Feeding a Growing Boy

Introducing food has been fun but we were to discover a wheat/rye/barley & egg allergy in our little boy Charlie. Lucky for us we have a good specialist from the Children's Hospital at Westmead who has given me heaps of information about ways to cook for him. Here is some of the useful information I was given & it has helped me feel less overwhelmed about trying to cook wheat & egg free especially with his 1st birthday coming around the corner (what kind of cake doesn't include wheat & eggs?!!).

Wheat Free Cooking Tips

Instead of wheat use rice, corn, potato, rye, oats, soybean, buckwheat, millet & arrowroot. These grains are different to cook with from wheat flour. Follow the hints below,

• Soya flour combined with cornflour works well as a substitute for wheat flour in biscuits, chocolate cakes & fruit cakes (see substitution 1)
• Rice flour may be used in muffins, biscuits & some cakes (see substitution 3 & 5).

Substitutions for 1 cup (150g) wheat flour:

1. 1/2 cup cornflour or arrowroot plus 1/2 cup soya flour
2. 1/2 cup soy flour & 1/2 cup potato flour
3. 3/4 cup rice flour
4. 1/2 cup buckwheat flour & 1/2 cup cornflour
5. 1/2 soy flour, 1/4 cup potato flour & 1/4 cup rice flour

What to avoid:

• wheat flour
• wheat meal
• wheat-based baking powder
• starch
• gluten
• durum flour
• couscous
• semolina
• thickener no. 1400-1450 (derived from wheat)

Egg Free Diet Tips (egg substitutes/ replacers for baking)

It is possible to make cakes & muffins successfully by adapting recipes you use at home. The texture of the product may be a little different but the taste is good.

For 1 egg, substitute with one of the following:

• 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tbs liquid (water, juice or milk), 1 tbs vinegar
• 1 tbs yeast dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water
• 1 tbs apricot jam, apple puree, golden syrup or other fruit puree or jam
• 1 1/2 tbs water, 1 1/2 tbs oil, 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup water and 2 tsp gelatine (dissolve gelatine in warm water)

For 3 eggs, substitute with one of the following:

• Dissolve 1 tbs golden syrup in 300 ml warm milk
• Dissolve 1 tbs gelatine in boiling water then add cold water to make 1 cup. Cool, then whip until light like beaten egg whites before use.

There are commerical egg substitutes which you can buy in your supermarket.

So it seems like there will be a wheat & egg free cake I can make my boy when he turns 1. I'll keep you posted on how that goes & share the recipe with you all.