Coconut Flour Waffles

My kids love waffles.  They are easy and delicious.  Going gluten free, I wondered how I would make them.  I looked at tons of recipes and to be honest, I don't want to be cooking with lots of different starches and flour of this and that.  I want simple.  Many gluten free recipes call for a ton of ingredients and aren't very nutritious due to all the starch and type of flours used.

I saw a coconut flour recipe before but lost it so I googled and found one here.  It certainly looks really good so I gave it a try.  It was spectacular!  It rose to fluffy proportions, it got slightly crispy on the outside and best of all, the kids loved them!  Ding ding, we have a winner!  Best of all, it has lots of eggs, which are sometimes hard to get into the kids.  I want them to have more fat and protein since they are always hungry and those two things help with that.

So here is my take on the recipe:

Coconut Flour Waffles

4 tablespoons melted butter 

6 eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2tbsp vanilla (I love vanilla!)

1/3 cup maple sugar or honey

1/3 cup coconut flour plus a tablespoon or two to thicken if too runny

Blend these ingredients well.  I used beaters but a blender would work well too.  Let sit for 5 or so minutes while your waffle iron is heating up to help thicken.  If it is still runny (mine was), add another tablespoon or two of coconut flour.  Cook on the waffle iron until risen and cooked to desired texture.  Serve and enjoy!  Makes 6 square waffles.  Note, I do not have a picture since they got gobbled up so fast, but they looked like normal waffles.  Also, this could be low carb with the subtraction of the sweetener.  Yum!

I am going to try a chocolate version.  I read how some people replace 1/2 cup of flour with cocoa powder in their waffle recipes but since you don't use much coconut flour, I will probably just add a couple of tablespoons, maybe instead of the extra coconut flour.  It is meant to be like a brownie.  Sounds yummy!

Low Carb Gluten Free Bread (banana bread version too!)

I debated about putting both these recipes here since I rarely post recipes but why not.  I am too excited not to share.  Anyone who low carbs know how hard it is to get a good bread, especially those not filled with fakey things.  I like my food real, thank you!


There are good recipes out there to be sure but many are filled with things I am trying to avoid.  Vital wheat gluten comes to mind.  A variety of low carb mixes with things I can't pronounce nor get without an expensive order over the internet.  Why can't there be a recipe with ingredients I can get at the store?  Is that so hard?

Apparently not because here we have an easy bread recipe that is low carb, gluten free and has simple healthy ingredients I can get at the local health food store, grocery and/or bulk food store.  Bread!  See:

Slices of nice warm bread, very good with butter.  Not only that, I was able to adapt it to make banana bread for the kids.  That isn't so pretty in pictures but sometimes very ugly things are very, very good.  This isn't as low carb but low enough that I feel comfortable eating it (just so you know, there were 6 muffins when I made them and I am home along. Just saying).

So where did I find this great recipe?  Well, I was cruising blogs having to do with paleo and primal blueprint diets and recipes and came across one called "Primal Journey" where she had a recipe for Grain Free Bread. She got it from a blog called "Joyful Abode " (found here) and now I'm sharing it :).  Recipes sure can travel around the internet and I'm sure its been seen in other places too.

Low Carb, Gluten Free Bread

• 1 cup coconut flour, sifted
• 1 cup flax seeds, ground and sifted 
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 11 eggs 
• 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1/3 cup plain full-fat yogurt
• 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.  Mix together dry ingredients.  In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, coconut oil, yogurt, and vinegar.  Pour  the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in small amounts to incorporate well, mixing after each addition.  Let sit for about 10 minutes to allow the coconut flour to soak up the wet ingredients.  Turn into a greased loaf pan or a silicone pan.  I used a silicone bundt pan for the bread.   Bake until a toothpick comes clean (this depends on what kind of pan you are using.  It took about an hour and a half for mine to come out)  Cool 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a plate, wire rack or a cutting board. Allow to cool completely before slicing.

For the banana bread, the biggest difference is I used one less egg and I added 5 mashed very ripe bananas, 1 tbsp vanilla and 1/3 cup of honey to the wet ingredients.  I also used 1/2 cup of lard left over from when I recently made donuts instead of the coconut oil since I'm being frugal with it (the fat still had a donut flavor and scent to it).


It could of used more sweetening and possible more bananas if you like a strong banana taste.  I found even with 5, the banana taste didn't carry as well as I had expected.  With the chocolate chips, it was delicious!   I will probably only make them as muffins for the kids from now on.  Oh and I baked this in a silicone loaf pan and used a silicone muffin pan.  I love silicone as you do not have to grease it and things pop right out.


I really recommend giving these recipes a try.  I look forward to seeing how my kids like them since I can put them in their lunches.  So many low carb recipes call for nuts as a base and their school is rigidly nut free.  


Part of Kelly The Kitchen Kop's Real Food Wednesday!

Cauliflower Pizza

This has generated a lot of interest on Facebook, where I mentioned in a few places that I got the kids to try it and they liked it (well, Shaylee really liked it, Ethan said he could taste the cauliflower but that is probably only because he knew it was in there).  Mark thought it was way better than the traditional crust pizza I also made.  I admit I snuck a bite to compare and he was right.  The flour (well, whole wheat and spelt) crust was bland and it was the pizza Shaylee put together so there wasn't much sauce on it, so it was kind of dry.

I used to make this before when I was low carbing.  I heard there is a similar recipe on the Dr. Oz site but it has little cheese and it is a low fat one at that.  You need fat, baby!    Cleochatra from  Low Carb Friends was the one who first came up with the recipe and shared it with the world.  It caught on like wildfire because it was good, gluten free, it was the perfect neutral base for pizza, it was very low in carbs (suitable for induction for those on Atkins) and what isn't there to love about a good tasting pizza that has a vegetable for its base!  If you get the excess moisture out of the cauliflower, you will be able to pick it up and eat it like pizza (sometimes even if you don't).

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

• 1 cup cooked, mashed cauliflower (make sure it isn't too watery; it doesn't have to be packed down)
• 1 egg
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
• italian spice to taste (I usually don't bother)

Mix well and pat into a pizza pan.  I usually cover with parchment paper to make for easier removal otherwise you should grease the pan.  It will cover a 12 inch pan  just pat it down well and make sure it is thin and even.  

Bake at 450 degrees for about 12 to 15 minutes or until it is golden brown.  

Take it out of the oven, cover in sauce and top how you like (meat, veggies, cheese, ect... make sure there is nothing that needs cooking, like meat as it is not in there long enough to cook the second time around).  Put it back in the oven under the broiler until the cheese is melted.  

Remove, let sit about 5 minutes, slice and eat!!  Yum yum!  It's even good cold, as I am experiencing right now.  

I also made garlic fingers but they weren't as good.  I just put some garlicy butter and cheese on top before the second bake.  I used granules so real garlic would of been better as would the addition of bacon!

This would make a very good freezer meal.  I used to make the crusts and freeze them so they would be ready to top when I wanted pizza.  Cauliflower is only $1.99 this week at Sobeys so I bought three mainly for this reason.  I may have to buy more!  I plan to cook it and freeze in one cup portions as it is also good for other recipes, as I will soon share :)

Promised Recipes

Here I promised recipes last week and I didn't come though.  Well, today I will finally post a couple since I am feeling better and I want to do something other than clean the house and do the dishes I keep putting off, lol!

White Castle Hamburger Pie is one of my favorite recipes.  I found it on Linda Sue's website ages ago and it is a staple when I low carb.  I always add a lot more eggs to it and use real onion because I'm not too picky about vegetable carbs.  Here is my version:

White Castle Hamburger Pie

• 1 pound ground beef 
• 1 medium onion, grated (or you can use a seasoning packet or onion powder and dried onion flakes to taste)
• 6 eggs 
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise 
• 1/4 cup heavy cream or full fat yogurt
• 8 ounces cheddar cheese, grated 
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Brown the hamburger with about half  onion or seasonings and season to taste with salt and pepper. Add remaining onion, stir and place into a casserole dish (a deep dish pie plate works well or an 8x8 baking dish). Stir in half of the cheese, then top with the remaining cheese. Whisk the eggs, mayonnaise, cream and a dash of pepper well; pour evenly over the meat. Bake at 350º for 30-35 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.


The Cabbage (un)Roll casserole came about because I used to love cabbage rolls.  It was actually the meal I ate on our 10th anniversary at the Steak and Stein restaurant in Halifax.  When I was a child, one of my neighbors would often make it and I didn't know I wasn't supposed to like it (the stereotype that kids won't eat that kind of thing).  This is more of a flinging it all together thing as I wanted something without egg as the structure of the dish.  My only complaint is it didn't have a strong enough tomato taste and I wasn't sure how to season it.  So you can season it to taste and maybe add some tomato paste if you want a stronger tomato flavor.

The Cabbage (un)Roll Casserole 

• 1 lbs hamburger
• 0.5 lbs spicy italian sausage
• 1/2 head thinly sliced cabbage
• 1 cup grated raw cauliflower
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms (optional)
• 1 large can tomatoes
• seasonings to taste

Remove the sausage from the casing if applicable and brown with the hamburger until cooked through.  Add remaining ingredients and place in a baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until the cabbage and cauliflower is cooked through.

Very easy recipes.  They freeze well and are great for lunches.  I think we'll be having the cabbage casserole for lunch with some more tomatoes added and a salad on the side.  I love me some veggies lately!

The Big Cook

Ha, ha!  I just saw a double meaning in my post title.  The big cook had a big cooking spree on Monday.  I've been putting off writing about it because I have a ton of pictures to post and for some reason, I hate posting pictures.  I would love to be one of those people who could do step by step tutorials of everything, with lovely pictures. I do what I can.

So I spend most of the day on Monday cooking.  I prepped all my vegetables and browned meats while watching La Bamba on Netflix.  Then I baked, baked, baked.  It is a fun process where you are constantly making something.

Last Friday I made a turkey.  The first thing I did was strip the meat off and freeze the bones.  Then I cup up the veggies.  Next I sauteed the veggies with sausage for the turkey casseroles.  I put them together and baked while I browned the hamburger for the hamburger pies and cabbage casseroles.  I took out the hamburger for the pies and baked those with the meatloaf muffins while I sauteed the cabbage and other veggies for the casserole.  I assembled the muffins and they went in the oven with the cabbage casserole when the second batch of oven goodies came out.  When I had spare moments, I whipped up the ketchup, assembled the extracts and drained the soaked almonds.

I broke down and bought 5lbs of lean ground beef at the grocery store because it was on sale for $1.99/lbs and we are nearly out.  What a waste.  I doubt I even got 3lbs of meat out of it due to waste and shrinkage (they say its lean but there sure is a lot of fat in it!).  When I was able to present the evidence to Mark, I think he finally saw what I meant when ground beef from the farmer is a much better deal at $2.50 or even $3.00 a pound as there is no waste.  It is not injected with water and it is pretty much the same volume when done, not to mention it tastes so much better and is way healthier, better for the planet and local economy too!

I forgot to mention in my previous post that I also finally made my extracts.  I don't know why I put it off.  It was so easy.

So without further ado, here's the fruit of my labour:

Here is a wide view of everything I made.  Lots of delicious, yummy low carb food for the freezer and immediate use.  Don't mind my messy kitchen as I had so much stuff on the go (as you can see).  To the left are the cabbage (un)roll casseroles.  Then the white castle hamburger pies are in the front. In the large pan to the back of the fridge is the turkey and "stuffing".  The row next to it are my extracts, salmon muffins and tuna muffins and my soaked almonds.  Finally, the mushroom turkey and stuffing casserole and the meatloaf muffins.  The ketchup I made isn't in the picture.



This is a close up of the white castle hamburger pie.  I've probably mentioned it tons of times as it's my favorite low carb casserole.  So good!  Yes, I took a little bite in the corner.  Quality control, you know ;).  I made one pan this size and four small ones which are each about a serving size.

Too lazy to turn picture

Here is a close up of the cabbage (un)roll casserole. I will be posting the recipe soon as it was very good.  I would of liked a stronger tomato taste but that is easy to adjust.  These are the little baking dishes I mentioned in my previous post.  They remind me so much of the Le Creuset petite stoneware baking dishes that I had to buy them.  They were $2 each at the dollar store and are perfect for a single serving and heat up great in the toaster oven!

Search Amazon.com for le creuset petite stoneware

Soaked Almonds that I shelled myself

For these meatloaf muffins, I just filled the muffin cups with ground beef that I worked a bit.  These were level to the top when I baked and they shrunk a lot!  It is very easy to add extra ingredients.  I like them with spinach and feta cheese or you could put a piece of cheese in the middle or wrap in bacon.  Seasonings add endless variety.  I was going for simple though :)

This is one of the turkey stuffing pies I made.  The only difference between the two is one has cauliflower and the other one doesn't.  See, not much difference.  They are very good and it was a good way to use up the leftover turkey I had on hand.

Again, too lazy to turn picture.  I'm too used to face book where you can just rotate pictures after you upload them.  Some day I will remember.  So the top half are salmon muffins, just using salmon instead of tuna in the recipe.  I decided to put some in large ramekin dishes which would be enough for a good sized meal, easily heated and add a veggie or salad.  The bottom ones are a half batch of tuna muffins.

These are my lovely extracts.  I have two vanilla, one lemon, one star anise and one waiting to be turned into orange.  I would like to make some mint but I think I will wait until it is fresher.  I have dried but I am not sure how it will turn out.  After 24 hours, the lemon and the anise smelled amazing!  You could barely smell the alcohol.  I especially love the anise one!  Yum :)

Sitting on the stove until I can find room in the cupboard

 I had a lot of fun doing all this cooking.  I love it because you can reuse pots and bowls and there aren't many dishes when you are done.  It is also good for saving energy as you can cook several things at a time and save time by doing everything in big batches.  What I love most about it is there is lots of food for me to eat when I don't feel like cooking something low carb for me.  It makes it easier to stay on plan.

I will be posting recipes for the new things soon.  I linked most to Linda Sue's site in my previous post but as always, I made some alterations.  That's the best part about cooking; it's pretty flexible!

Low Carb Biscuit? Bread? Bagel?

Curried Turkey Drummies and Biscuit

I'm not sure what to call it, lol!!

I came across this recipe on the low carb friends message board but it was called and everything bagel.  I love those things!  About 13 years ago, I used to go to the YMCA with one of my friends where we would exercise for an hour then swim.  Afterwards we would always go to Tim Hortons for a bagel with cream cheese, lol!  Everything is the kind I always got.  It kind of defeated the purpose of getting exercise stuffing my face after with those great big carby bagels but I used to find any excuse to get my treats.

I'm usually not a "get off the computer and try something right now" kind of person, but this time I made an exception.  Here is the original recipe then I will post what I did.  The original thread it came from can be found if you click the link in the recipe title:

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Flaxbread "Everything Bagels” Makes 6 bagels. 

Dry: Mix these together (I keep bags of the dry ingredients mixed up in the fridge so it’s easy to put together a batch.) 

½ cup ground flaxmeal (I prefer golden) 
¼ cup almond flour 
1 ½ tsp. baking powder 
1/2 tsp. dry ranch powder 
1/4 tsp. each garlic and onion powder
2 T. parmesan cheese (green can) 
a pinch of salt

Wet: Mix these together: 
2 eggs (I use jumbo) 
2 T. Chia gel, optional. (If not using, replace with more oil. To make gel, mix ¼ cup chia seeds with 2 cups warm water. Stir, then let sit until thick. Store in fridge to add to lots of things. This adds good omega 3s.) 
2 T. oil 
½ cup shredded cheddar
Preheat oven to 350. Add dry ingredients to wet, stirring to blend. Let sit for 5 minutes. Divide batter evenly into a greased or sprayed muffin top pan. 

“Everything” Topping:
(I don’t measure, but just sprinkle on a little bit of each of the following: 
dehydrated onion and garlic flakes, kosher or sea salt, poppy and sesame seeds.
Bake in muffin top pan at 350 for 12-14 minutes.

The basic bread is 1 carb per bun. I don't know if the toppings change the count or not. The sesame seeds are net 0, but I know the onion and garlic can add up, depending on how much you use.
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Ok, I'm back :).  I am in the process of cracking almonds as I want to see if it is more cost efficient to buy them in the shell so I used raw hulled sunflower seeds and the flax was whole (I keep it in the freezer).  I think you could use any nut or seed in this.  I didn't use the ranch mix.  I measured all the dry ingredients into a magic bullet cup and pulse blended until the flax and seeds were ground into a flour-like consistency.  I dumped it into a bowl and mixed in the wet ingredients, using an extra egg and yogurt instead of chia seed gel (which I plan to make when I can get my hands on some chia seeds).  I don't have a muffin top pan so I baked on a silicone baking sheet (wanted to try it out, great for not sticking!).  I also didn't add all the toppings, just topped with some dried onion since I love onion.  


These were delicious!  The onion and garlic taste wasn't strong enough in my opinion, so I would definitely add more, fresh would be better.  I am planning to try variations of it for different tastes.  I was tempted to make some to keep in the fridge or freezer but I know flax is best when just ground.


I had two for supper and have been drinking a lot of water as after I realized, that is a lot of fiber, lol!  I ate them warm slathered with butter, yum!  They are sturdy enough to use as a bun or as "bread" for a sandwich.  I am thinking egg salad, drool!


Now, in the picture I have the curried turkey drumsticks I made.  They didn't taste good to me so I tossed them after a couple of bites.  They were quite freezer burnt and they were just cheap grocery store freezer....stuff but I initially didn't want to waste them (they baked when I was making other things in the oven).  To make, I just put the drumsticks on a parchment paper covered baking sheet and sprinkle liberally with my curry blend powder and bake at 350-400 degrees.  Halfway through, I turn and coat the other side.  Bake until done, nice and crispy.


(note, I don't know why some of my posts get kind of funky halfway through.  I can't figure it out!)

Tuna Muffins

Well there.  I made a bunch of freezer meals which should feed me for quite a while.  I made tuna muffins, white castle hamburger pie, curried turkey wings and taco bake.  All low carb and made with real food ingredients.  I modified the recipes to use what I have on hand because I did not want to go to the grocery store.  I was a little dismayed to discover we do not have much ground beef on hand.  I think we mostly got stew meat from our quarter (which is getting used up).  I may have to call the farmer to see if I can get some more meat and I think we will definitely need to get a whole side next time!

 Since we ate tuna muffins for lunch, I am going to post that recipe first.  I will post the other recipes over the next few days.  This is a big batch and you could easily halve it.  I chose tuna because we have tons of cans of it on hand that need to get used up.  You could also use salmon, which I am sure would be very yummy!

Tuna muffins with sauerkraut and cabbage & mayo.

Tuna Muffins

• 4 cans water packed tuna, drained
• 6 oz grated cheese
• 6 large eggs
• 2 small onions, diced or grated
• old bay seasoning to taste
• sea salt and pepper to taste

Break up the tuna in a large bowl.  Add the remaining ingredients and mix until well combined.  Pour into muffin tins or silicone liners and bake at 350 degrees until golden brown and cooked through, about 30-40 minutes.  Makes 18.

Part of Kelly The Kitchen Kop's Special Low Carb/Gluten Free Real Food Wednesday!!

A Few Days Into It...

I unofficially started Saturday, as in I drudgingly got on the scale and started tracking what I was eating.  Sunday was our last family gathering of the Holidays and I stuffed my face with some not diet friendly food (MIL's skor bar triffle, yum!).  Monday I started lower carbing/gluten free eating again.  Today, I am down 11lbs from when I weighed myself Saturday.  I keep getting on the scale to make sure it's right.  It is!  So taking the junk and processed carbs and gluten out has practically caused me to start melting!  Whoo!   I know it was mostly water weight, as some will call it.  When I gain weight quickly, it is quick to come off at first, then it starts slowing down.  I am still 20lbs from my recent low but I will get there, healthily.  I am eating lots of good healthy fats, I am getting my veggies, I am eating often and I am eating until I am satisfied.  I do not let myself get hungry.  That is when the "bad" stuff starts to look good.  I am tracking on Spark People for accountability, as I believe I mentioned before.

Some things I am making an effort to do are include more probiotics.  I am eating half a cup of plain yogurt at least once a day.  I am also eating sauerkraut at least once a day as well as eating a little liverwurst.  Taking vitamin d3 is important as is cod liver oil and I think I may have to start taking a good multivitamin as I can see from tracking my food I am not getting all the things I need.   I don't like to rely on supplements but I do think they have their place (especially when you live in a dark dreary place and there is not a great variety of local foods in season).

Kelly the Kitchen Kop is asking for recipe ideas.  I have tons of low carb ones but can you believe I didn't blog much about them in my LC blog?  I think I will have to make something interesting for lunch, maybe one of my favorite low carb dishes.  I am going to be trying out a bunch of things to see how well they freeze so I can have quick easy meals.  I like to visit the message board at LowCarbFriends.com as I have been a long time member there and there are soooo many ideas!  They even have once a month cooking threads (OAMC).  You kind of have to sift through some of the recipes as many contain questionable ingredients and things I don't use, like splenda, but it is easy to either omit or use something else.

Another site I like for recipes is Linda Sue's low carb recipe site.  There are tons of great ideas there, many of which come from the afore mentioned message board where she is a very active member.

So I will be posting a recipe in a little while.  It is 9:30am right now so plenty of time to make some foods before lunch.  The kids are now back at school and all is quiet on the homefront.  I have cleaning to do but that is easy to do while cooking!

Meal Plan: Sunday Nov. 14th to Nov. 20th

Saturday I actually cleaned out my fridge, sat down and made a meal plan for the week.  I am trying to get some of this stuff eaten up.  I love shopping then I have all kinds of things I don't know how I'm going to use it up!

I didn't include breakfast as for me it's usually eggs.  This is also mainly for me.  The kids usually bring different things to school and Mark brings whatever for his work meals.  During the week I will be posting some of the recipes of the things I have eaten.  As you can tell, I am kind of gluten free/low carb/paleo kind of diet.  I'm trying to eat more veggies because it is hard for me, even though I love vegetables.  Also, everything is open to change if something isn't going to work.

Sunday
Lunch: sandwiches (whatever everyone wants.  I'll soak the flour tonight and bake in the morning), soup
Supper: Crockpot chicken, potatoes, corn, brussel sprouts

Monday
Lunch: fried collard greens (in bacon grease), onions and sausage
Supper: steak, rice (soaked rice for family, riced cauliflower for me) and carrots

Tuesday:
Lunch: cabbage fried in coconut oil, broccoli salad, leftover chicken
Supper: noodles for kids, mixed veggies, pork loin chops

Wednesday:
Lunch: Onion leek soup with coconut flour garlic cheese biscuits
Supper: Pizza (soaked flour for family, cauliflower crust for me)

Thursday:
Lunch: baked sweet potatoes, leftovers
Supper: Spaghetti and meatballs (I'll have spaghetti squash)

Friday:
Lunch: stew with coconut flour garlic cheese biscuits
Supper: hamburgers with fries and carrots

Saturday:
Lunch: an all dressed salad (big salad with meat or tuna and hard boiled eggs)
Supper: Taco Bake

Coconut flour & phytic acid | Phytic Acid: Tips for consumers from food science.

Link: Coconut flour & phytic acid

This is something that I have wondered about, does coconut flour need to be soaked? Is there phytic acid in it? Well, there appears to be a small amount and there isn't enough to be concerned about, which is of relief to me.

I am planning this week to go back to grain free/low-ish carb/gluten free/whatever. Eating healthy isn't good if I'm sneaking cookies every time I walk by them. Not healthy cookies but the Oreos and Fudgeos that we got for 99 cents a box. I notice I am not feeling as well as I should and there is a reason I am craving this junk. So tomorrow I am cutting it out. I don't know what to call it since I will still have technical grains but I will be avoiding flour based foods and if I need something, I will make it out of coconut flour. It's not really low carb as I'm not restricting starchy veggies and it's not entirely gluten free. I'm doing my own thing...traditionally! Nourishing my body. Healing.

So now that I know coconut flour is a good choice, I will have more options. Plus many recipes only call for a very small amount and lots of eggs, a good way to get those nourishing yummies in your tummy :).

I will still be soaking for the family and will NOT be buying any more junk. Mark brought the kids to a fun fair Saturday and they had candy and candy apples. Well, Ethan was literally bouncing off the wall, just totally unable to stop moving (he even said he didn't know why he couldn't stop). I know it's primarily because of the candy apple and all that red dye 40. It doesn't affect Shaylee the same way, thank goodness, but I know I should be more careful with both of them regardless as they are toxic! It really made me really sure about abolishing the artificial stuff in our diets, especially food colouring. But by golly, it sure is hard, especially around Halloween and with Christmas on the way!