smoothies!

I made Strawberry Pineapple smoothies for Buggy and I today :) Here's the recipe:

Strawberry Pineapple Smoothies

6 strawberries (or ~1/2 cup if they're small)

1/2 cup pineapple

4 oz almond milk (or any safe milk)

1 tbs honey (or agave nectar)

10 ice cubes (more or less)

Toss all ingredients into the blender, blend until smooth, and enjoy! This made just shy of 3 cups which was more than enough for the baby and I. We could've made it into 3 servings, but my husband wasn't interested in any. Another tasty way you could try this would be to add a banana or maybe some blueberries. Have fun with this one!

Almond Milk

1 cup raw almonds

4 cups water

Soak almonds overnight or at least 6 hours. Rinse 2-3 times then add almonds and 4 cups of water to a blender and blend until a nice milky white. You'll need to strain the almond pulp out of the milk: you can use cheesecloth or they make super handy nut milk bags like this one. Cheesecloth is a bit slower of a method, but it gets the job done! Some people will use up to 7 cups of water to 1 cup almonds, it just depends on how creamy or watery you like yours. You can also add agave nectar or honey to taste.

I added at least one picture to each recipe (okay, you caught me - every recipe EXCEPT the almond milk one) because I think recipes are more trustworthy with images. To me, a recipe without a picture is like a book without a cover - yeah, it still works.. but it's just not the same. Besides, if there's no picture for me to look at, how am I to know if I made if right? And how will I know if it looks like something I might enjoy? I'm a very visual person... I rarely try recipes that don't have pictures of the finished product with them.

So go on... scroll down, check out the picture, go make yourself some pancakes and a smoothie for your midnight snack :)

emotional video

I was going to just come on here and post the adjustments I made to the bread because my friend said it was even better today, but then I came across this video that deserves sharing. I found this on the BabyCenter FPIES board, it's a tribute to special needs mamas and is the only video I've seen to this day that has actually brought tears to my eyes. At the end there are websites listed for prader-willi syndrome, but it's dedicated to moms of all special needs kiddos. So break out the kleenexes ladies and click here

As for the delicious bread, I upped the sugar by 2 tbs to make it 1/4 cup sugar, used 1.5 tsp cinnamon, and decreased the baking soda slightly :) easy peasy!

On a completely unrelated note I've finally started getting things together for my daughter's allergy free Halloween party on the 29th and even decided on her costume! She's going to be Little Bo Peep and I'm going to make a little sheep costume for her baby (Violet). A tad dorky, I know... but oh so cute! I've got allergy friendly goody bags for the kids (crayons, coloring book, snack bag, etc), and am working on a nice little allergy friendly menu so I don't have to stress about her grabbing someone else's food or the kids all sharing like we know they like to do. Even though she's only 14 months old, she very much notices when somebody gets something she isn't able to eat and gets very upset by it :( This way everyone gets cool goodies, tasty treats, and nobody is left feeling upset/left out! I'm so excited (read: anxious/nervous) about the party... only two more weeks!

mmmm.. fresh, warm, homemade cinnamon bread!

Ignore the light patch ; ) my bread machine didn't mix as thoroughly as usual!

I was playing around with my current hypoallergenic bread recipe, trying to tweak it so it was JUST right and decided to try adding some cinnamon today. After all, who doesn't like cinnamon? I made this bread at 1:30 pm, largely due to may daughter, it's now more than half gone! (It's 9:03 pm by the way) Even my husband said it was delicious and tried to steal my piece :) I think I'll make some more tomorrow, maybe add a little more cinnamon and possibly even a bit of nutmeg.

10/16 edit - more cinnamon was definitely better! I've also decided this bread smells like Christmas :) I changed the ingredients below to reflect my latest trial of the bread recipe. I must say I'm quite satisfied with it. Slather on some coconut oil and honey (or agave nectar) and enjoy!

Cinnamon Bread

Dry ingredients:
2 cups of allergy friendly flour (see below recipe if you need one!)
1/2 cup tapioca (or arrowroot) starch
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbs cinnamon
~1/2 tsp himalayan salt
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 packet Red Star yeast (if avoiding corn it's important to buy this specific packet of yeast as it is corn free - if avoiding yeast, try this without it, you'll still get some rise from the vinegar/baking soda)

Wet ingredients:
1 1/4 cups HOT water
1-2 tbs honey
1/2 tbs apple cider vinegar
1 tbs chia seeds soaked in 3 tbs water until gel-y (or if you're not avoiding eggs, use 1!)

Steps:
a) Add all wet ingredients to the bread maker
b) Combine dry ingredients separately in a bowl
c) Once dry ingredients are all mixed together, gently add them to the bread maker as well

I bake mine on the ExpressBake 1.5 setting with a medium crust and in just under an hour it's done :) It also leaves your house smelling wonderfully like cinnamon for a while. Check on the batter after a few minutes of mixing, it should be roughly the consistency of muffin or pancake batter rather than bread dough consistency. Add water or flour if needed to achieve proper batter consistency.

I hope you guys enjoy this bread! I will try making another loaf soon with a few adjustments :)

Flour

I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted! Things have been really busy lately and I kind of just forgot to post :( I apologize to anyone who reads this.

But! I've figured out a flour for us :) It works great for bread, cupcakes, and pancakes. Are you ready for this? I did a big batch:

8 cups GF oat flour
6 cups GF Sorghum flour
3 cups arrowroot starch
3 cups tapioca starch

Total: 20 cups. 7 parts grain, 3 parts starch. I made bread and cupcakes with this flour mix today and the most AMAZING thing happened....... they both rose! As if I had used *gasp* regular flour (not quite the same, but way more than any non-rice, GF flours I have tried so far). I'm so ecstatic! The only thing I'll try differently next time is equal parts oat and sorghum flours. I can still taste a hint of oat. It isn't bad, but I feel like there's still a bit of room for improvement (it's the perfectionist in me lol)

For anyone looking for an excellent cake/cupcake recipe, you absolutely must check this one out: Chef Chloe's Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes. They are the best cupcakes I've ever had and very easy to adjust for allergens. They are vegan - but you'd never guess it by the taste! No super strange, hard to find, completely random ingredients involved. The "weirdest" thing would be the apple cider vinegar, but have no fear: you can't taste vinegar in the cupcakes, all you taste is chocolatey deliciousness. The frosting is comparable to buttercream frosting, in fact, despite being a major buttercream frosting fan and not being allergic to it myself - I still use this vegan version as my go to frosting now. I also used this recipe to make my daughter's birthday smash cake, 1 batch should be good for that. I made a double batch and it was more than enough for her cake plus a bunch of cupcakes for everyone else (you may need more/less depending on how many you're serving)