Travels of Food Allergic Tween

What does it take for a tween living with severe food allergies to travel?  Realistically, it means the responsible adult must be ready for anything.  Even with a responsible, well-adjusted, kid...

Vera Bradley Crossbody

1.  Be prepared!  Never allow your young child with food allergies to travel without an allergy pack (containing medical information, snacks, and just-in-case medications.)  This makes a HUGE difference down the road when your now tween balks and does not want to draw attention to being different.  Our tween has a collection of purses - most recently Vera Bradley crossbody and that helps somewhat.  Always carry.  No exceptions.
    

Twisted Fruit

2. Be Proactive!  My tween headed to Portland with extended family and packed extra milk-free, egg-free, nut-free, sesame-free treats and snacks - just in case.  Sure enough, she reported those little extras - Cliff Organic Twisted Fruit helped make mornings special.
    

Salmon

3.  Be Open!  While in Portland, my tween reportedly tried different food options (fresh salmon, deconstructed mango salad, vegan strawberry cream cheese, crab) she knew were safe. She was thrilled and sent pictures to me via her cell phone (which, by the way, is NOT a substitute for carrying allergy pack).

Cuz you never know...At one of the vegan bakeries, an employee stuck a peanut donut in with an assortment.  Tween had a bite (not of the peanut one - thank goodness!) and her throat started to feel itchy.  Not wanting to make a scene, she mentioned it in passing to present adult.  The adult did not pick-up on the cue. 

The story ends without blame (ALWAYS!), 

but with a sober reminder and Benadryl.

FAAN

Fourth of July Pie

This Fourth of July Holiday, my multiple food allergic tween and I cobbled together a Milk-free, Egg-free, Nut-free berry pie.  We have made apple and berry pies before, but this one was special.  We didn't have enough cherries in our Farmer's Market stash, so we decided to add our Farmer's Market blueberries too.  It turned out berry delicious!  Recipe follows below:

Cherry-Blueberry Pie

Milk-free, Egg-free, Nut-free

The Flaky Pastry crust recipe is adapted from the 1982 edition of:
Sunset Easy Basics for Good Cooking

Flaky Pastry
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup solid shortening or lard
4 to 5 tablespoons cold water

Stir together flour and salt.  Cut shortening into flour until about pea-size.  Sprinkle water over mixture a little at a time - stirring lightly with a fork.  When just moistened, gather mixture into a ball.  Divide ball in half and flatten.  Wrap and leave in fridge for an hour.

Filling
4 cups pitted cherries
2 cups blueberries
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon lemon juice 
2 tablespoons Smart Balance Light
2 tablespoons soymilk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Sprinkle berries with sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, and lemon juice.  Roll out bottom crust and fill with berry mixture. Dot around top with Smart Balance Light.  Roll out top crust and cut to create lattice effect.  Brush top lightly with soymilk. To prevent excess browning, place strips of foil around edges.  Place pie on baking sheet and bake on lowest rack for 30-35 minutes.  Remove foil and bake for 25-30 more minutes.

Bring to picnic dinner at the fireworks!

Food Allergy Positives

Read with interest the simple "How To Organize Your Loose Recipes" post on Wikihow from fellow NAPO-Chicago member, Barb Tischler this week.  My multiple food-allergic tween and I have been collecting recipes from magazines, on-line searches, and FAAN (Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network) newsletters (from back in the day when newsletters were of the snail-mail variety) for several years.  Inspired, we piled our collection and got to work.

My almost-not-a-tween spent her own time culling and sorting, so I stepped aside.  Adapting the binder idea, she re-used an accordian-style folder from school.  The result is a file of sheets of recipe options she has used, will use, or will adapt to use.  The plan is to collect the most successful recipes from the collection and start a new binder with the plastic protectors per Barb's suggestion.  It will be her very own Milk-free, Egg-free, Nut-free (except almonds!), and Sesame-free cookbook!

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The Gifts of Food Allergy

I want to share an excerpt from our former FAAN newsletter binder of recipes.  It is an uplifting message from 2003 that my almost-not-a-tween found, highlighted with happy orange marker, and posted on the fridge. It speaks to the value of living with food allergies and we live it every day.

Post as it appeared in 2003:

The Gifts of Food Allergy

Raising a child who has food allergies brings many unexpected challenges into our lives.  Life would be much easier without having to deal with food allergies.  However, think of all you have learned and the positive ways food allergy has affected your life.

Nothing is all bad or good, and food allergy is no exception.  Listed below are some of the positive ways food allergy has enriched the lives of families just like yours.

* Your family is aware of what they eat, and is likely to make healthy food choices.
* You are active in your child's academic life; the administration, nurse, and teachers all know you.
* You've become more than you were (stronger, wiser, more assertive) to keep your child healthy and happy.
* Your child knows what it feels like to be different and has learned to be compassionate to others.
* Your family has learned to "look out for each other," allowing children to learn true caring.
* Your child has learned that his or her actions can have extreme consequences and has learned to make responsible decisions.
* Food allergy teaches patience, safety, and restraint as opposed to immediate gratification (e.g., the label must be read before eating an item, food cannot be shared, etc.)
* Your child grows up focusing on activities rather than snacks and meals.

These are only a few ways that food allergy can affect our lives in positive ways.  There are many, many others.  Feel free to share some of yours with us.  We'd love to hear from you.

Tween and I would love to hear from you too!
Eat happy :)

Order Up!

Know you should be teaching your kids how to prepare meals, but can never find the time?
  

Resigned to the fact that your family will eat out too often again this summer?

...or are you just tired of doing all the work?

What if you could teach skills that will last a life-time,
save money on restaurants, and
make happy memories with your kids?

Organize summer meals by creating a "culinary school" in your own kitchen
and

Make Dinner Matter!

     This summer vacation marks the third year in a row I have made a summer cooking schedule for our family.  In the beginning, I decided to have the kids help me - just so I wouldn't be alone in the kitchen.  Now my food allergic tween proudly prepares entire meals for the family - on her own!  My goal for your family is to keep the expectations realistic and the mood fun.  This means writing the toddler into the rotation too! 
     Sound too complicated?  Hey, you've got weeks worth of soccer practice, or swim lessons on the calendar.  Teaching your kids independence in the kitchen is important.  And less expensive than signing them up for another camp.  What if you just scheduled it in?

For example:
1. COMMIT  I selected the 7 weeks between Monday, June 20th, and Sunday, August 7th.

2. BE REALISTIC  Of the 49 days, I figured 2 per week for special occasions and/or eating out.  Subtracting a vacation week left 30 days to make dinner matter. 

3. ASSIGN DUTY Who gets to cook/help you cook dinner when...?  Put it on the calendar!  (Note: Use the phrase, "gets to," rather than "has to!"  It will change your attitude too.)

Considering?  Read on...

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Make Dinner Matter

Step 1 - Menu Plan

One of the benefits of being assigned a night in our house is getting to select the meal!  If this is new for your family, you may want to select a few kid-friendly cookbooks from the library for inspiration.  It also helps to menu plan once a week and shop for as many items as possible at one time.  To save money, you may want to shop first and hit the sales, then menu plan based upon what you purchased. 

Bonus points - As you schedule the meals, display a few days worth of "menus" on the fridge (or computer screen).  Have your kids write (or type) it up.  They look forward to their meal nights!...Can't write yet?  Kids can glue pictures of items - or draw them.

Step 2 - Make Time

Kids in the kitchen need time to explore.  Make sure you allow enough time for food prep, mishaps, and messes!  Then teach them how to clean-up...

Step 3 - Land the Helicopter

Don't hover.  If a particular task makes you nervous, break down the steps and teach your child how to perform it safely.  If your child has never cut an onion, for example, you have a lot of groundwork to lay (use a cold onion, pre-cut manageable chunks, and be ready with sympathy if eyes are burning).  Learning a new task is nerve-wracking if someone keeps catching you doing it wrong. 

Above all be flexible, be realistic, and have fun!  Think you are going to try it?  Have questions?  Let me know...

Knife Skills for Toddlers 
Food Allergy Organization Tips 

p.s. I have a super-picky eater.  On his nights, someone else prepares the meat for the rest of us, as needed,  because meat grosses him out! 

Sneak Peep

     'Tis the season to re-purpose peeps.  Tween gave this couple the keys to the playmobile car.  They have the top down and are ready to roll...

Beep Peep

No texting while driving!

Want some serious inspiration?  The deadline for the fifth annual Washington Post Peeps Show is Monday, March 14th!   View pics of  previous winners @ Peeps Show IV.

 Update:  Chicago Tribune has a little diorama contest too!  Peeps in Play.  Deadline noon on Friday, March 25th.

LOL

“I have a microwave fireplace in my house. 

The other night I laid down in front of the fire for the evening in two minutes.”

- Stephen Wright

Define, "mantel."

mantel n : a beam, stone, or arch serving as a lintel (horizontal piece across the top of an opening that carries the weight of the structure above it) to support the masonry above a fireplace; also : a shelf above a fireplace...

Two years ago, while re-purposing our guest room to host a French High School Student for two weeks, I hopped on the Quotes on the Walls bandwagon.  Looking for something friendly to replace a series of five floral papers in marching frames, I turned to the computer.  My tween opted in and (for free!) created a kicky set of letters for us to spell out, "L-A-U-G-H."

Together, we pulled the decorative floral papers out of their frames, slipped her "L-A-U-G-H" letters in and...voila!  Très bon.

Can't remember when they were removed from the guest room to rest upon the mantel, but they have been living there happily ever since...

Amusant :)

Colorful Beef

Where's The Beef?
5 MINUTE PREP  
(45 minutes to bake)
Milk-free, Egg-free, Nut-free, Wheat-free

Items Needed:
casserole dish with lid
olive oil
fresh or frozen vegetable - broccoli, mushroom, diced tomato
pasta sauce - preferably something organic with personAlity
lean ground beef - uncooked
salt
helpful tween

Helpful tween in the kitchen:
1.  Pre-heats oven to 350.
2.  Drizzles olive oil in bottom of casserole dish.
3.  Drops a couple of handfuls of vegetables on the bottom.
4.  Distributes uncooked lean ground beef on top of the vegetables.
5.  Plops contents of pasta sauce jar on top of beef.
6.  Sprinkles in salt, stirs gently, and puts on the lid.
7.  Places in oven (careful, it's heavy!) to bake (45 minutes).

MAKE IT A MEAL:

No time?  French bread dunkers.  Cut loaf and serve on a plate in the center of the table.

No time?  Breadstick dippers!  Place on a plate in the center of the table.

Pasta time?  Make and serve over pasta.

Garnish time?  Riff off one of the ingredients listed on sauce (ex. mushroom, tomato, onion...). Or sprinkle with cheese, as able.

COLORFUL CHARACTER LINKS

commercial flashbacks    

Life cereal: Mikey likes it!

Oscar Mayer: My bologna

Where's The Beef? Clara Peller

(This week's posts are dedicated to a friend who finds it impossible to find time to make dinner.  She works full-time and has several kids.  “Impossible only means that you haven't found the solution yet.”)

Colorful Chicken

Chicken & Salsa
5 MINUTE PREP  
(45 minutes to bake)
Milk-free, Egg-free, Nut-free, Wheat-free

Items Needed:
casserole dish with lid
olive oil
frozen vegetables - corn or multi-colored peppers
chicken breasts
salsa - preferably something organic with personAlity
helpful tween

Helpful tween in the kitchen:
1.  Pre-heats oven to 350.
2.  Drizzles olive oil in bottom of casserole dish.
3.  Drops a handful of frozen vegetables on the bottom.
4.  Places chicken breasts on the vegetables.
5.  Plops contents of salsa jar on top of chicken.
6.  Sloshes around and puts on the lid.
7.  Places in oven (careful, it's heavy!) to bake (45 minutes).

Life is good.

Smile :)

MAKE IT A MEAL:

No time?  Open whatever corn chip is your pleasure and serve from a bowl in the center of the table.

No time?  Toss some tortillas (corn, or wheat - as able) on a plate in the center of the table. 

Rice time?  Make and serve with rice.

Garnish time?  Riff off one of the ingredients listed on salsa (ex. pineapple, tomato, onion...).  Or a dollop of guacamole, or sour cream - as able.


(This week's posts are dedicated to a friend who finds it impossible to find time to make dinner.  She works full-time and has several kids.  “Impossible only means that you haven't found the solution yet.”)

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

Tween in the kitchen.
Tween living with severe food allergies.
Tween living with severe food allergies is ready to cook and bake in the kitchen.
Hmm...How to keep tween safe?

Red!

Tween living with severe food allergies - cooking and baking in the kitchen.

Tween uses own Red! set of measuring cups, measuring spoons, peeler, pan, and cutting boards. 

Mother never uses the Red! kitchen items.  

The bright Red! color alerts Mother to slice her cheese somewhere else.

 IKEA!