Crunchy Lemon Muffins

This is my allergy friendly adaptation of Alison Holsts original recipe

2 Cups flour
4 tsp Baking powder
1/2 C sugar
1/2 C oil
1 C rice milk
1 Tbsp Vinegar
Rind of 1 large lemon

Sift flour and baking powder into bowl, add sugar and mix
Combine oil, vinegar, milk and lemon rind then add to dry ingredients
Spoon into muffin trays, Bake at 200C for about 15 minutes.
Mix 1/4 C sugar with 1/4 C lemon juice and spoon over hot muffins before taking out of muffin pans.  Leave for about 10 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

These freeze really well and are great for school lunches

Date and Carrot Loaf

This is a great recipe as it has no added fats to it so it is a healthy option.

180g pitted dates
1/2 C brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 C water
1 carrot
1 1/2 C self raising flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp mixed spice

Combine dates, sugar, baking soda and water in a pot and bring to the boil.  Turn off and leave to cool.
Add Carrot to the mixture and then the sifted flour and spices.  Mix well.
Bake in a loaf tin at 180 C for about 40 minutes.
Turn onto rack and leave until completely cool before slicing.

Fruit Buns

It can be hard to be creative with school lunches, especially when dealing with allergic kids.  This recipe is for hot cross buns, but we make them all the time as the kids love them in their lunch boxes.
400ml warm water
2 Tbsp Oil

500g high grade flour

100g wholemeal flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar

1 Tbsp mixed spice

1 1/2 tsp yeast

1 1/2 c dried fruit (sultanas, currants, raisins etc)

Put all ingredients in breadmaker in the order listed except the dried fruit (or as usual in your breadmaker).  Add dried fruit to the dispenser or when machine beeps.  Set to dough cycle (or raisin dough).

When dough is ready, shape into buns and rise for about an hour.

Bake at 200 C for about 10-15 minutes.

To make crosses mix 1/2 C flour with 2T oil and add water to make a stiff paste.  then pipe onto buns.

Can put a sticky glaze on them made by boiling 3T milk and 3T sugar together until syrupy.

Or else turn into a yummy boston bun with icing on the top - a hit every time.

 

 

Cupcake Fun

My lovely girls decided to make cupcakes for Dan's miniball team last night. 
We used this super easy chocolate cake recipe
2 1/2 C Flour
1/2 C Cocoa
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 C Sugar
2 C Warm Water
1/2 C Canola Oil
2 Tbsp Vinegar
2 tsp Vanilla

Sift and Mix the dry ingredients.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk well until smooth.
Bake at 180 C for @ 15 minutes for cupcakes / 30 minutes for cake.

This cake doesnt rise very much and has a real fudgey texture.

The cupcakes were a hit with all the team and supporters and the kids had lots of fun making them. And licking the bowl....

Loving Lonestar

Last night we took our cross country champ (yes Emma came in first by a country mile for 8 year old girls) out to dinner to celebrate.  She chose Lonestar.  They are were great.  Firstly they have a folder which tells you what allergens are in the food and what you can take off to make it safe.  Emma chose a chicken salad with fries which she loved.  Unfortunately there was no safe pudding for her, so when the waitress brought out the ice-cream for the other two (free with the kids meal), the lovely waitress brought out a plate of jellybeans (we're talking about 30!) to make sure Emma didnt feel left out.  How kind and thoughtful was that!?! Especially when I had forgotten to put something special in my bag for her. So any of you allergy folk out there reading this, I recommend Lonestar for going the extra mile with my allergy kid.

Shared Lunches

As the parent of any allergy kid knows, the school shared lunch thing is a real pain.  It is one of the times that our precious kids really do have to show they are different from their peers.  Emma is lucky in one way because there is another girl in her class who is seriously allergic to Nuts and Eggs too.

Today is International day at school.  It is a wonderful celebration of the 30 or so different cultures present at our primary school. 

They have a wonderful assembly and follow it with a shared lunch which is supposed to offer a wide range of foods from many cultures.  I went along the middle eastern theme with pita bread crisps, carrots, capsicum and hummus.  As I put her food out with the others, I noticed the international theme of Emma's class seemed to be pizza, sushi, cake, slices and biscuits and apart from the teacher aides fruit platter, there was nothing else safe for Emma to eat. 


It is days like these that make me feel so sad for my darling girl, but she is so brave about it.  She just knows the food is no good for her.  She really is a true hero to me for the way she handles her allergies.

Emma, you ROCK.  I am so glad you are mine.

The Emma Files - Part one

Hello Guys

I think in some ways it is bit unfair when I see a lot of people having, for example, donuts and I dont because I'm not allowed.

Sometimes I actually like having allergies because I get to try new things some other people dont get.

I get yummy stuff.  I am actually very lucky because some people are not even allowed bread, potatoes or meat.   That is pretty sad because they are our main foods.

The most annoying thing is that in school lunch I sit with people that do not have allergies and they have very yummy things like cheese and crackers.

I used to be able to eat a lot of other stuff like cheese, dairy and soy, but now that we know I have got allergies we need to stay on my diet all the time.

thanks!!!!!!!!!!

By Emma!!!!!!!!

Shortbread

On todays baking menu is shortbread.  I use the recipe from the Edmonds Cookbook, just substituting Olivani for Butter.

250g Olivani

1 Cup Icing Sugar

1 Cup Cornflour

2 Cups flour

Cream Olivani and icing sugar until light and creamy.  Add sifted flours.  Mix to combine, then knead together for about a minute.  Then roll out to about 1.5cm thick, then either cut into squares or use a cookie cutter to make fancy shapes.  Then bake at 150 C in a  preheated oven for @ 30 minutes.



Health update

It's been a couple of weeks since Emma has been on the methotrexate and we are waiting to see what happens.  The most pleasing thing is she doesnt seem to be suffering from any side effects.  We were told it would tire her out, make her grumpy and nauseous and generally not able to do things for a couple of days.  However she takes it on Saturday nights and has still been able to play Netball on a monday night and continues to train for the school cross country in a couple of weeks (all three of my kids love cross country!).  And she hasnt picked up any of the bugs going around school yet.  Although it is hard to tell in the photos, her eczema is certainly getting better with all the steriods and antibiotics she is on so she is a lot happier .

Two weeks after starting
 the immunosuppressant drugs

Before Emma started the Methotrexate