Sun Butter Cups

 

Ingredients

• 2 cups chocolate chips Enjoy Life chips or chunks, you could also use broken up Enjoy Life Rice Milk Bars
• 2 tablespoons Spectrum shortening
• 1/2 cup Soy Free Earth’s Balance
• 1/2 cup Sunflower Seed Butter
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2/3 cup S’Moreables graham cracker crumbs (process crackers in food processor or crush them in a ziplock using a rolling pin)

DIRECTIONS:

1. In saucepan combine chocolate chips or broken bars with the shortening. Cook over low heat, stirring often, until melted.

 

2. With pastry brush, coat inside mini-paper cupcake liner evenly with about 1 teaspoon melted chocolate to about 1/8-inch thickness, bringing coating almost to top of cup, but not over edge. Repeat until 30 cups are coated; refrigerate cups.

3. In saucepan combine Soy Free Earth’s Balance margarine and Sunflower Butter. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until melted. Stir in confectioners' sugar and graham cracker crumbs. Press about 1/2 tablespoon filling into each chocolate cup.

4. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon melted chocolate on top of filling; spread to cover.  Chill until firm. Store in the refrigerator.

Super Sniffer Needed

Dear Friends and Family,

My son Lincoln has had life-threatening food allergies since he was a baby.

Instead of outgrowing them like we had hoped, they are unfortunately getting worse. When he has a reaction his lips swell, his throat closes, shutting off his airway, and during his latest reaction, he started having cardiac arrest symptoms. It is surreal to see a 10 year old boy having symptoms of a heart attack. The doctors have told us that his reactions are getting worse and the time frame in which we have to get him to the hospital is getting smaller and smaller.

I write this because we want to get Lincoln an allergy assistance dog. These are dogs which have been trained to find hidden allergens not only in foods, but also in the environment. To make it even more complicated we need a hypoallergenic breed dog because both kids are allergic to dogs. The total cost of a trained hypoallergenic breed allergy dog is $20,000.

I am a portrait photographer; I specialize in family and children’s photos. From this point forward all session fees will go towards an allergy dog for our family, you will get beautiful keepsake photos and we will be one step closer to a safer world for Lincoln. Thank you for sharing this with your friends and passing on my information.

 

Beth, Brandon, Lincoln and Reagan

www.bethcaudle.com

Allergen Free Pantry

 

Things we keep on hand for allergen-free baking and cooking:

• Earth Balance SOY FREE Margarine
• Gluten Free Vanilla – I buy this at Costco
• Pamela’s Amazing Bread Mix – I make pizza crust, bread, rolls, pie crust, cinnamon rolls and more with this mix – it is awesome.  I buy this in bulk and use the subscribe option to get more of a discount from Amazon.com
• Pamela’s Luscious Chocolate Cake Mix – just plain yummy – I make the egg-free version on the package.
• Daiya Mozzarella Style Cheese – this is soy free too!
• EnerG Egg Replacer EnerG site
• Gluten Free Spray Oil – I get olive oil or canola oil spray and I always read the bottle to make sure their is no flour – some sprays have gluten in them.
• Cherrybrook Kitchen Pancake Mix – these taste amazing! The pancakes were good, but I didn’t love the other mixes we tried from this brand.
• Brown Rice Tortillas from Trader Joe’s

I will keep adding to this list as I think of more items.

Poprice Corn-free Popcorn Substitute

I LOVE popcorn. Love it. So when we had to give up corn because it made me sick and my son act like a lunatic I mourned the loss of my salty greasy snack. I came up with something that is salty and yummy, even though it isn’t exactly the same as good old popcorn. My kids love “Poprice” even their friends ask me to make it now :)

• 1 Package of Rice Cakes – my favorite for poprice are Trader Joe’s brand, they come in a blue and white package, this brand seems to be the lightest that I have tried.
• Olive Oil or Grape Seed Oil
• Salt or Garlic Salt

First break up the rice cakes into a large microwave safe bowl, break them up into bite size pieces a little bigger than popcorn size – they will break down a bit during the prep.

Next microwave the bowl of broken rice cakes for 1 minute on high, then drizzle oil (probably 1-2 Tbs) over the warm rice cake pieces, then sprinkle with salt to taste and stir well. Serve in cute popcorn containers :)

Allergen-Free Rocky Road Fudge

 

• 2 Cups of Chocolate Frosting
• 1 – 12 oz. bag of chocolate chips
• 2 cups of Homemade Marshmallows or Whole Foods Brand marshmallows (the ones made without corn syrup) You can also omit the marshmallows and just make fudge :)

Grease a 8x8 size pan or line a pan with foil or wax paper.

First cut the marshmallows into miniature size marshmallows.

Melt the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl, use 30 second increments and stir well after each 30 second interval. Be careful not to over cook the chocolate.

Mix the melted chips and frosting thoroughly, then add in the marshmallows and stir well. Press into the prepped pan, then chill for an hour in the refrigerator.

If you feel so inclined you can turn them out and cut them into nice squares – I just eat it straight out of the pan in  most uncivilized  fashion.

Fudgy Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Earth Balance SOY FREE Margarine
• 3  Heaping TB’s of Hershey’s Cocoa Powder
• 1 pound powdered sugar – corn free is sold at Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods
• 1/2 teaspoon gluten free vanilla extract
• 3/4 rice milk

Directions

1. Melt margarine  in the microwave or in a pan on the stove. In a large bowl or using a mixer, combine powdered sugar, vanilla and 1/2 cup of the rice milk. Blend in the melted chocolate mixture. Add remaining milk, a little at a time, until desired consistency is achieved.  It will thicken as it cools.

Cheese Enchiladas, Dairy Free GF Vegan

 

Ingredients

• 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
• 1  package brown rice tortillas
• 1 (8 ounce) package Daiya cheese – I used the mozzarella
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 (6 ounce) can sliced ripe olives

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a medium bowl combine tomato sauce, tomato paste, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder and salt.
3. Warm tortillas one at a time on a hot skillet – just warm them a little on each side so they are pliable – if you over cook them they will break apart; then immediately dip them in the tomato sauce mixture and lay them in a 9x13 inch casserole dish. Fill each tortilla with cheese, onion, olives; roll. Repeat until dish is full.  Pour any remaining sauce over the top then sprinkle a small amount of cheese on top.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until cheese is melted and the center is warm.