Quick breads, "nursery food"

and kids and carbs

Source

Quite some time ago, I encountered this post by Leila Lawler, where she talked about a few considerations for whiny children. All the ideas are practical and full of good wisdom, but the thing that stuck out to me most was this concept of “nursery food” she kept mentioning. What is nursery food? I scoured the comments for a further explanation, though as she suggests, the literary ideals get you fairly close, conjuring up images of porridge with brown sugar, sandwiches, cookies with milk, and tea with honey. As Auntie Leila puts it in a comment thread downstream of the article, “Anything plain, buttery, salty, stewed fruity, easy to eat, caloric, easy on the digestion.”

But I see where you’re about to object. This is the “everything free” life, and my child can’t eat gluten, dairy, eggs, cheese or butter. What now?

I feel your pain. Finding palatable, filling, high-calorie options, that will not break your budget is HARD. You look at all the recipes for “snacks” on a paleo or GAPS diet and it’s stuff like, “dried fruit and nuts” and you’re like, “uh, nuts are a choking hazard for children under four¹…” Or maybe you’re facing sticker shock at the price of the Larabars, or the meat sticks, or whatever else. I hear you. Now, I do think that protein and balancing blood sugar is very important, and this needs to be a consideration in feeding kids. In my experience, if you can get some protein into them at each meal, things go much better. But this doesn’t mean they don’t need a hefty dose of something carbohydrate rich and filling to go with that! If your kids are like mine, they are moving all day long, and also hungry all day long. You can stick to a reasonable schedule of meals and snacks, but I think that as Auntie Leila points out, there need to be some concessions to the nature of a child. A few of mine will just melt down and there’s no reasoning with them until they calm down. When you have a small person who doesn’t have a lot of reserves, their blood sugar can quickly tank! ²And if you’ve suddenly got a very hangry child on your hands, sometimes you just need a good enough option to give them. You need something that’s relatively wholesome, an appealing taste and texture and will get them into a more rational state of mind, where you might be able to have a conversation about eating a piece of turkey.

Because of this, I really like having quick breads as a snack or breakfast option. They are palatable, they’re moderately filling, you can make them with natural sweeteners or minimal added sugar, they’re easy to mix up, and everyone likes them. However, most of them call for eggs, so it’s taken a bit of trial and error to find a few egg free favorites³. I try to slather pieces with butter, serve with eggs for my kids who can have them, perhaps have a side of a breakfast meat, or if it’s snack time, I’ll put a layer of sun butter or nut butter on the top as a way to help keep the kids full for a bit longer.⁴

This Vegan Banana Bread by The Roasted Root is a staple. Everyone needs a good banana bread recipe, because what else do you do with the brown bananas sitting on the counter? You know, the ones you bought when your kids were eating two bananas a day, but which are languishing since the children inexplicably began to turn their noses up at their favorite food. I make this as written, using Bob’s 1-1 gluten free flour. I generally don’t add any of the mix ins, but if I’m feeling nice I’ll add the Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips. It’s a great mid-morning snack (at our house it often accompanies read-alouds) and I bake it in a 7x11 Pyrex if I’m doing a single batch, and a 9x13 if I’m doubling. I’ve found that with gluten free, vegan baked goods (especially if you’re using an all purpose mix with xanthan gum) the tendency is for the center to be a little gummy. Baking in a flat, glass pan instead of a loaf pan shortens the baking time (I’d start with about 25 minutes and check it, though it usually takes between 30-35 in my oven) which is very handy when you’re, say, trying to bake something to take to co-op the morning of, and already running late :)

I discovered this Vegan Pumpkin Banana Bread by The Conscious Plant Kitchen this past fall. The recipe does not offer a gluten free option, but I’ve simply replaced the flour with the Bob’s 1-1 mix and it worked well. I’ve used applesauce in place of the pumpkin, or a bit of each. It’s a great recipe for using up the odd bits leftover from a can of pumpkin. If you double the recipe, you’ll need the whole can — I always appreciate it when a recipe comes out evenly :)

Last but not least, this Applesauce Bread is a little more on the “cake” side of the breads and could pass for dessert, but has gotten rave reviews from even the gluten eaters. I did make some adjustments to the recipe, as the amount of sugar seemed a little high to me, and I was fine with adding more oil for satiety purposes. I bumped down the amount of sugar to a scant 1 cup⁵and then where it calls for 1/4 cup water I used 2 Tbsp additional oil, and 2 Tbsp of water.

With all of these quick breads the texture is going to be better if you let them cool entirely — this is generally true for gluten free baked goods, because the binders (usually either xanthan gum or psyllium husk) need time to set. My kids don’t always want to wait, but just know that what seems overly moist or a little sticky while it’s warm, will often be perfect a few hours later.

About baking powder:

Baking powder can have both aluminum and corn in it. If you’re avoiding either of those, then the alternative versions are much more expensive. But I’ll let you in on a secret.⁶You can make your own baking powder at home from two simple ingredients: cream of tartar and baking soda. All you need to do is mix them in these proportions.

• 1 part baking soda

• 2 parts cream of tartar

I keep mine in a small mason jar in the pantry. It tends to clump, because it’s missing the cornstarch to act as an anti-caking agent, but I just give it a good shake every time before I measure and have never had an issue. I buy cream of tartar in the bulk section at Natural Grocers, or from Azure Standard. Even if you do prefer to buy baking powder, it’s always a nice trick to know in a pinch.

I hope you try one of these out this week, and enjoy a delicious snack!

1. I’m willing to be flexible with this, but if they don’t have molars, they literally can’t chew them, so that’s a no go! Same with salad, steak, all the chewy foods… but what do you feed them?

2. Honestly if you’re pregnant or nursing I’d say the same qualifications apply. You might be able to more consciously focus on your protein intake but you still need calories in order to be a happy person.

3. Even if you don’t need to eat egg free it’s nice to have an option for when you run out of eggs, or you’d rather save them for something else. I do like the fact that eggs and dairy add a bit more substance to baked goods, but alas, you can’t win it all.

4. Butter is so underrated. If you can tolerate dairy, and even many who can’t tolerate lactose and casein can handle butter and ghee, it’s a wonderful source of fat soluble nutrients like Vitamin A and Vitamin K2. Buy the best quality you can, but don’t sweat it.

5. It does call for coconut sugar which is a little lower on the glycemic index. I use it interchangeably with brown sugar.

6. It’s not a secret, but it’s handy to know.