It’s Sweet Tooth Thursday: Allergy Friendly Chocolate Cake (dairy-free, egg-free, corn-free) or …

… a little part of my birth story in the boonies

I know, I know, I didn’t post anything for … *ahem* … three months … oups … . Well, I got busy and the time was flying. Sorry about this.

But today is a special day. I just had to write a post. My little baby, or rather my little boy, turns four years old.

I can’t believe it’s been four years since the Hubs got very pale, nearly passed out in the hospital and was ordered to leave the room where I was giving birth. My midwife told him she could take care of me, no problem, but he would be on his own lying unconscious on the floor.

But still she had to call another midwife to help her. One was pushing my belly downward while the other was trying to get hold of the baby’s head. I felt like a … (piece of meat/cow/fill in the blank) with the two women working on me and finally, plop, he most precious little baby on earth was born.

The whole labor was rather fast I believe. Prior to my arrival at the hospital I didn’t have any contractions. The normal procedure here in Paradise is to induce after a woman is passed 41 weeks. With other words, from zero to fully open in less than 10 hours.

Oh yes, at one point during labor – mainly to make some small talk with the midwife because the Hubs had left the room (see above) – I raised the question of an epidural. Her answer was ‘Oh, this you should have asked the doctor before you came down here to the labor room. Now it’s too late.’ And I thought ‘B*tch, the last time I’ve seen this doctor was some 8 hours ago and I had no clue how painful this was going to be. … Gotta hang in there. … It’s just a matter of time. … Millions of other women did it before me. … I can do it.’ And so I did. The outcome: healthy baby, healthy mommy and all the pain was erased from my memory. Oh, and a very sick daddy after he came back to the room and saw my placenta lying around.

Fast forward four years. During this time we have mastered appendicitis and are living with food allergies and seasonal allergies causing eczema and sneezing/coughing.

These days, with his ‘old and wise’ age of four years, ‘Timan’ knows that if he stays clear of eggs, dairy, corn, chicken, fish, tomatoes and the products made with them, he stays perfectly healthy without itchy skin and if he would stay indoors 24/7 he wouldn’t cough or sneeze. The latter is nearly impossible for a 4-year-old boy who likes to run, jump, climb and explore nature.

But of course he likes to have his cake and eat it too.

What better activity for a kid to do during the ‘tropical winter’ school holiday than baking his own birthday cake.

Allergy Friendly Chocolate Cake (dairy free, egg free, corn free)

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup whole-wheat flour

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

60 gr dark chocolate (check ingredients for traces of milk)

60 ml virgin coconut oil

1 cup warm water

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp lemon juice or apple vinegar

Method

Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas 3-4

Mix all dry ingredients except the chocolate.

Break up the chocolate into pieces, add coconut oil and melt it in a small sauce pan, stir until combined. Add warm water, vanilla extract and apple vinegar, stir well after each addition.

Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients until combined and no lumps left.

Pour into 8″x8″ tin and bake for about 30 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Don’t overbake.

Let cool for some hours.

Glaze

20 gr dark chocolate

40 ml coconut oil

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp soy-milk

2 tsp vanilla essence

Break up the chocolate into pieces, add coconut oil and melt it in a small sauce pan, stir until combined. Add brown sugar, stir until all is melted. Add soy-milk and mix. Bring to boil and simmer for 2 minutes while stirring. Remove from heat and stir constantly for another 5 minutes. Add vanilla essence, stir. Pour over cake. If you want to add some sprinkles, now it’s the time. Unfortunately I didn’t find any without ‘Timan’s allergens here in Paradise. Set aside for another hour, you might want to cool it if you live in a hot climate.

This recipe is made up of other recipes I found on the internet but adapted to the items you can buy here in Paradise. You can also use Cacao powder instead of chocolate, but you’ll have to adjust the fat content (oil) in the recipe. Check out this baking ingredient substitution table.

‘Timan’ loved the cake he made and the Hubs liked it too. I liked it anyway. Remember, I’m the one with the sweet tooth. 😉 It’s an easy egg-free, dairy-free and corn-free chocolate cake with chocolate glaze and it’s super-yummy and moist. Enjoy.

What other simple and easy cakes you make for your kids with food allergies?

It’s Sweet Tooth Thursday: Mango Drop Cookies with a Twist (dairy-free, egg-free, corn-free)

I just knew this was going to happen. There will be a day I don’t have a decent snack for the tot available. I had fruits, but ‘Timan’ was craving for a cookie, something with carbohydrates. Of course it was supposed to be reasonable healthy and yummy and not causing his skin to flare up with an eczema or a rash a couple of days later because of his food intolerance.

Bake it myself, that’s the solution. I thought for a while, took a little bit from here and a little bit from there, I used oats instead of an egg and the outcome you find here: Mango Drop Cookies with a Twist.

You can actually fiddle around with the twist yourself, make as tangy as you like. My recipe however is child-prove, tested and approved by the tot himself.

And with a little help the master ‘Timan’ was ready to help too. And how concentrated with his task he was.

Mango Drop Cookies with a Twist (dairy free, egg free, corn free)

Ingredients

3/8 cup (3 oz/90ml) olive oil

3/4 cup (150gr) brown sugar, loose

1 tsp vanilla essence

3 ounces (90ml) mango juice

1 medium mango, peeled, cut into small pieces and mashed (I ended up with 75gr)

2 1/3 cup (300gr) whole-wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon, ground

1 tsp ginger, ground (this is the twist, add more if you like)

1/4 tsp salt

4 tbsp (20gr) instant oats

Method

Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas 3-4

Mix olive oil with brown sugar, vanilla extract and mango juice, add mashed fresh mango and combine.

In separate bowl sift flour and baking soda, mix in cinnamon, ginger, salt and oats. Combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients.

The more you mix the batter, the less ‘fluffy’ the cookies will be.

Using a teaspoon scoop portions of batter and drop them on a greased cookie sheet using another spoon. Place the drops about 1.5  inch apart, the cookies will rise a little and flatten a bit, but not too much.

Bake for about 12 minutes or until they start to turn brown on the edge, depending on the cookie size. Don’t overbake.

Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet for a couple of minutes before you use the spatula for flipping pancakes to lift them off the sheet and transfer them to a wire rack. Let them completely cool and store the cookies in an airtight container.

Et voilà, you have some nutritious and healthy cookies for an afternoon coffee or a yummy treat for your kids lunch box. They are not crunchy, but not really chewy either, more of a cake or muffin texture.

The cookies here in the tropics only stay crunchy for about 14.99 seconds anyway. So maybe the dairy-free, egg-free and corn-free ‘mango drop cookies with a twist’ would be a little more crunchy if they were baked in a dry climate, or if you would use candied mango pieces instead of fresh mango, or if you would add an egg or an egg-replacement. Drop a line, I would like to know. However for me they are perfect the way they are.

Enjoy.

What cookies are you baking for your family these days?

It’s Sweet Tooth Tuesday: Star Fruit (Carambola) Orange Muffins (dairy-free, egg-free, corn-free)

Slowly I’m getting the hang of keeping ‘Timan’ dairy-free, egg-free and corn-free and sometimes it’s even fun fiddling around with new recipes.

Let me start like this, I’m not a big fan of star fruits, they are always much to sour or tart for my palate. But my new carambola orange muffin recipe turned out to be super yummy. And star fruits are a source of vitamin C, even better, however if you are having a problem with your kidneys, they are not the fruit for you.

Actually there exist two types of carambola, the ‘sour’ ones – and these are really sour – and the ‘sweet’ ones – just a tiny little bit less sour. 😉

So it comes, the fruits (the ‘sweet’ ones, LOL) the Hubs bought the other day just sat on a plate on the kitchen counter and got more ripe by the minute. And it was raining, ‘Timan’ was in need of an activity. What do we do? We’re baking muffins. Of course, they have to be free of the allergens that I think are causing his eczema to flare up.

Carambola (Star Fruit) Orange Muffins (dairy free, egg free, corn free)

Ingredients

1/3 cup (90ml) Sunflower Oil

1/2 cup (100gr) brown sugar, loose

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

2 1/2 ounces (70ml) Orange Juice

1 1/2 cup (180gr) whole meal flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

4 tbsp (20gr) instant oats

1 pin salt

2-3 carambola/star fruits, chopped into 1/2 inch/1 cm-pieces to make ca. 3/4 cup and 6 slices (stars) for decoration

Method

Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas 3-4

Mix oil with brown sugar, vanilla extract and orange juice.

In separate bowl sift flour and baking soda, mix in oats and salt. Combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients.

Combine the chopped star fruit pieces with the batter and spoon it into a greased medium size 6-hole muffin tin (3/4 full).

Top each muffin with a star and bake them for 25 minutes (test with wooden toothpick).

Let cool for at least 5 minutes before taking out of the tin.

If you don’t want to cut out eggs, I would mix one egg into the wet ingredients before you add the orange juice. In this case you can skip the oats if you prefer. Or leave them, it would’t matter.

As usual the tot had a hard time with something he never had before, but the Hubs who is a real challenge with baked goods not made by his mama dug in with a ‘Mmmm, i bon.’ (English translation: ‘yummy, they’re goooood.’).

And on top of that, the dairy-free, egg-free and corn-free star fruit (carambola) orange muffins are nutritious and surprisingly not sour at all.

Enjoy.

What is your favorite muffin these days? Are you also inventing or adapting recipes to the needs of your family?

It’s Sweet Tooth Tuesday: Allergy Friendly Pancakes (dairy-free, egg-free, corn-free)

Are you looking for the perfect allergy friendly pancakes without milk, without eggs and without baking powder (corn flour)? But hey, of course they have to be yummy, otherwise your family, especially the little ones won’t be very happy, right? And they have to be nutritious, even if it’s just for Mommy’s peace of mind.

Well, actually I was looking for those pancakes. But when you are living in Paradise, you might not have too many choices other than trying to make something yourself.

And yep, that’s what I did.

Now ‘Timan’ has a new favorite breakfast and I hope his eczema will improve. He’s living dairy-free and egg-free for a while now. But I think he was eating way to much Corn Flakes in the last 6 month. The flakes were his favorite breakfast and he loved to snack on them during the day. Almost every day.

Maybe I’m wrong with the corn allergy, but I need to give it a try. I have nothing to lose, don’t I? Luckily HFCS (high-fructose corn syrup) is not an issue here in paradise as far as I know. And we don’t use many canned or processed foods and soft drinks anyway.

As you can see ‘Timan’ is always eager to ‘help’ in the kitchen, even if it’s just holding the bowl this time. Hey, it’s still quite early in the morning. 😉

And later he is happily munching on his yummy pancakes without milk, without egg and (hopefully) without corn. These days they are by far his favorite breakfast.

Dairy-Free, Egg-Free and Corn-Free Pancakes

Ingredients

1 cup (125gr) whole grain flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tbsp brown sugar (may contain traces of corn, so use your corn-free sugar instead)

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup (250ml) soy-milk (it may contain traces of corn, make sure it’s fructose-free )

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp vanilla essence (optional, may contain traces of corn)

1 tsp lemon juice

sunflower oil for baking and honey for topping

Method

Sift flour and baking soda in mixing bowl, add cinnamon, sugar and salt, mix the dry ingredients.

In separate bowl mix olive oil, vanilla essence and lemon juice, add about 3/4 of soy-milk and mix again.

Pour soy-milk-mix into flour mix and combine well. Add more soy-milk to the batter until you have the desired texture. I’m using all. Set aside for 5 minutes.

Heat skillet with a few drops of sunflower oil and bake 3-4 inch (8-10cm) pancakes on low heat. Bake the first side until the bubbles pop open, flip and bake the other side for another minute, maybe less.

Pour some drops of oil in the skillet for every new pancake.

Try to make those rather small pancakes and you won’t have problems with flipping them. Top them with honey or the topping of your choice and offer some fresh fruits on the side.

And you have a healthy, allergy-friendly and nutritious start for the day. Just don’t overdo it with the topping. 😉

Enjoy.

What is your kids favorite breakfast?

To save valuable time in the morning, bake a whole batch of dairy-free, egg-free and corn-free pancakes and freeze them up to one month. Before you use them, simply defrost the pancakes in the fridge over night and warm them in the skillet the next morning.

It’s Sweet Tooth Tuesday: Ginger Cookies

The Hubs, ‘Timan’ and I love Ginger. So it won’t come as a surprise that ‘Ginger Nuts’ are the cookies we probably eat the most in our house. They are ‘Timan’s favorites and they are totally milk-free. A win/win situation, because we are still fighting to keep the tot’s allergy at bay and the little one as rash-free as possible and without eczema.

But we are living in Paradise. Very often I hear ‘na pa’ in the shops. If I translate this into proper English, it would be something like ‘I’m very sorry, but unfortunately we don’t have it on stock right now. But certainly we will have it available for you in the future’. 😉

It used to give me a headache and the last time this happened I knew I had to do something. My bones started to itch and I was well aware I would have an erupting volcano at home during snack-time if I simply told the tot ‘na pa’.

I figured the only way to save the day was baking the favorite cookies myself.

Or should I say ourselves? Baking without ‘Timan’s valuable help is not possible anymore.

This time he was the one to break the egg. It’s actually very easy for a toddler to break an egg, LOL. But seriously, even without making a mess. Have him crack it on the hard kitchen counter. Then he can easily open it at the cracks himself and empty the content into a bowl.

But to roll out the dough was even more fun.

Ginger Cookies

Ingredients

2 1/3 cups (300gr) whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp ginger, ground

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp mixed spice

3/8 cup (3 oz or 90ml) olive oil or 1/2 cup (125gr) margarine

3/4 cup (150gr) brown sugar

1/2 cup (4 oz or 120ml) honey

1 egg

Method

Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas 3-4

Mix and sift flour with baking soda and baking powder, add ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and mixed spice and mix.

In separate bowl beat egg, beat in brown sugar until fluffy, beat in olive oil and add honey until well combined.

Start with stirring flour-mix into egg-mix, later proceed with kneading it in until combined. Wrap in plastic paper and put in fridge for an hour.

Roll out dough 1/5 – 1/4 inch (4-5mm) thick, cut out cookies with your favorite cookie cutters and place on a greased baking sheet. Put in freezer for 10 min. Bake for 12-15 min and allow to cool on the baking sheet for 2-3 min. before taking them off.

I was using olive oil because of ‘Timan’s suspected milk-allergy, but you can easily replace the oil with margarine. Feel free to use molasses instead of honey, or use half of each.

Enjoy. If you are looking for a stronger ginger taste, check out the ‘Sticky Ginger Honey Cake‘.

What is the favorite cookie your little one just must have once in a while? Is he also going for ‘Ginger Cookies’?