New Apple Pie Crust Recipe

I'm working on making a better apple pie crust dough, and in general, gluten-free baked goods that don't fall apart so easily. I know Xanthan Gum is supposed to provide some structure, however, I have had some great results with this Rice Protein Powder lately.

New Pie Crust Idea:

1 c. finely milled buckwheat flour (like Hodgson Mills)
1 c. brown rice flour
(you can use some millet flour if you like, or try any other flours)
about 1/2 T. Rice Protein Powder
1/2 t. salt
1/4 c. vegetable shortening or coconut oil (I use Spectrum)
8 T. cold Rice Milk

Mix the flours and salt. Use a pastry blender to cut in the vegetable shortening. With a fork, add the cold Rice Milk, 2 T. at a time. Stop adding Rice Milk when your dough is starting to hold together well (or add more if it's a dry day!)

Make a ball with the dough and cut it in half. The secret is to roll the dough between 2 pieces of plastic wrap. Take one half, roll it out between the two pieces of plastic wrap, carefully remove the top layer and flip the crust in the pie dish. If it is falling apart, just pick up the dough and carefully work in a little more rice milk.

Poke a couple fork holes in the bottom layer, add the filling, the top, and poke a couple more holes or cut slits. Bake at about 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Happy Birthday!

My son, Jacob, recently turned 2. Though I usually have only made sugar-free honey cakes in the past (wheat, dairy, and egg-free for my husband), I decided to do something different this year. I decided to make two cakes: one with milk, butter, eggs, white flour, and sugar, and one with buckwheat (gluten-free), coconut milk, coconut, no eggs, only 1/3 c. sugar, and maple syrup. We were having a birthday party, and some kids couldn't have eggs, others needed gluten-free, all were allergic to nuts, some allergic to dairy. I wanted everyone to feel included and have a good time.

I put a lot of thought into the cakes...what would kids like eat? should I use food coloring? should I use sugar (cane sugar/powdered sugar)? should I use a cake mix? After seeing the price on "natural" food coloring at WF, and deciding that it would be too much work to make mine myself (like out of beets), I decided to just have two white cakes. I figured a little sugar would be fine for the occasion, and the cakes with honey did turn out to be a bit runny/squishy. Dear old grandma always used to use a cake mix, but for fear there would be soy or some other strange ingredient in there, I figured I'd just use a cake recipe from my Better Crocker cookbook.

I was happy that the cakes looked basically the same (except when you cut into them of course, the buckwheat one looked more like chocolate).

Here are the recipes:
Starlight Yellow Cake (from "Betty Crocker's New Cookbook")
2 1/4 c. all purpose flour
1 1/2 c. sugar (I used a minimally processed sugar)
1/2 c. shortening (I used Spectrum)
1 1/4 c. milk
3 1/2 t. baking powder (aluminum free - another reason to not use a mix)
1 t. salt
1 t. vanilla (I used alcohol-free from Trader Joe's)
3 large eggs

(1) Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease & lightly flour bottoms of two round pans.
(2) Beat all ingredients together on low for 30 seconds, then high 3 minutes. Pour into pans.
(3) Bake about 30-35 minutes, cool on wire racks completely before frosting.

Buttercream Frosting:
3 c. powdered sugar
1/3 c. stick butter, softened
1 1/2 t. vanilla
1-2 T. milk

(1) Beat with electric mixer until smooth, adding one T. milk then more if you need to.

Allergy-Free Buckwheat Cake
2 c. buckwheat flour
1 c. sorghum flour
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 t. xanthan gum *secret ingredient*

(1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two round cake pans as follows: cut a piece of wax paper in a circle to fit in the bottom of the pan. Grease the pan with shortening (vegetable, no soy), and place the wax paper down, and grease again over the paper. Mix the above together in a large mixing bowl.

1/2 c. safflower oil
2 c. coconut milk
2/3 c. sugar
2/3 c. maple syrup
2 t. vanilla

(2) Mix the liquid ingredients together with a wire whisk.
(3) Add the liquid ingredients to dry, whisking until smooth.
(4) Fold in 2 c. unsweetened shredded coconut.
(5) Bake at 350 for about 30-35 minutes until the toothpick comes out clean and you see the sides of the cake pulling away from the pan a little. Cool completely.

Coconut Frosting (from "Vegan with a Vengeance"):
1/2 c. vegetable shortening (Spectrum)
1/2 c. coconut milk (maybe a little less)
2 t. vanilla
4 c. confectioner's sugar
1 c. unsweetened coconut

(1) Beat all but the coconut together, adding the milk a little at a time. Fold in the coconut at the end.

Kid's Tortilla Dinner

My kids loved these tortillas, though they probably aren't "allergy-free" there's a million ways you can make them:

Corn Tortillas - I made my own with corn masa flour, salt & water in my tortilla maker
Mashed black beans - that I soaked the night before and cooked in the slow-cooker in the morning
Arugula (yes the kids ate this since I sneaked it in the tortilla
Pitted, sliced Kalamata olives
Sour Cream (but you could use soy sour cream if you have a milk allergy)
shredded carrot
thin-sliced green pepper

I love my tortilla maker. I found it on craigslist for $35 (it's a Villaware). Though of course they aren't as good as tortillas rolled by hand and cooked in a cast-iron skillet, it only takes a few minutes to make a batch of tortillas - quinoa and corn masa are my favorite, but you can also make buckwheat, rice, and many other kinds. If you cook them a little longer, they become crunchy crackers. You just have to learn a few tricks - we found you have to lower the top and push down with the handle only once, and quickly, then leave it alone (don't push down more after the first time, or they will "blow up").

Plum Pie

I was lucky to find a whole basket of ripe, black plums on sale at our local fruit/vegetable market (Russo's in Watertown). On a whim, I decided to try a plum pie. With the help of my 3 1/2 year old, we created this.

Crust:
2 c. quinoa flour
3/4 t. salt
2/3 c. safflower oil
1/3 c. coconut milk

Mix the flour and salt together. Then add the oil & milk and mix with a fork. Pat dough together into one ball, roll dough between two pieces of plastic wrap. Then comes the tricky part that didn't exactly work for us....we were supposed to roll the dough to a 14" pie, then place in a 8-9" pie plate, add the fruit filling, and fold up the edges of the dough. Well, it didn't exactly work. The quinoa doesn't really hold together well, so we wound up picking up the pieces of dough that fell and just putting them on top. If I do it again, I'll try making a chilled version of a pie crust, maybe with a different flour. I guess you can't complain if it's gluten-free.

Fruit Filling:
2 1/2 lbs. of plums, washed, pitted, and sliced (I didn't peel mine)
1/3 c. sorghum flour
1/4 c. honey
1/4 t. nutmeg
juice of 1/2 a lemon

I baked mine on 400 degrees for 30 minutes, but I think this is a little too hot for quinoa. If I bake a pie again with quinoa, I'll do it on 350 for about 30 minutes, and maybe then the fruit filling will get a little more cooked/bubbly without the crust browning. I don't like my desserts super-sweet, but if your plums are still a little tart, just add more honey on top.

Gingerbread Cookies

I know it's way past Christmas, but winter is not over here in New England. My daughter really wanted to make gingerbreads, and we had not make them yet this year. I had to think about what I would do for a recipe - I knew I wanted no dairy, refined sugar, or wheat - so that we could eat them together as a family and they would be semi-healthy. I used the oatmeal cookie recipe as a guide in the "Whole Foods Allergy Cookbook," which is excellent by the way and you will have to get the book or borrow it from the library to try it. However, here is my version for gingerbread cookies.

1/2 c. vegetable shortening (make sure it doesn't have soy...try Spectrum's brand)
1/4 c. molasses
1/4 c. maple syrup
1 t. vanilla

Cream the above 4 ingredients with an electric mixer.

1/2 c. rye flour
1/2 c. buckwheat flour
1 c. oat flour
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/2 t. ginger
1/4 t. salt
1/2 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder

Stir into creamed mixture. I used a little of the dough at a time to roll out on a generously floured (I used oat) surface, then cut out my little gingerbread people. We decorated the cookies with raisins and unsweetened coconut. Bake about 7-8 minutes on 350 degrees.

Apple Crisp

I modified the "pear crumble" recipe from the Whole Foods Allergy Cookbook into apple crisp. Plus, I don't like it as sweet. I was all out of the old fashioned rolled oats, so I had so use some instant I had on hand, but I recommend using the old fashioned rolled oats if you have them.

6-7 large apples (we used Gala)
1/4 c. golden raisins
1/4 c. honey (I don't even measure, I just sprinkle on top)
1/2 c. millet flour
1/2 c. oat flour
1 c. old fashioned rolled oats
1/2 c. maple sugar
3/4 c. chilled vegetable shortening.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Core, peel, and slice apples and place in a baking dish. Sprinkle raisins and honey over apples. Combine flours, oats and sugar in a medium bowl, use a pastry blender to cut in the shortening. Sprinkle this mixture over top of the apples, raisins and honey and bake for about 40 minutes.

Orange Biscotti

This is an adaptation of an old Betty Crocker recipe. Biscotti has always been one of my favorites with tea, and here is an allergy-free version: no dairy, wheat, or eggs. It can be gluten-free depending on what flours you use. The biscotti does, however, have refined sugar (I couldn't bring myself to substitute everything). You could try maple sugar or date sugar if you needed to avoid refined sugar.

1 c. sugar
1/2 c. vegetable shortening or non-hydrogenated margarine (if you are allergic to soy, make sure it's soy-free)
1 T. grated orange zest
1 t. vanilla
2/3 c. water mixed with a scant 2 T. brown flaxseeds
Note: Heat in a small saucepan over med-high heat until boiling, only boil about 1 min until a slightly thickened gel forms - don't make it too thick or you won't be able to strain the seeds out. Strain the whole seeds out and cool the liquid gel. Use the gel in place of the two eggs.
3 1/2 cups of all-purpose (if you can have it) or any combination of flours (I used 1 c. brown rice, 2 c. oat, and 1/2 c. sorghum/milo)
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Make flaxseed gel to use in place of egg and place in an ice bath to cool if using immediately. Beat sugar, shortening or margarine, orange zest, vanilla and flaxseed gel in a large bowl. Stir in flour, baking powder, salt. Note: I had a hard time mixing it together, but just use a wooden spoon or your hands, adding a little water if necessary, to form a soft dough. Split dough in half and shape each half into a 10X3 " rectangle and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake about 20 minutes, cool for 15 minutes. Cut crosswise into 1" thick slices (the original instructions say 1/2" slices, but I did 1" with a sharp, wet knife. Using different flours, especially gluten-free like brown rice, tend to be a bit crumbly.) Bake about 10 minutes longer. You want them to be crisp, slightly brown but not too dark. From the initial cutting, I thought they would turn out too crumbly, but after the second baking they held together well.

Kid's Stir-fried Rice (no soy necessary, but I did use eggs)

The kids needed something fast and nutritionally decent one day, so I decided to make them stir-fried rice. They loved it!

1 crown fresh broccoli, broken into bite-size pieces
2 carrots, shredded or grated
3 scallions, chopped
2 cups of cooked brown rice
3-4 T. sunflower oil
2 eggs, slightly beaten (or you could use silken tofu with tumeric)
1 T. sesame seeds

In a wok, stir-fry broccoli in sunflower oil until soft enough for kids to eat (or crunchy if you like). Add carrots, scallions, and rice. Stir-fry a few minutes until hot. Make a well in the center and add the eggs. Note: I recently read that a lot of the proteins people are generally allergic to are found in the whites, not the yolks. My husband, who can't tolerate eggs, has just started eating the nutrient-rich yolks without any adverse effects. Slightly scramble the eggs, when they are no longer runny stir them into the rest of the rice/vegetable mixture. Then make another well in the center and add the sesame seeds. When they are toasted (a few seconds), stir them into the rest of the dish. You can put wheat-free tamari soy sauce on if you can tolerate soy, or my daughter had hers with a little white-wine vinaigrette.

Vinaigrette (from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food cookbook):
1/4 c. white wine vinegar
1 T. dijon mustard
salt/pepper
sugar (I used a little honey)
3/4 c. extra virgin olive oil

New Pizza Crust Idea

It's been 6 months since I made pizza. For some strange reason, my kids will never eat it - even with tomatoes and cheese (which they can have). Anyway, my husband and I had a pizza craving...maybe because we'd been snowed in for so long. So we indulged.

I published a pizza post last July, so the recipe didn't change much. But the big revolution was in the crust. I tried GARBANZO BEAN FLOUR! It made a great crust combined with quinoa flour, and hopefully made the pizza even more nutritious. Toppings this round were: pesto, ham, black olives, green peppers, artichoke hearts, and onions.

Shepherd's Pie (no beef, tomatoes, wheat)

For some strange reason, I'll always remember the time my Aunt Patty made Shepherd's Pie and brought it over to our house. It was creamy, with green beans, and mashed potatoes. This had to have been at least 15 years ago, but I still remember how great it was. There is a Shepherd's Pie recipe in Cybele Pascal's Allergy Cookbook, but it has evolved into my own recipe, tailored to my family's needs. Here's my new Shepherd's Pie recipe:

7-8 all-purpose baking potatoes
1 package frozen green beans
1/2 package frozen corn
1 lb. ground buffalo
1 chopped onion
1 chopped carrot
2 cups vegetable broth
2 T. oat flour
2 T. olive oil
1 cup rice milk
1 t. chili powder
2 T. fresh chopped parsley
1 T. fresh thyme leaves
1/2 t. cumin
pepper
salt

For the mashed potatoes: wash, peel, and cut potatoes into small cubes. Place in boiling water for about 20 minutes or until tender. Drain and mash with a little rice milk and olive oil.

Brown the ground buffalo, then add the onion and carrot. Cook for about 10-15 minutes or until carrots are soft and buffalo is no longer pink.

In a small saucepan, combine the 2 T. olive oil and 2 T. oat flour over medium heat. Add the vegetable broth and rice milk, stir constantly, and cook until thickened. Stir in spices.

Spread green beans in a single layer in a glass baking dish. Add corn and ground buffalo mixture. Pour sauce/gravy over everything and top with mashed potatoes.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes, until hot and bubbly and potatoes are slightly browned.

I actually divided up the ingredients between two glass casserole dishes: one for my kids (no spices, no corn), and one for us.

Easy Pasta dish - no wheat or tomatoes (cheese & nuts optional)

I came up with an easy pasta dish:

1 package of brown rice pasta (or you can use wheat or quinoa)
Frozen vegetables such as peas, broccoli, asparagus, zucchini, summer squash
Some pesto (see below)
Olives
Pine Nuts (optional)
Parmesan cheese (optional)

Cook the pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, steam the frozen vegetables (I do this in the micro) until tender-crisp. Toss everything together and you have a pasta-pesto dish.

Pesto: Combine 1 clove garlic, some fresh basil leaves, olive oil, and pine nuts (optional) or parmesan cheese (optional) in the food processor. Process until it forms a thick paste.

This is a great easy dish for a family with multiple different food allergies, because you can reserve a little pesto without nuts (for the kids) and add cheese later for those who can have it. For those who can eat cooked chicken pieces, you can toss that in too. Otherwise, my husband just ate his with fish.

Pumpkin Pie Experiment - Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's an egg, dairy, refined sugar, and wheat-free pumpkin pie recipe I've devised, which has its roots from one that was in an old Martha Stewart "Pies & Tarts" cookbook.

I found vegan pie recipes on-line, but they were all made with soy (my daughter is allergic to soy). The pumpkin pie recipe in the "Allergy Cookbook and Survival Guide" was made with gelatin and a refrigerated pie (no baking, except for the crust). I was determined to perfect, or come as close as I could to perfect, a pumpkin pie with no eggs, dairy, or refined sugar.

The first time I tried, I used a whole can of coconut milk and substituted the sugar with honey - and it turned out more like pudding than pie (first picture with coconut sprinkled on top). The second time (second picture) it was a much better consistency, and my sister (the avid taste-tester) said it tasted "normal."

For the crust, see the apple pie post (and just half that recipe if you only want one pie). The first crust (the filling that failed) I made with oat/millet flour, the second crust was oat/corn flour. Oat/brown rice also works too. You could use gluten-free flours for a gluten-free version. They were all tasty.

Pumpkin Pie Filling:
One 15oz can pumpkin puree (just get the one that's plain pumpkin, or make your own puree if you are so inclined)
1/2 cup coconut cream (do not shake a can of regular coconut milk...I used the Thai Kitchen brand...and skim the cream off the top of the can)
1/2 cup maple sugar
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t ginger
1/2 t cinnamon
4 1/2 t of Ener-G-egg replacer mixed with three T of rice milk or water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix all ingredients together with an electric mixer and pour into the pie shell. Bake for 50-55 minutes. Cool or refrigerate before serving (I let mine cool overnight in the refrigerator, which I think helps it to slice better). Also, I think that I mixed up the egg replacer with the rice milk too soon. The pie would probably rise higher if I blended the rest of the ingredients first, then mixed up the egg replacer and added that last, transferring to the pie shell and oven quickly to aid in leavening. Makes one 8" pie.

Happy Halloween - Carob Cupcakes

Like most moms, I really didn't want my kids eating a bunch of candy for Halloween - with enough refined sugar and chocolate (think, caffeine) it would mess up their sleep schedule and make them cranky for days. So I came up with Carob Cupcakes, my own variation of the Chocolate Cake recipe in the Whole Foods Allergy Cookbook.

Cupcakes:
1/2 c safflower oil
1/2 c honey or brown rice syrup
1 t vanilla
3 t Ener-G Egg Replacer, mixed with 4 T. rice milk
3/4 c unsweetened applesauce
1 c oat flour
1 c brown rice flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 c carob powder
1/4 t salt
3/4 c rice milk

First beat together the oil and honey/brown rice syrup. Then add vanilla, egg replacer, and applesauce. Then I just beat in everything else all at once to save time. Pour into muffin cups and bake at 350 degrees for about 17 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (time will depend on how big your cupcakes are).

I made the frosting from the "Whole Foods Allergy Cookbook" too, and just used regular food coloring. If anyone knows of a "natural" food coloring, let me know, but for this Halloween I just used what I could find. We had green, orange, and yellow carob cupcakes.

Milo-Sweet Potato Muffins

The Milo-Sweet Potato Muffins in "The Ultimate Food Allergy Cookbook and Survival Guide" are exceptional. Though I suppose you would say they were a "heavy" muffin, we all eat them like dessert since they're so sweet! If you have given up refined sugar, you will know they taste sweet. If you're still a sugar-addict though, they might not be for you.

Milo is also called Sorghum. I've used Bob's Red Mill Sorghum flour for these muffins. It's a great way to use up leftover sweet potatoes, and the recipe is so basic and easy - just sweet potato, milo/sorghum flour, salt, baking soda, unbuffered vitamin C powder, and oil. I believe that sorghum would also be gluten-free. I used unbleached baking cups from Whole Foods.

Quinoa/Apple Pancakes - A Success!

The headline sort of reminds me of my AQ Times writing years. A lot of headlines were "XXX - A Success!" Things have changed a lot since those good 'ol days. Anyway, these pancakes were finally "a success" after getting a non-stick griddle. I also made some adjustments to the basic recipe in "The Ultimate Food Allergy Cookbook and Survival Guide." The basic recipe calls for quinoa and tapioca flour, baking soda, unbuffered vitamin C powder, cinnamon, oil, and water. I used fresh apple cider for the water, and added apple and hazelnut chunks. They were different pancakes than "normal" - the texture is a little more sticky. But they were mighty tasty and made the whole house smell like fall.

Previously I tried the quinoa/tapioca pancakes in a stainless steel fry pan, and they stuck so badly it was impossible to cook them. The non-stick griddle worked exceptionally well. When I went to buy a non-stick griddle I was shocked by how much they cost. I ended up getting one from Target.

Rye Waffles - Boring Rotation Diet

My grandmother always used to say, "Never eat the same food all the time...eat a good variety out of the different food groups every day." The past couple of weeks we've really been working on a rotation diet. A rotation diet is where you rotate the foods you're eating (and foods in the same family) over a period of 4 days. The basic idea is to prevent the development of further food sensitivities by allowing potential allergens to clear out of your body before you introduce them again. I say, "boring" because we've just been following the standard rotation diet in "The Ultimate Food Allergy Cookbook and Survival Guide" by Nicolette Dumke where all the foods are assigned to each day for four days. We haven't figured out how to incorporate our usual recipes into this rotation yet, "borrowing" foods from one day and moving them around. So we've just been eating very simple meals - broiled/roasted meat/fish, steamed vegetables, and salads.

All of the recipes in this food allergy cookbook are incredibly simple with minimal ingredients. They are easy and incorporate many different and "exotic" foods, but I've been spoiled by the gourmet taste in Cybele Pascal's allergy cookbook. I've become confident in Cybele's recipes that they will turn out, whereas in Nicolette's book I'm still uncertain. However, the pancake, waffle, and cookie recipes all include numerous combinations of grains and flours to go along with the rotation diet, and all it takes is a little more willingness to experiment.

What works: By far, our favorites in this cookbook are the tortillas, crackers, waffles and pancakes. We particularly like the rye waffles - which are just basic rye flour, baking soda, unbuffered vitamin C powder, salt, oil and water. The teff waffles turned out pretty good too (though teff flour is expensive). I tried the teff crackers and those weren't bad, they would have been a little crisper if I had rolled the dough thinner. Teff has a neat flavor - maybe it's the dark color, but it reminds me a bit of chocolate.

What hasn't worked well for us: The quinoa-tapioca pancakes seemed to stick to my stainless steel skillet (which I generally use to make pancakes), even after I used coconut oil to grease the pan. I've since bought a non-stick skillet, so I'll have to try that next time. Also, the rolled cookies sweetened with stevia just seemed like eating a bunch of flour - very crumbly and sticky. I used oat flour instead of the flours recommended...because we couldn't eat kamut, spelt, amaranth or barley. If I try rolled cookies again, I'll just go with the maple sugar ones in Cybele Pascal's book.

Easy Skillet Dinner - No Cheese, Tomato, Beef, Wheat

"What's this...some kind of goulash?" I have to give my husband credit, he'll try anything. One night, I was craving an easy old-fashioned mac n' cheese skillet dinner like my family used to have when I was a kid. Remember "Hamburger Helper"? Since I gave up packaged dinners I haven't had anything like this in a while. There are lots of skillet dinner recipes out there, but most of them with tomatoes. I made up a recipe on my own - no cheese, beef, tomatoes, or wheat.

1 onion, chopped
1 lb ground buffalo (probably venison or any game would work too)
1 carrot, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
1 pkg frozen baby lima beans
2 cups of cooked winter squash (you can make this ahead of time and freeze it)
dried onion, parsley, salt & pepper to taste
brown rice spiral pasta, cooked

Brown onion with the ground meat in a large skillet. Add the carrot and zucchini, cover and cook about 10 min on medium heat, or until soft. Add lima beans, squash, and spices (you may need more water if it seems too dry) and cook covered for another 7-8 minutes. Stir in the brown rice pasta and serve.

If you can tolerate cheese, it's good with a little shredded cheese sprinkled on at the end - I used cheddar, but you could use grated Parmesan too. Otherwise, my husband adds sea salt to make up for the saltiness of cheese.

First Birthday Cake

For my son's first birthday, I had to consider what kind of cake to make for him. I made one of the boxed cake mixes for my daughter's first birthday...and now I regret not baking one from scratch (even if I was going to use milk, eggs, butter, and sugar...at least it would be fresh and not contain aluminum baking powder).

I decided to make a cake our whole family could enjoy...the Orange Layer Cake from The Whole Foods Allergy Cookbook. I was still concerned about my one-year-old eating honey, but figured that for as little cake as he would eat he would be alright. He's further behind his sister at eating, as he is still breastfed and we haven't pushed too much food at him given the allergies that run in the family. Although honey is still sugar, it has to be better for you than refined sugar.

This was a vegan cake...no eggs, butter, milk, wheat, refined sugar. And, I use aluminum-free baking powder in all my baking. I juiced the oranges for the fresh orange juice, and ran the peels through the juicer to get them all ground up for the zest it calls for in the recipe.

The cake itself consists generally of oat/brown rice flour, safflower oil, honey, vanilla, Ener-G-Egg Replacer (a great egg substitute), unsweetened applesauce, orange juice and orange zest. The frosting is a neat little creation using vegetable shortening, honey (and I used 1/2 the honey it called for and 1/2 brown rice syrup so it wouldn't be so sweet), vanilla, rice milk, "Better Than Milk" Vanilla Rice Powder (I found this on Amazon.com - it's like powdered sugar only better), and the zest of an orange. It was pretty hot that day and so the frosting is a little gooey and runny, but I guess that's part of the fun!