Tag Archives: nut allergy

Chocolate Cupcakes – dairy free, egg free

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Chocolate Cupcake

I have been making these for years.  They are so fast and easy that they are great for last minute treats when an allergy friendly alternative is needed.  We always have a stash in the freezer, ready to grab one to take to a party or to dinner out or just whenever.   The ones in the freezer are un-iced and G’s favourite way of having them is to nuke the frozen cupcake, add a marshmallow and smother it in chocolate syrup.  Not exactly gourmet, but after all, he is thirteen.

This recipe goes by many names: wackycake, oil and vinegar cake, salad dressing cake (yuck), but is the only cake I’ve seen that actually gets eaten by kids at Birthday parties.  Normally the icing gets licked off Birthday cake and the cake left, but I have often served kids seconds of this one.  If you are baking a cake rather than cupcakes, use an 8×8 pan and increase time to 30-35 minutes (test with a tooth pick – it should come out clean unless you accidentally stab a chocolate chip).

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup water
1/3 cup oil (canola or similar)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon vinegar
1/2 cup dairy free chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl; I use a whisk.

Chocolate Cupcake dry ingredients

Combine all wet ingredients, I use a liquid measuring cup and fill water up to 1 cup level and add oil up to the 1 1/3 mark and then add the vanilla and vinegar to this.  Mix well.

Chocolate Cupcake wet ingredients

Add wet to dry and mix well.  Add the chocolate chips.

Pour into cupcake pan using paper cupcake cups.  Bake at 350F for 25 minutes.  Makes about 10 cupcakes.

Chocolate Cupcakes baked

Enjoy!

Chocolate cupcake iced

Avocado Chocolate Pudding

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Avocado chocolate puddingWait!  Don’t turn away!  It’s delicious, honest.  My friend Jen gave me this recipe because it is egg and dairy free.  It is rich and chocolaty and very creamy.  Super simple to make and fits in with many alternative dietary needs.  It is vegan, wheat free, nut free, raw and you can get your serving of veggies in your dessert!  Worth a try for that last one alone.  Warning: It’s very sweet.

INGREDIENTS

2 avocados, pitted and peeled
1 cup soy milk (coconut milk or rice milk would work)
1/2 cup agave nectar (maple syrup, or honey would work)
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of salt
Avocado

agave nectar

DIRECTIONS

Blend ingredients in a blender really well until smooth.  (My Vita-Mix did nicely)

Avocado chocolate pudding mixed

Enjoy!

Avocado chocolate pudding

Yam Protein Power Muffins

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Yam Protein Muffin

Including a protein with breakfast is challenging when the standards: eggs, cheese and yoghurt are out.  G’s dad came up with this muffin recipe through a lot of trial and error, but even the errors got eaten because they contained chocolate chips!  These muffins are a yummy start to the day even if you do not have allergies.  So, today we have a guest baker.  I did not write this recipe, or bake the food or take the photos.  Full credit goes to my husband.  Here we go …

INGREDIENTS

Dry mix:

1/2 cup dried soy protein
1-1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cocoa powder
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1 handful dairy-free dark chocolate chips

Wet Mix :

1 med size yam
1/4 cup vegetable oil (canola)
1/3 cup white sugar (brown optional)
2 tsp vanilla
Splash orange juice

DIRECTIONS

Oven 350 F ; prep time 15 minutes ; bake time 20 minutes ; yields 12 muffins

1. Wash yam and perforate skin all around with end of sharp knife. Place on microwave-safe dish and cook 6 minutes on 60% power. Yam should be soft through to centre when done. Remove from microwave and cut in half lengthwise. Let cool. When cool enough to handle, remove skin and slice halves into smaller sections and allow to cool to room temperature.

Cooked YamCooked Yam Cut
2. While yam is cooking and cooling, add all dry ingredients except chocolate chips into cuisinart with sharp blade attachment (or hand mix with whisk). Run Cuisinart until soy protein chunks are fully chopped into powder and all dry ingredients are well blended (approx 3 minutes). Place into large mixing bowl and sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Set aside.

Yam Muffin Dry Ingredients

3. In same Cuisinart with blade attachment add all wet ingredients including yam – make sure yam is room temp or slightly warm but not hot. Blend until well mixed and slightly runny ( use the splash of OJ to make the mixture flow better). Mixture should flow but still require spatula to get it out of the bowl. Set aside.

Yam Muffin Wet Ingredients

4. Line a muffin tin with paper muffin/cupcake cups.

5. Using a large spatula, add the wet mix to the dry by folding and gently stirring, but do not whip or vigorously mix the batter. Add OJ in small quantities until the batter is well consolidated. The batter should be stiff but not dry. Spoon into the muffin cups using all of the batter for 12 muffins.

Yam Muffin BatterYam Muffins Raw
Place in the pre-heated oven on the lower or middle rack. Bake 20 minutes, no peeking. Check if done using toothpick into centre of muffin – if it comes out clean they are cooked through. Remove when done and place on wire rack to cool.

Enjoy!

Yam Muffins

Allergy test results

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Allergy testing hives

Ever have an itch you can't scratch...

So, after the allergy testing yesterday, the platter of Quality Street Chocolates for G is out as is the hunk of blue cheese.  If you look at the photo above… those four nice round welts along the bottom are the milk tests.  This wasn’t much of a surprise.  Having spilled milk on G when he was a baby, I know first hand what evil milk had wrought (once again, SO sorry G).  I was actually hoping that egg would be reduced, but see that big amorphous welt in the crook of his arm… that’s the egg white test.  Guess it’s not reduced!

If you’re not familiar with allergy testing, here’s a quick primer.  Pen marks indicate where a small drop of serum containing the allergen is put on the skin.  A tiny scratch is made on the skin where the serum is and then you wait to see what happens.  Sometimes it’s quite spectacular, but what you’d rather see is nothing.  I must say, G displayed incredible self control.  Just looking at his arm made me itchy.  Poor guy was going out of his mind wanting to scratch!

There is actually something positive that came from the testing, I mean the test was negative which was positive….Oh what ever, it was good news. G requested to be tested for pistachio nuts and to his delight it was negative.  Forget the Quality Street and blue cheese, on our way home we stopped for a slushy and a small bag of pistachios (with a Benadryl chaser).

 

In The Beginning

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G was an easy newborn.  The only thing that I didn’t expect was that he refused a bottle and boy do I mean REFUSE.  Oh well, breast is best as they say and cheaper! Talk about shocking when one morning I accidentally spilled milk on G and where the milk touched his skin big welts arose.   As I rushed him to the bath to rinse it off I was thinking, surely this must be a one off thing.  Milk can’t be harmful, didn’t Cleopatra bathe in it?!  Was it my lack of coordination or fate that caused me to once again spill milk on G a few weeks later.  Why was I eating milk laced cereal while balancing G on my lap after what had happened the first time?  Stupid, stupid, stupid!  Nothing like doing an unplanned allergy test right in your own home!  By the way, we don’t do this any more – we try to keep G away from falling milk and allergy tests are saved for the doctor’s office.  He was only a month old when I first spilled milk on him and by the time he was a year and a half, he had been properly tested and shown to be allergic to eggs and dairy. Since then he has developed a peanut allergy too.  No wonder he refused a bottle!  That hysterical screaming (from him not me) was his plea for me to stop.  What a learning curve – and the knuckle balls keep on coming!