Chocolate Chips: Are They REALLY Ever Just Optional?

I believe that, in FPIES, as in most things, we get bones thrown to us once in a blue moon. Something to make the road a little less difficult, to give us a break, whatever it may be. Often I talk about the amazing support of the FPIES community, or some other life line that helps us to get through. Tonight, I am here to talk to you about something slightly more superficial but all the same, truly lovely-- chocolate.

That is the bone that we have been thrown. And I am so grateful for it.

I can still eat basic cocoa on my elim diet (as well as Enjoy Life Chocolate chips) and B can eat cocoa and EL chocolate chips also! I really hope that little sis C can join us in our love of this sweet sweet treat in the months to come!

Because B does not have a ton of safes and because treats are not super common in her diet, chocolate is happily our go-to, our "Add-in" to make a food more enticing so that she will eat it. Now don't get me wrong-- I add very little at a time, and I don't put it in everything, but baked goods get a nice dose of it about 50% of the time at our house!

In honor of this delightful treat, here is our current waffle recipe. And a note-- I cheat with waffles and use this pan instead of a waffle iron. Not quite the same, but so much easier to clean! Chocolate chips are of course optional (sometimes I sprinkle the chips into individual waffles so that some are plain):

Wonderful Wake-Up Waffles (also great as pancakes!)

1 cup sorghum flour

1 cup quinoa flour

1/2 cup quinoa flakes

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 cup brown sugar (or coconut sugar or maple sugar!)

2 Tbsp maple syrup

1/4 cup canola oil (or other safe oil)

1/4 cup sunflower seed butter (or other nut/seed butter)

1 1/4 cup safe milk (we used coconut) 

1 Tbsp vanilla extract (optional)

Chocolate chips/ cut fruit/ whatever you might want to put in your pancakes or waffles-- optional

If using a skillet or waffle iron, you will need to lightly oil the surface. I like to melt a bit of coconut manna in the skillet and then pour it into the batter if there is excess.

Mix flours, flakes, baking powder, and sugar in a medium bowl. Blend well. Add canola, maple syrup and sunflower seed butter. Blend all ingredients well. If using chocolate chips and/or vanilla, blend into mixture. As soon as the pan/skillet is ready, add milk to the mixture, blend thoroughly and then pour into prepared pan/skillet. Cook as you would typically cook waffles or pancakes. Just a note-- your batter will not be thin--- it will be thick and need to be thick in order to hold up.

Enjoy!