Allergy Medical Bags

For this food allergy family, having a medical bag with us at all times is crucial. It may not have to be used that often, but it is there when we need it and gives a great sense of security to all of us, including our food allergy kiddo. There are many websites and companies that sale cute and really neat bags that are used for this. Some come in handy with how they are made which really announces that its a food allergy medical bag...which can help in an emergency. Below is some links to some of these items. For this family, our Allergy Medical Bag is a zipped lunch box with Diego on it. It is getting a little dated and I am sure our food allergy kiddo would like something more like Star Wars or Angry Birds, but it still serves it needs for safety. We have it with us at all times...or with him at all times. It goes to every sports practice, every school event, family event, family outing, and even our errands. We do this by having one that stays in the car, a school one, and then the "extra" one. When he was little, we kept one at the babysitters and all the grandparents home. Now that he is older, we just have one at the school, in the car, and the extra one to grab if he is going somewhere without our car. I highly recommend that you explore getting a food allergy medical bag together for your food allergy kiddo. It creates a great opportunity to discuss food allergies, the what ifs, the how to's, and the now what's!!!  In our bags we keep a bottle benadryl, 2 epi pen Jr's, s couple "safe snacks", band aides, moist wipes, extra food allergy medical bracelets, and an emergency card that list all food allergies and a plan of care if he is without his mommy and daddy. Very simple, but has been very helpful many times!

http://www.allergykidzware.com.au/collections/medicine-bags

http://www.labelyourstuff.com/products/allergy-alert-single-allergy-bag-tag

http://allergators.com/accessories.html

Share with your child's classroom!! Cute, Fun & Educational!!

Allergy Friendly Easter Treat Ideas

With Easter approaching..(one of many scary holidays for food allergy kiddos), I thought I would share some of our favorite treats that the Easter Bunny likes to leave at our home.

 

First, I do make most of the chocolate items in our baskets because its just so darn easy!  I have several molds such as bunnies, spring flowers, Easter eggs, etc. These are sold at places like Target and Walmart for a couple dollars or on Amazon.com for cheaper. I melt Enjoy Life name brand chocolate chips in the microwave for about 60 seconds, then stir, then repeat until completely melted. Then I pour them in the molds and refrigerate until solid. Then I wrap them in colored aluminum foil which I found online for about $3 a roll. This saves money, I know there is no contamination because I did it myself, and plus...they taste REALLY GOOD!

 

Additional allergy safe items we use are the following:

 

 

Other than that, we don't get a lot of candy from the Easter Bunny except for some plastic eggs with some skittles. sweet tarts, and maybe a pack of gum in them. However, the kiddos love their chocolate bunny and their huge fans of the Annie's products!

 

I always recommend that you make your food items for your kiddos, but as a busy mommy myself, I love that their are additional safe items out there to fall back on!  Hope everyone has a safe and fun Easter!

 

Easy, Allergy Friendly, Organic Waffles

This is such a great recipe for this food allergy household and especially on those busy weekends! I also use this recipe to make a big batch of pancakes and freeze them for the month. Just double the recipe and place 4 medium size pancakes in a small freezer locked bag and then I put all of those bags in a large freezer locked bag then freeze them. The night before a school day, I take one out and put it in the refrigerator and pop in microwave next morning for 30 seconds. It's one of those recipes that make you feel good as a mommy so it's great for school mornings!!

Today though, I used the animal waffle maker (bought it at target for $20). I still made a double batch and I froze them as well. The boys love these character ones though and they seem to like them plain as snacks too!

Recipe:

-2 cups of flour (i use organic whole wheat)
-1/4 of sugar (I used agave and because I used whole wheat I needed 1/4 of a cup to make them sweet enough)
-1 mashed organic banana
-1 teaspoon of baking powder
-2 tablespoons of Newman organic olive oil
-1 cup of milk (we used rice milk)
-Sprinkle of cinnamon
-Pinch of salt


Mix all together, use a little organic spray oil and its that easy!!

Best with some fresh berries and organic maple syrup! Enjoy!!

Allergy Testing

When we do our food allergy testing on our kiddo, we have always opted for doing both the blood test and the skin test. The picture below show what the skin tests results look like on our little man. The blood test just includes a small amount if blood taken from the arm and sent off for testing. We then compare the results because we have had both false negatives and false positives.

Since our little man has "grown out of " 4 of his previous good allergies, we have been told by our specialist that annual testing would be the best way to continue to explore if he has grown out of an allergy. We have just been doing this right before school starts...just an easy schedule to follow in this household.

If you ask my little man, even though he hates needles just like the next kid, he prefers the blood test I over the skin test. With the blood test, it's a quick "ouchie" prick in the arm. The skin test, on the other hand, consists of some safe allergen sample of the item you are testing for inserted slightly under the skin. This is usually on the arm or back. And, while its not painful at all, if the kiddo has an allergy to the item, it becomes extremely itchy and uncomfortable to the little one and it has to remain for some time. After the process is over its not a quick relief either. For us, he is washed off then given some benedryl, which takes time to relieve any itchy and uncomfortableness. It is most certainly a process that I would research and talk to other parents before deciding what type of testing to use with your little ones. Good luck!!

Allergy Free Valentines Day Cupcakes

This year, our little man wanted to take "his cupcakes" to give out to his teachers and school staff. He is always cooking in this house! He LOVES it. It's also a great way to teach your little ones about their food allergies and how to "work around them". We have many cupcake recipes that we use. I have posted several on this website that you can explore; however, it really just depends what we have in our kitchen cupboards!  So, here is the recipe we used..this time:

1 cup of flour of your choice (we just used regular self rising flour)

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1/4 cup of sugar

3 tablespoons of water

1/4 of veggie oil

1/2 cup of milk of your choice (we use rice and sometimes soy)

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1 large smashed banana

Mix all the wet ingredients in a large bowl. In another bowl sift and mix dry ingredients. Slow incorporate ingredients in large bowl and stir. Simple as that! 

Fill your cupcake pan with some Valentines Day cupcake wrappers and fill half way up with mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 22 minutes. Check with toothpick by sticking in middle cupcake to see if dry. If so, then they are completed.

Let cool and then add icing and decorations. We used Pillsbury vanilla icing, added one drop of red food coloring to make a sweet pink color, put in a sandwich bag and cut large hole in corner to get a thicker swirl look then sprinkled with red sugar sprinkles. They were delicious!  enjoy!

Favorite Food Allergy Products

With this family now being in their almost 7th year of the food allergy train...we have come to have a good list of favorite food allergy products. The "tried and true" of the many items out there to assist with food allergies. From food products to safety products. Here is just a few of them and when I have more time...I will add some more! Enjoy!

These are your typical rubber bracelets. You can find these everywhere!  BUT, why we loves these much better than your typical medical alert bracelet is how durable they are, cheap, and bright. This type of bracelet has always been noticed right away on my son. It is amazing how many people don't recognize a medical bracelet, but for some reason...these are always seen. They also withstand the wash machine...this I know from personal experience based on the thousands of times I have washed my sons. They don't come off easily thought which is great! And, we have never paid more than a $1 for one of these. I bought a bulk package of 6 about 4 years ago and still have two in our junk drawer.

Pamela's cooking products are...in this family....a necessity!  We use these for a quick cupcake, birthday cake, Christmas baking, the brownies, the white cake mix and the chocolate cake mix. We always keep these on hand as well as our parents for baking..especially last minute party for out food allergy kiddo. They are easy, work really well with egg replacers and only need oil, and water with the egg replacer. Cheap, organic, quick, and just gives your little food allergy kiddo another chance to have what others are around them!

This egg replacer is used for all our baking needs. We love this product because it works amazing when baking, lasts FOREVER (still have same box I bought years ago!!) and while we do use some other egg replacers, when baking and when you need the outcome to have the same consistency as baking with eggs...you cant beat this! This is very simple to use as well.

Believe it or not...this is our favorite go to icing when we need a quick cupcake for a birthday party at school or friends house. I keep these around for a quick grab, but they are also allergy friends, cost less than a couple bucks and while we love making our own icing for this working mommy, always having options for something quick...this is our pick for icing...also the sprinkles work really well to dress up a quick cupcake as well!

For a quick lunch or snack for your hungry allergy kiddo...these are a family favorite. The fish sticks are our personal favorite, but we do use the chicken nuggets as well. They are allergy friendly, quick in the oven or microwave (we prefer oven for the crispy touch) and organic. They come in a small box and cost around $6 but there are a good amount in the box, but most of all...they taste great!

Okay...these are my son's FAVORITE!  He has one EVERY SINGLE morning for breakfast for the last couple years and they are usually his go to after school snack!  They are allergy friendly, organic, and delicious! They are best in the toaster and still good in microwave. We find them for about $3.50 a box and when they are on sale for around $2.99 we buy 6 boxes for the deep freezer. Favorite flavor, per our food allergy kiddo: Blueberry!

Last, but not least...our go to frozen pizza. There are many out there. You just need to try some to find your personal best, but for my allergy kiddo...this is his. Simple with just sauce and soy cheese. The sauce is really good and it bakes really quick. For an individual size, we pay around $6 a piece though. We find them on sale every so often and buy a bunch to justify cost.

These are some of our food allergy kiddos favorite and some family favorite's as well. As you continue on your food allergy journey, you will find that many of these products work really well in today's hectic world, but that you also have many options..especially these days to find your own favorites!

Easy, Allergy friendly, Holiday Treats...ENJOY!!!

Sweet Chocolate & Sugar Galore!

 20 full size graham crackers

1 cup of butter

1 cup of brown sugar

1 bag of Enjoy Life chocolate chips

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter and sugar in pan. Stir until soft boil. Cover cookie with aluminon foil and lay crackers until bottom covered. Pour melted butter and sugar over crackers and put in oven for about 15 minutes until butter and sugar is bubbly. Then take out and let rest on stove for about 5 minutes. Pour bag of chocolate chips on top and start to slowly spread over entire top of crackers until all covered. Place in refrigerator until frozen. Then just break into pieces and serve!

 

 Fake Peanut Butter Popcorn

1 Bag of popped popcorn

1 cup of Honey Soy Nut butter

1 cup of butter

1 cup of brown sugar

1 regular size bag of allergy friend M & M’s

Directions:
Melt butter and sugar in saucepan. Bring to gentle boil. Add fake peanut butter until soft boil. Mix until creamy. Pour over popcorn. Pour popcorn on baking sheet and put in over at 225 degrees. Stir every 15 minutes for about 45 minutes. Let cool..serve…yummy yummy!

My version of a Reese cup:

1 Cup of Agave

1 ½ Cup of Soy Honey Nut Butter

Allergy friendly Milk Chocolate Bars

Directions:
In a pan melt Soy nut butter and agave. Bring to a slight boil and mix until smooth. Pour into small muffin pan halfway up. Melt chocolate in saucepan until smooth then pour over soy nut butter. Refrigerate until completely cool. Then serve!

What are you Thankful for?

Thanksgiving can be a scary time for food allergy kiddos and their parents. We have been blessed in many ways with our food allergies thus far, but especially for Thanksgiving. We have families that work really hard to make not only this meal NUT FREE, but they also make most of the items egg free as well. You may wonder how this is done. Well, it’s pretty simple actually!  If you search the internet you will find many eggless recipes. If you do a simple search for any food recipe and add “eggless”, you will be given many recipes to make your food item without eggs. When the egg is a special item that is needed for your recipes, you can search the internet for “egg replacers” and you will be given many options. Last year at Thanksgiving, we were extremely thankful that my family provided a completely “Jonah Friendly” Thanksgiving meal. He was able to walk around the table and have anything on his plate that he wanted…that smile was priceless! This year, it was the same. No one ever really knows what this means to our son and our family. We are truly thankful that he is fully included in gatherings that go out of their way to put aside their wants and add in the family needs…and that is what I am Thankful for this year!

If you are a family member of a food allergy kiddo, some easy suggestions for your holiday cooking is to explore your options with your recipes. Find out what food allergies you may be dealing with during the family gatherings, make a list of items to look for “replacers” and be creative with your recipes!  We often use applesauce, bananas, cornstarch, Enger G egg replacer, apple cider vinegar, or yogurts for egg replacers in our cooking and for recipes that call for peanut butter (cookies, treats, chocolates, fudge, etc) you can use soy nut honey butter. I have included some easy treat recipes below to show how we use “replacers” in our family. Don’t feel as though you have to do without, but instead find a way to keep your holiday recipe traditions with a little twist!  Happy Thanksgiving!!

 Pumpkin Pie (Eggless)

2 c. pumpkin (16 oz. can)
2 c. milk
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3 tbsp. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. lemon extract
Pinch of salt

Add salt, cinnamon and cornstarch to pumpkin. Stir and add sugar, then milk. Bake in unbaked pie shell and serve with whipped cream. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes. Lower to 350 degrees for 1 hour. Optional: Omit 1 cup of milk and the brown sugar and replace with 1 can of Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk.

Easy Eggless Cupcakes/Cake Recipe

1-1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup cold water
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. vinegar

Preheat oven to 375°F.Spray a small baking pan (8x12) with vegetable spray or Baker's Joy. Combine dry ingredients directly in the pan. Mix all the wet ingredients in a small bowl, combine remaining ingredients leaving out the vinegar until the final step. Combine wet and dry ingredients, stirring together in pan until well combined. Stir in the vinegar rapidly and immediately place pan into preheated oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Optional: You can stir in 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips just before baking to make a richer cake with melted chocolate bits or swirls.

My Quick and Favorite Allergy Friendly Recipes!

Eggless/Dairy Free Delicious Ranch Dressing

1/2 tsp of Olive Oil
1/2 cup of Veganaise

½ cup of Soy Milk

1 teaspoon minced garlic

2 teaspoons chopped fresh tarragon

2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil

2 teaspoons chopped fresh cilantro

salt and ground black pepper to taste

**I put in mason jar, shake and serve with chicken nuggets or on a salad. I also use for lunch box snacks to dip veggies in. Stays good in the refrigerator (if it lasts) for about 8-10 days.

Jonah’s Favorite Applesauce Pancakes

½ cup of applesauce

1 ½ cup of Bisquick

½ cup of Soy Milk

**I use organic olive oil spray for pan and bake 3 batches of these, serve one, and wrap 2 each in plastic bag until all in Ziplocs, then put them all in one large freezer bag and use them for quick healthy breakfast for little men before school.

My Favorite and Easiest Cupcake Recipe

3/4 cup vegetable oil

2 cup water, at room temperature

2 tbsp. vinegar

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

3 cup flour

2 cups of sugar (email me if you want agave recipe)

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking soda

6 tbsp. cocoa

**Sift dry ingredients together, mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients, fill cupcake papers half way and bake at 350 degrees until toothpick comes out dry. About 20-25 minutes. I make triple batches and take to school to keep frozen there as well as grandmas and in our deep freezer. For icing, we just use Pillsbury Vanilla.

**For any cake or baked good, I have yet to find one that I cannot replace the milk with Soy or Rice Milk, use either egg replacer or see my other posts on the many egg replacers for baking, and for butter, I always use Earth Balance Buttery Spread and it never fails me!

This is what they look like before decorate and make them pretty!  Simple and perfect for any type of icing decorations!