Will is currently at an amazing Preschool that practices a nut-free environment. We are extremely grateful that we don’t have to worry about his exposure to peanuts or tree-nuts, but that only covers two of Will’s six food allergies. And since we are understanding and aware that we cannot ask an entire community to discount cow’s milk, eggs, bananas and strawberries so as to accommodate one child, we have become more involved with the activities in the classroom. Today the class was baking white bread.

When I saw the activity on the calendar, I requested a copy of the bread recipe a few days before they were scheduled to bake. In this case, the white bread recipe was extremely simple and therefore not hard at all to modify so that Will could participate in the project. I then stayed up late last night to bake and make sure that the result was edible — Will has had a cold these past few days and wasn’t really up for baking, not to mention that he is not a bread fan and so I doubted his interest to do this at home… At school, however, I didn’t want him to be left out or set aside to avoid exposure to the dairy products.To my surprise, the bread was delicious, and the replacement items were so easy that I decided to send him into school with the alternate ingredients.

Makes 2 Loaves of White Bread

Active Yeast Packets – 2
Warm Water – 1/4 Cup
White Flour – 4-5 Cups
Sugar – 2 Tablespoons
Salt – 2 Teaspoons
Baking Powder – 2 Teaspoons
TO REPLACE BUTTERMILK: Soy Milk – 2 Cups + Apple Cider Vinegar – 2 Tablespoons Combined
TO REPLACE BUTTER OR MARGARINE: 4 Tablespoons Soy Margarine
Non-Dairy Cooking Spray to Grease your pans

You will need: measuring tools; 2 small mixing bowls; 1 large mixing bowl; wire whisk; rubber spatula; 2 bread pans

In a small mixing bowl, dissolve the active yeast in the warm water and then whisk 4 1/2 cups of flour plus the rest of the dried ingredients together in your large mixing bowl. In another bowl, combine the soy milk and apple cider vinegar. Add the yeast and soy mixtures to the flour and then knead while adding more flour as needed until you can form two loaves. Grease your pans, add the dough and then set in a warm place for 45 minutes to rise.

Bake at 400° for 20-25 minutes.

And the NOSH – Did Will eat it? No. He didn’t eat it here at home and he told his teacher that we is waiting until he’s a grownup before he ever eats bread. Because, you know, eating bread is so mature, right?

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• Will’s Kitchen Blog (rysalcreative.com)

This is a simple Focaccia Bread combined with almost overly ripe tomatoes and shredded basil. The result is a very sweet bread that takes almost no time to make.

Rapid Rise Highly Active Yeast – 1 package
Warm Water – 1 1/2 Cups
Olive Oil – 4 Tablespoons divided
Basil leaves – 1/2 Cup
Kosher Salt – 1 Tablespoon
Flour – 1 1/4 Cups
Black Pepper – To Taste
Ripe Tomatoes – several

You will need: Measuring Cups & Spoons; 2 small to medium mixing bowls; Wire Whisk; Rubber Spatula; Plastic Wrap; Pizza Pan

Start by emptying the Yeast package into the warm water, whisk and then add in 2 Tablespoons of the Olive Oil — save the other two for later and then set the liquid mixture aside.

Start shredding up the basil — This is where Will comes in with his very dull knife and begins the shredding process. Once the basil is cutup, he starts cutting and mashing the ripe tomatoes…. Since the tomato juices tend to make the Focaccia Bread a little soggy, it is OK for him to crush the fruit… The end result, although not concentric, will have a very rustic look.

While your son and/or daughter is busy with tomatoes, mix together the shredded basil, salt and flour and stir with the wire whisk. Once the dried ingredients are combined, add in the liquid mixture and stir the dough until it forms a ball in the mixing bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size (about 45 minutes — a good amount of time to clean up the tomato mess).

After the dough has risen, preheat your oven to 425° and brush one tablespoon of the olive oil onto your pizza pan, and then smooth the dough out onto the pan. Sprinkle a little more salt and the black pepper over the dough and then let it rise again, this time for about 20 minutes. After it has reached a reasonable height (we prefer about 1 1/2 inches) lay out the tomatoes and any extra basil that you may have and then bake for about 20 minutes or until the edges are a golden brown.

And the NOSH – Did Will eat it? No… no he didn’t. But he did say he would try some later… we still seem to be waiting for that.

To get back into the groove we’ve started out with an easy one — Corn Bread… Basically our Corn Muffin recipe in a 9×9″ pan. Easy, quick and yummy!

Check back soon for new stuff, if this weather continues — we might just write a book!

It’s been too hot to cook or bake these days, which has resulted in a bit of a hiatus for Will’s Kitchen… The fun thing is that when the weather happens to break, we have all these fresh ingredients from our gardens to work with! Here are our “Best Blueberry Muffins Ever” with one cup of Blueberries replaced with one cup of freshly picked raspberries… we were able to whip these up during a thunderstorm. Check back when the summer turns to fall — we have tons of awesome recipes to try!

Bread is not an easy food to accomplish. Most of our attempts have not only taken too long, trying the 2-year-old’s patience, but in many cases the dough never rose to the occasion — making for hard bricks of flour. This recipe was simple AND we were done with the actual preparation in less than 20 minutes — just enough time to make the experience fun!

Adapted from The Complete Book of Breads by Bernard Clayton, Jr.

For One Loaf:
Whole Wheat Flour – 3 Cups
Sugar – 1/4 Cup
Salt – 1/2 Tablespoon
Dry Wheat Yeast – 2 Packages
Hot Water – 1 1/2 Cups

You will need – Mixing Bowl; Measuring tools; Whisk; Rubber Spatula; 9×5″ Bread Pan, greased; wax paper

In your mixing bowl, whisk together the Wheat Flour, Sugar, Salt and Yeast. Pour in the water and stir 50 Strokes to blend with the spatula and add to the bread pan. Wet your fingers so that the dough doesn’t stick to you and push the batter into the corners and smooth it out. Cover with wax paper and put in a warm place to rise — approximately 30 minutes until the batter has doubled in volume.

Who knew that a few blueberry muffins would push us over the edge!

Flour – 2 Cups
Salt – 1/2 Teaspoon
Baking Powder – 3 Tablespoons
Sugar – 1/2 Cup
Applesauce – 1/2 Cup (good idea to have more on hand for snacking)
Canola Oil – 1/4 Cup
Soy Milk – 3/4 Cup
Apple Cider Vinegar – 1 Teaspoon
Frozen Blueberries – 2 Cups

You will need – 2 Mixing Bowls; Spoon; Rubber Spatula; Muffin Tin

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and combine the Flour, Salt, Baking Powder and Sugar in a mixing bowl. Before combining the rest of the ingredients, you might want to offer your son or daughter some applesauce… you know, just to see what happens… Then mix together the Applesauce, Canola Oil, Soy Milk and Apple Cider Vinegar in the 2nd bowl. Pour the liquid mixture into the dried and stir with your spatula until fluffy — almost marshmellow-like. Please note that we don’t use a mixer to stir this all together because you don’t want to over-mix it. If it becomes to creamy.. the results could be rather heavy.

Carefully fold the Frozen Blueberries into the mix and spoon into the muffin tin. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Light, sweet and — while we pat ourselves on the back — DELICIOUS!

And the NOSH – Did Will eat it? YES YES YES!!! Not only did he eat the muffins, but he commented that he liked them. BUT THAT’s NOT ALL… Midway through the mixing process he was playing with the applesauce when he asked for a spoon, started eating it and then ASKED FOR MORE! He hasn’t eaten anything with a creamy texture since he was teenie tiny! We are over the top here people… Like spaceship over the top!

Gomasio – 1 1/2 Tablespoons
Black Pepper – 2 Teaspoons
Dried Basil – 1 Teaspoon
Garlic Salt – 1 Teaspoon
Panko – 1/4 Cup
Honey – 1 Tablespoon
Dijon Mustard (egg free) – 1 Tablespoon
Worcestershire Sauce – 1/2 Tablespoon
Low fat Ground Turkey – 1 package

You will need: 2 Mixing bowls – medium & small ; Spoon; Plate; Grill or Skillet

In the small mixing bowl, combine the dried ingredients – Gomasio, Pepper, Basil, Garlic Salt and Panko and set aside. In the medium bowl, combine the Honey, Mustard, Worcestershire Sauce (say that 10 times fast) and stir. Pour the dried ingredients into the Honey mixture and stir until clumpy. Before you add the ground turkey, grab a couple of paper towels to have on the side should you need your hands for something else, and prepare your plate for the burger patties. Using your hands, fold the turkey into the mixture and knead until combined.

After you have everything mixed together, I like to form the turkey into 4 equal balls and then divide those in two to make 8 equal burger patties. Using your skillet or grill, make sure to cook the burgers through — raw bird is not that appetizing… at least not for us. Now – you can eat these yummy, moist patties on their own or with a slider roll — make sure to read the bread ingredients, however, as most you will find in the typical bread aisle will contain milk or eggs. Try the freshly baked section — the bonus is that not only is the bread more fresh — it is usually less expensive too. We like saving money… it makes us feel accomplished.

And the NOSH – Did Will eat it? He wouldn’t eat the burger in sandwich form…. but once we broke it into pieces he had a few bites… again, making us feel rather accomplished.

We can only hope that Will should never be so serious.

FLOUR – 2 Cups
BAKING POWDER – 1 Tablespoon
SUGAR – 1 Teaspoon
KOSHER SALT – 1 Tablespoon Divided
SOY MILK – 3/4 Cup
DAIRY FREE MARGARINE – 1/2 Stick
ONION – 3 Tablespoons Diced
GARLIC SALT – 1/2 Teaspoon
OREGANO – 1/2 Teaspoon

You will need: Measuring tools; 1 Mixing Bowl; Wire Whisk; Spatula; Rolling Pin; Plastic Cups or Biscuit Cutter; Pie Plate; Knife for cutting & dicing – keep away from little hands

Preheat your oven to 375°

In your mixing bowl, combine Flour, Baking Powder, Sugar, one teaspoon of the Kosher salt and stir with the wire whisk. Slowly pour the Soy Milk into the mixture, stirring with the spatula until the dough comes together. The dough should not be super sticky. Lightly flour your work area and roll the dough out. Knead (or in Will’s case punch) the dough for about a minute or two until soft and then roll it with your rolling pin until it is approximately 1/4-1/2″ thick. Take your 1/2 stick of margarine and lightly grease the pie plate.

Using your plastic cup or biscuit cutter start to cut out rounds of the dough–We use a plastic cup because the dough is thick and dense and the cup allows us to apply more pressure. Once the rounds are complete, cut them into quarters and add them to the pie plate — a little crowding is okay… even though Will hates elevators.

Melt the Dairy Free Margarine and brush over the plated dough triangles. Add the Onion, Garlic Salt, Oregano and the remaining Kosher Salt and put’em in the oven for about 25-30 minutes or until a little golden.

And the NOSH – Did Will eat it? Yes. After I ate about 1/2 the plate he caught on that the lumps were something just shy of heaven… I kid you not.

WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR – 1 Cup
NUTRITIONAL YEAST – 1 Cup
SALT – 1 Teaspoon
BLACK PEPPER – 1 Teaspoon
DAIRY FREE MARGARINE – 1/4 Cup
WATER – 1 Cup
ALL PURPOSE FLOUR – Up to 2 Cups

You will need: Measuring tools; 1 Mixing Bowl; Wire Whisk; Spatula; Rolling Pin; Parchment Paper; Cookie Sheets; Cookie cutters

Preheat your oven to 350°. Combine all of the dried ingredients except for the All Purpose Flour in the mixing bowl and stir with the wire whisk. With the spatula, stir in the margarine until the batter starts to form into little chunks. Slowly add the water until the batter becomes sticky but pulls away from the bowl and spatula. If it seems too sticky, throw in pinches of the All Purpose Flour until it becomes more solid. Place the dough (in the bowl) into your freezer for a few minutes while you prepare your cookie sheets.

Parchment paper can be a pain in the youknowwhat, but it makes cleaning up much easier. Line each cookie sheet with the paper and then flour up your work area and start to roll out the dough until about 1/4″ thick. Using cookie cutters, cut out the crackers for baking. Add more All Purpose Flour if the dough is still sticky. Bake them for about 15 minutes for chewy (Will’s preference) and no more than 20 minutes for crunchy. Keep them in a plastic bag for a few days – after about a week they will most likely not be edible.

And the NOSH – Did Will eat it? Absolutely!