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?

Related articles

• Will’s Kitchen Blog (rysalcreative.com)

The decision to purchase the Donut Maker required very little thought… Will has been asking to try donuts for a while and none of our local bakers seem to fly without eggs. We also checked the shelves at our grocery stores, but the ingredients were all over the place — cow’s milk, milk fats, eggs, peanut facilities. I investigated recipes for making donuts — all requiring frying, which is delicious, but not really fun for Will when it comes to participating. Buying the appliance was a must — And our first attempt to bake was FUN, the donuts come out mini, perfect for Will sized hands. Not to mention, they were yummy and only took 15 minutes as baking time with the Donut Maker is only 3-5 minutes! Winners, ALL AROUND!

For our trial run, we borrowed a donut recipe from Vegan Yum•Yum. If you haven’t been to this blog, you must go there immediately…. Or in a few minutes when we’re finished with our donuts. The recipe calls for:

Dry Ingredients:
1 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp (scant) Nutmeg
1 tiny pinch or shake Cinnamon

Wet Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Soymilk
1/2 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
Egg Replacer for 1 Egg
4 Tbs Earth Balance

We plan to move on from here — chocolate donuts, jelly… And I’d like to find an egg substitute that doesn’t require an egg replacer… WHO KNOWS, we may just be onto something here!

And the NOSH – Did Will eat it? YES! He loved them. The only thing was that he saw the recipe at Vegan Yum•Yum with sprinkles and he then required them… Not really what we had planned in the health foods department, but it’s all a work in progress!

PS. Many thanks to babycakes for a stellar appliance!!

• This week in Will’s Kitchen we’ve made Sesame Chicken Nuggets and Falafels…
• We are looking forward to converting this Sweet Potato Biscuit recipe from The Kitchn (sans maple butter) as well as these yummy Papas Rellenas (potato balls stuffed with ground beef) from La Cocina de Nathan, which we found through Oh Joy… If you have any recipes that you would like for us to try, please send them on over!

OTHER LINKS this week include:

• Food without fear [Time Out Chicago] — Allergen Free Friendly Restaurants in Chicago!
• Mt. Airy Retailer finds Niche as Food Allergies Increase – [Newsworks] (Philadelphia)
• Australia is Food Allergy Capital of the World [Topnews]
• Food Allergy Affects 12 Million U.S. Kids [UPI]

Related articles

• Daring Cook’s: Papas Rellenas (kitchenmisfit.wordpress.com)
• Recipe for Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes with Feta and Sumac (kalynskitchen.blogspot.com)
• Will.i.am “Sesame Street” Song “What I Am” [VIDEO] (popcrunch.com)
• Never Eat Fast Food French Fries Again (fooducate.com)

• This week in Will’s Kitchen we’ve made Sweet Chicken Fajitas, Mini Turkey Burgers, and of course Chocolate Chip Cookies (you can count on us making these almost every week)…
• We also converted this Blueberry Yogurt Cake recipe from Shutterbean and plan to share our delicious results next week…Yum…
• We are looking forward to converting and trying these recipes in the near future… Baked Spring Rolls and Low-Fat Lo Mein from the Fat Free Vegan Kitchen and Sunny Carrot Muffins from Kids Eating Healthy…

OTHER LINKS this week include:

• Babies Food Allergies – First Born are More Susceptible [Evoscience]
• A Little Compassion for Kids with Food Allergies [Mamaroo]
• Cooking with Food Allergies [Chefwangs]
• Law Professor Writes Children’s Book About Food Allergies [Auto-Mobi]
• Coping with Food Allergies at School [Springfield, MA Channel 3]

Related articles

• Will’s Weekly Links (willskitchen.com)
• Low Vitamin D Linked to Allergy Risk in Kids (webmd.com)
• Vote The Food Allergy Mom As One of the Top Mom Food Blogs of 2011 (thefoodallergymom.wordpress.com)
• allergies, food allergies, food allergies season of birth, kids food allergies, children food allergies (webmd.com)
• Birth Order Linked to Allergies, Study Says (fitsugar.com)
• Severe Eczema May Be Linked to Food Allergies in Children (aolhealth.com)

Makes approx. 12 pancakes:

Large Potatoes – 4 or 5, peeled
Onion – 1/2 cup
Egg Replacer – According to package instructions; Equivalent to one large egg
Flour – 1 Tablespoon
Canola Oil – 1/2 Cup
Salt & Pepper – To taste

You will need: Hand Grater; Mixing Bowl; Skillet; Slotted Spoon, Fork & Spatula; Paper Towels

After peeling your potatoes, let them soak in warm water for a few minutes and then coarsely grate by hand. Follow by grating the onion and then mix the two together. In a separate bowl, mix together your egg replacer (according to package directions) and flour and then stir into the potato/onion mix.

Heat oil in your skillet over moderately high heat. Spoon approx. 2 tablespoons potato mixture per pancake into skillet, spreading into 3-inch rounds with a fork. Reduce heat to moderate and cook until undersides are browned, about 5 minutes. Turn over and cook until undersides are browned, about 5 minutes more. Transfer to paper towels to drain and season with salt and pepper.

And the NOSH – Did Will eat it? Yes! But only a taste… he wasn’t crazy about the whole project, in all honesty — thought it was too slimy, which is interesting because he doesn’t seem to mind mud-puddles outside…. We thought the pancakes were delicious, although deceivingly filling…

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.

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!

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!