Gluten Free Meatball

Hi all - just wanted to let you know I found a gluten free meatball at Costco the other day. It is made by Coleman Natural Foods and is all natural - no nitrates, growth hormones, or MSG etc. It does contain soy and milk, but NOT egg. We are going to try them this week and I will let you know how they are. Hopefully C. will eat them! If you want to find out more about their products here is the link. http://www.colemannatural.com/

There is no warning about cross contamination due to shared equiptment, but I have not called the company to enquire about their processing practices.

Made a New Bread

For 2 years C. has been existing on grilled cheese sandwiches made from Ener-g Brown Rice Bread. It was the first safe bread I found for him. It is so dry that grilled cheese is about the only thing you could do with it.

I am trying to branch out and encourage C. to eat new things. We got the go ahead from the allergist to try Sunbutter so I thought he needed a better bread to eat a Sunbutter and jelly sandwich. I bought the Gluten Free Pantry Favorite Sandwich Bread. I have hesitated to bake bread in the past for 2 reasons. 1. I do not have a bread machine and I was not confident that I would get it to mix and rise properly. 2. I can not use egg and I was not sure how the egg replacer would effect the final product. I finally just decided to give it a try.

I mixed the bread according to the oven method preperation. I did substitute the egg for 3 tbsp of Ener-g egg replacer mixed with 2 tbsb of warm water. Be sure to whisk it thoroughly. I was a little unsure of where to set the bread to rise. The directions say "a warm place." Well, considering that it is summer and our house is cooled with air conditioning I was perplexed. I finally decided to heat a cup of water in the microwave to warm it up, and let the bread rise in the microwave. It seemed to work well!

I am pleasently suprised that it is quite good. It is like real bread! It smells good and has the right texture. It even keeps well in the fridge for a few days. My older 2 like it toasted with Soynut Butter. Of course, I have used it to make grilled cheese. Hopefully I can get C. to try a Sunbutter jelly sandwich! Even if he does not eat it now, I feel better that I can offer him a real sandwich when he get a little older and goes to school.

Allergen Free Brownies

We finally got a chance to make the new brownie mix I purchased. It is the Ooey Gooey Chocolaty Brownie Mix from The Cravings Place. They are gluten free, wheat free, egg free, and nut free. It is hard to find gluten free items that do not pose a risk for cross contamination with our other allergens, so I was very excited to find this company. I especially love that the recipe does not even call for eggs, so I do not have to think about how the egg substitute will alter the brownies.

I have to give credit to my husband who actually baked them while I was out. When I came home they smelled wonderful. These brownies are great! Every member of the family loved them. They are light and fluffy - a little cake like. There are chocolate bits in the mix which become melted and gooey. You would never know that they were wheat and egg free. Some of my previous wheat free, egg free baking has come out really dense. I was surprised how light they were!

After the kids went to bed my husband and I ate them with vanilla ice cream. YUM! This will be a great mix to have on hand to take to parties and school functions. I think next time I might make a little frosting to spread on top.

The Cravings place offers several other cake, cookie and muffin mixes. I will definitely be trying more mixes from them. Check it out and let me know if you try any other mixes!

New Food Products

Oh my goodess there is so much going on lately. I have a lot to share, but I am going to have to break it down. First of all I found some new food products that my son C. can eat. (He is allergic to wheat, eggs, peanut, tree nut, peas, banana, sesame and coconut.) It is challanging to find manufacturers that have a wheat free product, which is not cross contaminated with one of his other allergens.

I would like to echo the sentiments posted on Kids Food Allergies Blog. It would be great for more food manufacturers to take notice of food allergies. Especially multiple food allergies. It is very disapointing to find a new product you could use only to find that there is a cross contamination issue. I am grateful for Cherrybrook Kitchens and Enjoy Life Foods - we love their products. I am sure it is very difficult to make foods that are tasty, will ship well and are allergy friendly. I am sympathetic to the challanges - but there is a market for these products!

Anyway here is what I found:

1. Grahahm Crackers by JO-SEF - gluten free and egg free. Made is a dedicated gluten, casein, peanut and tree nut facility. They are very tasty and C. loves them. They are also the right size to make smores. Yay!!!
2. The Cravings Place Ooey Gooey Chocolate Chewy Brownie Mix. They also make other mixes that are gluten free, wheat free, dairy free, egg free and nut free!!!! I am so excited! We are going to make them this weekend, and I will post the results.
3. Miss. Roben's Mock Graham Cracker Mix. I have only seen Miss. Roben's products online and was glad to find something on the shelf that I did not have to order. I am going to attempt to make cut out cookies and will post the results.
4. 1-2-3 Gluten Free - baking mixes that are Gluten -free, wheat-free, Corn-free, Dairy-free, Nut-Free, Peanut-free, Soy-free. I did not buy any on this trip. They are a little expensive, but I will give them a try at some point. Check out their web site.

Over all it was sucessful trip, although I spent more than I intended. When I find something new I just can't resist.

Cupcake Holder

Most of who have kids with food allergies will always need to take a “safe” cupcake to any birthday party we attend. I have found a great cupcake holder designed just for this purpose. This cupcake holder is available at The Container Store. If you do not have a store near you, it can be ordered online at http://www.thecontainerstore.com/ Check it out!!