Peachy Popsicles

If there's one thing all kids love its popsicles! I bought these popsicle molds at Walmart and they are so awesome because they have a little straw at the bottom so that when the popsicle melts, they can sip up the juice! Anyway making your own popsicles is a guarantee way of making sure there are no allergens, plus they are a whole lot healthier. If you have a favorite smoothie or drink recipe, just pour them in the molds to make yummy popsicles. Here's one we tried that is really simple. I like it because orange juice is a great calcium alternative for those with dairy allergies. Also I put pieces of canned fruit in these for a fun twist. My kids loved it, but both my husband and I prefered the ones with just straight juice.

Peachy Popsicles

1 1/4 cups orange juice

3 large or 6 small ripe peaches or nectarines
1-2 Tbsp powdered sugar (to taste)

4 Tbsp canned fruit salad, drained

Blanch the peaches for easy peeling (drop into a pot of boiling water for 30 seconds and then into ice cold water. The skins will peel right off). After peeling, core and cut the peaches and then put them into a blender. Add the orange juice and powdered sugar. Divide half of the fruit evenly among the popsicle molds and then fill them up half way with the juice. Divide the second half of the fruit evenly and then fill the molds to the top with the juice. Stick in the freezer and they should be ready in 6 hours. Makes 4-6 molds, depending on size.

No Bake Cookies

Okay so we grew up eating these no bake cookies, which I found out a lot of people refer to them as preacher cookies. When I moved to the same town as my Grandma for college, she brought me over her famous recipe along with all of the ingredients for a housewarming gift. Since I met my husband in college and this was one of the only things I knew how to make, it brings back a lot of really fun memories. I've always wanted to try making them dairy free, but I was always too scared. Well now that it's behind me, I am so mad at myself for not trying it earlier! Even my husband says they taste exactly like the original. Here's both the recipes!

No Bake Cookies (dairy free)

Recipe adapted from Grandma Lill

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 Tablespoons dairy free Cocoa 

1/4 cup rice or soy milk (I used rice-vanilla flavored)

2 Tablespoons dairy free margarine

1 1/4 cup oats

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla

Put margarine, milk, sugar, and cocoa in a saucepan and bring to boil. Boil for 1 minute, stirring occassionally. Add the oats, peanut butter and vanilla and stir to combine. Drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper until they set up.

Original Recipe

Recipe from Grandma Lill

1 cup sugar
1 1/2 Tablespoons Cocoa
1/2 cup dry milk
1/4 cup water
2 Tablespoons butter
1 1/4 cup oats
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla

Boil the sugar, cocoa, milk, water and butter for 1 minute, stirring occassionally. Add oats, peanut butter and vanilla and stir to combine. Drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper.

Food Allergy Testing

Since I don't ever talk about my sons food allergies on my family blog, and this is my dairy free blog- I guess I get to give his updates on here!

Last year we had high hopes for our son's food allergies improving. Going into the testing he had dairy and egg allergies, and when we got him tested he had outgrown the egg allergies, but still tested positive for dairy, as well as soy and baker's yeast. I tried giving my son bread that contained no yeast and he had sandwiches made with tortillas instead of bread. I did this for about 2 months and then gave up after lots of tears and headache. I decided I wasn't going to eliminate a food that he didn't show any outward effects to, so I didn't. I did however switch my son to rice milk, and rice yogurt, etc.

This years testing was a lot different. I now realize that he may not ever outgrow these food allergies, and that's okay. All that I really hope for is to see some improvement. I also switched to an allergist that was more child friendly since I wasn't at all impressed with the first. He agreed with me about the yeast. If it wasn't showing any effects on him when he ate it, then it was most likely a false positive. (Such a different attitude than the allergist that testing him positive and said absolutely no yeast whatsoever, not even in saltine crackers). The results this time showed that he was positive to milk, but negative to soy. I'm so excited about that because in my local grocery stores rice products are impossible to find. I have to pay 2.50 at a natural foods store if I want to treat my son with a rice yogurt. Soy yogurts are like .89 cents at Smiths- so yeah to that! :)

As far as the milk allergies go, we had to also get a blood test taken since the first allergist didn't measure in a number the skin test and there was nothing to compare with. So we got his blood test taken to compare with the one he got taken at 18 months old. At 18 months he scored a 21 (anything over a 3 is a positive reaction). Well now at 3 1/2 years old he scored an 80. We are really bummed that it has gotten so much worse, but there's not much else we can do besides keep going strong doing what we are doing! The allergist reminded me that 1 in every 10 kids don't outgrow their allergies. I have to keep positive and remember that there are a lot of kids who have multiple food allergies, and that there we are lucky there are still a lot of really yummy foods he can eat

Barbecue Chicken Pizza (on the grill)

Making pizza has been a tradition of ours for years, and as newlyweds we use to make it in the dutch oven every time we went camping. (now with kids those camp trips are getting fewer) That has always been my favorite method for baking pizza for the obvious reason- everything tastes better in a dutch oven! We decided to try something new and bake the pizza on the grill this time. You can bake this pizza in the oven, but if you want to try something new and don't want to heat up your oven to 450 degrees, try it on the grill! (Just read my warning notes :) For this barbecued chicken I used canned chicken and leftover barbecue sauce from barbecued burgers, so it was really simple and easy. That barbecue sauce is so perfect for pizza because it's tangy and sweet. (My stomach is seriously growling just typing about it)

Basic Pizza Dough

Recipe from Weight Watchers New Comblete Cookbook

Makes 2 12 inch pizza crusts

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 tsp sugar

1 package active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)

1 Tbsp olive oil

4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

In a large mixing bowl, combine the water and sugar. Sprinkle in the yeast and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Stir in the oil. Combine the flour and salt and add to the yeast one cup at a time until the dough starts to pull from the sides of bowl. Knead until smooth and elastic. Spray a large bowl with nonstick spray (you can use the mixing bowl); put the dough in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap or damp cloth. Let rise in a warm spot until it doubles in size, about 1 hour. Punch down the dough, then cut in half for two 12 inch pizzas, or thirds for 3 smaller pizzas. Use, refriderate or freeze in floured zip-close freezer bags for later.

For each (12 inch) Pizza:

3/4 cups barbecue sauce (I used this one)

1 cup canned chicken or cooked and cut up chicken breasts

3 Tbsp green onions, sliced horizontally

1/3 cup mozzarella cheese (optional)

Put the pizza dough above on a greased pizza pan. Grill the pizza crust for 5 minutes in a medium heat grill covered. Take the pizza out and spread with 1/2 cup barbecue sauce. Spread out chicken evenly and then top with onions and mozzarella (if using). Drizzle the remaining 1/4 cup of barbecue sauce over the top. Grill covered for 5 more minutes.

*Warning- the first time I took the pizza off the pan and set it directly on the grill and toasted it black! The perfect way is to take the pizza off the pan at 4 minutes, set it directly on the grill and keep the lid open for about 1-2 min. Then you can slide it back onto the pan to cut it up.

To bake the pizza in the oven just preheat it to 450 and then bake it for 10-12 minutes. You can also take it out and set it directly on the rack the last few minutes to make it crispy.