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)

YUCK!

Note to self: writing recipes is HARD. Of course this happens more often than not when we decide to throw the entire left-over contents of our refrigerator into the mix… Not only will we never learn, but we may never attempt greatness with the almighty FILO again. FAIL — but fun, nonetheless.

Unfortunately (or fortunately — depends on your poison) for us, we haven’t learned our lesson yet and continue to attempt to make egg recipes with the major and minor replacements.  In this case — Ener-G Egg Replacer was our victim of choice and Popovers were the target.

Ener-G Egg Replacer – Equivalent of 2 eggs
FLOUR – 1 Cup
BAKING POWDER – 2 Teaspoons
KOSHER SALT – 1 Teaspoon
SOY MILK – 1 Cup
CANOLA OIL – 1 Tablespoon

You will need: Measuring tools; 2 Mixing Bowls (one small & one medium); Wire Whisk; Spatula; Popover or Muffin Tin

Grease your popover or muffin tin and preheat the oven to 425 degrees. In the small bowl, mix together the egg replacer — you will see that it has the same consistency as egg whites. In the medium bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and then mix in the soy milk, oil and egg replacer. Stir it all together so that there aren’t any flour lumps and then spoon the mixture into the greased tin about half way per cup.

Bake for about 30 minutes until the tops are golden brown.

Unfortunately (or fortunately — again, is the glass half full or are you taking this too seriously?) The popovers are not popovers… instead they are more like mini faux egg muffins… Smaller, they barely rise to “popover” the edge of the baking tin AND although they have the light fluffy interior consistency  — they are not hollow, which is a definite quality of the true popover. Also, having once been a regular egg eater, I could taste the egg replacement — which was a little strange. All things aside, however — eaten as a popover, with a little spread of soy butter — they are quite delicious…

And the NOSH – Did Will eat it? No. Despite having a good time making them — Absolutely not. In fact, he told us that they were “disgusting” without even attempting to try them… We think we may have hit a wall here in the 3 year old tasting arena… regardless of the proper use of the word, “disgusting”. On the other hand, however, we were quick to finish them off so we aren’t ashamed to steal a few bonus points for the team.

Rolled Oats – 1 Cup
Sunflower Seeds – 1/2 Cup (unsalted)
Flour – 1 1/4 Cup
Soy Margarine – One Stick or 4 oz., Cubed
Orange Zest – Grated skin of one orange
Orange Juice – 2 Tablespoons
Light Brown Sugar – 1 Cup
Maple Syrup – 1 Tablespoon
Honey – 1 Tablespoon

You will need – Mixing Bowl; Measuring tools; Rubber Spatula; Grater for zesting; Sauce Pan; Spoon; Baking Sheets; Parchment paper.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a couple of baking sheets with Parchment paper. (Side note: I have mentioned our disdain for Parchment paper before.. but until something better is invented, it really is the best way to prevent your cookies from overcooking or melting before they have a chance to cook.) Once your sheets are ready (relax!), place the oats, sunflower seeds and flour into your bowl — mix together until combined and then set aside. Zest the orange directly into your saucepan, and then squeeze as much orange juice out of the fruit as you can. If you need a little more, supplement to make 2 tablespoons with store bought juice. Add the juice, brown sugar, maple syrup, honey and margarine into the saucepan and then heat on low until melted.

Pour the butter mixture over the dried ingredients in the mixing bowl and stir together with your spatula until combined. Place heaping spoonfuls of the mixture onto the baking sheets and then bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown… cool and then taste!

And the NOSH – Did Will eat it? YES! We are pleased to announce another success… But then again, when Crispy combines with Chewy, Sweet AND tangy, who can resist!?!?

Apples – 6, peeled, cored & chopped into small cubes — No seeds!
Lemon Juice – 2 Tablespoons
Light Brown Sugar – 1 1/4 Cups
Sugar – 1/4 Cup
Cinnamon – 2 Teaspoons
Raisins – 1/2 Cup
Soy Margarine – 1/2 Cup cubed
Flour – 1/2 Cup
Rolled Oats – 1 Cup
Non-Dairy Cooking Spray

You will need – 2 Mixing Bowls; Knife for peeling & coring –watch little fingers!; Measuring tools; Spoon; Rubber Spatula; 9×13″ baking dish

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and spray your baking dish with the non-dairy cooking spray, set aside.
In one mixing bowl, combine chopped apples with the lemon juice, brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon and raisins. Pour the mixture into the baking dish.

In the other bowl, stir together soy margarine, flour and oats until the mix becomes crumbly — you may find that it will be easier to get a little messy and use your fingers at this point. Pour the margarine mixture over the apples in the baking dish and bake for about 45 minutes or until the top is golden and bubbly (yum!).

And the NOSH – Did Will eat it? Well, we had high hopes. At first, he was eating all of the apples — then he was eating the mix before we added the margarine, but once we baked everything combined he wouldn’t have anything to do with the Crisp… The rest of us, however, were more than happy to polish off every sweet bite!

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!

WATER – 1 Cup
ORGANIC SOY MILK – 2 Cups
VEGETABLE OIL – 6 Tablespoons
VANILLA – 1/2 Teaspoon
ALL PURPOSE FLOUR – 3 Cups
BAKING POWDER – 6 Teaspoons
GRANULATED SUGAR – 4 Teaspoons
SALT – 1 Teaspoon
CINNAMON – Quick Dash
FROZEN BLUEBERRIES – 1 Cup

You will need: Measuring tools; 2 Mixing Bowls; Wire Whisk; Waffle Iron, farm animals optional; Spatula; Non-dairy Cooking Spray; Organic Soy Butter or Organic Soy Margarine; Maple syrup (yum).

In a bowl, combine the water, soy milk, vegetable oil and vanilla and mix with a wire whisk. In another bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients and then pour into the first bowl and mix. Pour the frozen blueberries into the mix and give it a light stir– you don’t want to wake them up too much. Spray your waffle iron with the Non-dairy cooking spray and then turn it on to heat. Please note that not all waffle irons are the same, so check out the instructions before turning yours on.

Carefully pour the batter into the waffle iron and cook accordingly.

And the NOSH – Did Will eat it? Yes… yes he did. He ate it from his plate with Soy Butter and Maple Syrup, AND he ate bites out of one that he held in his hand. Success, my friends, is as sweet if not sweeter than blueberries.