Dairy-Free Chocolate Pudding

I was looking for something special to have for dessert tonight after being reminded by Little Miss that we purchased a set of “ice cream dishes from a flea market, forEVer ago” and have never used them.

“We should use them,” she said.

Honestly, she’s right. We got these beautiful dishes for a steal probably 2 years ago because I had the bright idea that serving everyday things in containers like these can turn any meal or snack into something special.

This afternoon I decided to try my hand at chocolate pudding, dairy-free style. I searched the internet for recipes and then after checking out a few decided to come up with something by combining several recipes together.

Here’s my concoction with a few detailed directions:

2-3 tablespoons cornstarch mixed in 2 tablespoons of cold water until smooth.
¼ teaspoon gluten free vanilla
1 ½ cup coconut milk (rice, soy or even almond would work)

Directions: Combine cornstarch, vanilla and milk into a medium saucepan.

⅓ cup sucanat
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Directions: Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl and pour about half of the wet ingredients into the bowl and whisk quickly until smooth. Pour chocolate mixture into the saucepan and combine. Place saucepan over medium heat and stir consistently until thickens. Allow to cool slightly, pour into bowls and refrigerate several hours before serving.

The simplest directions to give you would be to combine all the ingredients into a saucepan, cook over medium heat until thickens. I hope it is helpful to have a more detailed directions to keep he pudding from being lumpy. Most of the recipe reviews I saw complained about lumpy puddings, but I think that is because most people do not know (1) how to handle cornstarch and (2) how to handle cocoa powder. Both of these ingredients lump when added to wet ingredients especially when warm. Hope these directions make sense and help.

By the way, it turned out really well. For a dairy lover, it was good!

Enjoy!

Until next time,

Finally… A Post!

Yeah, I know, I know…it’s not much of a post, but hey, I’m still alive and here!

I said I’d get better at posting on this blog and I haven’t even touched it for months.

New babies sure do have a way of taking over one’s “free-time”. Not that I had much before, but I did at least cook and bake more than I have in the past 3 months.

Good news! I have several posts up my sleeve and will be cleaning them up and getting them out to you. Including several recipes. SO, be watching. Don’t wait while holding your breath though…just in case it’s a few days!

Until next time,

Checking In

I’m not doing such a great job with writing over here. It’s been weeks already and I’ve added nothing. I really think I’m going to have to schedule time to write otherwise you’ll never hear from me at all!

Little Miss is struggling this week. She’s gotten into something that has caused her asthma to kick in again. It’s so hard to watch her struggle to breath! I have had to re-iterate to her that she must be sure of what is in the food someone gives her no matter what. I think she is finally getting old enough to really see the correlation between eating gluten or dairy and not feeling well.

I’m working on some recipes and I’ll get them posted really soon.

In the mean time, if you haven’t already, head over to the videos and watch those sweet children share their stories. I just watched them both again and just cried. Little Miss watched them with me and really connected with the children sharing. She was excited to see that she wasn’t the only one that had food allergies.

Until next time,

Happy New Year 2010

I hope that it will be a good one for all of you.

My plan is to write more regularly over here this next year. I’ll probably need to schedule it in to make it happen.

In the meantime, I do hope that you have had a great ending to 2009.

Until next time,

Children With Food Allergies

I found this video recently and I thought you’d like to have a little look into the life of children living with food allergies.

Until next time,

Depression Era Cake

An e-mail from a reader arrived a bit ago saying,

We made this Depression Era Wacky Cake last year for a birthday. We used the orange juice version.

http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org/featured_recipe5.php

It turned out nice. We iced it with an icing made from powdered sugar and rice milk. We’ll probably make one again for a birthday cake for Jesus.
~ Amy

Thank you Amy for sharing this recipe with us. It really does look like a great cake to make. It’s also nice to know that the substitutions worked well too!

Until next time,

Recipes…are coming

Yes, I know I promised you some. I’ve been meaning to try out a few new ones and post them…but time is getting away from me. So at this point, I will have to pull out some of the ones I know about, but may not have tried. You can let me know what you think of them.

I’ll get a few listed in the next day or so.

Until next time,

Christmas Is Coming Part 2

Food galore…allergy laden food that is…then add cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, relatives and friends, in all shapes and sizes, eating things that are forbidden on your family’s list. It is difficult. “It’s not fair,” I often lament. I would love to have my daughter be able to eat things that everyone else eats, but the consequences of doing so far out weigh the unfairness in it all.

How do we handle it?

Make lots of our own substitutions. There’s no getting around the food, so the best option is to have lots of allergy safe foods on hand.

Make sure when visiting others you bring your own goodies, especially for the little ones.

This maybe obvious, when visiting others, don’t expect people to cater to your family’s needs. It is wonderful when you have a host or hostess that asks and is willing to provide some allergy free things! More often than not, though, you will find that people don’t understand or are at a loss as to what to make. Put them at ease, let them know you do not expect them to make food that your family can eat and you are happy to bring your own things. Be honest and up front, you don’t want to offend a hostess who might not know why you brought your own food!

The holidays are not the time to try to educate those around you. If you have folks that don’t understand the needs your family has, be gracious, but don’t try to educate them unless you feel they really have a desire to know.

While it’s hard not to be anxious about the food, enjoy the time gathered together.

Until next time,

Peek Into Life With Food Allergies

Here’s a peek into the lives of those that live with food allergies. The fears, the challenges, and the hope.

Food Allergy Initiative

I found this video and thought I’d share and I will soon get back to the holiday posts.

Until next time,

Christmas Is Coming

Just a few weeks away!

Are you ready?

Ready, not just with the lights, decorations, gift buying and all the other trimmings that typically go along with the season.

Are you ready to handle all the food that comes with this time of year?

The well meaning neighbors, church goers, friends and family that gift you with tins of allergy laden goodies?

The gatherings around food?

This is one of the most difficult times of year for those suffering with food allergies. Cookies, candies, goodies of all sorts are baked, tinned and given, presented on tables at parties and gatherings. There really isn’t a way around it. It’s part of the season.

I suppose it’s possible to stick your head in the sand until it’s over. Suppose we could boycott the goodies…strike maybe? I think there are better ways to handle it.

Over the next few days and weeks I hope to share tips on how to handle the holidays and recipes we love and use too. If you have any suggestions or favorite recipes you’d like to share with the readers slip a note into the box.

Be watching for this series, Christmas is Coming: what do we do, how do we handle it, what can I bake–when I have always made the same things for years, my family doesn’t get it, HELP!, to continue. How’s that for a title? I have never been very good at titles, nor have I been good at being clear and concise! I hope you’ll put up with me.

Until next time,