Banana Muffins

I recently borrowed the Mother & Baby + Toddler magazine from our local library. Inside it had a very easy banana muffin recipe, one that I thought would be good to try making with my toddler. We did just a few things differently

Ingredients
3 large bananas
1/4 Cup white sugar
1 large egg yolk, beaten
1 tsp bicarb soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 3/4 Cup plain flour
1/2 Cup oil

1. Preheat oven at 180 degrees Celcius.
2. Mash together bananas & sugar.
3. Add beaten egg yolk
4. Stir in sifted dry ingredients, then add oil
5. Mix until ingredients combined.
6. Pour evenly into a greased 12-hole muffin pan or 24-hole mini-muffin pan.

The Star, Garden Buffet, Pyrmont

In the spur of the moment we decided to go out for lunch & my husband came across this promotional special at the Garden Buffet. To get the lunch for $9.90 we had to join the rewards program at The Star in Pyrmont, which was free. The only thing that took a bit of time was having to register in the casino & we had to do it tag-team style as children are not permitted in the casino. Once we were at the restaurant the staff were really friendly and helpful in trying to find a table/ sitting area that was large enough for 3 adults, a toddler and my massive twin pram. We waited about 5 mins for our table and they gave us a table for 6, ensuring there was plenty of space. I was pretty happy with the food, there was a good range of dishes from pastas & pizzas to curries & roasts to prawns with a good selection of desserts & fruit. It was a great place for Charlie to eat with a decent selection of non-egg & wheat dishes. 

Book review: The Australian's Women's Weekly Allergy-free cooking for kids

This is one of the gems I've come across recently in our local library. Actually it is thanks to Nathan & Charlie for spotting it in the new books section. It has great recipes for those with gluten, egg or diary allergies. 

The book is broken into three major sections, gluten-free, dairy-free and egg-free & within each section contains sub-sections which focus around certain meals of the day: brekkie, my lunch box, after-school snacks, dinner for everyone, seriously sweet and party time. 

I am particularly interested in the gluten and egg-free sections of this book. It provides great basic recipes which turn out fantastic and they are ones that you can modify for your own needs. For example this week I made Bacon & Cheese Muffins and rather than using fresh chicken eggs I used 2 teaspoons of 'No-Egg' so that my little boy could enjoy it. And because it was so yummy even being gluten and egg free I thought why don't I make some of the rest of us with wheat flour and eggs. They turned out just as yummy. 

I recommend this book to anyone who has certain food intolerances as it will provide you with great recipes and the best thing is they are very easy to make. What I also like about this book is it gives you the ingredients and methods to make gluten-free pastry! No more guess work when learning how to cook with new types of flour and having to deal with the mess after a failed attempt. I love it when someone else has done the hard work and I can enjoy cooking food that I know will be a HIT with the boys. 

Bacon and Cheese Muffins

This is a nice simple recipe that I got from the Australian Women's Weekly Allergy-Free cooking for kids book with some slight changes to suit my son's needs and what I could find at home. This recipe makes 12 muffins and took about 35 mins to prepare and cook.

Ingredients:

1 tsp olive oil

200g finely chopped bacon

1 small onion

1/3 cup frozen green peas

1 1/4 cups gluten-free self-raising flour

1/3 cup polenta

3/4 cup grated cheese

2/3 cup milk

2 tsp Orgran No-Egg (natural egg replacer)

60g melted butter

Methods:

1.  Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius, line muffin tin with paper cases
2. Heat oil in medium frying pan; cook bacon, onion and green peas until soft. Cool.
3. Combine flour, polenta and cheese in medium bowl; stir in Orgran No-Egg, milk and butter followed by bacon mixture.
4. Divide mixture among paper cases.
5. Bake for 20 mins. Stand muffins before moving onto a wire rack to cool.

You can make changes to the recipe such as the veges you put in such as corn, zucchini, carrots, even herbs would be nice. Just experiment with the foods you have at home. I did and it turned out great, at least the little fella ate his peas!!

Adapting Family Favourite Meals to non-Wheat & Egg Diets

Recently I've started feeding my 13 month old son some of our family meals. Why it has taken me a while to introduce him to our family meals is that he has a wheat & egg allergy.  When he eats anything containing those ingredients his face and body will swell up in hives. We've seen it happen a few times and it's really not pleasant for any of us, which has made me very conscious of what he eats. Up until now it's been fine giving him his own special "mush" but as he is getting older he is becoming more aware of what everyone else is eating around him. I don't like to make him feel that he can't eat what mummy & daddy eat so I've had to learn to adapt our family meals to his needs. 

One of our family favourites is Mexican. Simply prepare it by melting cheese over the corn chips (make sure they are 'original' just the basic corn, oil and salt- flavoured corn chips may contain wheat products) in the oven/ mircowave and serve with mashed avocado, sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes, and Mexican sauce (this is optional depending on the child, but feel free to add it to your own, they'll hardly notice that you have it & they don't when they start munching on the corn chips). 

Another meal that is becoming a family favourite is Pad Thai. It uses rice noodles, and the paste from the jar I used didn't contain any wheat product (which was found in the Asian grocer). Just take caution when buying the paste, the one I got from Coles was very spicy, so it's not one I'd give to my son because it was too hot even for me to eat. Luckily my husband can handle the heat & he had 3 meals worth all to himself. I made the Pad Thai as instructed on the jar & just took my sons portion out before adding the egg to the rest for us. He loved eating the bean sprouts (to my surprise) and it's an easy meal to let them eat at the own pace off their tray. I love giving him independence especially at meal times. It gives me a chance to sit back and enjoy my meal too. 

Bean Sprouts!!

When I prepare meals with pre-made sauces or pastes I do a quick scan of the ingredients list & especially look out for thickeners no. 1400 - 1450 (they may be derived from wheat, unless otherwise stated). I have noticed that some foods containing 1422 is from modified maize starch so it's been fine for my son. I've seen this in  yoghurt and Indian curry sauce from the jar. 

Adapting family favourites to children with special dietary needs take practise & some research. Just be confident in yourself and have fun in the process. It's a very rewarding feeling to know that you're providing your family with delicious food. It may take a little while to get use to adapting meals but with a little creativity and practise you'll be able to whiz up meals for the whole family in no time. Good bye to the days when you had to cook separate meals for each child. 

Here are my quick tips:

1. Be aware of ingredients that contain wheat & eggs (eg. thickeners, malt etc...)
2. Do a quick check over the ingredient lists.
3. Use alternatives, such as rice, corn, potato, oats etc.
4. Take out a portion of cooked vegetables and/or meats before adding sauces or pastes that contain wheat/egg products.

Mixed Berry Muffins (Wheat & Egg Free)

1/2 cup mixed berries crushed
1/3 cup soft brown sugar
1/4 cup canola or sunflower oil
1/2 tsp baking soda/ bicarb soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/4 cups flour (gluten free)
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

1. Mix berries, sugar and oil together well.
2. Sift baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and flour together.
3. Mix berry ingredients into the dry ingredients with milk & vanilla.
4. Stir to just combine. Do not over mix.
5. Spoon into muffin tray.
6. Bake at 180 degree Celsius for 20-25 mins or until lightly browned on top. 

So how does it taste without wheat flour & eggs? I'll let the photo of Charlie tell the story.

Savoury Wheat & Egg Free Pancakes

1/2 cup gluten free flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup + 1 Tbs milk
1/2 tsp vinegar
1/2 cup grated veges (eg. zucchini, potato)

1. Sift dry ingredients together
2. Mix milk, vinegar together
3. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Stir with a whisk gently until just combined. 
4. Add grated vegetables & combine (add more milk if the batter is too thick).
5. Heat a frying pan over medium to high heat. Melt oil/ margarine or butter in pan.
6. Cook until lightly brown on both sides

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.