Green Mashed Potatoes

1 potato

About 10 spinach leaves (depends on how green you want it)

Salt

Olive Oil

 

This is a simple recipe but I thought I’d share to help anyone looking for ideas. My LO loves it. Who knew a little kid would like spinach so much?

Fill a small pot about a quarter of the way with water and bring to a boil, add salt to taste. Peel and cut the potato in to chunks. Add them to the water, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the spinach (having cut off the stems) and simmer until the potatoes are cooked, about another 5 minutes. Drain and add the olive oil or other safe oil. Use an immersion blender or food processor to blend everything together until you get a consistently green mix. Let cool a bit and serve with your little one’s favorite protein. Mine likes this with steak.

 

Frosted Quinoa Flakes

½ cup whole grain quinoa

1 cup water

Salt

Sugar

 

I adapted this from a cracker recipe that someone shared (added the link in comments) and it worked out very well, even my husband liked them so I wanted to post the adaptation in case it helps someone else. My older daughter eats a lot of cereal and the little one has asked for some on many occasions. This really does have the texture of a corn flake so it was perfect.

Boil the water and add the quinoa and a bit of salt (not too much unless you want to make these salty). Cover and lower the heat to just simmering. Cook for about 20 minutes. Let it cool for a while then blend the quinoa until you get a sticky dough. I used an immersion blender but you can also use a food processor. Add a little bit of water if you can’t get it to turn. Preheat the oven to 350. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and put spoonfuls of the dough on it a few inches apart. Place another piece of parchment on top and roll the dough down until it’s paper thin, almost see-through. If your parchment gets too sticky and you can’t roll then coat it with a bit of canola or other safe oil. Once you are done rolling sprinkle sugar on top of it all. Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until the dough rolls up at the edges and it gets crispy. If it’s beginning to look toasty but is still soft then turn off the oven and let it stay in there a while longer to dry. Once it all cools you can break it up in to flakes and it’s ready to serve.

 

Sorghum Sponge Cake

3 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

3/8 cup potato starch

1/2 cup sorghum flour

1/8 cup water

Dash salt

 

Preheat oven to 350. Separate the yolks from the whites. Beat the whites until stiff peaks form and add the dash salt and whisk in. In a separate bowl beat the yolks then add the sugar. Beat well then add the potato starch. Add the water and then the flour and mix well. Add about half the whites and mix slowly until fully blended. Add the rest of the whites and mix until fully blended as well. Place mix in a mini tube pan and bake for about 30 minutes then lower the oven temp to 300 and continue baking another 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Don't open the oven while it's baking.

 

Pork Nuggets

I came up with these so that my daughter could have a good chicken nugget alternative when her sister eats them. Plus, when I give her pork normally she chews it but won’t really swallow. These have a very soft texture and are easy to chew.

1 lb of pork (dark meat preferable)

1 cup of Cheecha puff crumbs

2 eggs

Salt to taste

Safe oil for frying

 To get the Cheecha puff crumbs I dump a bunch of the puffs in my food processor and grind. You’ll need about a cup. Pour half the cup on to a plate and save the rest. Cut the meat in to chunks then grind it in the food processor. I use dark meat because the white dries out easily and then my daughter will chew it but spit it out. The texture of the dark meat seems to suit her more. After you’ve ground the meat, add the half cup of Cheecha crumbs. Then add one of the eggs and salt to taste. Turn the grinder on again to mix. Once all of that is well blended scoop out small amounts and form your nuggets. I usually make them about 2 inches tall. In a bowl, beat the other egg. One at a time, place the nuggets in the egg and cover them with it. Then drag them through the crumbs on the plate to make a crust. Fry the nuggets in about a 1/4 inch of oil on medium-high heat until they are cooked through. You can also bake them but the crust doesn't look as pretty that way.

 

Popped Sorghum Quinoa Bars

1/6 cup whole grain quinoa
1/3 cup quinoa flakes
1 cup popped sorghum
Dash salt
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 tbs canola oil

Preheat oven to 325 F. Using a coffee grinder, grind the whole grain quinoa to a fine powder (alternatively, you could try using quinoa flour). Mix the powder with the flakes and spread them out in a thin layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, take out the pan and stir the mix then out it back in for about another 8 minutes or until lightly toasted. (Thanks to Amanda, author of Baby B's FPIES Test Kitchen for the flake roasting tips). Let cool a few minutes then dump in to a bowl. Add the popped sorghum and salt and mix. Add the maple syrup and oil then mix until everything is equally sticky. Coat a small pan with oil (I use a small glass Tupperware) then press in the mixture tightly. Cover and refrigerate until solid, a couple of hours. Cut in to bars and serve.

Sorghum Bread

This recipe has a similar texture to cornbread. The sorghum tastes like a mix of wheat and corn, or at least it’s mild and not too nutty like many other gluten-free flours. It bakes to a coarse consistency though, like corn, so if you want yours to be fluffier replace up to 1/3 of the flour with quinoa flour or some other fine flour. My daughter prefers hers sweet but you could take out a few tablespoons of sugar if you prefer yours more savory.

2 eggs

7 tbs sugar

4 tbs canola oil

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2/3 cup sorghum flour

Dash salt

About 1/6 cup water

Preheat the oven to 350. Place the whites in one bowl and the yolks in another. Beat the whites until you get defined peaks. Add 6 tablespoons of sugar to the whites, one at a time, whisking well after each tablespoon. To the yolks add 1 tbs of sugar, the canola oil and vanilla. Pour the yolk mixture in to the whites slowly and mix well. Add the flour mixed with the salt alternating with the water. You don’t want to add so much that your batter becomes watery, just add a bit at a time when you see that the flour is making the batter too thick to mix easily. You need to preserve the smoothness of the batter so you don’t lose the egg bubbles made in the whites. That’s the only thing that’s going to make your bread rise. Once everything is mixed, pour it in to a mini-loaf pan greased with canola oil or a half dozen cupcake pan. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Quinoa Muffins

If you’ve ever tried baking a recipe without baking soda/powder you know that it just comes out like mushy bread pudding. I searched all over the internet to see if I could find a way to bake without baking soda but couldn’t find any recipes. I decided to just adapt one and see what happened. After a couple of experiments I got one that worked very well. You won’t get as much rise as a recipe with baking soda but it will be enough to make the muffin fluffy and not mushy. Here it is:

2  eggs

5 tbs sugar

4 tbs canola oil

½ tsp vanilla

½ cup quinoa flour

Dash of salt

1/8 cup of water

Preheat the oven to 350. Place cupcake liners in a six cupcake pan. Separate the yolks from the whites. Beat the whites until soft peaks form. Add 4 tbs of sugar, one tbs at a time, whisking between each. Add the 5^th tbs to the yolks as well as the oil and vanilla. Softly whisk the yolk mixture in to the whites. Mix the salt in to the flour then sift it over the egg mix and fold it in gently. Add the water carefully mixing the batter. Pour the mix in to 6 cupcake liners and bake for 25-30 minutes. Let cool before serving.