When there's a birthday in Dill Pickle's class, the kids are allowed to bring a pre-packaged store bought treat. Most of the time it is something that Dill is allergic to. His teacher has a mini fridge/freezer in the classroom and lets me put a few cupcakes or muffins in the freezer for him. This way he can still have a special treat when there's a birthday in the class and not feel left out.

I checked the birthday poster the other day when I dropped him off and I noticed there was a birthday over the weekend. The birthday girl would surely bring treats today so I figured I had better make something. I went to the fridge and the cabinet and saw that I didn't have the ingredients I thought I did, so I pulled out my recipe binder. In this binder I have all kinds of recipes- ones we love, ones to try out and ones that will never be made in this house again. I found this Fruit and Veggie Muffin recipe from Erin at $5 Dollar Dinners. I've never made it before and I had all the ingredients.

Ingredients
1 cup flour
3 T canola oil
1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup mashed or grated fruit or veggie ***See ideas below!
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)


Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In bowl, combine eggs, oil, sugar and mashed fruit or veggie. Whisk. Mix well.
3. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon. Mix until it forms into batter. Add nuts if you like.
4. Pour into muffin cups.
5. Mini muffins: Bake 8-10 minutes. Regular muffins: Bake 15-2o minutes. Tops will turn golden.
6. Cool on cooling rack and then serve to hungry little people!

***Fruits and Veggies: 1 cup mashed banana, 1 cup grated apple, 1 cup squash and 1 cup grated apple (double the recipe), 1 cup grated carrots (add 1/2 cup raisins if you like), 1 cup peeled and grated zucchini, 1 cup blueberries, 1 cup bananas and 1 cup strawberries (double the recipe)…or 1 cup of any other veggie you like…just mash or grate them up!

I made these muffins with 1 cup grated carrot and 1/2 cup raisins and of course omitted the nuts. I also used 1 cup whole wheat flour even though she suggests 1/2 cup white and 1/2 cup wheat. We are trying to cut white stuff out of our diet so I don't have any white flour in the house. The muffins smelled heavenly while baking and they taste great too!

I like Erin's recipes because not only are they frugal, a lot of them are also dairy and soy free too! She is having a book signing for her new book The $5 Dollar Dinner Mom Breakfast and Lunch Cookbook at a nearby Borders this week. I just might go.

We had an appointment with our new allergist the other day. I wasn't too fond of our old one, but we were limited to him because of our insurance. We found our new allergist when Sweet Pickles was in the hospital. He was the pulmonologist who consulted with the infectious disease doctor. When we found out he was an allergist as well we asked if he was taking new patients. He said he only dealt with the "big" allergies. We rattled off our list- milk, eggs, peanuts. Come on down was his immediate response.

At our appointment I told him Dill was having some issues with using the nebulizer every morning. It was a constant fight. He said no problem. We'll give him a puffer with a spacer. Poof! Just like that. When we mentioned the same problem to our old allergist, oh well, it's just something you'll have to deal with. He's too young for an inhaler. Our new allergist also gave us an eczema treatment plan (which was a heck of a lot more than our other guy did). After only a few days of this new cream- shazam! The boys legs look incredible! I can't remember the last time the back of Dill Pickle's knees looked normal. Maybe when he was born? I can't wait to see them looking like normal legs again.

We go back in 2 months for Dill Pickles and in 4 months for Sweet Pickles. Have I mentioned I love our new allergist?