Sugar-kissed Carrots

This is a really simple recipe for cooked carrots.  If you are like me, you are always looking for tasty vegetable recipes the entire family will enjoy.  This is my favorite way to cook fresh carrots.  A little bit of sugar brings out the natural sweetness of the carrots. 

Sugar-kissed Carrots 

1 pound fresh carrots, peeled and sliced

2 c water

1 T margarine*

1 T sugar

¼ t salt

Place carrots in a sauce pan and just cover with the water.  Bring to a boil on high heat.  Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes or until able to easily prick carrots with a fork.  Drain off water and toss with margarine, sugar and salt until coated.  Serve warm.  4-6 servings.

*For those allergic to dairy, make sure the margarine you use is dairy-free.

Cornbread {Egg-free, Dairy-free}

This cornbread is easy and tastes great.  It is the perfect accompaniment for beans, soup and chili.  The sugar adds just enough sweetness for the kids to love it! 

Cornbread

1 c all-purpose flour or gluten-free flour

1 c cornmeal

4 T sugar
1 T  baking powder

¼ t salt

1 c milk or non-dairy substitute

1/3 c vegetable oil 

Preheat oven to 425°.  Grease bottom of an 8”x8” square baking pan.  Stir together all ingredients, except for baking powder, until mixed through.  Add baking powder last, mixing until incorporated.  Immediately, pour into prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or until edges brown and top is golden.  Serve warm.  Top with margarine and honey for a delectable treat.  

Serves 8-9

Note:  If the batter is left to sit for a few minutes, the baking powder starts to rise and makes the cornbread lumpy.  Adding the baking powder last and baking immediately, keeps the batter and baked cornbread nice and smooth in appearance.

Dairy-free:  I think a non-dairy milk could be used in this recipe to make it dairy-free.  I have not tried it so am hesitant to label it as such.  If anyone tries it, let me know how it turns out.  Thanks!

Slow Cooker Pinto Beans

We enjoyed a lovely spiral sliced ham for New Years.  After we removed the majority of the ham, we froze the bone for a later use.  This week we used it to flavor beans.  I made pinto beans but this recipe is also good for black-eyed peas and other legumes.  You can serve these beans as a side to your favorite Mexican entree or as a main dish.  For a main dish, top with cheese (if not allergic) and serve with cornbread.  This is a great warm, comforting meal on a cold January day.  My recipe for cornbread will follow soon.
 

Slow Cooker Pinto Beans

6 c water for soaking

6 c water for cooking

ham bone or 4 slices of bacon

1 lb pinto beans

1 lg sweet onion

6 cloves garlic

2 t seasoned salt

1 t freshly ground black pepper

The night before, rinse beans and discard any obviously shriveled and/or discolored beans.  Place beans in slow cooker with 6 cups of water.  Put lid on slow cooker and soak the beans overnight.  Also the night before, boil the ham bone or bacon in remaining 6 cups of water for about 15 minutes and the meat on the bone has paled slightly in color.  Let ham broth cool.  Remove the ham bone and any fragment pieces.  Refrigerate ham broth overnight.

In the morning, drain soaking beans and re-rinse.  Return beans to slow cooker.  The fat in the ham broth will turn white and rise to the top, as it cools in the refrigerator overnight.  Skim the fat off the top of the refrigerated broth with a spoon and discard.  Pour skimmed broth over beans in slow cooker.  Peel onion and garlic leaving them whole and place in the beans.  Do not chop or slice the onion and garlic.  This allows you to remove them after cooking but still benefit from the flavor.  (I do sometimes use minced garlic since I always have it on hand and the pieces are so small.)  Add season salt and black pepper.  Cook beans on high for 8 hours.

Main dish – serves 4-6

Side dish – serves 10

Note:
In the past, I have tried cooking the ham bone in with the beans but the slow cooking method has a tendency to cause the bone to fall apart.  Then it is really hard to remove all of the fragments.  I have found cooking it separately to make a broth prevents this problem and allows me to remove the excess fat. 

Peanut Butter Cookies {Egg-free, Dairy-free}

Not only are these cookies delicious, the ingredients can most likely be found in your pantry!  As a result, I make them way too often.  I am including two variations:  moist rounded peanut butter cookies and the traditional crispier criss-crossed variety.  The recipe calls for milk, but I think soy milk will substitute just fine for those of you allergic to dairy. 

If you are not allergic to dairy, you must try this recipe made into Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies (EF), which are topped with a chocolate kiss!

Peanut Butter Cookies

¼ c vegetable shortening

1 c creamy peanut butter

1/3 c granulated sugar

1/3 c packed brown sugar

1 t vanilla

¼ c milk or soy milk

1 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

1/4 t salt

1 1/2 c flour
2-4 T additional milk or soy milk

3-4 T additional sugar

Preheat oven to 375°.  In a large bowl, beat shortening, peanut butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Add milk, vanilla, baking powder, baking soda and salt; beat well.  Gradually add flour, beating until mixed in.  Add additional milk one tablespoon at a time until dough starts to form.  Shape into 1 inch balls.  Roll in additional granulated sugar; place on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned.  Cool slightly on cookie sheet before removing.
Makes about 2-3 dozen cookies.

Traditional Peanut Butter Cookies – When you place on the cookie sheet, press down on cookie with a fork in a criss-cross pattern.  Then bake as directed reducing cook time by about 1 or 2 minutes.

Pancakes {Egg-free}

This is one of the egg-free recipes I make the most.  My husband and kids LOVE pancakes.  Sometimes we serve these with turkey sausage and fruit for dinner.

If you like these pancakes, try this recipe for buttermilk waffles.

Pancakes (EF)

2 c all-purpose flour

2 T sugar

1 T baking powder

½ t salt

1/3 c cooking oil

2 c skim¹ milk

Mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Gradually milk and then oil ingredients while blending on low.  Then mix on medium speed until blended through.  Using a large spoon or muffin scoop, pour batter onto a nonstick griddle² heated to medium-low to medium heat.  Cook on first side until air bubbles come to the surface and edges start to appear dry.  Flip and cook on the other side until golden.

Makes about 20 3 inch pancakes.

Notes:

¹  If I don’t specify on what kind of milk then that means I think it doesn’t matter which kind you use.  In this recipe, I think skim milk works the best.  The thicker higher fat milks seem to not cook as well and the inside of the pancake doesn’t get cooked all the way.

² I don’t have many nonstick pans but I do have a nice nonstick griddle.  I think it is a must for pancakes.  If you don’t have one, these will likely stick to your pan.

A new year . . . a new blog.

We discovered my husband was allergic to eggs in 2007.  Since that time, we have tried to adjust some of our favorite recipes and find new ones to keep his diet egg-free.  I decided to start this blog to share these recipes and to encourage us to continue trying new recipes on a regular basis.  You can read more about our history with food allergies here.