meandering through allergen-free cooking and other fun things
In this exciting, if not a bit muddy, time between winter & spring, here are a few wonderful things I’ve found & want to share with you. I’m always on the lookout for cooking/baking allergen free (dairy, gluten, egg, sesame, coconut and nut-free) and recently I’ve come across some wonderful ideas.
- vegan sea salt + cacao + caramel cups (where the author has already adapted them for some with a coconut allergy! woo hoo!) – her whole food blog is amazing and worth checking out, as it’s full of truly delightful unprocessed recipes
(image above, used with permission, from The Road Not Processed)
- a healthier donut pan for baked doughnuts (we just found a recipe for allergen-free baked ones I’m going to try)
- apparently, finely ground sunflower seeds can work as a replacement for nut / almond flours in lots of recipes – i’m looking forward to trying this one for chocolate chip cookies out (great for people fond of Paleo diets but allergic to nuts)
- the other day, when we had a couple of cases of fever + sniffly virus around here, I needed chicken soup, and fast. So I used a whole, frozen chicken and wound up with lots more meat than I usually do. I found this interesting recipe for chicken fried recipe I’m going to use the meat leftovers for – what do you do with the chicken leftover from your chicken soup?
- with our new supply of sunflower seeds, we can make a sort of sunflower butter – and here is a very fun recipe (though quite sweet and to be reserved for very special occasions) for peanut-butter-less chocolate cups!
And now, for a few non-food things:
- fabulous tutorials for letter embroidery (very kid-friendly, I’ve found)
- a wonderful, highly recommended book that proves you don’t need to leave your house to learn lots about history
- and a great, kid-friendly spring daffodil bunting craft that uses few supplies
14.03.2013(1:43 am)
What do I do with left overs from chicken soup? Freeze them in single servings for lunches? How about this: Chop up half an onion (or the whole thing), a few cloves of garlic, a carrot (or two) and two stalks of celery. Using a large, heavy bottomed pot or dutch oven, sautee (with 2 large spoonfuls of your usual type of oil) the garlic & onion for a few minutes then add the rest of the vegetables and cook until slightly tender. Add a cup and a half of rice plus enough broth to cook the rice (i.e. substitute broth for the usual amount of water you would use to cook the rice.) Add a bay leaf and up to a teaspoon dry thyme leaves. Bring to a boil, turn down the heat, lay a few pieces of chicken on top of the rice, cover your pot and cook as long as you would usually cook your rice.
This is one of my newest favorite recipes. So easy and so good! I hope you and your clan like it, too!