Who doesn't love a boxed cake mix??!!!

So when it came time for Matthew's 3rd birthday, I was determined to let him eat the SAME cake that everyone else had. All I can say is "THANK YOU DUNCAN HINES AND PILLSBURY!!!"

This will not work for a severe wheat allergy--but great for those who are allergic to dairy and eggs. Although Matthew does have a wheat allergy, he does well with wheat items--so it works for us.

Take a box of DUNCAN HINES BOXED CAKE MIX.... and (wait for it.....)
ADD a can of soda. You can even use diet, although we stay away from artificial sweeteners. Use a light colored soda for light colored cakes, dark for dark colors like chocolate. Mix well and then pour in to a cake pan or cupcake containers.

FROSTING:
Pillbury makes a shelf stable spray can of frosting that is out of this world!!! What I love the best is that:
a) it doesn't have any wheat, egg or dairy

b) doesn't have to be refrigerated--so use what you need then throw it back in the pantry. This is especially useful at daycare centers since they can use it and add to thawed cupcakes that you've provided for special celebrations (using the cake mix idea from this post).

We served these cupcakes (and frosting) at his birthday party and no one knew....well, until now. Surprise! Hey--who needs the extra fat and calories anyways, right?!???

Were the tests wrong???

It's been a while since I posted--sorry about that. Back in April while getting some other blood tests done for Matthew, I asked his pediatrician to get blood drawn so we could check on his allergies--they gladly did.

We were ecstatic to find out that according to the tests he was no longer allergic to eggs and peanuts! And his wheat and dairy allergy were extremely low on the charts. How amazing, we thought--- in just over a year it had changed so much!

Well, after giving him eggs for the first time we definitely saw quite a rash around his mouth--just as he'd gotten before. Whenever he would consume dairy he would get hives and the one time he had a peanut it appeared that he was starting to become anaphylactic--started coughing and vomited quite a bit (doc is assuming his throat was beginning to close).

Luckily for us, Benadryl came to the rescue for all of the above. But it got me wondering--could the tests have been wrong??? When I asked his pediatrician she said that they were probably right but that allergies can also be on a cellular level, which wouldn't necessarily show up on a test. I obviously have A LOT more to learn.....

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies----wheat and egg free!!

Man, I'm really bad at updating this blog---I know....BUT here is a great recipe for Wheat-free, egg-free oatmeal raisin cookies. I have to say--you would NEVER know they were free of these allergens.

As you know, most recipes on here are not my originals---so here is the link to the recipe itself below. I followed it as-is. What is great is that the ingredients were actually in the order you needed them--quite helpful!

One note: If you are following a gluten free diet, oats are not necessarily gluten free unless marked as so.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4733421_eggfree-oatmeal-chocolate-chip-cookies.html

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

We made these cookies together and Matthew LOVES them. We don't let him have more than a half a cookie to monitor his wheat allergy--but so far he's doing ok---a little rash on his cheek here and there, but nothing like it used to be, so promising.

These are very soft cookies---great with coffee or tea...or of course, milk!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies

Ingredients
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup shortening ---Spectrum brand
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon and a dash of pumpkin pie spice
12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Cream the sugar, shortening, pumpkin and vanilla together. Mix until light and well combined.
Mix the flour, baking soda and ground cinnamon. Stir the flour mixture into the creamed mixture. Mix until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Drop by teaspoons onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 12 to 15 minutes or until set. Let cookies cool on a rack.

Update on Matthew's allergies...

Some good news---because of his wheat allergy he was never able to play with Play-Doh since it has wheat in it. Well, about 6 weeks ago he played with it at a children's museum and had no reaction so of course I went out and bought him a little bucket of it. He hasn't stopped playing with it since!!! And no reactions....even when he tries to "taste" it. LOL

So since then we've tried regular white saltines. His allergist suggested that we try wheat at some point, but to make sure it's white wheat and not whole wheat (which contains the gluten I guess). He hasn't had any reactions to Saltines and absolutely LOVES them. We then tried making pancakes with regular flour, no eggs and rice milk--he did well!!!

So we are feeling better that perhaps he is growing out of his wheat allergy at least. It'd be such a blessing to get rid of all of them, but we'll take what we can get.

Stuffed Tomatoes with Quinoa

Matthew helped grow a garden this year---tomatoes (cherry and the larger ones) along with green pepper, asparagus, rhubarb and onions.

With the abundance of tomatoes, I was in search for the perfect recipe. I found it!!

http://www.oprah.com/food/Warm-Quinoa-and-Zucchini-Stuffed-Tomatoes

NOTE: We left out the parm cheese and breadcrumbs

I would also recommend pairing with a smaller cut of meat, perhaps a small fillet. Matthew gobbled this stuff up!

Again, Quinoa is a grain that is VERY high in protein--perfect for those on restricted diets.

Pork tenderloins with a white cream sauce and pasta

I was looking for something different so decided to look at pork recipes--found one on Rachael Ray's website that I liked and made some switches of my own.

2 pork chops---cut them width-wise so they were thinner and then cut in medallion size pieces
Brown Rice Flour--dredge the pork chops in it
Olive Oil--heat and then place the pork chops in it--cook on both sides, remove and cover with foil

In the meantime....
Pasta---make the pasta of your choice. We use quinoa pasta

Cream sauce--
I used the "white cream sauce" that I had in an earlier post and added some garlic

Mushrooms---
Saute in soy-free, dairy free butter and add some garlic. Place in the cream sauce

Sweet potatoes---I pressure cooked them. Delicious! For an added treat, I used a mixer and combined the sweet potatoes, a little rice milk, a little allergy free butter and then some pumpkin pie spice. Matthew couldn't get enough of it!!

Voila!!! Dinner is served.
I put the white sauce over the noodles and the pork---delicious. Enjoy!