I'm Back!!

So after a long gap, I am back!  I had hoped that my son's allergies would challenge me to be creative and blog even more.  Nope - sometimes going to the grocery store was a matter of real survival.  Surviving reading every label, surviving having to change meal plans mid-store because a vital ingredient was on the 'no-no' list, just trying not to cry.  But God is good and we are seeing some victory!  A few months ago, DS was re-tested and his is no longer allergic to dairy or corn!!!!!  Soy had improved but we still have to be careful; too much and he's red/itchy again.  This is really difficult but at least I don't feel guilty about it anymore if I make a bad judgement call.  I just learn and move on.  We have added one more allergy, though and that it peanuts.  Our allergy dr does not anticipate serious reactions that would cause troubles breathing but just more skin troubles.  From the time he accidentally got a hold of a sandwich, it appears he will probably throw it up and then turn red.

So, I tried a new recipe today!  Wow - I'm definitely a mom if I can go from talking about throw up to new recipes in the next sentence!  If you haven't lost your appetite you'll want to check out these Banana Oatmeal Cups with Chocolate Chips!

Not sure why my picture is so blurry but in this bowl we have bananas, milk, egg, baking powder, instant oatmeal (quick 1-minute cook) and vanilla.

Now add some chocolate chips:

(I used close to 1/2 cup because mine were chunks, not mini-chocolate chips)

Even though DS can have dairy, most chocolates have soy in them so I still use these for baking things he will be eating:

Sorry for the upside down picture!

Then you wait... here's the precious little guy waiting for his muffins!

Breakfast today was Banana Oatmeal Cups with Dairy-free/Soy-free Chocolate chunks and watermelon from our next door neighbor (for local readers he has the fruit/veggie stand that sets up in the parking lot of Radio Shack/Kelderman Electronics on A Ave)

• 3 mashed bananas (the more ripe the better!)
• 1 cup vanilla Almond milk (any milk should work)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp Baking powder
• 3 cups (240g) Old Fashion or Rolled Oats
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp (42g) mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Mix all ingredients except the chocolate chips together, and let sit while you prepare the muffin pans.
Spray a muffin pan and/or liners with with non-stick spray.
Stir the chocolate chips into the oatmeal batter.
Divide batter into 15 muffin cups. They should be just about filled.
Bake 20-30 minutes, you’ll see the edges just starting to brown and they will be firm to the touch.
The muffins may stick when hot but are removed easily when cooled for a bit.

Here is the link to the original recipe:

http://greenlitebites.com/2009/03/07/banana-oatmeal-cups-with-chocolate-chips/

 Enjoy! 

EDIT:  I made these muffins on a Tuesday.  DD didn't like them because she said she could taste the banana in them (don't ask me - she likes bananas!).  DS loved them and was a chocolatey mess!  I thought they were good as well.  However, Friday morning I went to get a couple for breakfast and one of the muffins had some red stuff on it (it looked like someone drizzled strawberry ice-cream topping on it) and there were several fruit flies around them.  I grabbed a muffin that didn't have the red stuff on it and took a bite.  It tasted funky so I put it back in the bowl and grabbed a healthy alternative, a pop-tart (yes, I was being sarcastic!).  By the end of the day another one had the red stuff on it, there's tons of fruit flies and it's just a yucky looking bowl of stuff.  I'm trying to figure out how to dispose of them without releasing the fruit flies into my house (they're trapped under saran wrap right now!)...