Recent Posts by akantz

Topic: Allergy Support Group / Help

To dlantz – here are some snack ideas you might find helpful, most of them are pulled from two cookbooks that I use often: “The Whole Foods Allergy Cookbook” by Cybele Pascal, and “The Ultimate Food Allergy Cookbook and Survival Guide” by Nicolette M. Dumke. (1) Fruit Rollups – any kind of tortilla (you can make your own from almost any kind of flour; milo-arrowroot, kamut, barley, amaranth, buckwheat, teff, spelt, quinoa, oat, garbanzo), spread with a “seed butter” like tahini (sesame seeds), pumpkin seed or sunflower seed butter, add a fruit-only jam or any fresh fruit that you can have, and roll it up! (2) Fruit nuggets – made with dried fruit, unsweetened baker’s chocolate, honey, allowed cereal flakes (oat, corn, amaranth, millet-rice), allowed oil (safflower, sunflower, olive, canola), and rolled in unsweetened coconut. (3) If you can have rolled oat, rye, barley, kamut, spelt or any other kind of rolled grain you can make granola or granola bars. (4) You can make crackers out of any flour you can find (see tortilla ideas) with hummus (garbanzo bean spread – just leave out the garlic), or hummus with any other raw vegetables. (5) Fruit desserts are always a hit (instead of apple crisp you can make pear crisp, baked pears, etc.). You don’t need milk or eggs to make any of this – there are many other milk options besides rice, soy and animal milk – try oat, hazelnut, or almond. There are a lot of foods out there – try to make it fun for your son, go shopping at a health food store (even if it’s a long trip) or cultural store (Indian stores usually have garbanzo bean flour) and have a scavenger hunt…see how many new things you can find! Experiment substituting new grains, “milks”, oils, fruits and vegetables, “Ener-G-Egg Replacer” into your favorite recipes. Try to involve your son, he may feel better about eating things he’s involved with making (tortillas and crackers are great fun to make!)

Topic: Allergy Support Group / Rice Pasta Recipe

Do you mean making rice pasta from scratch in a pasta maker or a recipe using pre-made rice pasta? Making my own rice pasta with rice flour and water in a pasta maker didn’t work too well for me, and frankly wasn’t worth the effort – Trader Joe’s carries nice brown rice pasta spirals. I like just cooking the brown rice pasta according to package directions, then tossing with some kalamata olives, lightly steamed vegetables (peas, broccoli, zucchini, summer squash), and pesto (pureed basil, garlic and olive oil). If you can have nuts, you could add pine nuts to the pesto or whole. Also, if you are making a vegetable or chicken noodle soup you can add a little brown rice pasta to the broth at the end (but don’t let it cook too long).

Topic: Allergy Support Group / 4 year old and 2 year old with lots of food allergies!

Hi Alicia. We have multiple food allergies/sensitivities in our family, though not the exact same ones as in yours. I found “The Ultimate Food Allergy Cookbook and Survival Guide” helpful in dealing with multiple food allergies. For any one particular recipe there are several options, for example, pancakes can be made from kamut, barley, milo, amaranth, rye, teff, buckwheat, spelt, millet, quinoa, oat or rice flour (no eggs or milk). It helps to have lots of options to mix and match when you are dealing with lots of different allergies or trying to cook one meal for a family that has contrasting allergies. The recipes aren’t exactly “gourmet” or “fool-proof”, but they are simple, basic, and with a little experimenting they can get you through a tough time.

Topic: Allergy Support Group / Tomato Allergy?

My husband also has a tomato allergy. I write an allergy-free cooking blog with some recipes that may interest you (if you were formerly a tomato lover!) http://www.angkantz.blogspot.com There are recipes for tomato-free chili, pizza, sloppy joe’s, pasta, easy skillet dinner, stews. Generally, I like to substitute tomato with fresh red peppers pureed with a little fresh lemon juice. Roasted red peppers are even tastier. Or, a package of frozen cooked winter squash, thawed and then pureed with the red pepper, lemon, and maybe a little paprika/sumac for color works well as a “tomato paste”. For pizza or pasta, I’ve found that pesto works the best (pureed garlic, basil, olive oil and pine nuts, if allowed). The chili uses turnips, but I’m thinking you could use any kind of pureed/watered down root vegetable to make a soup or stew thicker without tomatoes. I’ve read that tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, paprika, and peppers are all in the same food family (some people with allergies to one food in a family can still tolerate food in the same family).