Chocolate lovers cupcakes and frosting

Here is another CSID-friendly recipe for all of you, and this is probably one of my favorites. Dark Chocolate Coconut Flour Cupcakes!! My quest for a CSID-friendly cupcake began with my sister-in-law's family, actually, because they have a lot of birthdays all clustered in one part of the year. Because we live so close to their family, we were always invited to the family birthday parties, but I must admit I had some underlying hesitancy because I knew that Jayson wouldn't be able to eat the birthday cake, and I didn't want him to feel left out.

So I started searching for chocolate cupcake recipes that would be CSID friendly, and I was rather lucky in my search because I could tap into the really big paleo-diet movement, which eschews grains and refined sugars for the most part. I decided to go with a chocolate cupcake because I knew that the cocoa would keep the coconut flour content lower, and would just be really delicious.

Anyhow, I found a recipe and tried it out, and the results were decent, but to be honest, I wasn't a big fan. Jayson ate it, especially since I made a sugar-free ganache to go on top, but I wouldn't eat it. They weren't very sweet and the cocoa made them kind of bitter. I wanted something better, something that with a texture more similar to that of real cupcakes.

I found another recipe which looked promising, but the mixing protocol was more similar to muffins than cupcakes. "Wait a second," I told myself, "Why not take these ingredients and adapt them to a cupcake recipe methodology you know works." Brilliant! The result was a light, fluffy cupcake with a deep chocolate flavor, and just enough sweetness to be a cake without getting overpowering with a frosting.

Nut, Sesame, and Cheese Crackers

One of the most difficult things about having kids with CSID is snack-time. Seriously—ever since Jayson learned what crackers were, all he wanted to eat were crackers. So when we found out he couldn't have them we were kinda devastated. What the heck were we supposed to give this kid for a snack? He loves raisins, but they have a lot of fiber in them and kinda made him go more than we liked. He likes cheese sticks, but only sometimes, when he asks for them. Grapes are too sour for his taste right now, and most other snacky foods have either too much sugar or too much starch.

I had spent a lot of time thinking about how to make him something he would like, when I stumbled upon a recipe for low-carb crackers and decided to give them a whirl. I was expecting something really tough and flavorless, but these taste amazing.

Once Jayson got over his fear of the loud evil food processor and realized what I was doing, we were subjected to cries of, "Cacker! Racker! Carcker!" and other such variations that only an almost two-year-old can come up with.

This continued until they came out of the oven when his persistent requests transmogrified into full-blown demands for crackers. In short, these are really delicious, and are a great snack for people with CSID, but also for anyone else who is trying to live a low carb diet.

Currying For Flavor

This has become one of the favorite dinners in my family, and what makes it even better is that it's something that my whole family can eat and enjoy. That's right kids, this one is completely CSID friendly! And what makes it even better, is that there are only 4 ingredients—count 'em, FOUR—so it's also super easy to make.

I can remember eating this as a kid, and loving it even then. All five of my siblings loved it too, and that was no easy feat let me tell you. There were only a handful of meals that my entire family liked, and this happened to be one of them. Then one night I was talking to my mom, asking her for dinner ideas that might be suitable for Jayson, and she mentioned honey-mustard chicken. I can't believe I hadn't thought of that, so of course I asked her for the recipe, which she gladly sent to me. I couldn't wait to see the ingredients that had made my childhood chicken so delicious.

Imagine my surprise when I pulled up the recipe and read the secret ingredient, the tantalizing flavor that perfectly married the tender sweetness of honey and the sharp bite of mustard—curry powder.

Really, curry powder? As a kid, I knew that I didn't like curry, so that came as a shocking revelation. On the other hand, curry powder was a simple enough ingredient. And because there are only 4 ingredients, I knew that this was certainly a CSID friendly recipe. The fact that it is delicious is just another great bonus.