Allergy-Friendly Apple Marmalade Cake

Can you smell that cinnamon wafting through your screen? The crust crackles under your teeth and just wait until those warm, gooey apples start melting on your tongue. Grab a cup of tea and a fork. Fall gets no cozier. Trust me on this.

Cupcakes and cake pops are great but when the occasion calls for something slightly more elegant yet still unfussy, this apple marmalade cake is the way to go. It's incredibly allergy-friendly with no nuts, no eggs, no dairy, and no soy but don't worry. You'll never miss them.

I've given this cake as a gift, made it for birthday parties, potlucks, brunches, dessert, Thanksgiving, and yes, we've eaten it for breakfast. Versatility is key. 

To date I've not met a cynic who after trying a single bite, hasn't bought in to my personal philosophy that nut-free, egg-free, dairy-free, whatever-free can't be incredibly, decadently, soul-achingly delicious.

Allergy-Friendly Apple Marmalade Cake
adapted from The Divvies Bakery Cookbook

3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 & 1/2 cups canola oil
1 & 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup pear puree or applesauce (jarred baby food works)
1/3 cup orange marmalade
5 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and diced small
1 tbsp powdered sugar for dusting

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a bundt pan with cooking spray.
2. Whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
3. In a separate large mixing bowl, beat the oil and sugar, starting at low speed and slowly increasing to high speed for a total time of about 3 minutes. Add the applesauce and marmalade. Beat one minute more.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until well combined. You'll notice the batter start to clump together, almost like dough. Fold in the diced apples.
5. Pour batter into the sprayed bundt pan and bake for 60-75 minutes. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow cake to sit for 5-10 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack. When cool, dust with powdered sugar before serving.

Serves 12. Or 3 if I'm invited.

Nut-Free (and easily dairy-free) Granola

It's funny, though not in the ha ha sense, what a wreck I was back in 2009 when Roo received his first peanut and tree nut allergy diagnosis. No more hazelnut latte? No peanut butter cookies? No mid-afternoon hand full of chocolate covered almonds? What about Pad Thai? How about my favorite breakfast, granola?!

Today our nut avoidance is par for the course, and at this point it's so ingrained in our daily routine that I don't devote much energy to it. And you know what? With recipes like this, what's to miss?

Nut-Free Granola

Cooking spray or flavorless oil of your choice
1/2 cup honey
1 tbsp. butter (or dairy free margarine, such as Fleischmann's Unsalted Margarine)
1 tbsp. brown sugar
1 and 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (not instant)
2 cups puffed corn cereal (or puffed rice, if you prefer)
1/4 cup dried cherries
1/4 cup dried mango, chopped
1/4 cup dried pineapple, chopped
2 tbsp. pepitas
2 tbsp. sunflower seeds
1 hand full of fresh berries

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray or grease with your oil of choice.

2. Place honey, butter, and brown sugar in a medium, microwave-safe bowl. Microwave 25 seconds and stir until butter is melted, sugar is dissolved, and honey is runny.

3. Toss rolled oats and puffed corn with honey-butter mixture. Spread on greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees 10-12 minutes, stirring often to promote even browning. Remove oat mixture from oven and cool completely.

4. Gently stir together oat mixture, dried cherries, dried mango, dried pineapple, pepitas, and sunflower seeds. Serve over yogurt, milk, or munch on its own as trail mix. For a dairy-free version, serve over soy milk or yogurt, rice milk, coconut milk yogurt, hemp milk, or anything else you like. Top with a few fresh berries or other seasonal fresh fruit.

White Plaques and Furrowing

Roo had his third upper endoscopy yesterday.  As usual, he was a total trooper.  I ripped him out of bed at 5:15 am, slapped a clean diaper on him, and pushed him out the door in his PJ's before he'd have the chance to ask for a drink, which of course, he couldn't have.  The procedure went well overall.  He was a little hesitant to go along with the nurses at first but the "little something to relax him" that the anesthesiologist gave him did the trick almost immediately.  He was all grins and giggles, watching the trails from his fingers, and driving his hospital bed back to surgery complete with "beep- beeps". 

Now, I don't condone substance abuse at any age but man how I wish I had a little bit of that happy juice in the fridge to administer to the kids from time to time.  Looly's hysterical because she scraped her elbow?  Happy juice.  Bean's on another biting spree?  Happy juice.  Roo's chucking Legos at the cat and crying when the poor thing seeks shelter in the basement?  Happy juice.  Accidental shopping spree?  A little happy juice for Mufasa's water bottle while handing over the receipts.  Okay, I guess I'm starting to see why they don't dole out gallon jugs to the parents...

Anyway, we won't have the official results for another day or two but I am ceding victory to the know-it-all GI doctor.  I honestly still can't believe it but the results of the scope were not good.  For the first time ever there was visible evidence of allergy cells (eosinophils) in Roo's esophagus.  Essentially, the doctor could see, and provided me with photos, of the inside of his esophagus complete with nasty little white plaques (pussy groups of allergy cells) and mild furrowing (kind of like little ridges) - two of the tell-tale signs of EoE.  The worst part is that in his previous scopes he never had any visible evidence of EoE.  The biopsies revealed EoE, but his esophagus looked healthy.  Seems like it's gotten significantly worse this year. 

I am beyond bummed.  I so thought he was tolerating the milk.  I'm so sorry that he has to be experiencing pain whenever he eats or swallows for that matter.  And selfishly I'm dreading the return to a dairy-free existence.  I'll save the true lament for once the biopsy results are in but it's not looking good folks.  In fact it looks worse than before.  Maybe I could sneak just a tiny bit of that happy juice for me?  Feel like I could use it.