Allergy-free pancakes!

(I'm going to recap here a few sentences in case you haven't read my previous allergy free cooking blog):

A few weeks ago we got James's blood-work back and discovered James is allergic to dairy, eggs, gluten, peanuts, soy, citric acid...(I think I listed them all). At this point, most people ask why we tested James for allergies. Easiest answer is a combo of headaches and stomach aches and the curiousity of an allergy possibility. I am also allergic to eggs and am lactose intolerant, so we decided to attempt to be nice to our bodies and get rid of these food allergens from our diets.  Having a younger brother who's allergic to soy, gluten and eggs, an older brother allergic to peanuts, eggs and is lactose intolerant, and a sister-in-law allergic to beef and dairy (ie the whole cow), I thought I was ready to jump right in. I may have been used to the diet, but I was definitely not knowledgeable about how to cook for said dietary restrictions! (And everyone thought I was the hard one to cook for; I just can't eat corn/salads/extremely spicy foods! Cooking for someone who has 3 feet less intestines is SO MUCH EASIER than cooking for someone allergic to the common foods!)

So besides for purging our pantry of all those foods and purchasing more expensive allergy-free foods, we have begun researching allergy-free recipes. While our dinners won't differ much (we tend to eat meats and veggies for dinner), we realized breakfasts and snacks will be our challenges. So, I found a pancake recipe that is gluten-free, egg-free and dairy-free and thought I'd give it a try. 

The recipe is as follows:

Protein Packed Pancakes

http://www.realfoodallergyfree.com/2011/12/protein-packed-pancakes/

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Navy Beans, drained
• 1 2/3 cup Water
• 1 Tbsp Honey (Don’t substitute as this gives the pancakes the golden color.)
• 2 tsp Oil (I use olive)
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1 1/2 cup Rolled Oats

Directions:

1. Add ingredients to blender in the order listed. Blend until well blended. Set aside to thicken while you heat the skillet to medium.
2. Cook on until golden brown, turning as needed.

The first challenge, besides purchasing the items, was getting over the fact that navy beans will be a main ingredient of pancakes. 

I compiled all ingredients into a blender and heated the griddle:

I used coconut oil to grease the griddle then began cooking. The first round of pancakes didn't turn out as pretty as the second and third.  These pancakes take longer to cook than the gluten filled Bisquick ones, but tasted practically the same! (Believe it or not!) The texture wasn't as light and fluffy as "normal" pancakes, but we enjoyed them!

I'm excited to find more recipes, hopefully ones that work out better than the waffle recipe I attempted the other day.... You win some, you lose some, right?

~RR

"There is no remedy for love but to love more." 

-Henry David Thoreau

Craftroom Creations

While I'm still working on making the craftroom usable (the other day I unloaded 3 boxes into the drawers/shelves/closet) and redoing some chairs for the craftroom, I'd like to share my first craft in the house: a door wreath!

I "cheated" by doing my first wreath with a wreath that already had yellow balls/flower formations. This helped blend in the other flowers! And as the summer draws to an end at craft stores (Hobby Lobby has Christmas decor out already-it scares me 2012 is more than halfway over, but excites me that Christmas is coming!), spring and summer decor goes on sale! So, this wreath was a great find! With the addition of some of my wedding flowers and a maroon R, my wreath turned out pretty well! I've already bought another wreath to begin fall or Christmas decor-I'll take awhile to decide though...there's too many ideas on Pinterest!!

Anyone else create something exciting lately?! I love seeing the creative juices flow!!

~RR

Cooking Adventures of the Paleo/Vegan Diet

We recently learned my husband James has quite a few allergies: dairy, egg, gluten (to name a few).  We've decided to change our diets for awhile to see if the change affects headaches and stomach aches he has recently been having.  In our attempt to find allergy-free recipes, we have decided we are really adapting a paleo/vegan diet: eliminating processed foods and staying away from dairy and eggs, but still eating meats.  So far we have cleaned out our pantry, restocked it with allergy-free ingredients and products, researched appealing recipes and have started adapting to our new lives.

As my doctor told me, allergies are like a cup of water: as you are exposed to an allergen, imagine pouring some water into a cup; the more allergens you are exposed to, the fuller the cup, until your body goes completely haywire and your cup overflows.  When my younger brother was in the 8th/9th grade, this is exactly what was happening. He was skin and bones and had stomach issues.  We did a blood test on him and found he was severely allergic to soy, gluten and eggs, basically the only food groups he was eating.  Since he has changed his diet, he feels great, looks great, and is now a healthy senior in high school. I admire him; I couldn't imagine being 18 years old and not eating cake, hamburgers, drinking pepsi, and so much more.

With my brother's experience, my whole family changed our diets, so this new diet to accommodate to my husband's newly found allergies wouldn't be too different for me. The change, however, will be the cooking of the foods, as I have rarely cooked many allergy-free foods.

Today I changed up my usual crock pot roast so that it would be soy and gluten free. Normally I plop the roast in the crock pot, empty about half a packet of Lipton Onion soup mix packet on top and add some water. Today however, I used some different ingredients:

Roast from the 'Lewis Place', half of a small cooking onion, half of the package of dried portobello mushrooms, and half of the carton of organic, allergy-free mushroom soup.

We absolutely love returning home from work to the smell of a crock pot creation, especially roast! 

The roast tasted the same, if not better, than my traditional onion soup mix recipe; the main difference actually comes with the higher cost of the allergy free ingredients. I altered my mashed potatoes to use only Original flavored Almond Milk (normally I pile in the butter and regular milk).  The mashed potatoes were creamy and tasted just the same! Of course the gravy from the roast would have masked any odd flavors if there were any!

All in all, we had a successful dinner and, besides for the initial 'full' feeling, felt amazing! No discomfort or drowsiness at all. I look forward to adapting more of my recipes and trying new ones as we experiment with our new life change!

Is anyone else trying a new diet due to dietary restrictions? Any suggestions or recommendations out there?

Yours truly,

RR

"Do not live life attempting to make your presence known, 

but live in a way which makes your absence felt."