Why Do Kids Have to Eat Peanut Butter At School?

Why do kids have to eat peanut butter at school?  This is such a controversial subject in the food allergy world, though I can't for the life of me figure out why it's so heated.  I've read the reactions to food allergy parents who have given their opinions in the past.  I know what peanut butter advocates think.  I know that on the extreme side of this argument, peanut advocates think that severely food allergic children should not even be allowed in school--that they should be homeschooled.  In fact, I've heard this opinion so many times that this type of verbiage no longer fazes me.

How many times have I heard a parent say, "But she'll only eat peanut butter for lunch!"  I just can't figure this out.  Because if my kid looked at me and told me he would only eat one thing for lunch, and that one thing was something that could potentially kill another student, I'd tell him no way.  Forget that, if my kid told me he would eat only one thing for lunch, period, I would tell him no, that's not acceptable.

I just can't wrap my head around parents who insist that peanut butter sandwiches are the end all. Do their kids eat these for breakfast and dinner too?  Do they have a peanut butter sandwich waiting for them when they get home for snack?

Okay okay, I get it, I do.  People have rights.  They want to eat peanuts and they should eat peanuts.  Just not at school.  There are personal rights and then there's social responsibility.  What are we teaching our children if we're only teaching them one side of the coin?

I mean, if my son was playing in the park with friends, found a long sharp stick and proceeded to wave it around recklessly at the other kids, I would tell him to put it down.  Sure, he has the right to play with sticks, just not around other kids.  Hey, it's unlikely that he'll poke someone's eye out, but it's possible.  He could also unnecessarily scratch or puncture someone.  Wouldn't we rather avoid the risk altogether and tell the boy to put the stick down?  Or would we all sit around on the edge of our seats waiting to see what would happen?  If your child was the one with the stick pointed at her, would you just sit around and do nothing so as not to offend the rights of the stick-brandishing child or his parents?

Do we share the responsibility of helping to keep our kids safe?  Every day, my kids go to school and I pray that I don't get a phone call from the school office.  When I see the number flashing on my phone, I'm immediately filled with dread.  I'm hoping the caller is not about to describe an allergic reaction, and that I won't need to rush myself over to the pediatric ER to meet my child.

So why the peanut butter?  Of course, 99.9% of the time, peanut butter sandwiches in the school cafeteria aren't hurting anyone.  It's the less than one percent of the time, the time that after eating a peanut butter sandwich, a classmate accidentally spits into the mouth of a peanut-allergic child during a conversation they are having in line about to leave the cafeteria.

Yep, it happened to my kid, yesterday at school.

Within moments, my son developed a stomach ache, told the principal, and was whisked away to the office.  While I was on the phone with the principal (thank God I answered my cell!), my son reported trouble breathing, so I told him he needed the epinephrine injection, which my son administered himself.  I told the principal that he needed to go directly to the ER, and I would meet him there.

My 9-year-old son is officially a rock star.  He recognized his symptoms, got help, related his symptoms clearly, and administered the Auvi-Q auto-injector successfully and calmly.  He rode an ambulance alone to the ER, readied himself for a four hour stay, and worried that he didn't have his books to do his homework.

Why can't we just say that there are no nuts allowed in school?  Because we know people won't follow the rules?  Because we know people won't like it?  Because we're worried about people's right to eat what they want for lunch?

All schools have drop-off and pick-up procedures which are not to everyone's liking, and which are probably going to be challenged by a few parents, but we still have them.  We have them because we know it's the right thing to do, and because we know if we didn't, we'd have a lot more accidents.  If we could avoid just one accident with rules about how to pick up our children from school, would that help to justify their existence?  Do we even feel the need to quantify how safe we could be with the implementation of a particular rule?

How many food allergy accidents have to happen before we change our food policies at school?

I don't think most people mean to put food allergic children at higher risk of reaction at school; I just think they don't understand.  They haven't had to respond to an emergency situation--adrenaline pumping, hands shaking.  They haven't had to live through the ups and downs of managing food allergies on a daily basis, spend literally thousands of dollars every year on medications, ER visits, and specialty foods...in a constant state of worry.

I've always known that food allergy education is a slow evolution.  One step forward, two steps back.  We had our two steps back yesterday, I'm looking forward to that step forward.

Product review: I.M. Healthy Chocolate SoyNut Butter

This jar sat in our cold, dark pantry, unopened, for months and months after I had snapped it up on clearance at a natural foods market.  I had seen varieties of soynut butter but this was my first and only sighting of chocolate soynut butter.  I was intrigued at the time but tucked it onto a crowded shelf that eventually became even more crowded with our pantry staples.

I came upon this forgotten jar in the spring -- conveniently right before the "best if used by" date -- so I knew it was time to pull off the seal, and have a try.  Oh my.  What had I been waiting for??

I think I.M. Healthy's chocolate soynut butter is pretty darn tasty.   It's not as decadent and rich as the dairy-filled, hazelnut spread Nutella -- I.M.'s texture is fluffier and not gooey.  Even so I.M. Healthy's chocolate soynut butter has a pleasant cocoa taste, slightly nutty, even though it's nut-free.  (Must be those roasted soy "nuts"!)  I liked it.  But would my picky, picky kids like it?

The kids liked it more in the beginning when I made chocolate soynut butter and banana sandwiches but they grew quickly tired of the combo.  They will eat it sometimes on untoasted whole bread, no bananas, but they are not clamoring for chocolate sandwiches all the time.  This will be a good lunch option to mix things up a bit every couple of weeks.  I should be grateful that they are not particularly fond of sweet sandwiches, right?

In addition to sandwiches, I.M Healthy's chocolate soynut butter is great as a quick frosting.  We keep a stash of unfrosted cupcakes in the freezer so that we always have a safe treat to bring to friends' parties.  the chocolate soynut butter requires no refrigeration and is especially convenient when you just need to frost one or two cupcakes.

Sprinkles and I.M Healthy's chocolate soynut butter on top of a GF cupcake.  Yum!

The company, I.M. Healthy, also makes other soy nut butters.  Their products, as clearly labeled, are made in a peanut-free, tree nut-free facility.  I called the company's toll-free line, was momentarily rendered speechless when a live person answered the phone (so nice!), and found out that their facilities are also DAIRY-FREE, EGG-FREE, and WHEAT-FREE.  Woo hoo!

I.M. Healthy's chocolate soy nut butter has a little more fat, protein, and fiber than Nutella.  One thing that I.M. Healthy has a lot less of is sugar, one third of the sugar per serving than Nutella.  I was lucky to find a 6-pack of the spread on Amazon during a random sale in April (6 jars for $15!).  This stuff is definitely hard to find.  I have seen prices range from $5 to $6 per jar through Amazon, Walmart, and non-chocolate I.M. Healthy soynut butters for about the same at Vitacost.

Ryken has a classmate, we'll call him "Q" for privacy sake, who loved to bring Nutella sandwiches to school.  Q is a sweet and close friend who, upon finding out that Ryken was allergic to Nutella, gave up his favorite lunch option so that he could continue sitting with Ryken at the allergy-free table.  After finally trying the chocolate soynut butter and getting my hands on more jars, I gave one to Q's family to try out.  I hope to see this in Q's lunchbox this fall!


I.M. Chocolate Soy Nut Butter Nutritional Information*:

Product: I.M Healthy Chocolate SoyNut Butter
Product size: 15 oz
Serving size: 2 Tablespoons
Total fat per serving: 14 grams (compared to 12 grams in Nutella, 16 grams in Skippy No-Stir peanut butter, and 16 grams in Trader Joe's sunflower seed butter)
Dietary fiber: 3 grams (compared to 1 gram in Nutella, 2 grams in the peanut butter, 7 grams in the sun butter)
Sugar: 7 grams (compared to 21 grams in Nutella and 3 grams in both the peanut butter and sun butter)
Protein: 5 grams (compared to 2 grams in Nutella, 7 grams in both the peanut butter and sun butter)


*The nutritional information was taken from the company's website.  This information differs slightly from the nutritional info found on the label of chocolate soynut butter jars that I had purchased in May.  I am guessing that the company's website features the most current facts.

Bakery-style Chocolate Chip Cookies - free of the top 8 allergens

If you have followed Get Allergy Wise for awhile, you know that most of my recipes are adaptations of preexisting recipes.  I definitely need other recipes as road maps and realize how lucky I am to be able to search the web to find much of what I am looking for.  Recently acquired some parsnips but never cooked with them?  Search for recipes on the internet!  Only have carrots, onions, salsa, and a bag of rice in your cupboards?  Get meal ideas on the internet!  Seriously, we are spoiled with convenient, expansive information these days.

Despite the internet's bottomless pit of great recipes, I am still a fiddler by nature.  I can't help but play around with recipes -- sometimes a little and sometimes a lot -- to fit the needs of my milk-allergic, nut-allergic kids or to lower the sugar content, or to fulfill our family's lifestyle choice of eating more plants and less meat.

So it says a lot (and is pretty rare) when I do *not* find a thing to change about a recipe.  One such recipe is vegan author Dreena Burton's recipe for homestyle chocolate chip cookies.  The recipe is a favorite cookie recipe of mine.  When I first discovered it online two years ago, I think I made batches of it for three months straight, I was that addicted.  I love that the cookie uses oil rather than vegan margarine or shortening and also uses a good amount of maple syrup as the main sweetener.  Even Dreena's estimated bake time (11 minutes) was exactly right for my oven.  Okay, the one thing I did change was that I omit the molasses but that is because I never have any on hand.  Besides that, I couldn't find anything to change about this recipe!

I love Dreena's chocolate chip cookies but the tinkerer in me was curious.  I wondered if I might be able to do something about the wheat-based flour that the original recipe calls for.  Could I replace the flour with something that would be safe for those who are allergic to wheat or gluten-intolerant? 

I've tried the popular gluten-free flour blend of brown rice flour, potato starch, and tapioca starch.  But I seized the opportunity to go off the beaten GF trail and combine some flour alternatives that have accumulated in my pantry, flours that I must have bought after seeing recipes that I wanted to try but sadly haven't gotten to yet.  I opted for a more protein-rich mix of garbanzo flour (boy, I have a lot of that around!), potato starch, and quinoa flour.


The cookies turned out delicious!  Texture-wise and tastewise, they were very similar to the original recipe.  These cookies were able to attain a more golden brown color than when I make the original homestyle cookies.  (Perhaps the molasses that I always omit usually helps with browning?)  I think the quinoa flour adds a slight nutty flavor but this works fine with the chocolate.  And I don't know why, but big chocolate chunks elevates these cookies to another level.

Bakery-style Chocolate Chip Cookies - free of the top 8 allergens
Adapted from Dreena Burton's homestyle chocolate chip cookie recipe featured on her Vive La Vegan! blog and cookbook of the same name

Dry ingredients:
1 cup garbanzo flour
1/2 cup quinoa flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup turbinado "raw" sugar

Wet ingredients:
1/2 cup oil
2/3 cup maple syrup
1 Tbsp vanilla extract

1 cup Enjoy Life mega chocolate chunks or 1 cup of safe chocolate, coarsely chopped
Extra sea salt (flakes are great) for sprinkling, optional

1. Preheat 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Grease or line 2 cookie sheets with aluminum foil.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients.  Make sure any clumps of flour or starch are broken up to ensure even mixing.
3. Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients.  Pour oil, maple syrup, and vanilla extract into the well and mix the wet ingredients together.
4. Gradually combine wet and dry ingredients, stirring through the dough so that there are no pockets of dry ingredients left.  The dough will be a little thin, not as sticky and thick as a typical gluten-full cookie mix.  Then stir in chocolate chunks. 
   
5. Spoon out 1 to 1.5-inch balls of cookie dough on cookie sheet. Sprinkle with additional sea salt flakes if you so desire.  Leave 2 inches of space between each cookie -- these cookies do spread quite a bit!
6. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 10-12 minutes or until cookies begin to turn golden.  Promptly remove from oven and let cool.

I find these vegan chocolate chip cookies -- Dreena's original or this gluten-free alternative -- very easy to prepare.  We are planning to do some cookie sales this summer to raise funds for the FARE Walk for Food Allergy.   Adding chocolate chunks versus chips is a fun touch to look more professional.

Close calls and lessons learned

So grateful to see my boys happy and full of life!

"I don't have 'an impending sense of doom'..."

The sentiment of these words are supposed to relieve but I can assure you, this was not a statement I ever wanted to hear from my 7-year-old.

On Friday afternoon I packed the kids, our costumes, and some safe treats and began our long drive to my husband's workplace which was hosting a family-friendly Halloween party.  About ten minutes into our 50-minute commute, I realized that I had forgotten my sons' two EpiPen Jr. Auto-injectors at home.  This created an annoying but necessary 20-minute detour back home.  EpiPens -- absolutely can't leave home without them especially if the destination includes the possibility of eating anything.

Prior to the party I had exchanged email with my husband's office manager who organizes all the parties.  K is aware of my kids' milk and nut allergies as she suffers from celiac disease and an allergy to soy, so at company parties, there is always a safe dessert for my kids.  I always double check anyway especially since peanuts and tree nuts are allergens not shared by K and my kids.  K confirmed that there would be whoopie pies that would be dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free, and nut-free except for coconut.  Awesome.

When we arrived at the party, food was still being set up by the company's caterers.  K, always the hostess with the mostess and so protective of our kids, showed me the allergy-friendly buffet section.  The area had been designated although there weren't any signs to give guests a heads up.  There were trays of designated safe desserts that my kids immediately helped themselves to.  And K showed us boxed meals of spaghetti and meatballs that were supposedly made with Daiya Vegan Shreds.  K looked over the boxed lunches and realized that some had regular sugar cookies in them -- she quickly let me know that the cookies might not be safe so avoid those.

My husband picked up a couple of boxed lunches (all of the other party food had dairy except for the guacamole and chips) and headed back to his office with the kids so that they could eat there.  As I was scoping out the rest of the buffet offerings, the catering manager came out to check on the set-up.  He paused at the allergy-friendly table and said to no one in particular, "The staff shouldn't have put these boxes here.  This pasta has gluten."  I froze up.  Then asked, "I was told these boxes are all dairy-free.  Is that right?"  "No, no.  The pasta is dairy-free but these meatballs have cheese on top. See?"

I flew out of the room, literally yelling out for my husband, "JARVIS!  JARVIS!  THE FOOD HAS DAIRY!  DON'T FEED THE KIDS!  THE FOOD HAS DAIRY!"  Looking back at it now, I can laugh at my dramatic Star Wars-like proclamation but at that moment it was serious, heart-pounding panic.  I was glad to have our homemade safe foods although the kids were so enamored with the sweets and cool cherry fizzy water and captivated by music, costumes, and festivities that they didn't really want to sit in a private office and eat dinner.  Fair enough.

An hour into the party after munching on a whole lot of guacamole and chips I finally had a chance to let my guard down.  We took a break from the heart-thumping music and foosball and retreated back into my husband's office.  I popped in one of the bite-sized allergy-friendly cupcakes we had picked up.  Yum!  Then I bit into a whoopie pie.  I could definitely taste the coconut but then a familiar texture and taste made me slow down my chewing.  Then I completely stopped in disbelief.

OH MY GOD.  THERE ARE WALNUTS IN THIS DESSERT.

At that moment, I went into adrenalin-pumping, disaster-ready mode.  "THERE ARE WALNUTS IN HERE.  DID YOU GUYS EAT THIS?!?" I blurted out.  Ryken looked horrified - probably mirroring my own expression - and cried, "Mommy, I ate one!!"  Ryken and Callan had both eaten the whoopie pies -- Ryken may have eaten two.

I quickly got the EpiPen Jr. packs ready, a move that immediately brought on cries of protest and flinching from Ryken.  We quickly assessed when it was that Ryken and Callan ate them (one hour before and, for Ryken, just minutes before) and whether they felt funny.  Callan did not feel anything.  However, Ryken admitted, "My tongue felt itchy.  I told Daddy that my tongue felt itchy."  "Does your mouth or throat feel itchy, funny, or thick?  How's your stomach feeling?"  Apparently this particular reaction never advanced past his tongue and lasted for a little while after consumption.

As time passed and there were no new symptoms, I calmed down a little.  I asked Ryken, "Did you think that the itchy tongue might be an allergic reaction?"  He admitted to us, "It felt like that time when my mouth was itchy after Trader Joe's."  That had been his first and only experience with walnuts, when he had eaten a small sample containing walnuts.

My immediate questions:
(to Ryken)  Why didn't you tell Daddy it felt like when you had eaten walnuts before??
(to my husband)  Why didn't you stop what you were doing and make sure everything was okay??
(to myself)  Should I have talked directly with the catering manager??  Should I have completely avoided the food altogether??

As we waited longer and the kids seemed to be out of danger, we talked as a family about how lucky we were to have avoided anaphylaxis.  And then we talked about what we could all do better next time.  We reviewed the common symptoms of reaction and came up with important steps in the future:

For my kids:  Speak up immediately, loudly, if they feel something is not right.  Be very detailed about how they are feeling.  If you feel the way you have felt during another reaction or if you are feeling something in your throat, mouth, or stomach, this can be a serious allergic reaction.  Getting a shot can be scary but never let that stop you from telling a grown-up right away.  The EpiPen may seem scary but it will save lives -- but only if it is administered in time.

For my husband or any other caregiver:  If someone complains of feeling funny especially in their throat, mouth, or stomach, stop what you are doing.  Make sure you have the EpiPen ready.  Reactions can progress swiftly and they will not be the same every time.  Remember: side effects from an unnecessary epinephrine injector are minimal (increasing heart rate followed by extreme tiredness).  Potentially saving your loved one's life is priceless.

For me:  It is a huge risk to feed my kids' party food even when I have tried to track down all information on ingredients and their safety from potential allergens.  If I haven't been able to communicate directly with the chef, how can I trust the food?  Catered situations run an even bigger chance of cross contamination from the same hands handling multiple buffet items, mix-ups in the placement of allergy-friendly foods (like the gluten-full, cheesy spaghetti and meatballs lunches in the GFCF table), and lack of communication between party guests and head chef who may not be there at the event.

As the walnut exposure drama unfolded, I couldn't help but think of Brian Hom, who lost his 18year-old son BJ in an allergy-related tragedy.  Meeting Brian Hom and hearing him retelling his final minutes with his son, BJ, are forever stuck in my mind.  Ten minutes transpired between the moment that BJ complained that his throat was hurting and when he passed away from anaphylaxis to trace amounts of peanuts in a buffet dessert.  Ten minutes.

I am really grateful that we avoided disaster.  Aside from sharing my close call with others, all I can do is critique our actions and better prepare ourselves for the next allergic reaction.  This is a good reminder for all of us to stay vigilant and keep reviewing prevention and symptoms of reaction with your family, especially in this high season of food-centered holidays.  And always carry your EpiPens.

 

Review: HomeFree Treats

When my kids and I attended the BJ Hom Jr. Memorial 5K and FAAN walk in October, we had a terrific time.  The weather was gorgeous, there was music and a bounce house.  We were able to meet new people and learn about some unique allergy-friendly businesses including Generation Allergy whose customizable allergy education videos were showcased at our Food Allergies Rock event.  And of course, my milk- and nut-allergic boys were able to eat!  There were so many tasty, safe snacks at the FAAN event that my boys really were like kids in a candy store.

I was familiar with most of the walk sponsors like Dr. Lucy's Cookies and Sunbutter.  However, one sponsor, HomeFree Treats, was brand new to me.  HomeFree donated packs of mini chocolate chip cookies for the event.  Being the chocoholics that we are, the kids and I opened these first before any other treat.

Oh my.

I can't tell you the last time I had Famous Amos but I do remember the taste.  And HomeFree chocolate chip cookies definitely reminded me of those!  They were crunchy like Famous Amos but lighter, more airy.  They had just the right balance of cookie versus chocolate chips to be satisfying.  I reached the end of my bag and wondered if we had picked up any extras that I could sneak-eat.  (Yes, when you're obsessed with little cookies, the idea of sharing with your kids falls to the wayside!)

HomeFree Treats was begun by Jill Robbins, a clinical psychologist mom of a food-allergic child.  Robbins understood first hand the impact on kids when they are excluded from birthday treats and other special occasion sweets due to their food allergies.  Robbins was inspired to create delicious, wholesome products that can be enjoyed by most everyone.  HomeFree products are made in a dedicated facility that is free from dairy, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, and seeds as well as fish and shellfish.  The facility was built for HomeFree from the ground up so none of the aforementioned allergens have ever come into their facility.  The company takes pride in its stringent practices and their continued efforts to prevent cross contamination through frequent random testing for allergens.

The vanilla mini cookie is the 2011 winner of Shape Magazine's award for Best Snack.

HomeFree Treats are made with natural and organic ingredients.  All products are free of dairy, eggs, peanuts, and tree nuts and cookies are available as gluten-free.  In addition the vanilla mini-cookies and oatmeal cookies are soy-free while the soy in other HomeFree products is limited to soy lecithin.  Mini cookies are sold in boxes of about 32 or in sets of 10 single-serving packs containing 6 cookies apiece.  The single-sizes would be perfect additions to your child's school treat box for those unplanned class celebrations and parent-donated birthday cupcakes!

We tried vanilla, chocolate chip, and chocolate chocolate chip -- all three delicious!

Originating on the east coast, HomeFree is now making its way into California specialty stores such as Whole Foods Markets in Southern California and independent health food stores.  Can't find them on your store's shelves?  Talk to your store's manager about carrying HomeFree Treats and submit a written request form such as this.  Customer requests can make a big impact on what products stores decide to sell.

If they aren't yet in a store near you, HomeFree products including cookies, coffee cake, and cookbooks are available for purchase online on the company's website.  Consider putting them on your list of allergy-friendly gifts or stocking up on safe treats for this holiday season!

Slow Cooker Tortilla Soup

The holiday season is now in full force.  Our family celebrates Christmas and I love this time of year and all...but it always seem like a sprint between the end of Thanksgiving and Christmas Day!  All of the sudden I'm behind on decorating and gifts and booked solid on the weekends.  With all the big gatherings, big meals, and big cleanup, I feel like I'm twice as busy as before.  Are you feeling as tired as I am already?  :)

When I'm pressed for time, I love to prepare a meal in the slow cooker.  I recently put a favorite recipe for chicken tortilla soup to the test.  I had no more than 15 minutes to prepare the meal before rushing off for preschool pickup.  It came out delicious as always!

Taking this photo took 3 minutes of my prep time!

Slow Cooker Tortilla Soup
Adapted from Betty's Chicken Tortilla Soup V submission to AllRecipes.com

Ingredients:
1/2 cup dry black beans or 1 cup cooked black beans
2 fresh chicken breasts (optional)
1 medium onion, chopped

1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 cup sugar plum tomatoes
1/2 tsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced or 1/4 tsp garlic powder
1-2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 Tbsp lime juice
2 Tbsp chopped cilantro
1 jar (16 oz.) chunky salsa
32 ounces of vegetable broth or chicken broth
4 to 6 corn tortillas, torn into smaller pieces

1. Lay black beans then chicken breasts on bottom of your slow cooker.
2. Stir in all other ingredients except the corn tortillas which are best to add in an hour before serving if you have the chance.  If you must add that in the beginning because of time constraints, it's still going to be delicious but just a thick, stew-like soup.  I loved it this way!
3. Turn on slow cooker to low heat if you have time to cook for 6-8 hours.  If you don't have that much cooking time to spare, heat on high for 4 hours.
4. About 30-60 minutes before the end of cooking time, break down tomatoes with a fork or potato masher.  Also, add corn tortilla pieces.
5. After another 30-60 minutes, check black beans for tenderness.  If they are not tender enough, cook an additional hour and recheck.
6. Garnish soup with extra cilantro, strips of corn tortillas, crumbled tortilla chips, shredded cheese (or Daiya Vegan Shreds), or avocado slices.

The soup was simple to make and hits the spot on a cold evening.  It can also be cooked in a saucepan in you don't have a slow cooker.  (Check out the above link to the original recipe for cooking directions.)  This made for a perfect meal in a week so crazy busy that I forgot to take a picture of the final product!

Oh My! Pumpkin Pie!

For your Thanksgiving feast are you planning to cook traditional dishes?  Or do you like to put a different take on the ol' holiday stand-bys?

Whether you're dedicated to popular turkey day foods or like to experiment, cooking with respect to food allergies can make either experience more challenging than usual.  This is especially true concerning desserts.  Below are two pumpkin recipes -- one traditional and one not so much -- that can be made deliciously without the top eight most common food allergens and with the help of some fragrant spices and coconut milk.

Pumpkin Pie

Adapted from Bryanna's Pumpkin Pie recipe

Ingredients:
15-ounce can of pumpkin puree
1 cup canned coconut milk
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt

1 unbaked pie crust (if you have a wheat or gluten allergy, check Whole Foods Market for this)

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. 
2. Combine all ingredients (except for pie crust) in a large bowl.  Blend until smooth and well combined.
3. Pour mixture into pie crust.  Cover edges of pie crust with foil to prevent premature burning.
4. Bake pie at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.  Then reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and cook an additional 45-55 minutes until pie starts to darken.  Cool the pie completely and then refrigerate before serving.                   

The pie will probably not be set when you take it out of the oven.  My pie did not pass the "Insert the knife, is it clean?" test.  But since the top was on the brink of burning, I took it out.  After cooling and refrigerator time, the pie did set.


For a fun change of pace, consider making pumpkin pie ice cream instead!

Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream
Adapted by Hannah Kaminsky's pumpkin pie ice cream recipe

Ingredients:

15-ounce can of pumpkin puree

14 ounce can of coconut milk + 3/4 cup coconut milk
1 cup brown sugar, loosely packed
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp arrowroot starch

1. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
2. Blend until smooth.
3. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
4. Prepare your ice cream per the directions of your ice cream maker. Serve immediately or freeze.  You'll need to defrost frozen solid ice cream for 10-20 minutes on the counter before serving.

Happy pumpkin-eating with your little pumpkins!

Apple Cranberry Crisp

Are you as shocked as I am that Thanksgiving is right around the corner?  Usually I attribute this shocking feeling to the fact that stores get their shelves and displays ready for the big holidays a couple months in advance.  But this time it's different.  Seriously.  Thanksgiving.  Next week.  Yikes!

We usually have Thanksgiving with either my husband's family locally or mine in Southern California.  I love to experiment with new recipes before the big feast so that I can make sure that (1) what our big family eats is delicious and (2) I do not have any one dish that will take up all of my time and energy.  There's nothing worse than a bottleneck at the oven or kitchen sink when you're trying to have 8 dishes ready, all at the same time!

Here is the first of several recipes to consider for your Thanksgiving feast.  Apple cranberry crisp is tart, sweet, and beautiful.  It's a perfect choice for dessert or even an autumn brunch treat.  And you could even make it a day in advance and reheat it although I'm not sure if you will want to do this since you might have a 20-pound turkey that demands a lot of fridge space.  Keep this recipe in your back pocket for the day after Thanksgiving if you have a lot of cranberry sauce left over.

Trader Joe's cranberries are $2 for 12 ounces.

The flavor and texture of Granny Smith apples hold up well in baking.

Trader Joe's certified gluten free rolled oats, 32 oz bag for $4

Apple Cranberry Crisp
Adapted from Diana Rattray's recipe which appears at About.com
Ingredients:

Filling:
Cranberry sauce
12 oz. bag of cranberries
1 cup orange juice
1 cup granulated sugar

5 Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced into 1/4 to 1/2-thick pieces

Topping:
3/4 cup rolled oats (buy certified gluten-free oats if you are allergic to wheat or gluten)
1/2 cup flour or gluten-free flour blend*
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
6 Tbsp vegan margarine, softened and cut into small chunks (Earth Balance makes milk-free, soy-free varieties)

It was looking quite lovely before I baked it.

1. Combine cranberries, orange juice, and granulated sugar in saucepan.  Cook over medium heat partially covered.  Stir occasionally.
2. Cook until most berries have burst and a thick sauce has developed.
3. Remove sauce from heat.  Mix in apple slices until they are fully coated with sauce.
4. Pour apple cranberry mixture into a greased 13"x9" pan or equivalent. (I used a pretty round dish that was less than 2 inches deep and sauce bubbled out onto the oven.  Yikes!
5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  
6. In a separate bowl, mix together all of the dry topping ingredients.
7. Add chunks of softened vegan margarine into dry mixture until coarse chunks form.
8. Drizzle topping over fruit mixture completely covering the fruit. 
9. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes until topping is golden brown.

A delicious but macabre mess from my too shallow dish.

How to make Gluten-free Flour Blend 
3 cups brown rice flour
1 cup potato starch
1/2 cup tapioca starch

1. Thoroughly mix flour and starches together.   Store in an airtight container.
2. You may want to double the recipe so that you have a good-sized stash of GF flour blend for your future baking needs.
3. Although I think it's not necessary for the above crisp recipe, usually you need to add xanthan gum or guar gum when you use a gluten-free four blend.  Xanthan gum (which contains corn derivatives) and guar gum work as binders for baked goods.  

  Use the following rule of thumb for adding xanthan gum or guar gum:

• 1 tsp per cup of flour mix = sandwich bread/pizza crust
• 1/2 tsp per cup of flour mix = cakes/muffins/quick breads
• 1/4 tsp per cup of flour mix = cookies

The Ice Cream Social: A Fundraiser for Yummy Stuff & FAAN

Just the other day, I took Logan and a friend to Toy Boat on Clement St. for an ice cream play date (I'll pat myself on the back for that one).  The shop has toys on shelves all the way up to the ceilings, several window seats for people watching on Clement Street, and Butterscotch, their resident horse still only fifty cents a ride--steal! 

So, halfway through the ice cream, Logan started complaining that his tongue felt weird--his telltale sign of an allergic reaction.  I made him stop eating his ice cream and toss the rest.  I'm thinking nut cross-contamination, but really, have no idea what happened.  (We're going to get Logan allergy tested this summer to get to the bottom of the nut mystery).

Oh, how I wish there was a safe place for all of my children to sit down and have a scoop of ice cream in our neighborhood.  Wouldn't that just be the greatest (second only to the myriad of flavors I promised myself we would make this summer with our new ice cream maker!)?

A mutual friend of mine, Lisa, thought the same thing.  And then discovered it's darn expensive to start up an ice cream and dessert shop in the city.  FAAN is teaming up with her yet unopened shop, Yummy Stuff, to help her raise money to open up her doors in the Richmond District.  Made-to-order ice cream and a completely peanut-free shop.  Yay! 

I'm so excited to be sipping wine and enjoying allergy-friendly desserts with her, and hope you'll join.  Call your babysitter and come hang out with us--we'd love to meet you!  Let me know if you end up going, and I'll keep an eye out for you!

Here is the invite...see you there!