lady in your life. I love pancakes. I can eat stacks of them. Emily loves bananas as well; she would have them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if she could. Her allergies to milk and eggs make it impossible for her to enjoy pancakes outside of the house, which is a bummer because I would have loved to take her to some of my favorite diners for breakfast.

For this recipe, I picked up some Cherrybrook Kitchen Gluten Free Dreams Pancake Mix at Whole Foods. It's dairy, nut, and egg free. I love this stuff. I just followed the directions on the box. Next, I chopped up 2 large bananas - one for the mix itself and the other for topping. They suggest rice milk, but I used Vanilla soy milk instead. I also added a pinch of cinnamon and sugar to go with the banana. Emily had a blast mixing for me. You can see the focus in her face.



She ate most of the bananas in the preparation process; so by the time I served her the pancakes, she only ate a few pieces. That's O.k. Dada is always there to "clean up" after her. After she was done, it was time for drawing before we headed out to Central Park to play and get wet. That's where my cell phone tragically leapt into a watery grave. I hope all the Dads out there (mothers also) had a wonderful Father's Day. I know I did.

Scalloped Potatoes (Recipe Suggestion)

So here it is. Last week I asked on twitter are there any recipes that you may want your little ones to have but can't because of their food allergies. The tweet was answered by  Shayna Graham. She wanted a recipe for scalloped potatoes without gluten, yeast, mushrooms, dairy,eggs or nuts. So I took the job and went researching at Whole Foods and got a few things and came up with a great recipe that came out superb (Emily loved it!).

• 5 tbs of Earth Balance Buttery Spread
• 1/4 Soy Flower ( or any other to fit your allergies)
• 2 cups Soy Milk ( or any other to fit your allergies)
• 8 oz Daiya Cheese
• 4 large Russet Potatoes (sliced 1/8 inch thick)
• 1/2 Natural Nectar Crackle Bread (Crumbled into crumbs)

Preheat oven to 350°. In a sause pan add the butter and whisk in flour on low heat. After butter and flour are mixed well start to slowly whisk in milk and let come to a simmer. 

While simmering gradually start mixing in 6 ounces of the cheese while stirring slowly. salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat. In a baking pan I used an aluminum one (hey I'm a single dad bare with me) Grease and add a layer of potatoes first then sauce and sprinkle some remaining cheese. the layers should start with potatoes at the bottom and end with sauce and cheese on top.

Sprinkle crumbs on the top. The flavor crackers I use where sun dried tomato and oregano. Bake for an hour and about 15 min uncovered until golden brown and potatoes are tender.

I hope you enjoy it Shayna as much as me and princess did. Also sorry about the pics its my first time being a food photographer. If anyone has any questions or input I would love to hear from you. 

Recipe Suggestion around Food Allergies #1

I asked on twitter are there any recipes that you may want your little ones to have but can't because of their food allergies. I got a request from Shayna Graham for Scalloped Potatoes without gluten, yeast, mushrooms, dairy, eggs and nuts. So I am going to make it my weekend project to make this recipe going around those allergies. I will take Photos of the process and ingredients (bare with my I'm no photographer). I'm EXCITED! hopefully Emily will like them. I'll keep you posted :) 

Miss Emi Mac Mac n Cheese (No food allergies here)

Baked Mac and Cheese is one of my favorite things to eat. I felt bad last Thanksgiving when I had to deprive Emily of Mac n Cheese because of her dairy allergy. Dada would fix that though :) I Looked up vegan mac n cheese but nothing I was to amazed of. Thinking of how we made baked mac n cheese I just started replacing Ingredients.

Thus the creation of Miss Emi's Mac n Cheese.
I know it's corny but I thought it was catchy.

I made some Gluten free macaroni according to the box instructions.

• 2 cups of soy milk (rice or coconut)
• 1/4 cup of flour
• 2 packs of Daiya cheese (cheddar and mozzarella)
• 1 cup of bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup of Earth Balance original buttery spread

Pre heat the oven 350°
Add soy milk, flour and salt to taste in a large bowl and whisk until thickened. Stir in 1 1/2 pack of cheese, 1/2 cup of bread crumbs and macaroni into the mixture.
Add the mixture into a lightly greased baking dish and on the top sprinkle the remaining cheese and bread crumbs and drizzle melted butter over the top.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until the top is slightly golden. (you don't want the cheese on top to overcook) It will turn into a hard layer of burnt cheese if you don't keep an eye on it.
This is a great side dish or can even be a main dish if you just want some mack n cheese.
I also need to apologize I have no pictures of these creations. I have a composition notebook with my recipes and didn't think to take pics while making them. In the future from here on I will start taking pictures of princess enjoying all the things i make for her.

April Food Allergy Fools! (My Weekender)

Soooooo yesterday was April first (April Fools) I made some delish Vegan sugar cookies for Emily. She loved them so much. Nothing seemed to be wrong with them by her standards but there was something a little deceiving about them. Maybe it was the cauliflower i steamed and pureed and added to the batter ;)
Yes i did it i added veggies to my princesses yummy treat. Even though it wasn't a really good april fools attempt. I still liked the fact she was fooled by thinking she was just getting a treat that was just something sweet to eat. I used a simple recipe you can find here.  Just break off about 2 bulbs of cauliflower steam them puree and add to the batter. It doesn't change the taste at all. If it did Emily's picky tongue would figure it out. I say give it a shot. Maybe add it to a cake. And if you don't want to use an egg replacer like Ener-G you can always use a banana smashed and mix it in with the batter. I hope you all had a great april fools.

Soooooooy Good Biscuits

I'm going  to be sharing one of Emily's favorite things to eat. Biscuits...she can't have regular buttermilk biscuits so I had to come up with a way to work around princesses food allergies. So knowing that my grandma knew how to make some gooooood buttermilk biscuits so i took her recipe and tweeked it for princess. Her recipe was.

• 2 cups of flour 
• 1 tbs of baking powder
• 1 tbs of sugar 
• 1/2 tbs salt
• 8 tbs of butter which I substituted with Earth Balance buttery sticks
• 3/4 cups of milk that i replaced with Soy Milk

Preheat the oven at 450°
In a large bowl add flour, baking powder, sugar,salt and the butter
Mixing it together with your hands is always best for me until the mixture looks like crumbs.
Add the soy milk (or whichever milk you like) and mix until sticky. Place on a floured surface and kneed the dough until the moisture is gone.
Roll out your dough into a 1/4 inch thick layer and fold. Cut out your biscuits and place them on a greased baking sheet. Bake for 15 min or until the tops are golden.
They always come out great. Emily loves biscuits with jelly or Apple Butter :)

My Own Recipes around Food Allergies

I am going to be posting a few recipes that i have come up with for Emily to enjoy despite her food allergies. Bare with me I have them written in a marble so I will try and post them in a timely fashion for you to enjoy.

I wont let Food Allergies stop the goodness.

Having a child with food allergies can be hard sometimes. You want them to enjoy all the things you did when you where a kid. When i was little one of my favorite things to eat was Banana Pudding. Oh gosh how i loved it so much. I got sick one time from eating it so much :) I took princess to my grandmothers house and my grandma wanted an old fashioned Banana Pudding. You know the cooked pudding the Nilla wafers and the whipped egg whites all layered up and baked so the top is a little brown. Well its a tasty banana pudding but i felt sooo bad because princess wouldn't be able to enjoy the goodness. I had to figure out a way to make a banana pudding for my Emily to enjoy. I found out that the Jell-O brand instant pudding mix didn't have any protein allergens in the ingredient list and i know that Oreos are safe for princess to eat also the golden ones. Nilla Wafers contain milk and eggs.So making the mix using soy milk i started splitting oreos. I didn't want to make it super sweet so i removed the cream and lined the baking pan with the cookie. I needed a cream to layer with the cookies and bananas. I found a recipe for Vegan Coconut cream. I mean wow this banana pudding was amazing. Using these simple replacements Emily got to enjoy a great treat. She wanted more and more but I didn't want her to get a tummy ache like i did when I was young. It was a great desert. Nothing special make it just how you would any other banana pudding.

Warm up to Cauliflower

 I have hardly had problems with Emily eating her veggies. She sees me enjoying them and she wants to do the same thing and feel as good as "Dada" does when he eats his veggies. But she is a toddler and she has her moments where she doesn't want anything to do with veggies. So I have to disguise whats good for her so she will eat it. Princess loves mashed potatoes but they have little nutritional value. In steps the MIGHTY CAULIFLOWER! I use a simple for Cauliflower mashed potatoes you can look at here. And Cauliflower comes in different colors like purple, orange, and green. So you can have fun with it. Maybe a purple Cauliflower soup with a orange swirl. Cauliflower is also great to cook into other things like cakes, cookies, and brownies to give them some nutritional value. Cauliflower is a great source of Vitamin C

Its not the Tacos its the Salsa

 My princess Loves tacos. I came across this Recipe for some good healthy fish tacos. Emily doesn't have Fish allergies but for parents who do have little ones with fish allergies u can always make it chicken or whatever replacement u prefer. Fish tacos remind me of a summer getaway. What did it for me in this recipe was the Mandarin Orange salsa. Made with cilantro a jar of mandarin oranges, red onions and salt. I left out the jalapeno I dont think princess would have been to fond of something  "Thpicey". I like to use Smart & Delicious Wraps. They came out great. I was skeptical about the Mandarin salsa at first but one I tasted it with the tacos my mouth lit up. Such a great Combination. I have used this Recipe a few times and there are very little tweeks I needed to do to make it for Emily to enjoy as well as an adult. Make your tweeks so your little ones can enjoy some healthy tacos.

Ohhhh yea its Fat Tuesday

Ok its a bummer I'm not in New Orleans Licking my fingers after a Crawfish Boil. But I'm not. ( insert sad face here). So I'm just going to share a recipe for some New Orleans Style Chicken. For me being a Vegetarian I use Light Life Chick'n Strips in which I love almost all there products. So thats what I replace the chicken in the recipe for and as for the cheese I use Daiya Vegan Cheese. The cheese has none of the common allergens in it but as for the Chick'n strips they contain soy. Those are my tweeks to a simple recipe.

Its Food Allergy Week.

WPIX Morning news is acknowledging Food allergy suffers this week. It excites me as a parent of a little one with food allergies that the media is trying to bring more light on the subject. Today they showed a great allergen free treat shop called Divvies. I have purchased there cookies at whole foods for princess and they are great. So check out Divvies and WPIX for more info.

Breakfast at Emily's

 Yesterday was a rainy day and the clouds were blocking the sun from shining but for me and princess it doesn't mean we can't have a good snack to bring in some light. I have been making making apple sauce for a long time now Emily loves it. We made some Banana Pancakes. This simple recipe is a cup of flour of your choice. (we use soy). 2 tbs of brown sugar 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder 1/8 tsp salt 1/4 tsp cinnamon 1 1/2 tsp olive oil and a cup of soy milk (or coconut milk for those with soy allergies). But this is not about the pancakes people. It's about the Apple Butter we ate with it. No it has no actual butter in it. Its called that because of the thickness. Apple butter is a concentrated form of apple sauce just cooked longer until the sugar in the apples caramelizes turning the apple butter brown. I like to take 10 honey crisp apples (peeled and cored) a cup of brown sugar a half cup of water and a tablespoon of cinnamon. Let simmer on medium low heat until the apples turn brown for about 2 hours. Remove from heat let cool and puree in a food processor. Traditional apple butter takes much much longer to make. So if you want to plan ahead you can add the ingredients into a slow cooker for 10-12 hours.

Anaphylaxis

Anaphylaxis is a severe, whole-body allergic reaction to a chemical that has become an allergen. After being exposed to a substance such as bee sting venom, the person's immune system becomes sensitized to it. On a later exposure to that allergen, an allergic reaction may occur. This reaction happens quickly after the exposure, is severe, and involves the whole body.

Tissues in different parts of the body release histamine and other substances. This causes the airways to tighten and leads to other symptoms.

Anaphylaxis can occur in response to any allergen. Common causes include:

• Drug allergies
• Food allergies
• Insect bites/stings

The Hummus Effect

  Emily loves dips and sauces. She just likes flavors period she licks any food that has a sauce or a flavor to it even the salt off of crackers. That’s just princess for you. I needed to find a better alternative than ketchup or sweet n sour sauce. So i introduced her to the over 5,000 year old dip that i fell in love with HUMMUS. I’m not really sure how old it is but it goes back. Waaaaaaay back you can check it out here. Chickpeas or garbanzo beans are a good source of folic acid, manganese, iron, copper, magnesium and molybdenum. I wasn't sure if she was going like it. So I got some baked pita chips and roasted red pepper hummus for a snack one day. SHE LOVED IT! using one chip as a dipping tool so she could lick the “hummith” off and yes my little one has a lisp which gives her a very cute unique vocabulary. We went to Rice one night a small restaurant in Nolita ill provide the link don't worry. I got her vegetarian meatballs and rice no sauce though its spicy but i got a side of pita and there Edamame hummus. Lets just say i had to order another. Emily ate some of her food but her favorite was the hummus. She was so polite to the waitress saying “Thanks yew” every time something was brought to the table and that earned her a free box of rice crispy treats. Well for the parents with kids with soy allergies traditional hummus will do. I occasionally make my own I follow a simple Hummus recipe I just leave out the Cayenne and add some roasted red peppers to the mix. Emily loves hummus it goes great with veggies, pita, pretzel's or anything else you want to pair it with and it has more nutritional value than katchup. No offence Heinz :)

http://www.riceny.com/home.php

"FENCH FIES"

Going out to eat with a child who has a food allergy can feel difficult at times but it doesn't have to be . There are plenty of options for your child and yourself to enjoy. I worried so much at first with my daughters peanut allergies trying to figure out what places used peanut oils when cooking. Come to find out a majority of places stopped using peanut oil to fry because it is one of the “BIG 8” and counts for 90% of those with food allergies. It seems that one food toddlers love and will love if introduced to is FRENCH FRIES! every time I ask my daughter what she wants to eat she whispers “fench fies” there was one random time she said Crabs i was shocked and confused. You may not want to go out and get fries without knowing if the place your going to uses peanut oil. A simple way is to bake your own fries. Preheat the oven at 450 F. Cut your potatoes (I prefer sweet potatoes) into wedges or fries and make sure your rinse them off to remove the starch and pat them dry. Put them in a large bowl to toss drizzle 2 tbsp of the oil of your choice. (note if using coconut make sure the potatoes are warm so the oil wont thicken up on you) and some salt if you like. Toss until they are all coated evenly. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 20 min. turn them over about half way through. In the words of Emily FENCH FIES!!

     Sweet potatoes are a great source of Vitamins A and C and have about 4 grams of Protein.

A little info

     OK! When i was young i never knew about food allergies. No kids in my school had notes from doctors or a class wasn't allowed to bring things containing peanuts in them. But today more than 12 million Americans have food allergies that's 4% of the population. That may not be a big number but that's 1 in every 25 people. So if i ever get 25 followers one of you guys will have food allergies. 3 million of those people are our children. Milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts (e.g., walnuts, almonds, cashews, pistachios, pecans), wheat, soy, fish, and shellfish. These foods are in almost everything you buy at a supermarket and just traces of of them can trigger Hives, itchy eyes and throat, shortness of breath and even anaphylactic shock. But our little ones are picky and they will want things they cant have. My princess has got into the habit of asking “Dada can i eat this?” pointing at what she wants to try( it’s just adorable to me).  Kid’s are also sometimes hesitant to try new foods but don’t force new foods on them or try bribing them with foods they like and don't punish them for poor eating habits. Toddlers will eat. Even if you dont think its a well balanced diet there is no need to worry if they are growing normally and there energy levels are normal ( for Emily that's running all over the place) kids don't need a lot of calories and if your worried about it consider giving your child a multivitamin if you think their not eating well.  

The Intro

  As you read in my about me section i am one of the many parents who has a child with food allergies. I first found out my daughter had them when she was about 7 months old. We where out in the front of my mothers house and my mom gave Emily a lick of her ice cream bar she was enjoying. Not a minute late Emily was breaking out in hives around her face and neck crying and trying to scratch. I went into a panic trying to calm her yelling at my mom to go out and get something for allergies ASAP! I got a cold rag gently wiping her face to calm her. My mom was calm she is calm about everything. She got some Benadryl and ave her some. She was fine a few minutes later. But i wasn't i was scared it would happen again and the reaction may be worst than the last. After a Doctor visit and some intense research I fed my brain everything i needed to know what Emily could and could not have. My princess is almost 3 now and its wonderful modding recipes to fit around her allergies.