It's a small, small (blog) world

Sarah at No Whey Mama clued me in to the Vegan Lunchbox and Shmooed Food in her comment to my last post.

At the same time, my mother-in-law was busy making "muffins" with Big and Little Guy.

Not exactly their best glamour shots, but you might be able to tell that they do really enjoy these muffins. Okay, you probably can't tell from Big Guy's photo (on the right). He looks sorta confused or worried.

Grandma lets them take a cheese spreader and add their own frosting to the "muffin

So, I asked her if I could get a copy of the recipe. And she sent me an email to let me know she found it on the Vegan Lunchbox site and it was actually the Fluffy While Cupcakes recipe. The first time she made them she didn't include the coconut extract. The second time she used lemon extract because it was what she had in the cupboard.

Smart Grandma! She knew all about that great site long before I did. But isn't it cool? I found about it through my new blog friends

Speaking of new friends, check out Karen's blog, Because I Said So. Her son has egg and peanut allergies and one of the many things she blogs about is dealing with these allergies. She shares a heartbreaking story about what happened to her son when he ate a homemade cookie ... luckily it didn't result in a trip to the ER, but definitely was a difficult experience for her son.

All this talk of baking (not to mention 3 brown squishy bananas sitting on my counter) inspired me to make banana bread with the boys.

Here is the recipe ...

Banana Bread

3 large ripe bananas
1 cup sugar
1 egg -- I use Energ-G egg replacer
4 T.
butter or margarine
1 1/2
cup flour
1 t. salt
1 t. baking soda

Heat oven to 325
Grease
9x5 loaf pan
Mash bananas, beat in sugar, egg, butter
Stir in remaining ingredients until just moistened
Pour in pan
Bake 55-60 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean

Yummmy! Enjoy.

Filling the Pantry

I am including a new section to my blog called “Filling the Pantry.” See it on the right-hand side below the blog archive.

I was inspired when I saw the “Foods” section in No Whey Mama’s blog . By the way she has posted some good-looking recipes. I want to try the Monkey cookies -- I’ll just need to use the egg replacer and skip the nuts.

Anyway, when I started this blog I wanted it to be a humorous (on the rare good day) resource for people and place to share experiences and tips. I have always said that dealing with food allergies is MUCH easier once you know how to fill your pantry with various “safe” things that your child can eat.

I have included lots of references to different products we like at our house, like here and here. But I thought listing cool products on the right would make it a lot easier for the “hordes” of people that read this blog.

When I was roaming other blogs, I did find a reference to Divvies. But I need to see them kid-tested by Big Guy and Little Guy before I will post it on the Filling the Pantry section. They look yummy. Has any one tried any of these out?

Also, let me know if you have any other good food suggestions.

Thanks!

First Step Towards Kindergarten

One small step for Big Guy ... one giant leap for Mommy!

Earlier this week I signed up Big Guy for kindergarten. I absolutely think he is ready, so I'm not too freaked out about my "baby" going to school, but it is a lot to take in. And of course, on top of everything else, I need to think about the food allergy thing.

I filled out the forms and listed all of his allergies (luckily there is a looong blank line on the form!) and mentioned it to the mom-volunteer at registration. She said, "oh, they are really good here for kids with food allergies, they even have their own table in the cafeteria."

Oh.

I guess that is good news.

Right?

Because every mom dreams of having their child ostracized and forced to sit away from everyone else. Right?

There aren't enough other things that make kids feel worried and bad about themselves. When I was in 3rd grade, Adam G. teased me every day on the bus about my hairy arms and told me I looked like a gorilla. Hi ... nearly 30 years later and I still feel a teeny-tiny bit self-conscious about my arms. (Note: they are hairy, but they are blonde hairs and not too unusual.)

I digress. I KNOW it is a good thing to protect the kids. I KNOW there are kids out there who have severe food allergies. But evidently, I'm not alone in this fear. Check out this "Allergy Nation" article, especially the section on School Rules. I found it on Check My Tag. Thanks, Ria.

We have the kindergarten parent's night on April 30, so I'm sure I'll learn more there. Big Guy can, luckily, tolerate a lot more of the food that used to make him sick. He now eats regular yogurt and cheese. He knows not to eat peanuts and other nuts. And he is fine being near peanut products. For example, I eat a peanut butter sandwich right next to him while he eats the Sunbutter sandwich.

So, I don't really think he needs to be at a seperate table. Espescially because kindergarten is only 2 1/2 hours long, so the whole issue of eating in the cafeteria won't come up until first grade.

I'm sure there will be LOTS more to blog about on this subject.

Anyone else have experience with starting your allergy kid at regular "big kid" school??

Easter Bunny

Whew ... I just finished putting out the spoils from the Easter Bunny. As you might imagine, there are many treats that are not available to me for my kids. No chocolate bunnies or Cadbury eggs. However, they can eat jelly beans, hurrah!

Also, there are very cute Sweet Tart eggs with stickers so you can decorate the plastic eggs with eyes, nose and a face and create your very own egg family. These treats are okay for my boys to eat. And I found new candy-coated licorice that is delish!

Evidently there are other parents who want alternatives to candy to give their kids on Easter morning ... I found a package of plastic eggs filled with various morning cartoon characters: Dora, Boots, Diego, Blue, SpongeBob and Patrick. No candy, just more little toys to litter my house.

Overall, I think the boys will be happy and have fun looking for the eggs. Frankly, any kid is happy getting CANDY before breakfast, whether it be Sweet Tarts or a gigantic chocolate bunny.

Happy Easter!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm Back!

I know it has been ages (in blog time, at least) since I last wrote. And just as things were sorta heating up at "He Can't Eat That!" My last post about the food allergy clothing generated several great comments. So, thank you!

And it elicited a "lurker" and fellow mom of a food allergy kid to say hello. Sarah, at "No Whey, Mama" posted a comment to let me know that she listed "He Can't Eat That!" in her blog roll. Cool!!! I think that might be a first. Hurrah! And I'd love to return the favor, so I am adding Sarah's blog to my Mommy Blogger list.

As a result, I've checked out her blog and it is a good read. I can relate to her entry about her daughter's note to anyone watching her about what she can't eat. Little Guy regularly tells me "I can't eat that Mommy. It has eggs in it and makes me sick."

And as I think I wrote earlier every once in a while we play "What will you say if someone gives you ....?" This game involves me saying to the boys, "Pretend I am a friend at school and I tell you 'Hey, try these peanut candies. They are great!'" And then, Big Guy says "No thank you. I'm allergic to peanuts." And Little Guy puts his mouth into my outstretched hand and pretends to eat up the pretend candies. And he laughs hysterically. Hmmmm. I'm not too worried about this killer behaviour because he is my little ham and comic and I'm pretty sure he is doing this for the laugh. The fact that in real situations he asks me if he can eat things leads me to believe he sorta gets it. Plus he is younger and doesn't eat food without me or one of the grandparents around.

Anyway, the point is that even at a young age, these kids get it.

Well, tomorrow is Easter. A VERY interesting holiday for kids with egg allergies. I'll be back very soon with more on how we are handling a holiday that revolves around eggs!

Food Allergy Clothing … Next Hot Item on the Runway?

Hey! This blog thing is working! What do I mean? I mean that thanks to this blog I have gotten hooked into other web sites and blogs that deal with food allergies through comments like this to my posts.

And like everything on the web, once you start clicking on one site it takes you to 10 more cool related (or unrelated, but interesting) sites.

So, now I have a plethora of things to blog about, but for this post, I want to focus on the allergy clothing that is out there. Who knew? Not me!

Liz at Mom-101 showed me these items at her other site, Cool Mom Picks. And thanks to Ria for the comment that led me to her site Check My Tag where they sell clothing that alerts people to the fact that your child has a food allergy and what to do if they eat something off-limits. And then through all that clicking around, I found the patches would require that my guys wear 4 patches … isn’t that a bit much??

Anyway, for fun today I showed Big Guy the different sites and his reaction to the Allergators, “That’s silly. Alligators don’t have allergies.” And the shirt at jeeto that he liked best was the dinosaur one. Go figure!

Anyway, if anyone has any thought or experiences on using these types of clothes, please ler me know!!

"March"ing Along

Wow! It is already MARCH!!!!

It has been awhile (again) since I last posted. I have to admit I am not always feeling it. I do enjoy reading other people's blogs, and I was sad to see a much more experienced blogging mom decide to take a permanent break.

But, like most mothers, I feel pulled in so many directions. It's hard to find time for this creative outlet. Mary at Mom Writes talked about slowing down in the blogging world too. And being somewhat of a perfectionist, I always think I need to have a really funny or meaningful thing to say. But that's not really true in blogland, right? I also get down by the lack of comments, but I shouldn't because I read lots of blogs and don't comment ... I think that is called "lurking."

Also, recently I was inspired by the Lazy Organizer blog and my mom, who has been organizing her whole house. So, last week I cleaned out the pantry/extra dishes/vases/etc. closet in the basement and made that look purdy. AND I cleaned out the medicine/shampoo/everything else closet in my bathroom. Those two feats took professional help (aka my mom came over and cheered me on).

But this weekend I cleaned out Little Guy's closet ... how many diaper bags do I need???? And today I cleaned out the frig ....how many jars of salsa do I need??? And I did those two cleaning jobs on my OWN! So, needless to say, keeping my home from turning into a pigsty also takes up blogging time. (Not to mention my pesky job!)

Also, I have been reading "Surrendering to Motherhood" a book my friend recommended. It really gets you thinking about what is important. I highly recommend it.

Anyway, while I am blogging here today, Big Guy was drawing. Below is his masterpiece, titled, "Bat." Enjoy!



P.S. The words at the top are a result of his interest in letters and copying the letters in the book we read, "Bats at the Beach" that sparked his interest in drawing the bat in the first place.

The Problem with Breakfast Bars

I know that breakfast bars are basically a good marketing gimmick to give people cookies for breakfast -- including kids. I mean, really, how different is a breakfast bar from a fig newton?

Anyway, if you've read this blog before you know that breakfast can be a difficult meal for kids with allergies ... no eggs, etc. Like a lot of moms, I sometimes give in and let the boys eat a breakfast bar for a treat for breakfast ... usually followed by a mandatory yogurt. Up until the time we found out that Little Guy can have wheat, I gave him bars like these. But now I want to give him bars that I can get at the regular grocery store .... but, NOOOOOO! I can't find any. They all seem to have eggs or dairy or nuts in them.

Big Guy can have these because he is growing out of his dairy allergies and can tolerate some dairy in baked goods. But I can't find any regular breakfast bars that Little Guy can eat. So, guess what he can eat in the breakfast bar "cookie" aisle? Pop-tarts!!

Yep, that's it. If I feel guilt over breakfast bars, you know what I must think about pop-tarts! And yet, you also know that I hate to deny the kids things because of the allergies. So, now they get pop-tarts as a treat once in while.

So, if you have any suggestions for breakfast bars that the boys can eat, PLEASE send them my way!!

Happy Valentine’s Day Eve!

Alas, our last ditch effort to get valentines last night was for naught. We ran to Walgreens and successfully found Spiderman valentines, but because we got a big snowstorm last night and all day today, I could not get Big Guy to school. Oh well, he can bring them on Thursday (the next day he goes to school).

Here I was thinking I did so good with the valentines and then I read about Mary. She writes about the cute valentines she and her daughter Emily made for her 3-year old pre-school class at Mom Writes. She also shows some of the other cute things the kids (actually the moms) in the class made – candy necklaces, homemade crayon hearts, homemade cards, etc.

I am such a loser. I was feeling good because this year I taped a mini box of Nerds to the Hallmark Spiderman valentines. (Last year the kids just got a card.)

Big Guy signed his own name and I thought I was mother of the year. NOT! I guess this will be another holiday where poor Big Guy can’t eat most of the “treats” he gets. I am just too worried about the nut possibilities with many of the candies. He is doing better eating dairy and therefore chocolate, but it seems like a lot of those candies have a high likelihood of having nut residue. Oh well, we'll see what he gets on Thursday.

While cruising the internet, I found some interesting facts (and my comments) about Valentines Day from Hallmark.

• Research reveals that more than half of the U.S. population celebrates Valentine’s Day by purchasing a greeting card. And I’m sure you are loving that, Hallmark!
• Romantic Valentine’s Day is a top card-buying occasion for men. Not my husband – he told me early on in our relationship “I don’t do Valentines Day” -- it is a Hallmark holiday” And the factoid above confirms it. (Seriously, I am not complaining, he does a lot of great things other times of the year when he doesn't "have to.")
• Last-minute shopping is the norm for this holiday with nearly 50 percent of all Valentine’s Day cards purchased in the six days prior to Valentine’s Day. Okay, that makes me feel better about my Walgreens run.

Anyway, some more candy ideas to accompany your valentines (if you are into that) for you food allergy folks … Nerds, lollipops, skittles, those candy necklaces , gummy anything (maybe not these).

Happy Valentines Day!!!

Got Hot Chocolate?

Today we got a couple inches of snow, so Big Guy, Little Guy and I went out to shovel the driveway. Due to the steep pitch of our driveway, this was QUITE a task (seriously, it feels like it is at least a 30 degree angle –though my husband is telling me it is only 15 degrees). Luckily, no one tumbled down the icy driveway.

But we did enjoy some yummy hot chocolate afterwards. See the mustaches for evidence of how much they liked it.

The boys also snacked on Dora’s legs and Boots. No, they aren’t cannibals. I found new Dora “animal crackers” which gives the boys a chance to munch on a little girl’s legs and a monkey. Why do kids get such glee out of digesting TV characters? Anyway, I just mention it here because it is another food product that doesn’t contain dairy, peanuts or eggs – hurrah!

Oh yes, the sugar is kicking in.

Whatever it is ... it's hysterical.

Come on ... wouldn't you want to be eaten up by this cutie-pie too?

Funny or Scary?

Funny or scary? Creepy or cute?? You decide!!


I mean is it just me, or does it look like Homer is about to devour Little Guys hand?

Hopefully Little Guy won't come home and decide he should try to put his foot in MY mouth. (I do that enough as it is.)

Thank you, Grandpa-parazzi for sharing these photos of Little Guy from today. Only YOU would have Homer slippers and that's why we love you!

Catch-Up (not ketsup)

Whew ... it has been a while since I last posted. Life has been crazy ... working lots more hours than normal, planning a big trip, trying to figure out what to do about kindergarten. pre-school and childcare this fall for Big Guy and Little Guy. Stress levels are on the rise!! So, what suffered? My blogging.

I was inspired to get back on tonight because I am vain and wanted to show my latest picture of the boys from today ....

Also, I wanted to voice my violent agreement with many of the other posts out there from other blogging moms about the Today show piece on Friday about "happy hour and playdates" Do I think mom's should be getting wasted while their kids play with other kids? No. Do I think it is okay to have a glass of wine with friends while your kids play? (If you know me at ALL, this will be a huge no-brainer) YES. If you want to read some witty posts on this check out Wonder Mom; Friday Playdate; Crib Ceiling or A Mommy Story. As my friend at work said, "I don't' see what the issue is. How is this not different from getting together for dinner with friends and while the kids play you have a beer or glass of wine?" And another point I heard was why is this so focused on moms? Do you think dads don't get together and while the kids play, they watch the game and have a beer?

Well, anyway, enough of that. As part of my catching up, I finally posted my new year's eve photos to that post ... at least I got it done this month!

I am also happy to report that because of this blog I got to know another mom through email who just found out her son has peanut allergies. I'll blog more on that when I can be more thoughtful.

For now, I will just say GO BEARS !!!!!

And if you want some fun, get-in-the spirit You Tube videos, check out the Lyric Opera singer or some good old-fashioned Superbowl Shuffle knock-offs with Da Superfan Shuffle.

One more photo ...this guy is not in the video, but he could be, right???

Food Allergies -- Science or Voodoo?

Sometimes I think the whole food allergy thing is part voo-doo because we don't know where it came from or even exactly how to handle it. There are so many different ideas on how to "treat" them. For example, this article was recently published that reports on an experimental study where they fed a person with a food allergy small amounts of the food the person is allergic to. This is the OPPOSITE approach that is normally taken--which is to completely avoid the allergen.

Because food allergies can be so confusing and so damn scary, I signed my family up to participate in the Children's Memorial Food Allergy study. The four-year, $5.5 million research initiative will look at the impact of environmental and genetic factors on children who suffer with food allergies.

It took about half a day to get to the hospital and have the kids, myself and my husband tested. We all had to get blood drawn and get skin prick tests ... that part sucked, but overall it wasn't bad. (And in fact, the tests alerted us to the fact that Little Guy had grown out of his wheat allergy ... hallelujah!) We recently got a letter updating us on the study and asking us to talk to family and friends and see if they might participate. It seems they especially need families who don't have food allergies to serve as the control group. So, if you are interested in helping the medical community figure out this whole food allergy thang, check out this site.

If you participate, we can compare our medical test scores ... cool!

Picture This

Okay, I am finally succumbing to posting pictures of Big Guy and Little Guy on my blog.

I hadn't done so up until now because I was worried about security issues, but after seeing adorable pictures on other blogs, such as Christina's daughter at A Mommy Story or pictures of this cutie-pie at Mommy Off the Record, I can't resist. It is part of the Mommy-DNA to want to show off pictures of your kids, so why not do so on my blog, right?

So, here is the blog premier of my boys!!!! (Trumpets, please)

Below is Big Guy indulging (can a four-year old indulge?) in a soy ice cream cone. Get it! It's yummy.



And here is Little Guy slurping up a rainbow ice cone (another good non-dairy option for you when you are out, like we were at the zoo, where they don't have soy desserts).



And yes, these photos are about 6 months old now. (No more shorts for us for a while.)

So, those are my boys. Most of the time they are sweet and lovable, other times I refer to them as the hooligans. For better or worse, expect to see more of them here!

Kiddie New Year's Eve

We are finally recovering from last night. Ten years ago that would have meant that I was up all night "enjoying" some beverages on new year's eve, today it means a slightly different thing.

Don't get me wrong, we still enjoyed some beverages (we tried mojitos, they were yummy), but having two kids at a friend's house with their two kids and another mom with her two kids and a couple with their two (are you keeping up?) makes for a very different new year's eve than the pre-kids kind. (For the record, this totals 8 kids under the age of 4 1/2 years old.) t was still lots of fun, just very different.

We let the kids ring in the new year with plastic glasses of sparkling apple juice and run around with noisemakers at about 8:30 p.m. The kids did great. They all played well and had a blast.

The part about the whole night that wiped me out was the sleepover part of it all. We didn't want to drive on new year's because of all the crazy people on the road, so we had one big sleepover. Unfortunately my two guys didn't take so well to this. Big Guy was so excited to sleep in his new spiderman sleeping bag, but when the time came to really use it and sleep, he couldn't do it. He finally fell asleep in my friend's bed watching Ice Age on the portable DVD at a LATE hour. Little Guy actually went down with no fuss (a miracle for him), but woke up about 2:30 a.m. freaked out because he was in a new place. We had to calm him down without waking the rest of the herd, I mean kids. At 6 a.m., Big Guy woke up to go to the bathroom and freaked out because he was overtired and in a new place. I had to hustle him to the basement so he wouldn't freak out. VERY TIRING. But, we had a great group nap from 11:30 to 1:30 today, so we are all feeling better.

And the bottomline is that, overall, the kids had a great time, and so did the grown-ups. By the way, couple random things related to all this:

1. One of my resolutions is to blog more


2. The kids enjoyed Orville Redenbacher's Kettle Korn in the cool new mini-bag (perfect size for kids) at the party -- dairy-free and yummy!


3. I planned on posting photos from last night, but realized I left my digital camera at my friend's house. (I told you we were tired!) I'll add them to this post later in the week. Update: 1/28/07 -- Finally added the photos!!
   

So, Happy New Year everyone!!!!!

He Can’t Eat WHAT????

Boy, just when you start to feel comfortable and confident with the whole food allergy thing for your kids … you get the mystery reaction. (Frankly, I think that is a common occurrence for all parents, just insert a different issue for “food allergy” and I think most parents can relate.)

Here is what happened. We sailed through the holidays (from a food-allergy perspective, not from a “oh my God, I have a lot to do” perspective). Last night, we went over to my in-laws house for dinner and to visit with some out-of-town relatives. We were all enjoying ourselves when I look over and see Big Guy rubbing his eyes a lot while he is playing.

“Come over here, Big Guy. What’s with your eyes?” I asked. “I don’t know, but they really itch, Mommy,” he answered back. When he moved his hands away so I could see his eyes, I could see they were starting to get swollen, almost like he had hives underneath his lower lid. “What in the HELL is that????” I thought to myself. (No! I did not say that out loud to Big Guy.) We hightailed it into the kitchen to show Grandma J and she immediately grabbed the children’s benadryl from the cupboard. We talked him into talking a teaspoon and I cuddled with him in a dark bedroom. He kept saying the light hurt his eyes.

Immediately my mind is trying to figure out what in the world caused this reaction—dinner consisted of chicken, rice, and broccoli. He had a fig Newton after dinner and I let him have three teeny bites of a star sugar cookie my mother-in-law got from some other relatives. Was it the sugar cookie? When I gave it to him I knew there was a good chance there was butter in it, but he has been doing very good tolerating some dairy.

My husband came to check on us and asked what I fed him. When I told him I gave Big Guy a couple small bites of the star cookie, he pointed out that it could have had nuts in it.

Wow, that hadn’t occurred to me. TO ME! I am the ever-vigilant one with these food allergies. I am the one person in the WHOLE WORLD who tries to think of every possible “forbidden” thing that might be in a piece of food they want to eat. But, honestly, it had not entered my head that there might be nuts in these cut-out, tasted like butter/sugar cookies.

And at the same time, my mind is racing watching and listening to Big Guy to make sure his breathing has not been affected. And I am trying to remember where I left the epipen (in my purse, where it ALWAYS is) in case I need to use it. Luckily, his reaction to who-knows-what didn’t get any worse and the wonderful benadryl did the trick.

Overall, he is okay. But this kind of thing makes me crazy. I want to know what evil villain did this to my baby!!!! But, I probably won’t know for sure. That is one of the frustrating and scary things about food allergies.

So, for anyone out there is dealing with food allergies, actually for any parent: my one piece of advice, make sure you have children’s benadryl! And for those with food allergies, make sure you have the epipen. Thankfully I didn’t have to use it, but I was able to deal with the whole situation better because I knew that, if need be, I could use it and possibly save my child’s life.

Anyone else have a mystery reaction recently???

Disclaimer – Part 2

When I first started this blog, I put out a disclaimer to warn parents to use their own judgment regarding what to feed their children with food allergies and, certainly, not to take my suggestions as the final word.

As we are about to celebrate Christmas and enjoy time with family, I want to make another disclaimer. I don’t want any one who reads this blog to think that I don’t fiercely love my kids and appreciate them to pieces. I don’t want my blog posts to come across like whining and wishing my kids were different. They are who they are … food allergies and all … and I love them for it.

I do realize that I am truly blessed to have these healthy and happy kids in my life. I do know that there are millions of couples who can’t conceive or who are dealing with much, much more severe health issues than I do. In the big picture, these food allergies are just a small teeny bump in the road.

This blog is not intended to complain and say “woe is me,” rather it is meant to be a place to share experiences and products that have worked for me and my boys. I have found it really helpful to talk to other parents who have gone through similar experiences and I thought this blog might be a new place to meet other people who can share.

And so, I hope every one who does read this blog appreciates the blessings in their life this holiday season, as I do. And appreciates the spirit in which I write these posts.

… and now, back to wrapping presents for Big Guy and Little Guy!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Cookies He CAN Eat

Unfortunately, I can’t give my kids many of my favorite Christmas cookies from when I was a kid … peanut butter kisses, gingerbread cookies, fudge, or sugar cookies. Most of the cookie recipes call for an egg or two (or evaporated milk or cream cheese). I could use the Ener-G egg replacer, but for some reason I haven’t used it much.

But I am happy to say that I do have some yummy recipes to share with you. Big Guy, Little Guy and I made both of these cookies this weekend. (Thanks to my sister-in-law for the butterscotch shortbread recipe! We’ve been enjoying it for 2 years now.)

Butterscotch Shortbread

½ cup margarine, softened
½ cup shortening
½ cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
2 ¼ cups flour
1 teaspoon salt

Heat oven to 300 degrees. Beat butter, shortening and sugars in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with spoon. Stir in flour and salt. (Dough will be dry and crumbly; use hands to mix completely.)

Roll dough into rectangle, 15 X 7 inches, on lightly floured surface. Cut into 1 1/2-inch squares, or use cookie cutters to make shapes. Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake about 25 minutes or until set. (These cookies brown very little, and the shape does not change.) Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

Note: I don't have the patience to frost and decorate these after dealing with all the work of cut-outs, so I sprinkle green and red sprinkles on them before they go in the oven.

The next recipe, Holiday Oatmeal Cookie Brittle, was new to me. I found it on the Quaker Oats Web site when I was looking for info for my last blog entry, Ghiradelli Chocolate Chips (which happen to be dairy-free). I did use white chocolate chips for the marble effect, even though they contain some milk. I know Big Guy can tolerate that little bit of milk and I decided to give it a try for Little Guy. There are so few white chocolate chips in it and I don’t expect Little Guy to be eating large amounts of these treats.

(That is the strange thing about food allergies. Every person is so unique. It’s not always black and white … although for some people, it is black and white—any bit of the allergen can have severe effects.)

Another idea to make these cookies look fancy/Christmasy if you want or need to skip the white chocolate chips is to use other decorations, such as red and green sprinkles. The chocolate chips are really the main source of sweetness.

Holiday Oatmeal Cookie Brittle

2 cups Quaker oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) cold butter, cut into small pieces (I used Miracle Margarine)
1 cup powdered sugar
2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups (12 oz.) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup white chocolate pieces

Edible gold dust (optional) (No, I did not use this stuff.)

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Line two large cookie sheets with aluminum foil.
2. In large bowl, combine oats, flour and baking powder. Add butter. Beat on low to medium speed of electric mixer until crumbly. Add powdered sugar, brown sugar, water and vanilla. Beat on low speed until dough forms.
3. Divide dough in half. Place one-half on one cookie sheet; flatten with lightly floured hands into 13 x 9-inch rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. Repeat using remaining dough and second cookie sheet. (The Boys LOVED this part!!)
4. Bake 22 to 25 minutes or until golden brown, rotating cookie sheets after 12 minutes. Remove cookie sheets to wire racks.
5. Sprinkle 1 cup dark chocolate pieces evenly over each large, warm cookie. Let stand 2 to 3 minutes. With spatula or knife, spread softened chocolate evenly over cookies. Sprinkle white chocolate pieces evenly over smooth chocolate on both cookies; let stand 2 to 3 minutes. With the tip of a knife, run through the white chocolate pieces, dragging them into the dark chocolate, making marble-like streaks. Sprinkle with gold dust, if desired. Cool completely. (Refrigerate 15 minutes to set chocolate, if necessary.)
6. Remove large cookies from cookie sheet and peel off foil. Break each into 24 pieces. Store tightly covered in a cool place.

I will stay on the look-out for Christmas cookie recipes that are okay for people who allergic to dairy, egg, peanut and tree nuts, but I’d also love to know if any of you have any recipes to share!!!

Eatmeal

In my last post, Brunch Issues, I lamented about the challenges of going out for breakfast food with the boys. But, I neglected to sing the praises for oatmeal—or eatmeal, as Little Guy calls it—a great breakfast option for kids with dairy, egg, nut and wheat allergies.

We eat Quaker Instant Oatmeal at home … usually Maple & Brown Sugar or Apple Cinnamon. It’s filling, low fat and contains protein. Quaker also says it helps remove cholesterol. I don't know if a four year old and two year old have many cholesterol issues, but hey, can't hurt. And the kids eat it up! But a word of caution regarding the various kinds of Quaker oatmeal … check the ingredient label. Some of them do contain dairy, so look carefully.

When you are out at a restaurant, you can usually get it plain with just a side of brown sugar or raisins. Be sure to ask for it plain or they might bring it out with milk and butter on it.

Hope you, too, can enjoy a nice bowl of warm “eatmeal” on a cold wintry day!

Brunch Issues

This past weekend we went to my niece's baptism. (I am the godmother ... my first time!) The baptism was really nice and Baby Z behaved like an angel—I really think that baptismal water is extra special!

After the baptism, we all went to a restaurant for brunch. Hmmm, brunch for Big Guy and Little Guy .... okay. You see, breakfast can be a tough meal when you have kids with dairy and egg allergies (and don’t even get me started on how much harder it was when Little Guy had the wheat allergy). It's manageable at home, but harder at a restaurant where you can't ensure they use Miracle Margarine on the toast. (Or for that matter, you can’t ensure the bread doesn’t have milk in it.)

Please note: my sister-in-law was great and warned me that there might not be much the boys could eat there. Giving me the heads up helps tremendously. Like the boy scouts say “be prepared!”

I’m not here to whine about what the kids can’t eat, but I do want to address the breakfast issue because I’ve had friends with kids with egg allergies ask for ideas on what to feed them.

So, let’s look at the popular kid foods at a breakfast place and whether my boys can enjoy them:

• Pancakes – nope
• Scrambled eggs—no
• Waffles – nuh-uh
• French toast-- not going to happen (unless I want to use the epipen)

What can they eat??? Granted, not a whole lot at a breakfast place, but there are some options. Breakfast meats are a wonderful option. We ordered a side of bacon and a side of sausage. The boys ate it UP! Bring it.

Before the pork extravaganza was set down in front of them, they polished off the fruit plate. Cantaloupe, watermelon, strawberries (for Big Guy, not Little Guy), blueberries, mango, and even pomegranate seeds! (They didn’t have bagels at this restaurant, but a plain bagel is almost always okay for egg and dairy allergies—not wheat allergies.)

So, they did fine at the baptism brunch. Plus, Little Guy hasn’t grown out of his “not very interested in eating anything” phase, so the fact that most of the menu was off limits to him wasn’t much of an issue.

Would I make going out to breakfast a regular tradition for my boys? Ummm, no. There are just too many things on the menu they can’t eat. But, it was definitely do-able for a special occasion, like this one.

I’ll save my suggestions for breakfast foods at home for another day. Anyone have any ideas for what else to order at the breakfast joint?