Egg-Free Friday, Banana Chocolate Chip Bread

I haven’t done an egg-free post in a while. I have been in a little bit of a cooking slump lately. Somehow my boys became finicky eaters, and frankly I am tired of throwing food away.

Desperate to get them to eat breakfast (and needing to use up some ripe bananas), I searched for a banana bread recipe. I found a winner!

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread adapted from food.com

• 4 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cup flour *I used 3/4 whole wheat, and 3/4 all purpose
• 2 small handfuls of chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a bread pan.

Combine bananas and butter. Mix in milk and vanilla.

Add in brown sugar, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

Add in flour, mix until just combined. *Don’t over mix, your bread will be rubbery!* Gently mix in chocolate chips.

Pour into prepared bread pan and bake for one hour, or until toothpick comes out clean.

Cool.

I am happy to say, the boys love this bread! I am planning on trying it with zucchini as soon as it is ready to pick.

How do you deal with finicky eaters? If you have any tips, please share! I am at wits end trying to get them to eat good food. They used to be such good eaters, so maybe (hopefully) this is just a stage two year olds go through….

Egg-Free Chicken Fried Rice in 15 Minutes

Wow, what a week! For those of you keeping tabs on my 30-Day House Cleaning Challenge progress, I haven't fallen off the bandwagon.

 

Two nights in a row my sweet little boys woke up around 3:30 in the morning, and decided to PARTY. (I think the thunderstorm was the cause the second night). So this mama was tired.

 

To top it off, yesterday I went downstairs, and discovered water! In my sewing dungeon! Luckily when I moved my sewing space down here I thought ahead and put my fabric in totes, off the floor. But the water was inching it's way toward my sewing machine cord and foot pedal. Thank goodness I got to it in time. All craft and sewing supplies are safe.

 

Needless to say, I have been bailing water from the basement. I plan to catch up on the cleaning challenge this weekend. In the meantime, I have a little post that has been hanging out in my draft folder waiting to be shared. (Perfect timing, because I needed a quick dinner for the family).

 



Quick, Egg-Free Chicken Fried Rice

My husband loves when I make Chicken Fried Rice. I love to have a delicious and healthy dinner ready for my family. It is even better when dinner only takes minutes to make.

This meal can be made in less than 15 minutes because of my beloved freezer.

When chicken is on sale, we buy a bunch. I cut some of it up in bite sized pieces, season with Italian seasoning, and saute in a little olive oil. I put one cup of cooked chicken in individual freezer bags, and freeze for future dinners.

I try to use brown rice whenever possible, but it takes so long to cook. So I cook the whole box/bag at once. (Because it takes just as long to cook one serving or all the servings.) After the cooked rice is cooled, I portion it out in two cup servings into freezer bags and freeze.

Add frozen mixed veggies, and you have a delicious meal in no time!

Here's a loose recipe. Personally, I don't measure- just toss what I have in the pan. It has turned out wonderfully every time. Just use what you have.
I toss everything in frozen. If I thought ahead, and thawed everything, great. If not, it works just the same.

Chicken Fried Rice

2-3 eggs (more or less, depending on preference)
      *since being egg-free we omit the eggs. Nobody has even noticed.
1 Tablespoon or so of water
     *this is used to cook the eggs
butter or oil
     *Sesame seed oil gives the most authentic flavor!
chopped onion
spoonful of minced garlic
2-4 cups cold cooked rice
2 Tablespoons of soy sauce
1 teaspoon of pepper
1-2 cups cooked chopped chicken
1-2 cups frozen mixed veggies, partially thawed

*Egg step, omit if making egg-free* Heat oil (or butter) in wok or pan, low-medium heat. Meanwhile, beat egg and water. Add to pan. Don't touch it for 1-2 minutes. Remove from pan. Shred egg with kitchen scissors (or method of your choice, I just think it's fun to use the kitchen scissors).

Heat another Tablespoon or so of oil in same pan. Sesame seed oil is great, but use whatever you have. Add onion and garlic and saute until soft. Add cold rice (frozen works great), soy sauce, pepper, frozen veggies and chicken. Mix it all together, and cook for about 5 minutes, until it looks like fried rice. Taste, add more soy sauce if you want. Add eggs, and serve.
*I like to add sesame seeds if I have them on hand.

So simple, right?

Your turn, what is your families' favorite quick meal? Please share, I need ideas!

Egg-Free Cheesy Veggie Muffins

I get stuck figuring out what to feed my toddlers. Meals have to be easy for little hands to pick up and eat, egg-free, and mama wants the meal to be nutritious. I love freezer-friendly recipes, so I can make more now, freeze, and pull out later.

While catching up on my blog reading, I came across this Savory Muffin recipe. When I was ready to bake, do you think I could remember where I found the recipe? I didn’t feel like searching through Pinterest, so I just pulled up a recipe that sounded close and made my adaptions.

*These muffins are very versatile. Try any veggie/cheese combo. (I am thinking about adding meat next time.)

Egg-Free Cheesy Veggie Muffins

*recipe adapted from Best Recipes

• 2 cups vegetables (used 1 1/2 c. grated carrot, 1/2 cup corn)
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 1 cup cheese
• 2 Tablespoons ground flaxseed mixed with 6 Tablespoons warm water (or 2 eggs)
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Grease muffin pan (I made mini-muffins).
3. Mix flaxseed and water, set aside.
4. Combine veggies, 3/4 cup of cheese, flour, Italian seasoning, and baking powder.
5. In a separate bowl mix flaxseed mixture, oil, and milk.
6. Add to dry mixture. Stir until combined. (Do not over mix. Nobody likes rubbery muffins.)
7. Spoon into muffin tins.
8. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top.
9. Bake for 15-25 minutes, until golden. (mini-muffins only took 15 minutes).

Serve warm. Freeze leftovers.

These muffins are delicious, egg-free, and toddler approved. I have enjoyed having these in the freezer for those dinners that the boys decide to throw everything we offer them.

Have you tried a savory/veggie muffin? If so, what are your favorite combinations?

Egg Free Cheesy Rice Balls

When I have a surprise sitter (mom drops by and asks if I’d like her to watch the boys for a while). I usually go to the library. Exciting I know.

Actually I love the library. The only problem with it is that it is about a half an hour drive, and I have twin toddlers. After that 30 minute ride, they are ready to tear things up! So spending any time in the quiet grown-up section of the library with the boys is completely out of the question.

So what did I find? Allergy cookbooks. (Even more exciting, I know.)

Today’s recipe is adapted from Allergy Proof Recipes for Kids by Leslie Hammond and Lynne Marie Rominger. Since an egg allergy is the only allergy I have to adapt for, I added cheese.

Here’s the recipe:

Cheesy Rice Balls

• 2 cups cooked rice (recipe calls for Arborio, I used white)
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• Salt and Pepper
• Optional- 1 Tablespoon of spices (I think Italian spices would be good)
• 2 Mozzarella cheese sticks (string cheese), cut each stick into 8 pieces
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 Tablespoon corn starch (or could use tapioca or arrowroot)
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups fine bread crumbs

Mix hot cooked rice, pumpkin olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste in a large bowl. Let cool.

Form into golf ball sized balls. Push your thumb into the center to make a little hole. Stick a piece of cheese in there. Push the rice mixture back around the cheese.

In a bowl, whisk together the water, corn starch, and 1 Tablespoon of vegetable oil. Set aside. Pour bread crumbs into a shallow bowl. Dip each ball into the starch mixture, then roll in the bread crumbs. Make sure you coat those little guys good.

Put rice balls on foil lined cookie sheet. Bake for about 30 minutes, turning occasionally. You want the outside to be crispy. Serve warm, with preferred dipping sauce, we preferred pizza sauce.

*After making these, I strongly suggest adding some spice. They taste a little bland without.

*Actual recipe fried these in oil. I wanted to try baking them. Either way works.

*I only baked half, and froze the rest for a future meal. They freeze well. Just pull from freezer and put in the oven (does take longer to cook).

What would you do if you had a surprise sitter?

Egg-Free Friday

If you have been reading for a while, you know we have an egg allergy around here. I haven’t posted any egg-free recipes lately, so here are a couple of links to recipes I have tried. (If you are not egg-free you still MUST try the chocolate chip cookies!)

These chocolate chip cookies are AMAZING! I think I will continue to use this recipe even if we grow out of the allergy. I have a couple of connoisseurs of cookies around here, and I have been told these “ARE THE BEST EVER!” You can find the recipe here. (These usually take twice the recommended bake time, just watch them.)

The other cookies in the picture are Cool Whip Cookies. I have seen this recipe floating around Pinterest, and wanted to adapt it, making it egg-free. I used the flax seed substitute (1 Tablespoon ground flax seed, and 3 Tablespoons of warm water) in place of the egg. The dough is pretty stiff for these cookies, I added another huge dollop of Cool Whip. Don’t think that was a wise decision. The cookies weren’t bad, but I probably won’t make them again.

I make a big pan of oven baked pancakes every other week. I’m not sure if I will ever make traditional pancakes again, they are that easy (and delicious). I have made plain, and topped with various toppings; bananas, blueberries, and chocolate chips (our favorite). The ‘pancakes’ freeze well, making it easy for mama to get breakfast ready for the boys.

One more favorite around here; Cheerios Jumbo Breakfast Cookies. There is always a batch of these in our freezer. I pull a couple out first thing in the morning. By breakfast time they are slightly cool, moist, and delicious! This recipe also calls for an egg, I just use the flax seed substitute. We like ours with Craisins (our favorite is pomegranate) in place of the raisins.

Do you have any favorite egg-free recipes? How about egg-free tips? (As you can see, this is still a learning experience for me.)

Have a blessed weekend!

Slow Cooker Steak Fajitas

Mmmm. We love Mexican food around here. If I can throw it in the crockpot, its even better.



How did I manage make such a fantastic meal? I’ll show you.

Keep in mind that this is more of a guide, not a recipe. Honestly, when using a crockpot you don’t really need a recipe.

Here’s what I did:

I pulled a roast from the freezer. (For this meal, use whatever meat you have available, chicken, pork, beef, or venison. It doesn’t have to be an expensive cut, the crockpot will make things nice and tender.) Today I used venison. When it was mostly thawed, I sliced it into thin strips.

The secret to tasty venison, is marinade. Not just the marinade- but the length the meat marinades. Marinade the meat as long as possible.

This time I used vinegar, and KC Masterpiece Spicy Mango. (Its what was in the house.) This sat in the fridge all night.

In the morning I dumped the container of juicy meat into the crockpot. I didn’t have a fajita seasoning packet, so I mashed up a handful of recipes Google provided me with. Dump this in, and add sliced onions and peppers. Oh yeah, if you have some minced garlic hanging out in the fridge, put a spoonful or so in.

This is my favorite part, I didn’t have to cut a thing! Well, not today. During the summer I got an awesome deal on red peppers and onions, and green peppers from a local produce stand. I got way more than we could eat fresh. The peppers and onions were washed and sliced, flash frozen (so they don’t stick together), and dumped into a Ziploc freezer bag.

That brings us to my ‘slow cooker fajita hint’: do not put all of the peppers and onions in the slow cooker right away. A handful will do. Well, I put all of the onions in right away because I don’t care for crunchy onions. But peppers? I want some crunch!

You have two options. 1. You can pan fry the remaining peppers and onions before serving. Or you can save yourself from washing another pan, and 2. toss them into the crockpot during the last half hour to hour.

Serve with rice on tortillas topped with sour cream and cheese. Like I said, mmmmmm.

Want to know my spice mash-up? Okay, you pulled my arm. Here it is:

• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 Tablespoons soy sauce

Are you a crock-potter? If so what’s your favorite slow cooker meal?

Stop back tomorrow, I have been experimenting. Trying to find egg-free Christmas cookies.

This Weeks Egg Free Recipes

If you’ve read some of my recipe posts, you know that I have a toddler with a severe egg allergy. My boys are very independent when it comes to feeding themselves. (They also have pretty good arms, just ask the spaghetti sauce covered wall.) Not only is figuring out healthy, balanced meals to feed toddlers difficult, then throw an allergy into the mix? Needless to say, the rest of the family is beginning to lose trust in my cooking abilities.

I didn’t take food pictures this week, so here’s the picture we used for our Thanksgiving card. (No, I am not a crazy, send a card for every holiday, person. Rite Aid had a coupon code for 5 free cards, and we do not have a decent picture for Christmas cards yet.)

Recipe #1: Baked Oatmeal Cups from Sugar free Mom

This recipe is not egg-free as written, but the flax seed/water combo worked great. This recipe is awesome, completely customizable, freezable, and easy to eat on the go. Different flavors I made: blueberry, strawberry, (mix berries into mixture), coconut, chocolate chip, blueberry craisin, and pomegranate craisin (these are toppings, just press on top before baking). Another bonus- no oil, or sugar (although I substituted honey in place of the Stevia), and lots of fruit. These are wonderful!

Recipe #2 Egg-Free Meatloaf Cups from Jazzy Allergy Recipes

These weren’t bad. I will be experimenting with this recipe the next time I make it. I feel it needs more substance, maybe oatmeal or rice. I am really glad I found this, because I had no clue of what to use instead of eggs. This is also my first experience with ‘muffin meatloaf.’ I froze the leftovers for quick lunch/dinner options.

Recipe #3 Twice Baked Potato Casserole from Taste of Home

Holy Crap! These are awesome! We are potato people around here. Anyway imaginable, we devour  them. This recipe is like cheesy potatoes, but with real potatoes, not the frozen hash browns. It does take a little more time (baking the potatoes first), but it is worth it! Make these for your next get-together. They are that good! (Definitely not low fat though…)

Do you have any egg-free toddler recipes?

Egg-Free Peanut Butter Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Hubby has been asking for oatmeal raisin cookies, with peanut butter.

Lets make hubby his cookies, and go one step further- and make them egg-free for the boys. Keep in mind that egg-free is not my area of expertise yet, I'm still learning.

Here's the concoction (with my verdict following):

Egg-Free Peanut Butter Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

1/2 cup butter, room temp.
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil (this is the egg substitute)
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon (or more if you'd like)
1 1/2 cup peanut butter, smooth or crunchy (if for littles use smooth)
1 1/2 cup flour
4 cups oatmeal
1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 375.
Mix together butter and sugar.
Add vegetable oil and vanilla.
Mix in baking soda, salt, cinnamon, peanut butter, and flour.
Stir in oatmeal.
Incorporate raisins.
Scoop out on ungreased cookie sheet. Smoosh with a fork (not necessary, but I love it!)Bake for 10-15 minutes. Until edges are golden.

Verdict: This is not a chewy cookie. I was expecting a chewy oatmeal raisin type of cookie. They were soft with good flavor; unless let in the oven too long. They crumbled. Pull these babies out as soon as the edges start to turn gold. Overall, these are pretty good (especially if you have egg allergies). I will be trying different substitutions; I would like to cut back the oil necessary.

*I am not a chef, baker, or professional recipe writer- just a mama who won't let allergies tie us down. If there are any mistakes in the recipe, please let me know so I can fix them.

Slow Cooker Recipe- Roast

Roast is one of my go-to recipes. It is so easy, and the family loves it! I just put everything in the slow cooker, and leave it be until dinner time. By lunch the whole house smells scrumptious. By dinner every mouth on the block is watering.

We do things a little different around here though...don't hate me, please...

Here goes: we eat venison. I understand this may offend some of you, so I'm okay if you decide to skip this post. (I just wanted to issue a warning.)

There are a few reasons we eat venison.

1. My husband enjoys hunting. Hunting is a pointless hobby if you don't eat what you hunt. (Like growing a garden and not eating the vegetables you grow.)
2. Venison is a very lean, good-for-you meat.
3. It a cheap, lean, good-for-you meat.
4. We all enjoy it!

The biggest complaint I get from other wives of hunters is that they don't know how to prepare venison. The trick, er- one of the tricks? Cook it long and slow. This is where a slow cooker comes in handy.

Here's how I cook a roast (venison or beef):

Gather your ingredients. For us its potatoes, onions, carrots, mushrooms, onion soup mix, roast, and a can of cola (Coke is best, but we only had Pepsi).

Clean potatoes, cut in half (or smaller if potatoes are large), and layer in bottom of slow cooker.

Add carrots.

Next, add the roast.

Put onion soup mix on roast. If your feel like it- rub it in a little.

Cut onions. (Tip- if you have onion haters, cut them large so they are easy to pick out. Just don't skip the onion. They give so much flavor, and the "Mmmm. What's for dinner?" aroma.

Layer the fresh mushrooms on top. The mushrooms are totally optional. We love mushrooms here. I have used sliced, whole, and skipped them all together. It all tastes good.

Pour the cola over it all.

Set slow cooker to low, and walk away. Let cook all day, at least 8 hours, but longer is better.

Plate up, and enjoy! Sorry such a bad 'final'picture. This is one of the lil' ones' plates, most was devoured before I could take a good picture.

This meal is wonderful! Everyone loves Roast Day in my neighborhood. The little guys, picky girl, growing teenager, grateful hubby, even the neighbor girls enjoy Roast Day.

What is your go-to family meal?



Two Ingredient CHOCOLATE cupcakes

We just found out that one of our boys is severly allergic to eggs. This revelation brought forth a slight panic. You see, we are about two months away from their first birthday. What is a first birthday without cake smeared all over the face(s), tangled through the hair, mashed in fingers, and everywhere else possible?

I knew I saw a two-ingredient cake in linky land somewhere, where was it? I turned to trusty Pinterest and started searching, in less than 60 seconds I found the post I was looking for. Stephanie at ladywiththeredrocker.com made a delightfully yummy looking strawberry cake.

Well, I had a box of Devils Food Cake mix, and a can of Diet Coke. I'm gonna try this...

Here's how it went down:

I mixed the TWO ingredients.
Filled lined cupcake pans 2/3 full.
Baked at 325 for 18 minutes.
Cooled, then frosted using this frosting recipe.

The verdict: The cupcake was good, moist and fluffy. Next time I will bake one or two minutes less. The frosting was runny, and a little strong on the mint flavor. It also does not make very much, I had to double the recipe. Next time I want mint frosting I will make a buttercream frosting and add a little mint extract.

I do think the two-ingredient cakes may work for the boys' first birthday.

Let me know if you try this concoction or another variation, I'd love to hear about the other combinations.