bubblechild | Nut, dairy, and gluten-free PESTO

Erica at Bubble Child Blog has a great recipe for Nut, dairy and gluten-free pesto. She also has a great site that is a lot of fun to read. Her personal touch to her posts sets it apart and adds a new dimension to the news and recipes (and there are lots) she tells us about.

Presto! Nut, dairy, and gluten-free PESTO.It’s no wonder Italians are so happy– basil is apparently a natural serotonin booster.  You know what?  The way I feel right now eating this nut, dairy, and gluten-free pesto pasta, I sure believe it!For anyone who doesn’t suffer from a deadly nut allergy like me and other nut bubble children, they probably did not know that pretty much all pesto is made with nuts, be it pine nuts most common or walnuts a little bit more gourmet.

via bubblechild | Banishing the Bane of the Food Allergy.

Hemp Seed Butter Offers Fresh Nutty Flavor, Nutrition & Relief from Allergen Concerns

Always on the lookout for more peanut butter replacements, this is a new one I’d not heard of. Hemp has been used for ages in textiles, rope, lotions etc.  But as a nut-sustitute?

Have you had a chance to try this?
Also have a look on thier website for a HUGE list of recipes. 

Peanut butter has long been one of North America’s favorite comfort foods, but the recent, massive product recall scare and the growing number of people with tree nut allergies have boosted culinary experimentation with ‘alternative’ seed spreads that are pleasing health-minded consumers. One of the popular new healthy alternatives to peanut butter is Hemp Seed Butter. While peanut butter has often been touted as a nutritious spread, nutrition experts and consumers are recognizing that Hemp Seed Butter with its 2000 mg of Omega-3 and 11g of protein per serving (2 Tbsp) blows peanut butter away.

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LA Cooking Examiner: Passover recipe: Nut-free haroset

Here is another posting for our Jewish readers, and anyone interested in trying this Passover menu item!

My kids’ school is a no-nuts zone, so when my 7-year-old’s class celebrated Passover last week I created this nut-free version of the traditional haroset. Haroset is one of the symbolic Passover foods, meant to resemble the mortar the Jewish slaves used to build the pyramids of their Egyptian masters.

An Ashkenazic haroset is normally made with chopped apples, walnuts, cinnamon, sugar and sweet Passover wine. I substituted pumpkin seeds for the nuts to accommodate the school rules. I make my haroset in the food processor and prefer a finer texture, but if you like yours chunkier, by all means chop the ingredients by hand.

Nut-free haroset

4 apples, cored, peeled and cut into chunks

1/2 cup raw unsalted pumpkin seeds

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup sugar

pinch of salt

2 Tbsp sweet Passover wine

Toast pumpkin seeds in a dry nonstick pan over medium-high heat until seeds start to brown and pop, about 3-4 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool 10 minutes.

Place all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until the mixture is chopped and combined but still has a little texture. Let sit at least 1 hour, and up to 4 hours, to let flavors meld.

via LA Cooking Examiner: Passover recipe: Nut-free haroset.

Sunbutter Cookies

If you have not had the chance to try Sunbutter I strongly urge you to try it. It tastes so close to peanutbutter it’s unreal. There is a slight ‘green’ taste (like you might expect when eating sunflower seeds) that gives it a bit of a unique taste but the roasting of the sunflower seeds gives it an uncanny resemblance to peanut butter.

The below recipe is one of  many available on the web and in some cases people will put lemon juice in the mix to keep the cookies from coming out green. This happens due to the clorophyll in the sunflower seeds. When cooked it turns green!  (please note, I have not tried the below recipe yet. If you do let us know how you like it!)

Sunbutter Cookies

This recipe for Sunbutter cookies was adapted from a classic peanut butter cookie recipe. If you have a peanut allergy and haven’t tried Sunbutter yet you’re missing out! The taste and texture is very similar (it even tastes great by the spoonful right out of the jar!) This was my first try baking with it and I think it works very well. I hope you think so, too!

Ingredients:

1/3 c. “safe” margarine

1/2 c. Sunbutter

1/2 c. granulated sugar

1/2 c. packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 teaspoons Ener-G Foods Egg Replacer + 2 T. warm water, mixed together

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1-1/4 c. wheat-free all-purpose flour mix

1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum

1/4 c. granulated sugar

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2) With an electric mixer, cream together the margarine, Sunbutter and sugars. Mix in the vanilla and egg replacer mixture. In a separate bowl, combine the baking soda, baking powder, flour and xanthan gum. Add to the Sunbutter mixture and mix well. Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes.

3) Put sugar in a bowl. Roll chilled dough into balls (about 1″ in diameter) and roll in sugar. Place balls on an ungreased cookie sheet. Using a fork, flatten the balls making a criss-cross pattern. Bake in 375 degree oven for 7-9 minutes. Let cool slightly on the cookie sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

via Sunbutter Cookies From Eating with Food Allergies.