Cookies - No baking soda/powder

My daughter doesn’t do well with baking soda/powder so I tried several times to make a cookie for her that had a nice texture without using either of those. These cookies are very light, almost like small, thin cakes.

1 egg

4 tbs sugar

2 tbs canola oil

½ tsp vanilla (skip this if you’re not sure it’s safe for your LO)

1/3 cup quinoa flour

Separate the yolk from the white of the egg. Put the white in a container that you can use to whip with an electric whisk or mixer. Put the yolk in a bowl. To the bowl add 1 tbs sugar, the oil, and vanilla. Mix thoroughly. Beat the egg white until soft peaks form. Add the remaining 3 tbs of sugar slowly, continuing to beat the white until you get firm peaks. Fold the whites with the yolk mixture then fold in the flour slowly. You want to be gentle about mixing this. The only thing that’s going to make your cookies puff a little is the fact that the whites are full of air.

Using a spoon pour cookie size amounts on to a cookie sheet (line it with foil or parchment paper). Don’t pour too much in to each because the batter will be thin and you don’t want it all to blend together. If you have a muffin top pan that works well as a mold. Place the cookies in the oven and turn it on to 300. Let the cookies bake for 10-15 minutes, until they’re golden and a toothpick placed in the middle comes out clean (not that they’ll be too deep). Let cool and serve!

Gravy

            My daughter isn’t fond of the texture of beef. It keeps her from eating it well. If I give it to her without a sauce of some sort she’ll just chew it and then spit it out. That’s what made me think to try putting it in gravy. Her only safe flour so far is quinoa so that’s what I use, but I’m sure you can use whatever flour is safe for your child.

            To make the gravy you’ll need some flour and about a cup of stock. What I usually do is simmer her beef or pork in water until it’s very tender. Then I use the broth that created to make the gravy. Sometimes I use the leftover liquid from when I make her beans. If your child is okay with a lot of vegetables you can make a vegetable stock too.

            Heat a frying pan on medium heat, don’t add oil or anything else. Pour in about a tablespoon of flour. If you have more than a cup of stock, or if you want a thicker gravy you can add more flour. Spread the flour on the bottom of the pan and let heat for a while. Stir it occasionally until it starts looking golden, or like its beginning to toast. Don’t leave it too long once it changes color a bit though, you don’t want burnt gravy.

            When you flour is done get ready to stir and watch out for steam. You need to pour in the stock (which should be warm) quickly and very quickly stir the flour as you pour, that will keep your gravy from getting too clumpy. Although I can tell you with quinoa flour it’s pretty easy compared to wheat flour, it’s so fine that it rarely clumps. Let the liquid simmer until it thickens to the desired consistency. That’s it. It’s pretty easy and makes a great sauce to mix meats in or to dip French fries or veggies.

Beans

            My daughter loves beans. I was hesitant to try them at first since I thought they would upset her tummy but when she was 9 months she was diagnosed as anemic and at 12 months it still hadn’t gotten better, even with supplements. The doctor recommended beans for their iron content. I keep hearing people say that beans are hard to cook. I even had a lady at the supermarket ask how to make them, lol. It’s actually very easy, it’s just that it takes a while.

            The first variety of beans I tried was small red beans. To make them you need to soak them first. You can soak them overnight if you remember the day before, just fill a large bowl with water and pour them in. They’ll be ready to cook by morning. If you forgot to soak them though, no worries. Put them in a pot of water and bring to a boil. Let them boil for 2 minutes then turn off the heat. Cover the pot and let them sit for one hour. Whichever method of soaking you use, I recommend you wash the beans first in a colander and shift through them to make sure they all look good. Take out the ones that are too wrinkly or don’t look right.

             Once your beans have been soaked put the pot on the stove and bring them to a boil. Cover the pot and reduce the heat to a simmer. Let them simmer for about an hour and a half. DO NOT add anything to them until the hour and a half is over, especially not salt. If you add the salt before they’re fully cooked they won’t be tender and the skins will probably be hard.

            After they’ve simmered until cooked, add salt to taste. Since this is for FPIES kids you don’t really need to add anything else, but if your child is okay with olive oil you can add a bit of that. If your child has a safe meat add a few chunks of that meat to the pot and let it simmer for another half hour or until the meat is fully cooked. Adding a meat gives the beans a really awesome flavor. I usually put in some beef or pork. If your child is okay with potatoes cut some up and put it in at the same time as the meat so it can all cook. If your child is okay with onions or garlic, fry a bit in a separate pan and then pour it in to the beans and let simmer a while. I haven’t tried onions or garlic yet with my daughter but when I make beans for the rest of the family I add them in. You can also add peppers and I’ve seen some people put in chunks of squash.

            If your beans are cooked and you have a lot of liquid still that makes them more like soup, save it. You can use it to make a yummy gravy. I’ll put that recipe next.