At the end of April we were blessed and overjoyed to welcome Will’s baby sister Josephine into our family. So, while not everything has changed, we had to take a break from Will’s Kitchen for a while, but we are happy to say that we are back on our game — the allergen free game, of course. And while we hope that you didn’t miss us too much, we have still been cooking egg, dairy and nut free while following our routines of keeping up with all things allergic…. we just haven’t had the time to share. Moving forward, we hope to be checking in more frequently, but may not be able to on a weekly basis.. Here’s what’s been going on lately:

• Right before Josephine was born (and I mean like the day before) Will and I did take the time to make Sweet Potato Biscuits from The Kitchn, pictured above (sans Maple Butter)… Although the biscuits were tasty, they were rather heavy so we are working on changing the recipe to be a little less filling… And The NOSH – Did Will Eat It? Yes!

• Will had a visit with a new Allergist that offered us some alternative thoughts on our situation. I wrote a silly blog post over at For the Birds, from a parental perspective… We are still discussing where we go from here in terms of the new advice…
• Since April, we have continued making several of our favorite recipes — Corn Bread, Chocolate Chip Cookies, AND – with the garden fresh basil – lots and lots of PESTO…
• We are super excited about trying out this Cinnamon Sugar Radish Chip recipe [the kitchn] and really appreciated the idea of Avocado and Olives Bruschetta from A Scientist in the Kitchen (who knew!)…
• AND, Will’s Dad and I made these Pork Chops with Magic Dust [Serious Eats] last night — YUMMY, although I do recommend cutting the recipe in half even for 4 chops as there was a lot of spice wasted… although Will would never try this at 3 years of age, it still counts as dairy, egg and nut free!

AND because the internet is all knowing, a few other links on allergies include:

• Allergy Girl comes out of her shell [Wall Street Journal]
• Another Nut-Free Mom has some advice on traveling with allergies [The Nut-Free Mom Blog]
• Introducing Milk through baked goods may help fight the milk allergy [Private MD Labs]

Related articles

• Easy, Food Allergy Friendly Dutch Oven Camping Recipes (thefoodallergymom.wordpress.com)
• Outgrowing Allergies (everydayhealth.com)
• The Best Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe. Ever. (momsvegankitchen.com)

It’s still summer! Which means that we have a plethora of tomatoes! Either from our own garden or from our neighbors, we have more arriving everyday — And, since it’s still a little too hot to bake anything, we’ve been busy crushing…

This recipe makes approximately 2 Cups of Tomato Broth

Cherry Tomatoes  – approximately 2 pints (do not use green tomatoes)
Basil – 1 Tablespoon Chopped
Garlic  Cloves – 3 Crushed
Dried Oregano – 2 Tablespoons
Extra Virgin Olive Oil – 1/4 Cup
Salt to taste

You will need – Measuring tools; Tomato Crusher; Skillet; Spoon; Pot (for cooking pasta); Strainer

This recipe is really so simple…
1. Crush the tomatoes – discard the skins and reserve the liquid
2. Crush the garlic and chop the basil — cook over low heat in the skillet until it starts to crisp up… add the other ingredients along with the tomato broth, and simmer.
3. Cook your pasta — for this we choose Dischi, which kinda has the shape of an elephant ear… Not that anyone would want to eat an elephant ear — but Will thought the idea was hilarious.

Serve the broth over the pasta and season to taste. The broth is light and sinks into the pasta quickly which also makes for a very nice dish as a leftover…

And the NOSH – Did Will eat it? This is where the leftover tip comes in handy… Will didn’t want to eat it the first night — he said “No, I’m not gonna like it..” but I suspect he was just too tired from all the tomato crushing… The next night, however, with the broth all soaked up into the pasta, he ate it and actually said, “I love this pasta.” which was nice until he also said that he loved the fork… We are working on our definitions.

This recipe makes approximately 2 Cups of Pesto

Basil – 3 packed Cups
Unsalted Sun Flower Seeds – 1/2 Cup
Garlic  Cloves – 3 Crushed
Dried Parsley – 1/4 Cup
Extra Virgin Olive Oil – 1/2 Cup
Soy Butter – 2 (generous) Tablespoons, Melted
Salt to taste

You will need – Measuring tools; Rubber Spatula; Food Processor; Grinder (we use an old coffee bean grinder)

Using your food processor, chop up the basil until it is finely cut and then grind up the sunflower seeds until they turn to dust — mix together in the food processor and then add the other ingredients. Blend until the mixture has a consistency to your liking. We found that the creaminess of the soy butter was an excellent replacement for regular butter and parmesan cheese, while the sunflowers replaced the usual pine nuts.

And the NOSH – Did Will eat it? No… Although he enjoyed making the pesto, he pretty much soured at the idea of putting it in his mouth… It is nice to know that we have this recipe for him for future attempts, however, because the rest of us all agreed that it tastes just like the real thing!

First of all, his recipe is all about peanuts and spice — clearly both traits not in-tune with Will’s current allergies and tastes.. But we were certainly up for the task — and Anders’ recipe sounded so delicious, that we started searching for ways to modify the dish. It was in April’s 2010 issue of Body+ Soul (a Martha Stewart Publication) that we found Cold Peanut Noodles… Here is what what we started with:

Anders’ Thai Tofu Stir-Fry with Spicy Peanut Sauce
Extra Firm Tofu – 1 Block
Chunky Peanut Butter – 1/2 Cup
Water – 1/2 Cup
Soy or Tamari Sauce – 2 Tablespoons
Sherry – 1 Tablespoon
Lemon Juice – 1 Teaspoon
Brown Sugar – 1 Tablespoon
Peanut or Coconut or Vegetable Oil – 2 Tablespoons
Garlic – 2-4 Cloves, minced
Crushed Red Pepper – 1-3 Tablespoons
Stir Fry Veggies – 3-4 Cups — Anders uses broccoli, sugar snap peas, water chestnuts, baby corn, bok choy, red peppers and carrots
Chili Thai Sauce – 1-2 Tablespoons

Martha’s Cold Peanut Noodles
Whole Wheat Spaghetti – 1/2 lb.
Natural Creamy Peanut Butter – 1/2 Cup
Low-Sodium Soy Sauce – 2 Teaspoons
Toasted Sesame Oil – 1 Teaspoon
Chile Garlic Paste – 1 1/2 Teaspoons
Garlic – 1 Teaspoon, grated or minced
Sugar -1/2 Teaspoon
Water  – 1/2 Cup
Served with shredded Bok Choy and Carrots dressed with soy sauce, rice vinegar, and a little toasted sesame oil. Season with salt.

Here is what we did to make this dish kid friendly and peanut free:

Anders & Martha Inspired Soy Nut Noodles
Whole Wheat Linguine – 1 package
Creamy Soy Nut Butter – 1/2 Cup
Chunky Soy Nut Butter – 1/2 Cup
Water – 1/2 Cup
Light Soy Sauce – 2 Tablespoons
Lemon Juice – 1 Teaspoon
Canola Oil – 1 Tablespoon
Garlic – 3 Cloves Crushed
Gomasio – 1 Tablespoon
Sugar – 1/2 Teaspoon
Served with Shaved Carrots, Daikon Radish and Snow Peas

First, we cooked our pasta according to the package directions and then let it drain and cool. Then we combined all the ingredients and until smooth and then mixed it in with the noodles. We decided to keep all Chili ingredients out of the recipe as well as the Tofu — Will is very specific about how he likes his Tofu, and we didn’t want to scare him off. To compensate for the lack of heat in the dish, we added some shaved Diakon Radish, which has a bit of a bite to it.

And the NOSH – Did Will eat it? Well, he ate pieces of the dish on it’s own… the carrot shaving, soy nut butter, snow peas, pasta… but once we threw it all in a bowl together he wouldn’t have anything to do with it… We did, however, serve it to guests for dinner and it was a huge hit! Thanks Anders (and Martha)!