Food Spotlight: Movie Popcorn at Home

Mushroom Popcorn from JustPoppin.com

Since school has been out, I've been letting the kids move bed time a bit later than their usual 7:30 p.m. Twice a week we've been doing movie night or more like movie afternoon. It's definitely a treat for them as they are only allowed to watch very little television during the week.

Since the kids have food allergies, I usually make popcorn for them instead of buying bags of pre-popped corn. Some popcorn companies make other things in their factories like nut bars and cookies and I'm definitely worried about cross contamination...

To read the full post, please visit our sister site Smuppy Kids

[In the kitchen] Sweet little treats

Our kids have food allergies - dairy, egg, nuts, to name a few. As a mom, it's hard to find a nice treat to give them when they've been extra sweet or well behaved on most days. We visited a local ice cream shop and they had these wonderful ice cream cookie sandwiches. Kasie and Sandro are allergic to dairy and eggs so having one of those were out of the question. Instead I made these tiny little soy ice cream sandwiches for them today. Smooth vanilla soy ice cream paired with crunchy dairy and egg free heart cookies. They were a big hit! That made me so happy they could enjoy something I enjoyed so much as a kid.

I bought all the ingredients at Whole Foods but you can find these brands at most local natural and organic markets as well.

Shopping List:

- So Delicious Dairy-free Frozen Dessert by Turtle Mountain, available at Whole Foods
- Sha Sha & Co. Cocoa Snaps, available at Whole Foods

Super Simple Directions:

- 2 Cocoa snaps for each mini sandwich

- tiny scoop of soy ice cream

- scoop soy ice cream on to the base cocoa snap and top off with second cocoa snap

- they have to be either eaten immediately or put in the freezer for later snacking

Enjoy!

[Food Spotlight] Cherrybrook Kitchen Cake & Cookie Mixes

Cakes and Cookie Mixes by Cherrybrook Kitchen

I found these wonderful cake and cookie mixes from Whole Foods. Our little daughter is in pre school and since I volunteered to be snack mom for the whole year (because of her allergies). It's important to me to make her feel 'like one of the kids' and not special when it comes to food. I searched hi and low for a cake mix that satisfied her allergies and her taste buds, as well as the taste buds of non allergy kids. Cherrybrook Kitchen takes the cake, so to speak.

Every one of their mixes baked up is just delicious. We now bake cupcakes in recycled cupcake sleeves. Our favorite is mixing a box of yellow cake and chocolate cake together in one batch. Mix the dry ingredients well and add two boxes worth of wet ingredients (if one box calls for 1 cup of water, add 2 or double the wet ingredients of 1 box), making sure to mix well. 

The cupcakes come out looking and tasting mostly chocolate (our kids don't mind) and have a lighter and fluffier consistency. Also, be sure to use a light cooking oil like canola oil. I have tried olive oil in the past, and the consistency wasn't as light.

Get creative with added ingredients too - we've put chocolate chips, little sprinkles right into the pre baked mix, even mashed bananas.

It's not only for kids with allergies, it's so delicious, we serve it to our friends at summer bbq's and they don't taste the difference between a dairy, egg, nut and gluten free cake and a regular cake.

[photos: Cherrybrook Kitchen]

Product Spotlight: Vanicream

Vanicream is made by Pharmaceutical Specialties, Inc. The company was started in 1975 by two pharmacists who believed they could develop a better cream for dermatology patients. Vanicream specifically is free from dyes, fragrance, masking fragrance, parabens, lanolin and formaldehydes.

I first heard of this cream from our research allergist at the Jaffe Institute for Food Allergies. Our kids are allergic to lanolin, which is in a lot of creams and lotions on the market. It's relatively inexpensive and the kids use it all over their bodies including the face. It doesn't have any fragrance and comes with a reusable pump.

INGREDIENTS:
purified water, white petrolatum, cetearyl alcohol and ceteareth-20, sorbitol solution, propylene glycol, simethicone, glyceryl monostearate, polyethylene glycol monostearate, sorbic acid and BHT

We use Vanicream after baths and 2-3 times a day all over because the kids' skins are so dry and then top off with Vasoline. They can't use Aquafor, which is the better choice... because it contains lanolin.