Recipes that Have Passed! Part 2!

Ok, I thought the other page was getting a little long, so let's start another one with more recipes!

Now that quinoa seems friendly for B, I started experimenting with the quinoa flour that I got from Bob's Red Mill. Enjoy the ride!

Quinoa Muffins (makes 6-9 muffins)

1 cup quinoa flour
2/3 cup cold water
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 Tbsp honey
1 medium banana, mashed with 1 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 (additional) tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F) and either grease a loaf pan or line muffin cups with silicone cups or papers.
In a large bowl, blend quinoa flour and water with an electric mixer until smooth. Continue blending and add in canola, honey, sugar, baking powder and baking soda. In a separate bowl, thoroughly mash a medium banana with 1 tsp baking powder. Allow banana mixture to rest 2 minutes, then add to quinoa flour mixture, blending with an electric mixer on medium speed until all ingredients are mixed well.

Pour batter (it will be about the consistency of typical cake batter) into pan or muffin cups (cups should be about 3/4 full since this recipe doesn't rise all that much). Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf/muffin comes out clean and the muffin tops are golden brown.



I was really surprised that this only required 1 Tbsp oil, but the muffin came out light and moist, almost cake-like in texture and appearance. It did rise more than when using corn flour, but not as much as you would expect with all-purpose flour. I think this would make a great birthday cake recipe, as this sets up quite nicely as a cake. The flavor of the quinoa is a little strong, which is why I opted for the brown sugar and honey instead of the white sugar. We don't have any safe spices yet, but someone on one of the FPIES boards recommended adding cinnamon to quinoa recipes to help with the flavor. We will definitely have to try this and I am quite sure adding cinnamon to this recipe would work nicely.
Also, I would like to add that, as usual, we are using the banana as our egg substitute. If you cannot use banana in your child's foods, you could use apple or pear puree (try 1/4 cup mixed with 1 tsp baking powder or 1/2 tsp cream of tartar + 1/4 tsp baking soda if you can't use baking powder. Remember that fresh is best!!!). Enough egg substitute to replace 1-2 eggs should be sufficient for this recipe. And hey, if you can use eggs, awesome! Use them! I used my mini heart cake pans to make this recipe, since B is currently fascinated with all things heart-shaped. Enjoy!!!!

7/20/2010
I have a confession. This isn't a recipe that is new to this site. It is a modification of Merry Muffins, but equally as merry and maybe a little healthier. So if your LO can have quinoa, or you are interested in trialling it, read on!

Merry Muffins-- The return of Quinoa!!
1 cup Masa
1/2 cup quinoa flakes
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 large bananas (mashed with 1 tsp baking powder, prefer the double acting kind!)
5/8 cup canola oil
1/2 cup white (or brown!) sugar
1/2 cup honey

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare muffin cups with liners, or silicone baking cups.
Blend the masa, quinoa flakes, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl. Set aside
Mash the bananas with the baking powder and allow to rest for two minutes. After two minutes, stir, then adding the oil, sugar, and honey (you can substitute sugar for honey if you are too worried about the honey). Once well blended, add banana mixture to the Masa mixture and blend well.
Pour batter into muffin cups, filling 3/4 full. (These do not rise very much). Bake at 400 degrees F for 20-25 minutes (15 minutes if using a toaster oven). They should be golden brown when done and a toothpick inserted in the muffin center should come out clean.

Enjoy! These also can be frosted with Happy Birthday Girl Frosting if you would like a cupcake substitute (great to bring along to friends' bday parties).

8.25.10
In our exploration of hemp milk and due to B's repulsion at the idea of drinking anything other than water from her sippy, I have needed to be creative and somewhat sneaky. Here is a pudding recipe I created earlier today to get her to eat her obligatory 8 tbsp of hemp milk needed for day 4 of our trial:

Hemp and Arrowroot Pudding
8 tbsp unsweetened original hemp milk
2 tbsp arrowroot starch/flour
1 tsp sugar
1 medium banana OR 1/2 cup fruit puree (peaches, pears, apples, etc)
1tsp vanilla extract

Mash banana (we cooked ours in a skillet beforehand.) and set aside. Mix arrowroot and sugar in a separate small bowl. Heat hemp milk in a saucepan until boiling. Add in vanilla extract to hemp milk while cooking. Once milk is nicely boiling, remove from heat and pour over the arrowroot mixture, stirring constantly with a whisk or blending with an electric mixer on low speed to remove lumps. Either blend fruit into arrowroot/hemp mixture with the whisk or blend everything in the food processor or blender (to remove lumps). Pour mixture into serving bowl and refrigerate 1 hour or until pudding sets up. Serve cold!
Conistency should be slightly thinner than pudding from a pudding cup.

9-14-10
I was so excited for this recipe, it made me cry! My baby, or well, my big girl B, has another "normal" looking toddler food. She even gets excited when she says it--  "Maca-ROOOOOON-IIIIIII. . .  and CHEESE!!!" So cute! Now she likes saying it, but has not yet really gotten used to eating it! It is a richer consistency than any of her other foods and I think it will take some time for her to adjust. We are going to try it baked (possibly tomorrow as a family meal!!!) and see how that goes. Here is the recipe!

B's Happy Mackie Roni (and CHEESE!!!)
1 1/2 cup Daiya cheddar cheese (see the commercial products page)
1 cup Unsweetened Original Hemp Milk (or other safe milk)
2 tbsp of Earth's Best Soy Free Buttery Spread OR 2tbsp canola with a pinch of salt
1 lb cooked quinoa pasta elbows or corn pasta sea shells (we like the corn tubettini)

In a medium saucepan, heat milk on med to med low heat. Add the "butter" or canola, stirring regularly so as to not allow mixture to separate much. Add cheese gradually (1/4-1/2 cup at a time, waiting for it to fully melt before adding more) and continue to stir sauce frequently. Allow sauce to thicken to desired consistency. Prepare pasta according to box directions and personal preference. Once pasta has been cooked and drained, pour sauce over pasta and mix well.

Alternately, you could try a nice baked mac and cheese. Prepare the sauce in the same way but cook the pasta only to "al dente" so that the noodles stand up well to baking. Lightly oil a glass or ceramic baking dish, preheat the oven to 350, and once sauce and pasta are prepared, layer them into the baking dish. Bake for 35-45 minutes (depending on your oven) or until cheese sauce is bubbly. 10 minutes or so before the mac and cheese is done, sprinkle some remain shreds of cheese on top. If your LO has any safe cracker or bread, try sprinkling cracker or dried bread crumbs over the mac and cheese before baking for a little added fun.

And for more fun and mostly healthiness. . . throw in some veggies! If your LO has any safe veggies, this is a great way to incorporate them! We will be throwing some spinach into our baked mac and cheese, but you could also sneak in some pureed carrots or squash to the sauce (if safe for your little one of course!!!) or chop up some safe veggies to blend in like a casserole.

Keep posted for: I will be trying this cheese sauce with other "casserole" type dishes. How does quinoa, cheese and veggie casserole sound? Perhaps those of you with safe meats could throw in some diced meat to the casserole? FPIES freezer foods seem to be on the horizon! Watch out! More recipes will be coming your way since we now have a permanent home, and a fully equipped permanent kitchen and a spunky little toddler B who is set to conquer new foods! Happy eating and happy cooking!!!!

9-20-10
Need an alternative to peanut butter and tired of reading about possible soy contamination on the sunflower seed butter labels? Search no further! This is a very delicious recipe for hemp seed butter. Be on the look out for pectin free jelly!

Hemp Seed Butter
1 cup of shelled hemp seeds (plus 1 tbsp oil)
2 Tbsp canola oil
3/8 tsp. salt (optional)
1/2 tsp. sugar (optional)

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees (F). Spread one cup of hemp seeds out on a cookie sheet and drizzle with the 1 tbsp of canola oil. Roast for 20-25 minutes, stirring halfway through the baking to ensure seeds are evenly roasted. Allow roasted seeds to cool.

In a food processor, grind hemp seeds into a fine powder/paste. Add in remaining canola oil one tbsp at a time (2 tbsp created a nicely creamy butter, but you may want a little more or a little less). Add salt and sugar gradually, to taste.

Store in a sealed container and refrigerate. This makes about 3.5 oz of butter.

I was so happy with this recipe! It was spoon-lickin' good!

5 comments:

  1. I love the new recipes!! I know we've talked about subbing different foods for the banana, my question is, how much should I use? I want to use pumpkin in the merry muffins. I used 1 cup, but think it was too much. Do you have any suggestions for a measureable amount? Thanks! Rebecca

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  2. Try using 1/4 cup for each egg. Pumpkin is pretty dense (so it will bake nicely I am sure!) so you might need to tweak beyond that, but 1/4 cup per egg (or 1/4 cup per medium banana) should be sufficient. Have fun and let me know how it goes!!!!! It is great to be able to sneak veggies into recipes this way!

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  3. Hey! I noticed you were from mass! I am in southern nh. I would love to get together! This page is awesome! My son Evan is now 30 months old and has fpies to dairy soy rice oats and does great with corn and coconut products and other things. My email is Hargreavesjen1@gmail.com and I have a blog about our journey at fpiesforevan.blogspot.com. hope to hear from you!

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  4. Hi Amanda, I tried using quinoa flour for the first time and the taste was so awfully metallic. We can eat wheat so I was thinking if I could mix the quinoa flour with wheat flour. I really need to come up with some kind of cupcake for his birthday that is coming up in two weeks. We have no safe milk to bake :(
    Thank you for you help and I hope you and your girls are doing great and adjusting to your new routine!

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  5. Thanks for thinking of us! :) Ugh, yes quinoa flour can have a strong taste. Personally, I prefer to use the flakes when doing a flour blend-- they still pack a good nutritional punch but they have a milder flavor. Use flakes in the same amount as you would use flour! Also, depending on how industrious you are feeling (haha), you can make quinoa milk in a pinch. The key to quinoa flour, etc is finding a strong flavor to complement it. Here is a link for the quinoa milk if you want to check it out-- http://www.food.com/recipe/quinoa-milk-385896. If you do a combo of wheat and quinoa flour, I would do no more than 1/3 of the total flour as quinoa and then the rest as wheat. (If it calls for 1 1/2 cups flour, you would do 1/2cup of quinoa flour or quinoa flakes and then 1 cup of wheat flour. My fav wheat flour is King Arthur's white wheat-- nice flavor!) Have fun, good luck, and I am sure the bday boy will be thrilled with whatever cake his determined mama makes! I really do think our kiddos appreciate the crazy efforts we make!

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