This was our breakfast this morning – dairy free, egg free and nut free banana muffins and a coconut yogurt and flaxseed milkshake. Yum! Smoothies are something we have often but I am always looking for new muffins or easy breakfasts to make because that’s an area where I feel like we don’t have a whole lot of variety. These banana muffins were a hit and were some of the best that I have made without eggs. Click here for the recipe.
A couple of weeks ago when we were at ECFE one of the teachers mentioned that they gave the kids goldfish for snack but that they didn’t give any to Bo. She said this to me pretty nonchalantly and it was at the end of class as we were trying to gather the kids, coats, all their stuff and head out the door so I was rather distracted and it didn’t fully sink in – the fact that she just said that other kids were given goldfish at snack time. Then I left with Bo, walked down the hallway and noticed he was rubbing his eyes and one of them was bloodshot. By the time we made it across the parking lot and into the car he was sneezing and rubbing his eyes….that’s when the one teachers comment finally sunk in – Bo was at the same table as other kids who were eating goldfish (all goldfish contain dairy) and he must be reacting to that. Luckily I was able to react right away, gave him Benadryl, took him home and gave him a bath and the reaction calmed down. I was frustrated and disappointed because we had so many successful weeks of being at ECFE and being reaction free and I just felt totally bummed that this happened. I was conflicted about what to do because honestly it just sounded so overwhelming to have to call the teacher, ask her about the goldfish and explain to her again that Bo is so allergic to dairy that he can’t even touch it. After discussing with my husband I knew it was best to call the lead teacher to discuss with her, plus, I wanted to do another session of ECFE and was hoping to take class with the same teachers because I had felt so good about how they had handled his allergies. When I called and spoke with her she did say that she was giving other kids goldfish and she was soooo sorry because she didn’t realize that Bo couldn’t even touch/be around dairy she just thought he was safe as long as he didn’t ingest it. I am not trying to blame the teacher at all and I know she feels absolutely horrible but this was a good reminder for me that I need to be really clear about Bo’s allergies, his sensitivity to even touching those foods, and that I maybe need to talk about it or bring it up multiple times so that his caregivers do not forget. I know I explained to the staff that he was allergic, even to the touch, but I also know that those teachers have so many kids with so many different needs and that it’s a lot to remember each kids specific situation/need.
I spoke with this teacher again at our class today and asked her for advice/suggestions on things I could do when I am leaving Bo in the care of others outside of our house – the other big concern I have right now is leaving him in the sunday school at church. I asked if it would be helpful if I put a sticker on him every time that listed his allergies, my thought on this was that if an adult saw that he was sneezing and rubbing his eyes and then noticed his sticker maybe it would trigger them to call me or it would just be a reminder for them that this is the little boy with the severe allergies, his teacher thought this would be a good idea, and she also said to me “don’t be afraid to scare the hell out of the teacher!” I was sort of relieved to hear this coming from a Teacher. I never want to offend or bombard someone by telling them so much information but I am realizing more and more how much I need to constantly remind people and talk about Bo’s specific needs. She also suggested always leaving a written action plan. This prompted me to look online for other action plans mom’s have created for their kids and the ones I was finding were almost too detailed and too much information for someone to sort through at a time of panic or in an emergency . I just wanted something basic that was very clear and easy to follow. I think I found just the answer and I am feeling so good about having this product to leave for those who are caring for Bo. Medpax – what a great idea! This product is a container that will hold all of BO’s medications that we keep with us at all times (Epi-pen, Benadryl & Inhaler) and also has a very simple and clear action plan along with Bo’s picture on the front of the case.
If you have a food allergic kid and have a different ‘action plan’ that you leave with caregivers – what do you use? I would love to hear how other people handle this. Has anyone used a Medipax. I’ll have to write again after we’ve used it for a bit and will let you know what we think.
Bo has never been much of a breakfast eater. He wakes up, has a cup of milk, and then I can’t get him to eat much until about 10am. But as of late he has been waking up saying he’s hungry and he often will eat breakfast right away. Maybe it’s because he has a new favorite — yogurt & granola! This So delicious coconut yogurt is pretty good some of the best dairy free yogurt on the market. The granola is pretty good too and it’s awesome that it’s dairy, egg and NUT free.
We have a new favorite holiday treat in our house! We just mix together Coconut Nog and Soy/Coconut or any kind of dairy free ice cream. A perfect dairy free, egg free and nut free holiday milkshake. Have you tried to make milkshakes with the chocolate mint? We have to try that next.
We had a few different family gatherings this past week and we were in charge of bringing desserts because they really tend to be one of the harder things to re-create or buy dairy, egg and nut free. I made all of the following… and we ate all of these over the last four days. The links to the recipes are below each photo.
We had a really great Thanksgiving! Both of our families were so amazing and so accommodating – they made all of the food dairy, egg and nut free so that Bo could be a part of the celebrations. We are so thankful for such understanding and loving families!
Dairy, egg and nut free brownies.
Apple Crisp. I used this Martha Stewart Recipe and just used Earth Balance butter in place of regular butter.
Here’s a delicious, dairy free, egg free, nut free, super easy, pot roast recipe from one of my faves – Martha Stewart. We had this tonight with cous cous and acorn squash. I highly recommend!
We have a problem. I had never made homemade bread until last Thursday and since I have made 6 loaves. We’re addicted. It’s the most delicious thing and such a perfect compliment to meals on the cold, dark nights. The other piece I am loving about making homemade bread is being able to slice it to any size as I think Bo prefers sandwiches with very thin slices of bread. I followed this recipe . The bread is delicious and the ingredients are simple. I wanted to try another bread yesterday to compare and see if I could find another recipe that I liked more but it isn’t even worth sharing – it wasn’t nearly as good. Stick with this one!
I really want to try other kinds of bread, too, so if you know of a good recipe that is egg and dairy free please post in the comments below or email me at abby.anderson07@gmail.com.
I love corn chowder. I miss all the creamy soups that usually have dairy in them like chicken wild rice and corn chowder. I have successfully re-created a really delicious chicken wild rice soup, which I believe I still need to do a post on, but I was so nervous to attempt corn chowder for some reason. Any time I was out to dinner with friends or with my husband I was hoping they would have it on the menu but no such luck as of late so yesterday I decided I would give it a go! It was a success and it turned out better than I could have imagined. Always feels so good when that happens. I kind of got to the final ‘recipe’ in a round about way so hopefully you can follow along.
I started with this recipe but was confused when it said polenta so I made an unnecessarily huge batch of polenta and added that until I got the right thickness in my soup. If I had to do it over again I would do it the same way but would cut the batch of polenta in half. Here’s a rough idea of what my recipe was like:
In a smaller pot – start the POLENTA:
Boil the water with the salt in it. Once water is boiling add the cornmeal and stir, I turned the heat down to medium low and stirred every now and then for about 20 mins/half hour.
CORN CHOWDER recipe – slightly modified from this recipe.
I wanted my soup to be pretty chunky and thick so I just added a bit more veggies than the recipe called for but if you want a more runny soup then I would stick with the original recipe.
1. In a 3-quart stockpot, bring the broth to a boil and add the potatoes, onions and celery. Cook until the potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes.
2. Add the corn and polenta. Cook for 20 minutes more at a low boil.
4. Add the soymilk, salt and pepper, cooking until desired thickness and temperature.
We were thrilled that we could attempt to introduce egg yolks into Bo’s diet and so we quickly but cautiously followed the doctors directions and made 12 muffins and only used 1/2 of an egg yolk. I used this blueberry muffin recipe, used 1/2 of an egg yolk and then flax-seed as an additional egg replacement since the recipe calls for 2 eggs. I will definitely be using this recipe again because these muffins were amazing.
The best news…Bo had about a half of a muffin and had no visible reaction! We will try to get him to eat a few more muffins from this batch to confirm that he handles it o.k.. and if he does I will make another batch of muffins but this time will include a whole egg yolk.
Feeling very hopeful about this all! It was an exciting Saturday for us!
Earlier this week, we met with Bo’s doctor to go over his test results. They re-tested all of the foods he had been diagnosed as allergic to after his blood test at 6 months old. We were definitely hoping for some good news but were prepared to hear that nothing had changed. The doctor compared his tests at 6 months with his 2-year-old tests and unfortunately all of his numbers have gone up significantly. This doesn’t necessarily mean that his allergies have gotten worse but it was disappointing because we definitely want to see his numbers go down. His numbers going down would lead us to believe he is ‘outgrowing them’ and/or they give the doctor more of a reason to do a skin test and food challenge. With that said, there is definitely some argument as to how much weight these numbers hold and what they really mean but because we have seen a reaction from both dairy (an anaphylactic reaction) and nuts from Bo mixed with the fact that we now know his numbers are going up the doctor believes it’s safe to say he is still very allergic and should avoid dairy & nuts. As for the eggs, those numbers did increase but are still very low – especially his numbers for egg yolk. His numbers for eggs and the fact that we have never seen an egg reaction in his two years of life led the doctor to give us the OK to slowly try to see if Bo could handle egg yolk! This was definitely the best news we received. I really feel like his little body doesn’t react to eggs, but we shall see as we slowly test how much egg he can handle or if he can handle it.
Brief summary of his test results and what is he is allergic to listed in order of highest to lowest levels.
Casein (a milk protein)
Whey
Cows Milk
Peanut
Egg White
Almond
Walnut
Cashew
Egg Yolks
So, other than the possibility of having egg in his diet, which would be huge, nothing else will change. We will still need to be dilligent about keeping Bo from coming into contact with dairy and nuts and will continue living this more ‘high alert’ lifestyle we are starting to become accustomed to. Bo will be tested again next year as long as he has no major reactions or changes between now and then.
