The Allergic Kid

Weekend Linkfest

2009-12-05T10:00:00.003-05:00

Found trawling the world wide interwebs:

The lovely folks at Enjoy Life have started a blog. Go say hello.

FAAN's website got a facelift, and the sexy new look is very user friendly. I especially like the "Find a Support Group Near You" feature. Don't forget to check out the Holiday Auction. (Anyone want to go in with me to bid on the dinner for four at Ming Tsai's restaurant Blue Ginger?)

Allerglobal is a new company offering use of a free translation service, which creates passport sized cards listing the holders food allergies in 27 different languages. The Beta version looks excellent if you are heading to Europe, and I'm sure it will improve as other foods and languages are added. (I'm far less enthusiastic about the "free toolbar" the site also offers.)

Aimee of Sugared Ellipses is giving away a set of Penzeys Spices. You can almost smell them through the photos.

Cooking Tip of the Day is giving away a Vacu Vin Garlic Press.

You may or may not have heard about the Vanish Project, a digital game of hide and seek in which Wired writer Evan Ratliff's attempted to create a new identity. Ratliff lost the 30 day challenge in part due to his celiac disease when he was busted on day 25 ordering gluten free at Naked Pizza in New Orleans.

Have a great weekend!

Sushi

2009-11-18T22:30:00.011-05:00

The November 2009 Daring Cooks challenge was brought to you by Audax of Audax Artifex and Rose of The Bite Me Kitchen. They chose sushi as the challenge.

Back in the day before we even kissed, let alone married and reproduced, my husband and I were the best of friends. If there was a foreign film to be watched or sushi to be eaten, we were off like a shot, leaving the rest of our group to mutter about raw fish and ask "When are you two finally going to start dating?" We referred to ourselves as "sushi buddies" and spent entire weekends watching the Colors Trilogy or playing at DisneyQuest.

Now we work opposite schedules and usually communicate via text message. Our child is our new shared passion, and we have the desperate need for a nap most in common. Even if we had a regular sitter we trusted or the desire to take a six year old to a sushi bar, a tight budget and The Kid's food allergies make going out for sushi impractical at best.

This November my husband had one of those birthdays with a zero at the end. When I saw that the Daring Cooks challenge for this month was sushi, I was ecstatic. We've talked about trying to make sushi at home, even going so far as to buy sheets of nori and a bamboo rolling mat, but our homemade sushi never quite got organized. This time, though, this time it was meant to be.

On the big day I rounded up my supplies and started nice and early to prepare for the birthday dinner. I followed the directions for making sticky rice to the letter. Spent hours steaming and fanning, vinegaring and massaging it.

The ungrateful grains turned out crunchy.

I didn't have enough short grain rice to start over, so I added water, gave it some more soaking time, and cooked it a bit more.

After considerable fussing, fixing, and fuming, I tasted the rice again. Then I ordered pizza.

Several days later with both the post date and my husband's birthday well past I looked over a fridge still full of sushi ingredients and gave the rice another shot. After repeatedly googling "sushi rice" and cruising around the internets, I changed the procedure by bringing the water to a boil before adding the rice and allowing it to cook for a few minutes at a full boil before reducing the temperature. It did the trick and the rice was simply splendid.

Since I'm not comfortable either preparing raw fish or serving it to my child, the fillings I chose were smoked salmon, avocado, steamed asparagus, cucumber, carrot, and mango. Grilled eel is one of my favorites, so I also bought some smoked whitefish, which I skinned and deboned, then gently warmed in some homemade teriyake sauce. Visually the pieces did not resemble the shape of the eel, but the flavor was deliciously indistinguishable to my uneducated Western palate.

Despite construction problems with several of the rolls, everything tasted incredible. My mat was too short to make a full sized spiral roll, so it was the worst casualty of my technique, but now that I've actually tried rolling sushi on my own, I can't wait to make it again.

Many thanks to Audax and Rose for a wonderful challenge! Be sure to check out all the amazing sushi made by the Daring Cooks this month.

Confessions of a Food Allergy Mom #10

2009-11-13T07:00:00.001-05:00

It irritates me no end that I still have the urge to use Mommy Spit, the Universal Cleanser, on a Kleenex to wipe my child's face, as my mom did to me. My mental review of my diet for potential allergens in the previous few hours stops me long enough to realize...ew. Sorry, Mom, it's still disgusting.

Food Allergy Recipe Swap

2009-11-12T10:40:00.007-05:00

Be sure to check out the food allergy and special diet Recipe Swap at Life as Mom. I'm submitting my old standby Basil and Marinated Artichoke Pesto, which is good on everything from pasta and pizza to sandwiches. I think I need to make another batch!

Halloween Lunchbox

2009-11-03T07:00:00.002-05:00

The Kid's wanted nothing but Sunbutter and banana sandwiches lately, so I was thrilled to make a happy haunted lunch from all these great Halloween ideas I've filed away. To make the mummy, I saved a little dough from a batch of biscuits, rolled it into a "snake," wrapped up a turkey dog then baked it for 10 minutes at 350F the night before. The next morning, I added these ingenious edible googly eyes that I've been dying to try ever since I first saw them at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories over a year ago. (I found gelatin free vegan capsules at my local health food store.)

The jack o'lantern is a carved tangerine with black grapes stuffed inside. Rounding things out (visually if not nutritionally) are a skeleton cookie and graham cracker Bug Bites, each one handcrafted with love by the Keebler elves. Alongside are the usual juice/water mixture and some highly reflective monster stickers.

I'm sending this wicked good lunch to Coffee & Vanilla for Margot's lovely Wholesome Lunchbox event. Don't miss her round up on the 15th of each month!

Gingerbread Skeleton Cookies

2009-10-28T22:38:00.004-04:00

Oh, I've been such a slacker blogger! The last month has been scary, and not in a good Halloween way. We've been fighting the homeowner blues, replacing both our dishwasher and a toilet, while discovering a few tricks the original contractor left behind. The Kid made it through an egg yolk challenge in preparation for the flu and H1N1 vaccines, but my post on that has been languishing in my drafts file while our computer recuperated from a bad video card in the shop.

To top it off I have almost 500 unread emails, while my Google Reader simply imploded once it reached 1000 posts. I am especially remiss in not thanking both Mel for passing on her Splash Award to me and to Marie for gifting me with the especially appropriate Lemonade Award. There's been no shortage of lemons around here. I'll try to catch up to the comments and emails as soon as I can!

I'm also late on the bandwagon with these clever skeleton cookies that made the rounds on the interwebs last Halloween. They were too adorable to resist, but you may decide that they are a trick rather than a treat, since my gingerbread recipe is just...fussy. I love the results that I get with it, nicely spicy and chewy instead of crisp, but perfectly soft gingerbread doesn't form easily. Continue baking at your own peril! (Or use another gingerbread recipe, instead.)

Dry Ingredients:
3 C AP flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients:
1/2 C nondairy margarine, i.e., Earth Balance, softened
1/2 C packed brown sugar
3/4 C molasses
2 Tbs orange juice

Sift dry ingredients together and set aside. Cream margarine in mixer, then add brown sugar and beat together until light and fluffy. Reduce speed, then mix in molasses and orange juice. Slowly add dry ingredients and mix until combined. Wrap dough in plastic and chill in refrigerator at least two hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350F. Cut parchment paper to fit cookie sheets. You will need 3 or 4 pieces of parchment paper if using standard half sheet pans. If you have rings that you can slip on the end of your rolling pin, break out the 1/4 inchers now. If you don't, well, the holidays are coming, and you'll be hinting for a set by the time these cookies are done! (They work best with a long wooden French rolling pin, and I suggest buying the pin and spacers as a set to make sure they fit together.)

Lightly flour one of your pre-cut pieces of parchment paper, and plop about a third of the chilled dough onto the parchment. (Leave the remaining dough in the fridge.) Pat the chunka dough down with floured hands, then roll it out to 1/4" thickness. Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes at least 1/2" apart, being sure to leave the cookies in place on the parchment. Carefully remove extra dough from around the cookies and reserve it, then gently slide the parchment paper onto the pan. (Usually I just cover my entire gingerbread cookie with a thin glaze, but since these were "for show" I brushed the excess flour from the cookies with a pastry brush before putting them in the oven.) Bake for 10 minutes.

Grab another dough hunk from the fridge and knead it together with the leftovers from your first sheet so that the extra flour is completely mixed in, then repeat the entire process until you run out of dough. Allow cookies to cool completely before decorating.

Lemon Decorating Icing:
1 C powdered sugar, sifted (I'm serious about sifting it!)
2-4 Tbs lemon juice

Sift powdered (confectioners) sugar into a bowl, then stir 2 Tbs of lemon juice in with a fork or small whisk. Continue adding lemon juice by teaspoons until desired consistency is reached. Keep in mind that the icing needs to be firm enough to pipe fine details, but thin enough to squeeze from an icing bag without causing your hand to cramp and spasm. Adjust by adding additional juice or sugar. (It took me a couple of tries. The teddy bears are an example of too thin icing, while the really cute skeletons at the top were hard to squeeze out.) Again, if you've got a white icing recipe or safe commercial frosting that pipes well for you, go for it. I really like the lemon flavor with the gingerbread, but this recipe is also on the fussy side.

Unless you're making supersize cookies (not a bad idea!) use the finest piping tip you have to decorate them. I used my No 2. Make sure they dry completely before wrapping or stacking. These little guys were extra effort, but they are a huge hit with The Kid and make fantastic gifts.

Mini Meatball and Fruit Kebab Lunchbox

2009-10-05T07:00:00.006-04:00

This may be The Kid's favorite lunch yet! After watching Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, The Kid was thrilled to help me make spaghetti and meatballs and I finally had a chance to use the bone shaped food picks I've had squirreled away since last year. They're so cute I may end up making meatballs regularly just to have leftovers for lunches!

Everything tastes better on a stick, so I made some lovely fresh fruit into kebabs. Of course, giving my child a pointy skewer isn't the best of ideas, so I cut colored straws to length, then poked holes in the grapes with a chopstick and slid the grapes onto them with watermelon and pineapple, which didn't require pre-drilling. (Just squeeze the straw towards the end like a tube of toothpaste to remove the fruit that ends up inside.)

To round out the meal I packed a corn muffin smeared with honey. (Note to self, next time make mini muffins, which will pack better.) On the side are juice and a Barosaurus sticker. I'm sharing this lunch awesomeness with Margot of Coffee & Vanilla for her not to be missed monthly Wholesome Lunchbox event on the 15th of each month.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

2009-09-30T21:35:00.004-04:00

The new movie Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs features a character with a plot pivotal peanut allergy, which has created a veritable blogstorm about Sam Sparks, the anaphylactic weather girl. [Spoiler alert!]

Most of the unhappiness is focused on the movie's cartoon depiction of an allergic reaction. Sam is thwarted by a gauntlet of pointy peanut brittle from accompanying Flint Lockwood in a quest to turn off his planet endangering invention. As Sam lowers Flint with a licorice rope toward the climatic confrontation with his machine gone amok, she receives a cut on her arm from the peanut brittle, causing the left side of her body and her entire face to blow up like a balloon. Initially she doesn't want to leave Flint, but he plummets away after gnawing through the licorice, and she is whisked back to their flying car by another character, where Manny, the camaraman/physician/pilot is waiting with a dose of epinephrine. He injects her leg, she gasps and sits up, then flies away unscathed.

Some of the concerns are due alternately to the scariness or humorousness of the allergic reaction. Others are to Sam's inexplicable failure to carry her EpiPen with her and her reluctance to leave Flint to seek treatment. Some moms are worried that kids who watch the movie will want to see an allergic reaction for themselves, and attempt to cause one in a peanut allergic child, which is a truly terrifying thought. Food allergies are serious, and tend to take up a huge amount of brain space for those of us who live with them. In the case of this movie, though, it might be worthwhile to step back and take a look at the bigger picture.

Sam's peanut allergy ties into two of the movie's themes: the problematic relationship of consumers to food and the destructiveness of denying one's true nature. The impetus for Flint Lockwood to create his machine, which converts water to food, is the closure of their island's only industry, a sardine cannery. With the movie's typical light touch, the residents of Swallow Falls do not go hungry, rather they are forced to eat sardines, which are "super gross." The success of Flint's machine and his accidental creation of "food weather" allows Swallow Falls, renamed Chew and Swallow, to indulge in a smorgasbord of excesses.

Food lying on the ground is whisked away by another of Flint's inventions, the "Out of Sight, Out of Mind-er," which flings the remains to Mt. Leftover, the humongous pile of food behind a virtually unbreakable damn. Unfettered access to candy has some predictable results on the town's children and the gluttonous mayor with his creed of "bigger is better" eats himself to his own destruction. In this context, Sam's anaphylactic reaction is another example of food as a danger to the consumer.

Sam and Flint share a common trait in their feeling of being outsiders due to unusual interests. Flint copes by isolating himself in his lab with his monkey Steve (voiced by Neil Patrick Harris) while Sam has chosen to play dumb as a perky intern by hiding her interest in hard science. Shortly after meeting, Flint feigns a peanut allergy to impress Sam, as both characters attempt to impress each other by pretending to be different from their actual selves, who are in fact ideal for each other.

Flint's willful blindness to the machine's dangers in his desire to be a hero to his community and Sam's struggle to continue on in their attempt to stop the oncoming food storm despite her reaction to the peanut brittle are both doomed to failure. Only when the two characters accept both their strengths and their weaknesses do they succeed. Sam gives voice to her inner scientist to warn of the impending danger and uses her meteorological expertise to navigate the flying car through the storm. Flint embraces his inventory of wacky inventions to find the tools he needs to turn off the machine and return safely to earth. In a fantastic world of flying cars and food from the sky, Sam's peanut allergy serves as a surprising reality check.

After the movie was over I was impressed by the food for thought included in a cartoon which held my six year old spellbound. During the movie itself, I was continually distracted by the damage potential to my highly allergic child of the food falling from the sky. Cheeseburgers? Beef and milk. Drifts of ice cream? More milk. The morning forecast for sunny side up? Eggs. Shrimp larger than a cartoon character's head? Shellfish. That's some serious prawnage!

So what did The Kid think of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs? "I liked it a lot." What was his favorite part of the movie? "When Steve [the monkey] was chasing the gummi bears around." Was it scary when Sam had an allergic reaction to the peanut brittle? "Don't be silly! It's a movie, so it's make believe, not for real! Can we have meatballs for dinner? I want to help!" Absolutely.

Sunbutter Roll Up Lunchbox

2009-09-28T07:00:00.003-04:00

Lately The Kid's been a little distracted at lunchtime. The good news is that one of his new friends has been making a point to bring Kid friendly lunches of his own, so that they can sit together. The less good news is that The Kid would rather talk and play with his friend than eat. (And can I mention how I teared up when his friend's mom told me how her son reminds her every morning not to pack peanut butter? For every inconsiderate boob who thinks that eating peanuts on airplanes is an inalienable right, there's someone else who surprises me with an unexpected kindness.)

The upshot is that I've been working even harder to make lunch appealing and easy to eat. This one has Sunbutter and my mom's homemade chokecherry jelly pinwheels, a mini banana with slices at the top to make it easier to peel, red grapes, and two Enjoy Life Happy Apple Cookies from the Best Gift Basket Ever. On the side are juice and a sticker with different kinds of dromedaries. I just hope that he doesn't get sidetracked by the one hump camel and the two hump camel. That could lead to an awkward lunch discussion!

Labor Day Leftovers Lunchbox

2009-09-22T10:59:00.002-04:00

Here's a late look at this alliterative lunch from last week. It contains a turkey burger on a homemade bun, corn on the cob cut into wheels and watermelon chunks with a food pick. On the side are the usual juice/water mix and a couple of marine mammal stickers.

The Kid helped make the buns, which led to the happy accident of several non standard sizes and shapes, one of which was a perfect match for the lunchbox. I made a small sized patty to go with it, and my proud little baker was able to eat his creation at school.

Here We Go Again

2009-09-16T22:22:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was picture day at The Kid's school. So in the morning I coerced him into a Hawaiian shirt (Mommy's twisted photographic tradition), wet down his hair, attacked it with a brush, then put a little of my Molding Souffle on for good measure. I should have known better.

Shortly after recess, I got The Call from the school nurse. As the kids were coming in from outside, the teacher noticed that my child's face had broken out in welt like hives. She sent him to the nurse, who dosed him up with Benadryl, then gave me a call. I haven't done a break down of the ingredients yet this time, but I'm pretty sure that The Kid started sweating out on the playground, which gave the mousse a chance to start a contact reaction on his skin.

I've been kicking myself pretty hard for screwing this up, but I'm trying to use the incident as an opportunity to fine tune both the school's food allergy plan and The Kid's understanding of his food allergies.

The good news:

The teacher noticed the hives immediately and took action.
The day I spent camped out at the county school board offices until my child was transferred to the only nearby elementary with a full time nurse just paid off in spades.

The not so good news:

The teacher sent The Kid to the nurse's office accompanied by another student. If the reaction had worsened or his breathing had been impaired on the way there, there was not an adult present.
The Kid felt the hives, but continued playing rather than alerting an adult. I've realized that almost all the talking and planning I've done with him has been geared toward preventing a reaction, rather than how he should handle it. This is becoming more his responsibility as he gets older.

Deep breaths and constructive thoughts. That's my mantra right now. Just deal with one thing at a time, and maybe, just maybe, I'll run out of things to deal with for a few minutes. Food allergies never take a day off, and I just have that sinking feeling, here we go again...

Update: I just spoke to the school nurse, and she was standing outside the office watching The Kid walk from his classroom to see her. What he told me was correct, but incomplete. That's a relief, and my faith in the school nurse has been justified again.

First Day of First Grade Lunchbox

2009-08-25T09:30:00.003-04:00

The Kid and his EpiPens are both at their first day of school. The school nurse and the staff are really very experienced at managing food allergies, but I've still got a twinge leaving him on the first day. We've been chatting with the nurse and The Kid's new teacher about making sure he doesn't get isolated at his designated end of the lunch table, since he doesn't have his friend with milk allergies to sit with him this year. I'm trying to get a "no splash zone" where the kids immediately adjacent and across from him don't have milk or peanut butter with them. The Kid is very good about staying away from other people's food, so I'm mostly concerned with the potential for accidents, as well as the evil substance's sticky properties.

Today's lunch is a little fancier than usual, since the bed of lettuce is strictly decorative. It's cradling two octodogs made from a turkey dog and some leftover ginger candied carrots with a food pick. Alongside are pretzels, seedless black grapes, a small package of gummy dinos, and an allosaurus sticker. I've switched to an 8 ounce reusable juice box for his apple juice/water mixture, since the larger bottle usually came back half full and this one packs better.

Sending a lunch to school means it's time again to head over again to Coffee & Vanilla for Margot's lovely Wholesome Lunchbox event. Don't miss all the adorable bentos and creative lunches she has on display on the 15th of each month!

Volcano Cake

2009-08-23T23:25:00.004-04:00

Dinosaur island erupted just in time for a party! I ran into more problems than usual while baking this birthday masterpiece, but dry ice hides a multitude of sins, and The Kid was thrilled to have a functioning volcano cake.

A Tour of Enjoy Life Foods

2009-08-20T22:36:00.011-04:00

I'm still a little stunned that I won the Cookies For Everyone Sweepstakes. The trip to Shiller Park, Illinois, packed more into one day than I thought possible. It began with an introduction to the people behind Enjoy Life, a truly dedicated bunch who are justifiably proud of what they do.

Enjoy Life's CEO, Scott Mandel, graciously gave me a tour of the bakery himself. The primary location is a one story brick building that is much larger inside than it appears. (The chocolate is manufactured in a separate dedicated facility, which busted the remaining shreds of my Willy Wonka fantasies.)

Entering the bakery, a long row of bins of allergen free ingredients lined the wall. After years of scouring grocery store shelves for safe foods, I was a little overwhelmed by the variety and abundance. The company's suppliers all sign contracts that their foods will be produced free of contamination and additional testing is done on some ingredients by Enjoy Life before they are used.

Next I was put into a state of Kitchen Aid envy by three stand mixers, all taller than me. After the ingredients are introduced to each other, they are shaped, squeezed or spread into cookies, bars or granola, distributed on trays and placed in racks that are rolled into ovens. The ovens are in the process of being upgraded to a new conveyor system, where the trays enter the oven on a belt at one end, and reemerge completely baked at the other. (More capacity means more cookies!)

The finished bakery products, as well as goodies from the super secret chocolate location (at least to me), are mechanically packaged in preprinted plastic and paper containers. I believe these cookies are Snickerdoodles bent on world domination. Since we don't have celiac problems in our household, I confess that I didn't know until this trip that gluten and egg free cookies could be as soft and chewy as these babies.

After packaging, the goodies are boxed up and kept in the warehouse until they are shipped out to meet a world full of grateful families with food allergies.

The tour ended at the Enjoy Life test kitchens, where I proceeded to spend most of the day talking and baking and talking some more with my new hero, Betsy Laakso, which will have to wait until the next post about this amazing trip!

I Didn't Believe It Either

2009-08-16T07:00:00.007-04:00

So, guess who won the Enjoy Life Sweepstakes?

Seriously. It was me.

I'm still at a loss for words, which for me is an unnatural state of affairs. Just completely dumbfounded. Absolutely gobsmacked. (Not to mention drop through the floor mortified when I received the news not long after this whiny post. Oops.)

My whirlwind trip to Illinois takes place this week, and you can follow along with the fun on Tuesday by way of Enjoy Life's Facebook page. I'll be touring the factory, baking in the test kitchen with Betsy Laakso, one of the authors of Cookies for Everyone, and having lunch with CEO Scott Mandell.

That's right, I'm going to a chocolate factory run by the incredible people that make safe food for my son. And they're letting me play in the kitchen with a pro, which is kind of like someone from Little League getting to practice with the Majors. Did someone read my diary? I'm still not convinced that I'm not being punked!

If you have any questions or messages you'd like me to take with me to the Enjoy Life headquarters/test kitchen/bat cave, leave them in the comments. I'll pass them along if I can stop stuttering.

Alphabet Soup

2009-08-12T22:15:00.005-04:00

We recently had a rare (for summer in the Sunshine State) long and rainy, Cat in the Hat kind of day. After a morning of coloring books, DVD's, overcast skies and unending drizzle, I broke out the Dutch oven despite the season to make a cold weather favorite for lunch.

2 Tbs olive oil
1 sweet onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, including leaves, sliced
2 carrots, sliced
1-2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 Tbs dried mixed Italian seasoning
kosher salt and fresh ground white pepper to taste
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
15.5 oz can kidney beans, rinsed well
3-4 C water
1 C alphabet pasta

Heat olive oil on medium in a large, heavy bottomed pot. Add onion, celery (reserving leaves), carrots, garlic and seasonings. Stirring regularly, saute vegetables until soft, about ten to fifteen minutes. Add tomatoes, kidney beans, reserved celery tops and water, then bring to a boil. Add pasta and cook according to package directions. Adjust seasonings and serve. This makes a humongous pot of soup. The extra freezes nicely to save for the next rainy day.

The best part of this meal was The Kid's musical accompaniment. It went something like this:

Look, there's a Z! Z is for zebra, mm mm mm. Ooh, that's a kidney bean, mm mm mm. Look, I found a D! D is for dinosaur, mm mm mm.

I'm sending my well lettered soup both to Deb in Hawaii of Kahakai Kitchen for Souper Sunday and to Psychgrad of Equal Opportunity Kitchen, who is hosting this week's Presto Pasta Nights, the long running event begun by Ruth of Once Upon a Feast.

Milan Cookies

2009-07-27T23:22:00.005-04:00

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

This month's challenge offered the choice of adapting one or both of two delicious cookies. Time constraints and generalized chaos made the decision for me, leading to one elegant, deceptively simple confection.

The original recipe was similar to the previous Daring Bakers Tuiles challenge/debacle, so instead of trying to pipe the dough, I made a sugar cookie variation:

Wet Ingredients:
1/4 C plain soymilk + 3/4 tsp lemon juice
1/2 C dairy free margarine, softened (Earth Balance, as usual)
1 C powdered sugar
2 Tbs vanilla extract

Dry Ingredients:
2 C all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp table salt

Additional:
granulated sugar for dipping

Mix soymilk and lemon juice in a nonreactive container, i.e. Pyrex measuring cup, and set aside. Sift dry ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside. Cream margarine and sugar together in a mixing bowl until fluffy. Add soymilk mixture and vanilla, then beat until combined. (Don't worry if it develops a cottage cheese texture.) Continue to beat while gradually adding the flour mixture until completely combined.

Stretch out a three foot sheet of cling wrap on the counter. Turn dough out onto the wrap and carefully work into a cylindrical shape about 1 inch in diameter. Roll in the cling wrap and place in refrigerator overnight.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Unwrap dough and cut into 1/4 inch slices. Dip one side of cookie in granulated sugar, and place on cookie sheets two inches apart with sugar side up. After filling cookie sheet, use a glass with a concave bottom to flatten cookies. Bake 8-10 minutes.

Cookie Filling:
1/4 C coconut milk
2/3 C Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips
half of the zest from one orange.

Place zest and chocolate chips in a small bowl. Heat coconut milk in microwave until bubbling. Stir coconut milk into chips and zest until smooth, fragrant, chocolaty mixture achieved. Resist urge to bypass cookies and stuff directly in face.

Commence with the sandwich making. Match up the cookies into pairs and spackle them together with orange chocolate decadence. They hold a surprising amount of filling without squishing out.

The result wasn't quite as delicate as the original Pepperidge Farm Milanos, but these cookies are worth the effort. Thanks to Nicole for great challenge!

Frozen Mango Coconut Key Lime Pie

2009-07-07T23:37:00.008-04:00

My first attempts at Key Lime Pie were absolutely delicious, but too labor intensive and calorie laden to make it a regular occurrence. Key Lime is my husband's favorite pie, so I decided to attempt a mango variation for Fathers Day. I replaced one of the cans of coconut milk with a mango and reduced the sugar, plus decided to try making a chocolate crust with coconut oil instead of nondairy margarine. The filling had an unpleasant metallic overtone, but the crust was so good, we sat around and scraped the filling off of it, so as not to lose a single crumb!

This month's challenge for You Want Pies with That? is a Taste of Summer pie. Since we are huge fans of mango lime sorbet, I decided to simply eliminate the egg replacer, which I suspected of leaving the metallic taste behind, and make a perfect frozen summer pie instead. Guess what? It worked.

Crust:
12-14 chocolate graham crackers, finely crushed (about 1 1/2 C)
2 Tbs raw sugar
1/2 C coconut oil

Filling:
13.5 oz can coconut milk
1/3 C granulated sugar
flesh of 1 large or 2 small mangoes, pureed
1/2 C key lime juice (about 12 key limes)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Crush graham crackers in a food processor, then add raw sugar and coconut oil. Mix until combined. Turn mixture out into a 9" pie pan and gently press it with a flat bottomed glass or measuring cup until the bottom and sides are evenly covered. Bake for 8 minutes. Set aside until cooled.

Combine coconut milk and sugar in a small pan and cook over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and add mangoes and lime juice. Mix the filling with an immersion (stick) blender, then allow to cool. Place in a nonreactive container (a Pyrex 4 Cup measuring cup is perfect) and chill in refrigerator. Once cold, give it another whirl with the stick blender to aerate it a bit, then pour into crust and place in freezer overnight.

Happy Fourth of July

2009-07-04T14:01:00.001-04:00

What's Wrong with this Picture?

2009-06-30T07:00:00.003-04:00

Look what I found nestled among the bulk food bins at my (usually wonderful) local health food store: one of my favorite allergen free products, Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips.

Someone may have missed the point. Let's just hope no one misses the fine print. And, yes, I did already speak to the manager, whose only response was to simply point out the allergy warning.

The Daring Tarts Bake a Pudding Well

2009-06-27T22:00:00.010-04:00

Or was it the Bakers Heart a Daring Wedding? To call the name confusing is pudding it mildly. In any case...

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

This Bakewell pastry is made up of three components, a shortcrust pastry, fruit preserves, and frangipane. The charming tarts, I mean hostesses, strongly urged making the crust the traditional way by hand. Modifying recipes to accommodate multiple food allergies is akin to baking without a net, so I make no apologies for any little advantage I could squeeze from my appliances after I replaced all the butter, eggs, almond extract, almond meal, and almonds. (You can see the original recipe here.)

Sweet Shortcrust Pastry:
1 3/4 C all purpose flour
2 Tbs granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C nondairy margarine*, cold
3-4 Tbs cold water

*Note: one of the reasons I like to use Earth Balance is because it doesn't taste salty like some other nondairy margarines do. If you use a different margarine, you may want to reduce the amount of salt in the pastry.

Combine flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Give a spin to mix. Cut margarine into small pieces and add. Whiz again until mixture forms into crumbs. (You may need to stop to scrape down the sides.) While mixing, slowly add cold water until dough forms a ball. Shape into a disk, wrap up in plastic wrap, and place in fridge for at least half an hour.

The fruit component for my Bakewell Tart was homemade raspberry jam supplied by my mom, who traditionally makes jam and jellies for most of our very grateful family. I'd say she was very well preserved, but she might squish me.

The frangipane, based on butter, eggs, and ground almonds, called for a great deal of creativity to adapt, but in the end I reached for two of my favorite subs, soy yogurt to make up the bulk from the egg and ground flax seed both to bind the mixture and give it some nuttiness. (I also adjusted the amount of ground flax seed and flour.) Plus I added a little baking powder to get some rise and keep it from being too dense.

Frangipane:
1/2 C nondairy margarine, softened
1 C powdered sugar
3/4 C soy yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 C all purpose flour (increase to 1 C)*
1/4 C ground flax seed
1/2 tsp baking powder

*Note: I reversed the proportions of flour to flax seed and calculated the amount of flour at one Cup, but I liked the way the mixture looked at half a Cup of flour so much, that I stopped. The "Frangepane" was still wet in the middle after baking, so the initial calculation was right.

Cream the margarine and powdered sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the soy yogurt and vanilla extract while continuing to mix. Ignore the resulting cottage cheese texture. It'll be just fine, I promise. Sift together the flour, flax seed, and baking powder, then mix them in, as well. See how nice and smooth it gets? Take a deep breath and get ready to assemble your masterpiece.

Start by taking your disk of shortcrust dough and rolling it out on a well floured surface to 1/4" thick. The Tarts recommend rolling in one direction (away from you,) then giving the dough a quarter turn and repeating. That worked well until the circle became larger, at which point I began turning the rolling pin. The recipe calls for a 9" fluted tart pan. To my chagrin, I discovered at this late stage that I am the proud owner of an 8" and and 11" pan. It's a good thing the extra dough can be used to make cookies!

After transferring the dough to the tart pan, trim the extra and put it in the freezer for 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 400F at during this time. Remove shell from freezer and spread 1/2 to 1 C of jam as evenly as possible. The jam may need to be warmed to spread well. Gently turn out Frangipane mixture into tart pan, and smooth with an icing spatula. The original recipe calls for almonds sprinkled on the crust toward the end of the baking period. I sprinkled some raw sugar on at this stage instead to give it a little sparkle. Bake for thirty minutes.

The tart wasn't perfect, since it was a little pudding like in the center, but that's attributable to the smaller pan and thicker frangipane, as well as the shortage of flour. Thanks to Jasmine and Annemarie for a great challenge, and be sure to check out all the other Daring Bakers!

Potstickers

2009-06-21T22:30:00.008-04:00

The June Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Jen of use real butter. She chose her family's recipe for Chinese Dumplings, also known as Potstickers.

In my pursuit of egg free homemade pasta, I've previously made these yummy little darlings, but neglected to blog the recipe. Thanks to Jen and her terrifically versatile recipe, that wrong is now being righted.

For a simple filling, I combined the following:

1/2 lb turkey sausage
1/2 cabbage, thinly sliced, salted, and drained
2 green onions, including bottom half of green section, thinly sliced
1 carrot, grated

The first time I made these, I was concerned that the turkey sausage would not cook thoroughly. It ends up perfectly done after pan frying, and I really like a filling with minimal prep work.

I didn't exactly follow Jen's instructions for making the dough, sticking (teehee) to the formula that had worked for me before:

2 C all purpose flour
1 C boiling water
additional flour for rolling

By using my standmixer's dough hook, I was able to knead the flour with the water while it was still boiling without scalding myself. The flour sucks the water right up into a remarkably soft and flexible dough.

Once the dough is ready, divide it in half and cover the unused dough with a wet towel. Roll the half batch of dough into a 12" snake, then cut it into 24 evenly divided pieces. Shove most of them under the towel with the other half of the dough, and start rolling them out into flat circles. Place a tablespoon of filling in the center, fold in half, and try to make the characteristic pleat. (Good pleating tutorial at Lunch in a Box.) Repeat until fingers fall off, making sure to either keep finished potstickers under towel or place on cooling rack in freezer.

Most recipes for potstickers direct the cook toward a wok or nonstick skillet to pan fry them. I've found that a cast iron skillet works suprisingly well, and gives the dumplings beautiful brown bottoms. Heat a few tablespoons of vegetable oil to medium high and cook dumplings until golden brown on the pan side. Add 1/2 cup of water, cover, and turn down the heat, allowing to simmer for a few short minutes.

After that, move them onto a plate and start dipping them in this wonderful sauce that...I forgot to write down any sort of measurements of the ingredients for it:

soy sauce
rice wine vinegar
sesame oil
fresh ginger, grated
fresh garlic, smushed
brown sugar

Be sure to check out all the other amazing dumplings made by the brand new Daring Cooks!

Kid Quote:

2009-06-18T07:00:00.002-04:00

"I wish I could be a squirrel, so I could eat nuts and climb trees."

Living with Food Allergies Blog Carnival #45

2009-06-11T23:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the Food Allergy Blog Carnival! I'd like to thank Rational Jenn for allowing me to host her long running and highly successful carnival. It's become so successful, that this round up attracted record amounts of spam. More carnival submissions landed in the trash than in the carnival.

If you are a member of the food allergy community, which of course includes celiac disease and a wide variety of food intolerance and dietary restrictions, I love reading your articles and getting a glimpse into your life and your kitchen. Or if you are a vegan and want to share the latest egg and dairy free creation from your oven, bring on the baked goods!

However, if you think the carnival will flog any kind of medications or medical training for you, think again. This is not the forum for general health, wellness, or diet information. Please take all your supplements and herbs... elsewhere.

Also, if you are a food blogger and have a recipe that really doesn't have anything to do with avoiding allergens, may I gently suggest you check out Is My Blog Burning? This site maintains a current list of food blog events which might be more appropriate.

Now, onto the carnival.

Recipes:

Kate Saltfleet of Experiments in Living shares an absolutely decadent egg and dairy free recipe for Chocolate Ganache Cake. (Yum.) There was absolutely no deprivation at this vegan's housewarming party!

Lara DeHaven of Texas Homesteader announces that she will be publishing an entire collection of wheat, dairy, and peanut free recipes in Writing an E-Cookbook. If you hurry over and subscribe to her blog, you might be one of the lucky recipients of a free copy.

Alisa of Go Dairy Free reviews Ricki Heller of Diet, Dessert, and Dogs' new cookbook Sweet Freedom and shares two recipes from it in Vegan Butter Tarts and a Chocolaty Date Cake. (If you think that sentence was a mouthful, wait until you see these simply amazing treats without any refined sugars, refined flours, eggs, dairy, or wheat flour!)

Alisa, who also blogs at One Frugal Foodie, brings nutritious and flavorful dishes of her own to the table with Sweet Dijon Dressing and The World's Easiest Healthy Chicken Recipe. Both of these have landed in my "try at the earliest opportunity" recipe file.

More Food:

Kim, The Food Allergy Coach, reviews hemp products in Hemp: A replacement for common food allergens? She asks, "Free of many common allergens, various hemp products are hitting the market fast & furious, but are they any good?" Find out how hemp milk and seeds compare both nutritionally and in taste.

Alison of Sure Foods Living prepares for rampaging hordes of hungry kids in her Allergen-Free Summer Treats Guide 2009. She includes lists of both commercial and homemade treats, as well as a sneaky trick to get your child to snack on frozen spinach. Seriously.

Alisa of Go Dairy Free helpfully does the math for you in Grocery Discounts and Coupon Codes at a Glance for Frugal Shopping Needs. She adds, "Since I have special diet needs, I shop online for some grocery items. I started compiling these Amazon Grocery lists, since I usually find at least a few gems each month for a great price." This list has to be seen to be believed!

Living the Food Allergy Lifestyle:

Ruth Smith of Best Allergy Sites shares a helpful tip for easily communicating food allergy information in Business Cards for Food Allergies. She even has a link to let you order free cards.

Many thanks to Janeen of Our Story: The Good, The Bad, And The Food Allergies for letting the world know that it's the season to celebrate casein, whey, and lactose free in Happy Dairy Alternative Month. Maybe it's time to finally try some of that coconut milk ice cream!

Christine of Corn Allergic: What I Reacted to Today describes her strategy for eating out without eating in Ordering Nothing. While this is a good reminder that occasions are about the people, not the food, it's still saddening that eating in restaurants is so difficult for the food allergic "eating out" means brown bagging or not eating at all.

Finally, on a more positive note, Jennifer B. of Food Allergy Buzz presents a video highlighting some remarkable medical progress in A Look at Some of the Food Allergy Research Funded by FAAN.

That's it for this time. Thanks to all of you who shared your stories, tips, and recipes. The next carnival will be hosted by Sarah, the No Whey Mama. Don't forget to send in your (on-topic) submissions here!

Excuses, Excuses

2009-06-11T12:13:00.002-04:00

I'm afraid I wasn't able to get the Living with Food Allergies Blog Carnival finished before leaving for several doctors appointments with The Kid this afternoon. It should be up later today. Sorry for the delay!