Green Muffins Revisited

Well, this is quite embarrassing.  The last time I posted it was about green muffins.  That was a year ago and I'm still posting about green muffins.  I promise we really do eat other things besides green muffins!  Although I will say, they are a regular in our house since Jaxon loves them so much.  It's perfect though because tomorrow is St Patty's Day and now you have something green you can feed your cute kiddos!

I am reposting this recipe because I originally just changed it to make it vegan but now I have made it gluten free as well.  I recently decided to cut out/limit Jaxon's wheat and gluten intake to see how he does and see if I notice any improvement in his health and growth.  According to his allergy tests, he only had a slight sensitivity so the allergist told me not to worry about it.  I was so overwhelmed at the time dealing with his major allergies that I didn't want to have to worry about wheat too.  Now that I have the others under control, I am ready to tackle wheat!  This recipe was so easy to make vegan and it was so easy to make it gluten free too!  I love when I can easily alter the recipe and the results are the same!  I have learned very quickly that not all recipes work that way.

In the original post, I had used a flax egg as a substitute.  Since then, I have fallen in love with chia seeds and now use that sometimes as a substitute for the egg.  Chia seeds are great a nutritional powerhouse.  They are rich in calcium, omega 3's, and fiber to name a few!  You can make it the same way as a flax egg.  One tablespoon chia seeds to 3 tablespoons water.  Mix it up and it magically gels together!  Or you can grind up the chia seeds to make a powder or flour and then use the same ratio.  I prefer the latter.  If you don't grind them up, you will have little seeds almost like poppy seeds in your muffins.  Jaxon still ate them like that but I prefer the smoother texture.  I just used my nutri bullet to grind them up and I had a chia seed flour in a matter of seconds!  If an egg allergy is not an issue in your home, then you can still use a normal egg and the recipe should turn out fine.

Another change I made to the recipe is I swapped the sugar for coconut sugar.  There is not a lot of sugar in this recipe but refined sugar is another thing I have been attempting to cut out from our diets.  Coconut sugar has been a great alternative and another thing I have fallen in love with!  You can substitute it for a 1:1 ratio so there are no crazy conversions and  coconut sugar does not make your blood sugar spike like refined sugar.  Most health stores carry it or you can order it on Amazon!

To make the muffins gluten free, I used oat flour.  Oat flour is wonderful and sooo easy!  You can buy it in the store but it is so easy to make yourself.  All you need is gluten free oats and a blender!  Just put the oats in a blender and whirl away until it makes a flour.  I have not attempted other gluten free  flours but I would think most all-purpose gluten free baking flours would work.  Ok, well here is the recipe!

Green Muffins (adapted from Weelicious)

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Place the following  6 ingredients in a food processor and puree.
1. 1/2 cup applesauce
2. 1 Flax egg, chia seed egg, or a normal egg
3. 2 teaspoons vanilla
4. 1 cup packed fresh spinach
5. 1/3 cup coconut sugar
6. 2 tablespoons coconut oil (can also use canola or vegetable oil)

While the above is pureeing combine the following ingredients in a bowl:
7. 1 1/2 cups oat flour (measured after blending the oats)
8. 1 teaspoon baking powder
9. 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
10. 1/2 teaspoon salt

Next, pour the spinach puree into the flour mixture.  Mix until combined.  Sometimes if it seems a little too sticky, I will add a few drops of rice milk or whatever milk you drink.  Scoop the batter into your greased mini muffin tin.  Bake for 12 mins. Enjoy!!

Green Muffins

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, I figured its perfect timing for a “green” recipe!  Although the day is almost over it’s still a great recipe to make whether it’s St. Patty’s day or not because, don’t tell the kids, but there is spinach in these muffins!  The spinach gives these muffins their nice green color with no artificial junk needed and I promise you can’t taste the spinach.  I’ll admit, the first time I made these I was not sure if Jaxon would go for them but he ended up being pretty excited that his muffins were green!  Every time I make them, he always eats like 5 muffins right out of the oven.  They are mini but all he asks for the rest of the day are green muffins!

I found the recipe off of this great website http://punchfork.com/from/Weelicious.  They have tons of recipes that have veggies hidden in them like pink pancakes made from beets.  (Jaxon liked those too).  Today is all about green though.  This recipe originally isn’t vegan.  It has an egg in it but no milk so I simply substituted for the egg and they still turned out great.  If your child doesn’t have any allergies, you can make the recipe as is.  If allergies are involved, then you can follow my substitutions.  I have made them both with a flax egg and then using baking powder and vinegar as a substitute.  I think I preferred the baking powder and vinegar but Jaxon didn’t seem to have a preference.  I also do half whole wheat, half white flour.  Sorry I don’t have a picture but if you click on the link you can see their cute, green deliciousness!

Now for the info you really need: the recipe!  Enjoy and Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Adapted from Spinach Cake Muffins

Green Muffins

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

Flax Egg (1 TBS ground flaxseed mixed with 3 TBS water) OR 1 TBS vinegar & 1 tps baking powder

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup fresh spinach, packed

1/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons vegetable, canola oil, or coconut oil

3/4 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Place the first 6 ingredients in a food processor and puree.  If you don't have a food processor, I'm sure a blender would work fine.  If you are doing the flax egg, mix the ground flaxseed and water in a separate dish first so it has a minute to thicken then add to the mixture.  If you use coconut oil, make sure it's in liquid form.     

3. Place the remaining ingredients in a separate bowl and stir to combine.

4. Pour the spinach mixture in a large mixing bowl.

5. Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet until combined.

6. Scoop batter into a greased mini muffin tin or use mini cup liners, filling each cup 2/3 of the way.

7. Bake for 12 minutes.

8. Serve.

Makes 24 mini muffins

Our Daily Eats: Green Smoothies

I thought I would include a segment, "Daily Eats," which will include food/meals that we have on a regular basis in our home.  You don't have to have allergies or be a vegan either to enjoy these! 

One of the things that we have almost every day is a green smoothie!  I wanted to be able to sneak some veggies in Jaxon's diet, especially now since vegetables seem to be more fun to play with than actually eat when they are on his plate.  Thanks to Pinterest, I came across green smoothies!  What makes these smoothies green?  Spinach of course!!  There is no way Jaxon would eat spinach on it's own but when it's whirled into a fruity, smooth concoction, who can resist?!  I decided to give them a try to see if Jaxon would drink them.  Lucky enough, he LOVED them!  I try to give him one everyday that way I know he is at least getting some veggies in!

This was the first one we tried: "Green Detox Smoothie"
The recipe calls for spinach and kale but I don't always have kale so I just put in more spinach.  It definitely is one of my favorites but I experiment and use whatever I have around the house.  I use the banana and spinach as my base then switch out the pear for other fruits like mangoes, pineapple, nectarines, peaches or whatever you like!  I do try to stick with more yellow or orange colored fruits though when I use spinach because berries make it a brown color.  It doesn't taste bad but it just doesn't look as yummy!   I also like to add avocado which makes it thicker and creamier!  Sometimes I feel I get a little crazy with what I throw in there but Jaxon will drink it so it's worth experimenting to see what your kids will drink.  I've done broccoli too instead of spinach and he gulped it down! :)  Other good add-ins are ground flaxseed, chia seeds, or peanut butter.

Here is a basic recipe:
-1 banana
-1-2 cups spinach/kale
-1 1/2 cups orange juice (I've also used a tropical blend, mango juice, & coconut water.  All are delicious.  I've also started watering down the juice so there isn't so much sugar.  Have to watch out for the kiddos teeth!)
-1 other fruit
-1/2 avocado (optional)
-1/2 cup ice cubes (optional)

Throw all ingredients in the blender and whirl away. Then enjoy! 

(When I first gave Jaxon a green smoothie,  I put it in one of his sippy cups so he couldn't see the color.  I wasn't sure if he would drink it if it was green but he's seen the color and still drinks them so he doesn't seem to mind.)

He loves when I let him drink from my blender bottle

 

Green smoothie mustache

 

 

 

Will your kids drink green smoothies?  What do you like to add in your smoothies?

Jaxon's Test Results

I promise I will get to recipes soon but I thought I would include some more background info on Jaxon.  If you have ever had your child tested for allergies, they have a scale for the level of antibodies they find in their blood. Or in their words, "The ImmunoCAP specific IgE flouroenzyme immunoassay is a semi-quantitative assay for the measurement of allergen specific IgE in serum. The immediate (atopic and anaphylactic) allergic reaction is a function of serum antibodies belonging to the IgE class of immunoglobins."   Big words, I know. The scale goes from 0-6 and scores 2-6 indicate increasing levels of antibody.   Jaxon's results were as follows:

 

Egg white: 5

Milk: 4

Wheat: 2

Peanut: 2

Soybean: 3

Almond: 3

Casein: 3

Gluten: 2

 

I thought I would share his results because I was always curious what other kids’ levels were and what reactions they had compared to their IgE number.  Such as a child with anaphylaxis, what is their number? My allergist told me they usually are concerned with anything above a three.  Like I said earlier, we've never had to use Jaxon's EpiPen but he has never had milk or eggs, I guess you could say, in their actual raw form. When milk would touch his skin though, he would get hives where it touched. I don't know what would have happened if he were to actually drink it.  He has also been fine when I have given him foods with the label “produced in the same facility as milk, eggs, etc.”  Every child is different though so even if your child has the same IgE number, their reaction may be completely different.  I was just always curious so I could maybe gage what kind of reaction would be possible with Jaxon.  I tested almond butter and almond milk on his skin and he never got any hives.   I still haven’t tried any tree nut products yet so I don’t know what kind of reaction, if any, he would have.  The allergist did a skin test though with all the different tree nuts and he got hives with all of them.  At least he can have peanut butter though!  Soy seems to be more of a intolerance than allergy but we have continued to avoid that as well.   He is two now though and I think his levels are dropping. I frequently test his skin with milk and the hives are not as severe. He recently got a hold of a cookie that was not for him (it had butter and eggs!) and the result was just a very messy diaper that dad had to clean up!  (Mom happened to be gone, poor Dad haha). I am going to take him in here soon to have him tested again.  If his levels have dropped, then maybe I will start with some experimentation and slowly introducing his forbidden foods.  Just thinking about that makes me nervous!  I guess you have to try at some point right?

 

 

This was after Jaxon's skin test.  It was maybe 30 mins after the test and they had wiped down his skin already so the hives had started to go down

Jaxon's Story

As my first post, I thought I would share Jaxon's story and how we came to find out he had food allergies.  I was always curious to know about other children and what their symptoms were or how their parents found out about their allergy.  Every child is different and some are less obvious than others but this was our experience!!

I chose to breastfeed Jaxon but the hospital gave me some ready-to-serve formula bottles so I always carried them with me in case I couldn't nurse him. They actually came in handy when driving in the car!  We gave him some when he was maybe around 3 months but that was the extent of his formula intake.  When he was around 6 months though, my husband was watching Jaxon and I had left some powdered formula with him just in case he needed it.  I was on my way home from a dance class when Jeff called me and asked if I had ever given Jaxon this formula before.  I told him no, but that he had had the ready-to-serve formula so I thought he should be fine.  Jeff said that he tried to give Jaxon a bottle but that he wouldn't really drink it and was spitting it out.  That was not what concerned my husband though.  Everywhere the formula had touched Jaxon's skin, he had hives.  Jeff said Jaxon was ok and he was just wiping his skin down with a wet cloth.  I began to worry and felt bad Jeff had to go through that on his own but luckily I was close to home.  When I saw my little Jaxon though it broke my heart.  His little chin and chest were covered in big red bumps.  He was a in a perfectly good mood though!  The hives did not seem to bother him at all. 

It concerned me though and I didn't understand why he had such a bad reaction to the formula.  I took him to his doctor but all the doctor told me was that it sounded like a skin reaction.  I was not happy with his response and still felt very uneasy.  I started to do my own research and learned that his reaction could be a sign of a milk allergy.  I also learned that since I was breastfeeding, I needed to cut dairy out of my diet!  I definitely had not been doing that one little bit.  Jaxon was not super fussy though like they say babies will be with a milk allergy so that also confused me.  I attempted to cut out dairy though just in case it was upsetting his tummy.  Jaxon had always been very gassy but it didn't seem to upset him.  He would just always be letting them loose and they would be loud!! It was to the point where I would look at my husband and not know if it was Jaxon or him!  After I cut out milk from my diet, I noticed the rumbles stopped!  Jaxon was around 8 months or so at this point and was beginning to eat table food but I made sure to not introduce any dairy into his diet.  I also had to supplement with formula so I first started with soy formula.  He seemed to be fine but I just wasn't comfortable giving him so much soy so I switched to Nutramigen.  Although it was more expensive I am so glad I stopped the soy! (I'll go into details why in another post maybe but from what I learned, soy formula should be the last resort!)  I also began a search for a new doctor for him.  A close friend recommended the doctor she took her kids to so we switched and didn't look back!  She was amazing and investigated as a doctor should!  Another friend recommended an allergist so I took him there as well.  The allergist had us do a blood test and tested for other common allergens as well.

We took him in to have his blood work done (not a fun experience with a baby) but necessary.  I was so anxious to get back his results and just wanted to finally know for sure what I was dealing with.  I still remember talking to the nurse on the phone and her telling me what they had found.  I was prepared for the dairy but was not expecting the rest.  She proceeded to tell me that his numbers were high in milk and casein, but then egg, tree nuts, and soy as well.  Wheat and peanut also showed some antibodies but they were on the lower spectrum.  I was floored.  I had had no idea!  After I got off the phone I was just in shock that my little baby had all these foods that could hurt him and I had no idea.  Panic then began to set in and then I started to think what am I going to feed him!  I cried, called my mom, then after the shock subsided started to feel a little better. We had a follow up with the allergist and did a skin test which confirmed the tree nut allergies.  He didn't test milk or egg because his numbers were high enough in the blood work that it wasn't necessary to do the skin test.  I had already given him wheat and he seemed fine so the allergist said not to worry about that one.  We ordered an EpiPen to carry just in case but I am relieved to say we have never had to use it. (I will share his actual numeric results in another post). 

We did all this before Jaxon's first birthday.  I had been planning his party and was prepared to do a dairy-free cake but not an egg -free one!  I am so glad I found out before and I am so glad I had not given him any eggs or any tree nut products up to this point.  I had read not to try those foods before the age of one and I tend to be a rule follower so if you tell me not to do something, I don't! 


Although it was daunting at first, it is normal life now.  Since he was so little and never had had those foods anyways, it was an easy transition.  It would have been harder if he was older and we had to cut out foods he already liked.  Although I would never wish him to have allergies, I feel like it has pushed us to be more healthy.  I feel most comfortable giving him things I have made since I know for sure what went in it so we avoid a lot of processed food.  I am thankful for the information I have learned along the way and I have enjoyed the experimentation with recipes!  That is what I'd like to share with you and any other helpful information.  Welcome to Jaxon Style!!