Crepes

I use the basic crepe recipe from allrecipes.com.  I just use Ener-G egg replacer for the eggs.

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• Egg replacer mixed up for 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup soy milk (or rice)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 TBS Nucoa, melted

Blend all ingredients in the blender until smooth.  Heat a lightly oiled frying pan on medium heat.  Pour 1/4 cup of batter into the pan and swirl the pan in a circular motion to coat the surface of the pan evenly.  Cook for 2 minutes, or until lightly brown, then flip and cook the other side.  Serve warm with nucoa and cinnamon and sugar, or jam.  

Turkey Orzo Soup

I can turkey meat for Marix. You could also use left over cooked turkey say after thanksgiving, or a dinner with the missionaries. This is another recipe from a friend that I changed to make safe for Marix. This one is yummy!! White Bean Turkey Minestrone 2 containers all 365 vegetable broth 3 carrots, chopped 3 stocks celery, chopped 1/2 white onion, finely diced 3 cloves minced garlic 1 pint bottled turkey meat, including liquid 1 can Great Northern white beans, including liquid 1 cup uncooked orzo 3 cups roughly chopped napa cabbage 1 Tb. dried parsley 1/4 teaspoon ground sage 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt 1/2 teaspoon thyme 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning 1/2 teaspoon dried basil salt and pepper to taste Saute onion, carrots, celery, and garlic in a large stock pot with a little oil. Add liquids, turkey, beans, and seasonings and bring to a boil. Add orzo and keep at a low boil for 9 minutes (or according to orzo package directions.) Add the chopped cabbage the last 2 or 3 minutes of cooking.

Yummy blueberry rice pudding!!

My friend made this pudding, and I tweaked it to make it safe for MARIX. Here's the recipe if you want to try a little bit of heaven (that is if you are in to the rice pudding thing.) 1 quart milk (I use ricemilk. Tia can have soy milk now, and would work well with that too.) 1/2 cup uncooked rice (use regular white rice, not minute or instant. I've tried brown. NOT good.) 1/3 cup sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 teaspoon lemon juice dash of salt 3/4 cup fresh blueberries 1/2 cup rice milk (or soy milk) to use later mix together in a glass baking dish and bake at 275 degrees for two hours, stirring occasionally. After two hours add the extra 1/2 cup rice milk.(hopefully some day I could add soymilk to give it a contrast to the 1 quart ricemilk) and bake for an additional half hour without stirring. Sprinkle with cinnamon and serve hot or cold. Stays good in the fridge for a week or so, if it lasts that long....

Instant Oatmeal Packets

We are going camping next month, and I have been dying to find an instant oatmeal recipe that works well. Marix loves oatmeal, but the organic instant oatmeal packets are so expensive, and don't come in any other flavor that is safe for him except for brown sugar. Blend 1/2 Cup of oats in blender until powdery. Into each of 10 ziplock sanwich bags combine: -1/4 C. regular oats -2T, powdered oats -1/8 to 1/4 t. salt -2t. brown sugar -1/8t.cinnamon I like to add dried apple chunks or dehydrated apple bits. I have also tried rasins, and dried blueberries. I want to try dried bananas next. When these bags are filled, store in a dry cool place. When they are ready to be used, empty packet into bowl and add 1/2 C. boiling water and let sit until thick, stiring slightly.

Baked Donuts

June 1st is National Donut Day.  We definitely had to celebrate!  The only downside, is I am still on a pretty strict diet, and donuts are a big no-no for healthy eating.  So I googled and found a blogger who made baked donuts.  Perfect!
The recipe calls for sugar, and I wanted to make them sugar free, so I substituted agave nectar for the sugar and then decreased the amount of milk, but in my excitement, I didn't read the recipe and totally messed up.  I fixed it as best as I could though, and in the end it must have worked, because they were delicious!!
The recipe is:
Dry Ingredients
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Wet Ingredients
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Egg replacer for 1 egg
4 TBS margarine

Icing Glaze
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 TBS soy milk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Whisk wet ingredients together over the stopetop on low.  Do not let the mixture get too hot, just warm to the touch.  Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl.  Add the wet to the dry mix.  Do not over mix.  The batter will be very sticky.  Form in to donut shapes on a pan, handling the dough while your hands are very wet to avoid it sticking to you.
Bake for 12 minutes.  You don't want them to brown, but they should slowly pop up when pressed with a finger.  Cool on a wire rack, then decorate. 

Tips for reducing fat

Here are some tips for reducing fat in your diet. Most allergy kids need the extra fat, but I am posting the tips for me, and for my sweet niece who finds herself needing to make dietary restrictions.

So, here are some fat reducing tips:

• Use non stick pans, so that you do not need to add extra oil.
• Sautee vegetables in vegetable stock instead of oil.
• Oil in salad dressings can be replaced with vegetable stock.
• Puree a potato and add to homemade soups in place of the cream. You can also use low fat yogurt.
• Sauces and gravies are usually made with fat, flour, and liquid. To omit the fat, toast the flour in a dry pan on medium heat until it is lightly browned. Add the liquid and any seasonings. Whisk to remove lumps, then cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until it thickens.
• In baking, recipes can call for up to a cup of oil. Try reducing it to 1/3 cup. Applesauce, pureed banana, or pumpkin can also be used to replace oil. Pureed prunes are good for chocolate, spice, and carrot cakes.
• Season vegetables with spices and fresh herbs rather than butter or margarine.
• Broil meat, so fat drains away as it cooks.
• Beware of low-fat claims on packaged foods. Read labels instead, for actual fat content.
• Poach fish or chicken. Always remove skin.
• Avoid over-cooking vegetables so they retain their flavors.
• Use small amounts of strong, hard cheese rather than large amounts of mild cheeses.
• Use egg substitutes in baking, or two egg whites for each egg the recipe calls for.
• Boil potatoes, spray lightly with oil, and then crisp in the oven.
• Tenderize lean cuts of meat with marinades as they can be tougher than fatty cuts.
• Eat more vegetarian meals.
• When making frostings, replace the butter or margarine with marshmallow creme.

Most the ideas from 101 tips for a healthy diet on diet and fitness today.com

Check out their webpage, because it's awesome!

Ketchup and Meatloaf

Ever since Tia was one and she tested allergic to tomatoes, I've been looking for a substitute for ketchup. I pretty much gave up. But then I re-googled it this week and found one to try.

It's the ketchup recipe from SisterCooks.

Tomato free Ketchup:

• 1 can Gerber plum with apples and pears baby food
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 dash onion powder
• 1 dash garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp vinegar
• 1 TBS sugar
• 2 drops red food coloring

Mix all ingredients together. Let sit in the fridge for an hour so flavors can meld, then stir again.

I couldn't find the plums with apples and pears, but I did find plums with apples. So I bought it and a jar of pears and mixed the two together and doubled the rest of the ingredients.

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So then, since I had a ketchup for her, I thought I'd try meatloaf, since she recently passed a beef trial and can have beef now.

I use Aunt Lavona's recipe for meatloaf. It is:

• 1 lb ground meat
• 3-4 carrots finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp salt
• pepper
• 1/2 c or so oatmeal
• 1 cup of left over rice
• at least 1/2 c ketchup
• 1-2 tsp mustard
• chopped onion

Sauce

• 2-3 T ketchup
• 1 T br sugar
• garlic powder

Use plenty of ketchup and touch of mustard. (Tia's used her baby food ketchup, and didn't get mustard). Another key is to mix ingredients very well. It works best to use your hands and squeeze the mixture thru your fingers but I mixed real well w/a fork. The sauce of course mixes up after you've put the meat into a greased loaf pan and spreads over the top.

Then bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour and 20 minutes.

When Tia's came out I hesitantly tried it. I was surprised! It was delicious. WAY better than the one I made for the rest of the family with real ketchup!

Aaron got home and I had him try it too. He loved it. Until I told him the ketchup on hers was made out of baby food. Then he stopped chewing and said, "Baby food?! I'm eating meat and baby food??!?!?!!!" Trust me, though. It was good.