Teal Pumpkin Project

Although Halloween in Italy is very different from what it is in the US, I thought I'd still do this PSA. Some of you might see this a couple of times because I'm trying to get the information out before everyone buys up their Halloween treats.

The Teal Pumpkin Project

The Teal Pumpkin Project is all about food allergies. My nephew has it way worse than me. (It's not like people regularly hand out buckwheat and tomatoes at Halloween.) Oldest nephew is allergic to peanuts and eggs. No reeses, no mr. goodbar, no paydays... he typically has to give up on well over half his bag if not more because of allergies.

By putting out a teal pumpkin, it means you have allergy friendly treats available. I always gave out play-do in the States (80 cans are about $35. Even the big kids love play-do) but other fun things are Halloween Stamps which are 50 for $10.95 or whistles or even those spider rings that I scared my Mom to death with accidentally when I was a kid. :-) The Teal Pumpkin Project has a lot more idea for fun treats that aren't expensive.

Btw, I've been told that Target has teal pumpkins if anyone would like to get one. :-)

Halloween Candy for the rest of us!!!!

I love the Natural Candy Store. I've been buying from them for the past four years. Yes, it's a bit expensive but it's absolutely the best place to go for any and all holiday candy. Whether that holiday is Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Mardi Gras, Easter, or any other holiday you can think of, it's were to go if you have any food issues.

For me, this fall, I bought a few things that I thought I'd share.

I admit, I haven't ripped into the Dandies yet - which is rare. I've had their marshmellows before and - I'll put it this way, even my family gobbles them down and has stated they are the best marshmellows ever. I'll give a full review of the pumpkin flavor later after I try it.

It's been almost six years since I've last been able to eat candy corn without getting ill.  This is made with corn but it's all non-gmo.  It's much sweeter than I remember the kind you get in the checkout line at the grocery store typically is - more like how I recall the pumpkins being but with a bit of a waxy-er texture.  I love it.   Since it's sweeter (you can really taste the honey), you really can't eat more than a couple of handfuls at a time but there is a good amount of flavor other than just sweet. The dyes are natural - from pumpkin, apple, and carrot. 

I've been eating Surf Sweet gummies since I discovered them four years ago.  They taste exactly like good, quality natural fruit flavored gummy bears.  I really haven't noticed a difference between these and every other gummy out there other than these taste better.  

You might think the above is caramel chocolate cups and...they are but they are vegan. Rather than cow's milk, this uses rice milk. It also has tree nuts (almonds, cashews) and a lot of other stuff in it. They are called "Vegan 'Milk' Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Bites". I'm going to admit, I could only eat one. The chocolate was just too sweet. The caramel tastes like pumpkin pie but the chocolate makes it taste like pumpkin pie in a milk chocolate crust. I think this would be divine if it was a dark chocolate with a hint of sea salt on top. The caramel can stay tasting like pumpkin pie - it's really quite that good. And it's not that the overall affect is bad, it's just a bit too much sweetness at once.

Hopefully this helps those that are also looking for allergy friendly options this Halloween. (The gummies come in snack size - perfect for giving out as treats!) Once I try the marshmellows, I'll let you know about those as well.

CORN!!!!!!

I did something extraordinary the other day. I ate a bag of popcorn. The whole bag. For those that are reading this and going 0_o?, let me explain. Since 2011, I have not been able to have corn. At all. The slightest bit of corn syrup could make me sick. I sometimes ended up in hives for days. Other times, it would be stomach aches so bad that I could not stand up due to the twisting of the muscles and the feeling of sandpaper going through my gut. There was little rhyme or reason as to what would happen, but one thing was very certain, I was allergic to corn.

Technically, I still am. So how am I able to eat an entire bag of popcorn without looking like I have the chicken pox, measles, and the stomach flu rolled into one? Easy - it's GMO corn I'm allergic to.

My Dad told me a few weeks ago about an article he read. In that article, scientists seem to think the reason for the sudden increase in corn allergies may be due to genetically modified organisms or GMOs. There are a LOT of GMO corn based products in the market - each genetically altered to different degrees. This would explain why sometimes corn seemed to not affect me at all and other times leave me with hives and bruises for weeks - different genetic structures would affect me differently.

Deciding to take this on and see if I can have regular, good, old fashioned non-gmo corn, I began to eat waffles every day for two weeks. The waffles have non-gmo corn starch in them. If the corn starch would affect me, I'd see symptoms within 2 hours. The symptoms would get worse over the course of 24 hours (as the corn went through my digestive system).

...Nothing. Nothing but yummy waffle goodness (with vegan butter and maple syrup!). I'd have at least two waffles everyday (and yeah, they are the toaster kind) for two weeks.

After realizing that, hey, I feel fine! I decided it was time to step up this challenge. That's where the popcorn came in.

Before, one piece of popcorn has been known to make me ill for a good 24 hours. This time, I went to the organic market and found some reasonably priced microwave non-gmo popcorn. I greedily waited for the popcorn to finish popping in the microwave - a sound I hadn't heard in close to four years - and tried one piece. And waited. I had to wait the full two hours before eating another piece just in case the waffle thing was a fluke (ie, there wasn't enough corn starch in the waffle to trigger a reaction). So, while the aroma of wonderful fresh popped popcorn permeated the air of my house, I waited. And nothing. Absolutely nothing. I felt perfectly fine after two hours.

So I did what any reasonable thinking person would do who hadn't had the taste of popcorn in years - poured the butter flavored olive oil and some salt on the rest of the popcorn bag and gobbled it down. :-) It was good.

Now, I know I'm still allergic to gmo corn because I had a reaction to just one sip of something with corn syrup in it over the weekend. Many of the additives like corn syrup and dextrose are made from gmo corn, while, I'm finding out now, that the corn I can buy at the roadside is typically non-gmo. (Could have used this information a few years ago.....)

So what does this all mean other than my amazing ability to now eat popcorn again? I can also have pudding again! There are several vegan puddings (darn dairy allergy!) but they all use corn starch in them. However, many of them use organic or non-gmo corn starch. This means, the second the organic market is open, I'm buying a bunch of either butterscotch or chocolate or both pudding cups and gobbling them down. Because I can.

Although I'll still have to read labels, I now have alternatives and don't have to simply forgo corn altogether. The alternatives are pretty easy to find as well (anything labeled organic should be non-gmo but it's not 100% certain. While anything labeled non-gmo absolutely is 100% gmo free). Pudding, corn chips, popcorn, and my favorite food that was ridiculously hard to give up on succotash (laugh all you want, I seriously missed corn with lima beans) are all back on the table for me!

Historical Food Fortnightly: Fear Factor

The Challenge:14. Fear Factor November 30 - December 13
What foods have you always wanted to attempt, but were afraid to attempt to make - or afraid to eat? Choose a dish that is either tricky to create or nerve-wracking to eat, and get adventurous! It’s historical Fear Factor!


The Recipe: (where did you find it, link to it if possible)Pumpes


The Date/Year and Region: 15th C England


How Did You Make It: (a brief synopsis of the process of creation) I followed the recipe given in the link pretty much. The only things different are that I didn't have cubebes so I added a bit more black pepper, I used raisins instead of currants, and I added the wine to the meatballs, not to the broth.


Time to Complete: 45 min, maybe? My stove top refused to heat up!


Total Cost: The Sangria was $6.99. The ground beef was maybe $4?


How Successful Was It?: (How did it taste? How did it look? Did it turn out like you thought it would?)

Amazingly, it sort of tastes like Ikea's Swedish meatballs but much better. It is a sweet dish but not overpowering like it says in the link.

How Accurate Is It?: (fess up to your modifications and make-dos here) I used store bought almond milk rather than making my own - I was lazy, I know.

(Ignore the deconstructed meatballs. I was hungry and mashed them up before realizing I should probably take a picture to prove I made something)

Okay, so you might wonder what the fear factor is in this one since it's ground beef meatballs with cinnamon and egg yolks - ie, not really that far out there even for a 15th C recipe. It was the wine. I tried a new wine that I hadn't tried before. This was a Sangria I got at the store.

Because of my food allergies, changing up anything is terrifying. The wrong ingredient can, very much, kill me. Now, it's doubtful that Sangria will have buckwheat in it but you get the idea. My other food allergies tend not to be quite as bad at the buckwheat or tomato ones. Those are the just dial 911 and tell them we'll meet them on the way allergies. However, the berry one can be quite scary in itself.

One day, I was picking blueberries with my cousins. My face swelled up so bad that my eyes swelled shut. That was from just picking blueberries - not eating them. Strawberries are not a berry. They are actually part of the rose family and I'll happily eat them. Every single other berry to include cherries? Yeah, not so much.

Many people know that some wines have berries in them. What many people do not know is that wines are not required to have ingredient labels. Sure, they have that "if you are pregnant and you are drinking this, you deserve a Darwin Award" label on the side but nothing to indicate what might be in the wine other than grapes. And grapes are fine. I ate a bunch of grapes the other day in fact.

The label showed lemons, oranges, and grapes - all of which are fine. The label said wine and citrus - which might be okay, might not. It completely depends on the type of citrus.

Since I wasn't using much wine and it would be cooked into the meatballs, I figured that even if I was allergic, the reaction would probably be mild. So far, no allergic reactions to the wine in the meatballs.

Basically, every time I try something new, there is a "fear factor" to it. The way our ingredients are labeled in the USA is completely ridiculous. For instance, I tried to contact "I can't believe it's not butter" the other day about their new improved product. I wanted to know what the "natural flavors" actually meant and if that meant it had corn. I received a rather rude email back stating that it was trade secret and that if my allergy was so severe then I should have my doctor contact them about it and they'd tell my doctor. Er, what? Doctor Patient privilege anyone? Not that I'm exactly secretive about my food allergies. But the point is that ingredients don't have to be listed. The food companies can use "cover terms" for a lot of different ingredients. And, if it's an alcohol as in the case this evening, they don't have to list a thing.

Fun.

Sweet Potato Pudding

I made some sweet potato pudding for thanksgiving and it was one of the few dishes that did not contribute to the leftovers pile.  Everyone ate the entire thing.  It was funny to see my sister in law's sisters making each other try the sweet potatoes (I was told it tasted like cake!).

Ingredients:

• 2 apples, peeled and cored
• 1/4 cup Earth Balance Soy Free Buttery Stick
• 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup Vanilla Flavored Almond Milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• dash ground ginger
• 4 medium sweet potatoes (I used purple ones that were one sale for an extra kick but regular orange sweet potatoes work just as well)
• 1 bag of small Dandies marshmellows (corn free marshmellows)
• 2 spoonfuls of Ricemellow Cream

First, boil the sweet potatoes until the skin starts to peel off on it's own. This makes them so easy to peel and easy to mash. Once they've been boiled, just put the potatoes to the side and boil the apple slices until they are cooked.

When the potatoes are cool enough to touch, peel off the skin and throw the potatoes in a bowl. Smash 'em.

Put the apple slices in a blender.

In a big bowl, mix together the buttery stick and the sugar first. Then add the almond milk, apples, and spices. Add the mashed up potatoes. The last ingredient is the Ricemellow cream. Just add a couple of spoonfuls. When it's all blended together well, put this evenly into a cake pan (13" x 9") and cook for 40 minutes at 350F. When you take it out and it's still hot, put the marshmellows evenly on top of the sweet potatoes. Right before you serve it, heat it up slightly just so the marshmellow melt a bit.

This was a huge hit.

Historical Food Fortnightly #13: Ethnic Foodways

The Challenge: 13. Ethnic Foodways November 16 - November 29
Foodways and cuisine are at the heart of every ethnic group around the world and throughout time. Choose one ethnic group, research their traditional dishes or food, and prepare one as it is traditionally made.

The Recipe: (where did you find it, link to it if possible) The Old Foodie posted about 18th and 19th Century Pumpkin pie and the differences between American and English pumpkin pies. This got me to thinking - the American pumpkin pie recipe from 1852 is different from the modern pumpkin pie but still fairly recognizable. Pumpkin pie itself is still completely necessary to any American Thanksgiving meal - making it a very traditional American dish.



The Date/Year and Region: Mid 19th C - American with some English elements added


How Did You Make It:

The original recipe:
Pumpkin Pie (American).—Take out the seeds, and pare the pumpkin or squash ; but in taking out the seeds do not scrape the inside of the pumpkin ; the part nearest the seed is the sweetest; then stew the pumpkin, and strain it through a sieve or cullender. To a quart of milk, for a family pie, 3 eggs are sufficient. Stir in the stewed pumpkin with your milk and beaten-up eggs, till it is as thick as you can stir round rapidly and easily. If the pie is wanted richer make it thinner, and add sweet cream or another egg or two; but even 1 egg co a quart of milk makes " very decent pies." Sweeten with molasses or sugar; add 2 tea-spoonsful of salt, 2 table-spoonsful of sifted cinnamon, and 1 of powdered ginger; but allspice may be used, or any other spiec that may be preferred. The peel of a lemon grated in gives it a pleasant flavor. The more eggs, says an American authority, the better the pie. Some put 1 egg to a gill of milk. Bake about an hour in deep plates, or shallow dishes, without an upper crust, in a hot oven.
Based on the Old Foodie's post, just 12 years earlier, there was still talk of English pumpkin pies being made with apples and pumpkin.

I know that going back to at least WWI, that apples are a common replacement for eggs. I use them due to my nephew's egg allergy. Rather than milk in the American recipe, I used Almond milk. I can easily trace that back - through each century- back to the 13th Century as a very common replacement for cow's milk. So, based on that, here's my recipe:

Pie crust:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, with another cup on the side
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup of coconut spread, cut into thin slices
• enough water to make dough

First the dough. I dumped everything in a bowl and mixed it until it got into a cohesive sticky lump. I then threw it down on some tin foil - for easy clean up- with more flour on the tin foil that I worked into the dough. Once I had a good dough, I rolled it out and had enough to line two tin foil pie pans. I put these in the fridge for 30 minutes. (I used coconut spread because I'm allergic to dairy)

Pie Filling:

• 2 cans of Libby's Pumpkin Pie
• 1 Box of Almond Dream Pumpkin Spice Almond Milk
• 1 1/2 cups of sugar
• 2 Tablespoons of Cinnamon
• 3 Apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
• 1 Tablespoon Ginger
• 2 teaspoons of salt

Since I'm not completely crazy, I just used the canned pumpkin that everyone uses for modern pumpkin pie. I had to use about 4 cups of almond milk - which ended up being nearly the entire box. Rather than eggs, I used apples - which is similar to the English pumpkin pie. I boiled the apples, put them in the blender, and made...applesauce! I added this to the bowl filled with mushed up pumpkin and almond milk. Once I mixed this together, I added the salt, sugar, cinnamon, and ginger. It became sort of like a watery pudding which looked correct to me. I then poured this into the pie shells I made earlier and cooked the pies for an hour at 350F.


Time to Complete: 2 hours if you include the time it was in the oven
It ended up being in the oven for 2 hours and 40 minutes before the pie finally set.  Amazingly, the crust didn't burn!  I read online that a lot of other people had issues with Libby's pumpkin not cooking - one individual said it always takes them nearly 3 hours.  So...I'm not too worried. 

Total Cost: Maybe $10? I think. I wasn't paying much attention. The canned pumpkin was on sale and I had a coupon so I know that wasn't more than a couple of bucks. The almond milk was $2.19. Most of the rest I had in the pantry.


How Successful Was It?: We'll see tomorrow!!!! It looks and smells good. So, I could have cooked it a bit longer. I also probably should have cut out some of the cinnamon - I think one tablespoon would have been enough. It wasn't bad but I do need to experiment some more.

How Accurate Is It?: (fess up to your modifications and make-dos here) Since almond milk is period correct and apples were common in the English version, I'm going with pretty decent. The pie crust is another story. I had to use the coconut though because of the dairy allergy. 

Cream of Potato Soup

No pictures - I sort of gobbled this one up.  :-)  With the super cold temperatures (it's November, right?  Not February?) this week, I really wanted soup for dinner.  However, unlike most people, I can't simply pop a can of Campbell's in a pot and reheat it.  Almost all soups - Progresso, Campbell's, even a lot of the allergy friendly brand Annie's- have either dairy or corn in them.  Since I really wanted cream of potato, that always has both.

I stumbled across this recipe for cream of potato and really wanted to try it.  Here is my redaction for the ingredients I had on hand and the ingredients I can eat.

• 2 potatoes - I used redskin
• water
• half of a small chopped onion
• 2 tablespoons Earth Balance Soy Free Buttery Sticks
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 cups almond milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• A pinch of pepper
• Paprika

The original recipe calls for two medium potatoes.  I used one large potato - not peeled, just chopped up- and one small potato, also not peeled but chopped up.  I threw the pieces into a pot with the water and waited for them to soften up.

I then chopped up half of a smallish sweet onion to use for this recipe.  Once the potatoes were done, I set them aside in a bowl (drained, of course), and put the onions in the pot.  It's a bit odd to cook onions in a pot but it works for this recipe.   I also added the Earth Balance Buttery Stick slices.

Once the onions were cooked, I added the flour, stirred it together and just dumped in the almond milk on top of all of that.  I stirred it together and waited.   It will be a while before it a)boils and b)the almond milk starts to double in volume due to the boiling.  You need the latter to happen for it to be a decently thick soup.   Once it rose, I stirred the soup for two minutes and added the potatoes with the salt, pepper, and a dash of paprika.

I waited another couple of minutes before dishing out the soup.  I added more paprika to the top of the soup and added some more salt.   The soup is somewhat sweet - it tasted like cream of blooming onion with potatoes, which was fine by me.   It's a good cold winter day soup and would work for anyone with a dairy or corn allergy.

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup olivio coconut spread (you can use Earth Balance coconut spread but I've found olivio is typically softer)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 apples, peeled and cored
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (Enjoy life has the dairy free allergy friendly kind)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a pot, boil the apple slices until they are mushy. Drain them and then mash them up into a sauce. Leave to the side for now.

Mix in a large bowl the coconut spread, the white sugar, and the brown sugar until it's blended. Add in the the applesauce, the baking soda, and the vanilla extract. Then add in the salt, chocolate chips, and flour. Once this is mixed together, put small spoonfuls of the dough on an ungreased cookie sheet. Cook for about 15 minutes (check them at 12).




These cookies are perfect for anyone with dairy or egg allergies. You could probably sub the flour for rice flour to make them gluten free as well. I think these make about 4 dozen cookies - I was eating them as I was baking so I have no idea. :-)

Historical Food Fortnightly #9: Frugal Housewife

9. The Frugal Housewife September 21 - October 4

Throughout history, housewives and housekeepers have kept a close eye on their budgets and found creative ways to pinch pennies while providing delicious and nutritious food. Create a dish that interprets one historically-documented method of frugal cooking.

The Challenge:

The Frugal Housewife

The Recipe: (where did you find it, link to it if possible)

Actually, it's a recipe that my Mom got from my Aunt Bev way back when (meaning, before I was born!). The picture of the recipe above is from here (you need an open library account to see it). The book is The Time Reader's Book of Recipes: Two Hundred and Thirty Favorite Recipes of the Women who Read Time By Florence Arfmann.

The Date/Year and Region:

Most people call this a Depression Era cake but I found no evidence of that. The earliest I could find was 1947. The book above is from 1949 (republished in 1951). It makes *sense* that I might be a WWII recipe (no eggs, no milk, due to rationing) but I didn't look for it past this book.  Actually, I found something from the BBC that states it is a WWII recipe.

How Did You Make It: (a brief synopsis of the process of creation)

Since this is later that I usually do, I just followed the directions. :-) Although, I cooked it for 40 min rather than 30 - it wasn't done at 30 min.

Time to Complete:

The cake itself was done in under an hour. It takes all of 3 minutes to whip up the ingredients together. The time consuming part is cooking it.

Total Cost:

It was all stuff I had on hand; cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, all purpose flour, olive oil (rather than shortening), vanilla extract, and white vinegar. I think these are pretty common to most household kitchens and part of a regular "supply".

How Successful Was It?: (How did it taste? How did it look? Did it turn out like you thought it would?)

I've made this cake several times and, as always, it was delicious. Everyone who tried it, loved it.

How Accurate Is It?: (fess up to your modifications and make-dos here)

I feel sort of bad about using this one for the HFF because a) it's not 15th/16th Century which I wanted to stick to and b) it really is something I make all the time. Today was my Mom's birthday. I knew my brother was making cheesecake - which I can't have (Dairy) and I was pretty sure Oldest Nephew couldn't have (Eggs). So, instead, I made this. No eggs, no dairy - just a nice vegan chocolate cake that is absolutely delicious. (Oh, and for Oldest Nephew's sake, it also didn't have peanuts ;-) And no corn so *I* would get sick. He gets worried about all the allergies!)

Both myself and Oldest Nephew (he's six) got to have the eggless, dairy free, rich chocolate cake (as did quite a few other people at the party). It tastes like a chocolate cake should and people are always surprised when I tell them it's vegan. I do use a butter flavored olive oil (no real butter in it) to help give the cake a bit of richness.

The icing is a bit on the modern side, I think - it has coconut oil solids rather than butter in it. It was necessary since I really can't have dairy. However, the rest of it is perfectly normal going back to at least the Edwardian era - confectioners sugar (corn free), vanilla extract, almond milk (common replacement for milk going back centuries), cocoa powder, and the coconut oil solids (coconut butter).

Sorry for the bad picture - I only had my android on me when Mom blew out the candles - with Oldest Nephew's help, of course!

Because all the ingredients are items that most people have around the house all the time and keep well, it's been considered a "frugal" choice. Basically, it cost nothing because I use flour for other things, the salt- well, who doesn't have salt?-, the cocoa powder I use for my Hot Chocolate, and the olive oil as well as the vinegar are items I use in other things as well. Actually, I use the olive oil in everything. It's delicious on toast with a bit of cinnamon and sugar. :-)

Beef Stoganoff (dairy free version)

I originally posted this - locked- on my other journal and didn't realize that until I went to search for it!

One of my favorite food before my food allergies got to the point of ridiculousness was beef stroganoff the way Mom made it. The problem was Mom used an instant onion soup (corn!) and sour cream (dairy!) so I haven't been able to eat it for a while. I finally gave up and decided there had to be a way to make it without dairy or corn in it. What I ended up with was actually pretty good - a bit sweet but that's because I screwed up with the sweet onions and accidentally adding vanilla almond milk. However, it still tasted fine. 

1lb of ground beef
1 can of beef stock
half a medium onion, cut up (or a half cup of dried onion minced)
1/2 cup of mushrooms, sliced
1 cup of noodles (I used lil shells but really, almost any kind will do)
1 cup of unsweetened almond milk
1/4 cup of flour (or more) to thicken the almond milk
1 teaspoon of rosemary
1 teaspoon of thyme
2 teaspoons of salt
1 teaspoon of pepper

Brown the beef. Add the onions and mushrooms to saute them as well. Add the beef stock once everything looks cooked. Add the noodles and make sure they are covered by the beef stock. Cover the frying pan and let it sit on medium heat for at least 20 minutes.

In another pot, a few minutes before the noodles are done, pour the almond milk and flour together. Stir it up and make sure it thickens. Add the spices as it begins to thicken over a low/medium heat. 

Take the cover off the frying pan and let it simmer for a couple of minutes.

Add the white sauce you made in the other pan to the beef and noodles in the frying pan. Mix it up well and cook it another five minutes. Serve. 


I've since made it several times unsweetened original almond milk and it's delicious. :-)

Egg Allergies

My oldest nephew has become severely allergic to egg recently. He's six and his throat starts to swell up (though not completely closed) when he eats anything with egg in it. This includes one of his favorite foods - birthday cake!  Here is a list of all the ingredients that have egg hidden in them:

Contain Egg:

Albumin Apovitellin Cholesterol free egg substitute (e.g. Eggbeaters®) Dried egg solids, dried egg Egg, egg white, egg yolk Egg wash Eggnog Fat substitutes Globulin Livetin Lysozyme Mayonnaise Meringue, meringue powder

Ovalbumin Ovoglobulin Ovomucin Ovomucoid Ovotransferrin Ovovitelia Ovovitellin Powdered eggs Silici albuminate Simplesse Trailblazer Vitellin Whole egg

May Contain Egg:

Artificial flavoring
Lecithin
Natural flavoring
Nougat
- See more at: http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org/resourcespre.php?id=36


Some are obvious like Mayonnaise, meringue, and anything with "egg" in the name.  Those that don't know Latin might not recognize all the "Ovo" ones - Latin for egg.  Still, there are a few I wouldn't suspect like Albumin -> Latin for white coloring.

Luckily, due to my own food allergies - particularly the dairy one- I did some research on vegan cooking.  For eggs, it's common to use bananas in sweet dishes - however they change the flavor profile greatly.  Nothing tastes like banana except...banana.   It's a hard flavor to hide.  Apples work really well and I've used those with great success.  I'm told there are some other more artificial egg substitutes but the more artificial in my family and the greater the chance someone is allergic to it.


So how do you use fruit rather than an egg?  It's really easy, honestly.  For each egg a recipe calls for, use one very mushed up, smashed up banana.  This really is yummy in a chocolate cake or a yellow cake with chocolate icing...if you like bananas.  :-)  You just peel the banana and mash it.  There really isn't any more to it than that.

For apples, it's a bit more time consuming - but apples won't change the flavor profile as much.  For each egg, you normally need two medium apples.  Peel and core them.  Boil the slices until they are soft - typically about 10 minutes.  Drain the slices and either put them in the blender or mash them by hand.  Use this as the egg substitute.   You can use apple sauce straight from the jar but there are a couple of problems with that - they tend to have other ingredients rather than just apples and it tends to add too much water to the recipe.  It will work if you lower your own liquid ingredients to accommodate the apple sauce but I like using apples I peeled and cored myself.  I know exactly what is in the apple sauce then.  (And, most of the time, I even know where the apples came from since I pick my own!)


Now to go cook up some yummy vegan yellow cake with dark chocolate fudge icing for myself and my oldest nephew!  :-)

New Limited Time but Fabulous Product Alert!

Back before the corn allergy, I remember not liking Vanilla flavored Pepsi/Coke very much.  It tasted like toothpaste to me and I couldn't understand why people liked it.  Of course, I also thought diet Pepsi/Coke tasted like pure bitter acid.

However, this is delicious.  It tastes like cream soda almost.  I *love* it.  You can easily taste the vanilla but it does have some citrus acid in it to give it that bit of lemon/lime kick. 

I was so excited when I heard that Pepsi was going to do Wild Cherry and Vanilla Pepsi with real sugar this summer.  I can't have the wild cherry, unfortunately (stupid cherry/berry allergy!) but Vanilla is completely on the table.  I've bought one case to try and I'm going to get a bunch more before Pennsic. 

Pepsi, thank you!  Not only can I drink Sierra Mist no matter where I go (it's always sugar based), and the throwback Pepsi, but now I can see if this Vanilla Pepsi is an option too.  PLEASE keep these around.  I'd love to see what this tastes like with gingerbread at Christmas.  :-)

To other corn allergy sufferers, I know those with the most severe kind might still have issues because of the caramel coloring.  I have no idea if it is corn based or not but I haven't have a reaction.  My corn allergy is mild compared to the other food allergies I have so I don't always have a reaction if it's a very small amount.  (Like if it says 2% or less of dextrose, a corn based product, I can have the recommended serving without any issues.)  So, please, double check. 

Now back to your regularly scheduled Pennsic madness...

Yummies!

This Thanksgiving, we went over to my brother & sister in laws again.  The one problem I have with this is that it means, if I want to eat at Thanksgiving, I need to bring all my own food.  No one save Mom knows how to cook without tomatos or butter.  Given this, I tend to bring a lot of things that mean Thanksgiving to me.  Believe it or not, it's not the Turkey.  The smell of the sweet potato pudding below is exactly what I think of when I think Thanksgiving. Add in some apple pie and yummy bread and I'm good!

For the apple pie, I'm using the medieval recipe I've used before. However, this time, I'm staying a bit truer to the Italian recipe and using light brown sugar for the crust. Turns out, I needed more sugar in the crust.  However, the filling was perfect.

For sweet potato pudding, I modified this recipe so I could eat it.

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs, separated, room temperature
• 1/4 cup coconut spread
• 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup vanilla almond milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• dash ground ginger
• 1 cup mashed cooked sweet potatoes

Original instructions:

In a medium mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Beat yolks in a separate bowl. In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar; add well-beaten egg yolks, milk, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and sweet potatoes. Fold in beaten egg whites. Turn mixture into a buttered 1 1/2-quart casserole. Bake at 350° for 40 minutes. Serve with cream or a caramel sauce. Serves 4.

My Instructions:

The eggs would not peak.  I added lemon juice to them and they got very fluffy but I think it was just too humid out to get the egg whites to peak.  I beat the yolks, coconut spread, and brown sugar together in a separate bowl.  It ended up looking something like a very creamy spicy mustard.  Once that was done, I added the boiled and somewhat mashed sweet potatoes as well as the spices and almond milk.  I tried to fold in the eggs but...nothing really wanted to work that way.  After I cooked the sweet potatoes, I mashed them up more (it's very hard to mash up potatoes when you don't have a masher or a blender.  I did this all with a fork) and put it in the fridge.

When it was time to eat the next day.  I put the sweet potatoes in the oven again for 5 minutes to heat them up and then put ricemallow cream on top.  Yummy!  My brother commented that mine had the best texture since we had three very different sweet potato offerings for Thanksgiving.  :-)



I also took over Medieval herb bread which was a huge hit and my normal sweet sourdough bread I make with my starter.   I actually had food this Thanksgiving!   And yes, my very sweet SIL cooked the Turkey with veggie oil rather than butter.   This meant I could eat that too!

Thanksgiving Prep

For me, Thanksgiving dinner actually means everyone else gets to eat and I eat whatever I bring.  This means, I need to cook whatever I want for tomorrow.   I've been asked to bring bread, which is currently rising in the kitchen, but I'd also like to bring sweet potato pudding and apple pie.   So, tonight and tomorrow morning will be lots and lots of cooking!

I finally tried the Soy Pumpkin Spice milk and...it tastes like it would be great in a pumpkin pie but not by itself.  It is very pumpkiny and has a slight chalky aftertaste.  I'm pretty sure the aftertaste wouldn't be noticeable if you mixed the milk with other things.  Might have to make pumpkin pie soon too...

I still love the coconut milk based egg nog.  It is so good!

On the sewing side of life - I need to take pictures of my 1860's Ball gown.  I have some but none are very good.   Maybe when I wear it to the ball in Jan.   This week, I should be working my 1820's corset, my winter coat, and some work clothing for my trip next week.  This weekend will be crazy with all the sewing!

Food Product Review! So Delicious Holiday Drinks

They also have pumpkin spice but I haven't tried that yet.   :-)

So, first, the 'Nog.  My west coast Mom (who is really my cousin and is probably reading this right now!) and I saw the dairy free holiday themed coconut milk at the grocery store.  As we both of dairy allergies, we knew we had to try some.  We decided the eggnog had to be sampled.

It's good.  Very good actually, taste wise.   It tastes exactly how eggnog should - and pretty much how I remember it tasting.  The only slight downside is that it's off texture wise.  That is to be expected, really, but it has a watery texture rather than the super thick texture I'm used to with eggnog.  It doesn't taste the least bit watery but it sort of confuses you as you are drinking it.   Not that it stopped me from drinking it!  I'm definitely buying more.

The mint chocolate tastes great while you are drinking it and has the same texture a 2% chocolate milk does.   However, it has a chalky aftertaste that is a bit off putting.   I'm going to finish the carton but I doubt I'll buy it again. 

Both are also corn free - which is awesome for me.  Or, I didn't see any corn ingredients and I haven't had a reaction so, that's good.  

More 'Nog, please?

Vegan Chocolate Fudge!!!!!

Ingredients:

240 ML Vanilla Flavored Soy Milk
7 oz Ricemallow
1/4 Teaspoon of salt
4 tablespoons of Coconut Spread
1 bag of Chocolate Chips (non dairy)
1 1/2 cups of walnuts (optional)
1 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract (optional if you use vanilla soy milk)

Directions:

You want to reduce the soy milk to about half.  Just pour the soy milk into a medium sauce pan and put it on low heat.   You'll need to stir it every so often as the soy milk gets that "film" on top.  If you stir it back in, it's fine.  I'm not sure how long it took, but I had my burner on "3" (out of 10) and was able to eat lunch plus write a couple of emails so I'm guessing a half hour.

Once the soy milk is reduced by half, add in the coconut spread, salt, and then the ricemallow.  Stir it all together over a medium heat (my burner was between 5 & 6).   Once it's pretty well blended, wait for it to boil.  It doesn't take long.  I got the chocolate chips & walnuts out at this point & cut open the bags so I would be quick once I was ready to add 'em in.

When the mixture starts to boil, stir it for a good five minutes.  Make sure it is still boiling as you stir.  This may mean you need to turn the heat up.  The mix will turn from a frothy off white to a caramel color - it's okay, it should.  Technically, the mixture should be at 240F after those five minutes but I don't have a candy thermometer and I know you don't need one to make fudge. 

After five minutes, take the sauce pan from the heat and add in the chocolate chips, walnuts, and vanilla (if you need it).   It will turn into a lovely dark chocolate goo pretty quickly as you stir everything in.  Once the mix is well blended, pour it into a 8" by 8" sized pan.  (Or any small cake pan, really)  Let it set by leaving it out at room temp or putting it in the fridge for a while.

This will make a nice bit of dark chocolate fudge.  Perfect for those of us that can't have dairy!

Edit:
Now that I've been eating some of it and it's set, I thought y'all might want to know what it tastes like.  It is good.  It tastes like a fudge flavored chocolate chew.  It doesn't taste exactly like regular dairy fudge but it certainly isn't bad either.

I admit I had a bit of an issue getting it to set. I simply didn't have the heat hot enough when I was mixing it. If you run into this issue, just pour the fudge back into the saucepan, turn it up, and make sure it is boiling. You'll know it's ready when the chocolate no longer sticks to the sides of the pan. I did add a bit more ricemallow (the rest of the can)and a small bit of olive oil since I was worried part of the reason it wasn't setting was the lack of fat. I also added some powdered sugar once I removed the mix from heat. It set pretty quickly after that.


Postus Editus:

My family tried it. And even a few family friends. :-) My dad thought it tasted too much like candy - we agreed on chocolate taffy. Mom seemed to agree. My baby brother really liked it - he had two pieces. His best friend also tried it as was surprised it wasn't quite as sweet as he thought it would be - it's a true dark chocolate fudge taste. He liked it too. So, if my very much bacon loving family liked something vegan, my guess is it's decent. :-D

I'm going to play with the recipe some more - I think almond milk might help- but I also want to learn how to make a few other confections without milk or corn...

Dairy free, corn free, tomato free PIZZA!

I have been dying for a slice of pizza lately. It's been terrible! So, I figured I'd do something about it. I made pizza. Okay, so it's the Daiya Mozzarella shredded "cheese", pita bread, pepperoni, and olive oil with spices for a sauce. It's awesome. I did put too much salt in the sauce but that is super easy to correct. This dairy free/tomato free/corn free pizza is about like putting together those English muffin pizzas. It's not going to be the best pizza in the world but it will be good enough to eat and call food. Actually, I like the Mozzarella "cheese" better than the cheddar. It tastes a lot closer to what I remember cheese tasting like.

Recipe:

Pita Bread
Daiya Mozzarella shredded cheese
Pepperoni (or any other meats/veggies you want)
Olive oil
Oregano
Basil
Pepper
Salt

Preheat the oven to 325F.  Put the Pita bread on a baking sheet.   In a bowl, stir together about 1tbl of oregano, 1/2tbl of basil, 1tea of Salt, and enough pepper to taste with the olive oil.  Brush this mix on to the pita bread.  Place the pepperoni on top of this and then sprinkle on the cheese.  Put in the oven for about 7 minutes.

  Costume stuff up probably tomorrow!

A not cheese I can eat

So I bought some of the daiya cheddar cheese that happens to not be cheese. I've had bad experiences in the taste department with non cheeses before. A lot of the ones many people say are good are for the lactose intolerant - not the no dairy whatsoever community. Even if it says its almond cheese or soy cheese, it often has milk proteins in it still. I cannot have them. At all.


This not-cheese said it doesn't have any dairy or corn. Woohoo! Perfect for me. I figured giving it a try couldn't hurt. I sampled a bit today and...it tastes like cheddar flavoring and not like real cheese. But it did taste decent enough to attempt to make my version of nachos.


I put some black bean chips on a plate, sprinkled the not-cheese on top, and put it in the microwave for a little over a minute. It smelled...burnt. But it wasn't. It tastes sort of like cheddar flavored Velveeta. Not as good as real cheese but it might be a great alternative to all those recipes that call for cheese when I need it.


In related news this article is excellent for anyone who would like to know more on life threatening allergies. My dairy isn't life threatening - yet- although it is debilitating (I will be out of it for three days). My tomato and my buckwheat allergies are life threatening. Both have sent me to the ER more than once. Yes, those of us who have allergies - or have loved ones that have allergies- tend to be a bit militant about it. It's for a very good reason. The article explains some of those reasons well but it comes down to this; many people believe that food allergies aren't that serious. That you are just "making it up" or that you simply are a "picky eater" (I got that one a LOT growing up).


Because of people not taking food allergies seriously -as a life threatening illness- most of us who do suffer from food allergies become very defensive. Food is important in every culture and most cultures have food served at various holidays and other events. Food is the stuffs of society - because of that, many of us that cannot eat what is served often feel that we are "left out" of culturally important events. For Thanksgiving, for example, I need to bring my own turkey, my own stuffing, and whatever veggies I want because I can't eat the turkey that was basted in butter, the stuffing that has cornmeal, or any of the veggies that are covered in butter. This is not my choice - unlike with vegetarianism- but it would make my life - and many other food allergy sufferers lives- so much easier if people would make a list of every ingredient they put into a dish that they intend to share with others. I don't need to know the amount or the order, just what is in the dish. Even if I can't eat the dish, I will be thankful for someone taking the extra minute to help me make that informed decision.

Food related post

While the 1790's dress goes and sits in the corner to think about what it's done (currently known as laying across the ironing board), I started to think about what I wanted to snack on before moving on to my next project.  Unfortunately, it's the same thing I've wanted to eat for the past couple of weeks - smoked cheddar. 

I love smoked cheddar.  The kind I'd get at the Amish market was perfect with some smoked sausage on crackers.  I'd happily eat it up and it worked really well at SCA events. 

The problem?

I developed a dairy allergy in the past couple of years.  I won't go into the details of what happens - if you have ever had a serious case of food poisoning, imagine going through that for a good 3 days.   It's really that bad.  So, I need to avoid dairy.

Although I've talked some before about all things that have dairy in them (and how hard it is to explain to people that butter/yogurt/cream cheese are all dairy) what I haven't talked about it how much I still crave dairy.  There isn't a good vegan substitute for cow's milk cheese.  Strike that.  There isn't even a mediocre substitute for cheese.  I tried vegan cheese once and I will never make that mistake again.  It tasted like smooched up Bernie Bot's every flavor beans -and only the bad flavors.  It was supposed to be cheddar.

For butter, I've found some fabulous subs.  There is the expensive but oh my goodness perfect butter substitute from Under the Olive Tree.  Although regular olive oil will work too, this tastes too awesome.   There is also the coconut spread I've discussed before when you need not melted butter.  

For milk, I love almond milk.   Soy is okay too but I've really come to love almond milk.   It tastes great with cereal.  Plus, it has the added benefit of having about the same amount of fat as whole milk meaning it works perfectly in any recipe that calls for milk.   Oh, and it has more calcium. 

But cheese?   Nothing.  And I want cheese and crackers.  I can find perfectly fine vegan crackers that taste great - but not cheese.  

Some people have stated that at least I got to know what cheese tasted like but I truly believe ignorance is bliss on this subject.  If you've always been allergic to something, you have no idea what you are missing and don't want it when you are thinking about snacks or dinners.   I constantly want spaghetti- O's and cheese but the tomato allergy and dairy allergy (and even the minor corn allergy) tell me that I should only have that if I happen to be on Death Row.  This is why having allergies sucks. 

Medieval Cooking Again

So...I'm thinking for Lent to do the whole Medieval cooking for 40 days again. Yes, I heard a couple of you groan. ;-) I won't be quite as strict when out and and about but I'd like to cook this way at home a lot more. It's honestly easier for me to cook using medieval recipes because of the dairy allergy than it is to bother attempting modern recipes that call for premade items.

Anyway, I found this lovely middle Dutch (I swear, try saying this out loud without sounding like the Swedish Chef. It's not possible!)recipe for pastries:

Om roffiollen [..]*maken jn die

wasten**

stoet jn enen mortijer hondert okernoten

ende ende een cleijn hantvol amandellen vel

ontstucken hier stotet xx goyer appellen

wel gheschelt sonder kerlhuys doter potsucar

ghenbaer ende canel suyker poyer oft nempt

greyn voer den ghenbaer voer den ghenbaer

ende weruet dese spijse met een luttel sofferaen

Luttel sofferaen....*cue giggles*



So, the English translation courtesy of Christianne Muusers :

1.65. To make pasties during Lent
Grind hundred walnuts and a small handfull of almonds very finely in a mortar. [With] this grind 20 good apples, well peeled, without core. Add powdered sugar, ginger and ground cinnamon, or use grains of paradise instead of ginger. Colour this mixture with some saffron.
This sounds like a "gluten free vegan" pie crust. Honestly, it sounds pretty good. I'm not sure where I could get pre ground up walnuts - maybe I need to get a grinder finally- but it's basically walnut flour, almond flour, sugar, apple sauce, and yellow food coloring - or COOKIES!!!!!

:-D