Soy Yogurt at Home

Yes, it's been forever since I added to this little page of mine.  Life has been percolating along nicely.  I will say that since our little one has been free to eat soy and gluten, I've not felt the intense need to search out allergen-free options for him, so I've been absent from here for a little while.   

Of course, it's not true that he's allergen free.  He still can't have uncooked dairy, nor can he have any tree nuts.  But since we've long been comfortable with the lifestyle of rice or soymilk vs. milk and sunflower seed butter vs. tree nuts and peanuts, life feels essentially... normal.   

Then again, I now have a 4-year old vegetarian on my hands!  He's an "animal protector," in his words.  The only exception ~ and we saw him struggle with this decision for about a week ~ is that he still eats bacon.  "It's the only animal I still eat."  You GO little man!  He has embraced tofu, miso soup, and nearly the entire frozen vegetarian section of Trader Joe's.  After his early years of homemade-only eating, he's an adventurous eater and this cornucopia of packaged options is a little overwhelming for all of us... but a home cooked meal is still thankfully the norm.    

But with the humdrum of many days, we have been starting breakfast with a very expensive item that I wondered ~ would it be possible to make it at home?  The item:  Soy Yogurt.   

Delicious, creamy, sweet, full of protein.  What's not to love?  The price tag.  Each 6 oz container ranges from $ .99 to $1.09.  If given the opportunity, this child will eat several yogurts in one sitting ~ and that becomes mighty pricey.  

So I set out to try something new, and I'm back to tell you about it!  

Homemade soy yogurt is easy.  Heat up the milk, let it cool to the right temperature, add the yogurt starter, and keep it at a stable temperature for a while for the bacteria to culture.  Refrigerate, then eat.  Really, its that simple.   When I made the batch you see here, I didn't mind so much that our little guy at 3 cups of it in a row.  In fact, I was sitting next to him, grinning.



Homemade Soy Yogurt

The basic recipe:

• 4 cups non-dairy milk.
  In this case I used soy, but you could use rice or coconut or almond...
• 1/2 cup non-dairy yogurt as starter
  Ideally plain and unsweetened / no fruit
• Optional: 1 packet of gelatin -or-
  agar-agar powder (to make vegan)

1. Heat milk on medium heat stove to just under boiling, stirring occasionally.  I used a digital thermometer to track this.  If you decide to as well, make sure you're keeping the thermometer away from touching the pan.  Perching it on a wooden spoon did the trick for me.  
2. While the milk is heating, wash the containers well. These came with the yogurt machine, but you could also use mason jars.  
3. When the heat reaches nearly boiling (at least 180 but better around 190-200 F), turn off the stove. 
4. Optional:  Add 1 package of gelatin or agar agar powder to make a firmer yogurt.  If you don't this will be pretty runny - but it will still be just as delicious
5. Let the temp slowly cool to between 100-110 F.  (~ 42 C) Any hotter, and the good bacteria you're trying to cultivate will not grow! Alternatively, you could cool the milk in the fridge a little more quickly.  
6. At 110 F, add the half cup of starter yogurt to the mixture and stir well.  Don't stir so much that there are resulting bubbles... just make sure it's evenly distributed. 

From here, you have a couple options:

Option 1:  If you have a yogurt maker: 

• Pour the mixture into sterilized yogurt cups that came with the machine.  I use a mason jar filling funnel to make the process a little less messy.  
• Turn on the machine and set the timer for around 8-10 hours.  You could also just let it sit overnight.
• When your time is up, turn off the machine and open one of the containers.  It should smell and look like yogurt!  Put the containers in the fridge for at least 3 hours, where the yogurt will firm up a little more.   

Option 2:  The Oven Method

• Heat your oven to the lowest temp you can (My oven is 140) and then turn it off.   Turn on the light inside the oven - it'll keep the interior warm all night. 
• Pour into sterilized mason jars and cover. (Hey, we're not canning here... just cover with screw-on lids and or rings/tops, but no need to process in a hot water bath!)  
• Line a large earthenware crock or dutch oven with a tea towel.  Place your mason jars inside. Cover with another tea towel, and then cover the crock with its own cover. 
• Put the crock inside the turned-off oven and close the door.  
• Leave overnight.  
• In the morning, open one of the containers.  It should smell and look like yogurt!  Put the mason jars in the fridge for at least 3 hours, where the yogurt will firm up a little more.   

Yum!

• Enjoy!  Add whatever flavors you enjoy:  honey, jam, fruit are all great options.    Not only is the yogurt delicious and allergen-friendly, but the cost difference is astounding!

Here's a comparison:

Comparison	O'Soy	Soy Milk	Milk	Organic Milk
oz	6	32	64	64
cost	$           1.09	$           2.99	$           3.89	$                  5.99
cost per ounce	$           0.18	$           0.09	$           0.06	$                  0.09

Some useful references I've found about general yogurt making, dairy and non-dairy:
- Granny Miller - Crock Pot Yogurt (dairy) 
- Stephanie O'Dea's Crock Pot Yogurt (dairy)
- There are some GREAT ideas at Waking Up Vegan about alternate milks, thickeners and flavorings! (non-dairy)

Baked Dairy Goodness

If you've been here before, you may remember that we were encouraged by some promising allergy-related blood work a couple months ago that indicated some of our son's food allergies might not be as bad as they once were.   I could say:  phew!  But I'm more inclined to say:  whoa, really?

When we discovered the allergies, we had no idea the levels because he was too young to test.  Not only is it insanely cruel to stick a 3 month old full of needles carrying allergens, it's not effective.  Not until he's over two is his immune system sophisticated enough to produce accurate results... and even then it's still darned mean. 

Even blood work done on a child under two is often inconclusive, as his system may not have created an allergic response to many foods or environmental factors.   We did get blood work done when he was about a year old, and clearly reacting to foods and other things... but the report didn't show a single result.  Not even to dog saliva, and that's saying something: around that time, a dog licked his face and we ended up speeding crazily to the ER while his eyes began to swell shut and he was clawing at his face, having difficulty breathing.  We've carried an EpiPen ever since. 

Yet, after a very unpleasant set of visits to one allergist when he was very young, during which we were advised to go ahead and skin test (to which I said: hell, no!), we avoided allergists for a long time.  We were doing fine with our avoidance diet, thank-you-very-much, and wanted to wait until our son was old enough to properly test.  At his two-year checkup, the pediatrician suggested getting updated blood work. 

So when some results came back saying he didn't even have allergies to soy and wheat, I was incredulous.  What the... well, you know.  So we slowly, slowly started giving him wheat and he was fine.  Then soy, and he was fine.  Had we been incorrect about his allergies in the first place?  Not likely.  Our pediatrician advised that these allergies are often outgrown.  We weren't crazy - he just no longer needed to avoid these foods. 

And what a kaleidescope of foods were now available to him!    Packaged breads and cookies! "Normal" pasta! Soy sauce! Pizza! (with tapioca or rice cheese)   More wide ranging: eating OUT!    The biggest single concern we used to have with restaurants was soy.  Any vegetable oil was rife with it, and most restaurants use a veg oil blend.  Even our favorite place that usually accommodated us on everything else had at one point moved from corn oil to a vegetable blend so we couldn't go there any more.   But now, all bets were off!  The only things we needed to avoid were cow milk and nuts.  Far, far more possible.  Korean? Thai?  Chinese?  no problem!  Cuban?  Mexican?  No problem if we make sure they don't put cheese on his plate.  It was revelatory.  

Hence, I was absent from this page for a while... it felt like talking about allergens was in the past.  Like an artist who had only used black and white for years, having a couple colors to work with in my palette was overwhelming!   

So I got cocky.  Yeah, the bloodwork said we did have a little issue with milk protein.  A 3 out of 5.  Not a big deal, I thought... heck, he's a 2 out of 5 on eggs and he's never had a single reaction!   So we gave him a spoonful of yogurt every day for a week, thinking in our heady thrill that all allergens were conquerable and everything would go back to normal.   Every day, a spoonful of DAIRY from a COW! 

And he seemed fine, until we gave him a nice bowl of yummy yogurt.  He ate it "all up" as he likes to say.  And in 5 minutes he was sneezing so intensely, so often, he could barely breathe.  His neck was covered in little welts and his eyes were red and watering as if he'd been crying for hours.  He was clawing at his neck and whining and sneezing.  It was horrible.  Out came the cetirizine and thankfully the reaction calmed down after about a half hour, but he slept with great intensely that night as he always does after receiving meds for a breakout... a sure sign his little body is still fighting the invasion.

I figured, well, at least we got rid of soy and wheat.  And that ain't bad.  It's liveable.  Lots of people are vegan, so there are lots of dairy alternatives out there now.  We'll be fine living with just dairy and nut allergies. 

But then, I came across this Parents Magazine article.   And we went to an allergist again, now that he was over 2 years old.  The combination was amazing. 

The article talks about some recent studies showing that if dairy is baked over 350 degrees for over 30 minutes, many kids with milk allergies can tolerate the milk proteins they're normally allergic to.   And that's boon enough -- baked cakes?  yes!  -- but the studies also go on to say that once the child is exposed to the allergen in this way, they slowly begin tolerating dairy cooked for shorter times, until their body begins to tolerate the proteins in all forms, even uncooked!

So after discussing this with our allergist, we began a baking "therapy." 

- First I made a cake, with butter and sour cream. 
   350 degrees at 45 minutes.  No reaction!

- Then I made a quick bread.
   350 degrees for 30 minutes.  No reaction!

- Then I made muffins, 350 for 20 minutes.  No reaction!

- Then I made cookies, 350 for 12 minutes. No reaction!

- Then we bought frozen waffles, likely just a few minutes plus toasting at our house for a couple min.  Fine!

- Then I made pancakes, only a couple minutes on the griddle.  Great!
- Then I made pie crust with pure butter. No problem.

- Then I scrambled eggs with milk inside.  2-3 minutes in a skillet.  NO REACTION!

This process of slowly exposing him to less and less-cooked milk, we're told by the allergist, may lead him to drinking a glass of milk! in about 6 months.  It's been slow and steady for the last couple months.  (We started this process around August '12 and I'm writing in October.)    The allergist advised the more we continue to expose him, gradually, the better.  Never retreat, he said.  Just keep going. 

So we're ever so close to adding a little hard cheese to some pasta some day soon.  Then maybe a grilled cheese.  Then maybe a little more regular yogurt.  Some day soon, God willing, a glass of milk. 

So in celebration, here's the recipe for the Blueberry Muffins.  They're filled with stuff I never ever thought I'd use while baking for our son, and just that is a celebration. 

Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins
(These remind me of New York so much; I remember smelling these in Jordan Marsh... heavenly!)

1/2 cup butter
2 cups unsifted flour
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups large fresh blueberries
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons sugar (for top of muffins)

Preheat oven to 375°F. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy; add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. In a second bowl, combine all dry ingredients. (You can use an electric mixer to combine the dry ingredients thoroughly at this point so that you won't need to overmix once the wet and dry ingredients are combined. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the creamed butter and sugar mixture along with the milk and vanilla. Optionally, mash 1/2 cup of the blueberries, and stir in by hand (this will turn batter a light shade of blue and add a touch of blueberry flavor, but this step may be skipped, if you wish). Add the remaining whole berries and stir in gently by hand. Grease muffin cups with non-stick spray or oil. 
Fill greased muffin cups.
Sprinkle sugar on top of unbaked muffins (we like to use Turbinado sugar for sprinkling the tops). Bake at 375°F for 25-30 minutes. Cool in pan. Run a knife around the edge of each muffin after several minutes to free it from the pan and cool on wire racks. Muffins may be brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with sugar, if desired. At our test kitchen, we sometimes sprinkle blueberry muffin tops with cinnamon sugar or ground hazelnuts or spread with lemon or vanilla icing and top with thinly sliced almonds. Tip: If you have trouble with blueberries settling to the bottom try tossing them in flour before adding to the batter. It may just be that your batter is too thin. Another trick is to fill muffin cups 1/4 full with batter which hasn't had blueberries added to it yet; then stir the blueberries in and continue to fill the muffin cups. This way you won't start out with blueberries at the bottom!

Pre. School.

We’re going through the preschool selection process right now.  It's a complex, daunting task filled with equal levels of opportunity for joy and challenge.  

Of course, it can't be just any old preschool  ~ we want to find the right sense of home away from home.  We want it to be an amazing experience for him, opening up the world in ways that we can't do just by ourselves as parents:  playing with other children, touching soft and prickly things, hearing sounds that we don't make at home, looking at books and shapes and toys we would never think to offer him.  Shauna of Gluten-Free Girl recently posted a beautiful entry about children's play at preschool.  It really resonated with me. Play, compassion, joy ~ all so important. vital.

What an adventure it will be!  I bristle with excitement for him. 

But at the same time, I shudder with concern over his food allergies.  What if he's nowhere near us and suddenly has a major reaction to something left out, or given to him accidentally? What if the staff are not as diligent as we are?  What if a well-meaning kid doesn't understand he can't share his cheese stick with our son?  What if he needs an epi-pen administered to him ~ do we trust the school to know what to do, and trust their judgement in doing so?  

So often it seems to come down to the see-saw of safety vs. playfulness. I ache to imagine that we have to permanently shield him from the world. But then again, we don’t let him play in traffic. We teach him to look both ways and prepare him for the time when we can't cross the street with him.  It's called parenting.  Yet, he's still so little. 

We’ve been deciding between a wonderful warm school that is play-based and child-centered vs. a school that is nice, but mainly considered good preparation for kindergarten. A no-brainer it seems… until we consider his food allergies: soy, gluten, dairy and nuts.

The warm, inviting place has a wide open snack area with pretzels, milk, muffins, fruit, cheese and crackers ~ all great, but not for him. And when we asked the director about accommodating allergies, we were met with a vague “well, when we have those, we just ask the parents not to bring peanuts into the school.” A subsequent conversation with them resulted in the same level of vague willingness to help out. 

The other school has a fantastic attitude toward re-framing allergies in non-disparaging ways… calling one child’s rice milk “Sophies special milk” for example and ensuring safe eating practices.  But it's a competitive school to get into (I heard tell that one child was accepted after their parents providing nine letters of recommendation!)  We are currently on the waiting list for next Fall. 

So what to do?

Stepping out into the world

Well, I should be honest that this blog post sat in the hopper for a while.  I was so conflicted about the balance between the safety issues vs. the learning experience that I couldn't finish this post for a couple months.   However, after additional conversations about dietary restrictions with the director of the "warm, inviting place" ... and the thrilling developments that our son is now able to eat wheat ... and dairy if it's baked (!!!), we decided to go with our gut on the best educational experience we could help him have.  Heavy sigh of relief.  

The happy epilogue to this process came when we got a chance to take him to the school for an hour while it was in session.  He was more than excited, choosing several play areas in succession.  One in particular that he loved was the music table.  He not only jumped right in, but the other children welcomed him by sharing their instruments ... and letting him get in on a parade they were having all through the classroom!  Watching his little legs fly to catch up - and the sheer joy on his face - was the best confirmation for me that we'd done the right thing!

This could have gone so differently.  If anyone out there would like to share their experience, I'd love to hear it!  How did you choose your child's school, and how much did their food allergies play into the decision making process?

A week of wheat.

Lack of focus due to misted up mommy eyes

"Could it be?"

I've been saying this all week.  Is it possible?  Is he OK? 
Yes, he is. 

Several months ago, we went through a painstaking process trying to introduce milk to our son, which seemed so promising at first: one spoonful of yogurt a day for a week with no reaction, but when we gave him a little bowl of it, he erupted into a red-eyed sneezing fit that went on for a half hour until the ceterizine kicked in. So now, we're a little gun shy.

But based on some promising blood work, the allergist is encouraging us to try wheat, then soy, re-try milk in baked goods after that, and then do skin testing for nuts later.

So... this whole week I've been giving him little tiny bits of wheat. And (deep breath) he's ... uh, fine.  I can hardly believe it.

Friday, I made some wheat-based zucchini muffins of which he ate a few bites and moved along in his day as if nothing catasprophic was going on. 

There were blueberry pancakes on the weekend that he gobbled up ~ and the sky did not fall.  Whole wheat elbow noodles with tomato sauce and ground turkey: the world didn't come to an end. 

We went over to a friend's house for dinner this weekend, and he could actually eat what everyone else was eating, including pasta! (the host was amazing about letting me see the ingredients of everything)

And this morning, I gave him not one, but two little slices of baguette bought from a BAKERY (mind racing, worrying about nut and sesame and dairy and soy cross contamination, I mean who can tell with these things ... etc ad nauseum)

and he's: fine.  

After so much worry, planning, paranoia, fear, it's ingrained in my gut to avoid certain foods. Changing that feels so dangerously strange. I'm checking for spots on his torso, sores on his legs, welts on his face, watching for sneezing and red eyes and, and, and... nothing.

When you've been protecting your child for so long from something, it's hard to let that fear go. 

I suppose that's what we all have to do as parents, for everything.   Just like letting them go down the corkscrew slide at the playground for the first time all by themselves, it's something of a leap of faith that we've prepared them well enough to tackle the world.  

It's a mystery to me why an allergy would disappear, though I'm sure there's medical literature that might help explain it to me one day.  And there's no guarantee any or all of his other ones will.  But for right now, wheat (simple, wheat) is a bit of a miracle to me.   

 

Dare we Dairy?

It's been a long time coming, but it's possible we're coming close to knocking an allergen off the list.  Knock wood, pardon the pun. 

We did a new RAST test recently... the first one since the flurry of testing we did upon realizing little one was having issues.  He's just about to hit the 2 year mark, and testing is getting closer to being more valid, more accurate. 

This one came back with some interesting results that I barely dare to believe.  One in particular shocked me:  he's a scale of 1 out of 5 for dairy!  That's the same value he received for eggs... and G*d bless him, he eats eggs nearly every day with no issue. 

So. 

We are starting to give him some easy to digest dairy in the form of yogurt.  Sunday.  Just a little baby spoon each day.  Non-flavored, high fat Greek style yogurt.  And he (drum roll...)

- Has not broken out
- Has not exhibited any itching
- Has not had diarrhea or constipation
- Has no bubbles, spots, or hives on his face, backside, or elsewhere. 

... this is day 3! 

It's incredible to think that we might be able to add other dairy like milk or cheese to the mix.  I mean, I've gotten used to keeping our son in a silo of known foods, a list so clearly defined by painstaking label reading and research.  I'm almost agoraphobic about it.  Almost.  The rest of me is beside myself bated breath thrilled about this prospects.  But it is scary.  It has come to be that I sometimes measure my worth as a mother through ensuring he is well fed and free of allergens. 

If it's true, it takes one level of complexity away from our lives.  But then again, add another... We have to memorize the package contents again, but maybe a REAL grilled cheese might be worth all that.  Maybe butter in mashed potatoes.  Maybe a tall glass of chocolate milk. 

Fingers crossed.  Anyone out there have some tips?  Anyone out there transitioning to a wider diet based on RAST testing a child?

Potential food allergens in preschool and school activities

So we're looking into pre-schools. I can't believe this is happening already!

Our son's on the cusp between school year ages... he's a December baby, so if he goes into school next September, he'll still be a two year old, going on three. Should we wait a year? Not? Will he be the littlest one, or the older kid in class?  Considering the difference we've seen in the past year, and the fact it's accelerating, how can we estimate where he'll be in a year?  So many decisions. 

Not least of all, though, is how we will address his allergies.  One of the pre-schools we visited, while wonderful in so many ways, had a snack zone wide open for the children.  What a great thought normally... let children self-select snacks and the times when they're hungry.  But when I looked at that area, they included crackers and other foods I know to be harmful for our son.  And when I asked the director about their allergy policy, it was met with a thoughtful "well, when we've had peanut allergic children, we just make sure the kids didn't bring them to share." 

I asked whether the staff had any experience with other allergies, they admitted they didn't but were willing to work with us.  While we appreciated that, it made me worry... if they haven't addressed this issue in the past, they don't know the breadth of what they're dealing with here. 

So many nuances to consider... and would all the other children understand why they can't have cheese sticks? crackers? pretzels? tuna? chocolate chip cookies?  We can keep him healthy at home, but what will we do when kids start sharing things with him?  And what if he has free access to food that he is too young to understand he can't have?

Around the time we were having these conversations, I came across this interesting article on the Food Allergy Education Network's facebook feed.   And it became clear to me there's a lot more we have to consider beyond just food when it comes to his pre-school.  This is a list I will be sure to share with any place our son goes! 

Sigh - maybe we need an additional year's preparation just to get ready for pre-school!
But forewarned is forearmed, and I'm so glad to have this information.



Note!  This is a cut-and-paste from Kids with Food Allergies (http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org/) ... a wonderful site with great information for all families, educators, or child care providers who need information about living with food allergies.  I've attributed below as their site does as well.  My hope is that others can benefit from their efforts as I have.   
Read on..... 

_______________________________________________________________

Potential food allergens in preschool and school activities

Unexpected sources of allergens in school
Food used in lesson plans may need to be substituted depending on student food allergies

According to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, "food used in lesson plans for math or science, crafts, and cooking classes may need to be substituted depending on the allergies of the students". ¹

Below is a list of some unexpected places you can encounter common food allergens, along with alternatives and precautions that can be used. Please note that this is not an exhaustive list; it is a general guide only and is not inclusive of every potential food allergen. Please verify all ingredients yourself by contacting the manufacturers as ingredients may change.

Activity/Materials	Allergen(s)	Potentially Safe Alternatives and Appropriate Precautions
Play-Doh® (commercial or wheat-based homemade)	Wheat	Crayola® Model Magic® Modeling clay (NOT modeling dough) Moon Sand Wheat-free, gluten-free dough from http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/ Homemade rice- or buckwheat-based play dough Other sensory materials such as goop, slime, and ooblick Use a safe homemade playdough or ooblick: - Rice playdough (free recipe) - Cornstarch playdough (requires membership) - Edible playdough (requires membership) - Ooblick recipe: 1 1/2 cups corn starch, 1 cup water, food color (optional). Mix the ingredients together; as children play with the mixture it will be solid when they squeeze it and liquid when they release it.
Macaroni art (wheat)	Wheat, egg	Rice macaroni Quinoa macaroni
Counting/sorting beans, grains, pasta, M&Ms® or other small foods	Potentially all	Counting/sorting foam, wood or plastic beads, or other small non-food items. Read ingredient labels to choose food items with safe ingredients.
Sensory tables that use grains, pasta, candies or other small foods	Potentially all	Use non-food items or read ingredients to choose food items with safe ingredients
Tempera paint (homemade and some very high-end commercial)	Egg	Commercial finger paint Crayola® Kids Paint Most commercial paints suitable for children
Finger paint	Pudding finger paint may contain milk. Laundry soap or laundry starch mixed in with finger paints to make them thicker. Laundry starch may contain corn, laundry soap may contain allergens.	Read ingredients to find milk-free finger paints. Laundry starch or soap can be omitted if avoiding corn. Read ingredients to find a safe laundry soap.
Crayons	May contain soy	Read ingredients to find soy-free crayons
Crayola® Wonder	Soy	Use a non-soy based ink
Craft paste	May contain wheat starch	Elmer's® Glue sticks Read labels to determine if wheat starch is present.
Shaving cream	May contain milk	Read ingredients to find a milk free shaving cream
Ooblick, oobleck, goop, slime	May contain corn	Create mixture using tapioca starch instead of corn starch, or read ingredients to find a safe version
Bird feeders	Peanut butter Wheat in birdseed mix Nut oils in seed mix	Consider making a hummingbird or butterfly feeder instead, using sugar, water and food coloring. Use soy nut butter or sunflower butter Regular Crisco ® (contains soy oil) or other safe hard shortening Honey Seeds or seed mix without wheat seeds or nut oils
Planting seeds	Legume seeds (such as beans, peas or peanut) Corn kernels Egg shells or egg containers that are sometimes used as "pots" to germinate seeds	Any other seeds Use other safe pots to grow seeds
Baking projects	Potentially all	You can share lots of safe recipes and request to participate in any baking activities.
Paper mache (Papier-mâché)	Wheat	Elmer's ® glue solution Buckwheat flour solution
Birthday and holiday celebrations	Potentially all	Non-food celebration (songs, goodie bags, stickers) You can provide safe cake or cupcakes for the class.
Making butter	Dairy	None
Making maracas or shakers	Some legumes	Fill maracas or shakers with rice, popcorn, or sand.
Projects using empty egg cartons, milk cartons, yogurt containers, etc.	Egg Dairy	You can provide safe empty containers for the class. One place to purchase new egg cartons is http://www.eggcartons.com/
Hand-washing (teachers and children)	Soaps, liquid soaps, hand wipes, diaper wipes and hand lotion may contain many allergens including wheat, dairy, soy and/or nut extracts including shea nut. Cloth towels may contain food residue.	Read soap, liquid soap, wipe and lotion labels to determine if allergens are present and choose a safe brand. Use paper towels to dry hands. Use safe wipes to clean hands.
Musical instruments	Allergens will be present on mouth-blown musical instruments.	Remove mouth-blown musical instruments from classroom. Provide a designated set of mouth-blown instruments for your child's use only.
Play kitchen	Empty "real" egg cartons, cereal boxes, etc. will contain allergens.	If used, you can provide safe "real" containers to replace allergenic ones.

References:

1. American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (1998). Anaphylaxis in schools and other child-care settings . Accessed August 2007, http://www.aaaai.org/media/resources/academy_statements/position_statements/ps34.asp

Download a copy of this article here:
Potential food allergens in preschool and school activities

Thanks to KFA member Lara A. for providing her assistance in developing this document.

Originally published August 2007. Updated August 2008.

Halloween, Scary.

It finally happened.  I knew this day would come, and I've been worrying about it. 

Now that he's a toddler, and is more than a couple feet tall, and can reach onto tables, and see all the other kids grabbing cookies, it happened.  He grabbed a big ol' chocolate chip cookie and took a bite. 

It was at a Halloween party, he was dressed up in his fireman's outfit, and just like all the other children he was having a great time.  Mingling parents above, playing kids below, and lots of fun.   Of course he's going to grab a cookie!

Luckily, my husband saw him take the bite and was able to get it from him, deftly swapping it for one of the allergen-free ones we'd brought.  But the deed was done. 

Thank goodness, his food allergies have not (to date) been anaphalaxis-inducing.  That reaction, apparently, is reserved for dog saliva.   But when he has been exposed to food allergens in the past, we see eczema, rash, and spots on his face in around an hour or less, plus lots and lots of scratching.  Later we'll see spots on his lower back and legs, depending on the allergen.  We started to see several of these by the time we got home. 

Unfortunately, this appeared to be a store-bought cookie ~ which means it's likely to have included most of his list:  wheat flour, butter, milk, soybean oil, shortening, and soy lecithin.  Probably not nuts.  It would have been a great test case if it had only been a single known allergen... but, nope.  It was a list. 

On the flip side, it was only one bite.  And his reaction, while clear to me, wasn't horrific.  He didn't seem itchy later, just a few little spots on his face and lower back.  Quite a relief to a mom who was having a quiet meltdown!  In fact, the mild reaction gave me hope ~ is it possible he's outgrowing some of his allergies? 

We just had some bloodwork done that was by its very nature vague.  Yet it did come back absolutely clear on dogs and cats:  allergic in a big way.  Not that this surprised me, as the one ER visit we've made was after a cute puppy licked his face while we were out on a hike.  (booooo!... no kitten or puppy some day?  That stinks!)  But under 2 years old, there is very little clarity in any blood test result ~ and skin testing is just not effective at this age either. 

So we wait.  Yes, crisis averted ~ but it made me really pause.  I can control every aspect of what happens ~ at home.  We can make food that's yummy, tastes and looks like the "real thing", is healthy and nutritious and allergen free.  Again, at home.  We can send snacks with him.  We can bring our own contributions to potlucks.  But, there's a whole wide world out there. 

How are we going to stop a rambunctious, fun loving two-year old from grabbing a cookie without squelching the joy out of every event by keeping him away from any dangers?   And when he gets to pre-school and later kindergarden, how will we be able to trust others to ensure he's being protected? 

Please, if anyone's out there who has faced this, can you give me some good ideas? 

Of cooking, cheese and good morning omlettes

Am I obsessed with breakfast food? Maybe.

But... there might be a good reason.  Morning is the one part of the day I tend to have wide open stretches of time with my son. Cooking together has become a time for us to just be with each other ~ laughing, making something, and exploring new ways to communicate. It's our special time.


My little sous chef, with his own pots and pans. 
Canape "baby knife", spice cabinet, and favorite spices.



He's starting to talk a lot more, and it's so exciting. And even though I know it's happening, I am always surprised when ~ out of nowhere ~ he says words and phrases I didn't realize he had even heard before. Watching his mind and imagination blossom has been one of the single most amazing things I've ever experienced. I'm sure, if you're a parent, you've had this experience... you hear the words "apple cider" pop out of the mouth that used to solely utter "ba ba ba ba" ~ and you just want to jump for joy. Or cry. Or hug him. Or all of these things. But instead, so the kid doesn't think you're a complete loon, you say "oh, yes! I see the apple cider too! Would you like some?" and nod sagely.

While cooking with Q, I'm having more and more of these moments. He is showing so much personality, and I'm getting to know more of what he likes and doesn't ~ for example, he loves basil in his eggs and cardamom in his oatmeal.  I see how much of what he gets ~ like, he knows mommy loves smoked paprika, so he hands it to me whenever he finds it in the spice drawer. (we have a spice drawer that rolls out of the bottom cabinets, only 4 inches wide but cabinet depth... it's the perfect height for a toddler to pull out and, well, re-organize!) And I get to hear his new language skills as he describes what he is doing.  "I stirring, cover, bubble bubble!" he says to me as he does all those things.

We got him his own little pot and pan set (thank you Ikea kid's section!) and he's in love.  You see him using it in the picture above: I pull up a kitchen chair with its back toward the stove, remove the stove dials he can reach, keep him faaaar enough away from the hot spots, and let him pretend to cook alongside me.  He has to have a spatula all his own, a mini "cutting" board, and a few play veggies (or real ones) so he can make his own thing.  We let him "try" ingredients to see if he wants to include them in his masterpiece ~ if he likes them, they go in the pot!  Just the other day we ended up with a piece of broccoli, a tiny bit of mushroom, a couple peas, black pepper and some tarragon.    A lovely dish!

So... back to breakfast. 

We've been making eggs for Q for a long time.  Sometimes we mix it up a bit and fry a couple chopped hot dogs in there, or bacon.  (We have found both in nitrate-free, uncured versions ~ Oscar Mayer all-beef Angus Selects for the hot dogs, and Nature's Promise uncured bacon (from Stop & Shop)... plus other deli meats that are uncured and gluten free, like Hormel Natural Choice oven roasted turkey, shown below)   We can add variety by frying up a little of one of those first, then adding eggs and scrambling them.  Delicious!

Working on communication, I asked Q the other day what we needed to make "eggies" as he calls them.  During the conversation, we drew the items either he or I came up with, and it became kind of a visual recipe.

We needed: a pan, eggs, a spatula, oil, and of course basil. 

And while that's been fun for a while, I began to wonder how to mix it up.  At the same time, I heard about rice-milk based cheese!  Oh cheese, the holy grail of missing foods for me when I was nursing!  I missed it, craved it ~ but non-dairy versions I found either were soy-based or even had casein in them.  It was so frustrating!  

Just recently, however, I heard about rice-milk based cheese ~ it was hard to hunt down, but I found one at our local natural foods market that was soy, dairy, gluten and nut free ~ Daiya Dairy Free.  (For those in the New Haven area:  Edge of the Woods)  There were other dizzying options for those who don't have the same limitations:  almond milk cheese looked interesting, lots of soy, but... well, if you're reading this blog you're likely already a label-reading person.  There's a lot of hidden casein and soy in many.  

Even so, it was so exciting to stand at the cheese section and imagine the possibilities for my little guy... grilled cheese sandwiches, nachos, pizza!  Many of the foods that the grand poobah in the sky created specifically to delight children. 

I picked up two varieties: cheddar and mozzarella styles.  As soon as I was home, I had to try them!  Right out of the package, they seemed a little ... eh.  A bit salty, not so much creamy.  But, apply heat e voila!  Melty, gooey, and pretty darned good for something that isn't the real thing.  Yay!

So again, back to breakfast: 

Combining my recent discovery of the rice-milk based cheese and my desire to branch out in the eggs department, it was a natural progression to omlettes.  Simple, easy, fast, and way better than just scrambled.  Here's what we used:

Turkey-Broccoli-Cheese Omlettes

Olive oil

1/4 medium onion, diced fine

1 broccoli "tree" chopped fine

1 slice deli turkey, diced small  ~ or hot dogs, leftover chicken, etc.

2 Eggs

1/4 cup cheddar-style rice milk cheese

ground black pepper, just a shake 

basil or Italian spices, to taste

In a little oil, saute onion and broccoli together until the onion is translucent and the broccoli is bright green, just a minute or two.  Add the broccoli and saute a couple minutes. 

Meanwhile crack the eggs into a little bowl and scramble them.  Add to the pan in as close to a circle as you can manage.  Lower the heat to medium low, and cover for a couple minutes until the egg is starting to set. 

Add the cheese and spices and cover again until the egg is set and the cheese looks melty. 

Fold over the omlette, but if that doesn't work, just serve this as scrambled eggs and no one will know the difference!

Get the plate on the table to cool off while you wrangle your small child into the high chair, booster seat or if necessary, your lap.  This should be the precise time needed to cool off the omlette to the perfect temperature! 

This was such a win with Q! ... he gobbled it up, practicing "cutting" skills with his little plastic fork, but eventually just started grabbing chunks of egg and turkey omlette.  Dipping daintily into ketchup first, then unceremoniously shoving the food into his mouth, he loved it.  And I felt so close to him, as I did just about the same.

Beginning the Journey!

Who am I? I'm a mom. Yes, I am many other things ~ but at the core of it, that's who I am.



 I'm a mom to a happy, funny, silly, sweet little boy. A kid who loves any kind of transportation: planes, trains, automobiles. Who bounces to reggae, wiggles to salsa, and hops to Old McDonald. Who loves to run in circles, literally, around anyone he loves. Who kisses boo-boos and says "bleshu" when even he sneezes. In other words, an amazing and loving child. And as of this writing, he's 21 months old ~ healthy and happy and joyful.

 But when he was 3 months, in the bleary eyed moments between naps, we discovered his "cradle cap" was not what it seemed. A rash was growing across his face, and then down his back. Spots were forming in several places on his face that would grow, then ebb. Stippled dots and large spots grew around his tiny body; a dollar-coin sized spot on his leg grew and created bubbles, which opened into clear liquid-filled pits. He cried. He rubbed his eyes. He suffered. And we were desperate first time parents looking for an answer.

And it came in one word: Allergies.

Our pediatrician advised removing dairy from his diet. He was solely breastfed, so that meant removing dairy from my diet. We were encouraged when his rash started to fade, but after a week, it was only partially gone.

So a couple weeks later, we removed soy from my (and by extension, his) diet. Soybeans, soy milk, and the most frustrating of all: soy lecithin, which hides in nearly any processed or packaged foods, especially wheat items that need long term shelf-stabilization. Gone were bread, crackers, even tuna ~ which hides in the "broth" of tuna in water, margarine, even chocolate!

Immersed in conflicting feelings of panic for his safely and my own guilty sense of deprivation of the foods I loved, I began to get a fast education about hidden food allergens, cross-contamination, alternate ingredient names, and oil blends. I found that no restaurant or pre-packaged food seemed to be able to provide a way to guarantee an allergen-free product. It was overwhelming, frustrating, time consuming, and scary.

Hard for me, who now had to remove what seemed like everything I liked to eat from my diet. No more cheese, milk for my coffee, most salad dressings, mayonnaise (nearly all of it is made from soybean oil), no going out to eat because there was no way to avoid cross-contamination ~ and believe me, we gambled and lost once, on a local organic restaurant whose chef swore they would provide an allergy-free meal, and he suffered for days afterward.

How could we protect him from all of this, not just now but for his whole life? It was daunting.

Yet, as challenging as it was, removing soy from his diet resulted in a dramatic improvement: his facial spots nearly receded and his leg almost immediately healed. With the new diet, a topical hydrocortizone and a very mild steroid foam, nearly everything changed. He was calmer, happier. And we were thankful.

But a couple months along, we still saw stippled dots across his back very often. He had terrible reflux, keeping all of us up night after night. He scratched his head night and day, and the crooks of his arms and knees were constantly breaking out in rashes. Our pediatrician suggested we consider any other allergens that he might be exposed to. While we'd been using fragrance free detergent and color-safe bleach, we stopped using any fabric softener whatsoever. No one with perfume or who smoked got anywhere near him. All good, but still ... something was going on.

The next stage of diet adjustment was the most dramatic. Our Pediatrician suggested we go gluten free. For good measure, we also decided to go nut free. (This based on a reaction he had when I ate peanut butter with a spoon one night after I had a particularly bad ice cream craving.)

And within days, his skin was like porcelain. Pure, smooth, baby skin. Joy!!

But at this point, I should step back and explain something. Or rather, confess.

I am not only a mom. I'm a travel addict and foodaholic. There is an insatiable desire in me to experience the world and its cultures through food. This has driven me to travel as often as possible, in our country and beyond. When I'm in a new place, I search out the local stuff. The best masala dosa and idlis for breakfast in Chennai. Wonderful pad kee maw in Bangkok, where I lived for a year. Wings in Buffalo, where I grew up. Bangers, beans and tomatoes in Limerick. Coffee with the richest cream in Honduras. Medialunas in Buenos Aires. And my friends will let you know I've gone days looking for a good Vietnamese Banh Xeo.

Maybe I was thinking I'd share my love of the world with our son through food, too. Maybe it was hard for me to imaging not doing so. And maybe I reacted, at first, to the situation as if I was being dragged into a prison made of tasteless beans and boring carrot sticks, forever in fear that the next meal would hurt his health as much as it would be tasteless to me. Obviously his health trumps all, but there was a dark moment back there, I've got to admit.

There was never a moment when I considered not breastfeeding. But it was a tough to accept that for a long, long time I would be missing things ~ and even worse to imagine that once the breastfeeding was over, we still couldn't just walk into a restaurant with our son and order "whatever's good." We would always have to worry, ask questions, and be fiercely protective of our son. Fear is counter to the way we want to raise him.

I realized an important thing, though. I had done precisely what I was trying to avoid instilling in our son: I'd reacted with fear. Instead, why not see this as a huge adventure?

So, we began a hunt for anything we could eat. So what if we couldn't have convenience foods? Couldn't we cook for ourselves from local, wonderful produce and scratch from food sources we knew to be safe? Isn't there a cuisine or two that doesn't rely entirely on dairy, soy, gluten or nuts?

Suddenly, it became fun! It was a treasure hunt! I discovered making corn tortillas by hand. Found delicious chorizo sausages handmade and reasonably priced in a local Spanish grocery. Made lots of rice dishes with chicken and ginger. Ate many salads with sunflower seeds as my croutons and my own homemade dressing. My husband even surprised me with a flourless chocolate birthday cake with butterscotch icing (a recipe that he researched for days to ensure was perfect... and it was!)

When our son began to eat semi-solids, we made his baby food by steaming squash, apples, pears, peas, sweet potatoes, and sought out a soy-free rice cereal because most of the commercial brands include soy lecithin. Healthy, happy, delicious food ended up in front of him and he thrived. I got into a groove of healthy allergen free food, and amazingly lost all the baby weight by the time I finished breastfeeding at 16 months. It was easy to forget sometimes how sick he really had been.

Then, when he became a toddler, he was really ready for more solid finger foods. We used the same basic strategy for finding foods he could eat as I had for myself: read the package, try to make most of the stuff ourselves from scratch. But we did get into a rut. Hot dogs, rice pasta, turkey slices, puffs, apple bits, oatmeal. Day in, day out. Sigh.

Thankfully, our son has an amazing Nanny. Her name is Jessica, and she is an inspiration to us. I could go on for months about how much of a positive impact she has had on our son, and how lucky we are just to know her as a person… she’s a strong, forthright, straight-shooter with the heart of a lioness, and the happiest, loudest, most genuine laugh. She’s smart, loving, and sharp as a tack.

And she is tireless in trying to find ways to feed him things other kids do, with a twist. One day, I came in to find him gobbling up chicken breast that she’d added basil and olive oil. Another day it was gluten free bread turkey sandwiches with lots of ketchup. Yet another, he was learning to tap cinnamon into applesauce. Next, he was stirring “eggies” in a bowl so that she could make them into his breakfast. I was embarrassed to realize that in my constant process of weeding out dangerous foods, I forgot my sense of play when it came to what he could eat!

Suddenly the hunt was on again… together, we found soy free chocolate chips, and suddenly there were chocolate chip pancakes made with rice flour, eggs, gluten free baking powder. We made turkey roll ups with corn tortillas. Chicken noodle soup.  French toast, sandwiches, chocolate rice milk… the list continues to grow.

So, this blog is intended to chronicle that journey. As I discover new dishes to cook that follow my son’s diet, I’ll provide the recipes, pictures, and even name brand names.

This is a foodie journal for one adorable audience: our sweet son. But come on in and join the party!

Here’s a list of the foods we avoid:

• Soy
• Dairy (i.e. milk including casein)
• Gluten
• Nuts (peanut and tree nuts)
• Stawberries
• Raspberries

Here’s a list of the foods we embrace:

• Everything else!