November is almost half over!

Time continues to fly.  Taylor is doing well in preschool and we have had no issues with him being able to eat his foods safely.  I am very grateful for that.  I continue to find recipes that work for our food allergies and shelf stable foods that allow Taylor to eat similar foods to other kids. "Back to Nature" has several crackers and cookies that meet all Taylor's requirements.  He loves their Crispy Cheddar crackers.  Trader Joe's has Golden Rounds Crackers that are soy free.  These were a great find by my mother!  Trader Joe's doesn't have very many products that are soy free, but there are a few and we have been glad that they opened one here in Salt Lake City.

I hope that some of my recipes will help another Mother who struggles like me to find the right kind of food to feed her family.

This is a link that talks about soy allergies.  I found it very helpful.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/soy-allergy/DS00970/DSECTION=symptoms

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

3/4 lb extra lean ground beef
1/2 C minced onon
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 (8oz) cans tomato sauce
2 (6oz) cans tomato paste
1/2 C water
2 TBSP sugar
1 1/2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black peper

Cook the ground beef with the onions in a large pot.  I like to add salt/pepper/onion powder when cooking the meat too.  When the meat is almost done and the garlic cloves.
Stir in tomato sauce, tomato paste, water, and seasonings.  Cover and bring to a simmer.  Turn down heat and keep a simmer for 30 minutes-1 hour, depending on how much time you have, stirring occasionally.  The longer you cook, the thicker it will get.

Delicious Soy & Egg Free Chocolate Cake adapted from Hershey's "'perfectly chocolate' chocolate cake"

2 C sugar
1 3/4 C all purpose flour
3/4 C Hershey's cocoa
1 tsp baking powder(always check to see if it is soy free)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 TBSP flaxseed + 4 TBSP water
1 C milk
1/2 C canola oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 C boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9x13 pan with butter and then flour it. Mix flaxseed and water in a small bowl and allow it to sit for a couple minutes.

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
Add flaxseed/water combination, milk, oil, and vanilla.
Mix with a hand mixer for 2 minutes. Then stir in boiling water(batter will be thin).
Pour into 9x13 pan.

Bake 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Let cool.

Hershey's "'Perfectly Chocolate' chocolate frosting

1/2 C. butter (1 stick)
2/3 C Hershey's cocoa
3 C powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Melt butter, then stir in cocoa.  Alternately add powdered sugar and milk and beat with a wire whisk.  Add vanilla and mix.  Spread over cooled cake.

This cake can be made in two 9" round pans and bake for 30-35 minutes, in a bundt cake(make sure you grease it very well with butter then flour) for 50-55 minutes, and cupcakes for 22-25 minutes(make sure to only fill muffin tins 1/2-2/3(no more).

This is my husbands favorite cake.

Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup(replacing the canned stuff)

There are many recipes that call for a can of condensed cream of chicken soup.  This works perfectly as a substitute. I double this when I make funeral potato casserole.

2 TBSP butter
2 TBSP flour
1 C Swanson's chicken broth, lower sodium version
2 oz light cream cheese, softened
salt & pepper to taste

Melt the butter, then stir in the flour to make your roux.  Then slowly whisk in the broth.  When that is warmed through, stir in the cream cheese.  Season as desired and let come to a boil for 1-2 minutes to thicken.

**I also add onion powder, or Italian seasonings, etc depending on what dish I am making.

Taylor is now in Preschool

Taylor began his first year of preschool last week and we both survived!  He had fun and I learned that he would be safe there and not have an allergic reaction.  It has been a little stressful trying to plan and make sure that not only the teacher, but the parents and other children understand that Taylor has to be very careful what he eats and touches.  I was so glad for the great support of his teacher and willingness of the other parents to understand.  I have been able to convince Taylor that he needs to try a few other types of store bought foods that I can leave a preschool for him to eat at snack time when the snacks for the day aren't something he can eat.  He is doing pretty well.

Taylor continues to improve and seems so much healthier as he continues to stay soy free especially.  It seems to affect his bowels almost immediately.  I am so grateful that we had him tested.  It has made his life much happier to not have to struggle with going to the bathroom all the time.  I am grateful to have less laundry to do.

Life is good and I am grateful that the first week of preschool went so smoothly.  Now that we are back to a "normal" routine, I am finding time to blog again and try more experiments in the kitchen(which I really love to do).  And our journey continues.

Soy and Egg Free Pancakes

1 C flour

1 TBSP sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 C milk

2 TBSP canola oil

1. In a medium sized bowl, whisk with a fork the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  

2. Add milk and oil and mix with a fork or a wire whisk until combined and most lumps are gone.

3. Spoon small amounts of the batter onto a non-stick electric griddle at 350 degrees or in a non-stick pan over medium heat.  The pancake is ready to flip when sides are cooked and center has bubbles coming through.

Yield is about 16 small pancakes.  

**Taylor loves these.  I finally found how to tweak a pancake recipe to his enjoyment.

Soy and Egg Free Molasses Crinkles

13 TBSP Butter, softened
1 C Brown sugar
1 TBSP flaxseed + 2 TBSP water(mix together in separate bowl for a few minutes before adding)
1/4 C molasses(or slightly less)
2 1/2 C flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cloves
1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger

1/3 C sugar(or more as needed for rolling dough balls in)

1.  In a separate bowl mix together flour, salt, baking soda, cloves, cinnamon, and ginger.  Set aside.
2.  Cream butter and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl.
3.  Add flaxseed/water combination and molasses.  Mix.
4.  Add half of the flour mixture and mix.  Then add the rest and mix again.
5.  Using a small sized pampered chef scoop, scoop balls of dough and then roll them in your bowl of sugar. 6.  Place on an ungreased cookie sheet.  I always use two cookie sheets at a time and rotate the position of 7.  the sheets from the two rack positions(on right above the middle and on right below) half way through.
8.  Bake at 350 degrees for 9 minutes (or cook for 5 minutes first then rotate sheets and cook 4 more                minutes) Yield is about 52 small cookies.
9.  Cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute before removing to a cooling rack.