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.

My Weekender 3

As you all know my weekends are my family time so I'm going to keep it short and sweet like always. I just want to put up a link to let parents know the difference between Food Allergies and Food Intolerance. I hope you find this information useful. It sure did for me when i was first figuring out about Emily's allergies. 

What does Milk mean to you?

Yesterday I listed the names of ingredients on labels that you may not understand what they are and they contained egg protein. its the protein that trigger allergic reactions when the immune system produces antibodies and histamines to fight off the foreign body. Thus causing maybe a breakout or itchy eyes or throat or even Anaphylaxis. I'm listing ingredients on labels that contain Milk Protein in them so you know what to look out for.

 

• Butter 

 Any type of butter that you see on a label. From Butter fat oil to Natural Butter Flavor.

• Casein & Caseinates 

Anything with these words in it has Milk Protein in it. Casein is a bonding agent that's used for things like cheese. But it can also be found in cosmetic products some pants and adhesive products.

• Cheese

  All types. Even cheese flavor (artificial and natural), Vegetarian cheeses have casein. So i use Vegan cheese like Daiya.

• Cream, whipped cream

• Curds

• Custard

• Dairy product solids

• Galactose

• Ghee

• Half & Half

• Hydrolysates 

• Ice cream, ice milk, sherbet

• Lactalbumin, lactalbumin phosphate

• Lactate solids

• Lactyc yeast

• Lactitol monohydrate

• Lactoglobulin

• Lactose

• Lactulose

• Nisin preparation

• Nougat

• Pudding

• Quark

• Recaldent

• Rennet casein or Rennet

• Simplesse is a fat replacer

• Whey 

• Yogurt 

There are vegan products you can buy so your child doesn't have to be deprived of tasty treats in life.

*SLEEP*DRINK*LIVE* FASHION: Help Japan

*SLEEP*DRINK*LIVE* FASHION: Help Japan: "Burdastyle has a great list of ways to help donate to Japan. Check them out here to see how you can help. Every penny counts!"

Warm up to Cauliflower

 I have hardly had problems with Emily eating her veggies. She sees me enjoying them and she wants to do the same thing and feel as good as "Dada" does when he eats his veggies. But she is a toddler and she has her moments where she doesn't want anything to do with veggies. So I have to disguise whats good for her so she will eat it. Princess loves mashed potatoes but they have little nutritional value. In steps the MIGHTY CAULIFLOWER! I use a simple for Cauliflower mashed potatoes you can look at here. And Cauliflower comes in different colors like purple, orange, and green. So you can have fun with it. Maybe a purple Cauliflower soup with a orange swirl. Cauliflower is also great to cook into other things like cakes, cookies, and brownies to give them some nutritional value. Cauliflower is a great source of Vitamin C

Do you know?

When reading labels to make sure none of your child's allergens are in the ingredients do you know what all of those long words mean or if they have the allergen in them. My princess is allergic to eggs plus other things but today i want to list how they may label egg ingredients.  All of what im listing contain egg protein in them.

•  Albumin
• Apovitellin
• Cholesterol free egg substitute
• dried egg
• egg, egg whites
• yolk 
• egg wash 
• eggnog
• fat substitute
• globulin
• livetin 
• lysozyme 
• mayonnaise
• meringue powder
• ovalbumin
• ovoglobulin
• ovomucin
• ovomucoid
• ovotransferrin
• ovovitelia  
• ovovitellin
• powdered eggs 
• silici albuminate 
• simplesse
• trailblazer 
• vitellin

Disability WAH!?

Today i'm going to dedicate this post to a woman that shows true strength and being able to beat all the odds. Helen Keller was born on June 27th 1880 (Emily's was born on the same day). She was an American Arthur, Political activist and lecturer. If you have only heard of her and not know who she was and why she is considered a Great woman in history. Well at nineteen months old Helen Keller was diagnosed as the doctors describes "an acute congestion of the stomach and the brain" which most likely was scarlet fever or meningitis. This left her blind deaf and mute. Frustration made her destructive and a wild child. Her mother sent for a special teacher. The teacher was Anne Sullivan a 20 year old  visually impaired former student of The Perkins Institute for the Blind. She taught Helen to spell by using her finger in her palm first learning to spell "d-o-l-l" for the doll she had bought Keller as a meeting gift. Helen got frustrated often in the beginning actually getting so upset trying to learn the word "mug" she ended up breaking the doll Anne got for her. A breakthrough came when Anne was running Helen's hand under water with one hand and on the other hand spelling out the word water. After that she wanted to become familiar with other objects almost exhausting Sullivan. Helen was the first deaf blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts Degree she wrote a total of 12 published books. The earliest when 11 was The Frost King. At the age of 22 she published her autobiography, The Story of My Life in 1903 while in college. She became an advocate for persons with disabilities. Along with being a suffragist, a pacifist, a radical socialist, a supporter of birth control and an opponent to Woodrow Wilson. To me that's beyond greatness not letting so called "Disabilities" stop her from breaking boundaries. As parents we have to teach our kids to break boundaries. I am the best father i can be i go above an beyond but i want my daughter to be ten times greater than i am and not let anything hold her back. So parents of kids with food allergies or anything that a doctor may consider a "disability' or "different" take a long look at Miss Keller and other like her and make sure your little ones know they are GREAT!    

Its not the Tacos its the Salsa

 My princess Loves tacos. I came across this Recipe for some good healthy fish tacos. Emily doesn't have Fish allergies but for parents who do have little ones with fish allergies u can always make it chicken or whatever replacement u prefer. Fish tacos remind me of a summer getaway. What did it for me in this recipe was the Mandarin Orange salsa. Made with cilantro a jar of mandarin oranges, red onions and salt. I left out the jalapeno I dont think princess would have been to fond of something  "Thpicey". I like to use Smart & Delicious Wraps. They came out great. I was skeptical about the Mandarin salsa at first but one I tasted it with the tacos my mouth lit up. Such a great Combination. I have used this Recipe a few times and there are very little tweeks I needed to do to make it for Emily to enjoy as well as an adult. Make your tweeks so your little ones can enjoy some healthy tacos.

*SLEEP*DRINK*LIVE* FASHION: We Pray For Japan

*SLEEP*DRINK*LIVE* FASHION: We Pray For Japan: "Lady Gaga's prayer bracelet. All proceeds go to Japan's tsunami relief fund. You can also choose to add an additional donation with your pur..."

My Princess vs Playstation Move

I Just had to share Emily Splatting Bugs.

My Weekend Find

Looking on the FAAN Site (The food allergy & anaphylaxis network) I came across a informative and cute scenario for kids with food allergies. I think its a great way to make your child a PAL (Protect A Life). This would be great for Teachers and Day Care programs to enforce and will should be fun to do role playing while learning about food allergies and how to be a PAL. Emily is at a stage where she is using her IMAAAAAAAGINATION in the words of Spongebob. So I think its time for some food allergy role play time :)

Huge tsunami kills hundreds in Japan, sweeps across Pacific - WPIX

Huge tsunami kills hundreds in Japan, sweeps across Pacific - WPIX

Food Allergy Q&A

Someone ask Dr. Steve on WPIX Can a vegetarian diet while pregnant increase the risk of your child having food allergies?if you have any questions or answers to other parents questions please post.

The bullying allergy

This is a great report on WPIX about kids being bullied because they have food allergies. Dr. Steve talks to Dr. Larry Blater. I can see how this is bullies would fin it easy to target kids with food allergies. It may make kids afraid to eat around others or single themselves out. As parents you just have to let your children feel as great as they can be. I agree with Dr. Blater with letting your child assume responsibility. Even though my princess is only 2 1/2 when we go out to eat i ask her what she wants (all she will say is FENCH FIES). but i give her a few choices list maybe 3 she can have and let her choose or order all three and let her have at whichever she likes most. I see in her face she is proud and excited to be able to choose.

Maya Angelou

 Its woman's history month and I have to dedicate some post to the great women in our history and women who have inspired me. Maya Angelou has played a major part in my life. Most men wouldn't admit to something like that but i am the only boy in my family. I have always been surrounded by women and all of them great to me. From my mom beating a drug habit and my older sister raising me to my great grand mother (R.I.P.) and grandmother for taking us in. In school reading about the Harlem Writers Guild while looking up information on the Harlem Renaissance. I read up on Miss Angelou, about how she was raped at the age of eight by her mother's boyfriend at the time and was mute for 5 years after that. Her grandmother encouraged her and introduced her to literature. After that she blossomed becoming the first black street car conductor in San Francisco. She went on to do acting and in the 1060's she began working on her writing and, in 1970 her first autobiographical work, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, became a best seller and was nominated for the National Book Award. Her Poems inspire not only women but people in a whole. Reading her works you can feel the deepness to it. So today i am honoring Maya Angelou. Every 3 days this month i will honor another great woman in history. Who is your great woman in history?

Tips on travelivg

With Food allergies.WPIX shows some great tips on traveling safely with food allergies.

Food Proofing

I have done Child Proofing before making sure window guards where in place sockets covered the wires where all managed and not everywhere sharp corners covered even installing a oven lock. Everything to a T in my home to make sure my princess was safe. But what about Food proofing your home of products containing the allergen your little one is allergic to? It may seem easy but there are factors you have to think about. Like how severe is the allergy? How many children are in your home and what are there ages? How will eliminating the food effect the other members of your house hold? They may be hard to eliminate all together but maybe placing foods with the allergens on a different shelf than foods without not to get them confused. I have taught my little one to always ask before eating something with a simple "can i eat this?" Learning how to read and decipher labels. All family members should wash there hands before and after eating just to make sure none of the allergens may come in contact with the person who has the allergy and the same goes for counters shelves and dishes. So these are things to think and to figure out what works best for you your little one and the entire family.

Allergy aware Restaurants

NY PIX Morning News Blog – WPIX-TV Some insight on how restaurants are Food Allergy Aware.

Good tips for shopping.

WPIX 11 had a good video on smart shopping for suffers of food allergies. Dr. Clifford Bassett (FAAAAI and FACAAI) of the Allergy and Asthma Care of New York shows what to watch out for while shopping. Its very informative make sure you check it out parents. 

Ohhhh yea its Fat Tuesday

Ok its a bummer I'm not in New Orleans Licking my fingers after a Crawfish Boil. But I'm not. ( insert sad face here). So I'm just going to share a recipe for some New Orleans Style Chicken. For me being a Vegetarian I use Light Life Chick'n Strips in which I love almost all there products. So thats what I replace the chicken in the recipe for and as for the cheese I use Daiya Vegan Cheese. The cheese has none of the common allergens in it but as for the Chick'n strips they contain soy. Those are my tweeks to a simple recipe.

Its Food Allergy Week.

WPIX Morning news is acknowledging Food allergy suffers this week. It excites me as a parent of a little one with food allergies that the media is trying to bring more light on the subject. Today they showed a great allergen free treat shop called Divvies. I have purchased there cookies at whole foods for princess and they are great. So check out Divvies and WPIX for more info.

Breakfast at Emily's

 Yesterday was a rainy day and the clouds were blocking the sun from shining but for me and princess it doesn't mean we can't have a good snack to bring in some light. I have been making making apple sauce for a long time now Emily loves it. We made some Banana Pancakes. This simple recipe is a cup of flour of your choice. (we use soy). 2 tbs of brown sugar 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder 1/8 tsp salt 1/4 tsp cinnamon 1 1/2 tsp olive oil and a cup of soy milk (or coconut milk for those with soy allergies). But this is not about the pancakes people. It's about the Apple Butter we ate with it. No it has no actual butter in it. Its called that because of the thickness. Apple butter is a concentrated form of apple sauce just cooked longer until the sugar in the apples caramelizes turning the apple butter brown. I like to take 10 honey crisp apples (peeled and cored) a cup of brown sugar a half cup of water and a tablespoon of cinnamon. Let simmer on medium low heat until the apples turn brown for about 2 hours. Remove from heat let cool and puree in a food processor. Traditional apple butter takes much much longer to make. So if you want to plan ahead you can add the ingredients into a slow cooker for 10-12 hours.

The News Read my mind

WPIX 11 Dr. Steve had a great report this morning on Food Allergies.

Anaphylaxis

Anaphylaxis is a severe, whole-body allergic reaction to a chemical that has become an allergen. After being exposed to a substance such as bee sting venom, the person's immune system becomes sensitized to it. On a later exposure to that allergen, an allergic reaction may occur. This reaction happens quickly after the exposure, is severe, and involves the whole body.

Tissues in different parts of the body release histamine and other substances. This causes the airways to tighten and leads to other symptoms.

Anaphylaxis can occur in response to any allergen. Common causes include:

• Drug allergies
• Food allergies
• Insect bites/stings

My Weekender

My Weekends are my family time and don't let work get in the way of it. I wont be doing major post on the weekends. Maybe a Definition that I feel us parents should know or maybe a link to a really good recipe Emily and I love. If you have anything you would like to share with me I would love to get some feedback. So I will be sharing a definition at 4 PM today.

    Have a wonderful weekend from Princess and I.

The Hummus Effect

  Emily loves dips and sauces. She just likes flavors period she licks any food that has a sauce or a flavor to it even the salt off of crackers. That’s just princess for you. I needed to find a better alternative than ketchup or sweet n sour sauce. So i introduced her to the over 5,000 year old dip that i fell in love with HUMMUS. I’m not really sure how old it is but it goes back. Waaaaaaay back you can check it out here. Chickpeas or garbanzo beans are a good source of folic acid, manganese, iron, copper, magnesium and molybdenum. I wasn't sure if she was going like it. So I got some baked pita chips and roasted red pepper hummus for a snack one day. SHE LOVED IT! using one chip as a dipping tool so she could lick the “hummith” off and yes my little one has a lisp which gives her a very cute unique vocabulary. We went to Rice one night a small restaurant in Nolita ill provide the link don't worry. I got her vegetarian meatballs and rice no sauce though its spicy but i got a side of pita and there Edamame hummus. Lets just say i had to order another. Emily ate some of her food but her favorite was the hummus. She was so polite to the waitress saying “Thanks yew” every time something was brought to the table and that earned her a free box of rice crispy treats. Well for the parents with kids with soy allergies traditional hummus will do. I occasionally make my own I follow a simple Hummus recipe I just leave out the Cayenne and add some roasted red peppers to the mix. Emily loves hummus it goes great with veggies, pita, pretzel's or anything else you want to pair it with and it has more nutritional value than katchup. No offence Heinz :)

http://www.riceny.com/home.php

"FENCH FIES"

Going out to eat with a child who has a food allergy can feel difficult at times but it doesn't have to be . There are plenty of options for your child and yourself to enjoy. I worried so much at first with my daughters peanut allergies trying to figure out what places used peanut oils when cooking. Come to find out a majority of places stopped using peanut oil to fry because it is one of the “BIG 8” and counts for 90% of those with food allergies. It seems that one food toddlers love and will love if introduced to is FRENCH FRIES! every time I ask my daughter what she wants to eat she whispers “fench fies” there was one random time she said Crabs i was shocked and confused. You may not want to go out and get fries without knowing if the place your going to uses peanut oil. A simple way is to bake your own fries. Preheat the oven at 450 F. Cut your potatoes (I prefer sweet potatoes) into wedges or fries and make sure your rinse them off to remove the starch and pat them dry. Put them in a large bowl to toss drizzle 2 tbsp of the oil of your choice. (note if using coconut make sure the potatoes are warm so the oil wont thicken up on you) and some salt if you like. Toss until they are all coated evenly. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 20 min. turn them over about half way through. In the words of Emily FENCH FIES!!

     Sweet potatoes are a great source of Vitamins A and C and have about 4 grams of Protein.

A little info

     OK! When i was young i never knew about food allergies. No kids in my school had notes from doctors or a class wasn't allowed to bring things containing peanuts in them. But today more than 12 million Americans have food allergies that's 4% of the population. That may not be a big number but that's 1 in every 25 people. So if i ever get 25 followers one of you guys will have food allergies. 3 million of those people are our children. Milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts (e.g., walnuts, almonds, cashews, pistachios, pecans), wheat, soy, fish, and shellfish. These foods are in almost everything you buy at a supermarket and just traces of of them can trigger Hives, itchy eyes and throat, shortness of breath and even anaphylactic shock. But our little ones are picky and they will want things they cant have. My princess has got into the habit of asking “Dada can i eat this?” pointing at what she wants to try( it’s just adorable to me).  Kid’s are also sometimes hesitant to try new foods but don’t force new foods on them or try bribing them with foods they like and don't punish them for poor eating habits. Toddlers will eat. Even if you dont think its a well balanced diet there is no need to worry if they are growing normally and there energy levels are normal ( for Emily that's running all over the place) kids don't need a lot of calories and if your worried about it consider giving your child a multivitamin if you think their not eating well.  

The Intro

  As you read in my about me section i am one of the many parents who has a child with food allergies. I first found out my daughter had them when she was about 7 months old. We where out in the front of my mothers house and my mom gave Emily a lick of her ice cream bar she was enjoying. Not a minute late Emily was breaking out in hives around her face and neck crying and trying to scratch. I went into a panic trying to calm her yelling at my mom to go out and get something for allergies ASAP! I got a cold rag gently wiping her face to calm her. My mom was calm she is calm about everything. She got some Benadryl and ave her some. She was fine a few minutes later. But i wasn't i was scared it would happen again and the reaction may be worst than the last. After a Doctor visit and some intense research I fed my brain everything i needed to know what Emily could and could not have. My princess is almost 3 now and its wonderful modding recipes to fit around her allergies.