Dress Up Queen

Curly loves to dress up, but she especially loves to dress Bee.  Thankfully, Bee doesn't mind and enjoys the girl time.  Here is Bee as Snow White with her very own mini-me...

Look mom!

 Think it's time for a new diaper...

Allergy Free Blueberry Muffins

I have found muffins to be challenging.  They are either to mushy or too crumbly and I can never seem to find the right consistency when making them gluten, egg, and dairy free.  I finally have achieved success in a muffin that holds together and is very moist.

Blueberry Muffins

1 1/2 cups flour blend  (I use 4 cups rice flour, 1 1/3 cup potato starch, and 2/3 cup tapioca starch that I whisk together and keep in a large container for when I need flour)

3/4 t xanthan gum

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 t salt

2 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup applesauce-unsweetened

1 1/2 t egg replacer whisked with 2 T rice milk

2/3 cup rice milk

1 cup blueberries-fresh or frozen

Combine flour, xanthan gum, sugar, salt, and baking powder.  Add applesauce, egg replacer with milk, and milk.  Mix well.  Fold in blueberries.  Pour into greased muffin tin.

Cinnamon Topping

1/4 cup sugar

1/6 cup flour mix

1/8 cup shortening

3/4 t cinnamon

Mix topping with fork until it resembles coarse meal and sprinkle on top of each muffin.

Bake at 400 for 20 minutes.

How to address food allergies as a disability?

I think food allergies are disabling for not only the individual with the allergies, but for friends and family members of the allergic person.  Talk about a severe limitation!

So, if food allergies qualify as a disability then how would they be addressed?  Remove food from every setting?  Never have snacks in classrooms?  Only serve certain foods at restaurants and social functions?

While one individual might be severely allergic to one food, another individual is just as severely allergic to a different food.  How can you possibly tailor the situation to suit all the needs?

With food allergies, there is no easy answer.

The labeling on foods has been a huge improvement and is one step toward protecting those with allergies.  Now I can look at the bottom of an ingredient label and see a notation that says, "contains: milk" or one of the other top allergens.  This does simplify shopping and saves time.  However, I still have the joy of reading every single label in its entirety for safety's sake.

Foods are also labeled with words such as "processed in a facility that also handles peanuts" or something similar to alert you that the food could be contaminated.  In those cases, you have to decide if you want to take that chance, or you can call the company to clarify how the equipment is cleaned between foods or how they work to limit cross-contamination.  It's just another way to keep you safe and make you even more paranoid....

But what about small children?  It would be nice to come up with a color-coding system to have a small colored bar code under the food label to indicate if any of the top allergens are in a certain food item.  If yellow was for peanuts and a food had a yellow stripe under the ingredient label, then a child would know that food was off limits because of his/her peanut allergy.

I think one of the most important aspects of treating food allergies as a disability is by simply educating others regarding allergies.  Many are not aware of the vast number of people affected by food allergies.  Some do not understand the severity of allergies.  And most are not familiar with all the foods that contain a certain ingredient or all the names a milk product or wheat product could fall under. 

For instance, I have mentioned my child has a food allergy and the person has responded, "Ohh, they they can't have peanuts, right?"  While that is true for us, any food can be an allergic food, and foods other than peanuts and tree nuts can cause severe reactions.

Also, I have called restaurants to talk with a manager or a chef before dining there to make sure that Bee will have some options.  I once mentioned that she could not have gluten or wheat and was told that the chicken noodle soup was safe for her.  Noodles are made from wheat in most cases, and the individual was not aware of this fact and truly believed noodles were safe for her.  In calling another restaurant where I explained her allergies, I was told that several items were safe for her-but they all contained butter.  I had to explain to the manager that butter was dairy.  How do people in the food industry survive without some basic knowledge?

How wonderful it would be for restaurants to become more aware of food allergies and learn how to accommodate those with allergies.

To address food allergies as a disability, people will need to be educated.  They will need to be compassionate and willing to learn.  The best way to do this is to make others aware of the allergies and work to educate them yourself.  There is now a manager who understands that wheat noodles contain gluten and another manager who has learned that butter is dairy.  Food allergic individuals and family members will have to be knowledgeable, but to especially be patient with others until food allergies are more widely acknowledged as commonplace and also as disabling.

{Allergy Free} Tortilla Soup

We've had some rainy days which make for perfect soup weather here.  The kids love tortilla soup and don't even complain about the veggies.  They love to scoop it out with corn tortilla chips!

Tortilla Soup

1 onion diced

4 ribs celery diced

1 red bell pepper diced

1 yellow bell pepper diced

1 orange bell pepper diced

1 can diced tomatoes (I blend mind)

2 can black beans (drain and rinse only one can)

1  4oz can chopped green chilis

Cooked chicken diced

2 cups beef broth

1 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp pepper

1 tsp cumin

salt to taste

Pour small amount of olive oil in large saucepan and saute first 5 ingredients until tender. 
Add remaining ingredients and simmer on low for 30 or more minutes until tender.  Add more beef broth if needed to cover the soup ingredients.
Serve with tortilla chips.

Food Allergies a Disability

Right before Christmas, a young girl died of food allergy anaphylaxis in Chicago as a result of eating a contaminated food at a school function.
The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology suggests that ER visits for food-related reactions has significantly increased. 

Reading some of the recent articles reminded me of the seriousness of Bee's health issues.  You don't want to ever imagine.........

I question how many places handle the topic of food allergies.  Schools tend to be one of the scariest and most unsafe places for any food allergic child.  Every party or function has food, and with one teacher for more than 20 kids, how can any child be kept safe?

So, many parents lobby to have snacks removed from classrooms and to have food-free functions.  They expend so much time, energy, and frustration fighting their battle.  Why even send your child there?  It would not be worth it to me.  That's why I'm glad we have chosen to homeschool.  That's one huge stressor removed.

But it made me wonder why food allergies aren't more recognized, and provisions and safeguards made for food-allergic people.  Why do parents have to fight school districts so diligently in order to keep their kids safe?  Why do I have to be afraid to fly on an airplane?  Why can't we go out to eat anywhere?

Why don't institutions and places of business work to accommodate those with food allergies?

Do food allergies classify as a disability?

My child was born with this problem and it is certainly a very limiting condition.

If handicap ramps and doors are required, parking passes are issued, and many policies are instituted against discrimination for a wide variety of conditions, then how do food allergies not qualify?

A child in a wheelchair would have severe limitations if his/her school was not wheelchair accessible and this would reduce his/her ability to function, get to classes, and ultimately be successful and productive.

You have food with nuts in my child's classroom and this would affect my child's ability to live through that class period. 

I find death to be very disabling, don't you?

Enchiladas

This was my first attempt at a casserole type dish and since this pan was empty only 30 minutes later I must have been successful.......and we had one pan for leftovers the next day.

I made the tortilla recipe and made 16 smaller tortillas using the dough.  That made enough tortillas to fill two pans.  I made the meat using our new taco seasoning.  I made some black bean, spinach spread.  I also made some "cream" sauce and enchilada sauce.  I layered my enchiladas with the black bean spread, meat, cream sauce and then poured enchilada sauce and the extra cream sauce on top.
Here are my two sauce recipes:

"Cream" Sauce
1/4 cup Earth Balance soy free (or olive oil)
1/4 cup plus 2 T oat flour or rice flour
2 cups rice milk, hot
salt and pepper

Warm milk over medium low heat.  Warm Earth Balance or olive oil over medium heat and whisk in flour.  Stir for a couple minutes then slowly pour in warmed rice milk.  Stir until thickened into a cream sauce and salt and pepper to taste.

Enchilada Sauce
2 t olive oil
1 cup diced red onion
2 t minced garlic
1 cup chicken broth
2 T chili powder
2 T honey
2 t cumin
1 t salt
2 (28-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes, undrained

Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat and saute garlic and onion for 5 minutes.  Stir in remaining ingredients and simmer on low for 30 minutes.

You might not need the entire enchilada sauce recipe for both pans.  But when I made the enchiladas, I only had half the recipe and it was not enough for both pans.

Chick-Fil-A and French Fries

We don't eat fast food at our house.....we rarely eat out at all.  But when we have an emergency meal or are on the road, we look for Chick-Fil-A and have visited many locations across a few different states.

If we pile in the car late one evening when our dinner plans fall through the kids immediately ask, "Are we going to Chick-Fil-A?" and then hubby breaks into the infamous Chick-Fil-A song.  Yes, we are going to Chick-Fil-A......

Bee can safely eat the grilled chicken breast filet minus the bun and she loves the lemonade.

However, Chick-Fil-A fries their food in peanut oil.  I decided to give them a call regarding their frying oil, because I didn't think it was a good idea to use something that could trigger allergies for so many people.  They told me that peanut oil does not cause reactions in peanut allergic individuals-not completely true!  And they mentioned no plans of changing to another oil.  I think I recruited several others to call and email Chick-Fil-A too.

This week as we cruised through the drive-through after one of those days, I noticed a yellow flag attached to the menu.  "Our waffle fries cooked with canola oil." 

I asked them at the window and they verified that the fries are now cooked in canola oil.  Also, the fries are made in a dedicated fryer so no nuggets or anything containing gluten is made in that same fryer.

I held my breath and gave Bee a fry and nothing happened.  No rash, no hives, no itching, no fussing.  Actually, she asked for more as she pulled the lid off her lemonade and dumped it all over the carseat....

She never had a reaction and now happily can eat her chicken and her fries with her lemonade-at least what's left in her cup.  Healthy?  No.  But sanity saving.