Whenever I have made a graham cracker crust using the traditional recipe, the crust always seemed dry, so I made my own adaptations. Here is my recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 package graham crackers
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 8 tablespoons butter/margarine melted

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375˚
2. Put butter in an oven safe dish in the oven to melt
3. Crush the graham crackers in a food processor or by crushing them in a ziploc bag
4. In a bowl, stir together crushed graham crackers and sugar
5. After it is completely melted, add melted butter from oven and stir thoroughly (I just mix with my hands to make it easier).
6. Put crust in the oven and bake for 7 minutes.
7. Fill with desired pie filling

Because of my experience with food allergies, I have learned that you can substitute one banana per egg in many recipes and still get a nice moist texture. Of course some recipes just don’t work with banana (like brownies or pie), but it works great for banana bread (and pancakes too!). Since Phillip is no longer allergic to eggs, I recently decided to make this recipe with eggs instead of the extra bananas. Surprisingly, it was not as good. So now we almost always use twice the amount of bananas to make a most delicious banana bread. Enjoy!!

Ingredients

• 2 c all purpose flour
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 c margarine or butter
• 1-1/4 c sugar
• 2 eggs (or bananas)
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1/3 milk (or soy milk/water)
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/2 c chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease 9x5x3 inch loaf pan & set aside.
2. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, & salt. Set aside.
3. In large bowl, with electric mixer, beat margarine/butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs & vanilla until blended, scraping sides occasionally.
4. Stir in banana.
5. Alternately add flour mixture with milk until blended, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
6. Evenly spoon batter into prepared pan.
7. Bake 1 hour 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
8. Cool 10 minutes and remove from pan
9. Allow to cool completely
10. Makes 1 loaf

Of all the allergies in our family, egg is the hardest to find a substitute for. It is usually easy to substitute for milk because water almost always works. It doesn’t work so well in chocolate milk, but soy milk works for that. I usually use water in recipes and find that the recipe tastes pretty much the same.

With egg, it is a whole different story. They are in everything, and even egg substitutes sometimes have egg in them. I have learned that banana (1 small per egg) works in sweet recipes (if you like a banana flavor).  It is absolutely delicious when substituted in pancakes – better than regular pancakes in my opinion! A mix of vinegar, oil, and water also works in some cases, and so does applesauce. There are actually several substitutes available.

I baked cookies tonight for an upcoming event and wanted to make sure there was something available for Phillip to eat. I have made oatmeal chocolate chip before, but tonight I decided to experiment with chocolate chip. I used this recipe and the texture and flavor was good. They almost had a shortbread flavor to them, but they were very soft. When I compared it to the Toll House recipe, I discovered that the egg free recipe was very similar but had less sugar. If I ever make them again,  I will add about 1/4 cup more of both brown and granulated sugar.

All in all, I call the experiment a success! I am sure Phillip will love them!

I made green bean casserole over Thanksgiving and several people asked for the recipe for the white sauce I used instead of cream of mushroom soup. I decided to put it on my blog for anyone else who is interested and so I don’t have to hunt for it next time I need it. It will be right here on my trusty blog waiting for me to seek it out! 🙂

This white sauce can be used for several different things besides green bean casserole. I have used it to make turkey pot pie, tuna casserole, and potatoe soup (usually make it thinner for this one).  To give credit where it is due for this yummy sauce, I will tell you that the recipe is not mine. I learned to make it from my sister-in-law, who, of course, learned it from my mother-in-law.

1/2 cup butter/margarine
3/4 cup flour
4 bouillon cubes (or substitute salt)
4 c milk/water

1. Dissolve bouillon cubes in 1 cup of hot water.
2. Melt margarine in a saucepan on medium high heat.
3. Add flour and mix with whisk (quickly before it starts browning)
4. Add the bouillon and water mix and whisk.
5. Add remaining 3 cups of water and whisk again.
6. Heat until thickened stirring occasionally.

For those of you who didn’t know, my husband is a great cook, especially when he makes his own recipes! Several years ago, he made up a chicken and potato recipe that we call Italian Chicken. It is one of my absolute favorite meals!

In the past, I have called Luke into the kitchen to make the sauce because he had never measured the ingredients, and I didn’t know the recipe. A few days ago we worked together and wrote down the measurements. Now that we know the recipe, we can share it! If you try it, let us know what you think!

Ingredients

• 1 lb. boneless chicken breast cut into strips
• Sliced Potatoes
• 1 c olive oil
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 2 1/2 T garlic salt
• 1/4 c Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400˚F.
2. Place the chicken pieces in a 9×13 dish.
3. Add sliced potatoes until the dish is full.
4. In a small bowl, mix the remaining ingredients until the water and oil are mixed.
5. Pour oil and spice mix over the chicken and potatoes.
6. Bake uncovered for about 1 hour (stirring about half way) or until potatoes are soft and chicken is done.

Our church is having a pie baking contest next Sunday. Because of this and the fact that Phillip has food allergies, I experimented with egg free, milk free, nut free pumpkin pies over the weekend. First I tried a recipe using gelatin instead of eggs. Then I tried the regular Libby’s pumpkin pie recipe and used one small banana for each egg and homemade evaporated soy milk for the evaporated milk.

The gelatin pie was good, but it really does not taste like pumpkin pie. The Libby’s altered recipe turned out to be pretty good and still had a pumpkin pie flavor. Of course, it is really banana pumpkin pie (with whipped cream on top, of course).

So, the choice Phillip-safe pie to be entered in the pie baking contest is the altered Libby’s pumpkin pie recipe! And the best part? Phillip got to eat his first slice of pumpkin pie!