Kids Food Allergies Blog

Today, we celebrated my daughter’s 5th birthday with a big pool party. Her actual birthday’s in early September, but lets not quibble over details.

For all you observant allergy parents - the rings under her eyes are goggle marks, not allergic shiners.

This also marks my 5th anniversary of baking dairy/egg/nut free birthday cakes. My first one was just terrible: a half-cooked blob that looked horrible and tasted worse. The second year was a bit better. The third year, I used the wrong kind of vinegar and my daughter refused to eat the cake (complained it tasted bitter). Last year, I got the ingredients right, but the proportions wrong. I baked a cake so high and heavy that it was tough to transport neatly. This year –I am proud to report– my cake was absolutely perfect. It’s a variation of the Moosewood Six-Minute Chocolate Cake. I hope your guests enjoy it as much as ours.

KidsFoodAllergiesBlog.com Chocolate Birthday Cake
(Makes 1/4 sheet)

Cake:

• 2 1/4 cups unbleached white flour
• 1/2 Hershey’s Special Dark unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cup cold water
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons rice vinegar

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and sugar into a large mixing bowl.
3. Measure and mix the water, oil, and vanilla. Add to dry ingredients.
4. Mix the batter with a fork or small whisk.
5. When the batter is smooth, add the vinegar and stir quickly. Pale swirls will occur where the vinegar and baking soda react. Stir just until the vinegar is even distributed throughout the batter.
6. Pour batter into two 1/4 sheet baking pans.
7. Bake for 20 minutes. Set aside the cake to cool. Frost cake with your favorite frosting recipe.

Frosting:

• 1 C. Earth Balance vegan butter sticks — room temperature
• 1 C. unsweetened cocoa powder (do not use special dark)
• 5 1/3 C. unsifted confectioners sugar
• 1/2 C. water
• 2 t. vanilla

Directions:

1. Combine vegan butter and cocoa in electric mixer (use batters at low speed)
2. Add powdered sugar slowly, with a splash of water after each addition, until well mixed and desired consistency achieved. (use batters at medium-high speed)
3. Add vanilla

For the most part, an egg allergy has made my life inconvenient but overly difficult.  I have been lucky to find/create good recipes for egg-free varieties of the yummy baked goods I love dearly: cake, muffins, pancakes (the list goes on).  But there is one elusive baked good that is nearly impossible to make without eggs.  Brownies.

I’ve tried literally a half-dozen recipes.  All have failed miserably.

But the blogger 3 for Me recently posted a dairy-free, egg-free brownie recipe.  It looks really great.  No mashed bananas, prunes, tofu or applesauce.  Just regular ingredients that *should* be in ooey, gooey chocolate-y brownies.

If we fail the egg challenge tomorrow, I just might try it.

If we pass, I’m making French toast and brownies.

A win-win scenario, either way.

Lots of yummy kid foods contain breadcrumbs: meatballs, casseroles, and best of all — chicken croquettes.  Who knew how difficult it would be to find milk-free breadcrumbs.  We used 4C kosher breadcrumbs for years, until 4C stopped making them.  Since last August, I’ve looked for an adequate substitute and failed miserably.  Some were too coarse, others were seasoned.  Whole wheat breadcrumbs were a non-starter in my household.  I even tried making my own breadcrumbs and broke the family blender in the process.  This week — I finally found vegan breadcrumbs that make my family smile: Edward & Sons Lightly Salted Organic Breadcrumbs.  In appreciation of great tasting vegan breadcrumbs, I am posting my favorite “birthday party” recipe — since I have not met anyone ages 2 to 82 who doesn’t LOVE these.   I hope you enjoy them.

Chicken Croquettes

5 T. vegan butter (divided use)
3 T. flour
1/2 C. soy milk
1/2 C. chicken broth (do not use a low sodium brand)
2 C. finely chopped cooked chicken
1 C. milk-free bread crumbs
1/4 t. salt
2 t. baking powder, 3 T. water, and 3 T. canola oil mixed together
3 T. chopped parsley (optional)
1/4 C - 1/2 C. cornflake crumbs

1. In a medium-size saucepan, melt 3 T. vegan butter over medium heat.  Add flour and cook, stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes, without browning.  Gradually whisk in soy milk and broth, stirring constantly, until smooth and thick.  Remove from heat, let cook for 5 minutes.
2. In large bowl, combine chicken, bread crumbs, salt, baking soda/water/oil mix, and parsley (if you’re using it).  Mix well.  Pour in sauce.  Mix.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, until set.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Pour cornflake crumbs into shallow dish.  Roll chicken mixture into balls and roll in cornflake crumbs to coat.
4. Arrange croquettes in a greased baking dish.  Melt remaining 2 T. vegan butter and drizzle over croquettes.  Bake 30 minutes until golden brown.

I just noticed that Chabad posted its allergy-free Passover recipes. As promised, I have posted the link for those of you who are interested. But, honestly, none of those recipes really excited me. So, I’ve gone elsewhere for inspiration.

The most promising Passover recipes I’ve found is from the folks at VegSource. They offer Ashkenazic and Sephardic Seder menus, and a whole list of desserts that remind me of my non-vegan days. Eggless Macaroons? Count me in! In case you have trouble following the link — here is an adaptation of their macaroon recipes (for those who like chocolate and can’t eat nuts)

Festive Macaroons
Adapted from No-Cholesterol Passover Recipes by Debra Wasserman

• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 2 ripe bananas
• 1/8 C. cocoa (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Blend ingredients together. Form pyramids on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Some of their other mouthwatering deserts include: brownies, no-bake chocolate matzo roll, and Passover apple crisp. I am also eager to try the eggplant matzo mina recipe. I tried the Russian potato mushroom croquette recipe (same recipe, another source) a few years ago — and liked it a whole lot. I am also entertaining the idea of trying the Kneidlach recipe instead of making matzo balls. Or maybe I’ll make both, to figure out which my family likes better for next year.

Ruth’s Eggless Kneidlach
From The Lowfat Jewish Vegetarian Cookbook by Debra Wasserman.

• 4 medium potatoes
• 4 cups or 1 quart water
• 1 1/4 cups matzo meal
• pepper to taste

Boil potatoes in water in a large pot for 20 minutes until tender. Drain potatoes and mash them in a bowl. Add matzo meal and pepper. Knead dough until firm and smooth.

Fill a large pot 3/4 full with water. Bring to boil. Form smooth 2 1/2″ balls out of the mixture. Drop balls into boiling water. Cook for 20 minutes in covered pot. Do not overcook!! Carefully remove from water and serve kneidlach in hot vegetable broth.

In my web recipe round-up, a couple other recipes stand out.

Vegan Matzo Brie. Sounds good.

Vegan Passover Blintzes. Yummy. (Even if I left out the nuts, I would pass on their filling. Sounds too complicated. I think I will use a combination of tofutti cream cheese and fruit preserves.)

Pears N’ Honey Matzah Pie. Interesting dessert alternative. I’ve seen variations of this recipes with apples instead of pears too.

Happy Cooking!

In my recipe search for allergy-free Jewish foods, I came across an excellent article by Sara Atkins, Making Purim Allergy-Free. I found it at Chabad.org’s The Jewish Woman.

I noticed in the comment thread that some of Sara’s readers were looking for allergy-free Passover recipes. That’s great — my kind of people! Wanting to help her community of readers, I wrote the following comment.

I am new to this site, but very familiar with dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free Jewish holiday cooking! I have posted some of my family’s favorite Pesach recipes in my new blog: http://kidsfoodallergiesblog.com/
If you have other vegan and nut-free recipes that you would like to share, please leave a comment on my blog. Happy Passover to all!

Simple, straight-forward, and hardly controversial, right? Boy, was I wrong. Two days later, I got this surprise and aggravating response:

Hi, thank you so much for your comment. As site policy we cannot post comments with blogs listed or any websites for that matter. We will actually be posting some allergy free Pesach recipes as well though that you are more than welcome to give a link to on the blog. Hoping to run that next week! Take care, SE

Sara Esther Crispe

Editor, TheJewishWoman.org

WHAT? I wasn’t spamming sites for Viagra or casino gambling or cheap refinancing opportunities. I was trying to help them, to give timely advice to others who are scrambling to figure out what to serve food allergic kids for Passover.

Will I link to their recipes after they are posted? You bet I will. I believe in information sharing. That’s what this blog is all about. Too bad it’s a one-way street. Am I angry with Chabad? A little hurt, maybe, a bit disappointed. But it’s their loss. I make great food at Shabbat, Rosh Ha’Shana, Purim, and Hanukkah too. If they change their policy, they’re welcome to take notice.

Tomorrow is my daughter’s class party. Since the party is mid-morning, I decided against making cookies or cupcakes. I decided to go the marginally healthier route — banana chocolate chip muffins — and am posting the recipe to share.

Banana-Chocolate Chip Muffins

Adapted from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks At Home

Wet Ingredients:

1 1/2 C. mashed ripe bananas

2 t. baking powder, 3 T. water, 3 T. veg. oil (or 1/2 C. soy yogurt)

1/2 C. veg. oil

3/4 -1 C. brown sugar

1/2 t. pure vanilla extract

Dry Ingredients:

2 C. unbleached white flour (or 1 1/2 C. unbleached white flour, 1/2 C. whole wheat pastry flour)

1 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

3/4 C. - 1 C. vegan chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix together the wet ingredients.

In a 2 C. measuring cup, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add these ingredients to the wet ones until just combined, being careful not to overmix the batter.

Fold in the chocolate chips.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins, sprayed with canola cooking oil spray. Bake 10-15 minutes for mini-muffins, 20-25 minutes for standard muffins. A toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin should come out clean.

These muffins are always a crowd pleaser, especially with the younger set.

But if you are trying to do an allergy-friendly brunch and want to “wow” adults as well as kids — I highly recommend you browse a copy of Isa Moskowitz’s book, Vegan With A Vengeance. Her Lemon-Poppy Seed Muffins and Carrot-Raisin Muffins are absolutely divine. (Though my daughter, a devout chocoholic, protests vehemently when I make them — she demands chocolate chips.) You may also want to check out the Post Punk Kitchen, also by Isa Moskowitz (and others). I’ve tried quite a few recipes from their extensive recipe archive, with consistently good results.

Happy Baking!