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.

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!!!!!

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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

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 :)

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.

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.

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.

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