I’m Baaaaaccckkkk

I’ve been busy getting married!

I have been a bad blogger. I am going to blame it on the fact that I was busy planning a wedding (which was December 8th) and as soon as that was over, it was time for Christmas! Don’t worry; I am back now and as ready as I will ever be to fully commit to an eggless and dairy-free life.
On my two month blogging hiatus I learned a few things on my quest to live an eggless and dairy-free life, the first being that eggs and dairy have magic powers that make me forget that I am not supposed to be eating them. I found myself saying things like, “It will be okay if I have just a little (insert tempting treat here), I am not going to die or anything”’ or “It’s Christmas, it doesn’t count” or “It’s my wedding day, I am going to have some cake!” Well I was wrong, it does count and my broken out face, tummy aches and sleepless nights are proof… maybe this food allergy thing is legit.
It is now a new year, my wedding is over and it is now time to fully commit to cutting eggs and dairy out of my diet completely for a full THREE months. Up until now I have still been cheating every so often and allowing myself a little cheese or sneaking a treat that was made with eggs, but that all stops now. I really hope to feel a million times better and maybe even lose a pound or two to make this all worth it! When my three months are up, my doctor and I will reevaluate my health and see if it may be possible to reintroduce eggs and dairy (as I attempt to cross my fingers while typing this) to my diet. I promise to update this more often and share some new recipes I have discovered on the journey through my new eggless life (for real this time!)

Pasta Mama’s, You Are Amazing!

Tip from the Chef: be sure to follow the cooking instructions; do not over cook and be sure toss immediately with oil for best results!

Last weekend the future husband and I decided to take make dinner for my friend and her husband, who just had a baby girl.  They requested Italian, and it just so happened I had a sample of pasta by Pasta Mama’s from work that I was asked t try out.  We had an amazing dinner of meatballs with meat sauce over Mushroom Fettuccine from Pasta Mama’s.  It was seriously incredible, unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures (rookie blogger mistake!) The soon-to-be-husband-Chef gave the pasta rave reviews and said it was the best fresh dried pasta he has ever cooked with! The best part is it is eggless!! I did some research before we had it, thinking it was too good to be true.  To my delight, I found many varieties  of eggless pasta’s on the Pasta Mama’s Website! I was excited to go back to work Monday and grab another bag, next I am going to try the Black Pepper Linguine! I highly recommend you check them out!

Another One Of My Favorites Makes The Cut: Eggless, Dairy-Free Wacky Cake!

I have been eating this incredible chocolate cake my entire life; my Grandma made it, my Mom made it and I have been   making it as long as I can remember. When I was little I remember digging out the wells for my Mom, then carefully pouring all of the liquid ingredients in to the wells, making sure each one got equal amounts of each ingredient.  My favorite part of making this cake was after all the wells were full, breaking the ‘walls’ of each well and watching them blend together, then mixing it all up and licking the spoon! The worst part about making this cake when I was little, was there was no bowl to lick! Now that I am doing all of the dishes, it may be one of the best things about making this cake!

I have seen many variations of this cake, with a variety of different names, but we have always called it Wacky Cake.  My Mom always told me it was called Wacky Cake because the ingredients were wacky, there was no eggs or butter, like in most other cakes.  When I told my Mom about my new allergies, the first thing she said was “well, at lest you can still have Wacky Cake.” Indeed!

Wacky Cake

1) Sift the dry ingredients below in 9×13 inch pan and even out.

• 3 Cups Flour
• 2 Cups Sugar
• 1 Teaspoon Salt
• 6 Tablespoons Cocoa
• 2 Teaspoons Soda

2) Make 6 wells in dry ingredients and evenly add the below ingredients to the wells.

• 12 Tablespoons Oil
• 2 Tablespoons Vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons Vanilla

3) Pour 2 Cups water over pan and mix.

4) Bake in pre-heated 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes.

Optional Frosting

This coconut frostig has always been my favorite on Wacky Cake, but it is just as yummy with vanilla frosting! I have modified this recipe from the original, using Earth Balance Buttery Spread instead of regular butter and soy creamer instead of regular cream.

Ingredients:

• 6 Tablespoons melted Earth Balance Buttery Spread
• 2/3 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1/4 Cup Soy Creamer
• 1 Cup Moist Coconut

Directions:

1) Mix all ingredients

2) Spread on baked Wacky Cake while still warm

3) Place cake under broiler until frosting is light brown

4) Enjoy!

Thursday: The Day The Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Won

Evil or genius? I can’t decide.

Thursday, October 3rd, 2013 will now not only be remembered as my Mom’s 65th Birthday, but also as the   day the chocolate chip cookie dough won.  It all started innocently enough, to celebrate one of my best friends having her baby girl (as I type this we are still awaiting baby Maizy’s arrival), I decided to bake her cookies.  She loves my chocolate chip cookies, so I knew they would be the perfect thing to take with me to the hospital when I visit.  This was my first mistake.  My next mistake came when I told myself I could make cookies and not have any dough…. I mean, I have been eating this dough my entire life, I totally don’t need to have anymore. Right.  Finally what did me in, was offering my soon to be husband some dough and then watching him take one of the freshly baked, straight from the oven cookies and putting a big blob of dough on it!  WHAT?!  Why have I never thought of this?!  At that moment my mind went blank, I forgot about the eggless and dairy free life that I was now living! I HAD to have one!! And that, my friends, is when the chocolate chip cookie dough won.  It was totally worth it.

Happy Day! My Favorite Banana Bread is Eggless!

I thought it would fitting for the first recipe I post to be a treat, since I am kind of known for my baked goods. 🙂 I started looking through my recipe box to find one that would be easy to make eggless (and milk free) and to my surprise and delight, my favorite Banana Bread recipe already is! This is just what I needed after a depressing week of discovering all of the foods I CAN’T have anymore or need to adjust to fit my new dietary restrictions.  I hope you enjoy this delicious treat, you would never guess it is eggless and dairy-free!

Eggless, Dairy-Free Banana Bread

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Shortening                           1 Teaspoon Baking Soda

1 Cup White Sugar                             1 Teaspoon Salt

1 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour               3 Ripe Bananas

Directions:

1) Pre-heat oven 325 degrees F, lightly grease a 8×4 inch loaf pan

2) In a large bowl, cream the shortening and sugar. Sift in the flour, baking soda and salt. Blend in the mashed bananas. Pour batter into prepared pan.

3) Bake in preheated oven for 60 minutes, or until a knife inserted into center of loaf comes out clean.

4) Enjoy!!

Eggs Are Sneaky: Things I Never Knew About Eggs and You Probably Don’t Know Either

  Eggs are hiding everywhere and not just on Easter!

While adjusting to My New Eggless Life, I have learned many new things about eggs, for one eggs are not always called eggs! I now have to be on the look out for lots of other crazy things that are actually eggs! Below is a list of some of the names of ingredients that are really just eggs trying to be sneaky and hide in some of my favorite foods.

• Albumin
• Egg substitutes such as Egg Beaters
• Globulin
• Lecithin
• Lysozyme
• Ovalbumin
• Ovovitellin

I also discovered that many foods contain eggs that I never even realized! See the list below of foods I will no longer get to enjoy….Marshmallows, I guess there will be no more s’mores for this gal, who knew?  I am also in denial about wine, I will be doing more research on that one!

• Baked foods
• Breaded and batter-fried foods
• Caesar salad dressing
• Cream pies, fillings and puffs
• Crepes and waffles
• Coffee drinks like cappuccino
• Fizzes
• Lollipops and other candies
• Marshmallows and marzipan
• Mayonnaise
• Meatloaf and meatballs
• Meringue and frostings
• Pastas
• Sauces, including Hollandaise and tartar sauce
• Soufflés
• Soups and consommés
• Wine

The Day I learned There Would Be No More Eggs

I thought my Doctor was kidding.  We had joked before my test that I could NOT be allergic to eggs, I LOVE eggs! I have them for breakfast every morning, they are in everything I bake for family and friends, I absolutely CAN NOT be allergic to them!

I was excited to finally get my results, this day had been months in the making (issues with insurance, finding a lab that would do the test my doctor wanted) and I was finally going to learn my fate.  My Doctor walked in the room and set the results down on the counter, I was trying hard to sneak a peak.  I saw rows of black lines and one of the lines went waaay further then the others, I thought, ‘oh on, what that is that one?!’ My Doctor then asked me jokingly, ‘what was it that you really didn’t want to be allergic to again?’  I said ‘eggs’ and then he said ‘ooooh no!’ ‘NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!’, I said. ‘You are kidding! Please tell me you took a Sharpie and made those lines longer as a joke!’ He said ‘I wish that was the case, you are extremely allergic to eggs.’  And with those words, my life changed forever.