Crispy rice treats!

After searching high and low locally for some Lyle's Golden syrup unsuccessfully, I finally ordered some from Amazon. It arrived a few weeks ago, but somehow I never got around to using it until today.

I used this recipe with Erewhon Crispy Brown Rice cereal (gluten-free) and Fleischmann's UNSALTED Margarine. Little guy liked them but they were super-sweet! I think next time I'll leave out the extra Tablespoon of sugar (and maybe add a pinch of salt to make up for unsalted margarine). These also don't set up like the typical rice crispy treat since they don't have the marshmallows. It really did help to make individual servings in cupcake liners and a cupcake pan. They absolutely need to chill in the refrigerator, and for more than few minutes, or they won't hold together at all, and even after several hours chilling, they are still soft.

Crispy Rice Treats
1 Tablespoon safe margarine
4 Tablespoons golden syrup
3 cups crisped brown rice cereal

Place cupcake liners in pan. I needed 15 and didn't completely fill any of the liners.

In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the margarine. Stir in golden syrup. Take off heat and stir in cereal. Quickly spoon into cupcake liners and press down with spoon.

Place pan into refrigerator to chill and firm up.

Guess we won't be buying Hebrew National franks anymore!

With the recent discovery of my little guy's oregano allergy I've had to reevaluate a few of the things we used to consider safe. Since many of his reactions are delayed (pain, GI troubles, eczema) and what had previously been a mild easy-to-miss reaction is a stronger one when he's already reacting to something else, it's hard to pinpoint what is causing it. Since he's a typical in-to-everything 2-year-old, it's not out of the normal for him to sneak or quickly grab a bite of something he's not suppose to have, so sometimes I'm really not sure what he's reacting to.

One of his favorite things for an occasional lunch is hot dogs. Conveniently the same hot dogs his sisters ate appeared to be safe for him(as long as his were cut into itty-bitty pieces). The package did include the always suspicious ingredients "spice" and "flavoring" on the nutrition label so I emailed to see if they included oregano.

I was less than impressed with their response:

Thank you for your email concerning our Hebrew National® Franks.

As consumers ourselves, we are very concerned about food allergies and want you to be confident in the safety of our products.  I can tell you a bit about the steps we take to address the needs of food-allergic consumers.

ConAgra Foods shows any of the eight Major Food Allergens (Crustacean Shellfish, Egg, Fish, Milk, Peanut, Soy, Tree Nuts and Wheat) on the ingredient list. We also include a 'Contains' statement in plain language on all of our products that contain any of the Major Food Allergens. This is how you know if any of these allergens are present. The 'Contains' statement appears in bold type directly after the ingredient list on the Nutrition Facts panel of our packages.  If a Major Food Allergen is included in a flavoring or spice blend in the product, we always show it in the 'Contains' statement.

Our product formulas may change from time to time, but please be assured that we try to avoid adding allergens to reformulated products whenever possible.  We encourage you to please check both the ingredient list and 'Contains' statement each time you buy a product in case the formulation has changed.
If a Major Food Allergen is not listed in the 'Contains' or 'May Contain' statements, you can be confident the product does not contain that particular allergen.

ConAgra Foods would like to help you with this request to the best of our ability. However, because the information you have requested is considered to be proprietary and a trade secret of ConAgra Foods, we are unable to supply this information.

If you have any allergen concerns outside of the Top 8 Food Allergens, we recommend you do not consume the product and consult your physician.

So, ConAgra foods, I guess I'll take your advice and simply not purchase your product anymore. I understand that a company wouldn't want to disclose their exact recipe, but I was asking only if a single ingredient was present. I can't take away a food my son loved only from him and still let him see other family members eating it, so we'll just have to not purchase it any more.

Turtle Mountain giveaway!

I intend to keep this blog mainly recipes, but I came across this giveaway yesterday and you might like it!  The winner and a friend will both receive 5 free product coupons for So Delicious products or Purely Decadent items!  My little guy drinks So Delicious coconut milk every day and absolutely loves a treat of some Purely Decadent Vanilla Bean Coconut Milk "ice cream." This is the only safe ice cream I've found for him. Most of the non-dairy ice creams have corn, potato or peas - all which he reacts to.

So, if you already love So Delicious and Purely Decadent products or would just like to try them, why not enter the giveaway?  All the rules are on the Heather Eats Almond Butter blog, and the main things you need to do are join the Turtle Mountain facebook page, invite another friend, and then leave a comment to tell Heather what you did!

Adding to the list

Unfortunately over the last few weeks we've discovered a few new additions to the little guy's list of unsafe foods.

My little guy LOVES chocolate. He comes by it naturally. :) And he's been on quite the cereal kick lately, so after some researching, I found that the Envirokids Koala Crisp cereal would probably be safe. It's got the warning that it may contain peanuts or tree nuts, but it is made only in the same factory, but on different equipment, so we gave it a try. As expected, he absolutely loved it! So did my girls and even my husband. But, soon after trying it his eczema really started to flare. So no more.

Last week I made this homemade taco seasoning recipe and substituted the corn starch for arrowroot starch. It was delicious and thinking only about it not including corn, I let the little guy try some of the taco meat. He loved it and begged for more! What I wasn't thinking about was the oregano. He'd had mild symptoms before after having small amounts of it, but I wasn't sure it it was the problem. That night he couldn't sleep unless he was being held, a sure sign that he's in pain, and he had GI symptoms for several more days.  I will make a new batch of the seasoning without the oregano so we have a meal we can all eat.

Just today his sister sweetly shared a grape from her bowl with him and I wasn't quick enough to stop him from eating it. Grapes are safe for him, and they've shared grapes before, so she didn't realize she shouldn't have shared. In her bowl were both grapes and sliced strawberries. We'd been avoiding all berries for him because I know they are common allergies and I was pretty allergic to strawberries as a kid. Within a few minutes he had hives on his cheeks, chin and neck.

I have more recipes to share, and even more things I want to try to come up with recipes for, just need to find the time to do it! After searching and searching locally for some golden syrup I finally ordered a case off Amazon. I want to make some marshmallows and lollipops with it, and I'm sure I'll find some more uses for it!

Coconut Cake & Frosting

* Update 4/8/11 - I first posted this recipe over a year ago and am planning to give it a bit of a makeover this weekend to accommodate my son's new allergies, so it's on my mind. I shared this recipe on Cybele Pascal's Allergy Friendly Friday today! Take a look at all the other allergy-friendly recipes! 

* Update 4/17/11 - Gum-free, soy-free adaptation finally posted here: Coconut Cupcakes Update: Gum-free

This past weekend the little guy turned 2! We had a little celebration at home, so I just made a small 6-inch round cake, and used the rest of the cake batter to make 24 cupcakes, and most of them went straight into the freezer for treats later. The cake is a variation of the White Cake I posted about a month ago. This version is denser and I think would also make a good crumbcake with a brown sugar and cinnamon strudel topping.  

Coconut Cake

1/2 cup (1 stick) safe margarine or shortening
1/2 cup coconut oil (room temperature)
2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 Tbls ground flax seed + 6 Tbls hot water, let sit
2-1/2 cups All Purpose Flour Mix (see sidebar)
3/4 cup coconut flour
4 teaspoons safe baking powder (see sidebar)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1-1/2 teaspoon guar gum
1 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups coconut milk, hot

Preheat oven to 350F.

Beat sugar, coconut oil and margarine or shortening. Blend in applesauce and flax gel. In a separate bowl, mix together flours, baking powder, baking soda, guar gum and salt. Slowly mix in half the flour mixture, then half the milk, until blended. Then slowly mix in remaining flour and milk.

Bake cake layers in greased or parchment lined pans for about 30 minutes or in lined cupcake pans for about 20 minutes. Let sit in pans until cooled.

Yield: This recipe made 24 cupcakes and two 6" rounds. I think you could make three 8" circle layers and maybe even a few cupcakes.

Coconut Frosting

I'll update this next time I make the frosting, because I'm not sure exactly how much of anything I used, since I was just experimenting and didn't write anything down immediately.  The recipe below is an estimate, whip a portion of ingredients, adding a little more of each to reach the consistency you want.

1/3 cup coconut oil, room temperature
3 Tbls shortening or safe margarine
2 cups safe powdered sugar (see sidebar)
2 Tbls coconut milk

Mix coconut oil and shortening. With mixer off, add a portion of the powdered sugar. Start mixing slowly and blend in completely. Add more sugar until mixture forms clumps. Slowly add coconut milk and whip until frosting is light and fluffy.

Yield: This recipe makes enough frosting to cover a 2-layer 6" round cake and several cupcakes.

Sprinkle some shredded coconut on top of the frosting for decoration if desired!

I hope you enjoy this recipe! The birthday boy preferred the smash-it-into-your-mouth method of eating....

Chocolate!

I'm so happy share that we've found another safe treat! I bought a bag of Enjoy Life chocolate chips a few weeks ago and let my little guy try a few as a trial. The first two times he ate only a couple mini chips and then lost interest, which has been a sign with other foods that he's allergic to them, but he never did have a reaction.  I tried again yesterday and he loved them!

I found a great tip on the Enjoy Life foods Facebook fan page yesterday - melt the chips and dip other safe food in the chocolate!  The person suggesting showed rice snaps dipped in chocolate, little chocolate sandwiches made with two rice snaps and chocolate in the middle, dipped rice cakes and dipped apple slices!  This is a treat I will be trying soon!

Barley Oat Pancakes

I've tried a few allergy-friendly pancake recipes, but this is the most successful recipe I've found. I'm guessing that the gluten in the barley is what helps these pancakes hold up and not be so fragile.

This recipe is adopted from one I found on the bag of Arrowhead Mills flour.


1/2 cup barley flour
1/2 cup oat flour
1-1/2 tsp safe baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 Tbls maple syrup
1 Tbls canola oil
1/4 cup applesauce
3/4 cup coconut milk
safe margarine to coat griddle

Preheat a pan or griddle on low to medium heat. (On my electric stove I set it to 3 or 3-1/2.) Coat pan lightly with melted margarine.

Stir together dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and mix until smooth.

Pour batter onto hot griddle and cook until edges turn a light golden color and bubbles start to form on the surface. Flip over with a spatula and top with margarine. Cook other side until golden brown.