Get Well Soon

Beck is sick, and two of her children have the chicken pox. On a happier note, she wrote a lovely column about her daughter's dietary restrictions and started a gluten-free recipe/discussion page. Go check it out!

I am sending Beck a batch of virtual beet brownies. I found this recipe in our local paper the other day and altered it to make it dairy free, but I haven't tried it yet.

Chipotle Beet Brownies

1 jar sliced pickled beets
1 box brownie mix
1/4 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle chile powder
1 cup dairy-free semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray the bottom of a 9x13-inch pan with cooking spray. Drain beets, reserving 1/4 cup liquid. Combine beets and reserved liquid in a blender or food processor. Puree until smooth; set aside.
Combine brownie mix, oil, eggs, pureed beets and chile powder in a large mixing bowl; stir 50 strokes with a spoon. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 28-30 minutes as directed on brownie package. Remove from oven; cool. Frost or dust with powdered sugar.

Amusing? Sometimes

Karen at Avoiding Milk Protein asked me for some summer travel tips, and m is concerned about her 13-year-old dairy-allergic son's upcoming trip to Hershey Park--without his parents. So let's talk amusement parks, shall we?

Go to the website of the amusement park you will be visiting and look for allergen information, usually somewhere under food/restaurants. More and more locations are posting this information on their sites. Print it out and keep a copy for reference at the park. HOWEVER, you never know how often the information is updated. Or maybe they ran out of the hot dog buns listed on the site and had to substitute with another brand. You just don't know, so you still need to be on the alert at the park.

With that in mind, look for contact information. Using the Hershey Park website as an example, yes, they do list the ingredients of some allergen-free foods online. They also provide contact information for those with questions about allergens. Use this contact information. Personally, I like to use email because then I have everything in print. Explain your situation, then ask whatever questions you have, such as:
May we bring allergen-free food with us into the park?
Who do we ask at the restaurants to let us see ingredient labels?
Who do we contact if we run into a problem at the park?
Etc.

Even if some of these answers are provided on the website, I like to have them with me in print in an email from a high-ranking employee of the park. Then if I run into any resistance, I can pull out the "permission slip."

This is an especially important technique for parks that don't have as many allergen-free options. We have been allowed to bring food for Katherine to various locations that don't usually allow outside food and have never been questioned. But I had my email copies with me just in case someone asked. In these instances, I had to dig around on the websites a little more to find someone to write to. Sometimes I've used the generic "contact us" address and my email was forwarded to the appropriate person. A reply may take awhile, so as soon as you know where you will be going, start writing.

Traveling with food-allergic children is stressful. Sending them off on their own is even more stressful. So until all amusement parks become as forward-thinking as Holiday World, write those emails. Write them before to ask your questions, and write them after to say, "Thank you."

Guerrilla Cooking, With Bonus Baby Content

Here is another obscure cookbook from my collection. It was written by Mel Walsh, another Peg Bracken devotee. We had the Mexican Spaghetti (minus the cheese) for dinner last night.

Mexican Spaghetti

"Use this on the nights when you're tired and you don't want guff from anyone about the menu. The all should like this, and if they don't, tell them it's their turn to cook tomorrow night. "--Mel Walsh, Guerrilla Cooking: The Survival Manual for People Who Don't Like to Cook or Don't Have Time to Cook

1 pound spaghetti
1 pound ground round
1 small onion, chopped
11 oz. can Mexican-style corn [I use frozen corn.]
1 cup chopped ripe tomatoes, either fresh or canned
2 tablespoons chili powder [I use one T. so the kids will eat it.]

"Put the pasta pot on to boil. Meanwhile, brown the beef and chopped onion in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Stir so they won't stick. Drain off any fat. Then add the corn, drained tomatoes [I don't drain them.], and chili powder. Stir. Simmer with the cover on so the juices don't evaporate.

When the pasta is cooked, drain and put it into a serving dish. Pour the meat sauce over the pasta. If desired, sprinkle with grated Monterey Jack cheese. [We don't, obviously.]

Serve with a green salad topped by avocado slices."




And here is our almost-four-month-old baby girl (*sob*), whose baptism was this Sunday. We dressed her in a ridiculous tutu-like outfit from her great-great aunt because, what better time to wear such a thing? The service was beautiful, even the part where Eli tried to escape from Gramma and she managed to catch him by the tip of his tractor boot. Good reflexes, Gramma!

Breads From Anna Piecrust Mix

Breads From Anna Piecrust Mix

Gluten and Yeast Free
Corn, Dairy, Soy, and Rice Free

Ingredients: Tapioca Flour, arrowroot, millet, maple sugar, potato starch, Montina(TM) (perennial bunch grass, achnatherum hymonodies), chick pea flour, navy bean flour, pinto bean flour, salt, xanthan gum, cream of tartar, baking soda.

I made our piecrust with plain soy milk, apple cider vinegar, and canola oil. The directions on the package didn't have all of the baking information I needed to make a fruit pie, so I went to their website for additional baking tips.

The crust was very easy to mix up and roll out, even for me, the non-baker in the family. Because of its crumbly consistency, it was a bit tricky to place in the pie pan, and it did crack during baking. (See photo.) One thing I appreciated about this gluten-free piecrust is that it wasn't sweet, so it could be used for savory pies as well as dessert pies. However, most tasters didn't like the bitter aftertaste of the crust.

www.glutenevolution.com
Breads From Anna Piecrust Mix
$4.35/package

This review is for Go Dairy Free.

Wanna Read a Story?

A Kindergarten Tale:

D. accidentally spills his cheese crackers at snacktime. They land near Katherine, who wisely doesn't touch them. M. and L. come over and clean up the spill. (D. helps, too.)
M. says, "We just saved Katherine's life!"

For more Food Allergy Awareness Week stories and blog posts, check out this week's Living With Food Allergies Blog Carnival at Check My Tag.

Recipe for a Blog Entry

Take these popular blogging topics:
Food Allergy Awareness Week
The rising cost of food
Being frugal
Cooking without allergens

Mix them all together, and you get Nowheymama's Summer Resolution (I can make a resolution any time of year, thanks.) : I am determined to make more of my family's snack foods from scratch.

*Crickets chirping*

Well, I'm excited about it, and that's what matters. Here are the categories I'm thinking about:
Frozen desserts, such as soy ice cream, sorbet, popsicles
Fruit treats, such as fruit snacks and fruit leather (Remember the 70's? Of course! We all do.)
Gelatins made with fruit juice
Cracker-type items
Snack bars

Because:
I'm tired of spending so much money on this stuff. ($3.79/pint for Tofutti ice cream, Local Health Food Store? Really? $4.19/box for six EnviroKidz peanut butter bars, Local Grocery Store? REALLY?)
I think I can make these things in a healthier AND more cost-effective manner. (You won't see me making my own soy milk anytime soon, for example.)
I want a good supply of go-to recipes for school lunches in the fall.
I think this is the one area of grocery shopping where we haven't cut back much yet.

I'll share recipes and family reviews as we try different foods, and would love to hear any or all of your snack recipes.

Are you with me? Come on, dust off that ice cream maker and dig out your Mom's old Tupperware popsicle molds. Maybe we'll even invest in food dehydrators! Whee!

Email Tutorial

Remember when the Internet was "new" and Martha Stewart wrote columns about web etiquette--like how to properly address emails? No? Just me, then? Okey-doke.

Today I'm going to play Martha and offer my own email tutorial because I think it's important to praise companies when they do a good thing and to gently reprimand them when they, say, suddenly add unnecessary allergens to a product. Does it make any difference? I honestly don't know. Probably not. But at least I know I've spoken up. Besides, it takes just a few minutes to send an email to a company: no envelope, no stamp, no hunting for the address, no getting it to the mailbox before the mail carrier arrives, etc.

Letter The First:*
Dear [Company]:

I am writing to let you know how much our family enjoys [product]. My [person] has a severe [allergen] allergy, and s/he is able to eat your [product] because it is [allergen] free. Please continue to produce your wonderful [products] !

Sincerely,
[Name]

* Variations:
Write to your local supermarket to thank them for carrying certain products.
Write to a company whose product you enjoy and would like your store to carry and give them your store's contact information.
Write to a restaurant and thank them for the allergen-free items on their menu.
Write to a potential vacation spot you love and ask them about their allergy policies.
Write to a show that is allergy sensitive. (I wrote to Sesame Street to thank them for the "soy milk for sale" sign in Hooper's Store. Katherine was really excited about it.)

Yes, some of these messages could be delivered in person, but the company can use your wonderful letter (known in the airline industry as an "orchid letter") as an example of how awesome they are, making it more likely that they will continue to carry your item. You will almost always receive a thank you for your note.

Now it's time to let your passive-aggressive tendencies shine.

Letter The Second:
Dear [Company]:

Our family has enjoyed your [product] for many years. Sadly, we are no longer able to use [product] because you have changed the recipe and added [allergen]. My [person] is severely allergic to [ingredient] and cannot eat it. We will miss using [product] and hope that you will reconsider changing the recipe back to its original form.

Thank you for your time,
[Name]

You will almost always receive a response that cites the months of consumer research the company did to come up with their "new and improved" recipe. You will often also receive a coupon for the altered product, encouraging you to "try it again." This might make you want to beat yourself over the head with your laptop, but at least you tried.

Now get writing!