Best Recipes for Food Allergies

Homemade Granola Bars Free of Dairy, Eggs, Nuts

I've spent a little time freshening up and tweaking my recipe section. Please take a look and try out a few. Our family favorites include Marinated Chicken (yummy baked or grilled!), Homemade Rolls, Granola Bars, Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins, Fruit Salsa...oh, the list goes on.

If you're looking for some new recipes to try this week, follow the link and head to the kitchen. I can smell those granola bars now!

Enjoy Life Cookies for the Holidays

Believe me, I know it's tough to bake your traditional holiday cookies while needing safe choices for family members with food allergies. Fortunately, Enjoy Life just made holiday baking easier. We recently sampled their new crunchy cookies, which are free of the top 8 allergens. The great news? No one else would ever guess that these cookies do not contain wheat, eggs, dairy, soy, or nuts.

The best part? They are really yummy! My family was partial to the chocolate chip, although I really liked the double chocolate. The sugar cookies and honey grahams would be great for the holidays- a little frosting and some sprinkles on top.

Years ago when our family had to avoid wheat, baking was the biggest challenge. I made some pretty awful wheat-free cookies, cakes and brownies. I was able to find substitutes for dairy, eggs and soy, and I could just avoid peanuts and tree nuts. Substituting wheat flour was a whole new area of baking. While items and options have vastly improved during recent years, there is still a science to baking without wheat. We also have many more options when it comes to allergy-friendly packaged foods. Enjoy Life has filled this niche very successfully.

If you're looking for a delicious cookie to serve at home or to take to a holiday party, these cookies will just blend in with other holiday treats. They are also a great option for classroom parties where there may be multiple allergies among a group of children.

Trust me, no one will realize that these cookies are special- unless you tell them. You can find all four flavors of Enjoy Life's new crunchy cookies at many grocery and natural food stores. Go to their site for some money-saving coupons.

Friday Fare: Banana Crumb-Topped Muffins

Just made a batch of these delicious muffins!

Banana Crumb Muffins

free of dairy, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts
contains wheat and soy

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 bananas, mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tablespoon warm water, 1 1/2 tablespoon canola oil, 1 teaspoon baking powder mixed until bubbly

Topping:

1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon margarine (I use Fleischmann's Unsalted sticks)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Prepare muffin cups.
In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, and water/oil/baking powder mixture. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened*. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

Topping:
In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean. Makes 10- 12 muffins.

*Can add dairy-free chocolate chips to batter*