Sometimes you just want a good muffin. But with impossible dietary restrictions, what's a girl to do?! My son was tested for food allergies recently, and the results were (and still are) daunting. Because I am still breastfeeding, I am following the diet as well! The list is long, and food preparation is super complicated now, as is ordering food in a restaurant.
The good news... we are making healthier choices! The bad news...we are heavily restricted. Just to name a few, the list includes dairy, soy, wheat, gluten, eggs, corn, blueberries, bananas, tomato, walnuts, avocado, orange, papaya, pineapple, grapes, asparagus, olives, garlic, onion, lentils and peas. Crazy, right?!
We do have some good options. We can eat meat, fish and shellfish except oysters, hooray protein! Plus most nuts and seeds are fine, like almonds, cashews, peanuts, coconut and sesame. And we get to eat some of the best fruits and veggies-- strawberries, watermelon, green beans, broccoli, spinach, squash, lettuce, leeks and potatoes-- and then we have a couple of grains that are ok, rice and oats, just to round things out. We've had the most success with whole foods, not processed or pre-prepared.
He is adapting well to the diet-- but sometimes gets upset when there is something everyone else can have that he can't, which is totally understandable! We've relied pretty heavily on coconut (oil, chips, flour, milk, etc), rice (milk, cereal, snacks, crackers, etc) and almond (roasted, butter, flour, milk, oil, etc). But with no dairy, wheat, eggs, garlic, onion, soy or corn allowed, it's difficult to find even gluten-free pre-prepared foods! So we have been cooking a lot.
His daycare is having a party, with cake. Poor little guy can't have cake! So I made him these oat flour muffins so he would have something to celebrate with, as well.
Here is the recipe for the Oat Flour Muffins, adapted from the recipe found on emmasbakingaddition.wordpress.com, here. The trial batch was a hit!
Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Muffins
2 cups oat flour
½ cup steel cut quick cook oats
2 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup applesauce
1 cup rice milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ cup brown sugar
1 Tbs brown sugar
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease muffin tins or line with paper muffin cups.
In a large bowl, mix the oat flour, oats, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. In a smaller bowl (3-cup measuring cup works well), mix together the applesauce, rice milk, vanilla extract, and brown sugar until well-combined. Pour the applesauce mixture into the oat mixture and stir until just combined. The batter will be thick.
Scoop the batter into prepared muffin tins, to 3/4 full. Sprinkle a pinch of brown sugar over each muffin. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cool and enjoy! Makes about 18 muffins.
I would love to hear from you! and please share your story and what brought you to this site...
Warmly,
Kelly Ruffino
