Child's Birthday Party

It's been a while.  I can only say that between a 6 month old teething, two nasty colds making the rounds in this house and planning for my daughters 4th birthday has kept me too busy to get a post on this blog.  Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things.

I thought I would talk about a dairy free kid birthday party.  We made the cake ourselves, my daughter loved helping add the candy decorations: gumdrops, sweet tarts, and Necco wafers (which are not dairy free, so only use if your child understands not to eat them!).  The cake recipe is this vegan vanilla cake recipe.  The frosting I used is a friends recipe, so I wont post that, but here is the frosting recipe I used last year that turned out well.  I'd recommend using some strawberry syrup (like the kind barristers use) in place of the milk for a pink color and strawberry flavor!

Last year, I went all out and made a dairy free lunch; complete with little fancy sandwiches.  THIS year I decided that that was just to much work.  lol  So instead we did an afternoon party with light refreshments.  There was a platter of organic: strawberries, apple slices, grapes and carrots.  We also had Trader Joe's Veggie Chips.  These things are a huge hit every year.  The two bags I brought had completely vanished by the end of the party.  We also had some water and apple juice.  Very simple and completely dairy free (as well as free of a few other allergens!).  It was a fantastic party.  I highly recommend the cake recipe if you are looking for something egg/dairy free.

Spinach Empanadas

I ended January well with my budget.  I ended up going over by some, because my favorite raw honey was on sale at Whole Foods, so I stocked up.  On the bright side though, I shouldn't have to buy any more honey for a couple months. 

Empanadas are a favorite around this house, both to eat and make.  You can basically fill them with anything you want and they are going to turn out great.  You have a couple dough choices too, a regular pie crust and baking (kinda calzone like), or using a masa dough and frying (as pictured above).   

Economically speaking, you really can't beat spinach empanadas.  Some chopped spinach, a little tomato sauce or tofu cream cheese, some seasonings... BAM! a taste explosion.  I tend to make the fried version more often than the baked simply because there is something about fried foods that excite my little one.  My daughter happily eats her spinach empanadas, whereas spinach in anything else creates plenty of complaints.  

As always, this is using organic products.  Frozen spinach, canned organic tomatoes, and Bob's Red Mill Masa Harina Corn Flour.  16 empanadas for around $3.75.  I usually eat 4, my daughter eats 2, and my husband eats 6 (our son isn't ready for these yet).  It goes well with some rice, or stir fried potatoes.  A zesty salad is always nice too.

Spinach Empanadas

Dough:

1 cup Masa Harina flour

1/4 cup All purpose flour

1 tsp salt

2/3 to 3/4 cup warm water 

Enough oil to fry in

Fillings:

1 cup frozen spinach, thawed and drained

1/4 cup tomato sauce

2 tsp garlic salt

1/8 tsp black pepper

In a mixing bowl, mix the two flours and salt.  Slowly add enough of the water to make a soft dough, just shy of being sticky.  Gently knead the dough a few times on a lightly floured surface, roll into a ball and set aside.  In another bowl, mix the filling ingredients.  Set aside.  Begin heating your frying oil.  Fill a small bowl with water and set that aside too.  

Bring your ball of dough to the floured surface again and roll out to a log shape.  Slice dough into 16 even pieces.  Create a balls with the dough pieces.  Roll out the balls into about 3 inch diameter circles.  In the center or each circle, place about 2 tsps amount of the filling in the center.  Brush edges of circle with water. Fold the round in half over the filling, and press down hard along the edges to seal.  You can crimp the sides with a fork or your fingers.  Continue until all 16 empanadas are made.

At this point, your oil should be ready to fry.  Drop in 2-3 empanadas at a time, cooking until golden.  Remove from oil and place on a paper towel to help soak up extra oil.  Repeat with remaining empanadas.

Jump Start Breakfast Granola

Well, really I eat it all the time as a snack, but it is a good start to your day if you don't have time to cook something.  Half a cup of this granola is 222 calories, so its pretty calorie packed.  That's because its full of super foods: cacao nibs, goji berries, hemp seeds.  I usually pour some coconut milk on top.  If you need it sweeter, go ahead and add some more honey.

Jump Start Breakfast Granola
4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cup shredded coconut
2 Tbsp chia seeds
2 Tbsp hemp seeds
2 Tbsp ground flax seeds
2 Tbsp cacao nibs
2 Tbsp goji berries
2 Tbsp almond butter
4-5 Tbsp raw honey

Preheat oven to 350.  In a large mixing bowl, add chia seeds, hemp seeds and flax seeds and mix so they combine.  Add the almond butter and 1 Tbsp honey and mix well with the seeds, creating small "balls".  Add coconut, goji berries and cacao nibs and combine.

Add one cup of oats at a time with 1 Tbsp on honey, mixing until well incorporated before adding the next cup.  When all the oats and honey have been added, pour mixture into a baking dish and press down lightly.

Put granola in the oven for 30 mins, mixing it up every 10 minutes to evenly bake.  Remove from oven and let cool.  Enjoy.

Kung Pao Seitan

I'm sorry I've gone so long without blogging.  I haven't been cooking much for two very good reasons: 1, I was doing NaNoWriMo last month and 2, my lovely husband is working long hours.  I expect my cooking creativity to snap back into gear as holiday's just scream cooking and baking.

I've been meaning to try seitan for a while.  While we do eat meat, we are trying to greatly limit how much we eat.  Both for health and price reasons.  I try to buy grass-fed, no antibiotics/hormones, cage-free, etc. meat, which can be pricey.  So I thought, if seitan doesn't taste to bad, then it might be a cheaper solution for meat (since we aren't big tofu fans around here).

The base for this recipe is from The Accidental Vegan, but as usual I did tweak it.  Can't help myself you know.  The basic seitan recipe is also from this book, but you can find others online as well.  The one created in this cookbook looks kinda like cut up and cooked chicken (as seen in the picture).  My daughter thought it was chicken just by the look, but I will admit that she didn't like the taste.

(Basic Seitan, before being added to the kung pao.  Tastes better than it looks!)

The verdict?  While the seitan turned out fine and was far better than tofu (IMHO), it still wasn't that great. It does soak up the sauce well, so it was really like eating really big flavor bits. haha  I'm not sure if I will make seitan again, but I will do this kung pao again.  My husband and I both agreed that just beefing up the zucchini and mushroom quantity would make it a great dish, or you could try tofu or meat in it too if you really wanted.  So on to the recipe.

Kung Pao Seitan

1 Tbsp oil (I used grapeseed)
1/2 cup onion, chopped
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp grated ginger
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 carrot, chopped
2 zucchini, chopped
1 cup chopped bok choy
6 crimini mushrooms, sliced
1 cup basic seitan (or meat or tofu)
1 can sliced water chestnuts, drained
1 can bamboo shoots, drained
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 Tbsp Sriracha sauce (this makes it pretty spicy so do less if you can't take to much heat!)

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium low heat.  Add the onion, garlic and ginger and saute for about 5 minutes or until onions are soft.  Stir in the soy sauce and carrots and cook a few more minutes.  Stir in zucchini, bok choy, and mushrooms and cook stirring often, for another 8 to 10 minutes or until veggies are tender.

Stir in the seitan, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, sesame oil and Sriracha sauce.  Cook stirring occasionally for another 5 minutes.  Serve hot.

Cheddar Flavored Crackers!

We were doing our normal Monday shopping at Whole Foods this morning when what does my daughter spot, but some cute crackers.  I initial see the Eco-Planet Cheddar Organic Crackers, and my thought is no way she can have these, then I spot on the box non-dairy.  I do a little jig of happiness, then go on to read the ingredients.  They are vegan, so no dairy or egg and they are soy, peanut and tree nut free.  They are manufactured in a facility that processes wheat, dairy, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts and soy, so if cross contamination is an issue, these may not be a go.

Taste? Well my lovely three year old daughter thinks they are awesome.  Before being dairy free, one of her favorite snacks were Goldfish, so you can imagine her joy at having something similar.  Plus they have fun shapes; a sun, the earth, a windmill and a car.  For me, they don't quite taste like cheddar, but they are very tasty none the less.

We are very happy with this product and I hope if you try it you will be too.

2 Month Breakfast Supply Giveaway

One Frugal Foodie has another giveaway going on.  This time you could win a 2 month supply of cereal (all dairy free, some vegan and/or gluten free) from some varieties of US Mills brand cereals.  Just hope on over to One Frugal Foodie for a chance to win.

Biscuits and Mushroom Gravy

The baby decided to go back to sleep this morning at 7 am-ish, so I decided to get creative with our breakfast.  Biscuits sounded good, then my husband requested gravy to go with them.  So our breakfast this lovely Halloween morning was fried eggs with biscuits and gravy (and yes on our real plates, the biscuits were covered with gravy!).

The biscuits were just a basic recipe from my Betty Crocker cookbook.  I just replaced the all-purpose flour with whole wheat pastry flour and the milk with soy milk.  They tasted ok, a little dry.  Since they aren't anything to shout about, I'll skip that recipe.  And yes, I used a heart shape cookie cutter.  An odd choice for Halloween morning, no.

The mushroom gravy was an adaptation from this fantastic mushroom soup recipe.  I highly recommend trying this recipe, it is SOOOOOOOOOOO good.  I was never big on mushroom soup before going dairy, used it in some recipes but that is about it.  This homemade one is so good I can eat the whole pot of soup by myself!!

Mushroom Gravy
1 cup plain coconut milk
3 Tbs dairy free margarine
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup fresh mushrooms, chopped
3 Tbs flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp black pepper

Heat the milk in microwave while you saute the onions and mushrooms in margarine in a sauce pot until onions get translucent.  Whisk in flour, salt, onion powder and pepper.  Cook over medium heat until bubbly, stirring constantly.  Slowly add the milk, whisking constantly to make a thick creamy gravy.

Enjoy!

Jen's Super Cookies

I like love to bake.  I always have.  However, I don't generally like to eat what I bake.  I'm not a huge sweets person; savory for me please.  Luckily, I have a wonderful husband that is more than willing to take my baked goods to his workplace and "force" them on his co-workers.

Now that I have a 3 year old though, I find she not only wants to help with the baking, she wants to actually eat what we bake.  With her allergy, letting her eat my baked goods meant coming up with new recipes and/or adapting those that I already used.  I've found this endlessly fun, to be honest, and my husbands co-workers don't notice the difference.  Win - win I say.

That said written, I also find myself not wanting my children to consume mass quantities of sweets.  So healthy alternatives are my goal, and my daughter certainly eats her fair share of fruit and vegetables.  But... kids like cookies.  So here is a relative healthy cookie option for your kids.  I've added notes where things can be adapted for different allergy needs (at least when avoiding the top 8 allergies).

Jen's Super Cookies
2 cups oats (You can find certified gluten free ones)
1/2 cup ground nuts or nut butter (I used the leftover ground almond from my fresh almond milk.  Got a nut allergy? try sunflower seed butter)
3 Tbsp ground flax seed
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
3 Tbsp raw Cacao (or if you don't have that 1/4 cup chocolate chips is nice)
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 cup apples sauce
1/3 cup honey (or maple syrup if your vegan and don't eat honey)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl, mix the wet ingredients in another bowl.  Pour wet into dry bowl and mix together.  Place about 2 inches apart on cookie sheet and bake for about 20 minutes.  Cookies will look dark and dry, but they are actually very chewy and quite delicious!

Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

I'm always looking for ways to cut costs in our grocery budget.  The cost of food has gone up substantially in the last few years, add to that an allergy, and your looking at a pretty large food bill.  What's a budget conscience girl to do?  Homemade goodies as much as possible of course!

With this in mind, I have been in search of a great granola bar recipe.  One that is dairy free (of course) and not to costly to make.  Buying items in the bulk bins can bring costs down, and will certainly beat out any pre-made goodies.  This recipe is a hodge podge of different recipes that I've found over the last few months and makes a good replacement for pre-packaged granola bars.

Once baked, I cut the bars up and put them in an airtight container.  They are tasty, though a bit crumbly.  My husband likes to break up a bar and eat it as cereal.  Play around with the ingredients to find your families "perfect" granola bar.

Chocolate Chip Granola Bar
4 cups old fashioned oats
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup almond butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spread oats and coconut on a cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Let the mixture cool completely.  Mix all the ingredients together then add the cooled oat mixture.

Spread mixture into a greased 13 x 9" baking dish, pressing it firmly down.  Bake about 25 minutes or until it is golden brown.  Cool completely before cutting.

Almond Milk

I don't have a picture for today's experiment, but.. I mean... you know what milk looks like right?  I realized yesterday as I emptied the last of the soy milk into my daughters cup that I had not bought enough soy milk for the week.  What could mommy do?

Sure I could go to the store and buy more, but I'm trying not to make extra trips to the grocery store since they ALWAYS result in un-needed purchases.  I admit it, I'm an impulse buyer.  I always find something we could use it seems.  As we I am trying to 'reel' in our grocery budget, I decided to try something else.  I knew I had raw almonds in the cupboard, we use them for snacks.  Is it possible I have enough ingredients to make a decent almond milk?  After a quick google search and a peruse of a couple recipes, I decided this was a possibility.

The milk turned out fine.  Although I wish I had a finer strainer for it since I did still end up with some pulp.  If I were to make a habit of making my own nut milk, I would purchase a nut milk bag.   I like the idea of making my own nut milk, it is a great way to control what is in it.  However, unless I can find some source of very cheap raw almonds, it is definitely not economical.

Almond Milk

What you need:
1 cup raw almonds
4 cups water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
natural sweetener to taste (I used honey)
a really good blender
a strainer of some sort

Soak the almonds in water overnight.  After almonds have soaked for at least 8 hours, drain and rinse until water runs clear.  Put almonds, 4 cups of water, vanilla extract, and sweetener into blender and blend on high until you stop hearing rattling.  Pour milk through your strainer into your storage container and there is your milk!

I read that you can keep the pulp for other purposes so I am doing that and am looking for something to make now.  So watch for that post.

Gingerbread Men

I like to include my 3 year old in my cooking endeavors whenever possible.  Its a fun activity for the two of us, and can be a great tool for learning to follow directions (and later on math practice).  We mostly stick to baking; as one, in general, sticks to precise measurements.  We count out the cups, 1/2 cups, etc, together, I fill the cup, she empties it into the bowl.  She does some stirring, then I do the real stirring; she rolls out the dough, then I do the real rolling; etc.  It's a great activity.

This week, we have been doing a gingerbread man theme.  You know the story "Run, run, as fast as you can, you can't catch me I'm the gingerbread man."  So we baked gingerbread men (we truly ended up with an army!) as another part of our theme.  These are, of course, dairy free gingerbread men.  Make them with your kids!

Gingerbread Cookie Dough

1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup sugar
3 Tbs non-dairy margarine (we use Earth Balance)
1 Tbs coconut milk (you can use any milk substitute you have on hand; rice, soy, almond, etc.)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Heat molasses to boiling over medium high heat, stirring constantly to prevent burning.  Stir in sugar, margarine and milk, remove from heat.

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.  Pour molasses mixture into bowl and stir well.  Make the dough into a ball and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Roll out the dough on a floured counter and cut into shapes.  Bake the cookies on a non-stick cookie sheet, 5 to 7 minutes.  Remove from cookie sheets and let cool on a rack.  Decorate with frosting and/or candies.