Food Allergies and Valentine's Day

This weekend I bought a special cake, just for my husband and myself for Valentine's Day. But my youngest, with food allergies, was disappointed, because he knows that he will not be able to have some of that cake or any other special Valentine treats. So I decided to find some that I could make just for him!

This is a great recipe for Sweetheart Smores from the Enjoy Life website. Snickerdoodle cookies and Boom CHOCO Boom bars, along with marshmallows cut in half. Put them all on a plate, assembled, and pop them in a microwave for about 15 seconds and...TahDah! Yummy!!

Kids with Food Allergies has some good recipes:

• Crunch Chocolates: Only 3 ingredients are in this; safe chocolate chips, margarine/butter, and puffed cereal. Toast the cereal in a heated pan, while melting the chocolate chips in a double boiler. Then add the butter to the melted chocolate until it is all blended. Pour in puffed cereal and mix completely. Scoop round spoonfuls onto wax paper and put in refrigerator until it sets.
• Rice Play Dough (a Valentine Craft Recipe): this has rice flour, cream of tartar, salt, water, oil, vanilla extract, and food coloring or sparkles. Mix the dry ingredients together in a large pot, then add the water and oil. Continue to stir until the ingredients pull away from the side of the pot. This will take about 5 minutes and you need to stir it constantly. The vanilla extract is added for the smell, so you could also substitute something else, like peppermint extract. Mix thoroughly, then place the dough on a clean surface. Knead the dough once it is cool enough. If you want, you can add food coloring to the water and that will create a colored play dough. You can also add sparkles while you are kneading the dough to create sparkly play dough. Store in an airtight container and it should last a long time. 

Chocolate Cupcakes recipe call be found at AllRecipes and can be modified, depending on your allergies. The recipe as they have it listed is egg-free, dairy-free, and nut-free. For chocolate, I have used Ghiradelli unsweetend chocolate with good luck, as it is straight from cocoa beans, with nothing else added. This recipe can be made as a cake or cupcakes, just the time will be altered depending on which form your cake takes. 

My family would love these Delicious Roasted Heart Potatoes! It takes about 6 lbs of potatoes, sliced, then cut with a small heart shaped metal cookie cutter. Cook the potatoes in water for only about 3 minutes, while you  mix together the marinade: olive oil, kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, carraway seeds, and paprika. Combine the marinade with the par-boiled potatoes and let them sit for 20-30 minutes. Cook them on a baking sheet, spread evenly at 400 for 20  minutes. Then gently flip them over with a silicone spatula. If your oven has a broiler, finish the potatoes off on  broiler setting for 5 minutes. Should be a delicious addition to any meal.

How do these Chocolate Frosted Rice Krispie Treats look? They are both dairy-free and gluten-free. Most rice krispy cereal and their organic alternatives and allergy friendly. The recipe also calls for butter/or alternative and mini-marshmallows. For the frosting, I always use Cherrybrook Farms icing, but depending on your allergies, you could also use another brand. 

For a healthy, yet creative treat for Valentine's Day, try these Healthy Hearts. It is simply watermelon slices, cut in heart shapes with a cookie cutter. Stick a bamboo skewer through the heart and put a small slice of orange on both ends. Wouldn't this be great for your child's lunchbox on Valentine's Day? If you can't find watermelon, you could also use pineapple. 

These Heart Kabobs are also slices of fruit, cut into a heart shape with a cookie cutter. Slide a popsicle stick from bottom to top of the fruit, stacking three hearts on each other. In the picture, they used HoneyDew Melon, Cantaloupe, and Watermelon. These fruits could be substituted with whatever you can find in season and that you can slice. The dip is a yogurt...you could use regular yogurt or Greek yogurt, which would be a little thicker.

For more food related snacks, check out Kids with Food Allergies for recipes that are allergy friendly. The Nut-Free Mom has some good ideas if food is not the way you want to go for Valentine's Day. There are many other ways to celebrate...even the $1 store has stickers, pencils, pens, erasers, and all other kinds of things that kids would love. 

Are there any allergy friendly recipes that you are going to use this Valentine's Day?