Apology From Emily's Dad

I have to apologize for the lack of posts. I am having technical issues, so I'm writing this post from my phone :-).

Emily is great. Growing fast and gaining her independence. I try to help her down steps and she says to me, "I can do it myselth." It's adorable. Her food allergies have been well under control, even though she is starting to get bloated from coconut. I got her a new Epi-Pen. I'm going to have my little sister knit her a Hello Kitty case for it, even though I'll be the one carrying it all the time. My technical issues should be resolved soon, so we will be back with more fun posts about our outings, finds, and recipes.





Also, our friend Jen's YouTube cooking show Tasty Memories just hit its one year anniversary! Emily and I are soon going to become a part of this series by showing viewers allergy-friendly recipes. I'll update you more on this soon. :)

Please show her some love by subscribing here: Tasty Memories

"Like" http://www.facebook.com/JustEatLife
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Emily's Allergies: Favorite Banana Pancakes on Fathers Day

It's Father's Day and there is nothing like a great breakfast with that special lady in your life. I love pancakes. I can eat stacks of them. Emily loves bananas as well; she would have them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if she could. Her allergies to milk and eggs make it impossible for her to enjoy pancakes outside of the house, which is a bummer because I would have loved to take her to some of my favorite diners for breakfast.

For this recipe, I picked up some Cherrybrook Kitchen Gluten Free Dreams Pancake Mix at Whole Foods. It's dairy, nut, and egg free. I love this stuff. I just followed the directions on the box. Next, I chopped up 2 large bananas - one for the mix itself and the other for topping. They suggest rice milk, but I used Vanilla soy milk instead. I also added a pinch of cinnamon and sugar to go with the banana. Emily had a blast mixing for me. You can see the focus in her face.



She ate most of the bananas in the preparation process; so by the time I served her the pancakes, she only ate a few pieces. That's O.k. Dada is always there to "clean up" after her. After she was done, it was time for drawing before we headed out to Central Park to play and get wet. That's where my cell phone tragically leapt into a watery grave. I hope all the Dads out there (mothers also) had a wonderful Father's Day. I know I did.

Day at the Museum for Emily's Allergies

For my thursday dinner with my princess I switched it up. So my lovely friend Jennifer from Jen Eats Life and Tasty Memories told me she once was a tour guide at the American Museum of Natural History and had a hide and seek tour I told her she had to take us. Me and Emily got to the museum around 3:45pm Jen was running a little late :) its ok though. The food truck outside the museum had "Fench Fies" on the menu and Emily wanted some. So after checking if the food was prepared with other foods that contain dairy, eggs or nuts to set off her food allergies we got a order of fries to share. Jen came not to long after and took us in and showed us all the secret things of the museum. The meaning of the fire burning in the background meant on one display or how the Male Guerilla in another display was killed by the curator. He didn't want to kill the Guerilla it was about to attack him so he had to. He felt so bad that in his will he stated he wanted to be buried where he shot down the Guerrilla. It was amazing Emily loved every moment except the rainforest part she isn't to fond of dark places. We found Po from Kung Fu Panda sat in a giant Oyster saw the T-Rex she laid down for a quick rest and we played hide and seek but her spot wasn't so good. At the end of our tour we got to take some pics with our Dino friends. After we went to Hampton Chutney. I have never been to this place They are Allergy friendly. Emily and Jen had Dosa with chicken spinach and sun dried tomatoes. I had classic Mosala Dosa. It was great along with the mango chutney it came with.

Weekender on Emily's Allergies

Memorial Day weekend oh how I love you and so does Emily. We had a very nice weekend Friday we spent time in Queens with old friends Saturday we headed over to BoBoos (my mothers) house Sunday went to a family barbeque. They even prepared Allergy friendly dishes for Emily :) after the BBQ we headed to see Jen from Tasty Memories and Jen Eats Life to film and make Pizza's on the Grill it was a first time for me preparing them that way. There was no cheese Just veggies tomato, sweet red peppers, onions and cauliflower nothing that would trigger her food allergies (dairy, eggs or nuts).The sauce Jen made was superb. Made a simple dough of flour, water and yeast. Emily loved rolling the dough and beating it. She was such a good little helper. The pizza came out spectacular and Emily LOVED!! it. Can't wait to show the vlog and future collaborations. Monday we went to see Kung Fu Panda 2. That movie was awesome saw it in IMAX and Princess was blown away. She wants a baby panda now :) so DaDa has to get one.  

                                        SKADOOSH!!!!!

Jen Eats Life and Emily's Allergies

Emily's Allergies Thusday Dinner.

So first off I have to apologize for no post last week on Emily's Allergies. Had some technical difficulties with an SD card and the pics where lost :-( So I'll still fill you in on how we went to see the Gazillion Bubble Show (Princess loved it). It's fun for the whole family. Make sure you pick up some of there bubbles after the show also or your little ones will keep you up all night crying for them. So this week for our Thursday dinner I took Emily to Curly's Vegetarian Lunch. This place is amazing! you can draw on napkins as you wait for your order thanks to the complementary cup of crayons and if your art is good enough it gets posted on the walls for all to see. Emily loved that part you can see how concentrated she was. I asked her what she wanted to eat she couldn't decide. So Dada picked out Soy chicken tenders and curly fries. I ordered the Pop 400 million wrap. This thing is awesome filled with beans, organic brown rice, pico de gallo, cheese and sour cream wrapped in a wheat tortilla. Emily loved her tenders and fries the barbecue sauce that came with it was a little pica (Spicy) for princess so she stuck to "Katsup". Curly's also gets their desserts from Vegan Treats. So we got a slice of Strawberry Shortcake. OK sorry I didn't get a good pic of the cake but rite when it hit the table Emily yells "Tank yew" to the waitress and digs in. I could not stop her. It was a massacre on a mass scale. Poor cake :( It sure was good though.          

Food Allergy Awareness Week

From May 8th through May 14th is Food Allergy Awareness Week. So spread the word about food allergies any way you can. I'm thinking of a way that me and princess can spread the word. 

Emily wants Broccoli in hers please!!

Last week Wednesday I asked the Twitterverse where should I take Princess tomorrow for dinner? I was answered by Tamara Wudinich who runs the blog Serendipindots if Emily Likes Mac n' Cheese. She heard of S'Mac in NY and that it was a good Food Allergy friendly place. I have heard of S'mac before and even tasted some of their Mac n' Cheese at a street fair a long time ago. So the decision was made. My co worker and good friend Kim who runs the site Virago Inc. (This one is for the grown ups;) One of the many people who kidnap my princess whenever I bring her into the office treated me and Emily to S'mac once I told her about the place. We stopped to get some Vegan Chocolate cake before getting to S'mac.  I asked princess what she wanted in her Mac n' Cheese and gave her the choices of hamburger meat, broccoli or chicken to go in her vegan noch size pan of mac n' cheese. She chose the Broccoli. I love that she loves it as much as I do. Kim got vegan mac n' cheese with Spinach and Garlic and I got American and cheddar cheese with broccoli and mushrooms. You have to be careful the pans they bring out your orders in are very HOT! So let them cool a bit before digging in. Emily Loved her order but then saw the "Ketsup" sitting on the table and wanted some on hers. I put a tiny bit at first to see how she would like it. Of course she loved it and made me put it on the whole thing. After eating this Delish! Mac n Cheese Dinner it was time for Cake! I must say this cake was a little sweeter than the other one we had before. Emily went through it like no tomorrow afterwards Jetting out of S'mac! She was on a sugar rush running and climbing every set of steps spinning and jumping. It was toddler Parkour. 

Emily's Allergies Chocolate Bliss

OK so every weekend I have with princess is always a great one. We had a great time at my my mothers (booboos) house for her Birthday. Ate until we all dropped, But the highlight of the weekend for Emily was Death by Chocolate Cake! I have had my fair share of chocolate cakes but nothing like this. We went to Atlas Cafe. A vegan and non vegan hole in the wall Mecca. They get there desserts from Vegan Treats in Bethlehem, PA. A co worker of mine put me on to them and Atlas Cafe. So I had to share this with Princess. I ordered a Vegan Philly Cheese Steak and a piece of Death by Chocolate Cake. Emily went straight for the cake :) I have to admit I was skeptical at first thinking how could something be soooooo god and vegan. So watching Emily indulge herself in this chocolate paradise looking at her face waiting for her to break out from an Allergic reaction. Nothing happened thankfully she ate some sandwich also but was more into the cake. They have a variety of treats from Strawberry Shortcake to Coconut Cake :) I recommend Atlas Cafe to anyone for a good meal (vegan or not) and make sure you save room for Desert! Princess always has room.    

Late Easter Post Sorry :-/

I have to apologize for my late post. It has been a busy week. Had a great early Easter last Thursday with my Princess. (the reasons ill explain in another blog) Everyone here at the loft threatened me to bring Emily to the office. Its a very kid and pet friendly office. So hiding Emily's Easter basket that my older sister made for her under a desk. We put Emily on the hunt for it. She looked under pillows on the couches and in file cabinets for about 2 minutes before giving up. She is a want it now kind of girl so i pointed her in the rite direction. I have never seen jelly beans get inhaled so fast. My sister did a great job going around Emily's Food Allergies filling the basket with toys, jelly beans, twizzlers and peeps (yes there safe). So after playing with hopping bunnies and giant bubbles in the office i ask princess what she wants to eat. I get a whisper in my ear "Flafle". (Falafle). So we went and got Flafle with hummus for princess. I had a great surprise for her after our Falafle to go to Baby Cakes. You could see the glow on her face arriving at the bakery. She had agave filled Brownies and a Red Velvet cupcake. She has her little tradition of dipping the brownies in the icing of the cupcake :) The Baby Cakes girls where so sweet to Emily giving her a complementary glass of Soy Milk. WE LOVE YOU BABY CAKES!  Sorry I don't have the chocolaty face pic of her :( After are sweet fix at Baby Cakes we went to the park to work it off. Walking in Soho we came across a garden that we strolled through they had a Pétanque court and GIANT Chickens. She had a Ball. A time spent Happy is time well spent. And I'm always happy when I'm with my princess.

My Angel's Allergies: Vietnamese-inspired Mahi-Mahi

I responded to a tweett the other week from @AllergicAngel. She asked what kind of fish recipe should she make for her fish on Friday. So I suggested my favorite fish Mahi Mahi. She came up with

My Angel's Allergies: Vietnamese-inspired Mahi-Mahi

Calling all Parents with children with Food Allergies

A few days ago I was contacted by my older sister. She told me she had a friend who had a son with an illness that left him with a very limited diet. I contacted Gladys to ask her what  exactly her sons condition was. I was in for a surprise. She told me that her son was diagnosed at 18 moths with Eosinophilic Esophagitis and Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis. I have ran across this disorder in my mass research on food allergies but never looked more in depth into it until now. It is a disorder ( like food allergies) but its when the body rejects food like it would the flu. Eosinophils are a type of white blood cells that triple in numbers when they think something foreign inters the body ( for him its food). Eosinophilic Esophagitis is the high number of Eosinophils in the esophagus. Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis effects the stomach and small intestine. 


The symptoms include:

•  Nausea or Vomiting
•  Diarrhea 
•  Failure to thrive (poor growth or weight loss)
•  Abdominal or chest pain 
•  Reflux that does not respond to usual therapy (which includes proton pump inhibitors, a medicine which stops acid production)

•  Dysphagia (Difficulty swallowing)
•  Food impactions (food gets stuck in the throat)
•  Gastroparesis (Delayed emptying of the stomach)
•  Anorexia (poor appetite)
•  Bloating
•  Anemia
•  Blood in the stool
•  Malnutrition
•  Difficulty sleeping

There is no cure for EE or EG, but treatment can help alleviate symptoms and help prevent more damage to the gastrointestinal tract. Her son is going through dietary therapy. Its a testing of food allergies as a guide for an elimination diet. An elimination diet is avoiding the foods that test positive on allergy testing. He is on an amino acid formula called Elecare. It is protein based that has absolutely NO allergens. Along with that her son who's name is Daniel by the way can now have pork, potatoes, apples, corn, broccoli, cod or tuna and bananas with the exception of a few more I haven't been updated on. She can only cook with 100% corn, vegetable or olive oil and season with honey, salt, pepper, pure maple syrup and Fleishman's margarine. She is a dedicated mother and is giving it her all and I think she is doing a damn good job. So I'm reaching out to everyone and anyone who has information on EE and EG. For more information on EE and EG click here. 

   

      Thanks, 

          Danny Brown.

Scalloped Potatoes (Recipe Suggestion)

So here it is. Last week I asked on twitter are there any recipes that you may want your little ones to have but can't because of their food allergies. The tweet was answered by  Shayna Graham. She wanted a recipe for scalloped potatoes without gluten, yeast, mushrooms, dairy,eggs or nuts. So I took the job and went researching at Whole Foods and got a few things and came up with a great recipe that came out superb (Emily loved it!).

• 5 tbs of Earth Balance Buttery Spread
• 1/4 Soy Flower ( or any other to fit your allergies)
• 2 cups Soy Milk ( or any other to fit your allergies)
• 8 oz Daiya Cheese
• 4 large Russet Potatoes (sliced 1/8 inch thick)
• 1/2 Natural Nectar Crackle Bread (Crumbled into crumbs)

Preheat oven to 350°. In a sause pan add the butter and whisk in flour on low heat. After butter and flour are mixed well start to slowly whisk in milk and let come to a simmer. 

While simmering gradually start mixing in 6 ounces of the cheese while stirring slowly. salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat. In a baking pan I used an aluminum one (hey I'm a single dad bare with me) Grease and add a layer of potatoes first then sauce and sprinkle some remaining cheese. the layers should start with potatoes at the bottom and end with sauce and cheese on top.

Sprinkle crumbs on the top. The flavor crackers I use where sun dried tomato and oregano. Bake for an hour and about 15 min uncovered until golden brown and potatoes are tender.

I hope you enjoy it Shayna as much as me and princess did. Also sorry about the pics its my first time being a food photographer. If anyone has any questions or input I would love to hear from you. 

Recipe Suggestion around Food Allergies #1

I asked on twitter are there any recipes that you may want your little ones to have but can't because of their food allergies. I got a request from Shayna Graham for Scalloped Potatoes without gluten, yeast, mushrooms, dairy, eggs and nuts. So I am going to make it my weekend project to make this recipe going around those allergies. I will take Photos of the process and ingredients (bare with my I'm no photographer). I'm EXCITED! hopefully Emily will like them. I'll keep you posted :) 

Miss Emi Mac Mac n Cheese (No food allergies here)

Baked Mac and Cheese is one of my favorite things to eat. I felt bad last Thanksgiving when I had to deprive Emily of Mac n Cheese because of her dairy allergy. Dada would fix that though :) I Looked up vegan mac n cheese but nothing I was to amazed of. Thinking of how we made baked mac n cheese I just started replacing Ingredients.

Thus the creation of Miss Emi's Mac n Cheese.
I know it's corny but I thought it was catchy.

I made some Gluten free macaroni according to the box instructions.

• 2 cups of soy milk (rice or coconut)
• 1/4 cup of flour
• 2 packs of Daiya cheese (cheddar and mozzarella)
• 1 cup of bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup of Earth Balance original buttery spread

Pre heat the oven 350°
Add soy milk, flour and salt to taste in a large bowl and whisk until thickened. Stir in 1 1/2 pack of cheese, 1/2 cup of bread crumbs and macaroni into the mixture.
Add the mixture into a lightly greased baking dish and on the top sprinkle the remaining cheese and bread crumbs and drizzle melted butter over the top.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until the top is slightly golden. (you don't want the cheese on top to overcook) It will turn into a hard layer of burnt cheese if you don't keep an eye on it.
This is a great side dish or can even be a main dish if you just want some mack n cheese.
I also need to apologize I have no pictures of these creations. I have a composition notebook with my recipes and didn't think to take pics while making them. In the future from here on I will start taking pictures of princess enjoying all the things i make for her.

April Food Allergy Fools! (My Weekender)

Soooooo yesterday was April first (April Fools) I made some delish Vegan sugar cookies for Emily. She loved them so much. Nothing seemed to be wrong with them by her standards but there was something a little deceiving about them. Maybe it was the cauliflower i steamed and pureed and added to the batter ;)
Yes i did it i added veggies to my princesses yummy treat. Even though it wasn't a really good april fools attempt. I still liked the fact she was fooled by thinking she was just getting a treat that was just something sweet to eat. I used a simple recipe you can find here.  Just break off about 2 bulbs of cauliflower steam them puree and add to the batter. It doesn't change the taste at all. If it did Emily's picky tongue would figure it out. I say give it a shot. Maybe add it to a cake. And if you don't want to use an egg replacer like Ener-G you can always use a banana smashed and mix it in with the batter. I hope you all had a great april fools.

Soooooooy Good Biscuits

I'm going  to be sharing one of Emily's favorite things to eat. Biscuits...she can't have regular buttermilk biscuits so I had to come up with a way to work around princesses food allergies. So knowing that my grandma knew how to make some gooooood buttermilk biscuits so i took her recipe and tweeked it for princess. Her recipe was.

• 2 cups of flour 
• 1 tbs of baking powder
• 1 tbs of sugar 
• 1/2 tbs salt
• 8 tbs of butter which I substituted with Earth Balance buttery sticks
• 3/4 cups of milk that i replaced with Soy Milk

Preheat the oven at 450°
In a large bowl add flour, baking powder, sugar,salt and the butter
Mixing it together with your hands is always best for me until the mixture looks like crumbs.
Add the soy milk (or whichever milk you like) and mix until sticky. Place on a floured surface and kneed the dough until the moisture is gone.
Roll out your dough into a 1/4 inch thick layer and fold. Cut out your biscuits and place them on a greased baking sheet. Bake for 15 min or until the tops are golden.
They always come out great. Emily loves biscuits with jelly or Apple Butter :)

Peanut Allergy book suggestion

I have researched a lot of material on food allergies since finding out my princess was allergic to certain things. I like Beyond a Peanut: Is This Safe? The flash cards are great. Even though princess likes to play matching games and pretend go fish with them i still use them to teach her about her allergies. I use them with my sisters so they can learn easily about what to look out for how to read labels and even polite ways to say no when offered foods. The book is only 36 pages and I highly recommend it. Give cards to teachers, babysitters and family members.

The Food Allergy Day Camp

If you haven't already heard FAAN is now accepting registration to its Food Allergy Safe day camp. I think that this is great. To bad its only in 3 locations so far I would love to see one in NYC soon. They have a great activity list and also education on food allergies. There will be a registered nurse who specializes in allergic reactions so all the kids are in safe hands.

Camp TAG - FAAN

My Own Recipes around Food Allergies

I am going to be posting a few recipes that i have come up with for Emily to enjoy despite her food allergies. Bare with me I have them written in a marble so I will try and post them in a timely fashion for you to enjoy.

Kid Food Allergies Develop In The Womb; First Born More At Risk

Interesting article. Let me know what you think.

Kid Food Allergies Develop In The Womb; First Born More At Risk

I wont let Food Allergies stop the goodness.

Having a child with food allergies can be hard sometimes. You want them to enjoy all the things you did when you where a kid. When i was little one of my favorite things to eat was Banana Pudding. Oh gosh how i loved it so much. I got sick one time from eating it so much :) I took princess to my grandmothers house and my grandma wanted an old fashioned Banana Pudding. You know the cooked pudding the Nilla wafers and the whipped egg whites all layered up and baked so the top is a little brown. Well its a tasty banana pudding but i felt sooo bad because princess wouldn't be able to enjoy the goodness. I had to figure out a way to make a banana pudding for my Emily to enjoy. I found out that the Jell-O brand instant pudding mix didn't have any protein allergens in the ingredient list and i know that Oreos are safe for princess to eat also the golden ones. Nilla Wafers contain milk and eggs.So making the mix using soy milk i started splitting oreos. I didn't want to make it super sweet so i removed the cream and lined the baking pan with the cookie. I needed a cream to layer with the cookies and bananas. I found a recipe for Vegan Coconut cream. I mean wow this banana pudding was amazing. Using these simple replacements Emily got to enjoy a great treat. She wanted more and more but I didn't want her to get a tummy ache like i did when I was young. It was a great desert. Nothing special make it just how you would any other banana pudding.

Peanut Allergy label list.

When shopping for foods for a child with food allergies you would think that reading labels would be straight forward and have in bold letters CONTAINS PEANUTS! Some do but not all and you have to be aware of what your purchasing. So I am providing a list of things that have Peanut Protein in them. Food Allergy Books by Linda Coss gave me some good insight I found very useful.

Arachic oil                                                              
Arachis 
Arachis hypogaea 
Artificial nuts 
Beer nuts 
Boiled peanuts 

Cold pressed, extruded, or expelled peanut oil 

Crushed nuts, crushed peanuts 
Dry roasted peanuts 
Earth nuts 
Goober peas 
Goobers 
Ground nuts, ground peanuts 
Hydrolyzed peanut protein
Hypogaeic acid
Mandelonas
Mixed nuts
Monkey nuts
Nu nuts flavored nuts
Nut pieces
Nutmeat 

Peanuts, peanut butter, peanut butter chips, peanut butter morsels 

Peanut flour
Peanut paste
Peanuts sauce, peanut syrup
Spanish peanuts
Virginia peanuts 








You can find this information online this is from my own online research i am just bringing it to you in one place so you wont go insane looking and always look out for what the product was produced on. The slightest trace of peanuts could be harmful to someone with a severe allergy.

That swing may hurt.

A few months ago i was doing something Emily Loves to do. Swinging her by her hands could be going up and down stairs or just walking with another person holding her other hand. I didn't feel anything but she was complaining her arm was hurting after swinging so I just thought it was stretched to much or just her muscle hurts I told her to move it up and down so it could feel better. She didn't want to. She was in pain but not extreme pain so I didn't think it was dislocated but we took a trip to the ER because I didn't see her feeling any better. The Dr. took a look at it and told us it was Nursemaids Elbow. A very common injury in toddlers caused from a jerking of the arm. Like when swinging by the hands.  The ligaments are looser and the bones arn't fully developed. So the Radius slips out of place causing an uncomfortable pain when the arm is moved. Something so fun and enjoyable can hurt our little ones. The Dr. did two simple movements to make sure it was back in place and princess was fine 30 minutes later. Forgetting about the arm. I was shocked because she still wants band aids on Booboos from a month ago. This is my Public Service Announcement to parents. Be careful kids love to swing. It can even happen while walking and your little one trips and you pull them back up by the hand. So parents be careful.