Green Smoothie: (serves 4)
4 bananas
6 frozen strawberries
1 TB Greenzone powder
Water (enough to just cover fruit)
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Blend.
Anything green tastes good blended with fruit, right?
I recently got a request for some recipes without wheat, rice flour or chickpea flour. I immediately remembered a delicious Banana-Quinoa Muffin recipe that I used to make all the time. This recipe comes from the back of Ancient Harvest Quinoa, which has a whole variety of quinoa products and also a lot of very creative recipes on their website. If you can’t find quinoa in your town, you can order individual products online at Amazon.com.
Quinoa is an ancient grain from South America that is a complete protein and so healthy that there is almost no malnutrion in the people who consume quinoa in the poor regions of Bolivia. It’s great for vegetarians, babies and people with allergies. You can cook the quinoa grain like rice or cook the quinoa flakes to make a breakfast cereal (like oatmeal). The quinoa flour is also great for baking.
BANANA – QUINOA MUFFINS (or waffles)
1/2 cup quinoa flour
1/2 cup quinoa flakes
1/3 cup brown sugar (or 1/3 tsp stevia for sugar-free)
2 TB honey (or 1/8 tsp stevia for sugar-free)
2 tsp baking powder (or 1/2 tsp baking soda mixed with 1 tsp lemon juice)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 very ripe bananas
2 eggs (or 3 tsp egg replacer mixed with 4 TB water for egg-free. See here for other egg substitutes.)
Optional: blueberries, raisins, cut up apricot, cranberries, grated apple, grated carrot, or cinnamon.
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Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix flour, flakes and all dry ingredients. Mix in mashed bananas and all wet ingredients. Pour into greased muffin tins (fill muffin tins 1/2 full). Bake 20-25 minutes.
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To make waffles, add 3 TB oil and 1/2 cup milk.
I made this blackberry crumble last week at a dinner party and you know you’ve hit the jackpot when everyone there tracks you down later that week for the recipe. It’s oh-so-yummy.
And did I mention that it’s also sugar-free, egg-free, dairy-free, and wheat-free (gluten-free)? It’s hard to find a good dessert that EVERYONE loves that falls into that category. Well, if you’re looking for one, here you go:
(The best ever) Blackberry Crumble Recipe
2 1/4 cups flour (any kind of flour ie. rice, spelt, wheat, oat, etc.)
1 1/2 cups rolled oats (or quinoa flakes, kamut flakes, rice bran or ground up nuts)
3/4 tsp stevia (or 3/4 cup sugar, if you like that stuff)
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
Mix all the dry ingredients together. Then add:
3/4 cup butter (non-dairy butter for the dairy sensitive ones)
In a baking plan, spread out:
4-5 cups of blackberries
Optional:
1 cup of blueberries
1-2 cups of peaches
Sprinkle the crumble topping evenly over top of the berries.
Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.
You can make this recipe with any combination of fruit. If you use apples, your baking time will increase to about 50-60 minutes.
When you are picking your own blackberries, the biggest, blackest berries will always be the sweetest. Look for them by sunny roads, train tracks or trails.
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Even though blackberries are considered a weed, it’s hard to find them here in Vancouver, where every inch of land is developed and consequently, weeded.
Last night I took Isabela out on a special outing to pick blackberries, made even more special by the fact that it was just her and I, out late at night, way past her bedtime, doing something that we both love. We had to drive out to Richmond, a nearby city, and went to an industrial area with blocks and blocks of blackberry bushes.
We were both sort of giddy and singing and playful the whole night. Every few minutes Isabela would say, Mmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!! These are the best blackberries I’ve ever eaten in my WHOLE life!
And then every once in a while she’d find an enormous one and she’d yell, I found THE QUEEN of the blackberries! It’s going to save it for my birthday cake. And then she’d eat it a minute later.
It was a wonderful mother-daughter bonding experience, the kind of time where I can step back from my life and look at my daughter with fresh eyes. What an amazing girl, I kept thinking to myself. I was also thinking about how much my own mother would have loved to be there with us.
If you have an egg allergy or just ran out of eggs in the the middle of baking, here are some things that work as an egg substitute:
To replace an egg:
Please do not be dismayed by the title of these cookies. They are absolutely amazing cookies and you could just as easily call them Power Cookies or Energy Cookies (if you are not nursing). (You can also use wheat, eggs, dairy and sugar if you want!)
These cookies have literally saved me, these last 6 weeks, since Fiona was born. I eat at least 4 of them during the middle of the night feeds and they help keep me going. Janet Feirin, author of Basic Spelt recipe book and owner of The Spelt Bakery, created these cookies when she was nursing her youngest child. She says,
“When I was nursing my children, I found I had a desperate need for a nutritious and delicious snack during those late night feeding sessions. I also needed something which I could keep close to the bed so it was easy to grab. Thus I invented the nursing cookies. But they are also great for snacks anytime and good for hikes and packed lunches.” (page 34, Basic Spelt)
This recipe is posted with Janet’s permission. It is an incredible cookie because I have been able to change so many of the ingredients and it still holds together and tastes delicious! Along the side of the recipe is how I change the cookie into a gluten free, dairy free, egg free and sugar free cookie.
NURSING COOKIES recipe
1 1/2 cups margarine (or shortening if you are dairy free)
1 1/3 cups brown sugar (or 1 3/4 tsp stevia instead of the brown and white sugar, for sugar free)
2/3 cups white sugar (see above for sugar free)
2 eggs (or 3 tsp egg replacer mixed with 4 TB water for egg free)
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups all-purpose spelt (or wheat) flour (or 3 cups rice flour or gluten free flour mix for gluten free)
2 tsp baking powder (or 1/2 tsp baking soda mixed with 1 tsp lemon juice)
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 cups oats or kamut flakes (or quinoa flakes)
1 cup nuts/coconut (or flax meal, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds)
1 cup of dried fruit – cherries, raisins, apricots, peaches, pineapple, papaya, mango, etc.
1 cup of chocolate chips (optional)
Melt margarine in large mixing bowl.
Stir in sugars, add eggs and vanilla and mix thoroughly.
Add flour, then baking powder and soda.
Blend until all flour is moistened.
Add oats, nuts, fruit and chocolate chips and stir.
Drop spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets and bake at 350 F for approximately for 15 minutes.
Cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes and cooling rack for 20 minutes more.
Makes 2 dozen large or 3 dozen smaller cookies.
****Special note****
Spelt flour is an ancient grain that is similar to wheat and has gluten in it. However, many people can tolerate spelt flour who are sensitive to wheat.
Making these cookies gluten free (with rice flour or a gluten free flour mix) works well, but makes the cookies a little bit more crumbly. Make sure to cool them completely and then move them very gently.
Janet makes a killer Breakfast Cookie that she sells at her Spelt Bakery which is similar to the Nursing Cookie. Stop by there if you’re ever in Vancouver!
Here is a recipe for creating an erupting volcano:
1 large bottle
large baking pan
1 TB flour
1 TB baking soda
20 drops red food coloring
Put the bottle in the pan. Pour the flour, baking soda and food coloring inside the bottle.
1 cup vinegar
Pour 1/2 cup of vinegar into the bottle. Watch it explode! When the bubbles die down, pour the rest of the vinegar in to make it erupt again.
And then you can talk a little bit about science…
“The baking soda reacts with the vinegar, producing carbon dioxide gas. As the gas forms, it expands quickly, pushing the liquid and the flour particles out the top of the bottle. The mixture of the gas, flour, red food coloring, and liquid produces the foam, which simulates the foamy magma in an active volcanic eruption.” p.21
From Janice VanCleave’s Volcanoes: Mind-boggling experiments you can turn into science fair projects.
There I am in front of a real volcano twelve years ago in Guatemala.
I felt inspired to finally put up this recipe, since I made several loaves of rice flour bread yesterday, so we could use it today to make stuffing for our turkey. Canadian thanksgiving weekend! One of my most favorite meals. And I think the stuffing (and cranberries) are my favourite part.
So when my daughter was little and I realized she had a lot of food sensitivities, I searched and searched on the internet for a good rice flour bread recipe for a bread machine. But all of the ones that I tried either didn’t rise, would rise and then flop in the middle, tasted bad or a was as hard as rock.
So I started experimenting my own and after about 10-15 different tries, I finally came up with a great recipe.
Rice Bread
1 cup water
1/3 cup milk (I use plain rice milk)
2 eggs (I use 3 tsp egg replacer mixed with 4 TB water)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
4 TB oil
2 TB sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup white rice flour
2/3 cup brown rice flour
1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum (you can also use guar gum instead)
2 tsp quick rise yeast
Rice flour is a little finicky, so it’s important that you place all of the ingredients in the exact order that is listed in the bread machine pan. Then when you put in the flour, try to spread it around so that it covers all of the liquids underneath. I have no idea why this makes a difference, but it does. Then start the bread machine on the “grain setting”. It cooks it a little longer than the regular setting.
Keep the bread in a plastic bag and refrigerate after about a day, then slice and freeze after about 3 or 4 days (it can last for a long time in the freezer).
Despite the title, you might be wondering what’s in them? And they probably taste horrible! But the true test is if both kids and adults will eat (and enjoy) them, and they do. So yes, it is possible to make delicious treats when you have allergies or a restricted diet!
This recipe comes from The Kid Friendly Food Allergy Cookbook by Leslie Hammond and Lynne Marie Rominger under the “Yellow Cake” recipe.
Cupcake recipe (or regular cake)
4.5 tsp egg replacer mixed with 6 TB water (or 3 eggs)
1 1/2 tsp stevia (or 1 1/2 cups sugar)
2 sticks of butter (or the equivalent of oil or margerine)
3 cups of rice flour
2 tsp baking powder (or 1/2 tsp baking soda mixed with 1 tsp lemon juice)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups rice milk mixed with 1 1/2 TB lemon juice (or 1/2 cup buttermilk)
Bake at 350 degrees. 10-12 minutes for cupcakes or 25 – 35 minutes for cake.
To fancy it up, you can bake them with sprinkles on the top.
This recipe is quite amazing because I’ve literally been able to change all of the ingredients (except, of course, the bananas) and it still works and it still turns out yummy! Usually I make it gluten free, dairy free, egg free and sugar free!
Banana Bread
Just over 1/2 tsp powdered stevia (or 3/4 tsp sugar)
1/2 cup butter, margarine or oil
3 tsp egg replacer mixed with 4 TB water (or an extra banana OR 2 eggs)
1 cup mashed bananas with 1 tsp baking soda mixed in (usually I do 2 bananas and skip the baking soda step, but my sister says it makes a difference)
2 Tb milk (rice, soy, cow, almond, coconut))
1/4 tsp baking soda mixed with 1/2 tsp of lemon juice (or 1 tsp baking powder)
1 3/4 cup flour (wh. or br. wheat, spelt, or rice flour OR my favorite mix: 1 cup br. rice flour, 2/3 cup chickpea flour, 1/3 cup tapioca flour – this mix can be used in place of wheat in almost all recipes. ALSO, I usually do 1 1/2 cups flour and 1/4 cup ground flax meal or oat bran.)
pinch of salt
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Bake at 350 degrees.
50 minutes for wheat, 45 minutes for spelt, 40 minutes for rice/chickpea/tapioca flours.
Baking times vary based on your oven and your altitude.
Here is a fantastic, soft playdough recipe that, if stored properly, can last for years.
4 cups flour
1 cup salt
4 Tablespoons cream of tartar
8 tablespoons of oil
4 cups of water
Mix all the ingredients in a mixing bowl, add any food coloring you like and cook it in a pan on low heat until it is thick and not sticky. Knead the dough for two minutes. Store it in a plastic bag inside of a plastic container and keep it in the fridge.
This recipe makes a lot of playdough, so you can half the recipe if you want to make less.
Edible Playdough (From “Surviving Your Preschooler” by Trish Kuffner)
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 flour (any kind)
1/2 water (may need to add more, depending on what kind of flour you use)
Kneed. Play. Eat.
Her
