30 days of beauty, day 16: water play

(An attempt to calm a fussy baby who's miserable from dairy in her system. It was time for Andi to try dairy again, in the hopes that Lucy'd outgrown her allergy. She hasn't.)

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Independence Days challenge update: syrup and fruit

Time again for Sharon's Independence Day's Challenge:

2. Harvest something: Eggs. Maple sap.
3. Preserve something: 1 1/2 qts. maple syrup.
7. Eat the food: I'm working on clearing out last year's frozen food (and, dare I say, some from the year before? Yikes!) We ate rhubarb "cuppa cuppa cuppa" (recipe below) this week, and polished off a well-hidden bag of raspberries and ate lots and lots of "blueberry oat bake" for breakfasts.

Dairy-Free "Cuppa Cuppa Cuppa"
(adapted from a recipe from my friend Eric)

Melt 1/2 C coconut oil in a baking dish in a 350 degree oven.
Add 1 qt. frozen or canned or fresh fruit.
Mix together 1 C coconut milk, 1 C flour, 1 C sugar (that's the cuppa cuppa cuppa) and 1 T. baking soda, and pour it over the top.
Bake for an hour or until browned.

(This came out delicious with rhubarb. We ate it with company, and all had seconds.)

Allergy-friendly teether recipe

You are not likely to get many recipes from me here. I'm not a great cook, and I'm certainly not creative with my cooking: I generally follow recipes to the letter. However, I cook A LOT. I make six children 2 snacks and 2 meals a day, in addition to helping with evening and weekend meals for our family. And we've made a commitment to eating only local produce and trying to avoid unnecessary packaging, so that means most things are made from scratch. Add to that the fact that Lucy has allergies, and I've been forced to become a bit more creative.

So I do have a recipe to share today, because I was really frustrated when I tried to find one for teething crackers I could make for Lucy. She's allergic to dairy and soy, which means that even if I wanted to buy some, it'd be really hard to do. (But I don't want to buy them, because of all the packaging, and transportation, and unnecessary ingredients, and too much sugar...) We're also supposed to be extra-careful about potential allergens, like honey and eggs, because of her history. So I was surprised and frustrated to find out that most teething-cracker recipes included ingredients I couldn't use: eggs (have to wait until after a year old), honey (ditto), bananas (not local)... Hmm. Time to get creative.

I found a recipe in Vicki Lansky's Feed Me, I'm Yours for "Homemade Graham Crackers," which she said could be rolled thicker to make teething biscuits. I altered the recipe so much, I feel ok about sharing it here.

Lucy's Teething Crackers

1 C. whole wheat flour
1 C. oat flour
1 t. baking powder
1/4 C. coconut oil
1/2 C. maple syrup
1/4 C. coconut milk

Combine flours and baking powder. Cut in coconut oil until consistency of cornmeal. Stir in maple syrup and coconut milk to make a stiff dough.

Roll out to 1/2 inch thick or so. Cut. Prick with a fork. Bake at 400 on ungreased baking sheet for 18 minutes or until golden brown.


(Ok, so the coconut oil and milk are SO not local, but they are our favorite, tasty substitutes for butter and milk, adopted since this allergy came up; it makes baking so much easier. Also, I'd like to experiment with less sweetener, but I'd changed so many ingredients I left it alone for this run. I'm going to substitute some applesauce for part of it next time.)

Sometimes Lucy likes to gnaw on them. Sometimes, she wants us to break off pieces for her to eat. They're loved by the pickiest eater in my group, and so I tried one myself, and found they're really tasty! Let me know if you try them, or if you have any favorite teether recipes to share.