Oatmeal, tigernut flour, and chia are great foods for getting different types of fiber into our diets. Fiber is what helps build diversity in our gut microbiomes – and there is growing evidence that this is pivotal for preventing food allergy. It’s possible that microbiome therapies may help correct and treat food allergy too, along with many other conditions. But how do you get picky eaters to go there?
Cookies! Here’s an easy recipe to use all three of those foods in one. Tigernut flour is easy to work with and gives baked goods a warm earthy flavor and texture. Combined with oats ground in to flour, it makes an easy texture for a nice twist on the usual oatmeal cookie that anyone can enjoy. Even kids with conditions like Crohn’s disease, food allergy, celiac, or other inflammatory bowel conditions where sweets, eggs, dairy or gluten can wreak havoc will enjoy these cookies.
Everyone needs a cookie now and then! Pack these in your kids’ lunches or enjoy as snacks. No cane sugar, no eggs, lots of fiber and minerals. If your gang can roll with (GF CF no sugar) chocolate chips, chopped nuts, or raisins, add those too. Option to leave oats whole for coarse texture, or grind oats into a fine flour in a food processor for easier digestion in tender or toddler tummies. I have a mini-size food processor in my kitchen to make this task simple and fast. Lastly, see below for why stevia is included – here’s the one I recommend. It is pure organic plant extract, no fillers, in glycerite (not alcohol).
Oatmeal Tigernut Flour Cookies
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Soft, chewy, oat-y cookies that work with all kinds of elimination diets. See amazon links above for hard to find ingredients.
Preheat oven to 350 and grease a baking sheet with coconut oil. Lay a piece of baking parchment on top. Set aside to soak for at least five minutes, or til other ingredients are ready.
Place the chia seeds in a cup or small bowl. Add the water, so that chia seeds are covered. Press any that stick to sides of cup or bowl down into the water with a spoon or spatula, so they can soak. Set aside.
Measure 1/4 gluten free oats and place in a food processor. Process into a fine flour. Use this in your dry ingredient mixture. Make sure it measures 1/4 cup when ground.
In a medium size bowl, mix together dry ingredients: Tigernut flour, oat flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, and salt. Blend til evenly combined.
In another bowl, combine wet ingredients: Melted coconut oil, vanilla, honey, and stevia drops (why stevia? See note below!). Mix with electric mixer or whisk with a fork or whisk until these are evenly blended. Then add the soaked chia seeds. Stir until all are evenly blended.
Stir wet ingredients into dry, and combine all till evenly mixed. If you are adding chocolate chips, nuts, or raisins, stir these in now.
Place on baking sheet, bake x 15-20 minutes, til slightly browned on bottoms and tops. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
White chia seeds have a higher amount of omega-3 fatty acids than black chia seeds - which have more protein than the white ones. The omega-3 fatty acids can have a bitter taste, hence the extra help from stevia in this recipe. If you want to go for the slightly bigger protein boost, use black chia seeds instead - they will look like poppy seeds in your final product, which some picky eaters may object to ("what are THOSE? I don't like 'bits'"). They white ones will disappear!
Tigernut flour is something I had heard of often, but never used, until I needed an option without almond flour, gluten, any grain flours, or nut flours. I also had to omit eggs in this case, which are substituted here with “chia eggs” – and it worked! This is a dense, moist bread, almost crumb cake like. If your kids are missing muffins on an elimination diet, give this a try in small muffin tins. I’ve baked it here as a sweet bread.
This tigernut flour recipe is easy on the gut – it’s compatible with auto-immune Paleo (AIP) and modified Specific Carbohydrate Diets (SCD, some of users of which can comfortably enjoy this flour).It’s low FODMAPS too – which means it may work for toddlers emerging from FPIES restricted diets. Of course, always check with your care team before going forward.
Tigernut flour is not from nuts at all, but from a starchy root vegetable which is roasted then ground into a fine powder. Tigernuts were a food source for humans thousands of years ago! The flour yields a nutty earthy taste and texture. It’s a great source of gut-helping prebiotic fiber as well as minerals like iron, zinc, potassium, and magnesium – plus some protein too.
This flour can be a little hard to find, but it can be had on line. In my region in Boulder, Colorado, I found it at my favorite Natural Grocers. It’s also always available on amazon and Organic Gemini Tiger Nut Flour is the brand I have tested in this recipe.
Tigernut Blueberry Peach Breakfast Bread
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A moist, sweet, dense treat for breakfast or snacking. Bake in a bread pan or in small paper lined muffin tins.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a bread loaf baking pan with coconut oil.
Combine chia seed with water in a small bowl and set aside. Allow chia seeds to gel for at least five minutes while you prepare other ingredients.
Combine the dry ingredients in a medium bowl.
In another bowl, whisk together the melted coconut oil, vanilla, and honey. Then stir in the chopped peaches and softened blueberries, followed by the soaked chia seeds.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and mix til evenly combined.
Scoop batter into prepared baking pan and bake x 30 minutes for bread, and 20 minutes for muffins. Top and edges should be browned and toothpick will come out clean except for fruit.
Recipe Notes
For peaches, you can use canned as long as organic and thoroughly rinsed of all packing juices. You can use frozen thawed fruit as well if preferred.
These pumpkin chia pudding cups are unbelievably easy and yummy. This started out as a standard baked custard, but it actually works better to skip that step completely and just pop them in the fridge to firm up!
FPIES, Crohns flares, food allergies, and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) can be challenging and frightening for anyone, let alone kids. It’s so discouraging when it seems there is nothing to eat, and food only hurts. Here is a soothing, nourishing recipe that uses safe, easily digested ingredients that are low FODMAPs and allowed on SCD as well as IBD and AIP restricted diets. It’s free of grains, gluten, egg, dairy, nuts, and sugar. Plus it’s yummy! Use only plain unsweetened organic ingredients, with no fillers, additives, or sugars added to the canned goods.
Pumpkin Chia Pudding Cups
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Perfect pumpkin chia pudding, sweet and simple. For an extra treat, top with coconut whipped cream: Refrigerate a can of coconut milk overnight. Drain off liquid, and whip the solid fat into a topping. Add a couple drops of stevia or honey for extra sweet.
Perfect pumpkin chia pudding, sweet and simple. For an extra treat, top with coconut whipped cream: Refrigerate a can of coconut milk overnight. Drain off liquid, and whip the solid fat into a topping. Add a couple drops of stevia or honey for extra sweet.
In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients, saving chia seeds for last. Stir thoroughly, til smooth and evenly mixed. You might find this works best in a food processor, blender, or mixing bowl with electric mixer.
Chill for an hour or more, until set. You can pour entire mixture into one large bowl, or into six individual cups.
Enjoy plain or with a blob of freshly whipped coconut creme.
Weight gain is something many kids I meet need to work on. But so often, strategies include allergens or other problematic foods that they can’t have: Milk protein (casein), eggs, ice cream, full fat yogurt, cream, Pediasure (that’s milk protein), cane sugar…. What to do?
Shakes, puddings and liquid boost drinks are a great way to do it. Use this hypoallergenic short cut pudding that is full of protein, healthy fats, and some SCD legal carbs and proteins too. Don’t skip the crushed ice in the bottom of your mixing container, it gives a refreshing coolness to the whole recipe!
Cool Vanilla Weight Gain Pudding - Paleo and SCD
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Cool and soothing, not to mention a big hit of easy to digest calories that help rather than hurt healthy gut bacteria. This will yield as much as 500 calories per serving (recipe makes two generous servings) depending on the size of avocado you are using.
Cool and soothing, not to mention a big hit of easy to digest calories that help rather than hurt healthy gut bacteria. This will yield as much as 500 calories per serving (recipe makes two generous servings) depending on the size of avocado you are using.
1scoopcollagen(Ancient Nutrition Multi Collagen is my favorite!)
Servings: ~5-6 oz servings
Instructions
Place crushed ice in the bottom of blender or tall quart mixing jar or container (in which case you'll need an immersion blender). Add remaining ingredients on top. Blend all together until smooth and evenly blended into pudding texture.
Spoon into single serving Pyrex cups or bowls. Sprinkle nutmeg on top for garnish and flavor.
If a drinkable version is ideal, add water until thinned to desired degree. This will reduce calories per serving.
Quiche is so yummy, and so off limits for so many kids in my practice – until this gluten and dairy free mushroom quiche option worked out perfectly! I combed many sites for a way to do this that met my criteria for no dairy or gluten, and, tasted really good. I ended up with this amalgam of my own that worked really well.
You will need a gluten free pie crust for starters. You can buy these in the frozen section of most supermarkets now, but I don’t love those, and I don’t mind making my own. I use Bellas’ Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Mix for this, and it’s a snap. I have made my own for years but like this product and recipe better for pie crusts. I’ve even cut the back of the box out and tucked it into my recipe binder in my kitchen so I can grab this recipe fast, any time…
So, either buy or make a GF crust, bake it for ten minutes while you assemble the quiche ingredients, and let it cool. When your filling is ready, the crust will be too.
Mushroom Quiche, Gluten AND Dairy Free
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No compromise here. Classic quiche taste and texture that will satisfy even the most hardened cheese lovers.
Prepare your pie crust per package instructions if you've bought a mix (See product and image above). Whether you'e made your own crust or purchased one, once it's ready, place it in a 400 degree oven and bake for ten minutes. Once it is done, set it aside, but keep your oven ready: Reduce heat to 375.
Whisk together the eggs, coconut milk, almond milk and spices until frothy and evenly blended.
Spread the cooked vegetables evenly in the pie crust. Pour the egg mixture over all. Lay tomato slices gently on top of the egg and vegetable filling in a ring pattern, around the outer edges of the mixture, working your way in toward center of the quiche. If desired, add cheese substitute shreds and sprinkle on top. You may also use any grated cheese your family tolerates here if desired, like Manchego (sheep cheese) or hard goat milk cheddar.
Place the quiche on a baking sheet to prevent spillage and drips in your oven. Bake at 375 for 45 - 50 minutes or until the top has puffed up and browned, and the quiche is set when given a gentle shake. Let it rest for 10 minutes before serving. The top will settle when cooled.
