The Food Allergy Queen

Recipe: Texas caviar for parties

2012-02-04T19:33:00.000-08:00

Have you heard of Texas caviar? I hadn't, until I visited my sister in Tennessee, where I discovered it's a popular item to bring to parties. It's sort of like a bean salad, but served as a dip, and after shoveling quite a bit of it into my mouth, I could see why! Rather than a heavy creamy dip, or guacamole, you can make this instead. Hearty, savory, and full of fiber, it holds up well for parties. And since there are no eggs or mayo in it, you don't need to worry about it sitting around for hours at room temperature. These are traditionally served with Fritos -- I like Scoops (unless you have a corn allergy, some other hearty chip will do).

Texas Caviar
Adapted from Judy Curtis, Southern Living Magazine
Makes 10 portions

2- 14 oz. cans of black eyed peas, drained (I can't find these in SoCal, so I use pinto beans instead)

2- 15 1/2 oz cans of white hominy, drained (I buy these at Smart & Final, or in Hispanic grocery stores)
(Note: hominy is corn, so if you have a corn allergy, eliminate this item...you could use garbanzos)

2 medium tomatoes, diced (I use diced red peppers, either fresh or roasted from a jar depending on my mood)
4 green onions (both green and white parts), chopped
2 cloves garlic (I omit this entirely)
1 medium-sized green pepper, diced
1/2 onion, finely diced
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, roughly minced
1 small can of chopped green mild chilies
1 8 oz bottle of any zesty Italian dressing (note that many companies are using soy oil in salad dressing, so check the ingredients first. You may want to go with a packet of Good Seasons and use your own oil.)
1 jalapeno pepper, diced (optional)

Combine all ingredients, salt and pepper to taste. I usually make this the night before so that the dressing marinates the rest of the ingredients.

I double this for big parties! You can buy the super large sized cans of hominy and beans at Smart & Final.

Game on!

Recipe: Chinese fried rice...with #gf quinoa!

2012-02-03T19:25:00.000-08:00

I'm publicly admitting this. As a second-generation Chinese-American who loves all things cooking and eating, and especially chowing down on authentic ethnic dishes of all stripes, you'd think I'd be a natural at whipping up Chinese food, right? Sadly, you would be so very very wrong. I SUCK at cooking Chinese food. There, I've said it. For whatever reason, I can't seem to have a mental block trying to cook Chinese food. I can't get the proportions right, or the seasonings balanced or the right ingredients to get the authentic tastes and textures right, even when I have Mom on the other side of the phone walking me through it. (And Mom NEVER writes her recipes down, she does it all out of her head -- which only pours gasoline on my problem.) When I've tried to make Chinese food in the past (with authentic cookbooks in hand), they've been weak. Pale. Sunset Magazine-type imitations of what they are supposed to taste like. Sad. Accepting this reality means that most of the time when my friends ask me for really good Chinese food, I am forced to throw them into my car and drive them to Chinatown or the San Gabriel Valley. :)

But the other day, something came over me, and I was CRAVING fried rice. I haven't had fried rice since 2003, when my food allergies were diagnosed and I discovered I was allergic to, um, rice. And soy. Both key ingredients in fried rice...hello tragedy! Fried rice is a bit of a comfort food for Asians -- it's casual, it's filling, it has lots of little tasty bits in it. Sometimes it includes leftovers, so it can change from time to time. Years ago, the few times I've tried to "casually" throw it together it was bleah. An insult to my ancestors -- mostly my grandma who was a great cook!

Anyhow, flashback to the present. I found a soy-free fried rice recipe on foodily.com (have you tried this site yet? It aggregates recipes from all over the web into one place and you can share and comment like Facebook. Disclaimer -- the founder is a friend of mine, so I'm biased!) that looked easy enough to convert to be FAQ-friendly. I substituted a few things that I already had in the pantry, and guess what? It WORKED! (Cue the angel music!) It tasted great -- authentic. It didn't use weird, hard-to-find Chinese ingredients. I was so happy. Sorry for those who are egg-allergic on this one. Next time I make this I'll try to figure out an egg-free version.

A few notes: any good Chinese dish is a combination of flavors and textures, so if you delete items, be sure to replace it with something of a similar texture. For instance, I've made this both with turkey as well as with pork, and when I took out the peas, I added back in diced green pepper. Additions suggested by the original recipe are baby corn, mushrooms, snow peas. Don't remove the sausage though, that's a key flavor in this recipe and helps make up for the lack of soy sauce.

TIPS:

- This is easier made in a wok if you have one, if not, use the largest frying pan you have. You may need to make this in batches if everything doesn't fit into the frying pan.
- Use a high heat oil like grapeseed, or canola in a pinch to stir fry effectively. Olive oil does not get hot enough, and will also add a different flavor.
- Cut and prep all the ingredients ahead of time. Once you start heating the pan, everything will go very quickly!
- Wear an apron, there may be splatter.

Chinese fried quinoa/rice with sausage, shrimp and turkey
Adapted from The Shun Lee cookbook
4 to 6 servings

2 oz of good quality gluten-free, dairy-free smoked kielbasa (pork or turkey), cut into 1-1/2" length slivers (I used Wellshire Farms, there's also Applegate Farms)
3 ounces medium shrimp, peeled and deveined, washed and dried thoroughly
2 ounces boneless, skinless turkey or chicken breast, minced with a cleaver or heavy knife or in a food processor
1 large egg
2 large eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon plus a pinch of salt
Vegetable oil, for passing through
1/3 cup peeled and minced onion
2 scallions, white and green parts, trimmed and minced
3 tablespoons thawed frozen baby green peas
2 1/2 cups cooked quinoa (or if you can have rice, use white or brown!)
Ground white pepper to taste (don't use black, it won't taste the same!)

Prep quinoa: rinse 1 cup of quinoa well. (If you've never used it before, it is naturally bitter, so thorough rinsing is important!) In a saucepan, add 2 cups of water and pinch of salt. Bring to a boil. Once brought to boil, turn down to a medium simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes until fluffy like rice.

1. Combine the shrimp, chicken, the 1 egg, cornstarch, and the pinch of salt in a medium bowl. Mix well, and set aside.

2. Heat a large wok over high heat. Add enough oil for 1/4" inch of deep frying in the wok or frying pan, and test with a thermometer to heat it to 300°F. (A quick, unscientific way to see if it's hot enough is to stick in the handle of a wooden spoon in the middle of the pot so it's touching the bottom. If bubbles form around it right away, it should be hot enough!) Add the shrimp and chicken, and stir gently unto they turn white, about 45 seconds. Using a wide wire-mesh strainer, transfer the shrimp and chicken to a colander to drain. Discard all but 4 tablespoons of the oil from the wok.

3. Beat the whole eggs in a small bowl, and add to the wok. Scramble the eggs until they are quite firm and not runny, about 15 seconds. Transfer to a plate.

4. Return the shrimp and chicken to the wok, and add the onions and the scallions. Stir-fry until the scallions soften, about 15 seconds.

5. Add the sausage and peas, and stir-fry for 15 seconds.

6. Add the quinoa, white pepper, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and stir-fry until the rice is piping hot, about 3 minutes. Return the eggs to the wok and stir-fry for a few seconds. Season to taste with salt and white pepper. Serve immediately.

For reference, here's the link to the original Sausage, shrimp, chicken fried rice recipe from The Shun Lee cookbook.

The School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act: track it!

2012-01-12T14:00:00.000-08:00

The School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act, H.R. 3627 was introduced to the House in December.

Here's a cool tool to track the status of the epinephrine bill as it moves through the House of Representatives. AND there's a place to click and show your support for H.R. 3627.

Go to http://bit.ly/wwT72S

Please pass this on! #foodallergy

PS. I just wrote a letter on this site that went directly to my Congressperson. Here is my letter http://pvox.co/8h3BCh. Personalize yours and make your voice heard! Share with others!

I support H.R. 3627 ("To provide States with incentives to require elementary schools and secondary schools to maintain, and") because...

As an adult with extensive food allergies, it horrifies me that the recent death of a young girl, Ammaria Johnson, may have been prevented. Just like first aid kits in schools and businesses, and defibrillators on planes, epinephrine should be considered basic medical emergency treatment, and should be standard in schools.

Most of the news has reported that the mother tried to leave an EpiPen at school and was told to take it home. I've heard from another of my blog readers that the same happened to her when she was in public school. Why would a school turn down life-saving medication on the premises?

Sadly, there have also been reports of the bullying of food allergic children (smearing peanut butter on their hands and chasing allergic kids), so it would be even more important to have this available in case of emergency.

I am encouraging others in the food allergy community to post here. Thank you.

Kishari Sing

Blog: www.foodallergyqueen.com

Facebook: Food Allergy Queen

Question: Autism spectrum and food allergies?

2012-01-11T12:20:00.000-08:00

Readers, I have a question for you! A chef, restauranteur and host on the KCRW show "Good Food" in LA, Evan Kleiman, has posed this question.

We are working on a story about the relationship between autism and food allergies...do you know someone who struggles with food allergies due to Autism or Asperger's?

I already know that some people with Autism spectrum respond well to a gluten-free and casein-free (dairy-free) diet to help manage symptoms. BUT she's also asking if anyone with Autism has developed food allergies after diagnoses?

My guess is no, that Autism does not subsequently generate food allergies, that they're two very different systems in the body. But I wanted to pose the question to you, a bigger audience than me!

Please either comment below, or shoot me an email with your thoughts at foodallergyqueen@gmail.com, and I'll share them with her.

Thanks!

The FAQ

Recipe: Indian cabbage with mung beans (yummier than it sounds)

2012-01-04T12:47:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone! I am just getting back up to 100% after getting sick from an environmental allergy storm over New Year's eve. Sometimes high levels of gunky stuff in the air (pollen, grass, pollutants, mold) overpowers my sinuses and if I'm not careful I can get pneumonia. (After a few days indoors hanging out with my new BFF the neti pot, I'm much better.) As I'm trying to build up my stamina again, I felt like having something comforting and healthy, but new to my repertoire. Enter this Indian cabbage recipe. A lot of news in the food world lately has been about trying to incorporate more vegetarian meals into our diet for both health and environmental reasons, and I agree -- Meatless Mondays, Bittman's "less meatarian", or full vegan options are all great steps. Whatever works for you works! But rather than re-engineer foods to be meatless, I prefer to find recipes that are designed to be veggie to begin with. That way, to my thinking at least, it doesn't feel like it's missing anything! There are many vegetarians in the Indian culture, it makes sense that they've adjusted their cuisine so it's just right. :)

Luckily for me I have a copy of Neelam Batra's The Indian Vegetarian cookbook, which I purchased after I was fortunate enough to take one of her cooking classes. She has simplified traditional Indian food for American cooks, and everything I've made out of it has been terrific. Most of the time, her recipes turn out way tastier than I imagined (and you have to imagine -- no pictures!). This recipe was not only one-pot easy and delicious, with balanced flavors, low fat and high fiber, it used things I already had in my fridge and pantry. Bonus!

BTW, I'm not advocating that everyone needs to become a full vegetarian unless you choose to. Adding in more vegetarian recipes is a good idea, AND I believe in listening to your body and crafting your diet for your individual needs. A few hours after eating this, I had a burger. :)

Here it is, with my subs noted.

Cabbage with Yellow Mung Beans (Bund gobi aur peeli mung dal)
from Neelam Batra's The Indian Vegetarian

Makes 8 servings

3 Tbs vegetable oil (I used grapeseed for its mild flavor)
2 Tbs peeled and finely chopped fresh ginger
1 tsp finely chopped garlic (I used shallots)
1 cup finely chopped scallion greens (I used the whole scallions)
5 jalapeno peppers, skin punctured to prevent bursting (I skipped this because in this state they would have killed me)
1 cup of cleaned, loosely packed finely chopped cilantro, including soft stems
1 Tbs ground coriander (which is cilantro btw, did you know?)
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt, or to taste
1 cup finely chopped fresh tomato (I used a red pepper since I'm allergic to tomatoes)
1 medium-sized head of green cabbage (about 1.5 lbs.), finely shredded
1/2 cup dried yellow mung beans (I used white lentils), picked over and washed
freshly ground black pepper to taste
3 Tbs chopped cilantro for garnish

Note: this may need add'l water or broth, so have it handy

1. Heat the oil in a large wok or saucepan over moderately high heat and cook ginger and garlic, stirring until golden, about 1-2 minutes.
2. Add scallion greens, jalapeno peppers and cilantro for 1-2 minutes.
3. Stir in spices: coriander, cumin, turmeric and salt and let them heat through to bring out the flavor.
4. Add tomato (peppers for me), cabbage and mung beans. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring, until cabbage wilts, 3-4 minutes.
5. Cover the pan, reduce the heat to low, and cook until the dal is tender about 25-30 minutes. Note: since I took out the tomato, there was not enough liquid for the lentils to cook, so I added a combination of water and broth over the cooking time so that it didn't dry out and burn!
6. Transfer to a serving dish, season with salt and black pepper to taste, garnish with cilantro.

Enjoy.

Recipe: Pecan pie (gluten, dairy and soy-free)

2011-12-28T14:55:00.000-08:00

I finally made the pecan pie I didn't make at Thanksgiving (one month and several inches to my waistline ago). It was satisfying and delicious, I'll work on an egg-free version for next time. If anyone tries it with Ener-G egg replacer, let me know if it works by posting on my Facebook page. The eggs are used for a custardy-type filling, so don't know if the powder will do the same.

Kentucky Pecan pie
From Rita Shiang

1 8" gluten-free pie crust, unbaked (I used the Bob's recipe here)

3/4 c. white corn syrup
3/4 c. dark brown sugar, lightly packed
1/3 c. melted butter (or substitute of your choice, I used Earth Balance margarine)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract (gluten-free!)
3 slightly beaten eggs
1 c. roughly chopped pecans. (Set aside add'l pecan halves for decoration if you like.)

Preheat oven to 350.
Mix together the syrup, sugar, butter, salt and vanilla. Add in beaten eggs.
Add in chopped pecans -- at this point you can either mix pecans in the batter, or pour the batter into the shell and sprinkle pecans on top. I like mixing them in.
Decorate with pecan halves if you like, but this is strictly optional. (BTW, if the pecan halves sit on top of the pie they're likely to burn like mine did, so cut out a loose circle of foil to protect them but let the crust brown!)

Bake for 45 minutes or until pie is set. Serve warm or cold.

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-24T14:35:00.000-08:00

Happy #foodallergy safe Holidays everyone! I hope you enjoy the blessings of the season. <3

As for me, I'm enjoying these Butternut squash latkes from Elanas Pantry! http://bit.ly/s6yb9H

Best Wishes to you and yours, the FAQ

Work in progress...lentil soup

2011-12-14T16:49:00.000-08:00

This came out nicely today, so wanted to share the picture of my work in progress. It's a variation of the lentil soup with saffron yogurt recipe from 101 Cookbooks http://bit.ly/vJEicg

I'll post my version once I'm done tweaking it to my liking.

More gift ideas! Food Allergy Canvas Tote Bags

2011-12-14T16:45:00.000-08:00

More gift ideas! Food Allergy Canvas Tote Bags. I shared this on Facebook the other day as well. Shop for them on this link! http://bit.ly/uy5YsX

These are some of the great tote bags out there that help food allergy awareness! My favorite one is "If not for gluten, I'd be normal." Well, maybe.

Recipe: Artichoke Spinach Dip

2011-12-08T18:19:00.001-08:00

Uh oh, I'm in trouble. I LOVE dips -- as a kid when my parents took us to grownup parties, I'd look for the inevitable chips with sour cream onion dip, then strategically park myself in front of the bowl and not budge the entire time. Shoveling of dip ensued.

Tonight, I was breezing through one of my older low-carb cookbooks, and found this quick and easy recipe. Warning: it's low-carb, but NOT low-calorie! You pick your poison, right? This can be gluten-free, dairy-free and soy-free depending on which ingredients you choose. (Click on the photo to see it full-sized._

Spinach Artichoke Dip
Adapted from 500 Low-Carb recipes cookbook
8 servings

1 can 13 1/2 oz. artichoke hearts
1 package frozen chopped spinach (10 oz., thawed)
2 cups mayonnaise (whichever kind suits you...I use canola oil based mayo fm Whole Foods since I can't have the soy oil in most mayos)
2 cups Daiya mozzarella shreds (or real cheese if you can have it)
2 cloves garlic, crushed (I used onion instead)
paprika for dusting (I used smoked paprika)

1. Preheat oven to 325F.

2. Drain and chop artichoke hearts into a rough dice.

3. Squeeze out as much water as you can from the spinach, using your hands.

4. Combine all ingredients except for paprika, spread into a shallow baking dish.

5. Sprinkle with paprika.

6. Bake at 325F for 50 to 60 minutes. Serve warm or room temperature.

Let cool a bit, then serve with tortilla chips, #gf crackers or raw vegetables. Beware. I shoveled quite a healthy portion of this as soon as it cooled!

#Gf Holiday French toast with @So_Delicious Eggnog

2011-12-06T17:51:00.001-08:00

Before discovering my multiple food allergies, I always eagerly looked forward to my annual Christmas breakfast of Holiday French toast made with eggnog and Italian pannetone bread (which is only available during the holidays). I haven't had any since 2006 and miss miss miss it!

But since I've been hearing great reviews about the @So_Delicious coconut eggnog, I am going to try it this year. And use Glutino's #gf raisin bread to simulate the pannetone. So Delicious already has a recipe on their site, so I'm gonna try this one first before tinkering. I couldn't link directly to the recipe, so copied it here.

If anyone has already tried it, please share your comments here or on my Facebook page!

Holiday Nog French ToastRecipe from So Delicious Dairy Free

By Gail Davis

Ingredients:

2 ripe bananas
2 cups So Delicious® Coconut Milk Nog
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
8 slices hearty whole-grain, sourdough, or gluten-free bread
coconut oil
cinnamon sugar (combine ground cinnamon and evaporated cane crystals—optional)

Preparation:

Blend bananas, coconut nog, cinnamon, and vanilla in a blender and pour into apie plate or wide bowl. Heat a griddle or skillet coated with a thin layer ofcoconut oil.
Gently dip the bread slices, one at a time into the plate or bowl, lettingslices soak up mixture for a few seconds, then carefully turn to coat the otherside. Transfer
bread slices to griddle or skillet, heating slowly until bottom is goldenbrown. Turn and brown the other side. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, if desired,and serve hot
with (or without syrup) and fresh berries. Serves 4.

Gift suggestions for #foodallergy peeps!

2011-12-06T07:00:00.000-08:00

Here are a few items that I think would make great holiday gifts for the #foodallergy peeps in your life.

Lauren's Hope medical bracelets. These are NOT those nasty military-type bracelets. List your critical food allergies on the replaceable medical tag, and swap between beautiful sterling, crystal and gold versions for women, leather for the men, and fun beads and leather for kids. I get compliments on mine all the time (I have the one pictured), and when people compliment me, I flip over my wrist and show them it's a medical bracelet. They are shocked at how nice they are. I've convinced quite a few ladies that you don't have to sacrifice style for safety. If your kids whine about how ugly it is to wear a bracelet for their food allergy, you can fix that with these! Find them on Twitter @LaurenshopeID

Glasslock food storage containers. This is not sexy, but they're some of the most practical pieces I have in my kitchen. Not only can I see what's in there (and the state of freshness of the item in question), if there are multiple food allergies in your house you can avoid cross contamination by using non-toxic markers directly on the glass (I like Expo-click dry markers because they're big and hard to lose!).

A subscription to Allergic Living or Living Without magazines. 'Nuff said. @AllergicLiving, @Living_without

A cosmetic-sized bag for all of the allergy stuff. Epipen, antihistamines, emergency plans, Dr. contacts, etc. I like to put mine in something REALLY bright and obnoxious so it's easy to find in my purse or briefcase. I have a few from Tepper Jackson, but you get the idea.

Stainless steel bento boxes for transporting your safe food to parties or other people's homes. You'll want something sturdy, and easy to clean to avoid the chemicals in plastics. I think you can also use dry erase markers on stainless.

For kids, perhaps one of these cute little skull and crossbones tees that helps the adults around them understand they have food allergies. They are customizable (I want one!) for specific food allergies as well. Kids can easily get overlooked by busy or impatient adults and these can only add another layer of communication, right? Plus, they're a tiny bit "goth", kids will love them. Not on Twitter, but Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/groups/36548582389/

Allergic Girl, the book. My friend Sloane is a psychotherapist who grew up with food allergies to nuts and fish. She has wonderful strategies to emotionally empower yourself or your children on managing food allergies, without living in fear. And brilliant observations about dealing with anyone (including family) who are resistant to offering you support.

I would love to hear from you. What food allergy related gift do you love to give, or would you like to receive?

Happy holiday shopping, the FAQ

Review: Earth Balance coconut spread

2011-12-05T16:11:00.001-08:00

I'm ALWAYS excited to go to @WholeFoods markets -- they really put in the effort to offer a range of products that work for those of us with #foodallergy. It's just like a treasure hunt -- every time I go to replace my staples (like Glutino #gf breads) I know I'll find something new and exciting. This time, I was making a trek to replace my @Earth_Balance Soy-free margarine in the red container (TJs doesn't carry soy-free) and ran across an intriguing little blue tub of Earth Balance organic coconut spread. I'm sure for legal reasons they can't call it margarine, but for all practical purposes, it's yet another tasty butter replacement for us. This is dairy-free, soy-free, gluten-free, organic, non-GMO and vegan. Yay. It's like magic!

Ingredients: Tropical oil blend of extra virgin coconut, palm, and canola oils. Water, salt, natural flavor (I assume it's a manufactured one), sunflower lecithin and lactic acid. All organic.

I found this before Thanksgiving so have been doing side by side taste comparisons to the soy-free margarine for the past few weeks. The coconut spread is lighter tasting, with not as much of a "buttery" flavor, and a bit less rich than the margarine. It also retains a light coconut flavor, so I found it worked better in sweet combinations rather than savory. When I fried an egg in it, it made my egg taste vaguely Hawaiian. So I would stick to using it for sweets. The consistency was great, the mouthfeel was very smooth like real butter, with just a tinge of the sweetness from real sweet butter. Bottom line, I like it VERY much as yet another butter substitute alternative. But since it's got a bit of a coconut-y taste, and is a bit more expensive than their margarine, I think I'll save this for sweet baking items. And continue to use their margarine for savory cooking and on breads and muffins.

Regardless, thank you so much Earth_Balance for continuing to make great products! It's such a great time for foodallergy peeps, there are so many more choices available now.

...The aftermath

2011-11-28T12:50:00.001-08:00

A post-Thanksgiving check-in of things I have learned:

- I planned lots of options for leftovers since I am still eating turkey (I bought a 16-lb bird and already planned to freeze a good portion of it ).With it, I've made Vietnamese style sandwiches on gf bread, turkey omelette, and turkey noodle soup. Good to have these ready.

- Need to plan to pig out on desserts. I ate 3/4 of a pumpkin pie by myself, although spread out over a few days. Thank goodness I didn't make two! My mom is diabetic and only took a few bites, which she ate with her hands -- it was so yummy she couldn't/wouldn't wait for a plate and fork.

- Look for the turkey baster BEFORE you turn the oven on. Needless to say, I only found half of it. Not helpful.

- I discovered that when the connector on the wire for the roasting thermometer is loose, the temperature can be inaccurate. Argh.

- Earth Balance margarine (soy free in my case) massaged into the bird prior to roasting adds beautiful color and texture to the skin. Almost as good as butter!

- I opened a bottle of Fre alcohol-free wine...a merlot. My mom loved it...esp since she's given up alcohol for her health. Now she can get it back!

- The #GF soft rolls recipe http://bit.ly/rQNEUR. are best eaten within a day. Will let you know how they freeze.

All in all, a lovely cooking holiday. Hope yours was delicious, safe and fun!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T09:44:00.000-08:00

Happy safe Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope that everyone gets #foodallergy support fm loved ones on a foodcentric holiday. And please don't forget your Epi today, just in case!

Here's the gf pie crust recipe I used this yearL http://www.bobsredmill.com/recipes.php?recipe=1126

and here's the classic Libby's pie recipe:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/libbys-famous-pumpkin-pie/detail.aspx I switched out the evaporated milk and replaced it with So Delicious Coconut milk plain yogurt.

Peace and blessings, the FAQ

'via Blog this'

The FAQ Thanksgiving menu 2011

2011-11-19T17:13:00.001-08:00

Okay, after much thinking, here's what I'm going with this year. On one hand, I look forward to having my favorites, on the other hand, I'm always looking to improve what can be better! I may venture out to try a new #gf pie crust. Dare I?

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! The FAQ

1. Turkey
I purchase free-range and organic Mary's turkey from Whole Foods. This year, about $2.50/lb. I've been making this turkey for a few years now, and am always pleased with the moistness and extra flavor of the turkey. The gravy is hearty and is perfect with the gf cornbread stuffing I prefer.

The key thing I alter is that I dry brine the turkey this two days before Thanksgiving, and bring it up to room temperature before roasting.

Here's the recipe for Turkey with Sage and Sherried Cider Giblet Gravy from Epicurious

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Roast-Turkey-with-Sage-and-Sherried-Cider-Giblet-Gravy-13419

My FAQ Subs:
Eliminate lemon
Gluten-free Glutino bread for whole wheat
Earth Balance soyfree margarine for butter
Cornstarch for flour in gravy

2. #GF cornbread and sausage stuffing from Roben Ryberg/James Beard
Make the cornbread a day ahead and save yourself a headache!

http://www.foodallergyqueen.com/2008/11/faq-cornbread-stuffing-recipe.html

3. Cranberry and cherry compote from Gourmet magazine
http://www.foodallergyqueen.com/2006/11/faq-thanksgiving.html

4. Green vegetable to be determined! May add a #gf dinner roll recipe depending on how ambitious I feel on Wednesday.

5. #GF and dairy-free pumpkin pie.
Pie filling from the Libby's recipe on the can, see link below. FAQ sub: So Delicious plain or vanilla yogurt for the evaporated milk

Flaky Pastry adapted from Rebecca Reilly
Double Crust (use for two pies or cut recipe in half)

Equipment you'll need: 9" heavy aluminum pie pan (don't use glass or it won't brown!)
rolling pin
pastry cutter (or two forks)
waxed paper

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups gluten-free mix (I used Bob's Red Mill Multipurpose GF flour since it has no rice)
If you can have rice, you can also use 1-1/2 cups of Rebecca's gf mixture: 2 c. brown rice flour+ 2/3 c. potato starch, + 1/3 c. tapioca starch and save the rest.
3 Tablespoons sweet rice flour (I used sorghum flour instead)
2 tsp. sugar (omit if using for savory filling)
1/4 tsp. salt
9 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (I used Spectrum organic vegetable shortening instead)
1 jumbo egg
1-1/2 Tablespoon cider vinegar or lemon juice

Mix together the gf mix, sweet rice flour (or sorghum flour), sugar and salt. Cut the butter into chunks, and use a pastry cutter (or two forks) to work the butter into the dry ingredients to form a coarse meal. Once thoroughly mixed, make a well in the dry ingredients and break the egg into the well. Add the vinegar or lemon juice. Use a fork to stir from the center, working the flour into the egg to form a soft dough. Shape into a flat cake, cover and refrigerate if it's too soft to roll out. You'll want the dough to hold a shape, but not be so stiff that it cracks. You'll want the texture to be like Play-doh.

Cut two large pieces of waxed paper, about 3"-4" wider than your pie plate. On one piece of paper, sprinkle a little of the gf mix (or cornstarch) onto the paper to keep the dough from sticking to the paper. Take out your dough, and flatten it a bit with your hand to make it sorta round. Sprinkle the top with a little more mix or cornstarch, then put the second piece of waxed paper on top. The you can use your rolling pin to roll out the dough. Start from the center and roll outwards. Because of the waxed paper, you can flip it over and adjust as you go along if it becomes uneven. (When it gets really unruly, I also pin one corner of the paper with my hip against the counter to keep it from moving. Hey, whatever works, right?) Roll the crust to be about 2" wider than your pie pan (measure using the pan itself!).

When it's the size you want, peel off one side of the paper, put the pan upside down on top and flip it over into the pan, and adjust. Then peel off the other paper, tada! Then cut another two pieces of waxed paper and roll out another circle for the top crust, Cover the rolled out dough and put them both in the fridge while you make the filling.

Libby's pie filling recipe

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/libbys-famous-pumpkin-pie/detail.aspx

Recipe: Pulled pork and pancake sliders

2011-11-09T18:55:00.000-08:00

I feel silly calling this a recipe, it's more of an ingredient convergence of what was in my fridge. :) This was quick and tasty, although for some reason the pancake batter seemed to get all over the kitchen. Pancakes+Earth Balance soy-free margarine, and pre-cooked pulled pork from Costco. Voila.

1. Heat some of the pork in a bit of oil and water, pulling apart to let it soften.

2. Make the pancakes. Here's the Gluten-free dairy-free pancakes recipe (made from finely ground blanched almond flour) from Elana Amsterdam's The Gluten-free Almond Flour cookbook. @elanaspantry

3. Assemble and enjoy!

4. If you're feeling ambitious, you could whip a bbq sauce too. I was too lazy today.

This is the ore-cooked smoked pulled pork (gluten-free) I got from from Costco: about $10 for 2lbs. It's just pork, salt, water and a few spices, smoked.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T11:25:00.000-07:00

Food pyramid for zombies from@Huffpo. Have a #foodallergy safe Halloween everyone!

FAAN Walk for Food Allergy, Los Angeles this Sunday!

2011-10-20T21:52:00.000-07:00

The FAQ is getting her butt moving for the FAAN Walk for Food Allergy this Sunday in LA. Send good wishes, or donate if you like! http://bit.ly/oFBnev

Or participate in a walk in your city to help fundraise for research and to educate about food allergies and food allergy safety. Find out how, here. http://www.foodallergy.org/page/faan-walk-for-food-allergy1

I'll take pictures, I promise!

Wish me luck!

The FAQ

FAQ Beef Stroganoff Recipe

2011-10-01T17:14:00.000-07:00

FAQ Beef Stroganoff Recipe: Adapted from Simply Recipes:

I have to be honest. A Hamburger Helper commercial made me crave this, so I adapted a recipe I found on Foodily.com. :)

6 Tbsp butter (I used Earth Balance margarine, soy free version)
1 lb. top sirloin or tenderloin, cut thin into 1" by 2-1/2" strips (I used ground beef for a fast version!)
1/3 cup chopped shallots
1/2 lb. crimini mushrooms, sliced
Salt and pepper to taste
1/5 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp dry tarragon
1 cup of sour cream (I used So Delicious coconut yogurt, plain) at room temperature
1 lb. gluten free pasta (I used Ancient Grains Quinoa and Corn shells)

Cook pasta according to instructions. While boiling, make the stroganoff.

METHOD

1 Melt 3 Tbsp of butter in a large skillet on medium heat. Increase the heat to high/med-high and add the strips of beef. You want to cook the beef quickly, browning on each side, so the temp needs to be high enough to brown the beef, but not so high as to burn the butter. You may need to work in batches. While cooking the beef, sprinkle with some salt and pepper. When both sides are browned, remove the beef to a bowl and set aside.

2 In the same pan, reduce the heat to medium and add the shallots. Cook the shallots for a minute or two, allowing them to soak up any meat drippings. Remove the shallots to the same bowl as the meat and set aside.

3 In the same pan, melt another 3 Tbsp of butter. Increase heat to medium high and add the mushrooms. Cook, stirring occasionally for about 4 minutes. While cooking, sprinkle the nutmeg and the tarragon on the mushrooms.

4 Reduce the heat to low and add the sour cream to the mushrooms. You may want to add a tablespoon or two of water to thin the sauce (or not). Mix in the sour cream thoroughly. Do not let it come to a simmer or boil or the sour cream will curdle. Stir in the beef and shallots. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve immediately over egg noodles, fettucine, potatoes, or rice. (Potatoes, rice, and gluten-free pasta are gluten-free options.)

Yield: Serves 4.

Recipe: something new -- lamb burgers!

2011-08-28T15:36:00.000-07:00

Yes! I said LAMB burgers, not hamburgers, which if you think about it are not really made from ham. Hamburgers by most counts originated in Germany from...Hamburg. But I digress! Many months after I moved away from the neighborhood, I finally had the chance to return to the Santa Monica Farmer's market, which used to be a weekly staple for me. One of the things I always appreciate when going there is that not only do local farmers bring their best fruits and veggies, but local meat producers show up also. So you can get locally-raised, grassfed beef, or fruit-fed lamb, or organic pork without all the byproducts, fillers and hormones of commercially-raised meat. They're better for you, and reduces the carbon footprint -- and you get a tasty, healthier end result! It's the whole point of the locavore movement.

Sadly, the realities of economics makes these products expensive since they're literally done on a small scale. It currently prohibits them from becoming a bigger movement, but I encourage everyone try to support these small ranchers whenever you can, and when your budget allows -- by doing so, you will help support the producers, and make it more accessible to all down the line. This time, I bought one pound of organic ground lamb on Saturday for $14. While much pricier than ground beef, it made four burgers, and still cost less than it would have in a health food-type restaurant. Also, I could control the ingredients for my particular food allergies, and got a delicious alternative to beef, pork and turkey, which are my usual mammalian/avian proteins. The salsa was mellow and complemented the lamb nicely, I had to sub mango for the oranges, and upped the vinegar a bit to compensate for the lack of citrus. This would make a nice alternatives to regular burgers if you had company too -- seems fancy! And the flavors are a bit more sophisticated that just using ketchup and mustard.

Anyhow, if you get the chance to make these lamb burgers, please do! These spices will probably work with beef, but they really are designed to complement the slightly more aggressive taste of lamb. It might work with buffalo too. Which is also offered at the market. Here's the recipe. Enjoy!

Moroccan-Spiced Lamb Burgers with Beet, Red Onion and Orange Salsa

He may be executive chef at London's luxe Conservatory at The Lanesborough, but Paul Gayler knows a thing or two about American cuisine, too. In The Gourmet Burger, he rethinks the barbecue classic using premium and international ingredients. Here, he adds mildly spicy North African flavors.

Yield: Makes 4

Salsa
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon honey
2 beets, boiled, peeled, cut into 1/3-inch cubes
1 large orange, peel and pith cut away, flesh cut into 1/3-inch cubes
1 cup chopped red onion
1/4 cup chopped pitted green Greek olives

Burgers
1 large shallot, minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 jalapeño chile, seeded, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 3/4 pounds ground lamb

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
4 large cracked-wheat hamburger buns, split horizontally
1 1/3 cups thinly sliced Bibb lettuce
Mayonnaise

For salsa:

Whisk first 3 ingredients in medium bowl to blend. Mix in next 4 ingredients. Season salsa to taste with salt and pepper.

Do ahead: Can be made 8 hours ahead. Cover and chill.

For burgers:

Stir shallot, cilantro, jalapeño, garlic, salt, black pepper, paprika, and cumin in large bowl to blend. Add lamb and mix gently to combine. Shape mixture into four 1/2-inch-thick patties. Arrange on small baking sheet.

Do ahead: Can be made 8 hours ahead. Cover and chill.

Spray grill rack with nonstick spray and prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Grill buns, cut side down, until golden, about 2 minutes; transfer to work surface. Place lettuce and large spoonful of salsa on each bun bottom. Grill burgers until slightly charred and cooked to desired doneness, about 4 minutes per side for medium-rare. Place 1 burger on each bun. Top each with mayonnaise and bun top. Serve with remaining salsa.

Recipe: #GF Fig Newtons from Elana's Pantry

2011-06-13T22:13:00.000-07:00

Coming up for air from mucho cooking experiments this weekend! As promised, I made the #gf Fig Newtons from elanaspantry.com which uses finely ground blanched almond flour to replace wheat flour. (I also made a quickie dairy-free New England style clam chowder and veggie burgers from black beans and quinoa, but more on those later. ) Whew! I feel so accomplished!

As noted earlier to my Facebook peeps, Elana's recipes specialize in using ground almond flour as her mainstay #gf flour, not a blend of flours like others do. So I was curious to try her recipes -- I bought the new cupcake book, but was inspired to try this Newton recipe first. Also, I discovered that the almond meal I was previously using from Trader Joe's ("natural" with skin) was not recommended by Elana, and she could not guarantee performance. Whoa. Ok then, so I bought some almond flour from Honeyville, one of her recommended vendors.

Note to new cooks: when trying a recipe for the first time, ALWAYS follow the original authors instructions and ingredient recommendations as much as humanly possible. Unless you have experience with the performance range of specific products, you shouldn't do too much substituting or the recipe may ultimately not work. And then you won't be able to correct it the next time! I can't tell you how many people ask for recipes of things I've made, then make tons of changes and come back to ME to complain that it "didn't taste right". This is especially true when it comes to baking, which is a pretty exacting science. Egg size, brands of flour and butter can vary widely. Even the water you use from different parts of the country can make a difference (if you've read Rose Beranbaum's Cake Bible, you know of what I speak).

So onto the Newtons (except for Gingrich, who is done, ha ha) without further ado.

Here's the original link to Elana's Fig Newton recipe

Gluten Free and Vegan Fig Newtons from Elana's Pantry
Filling:
1 cup dried figs
½ cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Dough:
2 ½ cups blanched almond flour
½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
½ cup agave nectar
¼ cup yacon syrup
¼ cup grapeseed oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Place figs in a food processor and blend for 30 seconds until they are well chopped
Add lemon juice and vanilla; process until a smooth paste results
In a large bowl, combine almond flour and salt
In a smaller bowl, combine agave, yacon, grapeseed oil and vanilla
Mix wet ingredients into dry, then refrigerate dough for 1 hour
Divide chilled dough into 4 parts
Between 2 pieces of parchment paper, roll out 1 part of the dough into a 10 x 4 inch rectangle, ¼ inch thick
Spread ¼ of the filling evenly down the right side (lengthwise) of the rectangle
Fold the dough in half down the long side --resulting in a 10 x 2 inch bar
"Mend" the seam so the bar is symmetrical
Repeat with 3 remaining parts of dough and filling
Transfer each bar to a parchment lined baking sheet; bake at 350° for 10-15 minutes
Allow to cool slightly; cut bar every 2 inches to form the fig newtons
Serve

***
My notes

1. The taste. Overall, pretty great! I had to break the rule I just posted, but out of necessity. Because I'm allergic to citrus, I used a mild champagne vinegar, which made it a bit too tart. Also these are a tad heavy on the vanilla for my taste.

2. The texture. Nice and soft, but a bit wet and crumbly to hold. I think I'll add an egg or unsweetened applesauce next time since there's no binder in this recipe, and something to provide a bit of a stiffer feel than using 100% nut flour. Also reduce the liquids just a hair.

3. The yacon syrup tasted like a lighter fruitier version of a molasses, am wondering if maple syrup would do as a sub, and if using cane sugar instead of agave would help firm this a bit as it does for other cookies. Hm.

4. Rolling and preparation was fairly easy, but I needed a few tries to make the edges come out neatly. Parchment paper is key.

5. The baking time needed about 5 more minutes than the recipe suggested, my oven runs a bit hot and these were sticky even after the max time recommended.
6. These cut better when totally cool, vs. partially.

I'd say it was a success! I'd like the texture to be a bit more cookie-like, but will take a crack next time. Give these a try and let me know what you think!

I froze half, so I'll also experiment on how they hold up after time in the freezer! Next: something from Elana's new cupcake cookbook.

The FAQ interview in Allergic Living Magazine!

2011-05-23T15:31:00.000-07:00

Hey, guess what? ("What?") I had almost forgotten that I did an interview with Allergic Living magazine a few months ago, then once the magazine actually arrived I forgot to post about it. Silly rabbit. FYI, Allergic Living is based out of Canada, this Spring issue is their first US version so us Americanos may be unfamiliar with it!

They wanted to ask me about -- wine allergy of all things (thanks to Allergic Girl for helping them find me!). Of course I have an allergy to wine, I'm the Queen! :) I go beyond the "Asian Flush" (many Asians turn red because we do not process alcohol well, similar to American Indians). Actually, alcohol is the item on my list that is the most dangerous for me as it sends me straight into anaphylactic shock. This interview about because there is a brand-spanking-new study out that suggests that there could be a protein specific to wine contributing to wine allergy, and they wanted to talk to someone who had wine allergy. So I chatted with Jennifer the writer about my allergy to alcohol in general, and wine especially. I had always attributed the additional yuckiness to the sulfites (allergic to those too, yup), but now know it could be more than that.

They didn't post the entire story online, so I'll upload scans of the pages here. Click on these to enlarge the page and be able to read the article in its entirety. Salut!

Allergic Girl, NYC and James Beard: oh my! (Part 1)

2011-05-19T16:44:00.000-07:00

I am STILL overwhelmed!!! Last ~~week~~ month, I went on a whirlwind adventure to NYC to see my pal Allergic Girl, also known as Sloane Miller, read from her new book at the James Beard House. It was thrilling on so many levels, almost more than my squeezed brain could bear! But I'll squeak out a few thoughts from the stream of consciousness that ran through my head during the few days I was there.

- NYC is a great place to have food allergies! There are so many people living there that restaurants/food service businesses can afford to cater to special diets -- so there are lots of choices, and secondly there is so much competition that they need to really deliver on customer service to retain loyalty.

- Manhattanites have a true "live and let live" mentality because, well, everyone is literally in everyone else's face. So as long as you do your own thing and don't bother anyone, no one is bothered by you. So no one really questioned when I asked for things in a certain way. Either that, or everyone is NYC-style high-maintenance ala Meg Ryan's character in "When Harry Met Sally" that they expect it. You decide. :) In LA, I often get asked "Why aren't you eating that? Did you not like it?" which sometimes spurs good education and conversation, and other times bugs because I just don't have the energy to explain AGAIN.

- Sloane is an energetic, passionate yet rational advocate for food allergies. In case you didn't know, in addition to coaching clients for food allergies, she works with the restaurant industry to help set standards for food allergies in professional kitchens to avoid cross-contamination. I am awed by her breadth of talent and skill!

- At the James Beard House, I met also met Heidi, aka Brooklyn Allergy Mom and Jill, founder of Glow #gf cookies and all of a sudden found myself surrounded by my food allergy community -- live and in person! It was both thrilling and surreal, since most of my food allergy life consists of me, at home with my computer. :) Here I was, with people who already "knew" me, and followed me enough to say "oh yeah, I always see you dissecting your sandwiches".

- Divvies, a vendor who caters to food allergy peeps like us, provided snackies at the event. It all seemed so...normal that I was taken aback that it was so smoothly handled.

There's WAY more to tell but I'll get back to this soon, promise. Meanwhile, here are some pics. To be continued....

PS, this template is distorting the images, you can click on them to see them clearly, sorry. My html skills need some work.

Quick cilantro pesto recipe

2011-05-09T11:31:00.000-07:00

I was stuck with a rather large bunch of cilantro and ran out of ideas of what to do with it (after knocking out two batches of guacamole). Then I remembered having a delicious cilantro pesto on pasta, and found this recipe on Epicurious.com. It's for a composed salad with roasted beets, etc. but I pounced on the pesto section of the recipe, which turned out great! Tasty, bright, good depth of flavor, refreshing and best of all, EASY and fast because it's made in a blender or food processor!

This has no cheese, but because of the pine nuts still has a rich taste without it. And the mint punches it up a bit so it's not too heavy. I tried it out on grilled tilapia, then a lambchop, next I'll thin it and use it as a pasta sauce. Perfect for warmer weather when you want lighter flavors.

I'm going to revisit this and try to find a #nutfree alternative for the nut-allergic peeps in the house soon! Recipe is gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, peanut-free, egg-free. Can be made citrus-free.

From Epicurious.com:

Cilantro Pesto:

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
1 bunch fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped (about 2 cups)
1 bunch fresh chives, coarsely chopped (about 1/3 cup)
1/4 cup (packed) fresh mint leaves
1 tablespoon chopped seeded jalapeño chile
1 small garlic clove, peeled (I used shallots instead)
1 teaspoon (scant) coarse kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice (I used white balsamic vinegar instead)

Puree first 9 ingredients in blender until smooth. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill. Reblend before continuing.) Whisk in lime juice.

Asian cellophane noodles...they're #gf magic!

2011-04-03T22:05:00.000-07:00

Update: Add Nooodle to this list, thanks Cybele Pascal!

Since the Food Allergy Queen is of the Asian persuasion, I was already familiar with the numerous versions of non-wheat (therefore #gf) noodles in the world. I had mentioned them a few times in passing, but have really noticed that they have mostly gone overlooked in the food allergy community, and this is a shame, because they bring so much to the table -- literally and figuratively! So here is my FAQ primer on magical Asian cellophane noodles... (I have dubbed them magical because they come in all shapes, sizes, formats and are also reasonably priced. And you have to seek them out, like a magical treasure.) But they are oh so worth it!

Cellophane noodles are pretty common in most Asian cuisines -- it's a generic term for noodles that are clear and made of non-wheat ingredients such as rice, tapioca/yam, potato starch and bean threads. They are also egg-free! Magic, I say! They can be called glass noodles, cellophane noodles, saifun, and sometimes shiritaki, and on Thai menus they're usually called silver noodles. (Beware for soy allergic people, some shiritaki is made with tofu/soy.) In Korean cuisine, they're used for the classic dish chop chae (pictured here). Cellophane noodles can range from thick to thin, dried and in water. I've been collecting various samples over the past few weeks for you to see!

Cellophane noodles don't have much of their own flavor, so they're really good at soaking up surrounding flavors, which makes them great for sauces. They usually have a fairly firm texture, but are not quite as chewy as what you're used to. The thicker ones are

similar to spaghetti so that you can substitute one of the cellophane noodles for Italian pasta! There are also large flat ones like fettucine. Note also that their textures are not exactly like Italian pasta, so you need to experiment a bit to get to the "al dente" texture that you like. You don't boil it in the same way, sometimes with the super thin types just a brief soak in hot water will do. Times may vary.

Since I'm allergic to rice, I use mostly cellophane noodles made with yam or tapioca. Those made with bean threads have a bit too much fiber in them which aggravates my system (I'm trying to be delicate here) a little too much. I use them in Asian noodle soups (pho, with curry) as well as for Western-style pasta dishes like pesto. This summer I'm going to try for cold noodle dishes too.

So where do you find these magic cellophane noodles? The answer: everywhere! I've found them in the ethnic food section in regular grocery store chains, and also online -- there is a "diet food" called the Miracle Noodle which is low carb for dieters, which is made from a type of yam, which is therefore #gf, that you can order in bulk online. But the best place is Asian grocery stores. Now don't be nervous if there's no English on it. Ingredients are listed in the back in English, so you can see that there are usually only have one or two ingredients in it. (And since nuts are usually not part of Asian cuisine, there is not as much chance for cross-contamination with nuts.) And better yet, these really large bags are sometimes only a few bucks!

Please give cellophane noodles a try, and try to get some magic into your life! Let me know if you try them and like them.

Peace out.

Allergic Girl, the book, has arrived!

2011-03-12T20:27:00.000-08:00

I am a bad food allergy friend. My buddy and food allergy twin Sloane released her book last week, I've been talking about it with her for weeks but I forgot to announce it on my blog! Duh! Not winning! :)

This is such a wonderful accomplishment on so many levels. Firstly, Sloane is energetic, talented and dedicated to sharing her experience and knowledge with others. Secondly, it takes a deep commitment to write a book. Thirdly, it just rocks that food allergies are making the mainstream book world pay attention! While I've only delved into the first chapter (an awkward but funny story about a reaction while on a date), I can already tell you what the rest of it contains just from knowing Sloane -- it's full of practical tips for managing food allergies for yourself or loved ones, and it will show you how to empower yourself with information on how to get what you need to be safe. And it will offer support, both physically and emotionally, especially helpful for those who are newly diagnosed. You'll laugh and be empowered and have more confidence and less fear in living with your food allergies.

Buy it on Amazon by clicking here:

I'll circle back to share my favorite parts as soon as I can. Go Team Allergic Girl!

Glow #gf cookies review: FANTASTIC!

2011-03-06T14:55:00.000-08:00

These past few weeks have been a blur of work for my day job, travel, a nasty cold, and more travel. I have barely had enough time to think except when in survival mode. And you know what? I've discovered that #glutenfree cookies are essential to my survival -- specifically, Glow gluten-free cookies! I've been setting them aside as a special treat over the past tough weeks, and they've helped me push through! Glow cookies taste fantastic, and are not only gluten-free, but also rice-free, which is highly unusual in the gf world. To add to their goodness, they are also dairy-free. Yay! It is SUCH a joy to not only have cookies that are pre-made (so that I don't have to pull

out the Kitchenaid every time I need a munchie), but that they taste like "regular" cookies....I don't feel like I'm missing a thing!

These all-natural cookies are based on garbanzo bean and fava bean flour (also called garfava), and use palm oil, not butter as their shortening. (I forgot to add that I've found most baked goods made with garfava taste "beany", these don't!) This makes them flat and crisp, and make for a very satisfying crunchy texture that gf peeps don't often get to enjoy. There are four flavors: chocolate chip, chocolate chocolate chip, snickerdoodle and gingersnaps. I am both shocked and amazed to report that my favorite is actually the snickerdoodle, and not the chocolate chip! A quick overview of each:

The snickerdoodle is just the right balance of cookie, sugar and cinnamon. Perfect with a cup of tea or coffee.

The chocolate chip tasted to me like a Chips Ahoy. It's the first time I was excited that something tasted like a commercial cookie.

Chocolate chocolate chip was rich. Super chocolatey for a cookie. Would be great with ice cream or your favorite ice cream substitute.

Gingersnap wasn't as gingery as I had hoped. It was sorta like a snickerdoodle wannabe! Still good though.

Note: Glow cookies are NOT egg-free, and they're made in a facility that processes nuts. Also, the chocolate versions have soy lecithin.

I have not seen them in stores here in LA, so I needed to order them online at glutenfree.com. As are most specialty foods, they are not as cheap as commercial products, they are $5.60 per package of 7. Personally, I would not offer these at large parties, but save them for myself for special occasions.

Have you tried them? Let me know what you think!

PS. I think the packaging is both ingenious and adorable.

Peanut allergy drug study

2011-01-20T20:40:00.000-08:00

Passing this on from the Food Allergy Initiative!

The following clinical trial is recruiting participants nationally. FAI is providing information about this study as a service to our constituents.

Study PEP01.09 : Investigational New Drug for Peanut Allergy Using a Skin Delivery SystemResearch sites across the US are looking for a specific category of subjects to complete a research study of the safety and tolerability of an investigational new drug using a skin delivery system for those with a peanut allergy. To qualify, participants must:

Be between the ages of 18 and 50 years
Have a physician-diagnosed or a well-documented history of peanut allergy
Have experienced some severe reactions to peanuts including for example difficulty swallowing, wheezing, feeling of "pending doom," drop of blood pressure, loss of consciousness.

Additional study criteria will be reviewed with study staff at the first study visit.

The study lasts approximately 6 weeks and requires 7 study visits. Participants will receive study-related visits, study-related medical evaluations, and an EpiPen at no cost, plus compensation for time and travel.

Research sites are: Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC; The National Jewish Medical & Research Center, Denver, CO; Arkansas Children's Hospital Research Institute, Little Rock, AR; Aspen CR, Orem, UT; and CRI Worldwide, Willingboro, NJ.

Find out if you may qualify by contacting:1-877-41-ALLERGY (1-877-412-5537) or visit www.peanutallergytrial.com

New year, same tummy

2011-01-04T23:08:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year everyone! I hope your holidays were spent with loved ones, and everyone is starting off the new year happy and healthy.

After a ton of work travel and subsequent stress last month that I might possibly have to do my Christmas shopping at national airports, I continued to run around over the holidays, trying to do too much, see too many people and and guess what? My body finally crashed and said "STOP. Slow down!" I was completely flattened. I made a long-needed visit to my awesome acupuncturist Jill, who helped me rebalance. But it wasn't enough, because after the continued stress, plus eating all kinds of rich holiday stuff that I don't normally do (like prime rib and eggnog!) my painful tummy troubles returned with a vengeance and I am now back to doing the IBS diet in addition to my standard food allergy diet. Ugh! So now it's time to take away all the high-fat foods that cause tummy distress (red meat, egg yolks, raw veggies, I already gave up coffee) and switch out to turkey, fish, shrimp, corn pasta, gf cornbread, soft-cooked veggies and lots and lots of peppermint tea. This was a painful reminder that I need to stop and be present, and be really mindful about what I put in my body right now.

I already planned my New Year's resolutions early, of course -- exercise more, take off a few pounds, spend more time with friends, plan ahead a bit better so that I have a better stock of Food Allergy Queen-friendly food in the freezer. But now I realize that I need to stop, slow down, listen to my body and take it easy on myself, which is my NEW New Year's resolution. Taking care of business and taking care of yourself are not the same thing. :)

So, I'll wish the same for you! This year, plan to take the time to take care of yourself, in every way possible.

Happy New Year! The FAQ

Coconut milk eggnog recipe

2010-12-24T09:45:00.000-08:00

I was making a funny Christmas-related crack this morning that referenced eggnog. Then realized that I missed this odd, indulgent drink that I abandoned after discovering my food allergies. Thanks to the magic of the Internet once again (love ya!), I found this recipe using coconut milk.

I'm sorry that for the egg allergic, I won't have time to figure out a substitute in time for this Christmas, but I will for next year, esp if this works out! Enjoy.

Happy Holidays to you and yours. The FAQ

Coconut Milk Eggnog from Eggnogrecipe.net

8 egg yolks
4 cups coconut milk or cream
8 tablespoons dark rum
6 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla essence (gluten free)
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, ground
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, ground

Coconut Eggnog Directions

Into a large saucepan, pour the coconut milk/ cream and add the white sugar.
Heat BUT DO NOT BOIL over a medium heat.
In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks with the vanilla essence.
Into the bowl, pour approximately half the coconut milk & sugar mixture.
Whisk briskly.
Add the remainder of the coconut milk & sugar mixture.
Pour the combined mixture back into your large saucepan.
Wash out the large bowl because you'll need it again in a few minutes.
Cook over a low heat BUT DO NOT BOIL, ensuring that you continuously stir.
Continue stirring until the eggnog thickens slightly - enough to be able to coat the back of a spoon.
Pour & strain the eggnog back into the (washed, rinsed & dried) large bowl.
Allow the eggnog to sit and cool until it becomes room temperature.
Stir in the dark rum.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, but preferably overnight.
Just prior to serving, combine the ground nutmeg & ground cinnamon on a small dish, and sprinkle a little of the mixture on top of each served glassful of your delicious coconut eggnog!

Serves: 6.

New series of YouTube videos for teens

2010-12-21T16:03:00.000-08:00

My buddy Allergic Girl posted about these great videos for teens about food allergies from Anaphylaxis Canada. One is about dating, one is about travel and one is about dining out.

And they're not just for teens, I thought it was great general information as well! Share them with people who do't really understand about your food allergies, esp for the holidays when some people persuade you to try "just a little"!

New friends in unexpected places

2010-12-19T21:59:00.000-08:00

This rainy day in LA, I was having soup at my latest favorite local food hangout, Sarita's Pupuseria at the Grand Central Market downtown. I never get tired of the sopa de res (beef soup) and a pork (chicharron) pupusa. Anyhow, I got to chatting with a lovely couple next to me who were sampling flavors of tamales to order for Christmas. MY kind of people! Turns out that they are in the food industry -- a caterer and executive chef for a downtown restaurant! (Hi John and Laurie!)

Other than finding unexpected new friends when you least expect it, the best part was that on the way out John told me that when I visit the restaurant he can help me work my way around the menu with my allergies since they cover all different styles of Mexican food and make lots of custom changes for their customers.

I'm so excited! Will report back when I get the chance to try it out. Morale of the story, when you go to places with good food, you'll find others who share your enthusiasm and make new friends!

When you're out there folks, try striking up a conversation with a stranger -- you already have something in common taste for yumminess) and you never know when you'll meet someone who can help you with your food allergies!

New study on managing #foodallergy in schools

2010-11-30T08:14:00.000-08:00

Today the Journal of Pediatrics issued a study called "Management of Food Allergy in the School Setting". Here is a short video on the study from CNN. If these statistics quoted -- that 1 in 25 kids has a severe enough food allergy that could put them in the hospital, then it appears that food allergies are finally reaching a "tipping point" so that the medical community needs to start setting some standards in schools. Yay.

Here's the page of the report with the short description, and on the right hand side you can link to download the whole pdf, which I'll do later today.

Stay safe out there!

The FAQ

Report from a reader: #foodallergy in China

2010-11-21T16:07:00.000-08:00

Last year I posted about my trip to China and some of the preparations and difficulties I ran into trying to manage my food allergies while traveling there. Since then, I've received a few inquiries from readers about how to handle their allergies successfully when going to places like China where the country and culture is not as attuned to/cannot accommodate people with food allergies. One reader, Margaret Lee, was kind enough to report back on how it went after I shared my experience and suggestions with her! I hope this helps others plan ahead, manage expectations and be realistic about what you can and cannot do when traveling so that everyone stays healthy and safe.

Thanks Margaret for sharing! The FAQ

******

Hello Kishari,

Just wanted to give you my report and experiences about my trip to China.

My trip was a company business trip from November 7th through the 17th, with a full 8 day stay in Shenzhen, Guangdong.

I was fortunate enough to know at the beginning that I should probably bring food with me. My food allergies are peanut and tree nuts, including the oils, shellfish, canola oil and sulfites. I brought the following stash with me, which ended up being a second piece of luggage: Rice cakes, wheat crackers, soynut butter, craisins, canned tuna, soy milk, juice boxes. Since part of this business trip was a social aspect to establish trusting relationships with our sister company's location employees, it was sad that I was not able to out with the "group" to dinner in the evenings. Fortunately, the hotel my company lodges it's employees at is the Marco Polo Hotel, which is an international hotel. Unfortunately, though we are told that all the employees speak english, they barely speak only basic english and they understand hardly any english at all if you ask them anything. A plus is a free buffet breakfast every day during the stay. The minus was that I was limited to oatmeal, hard boiled eggs, fresh fruit, miso soup and plain boiled white rice. Not too bad, as I filled up on what I could out of that selection. During the second half of my stay I found out I was able to eat the buffet dinner at the hotel, because they grilled the fish in olive oil. I had the buffet dinner on two different occasions, and it was heaven. My choices were grilled Japanese salmon (to die for!!) steamed squash, steamed sweet potato, corn, mixed greens salad. Not too bad again. Two of the other days, a Saturday and a Sunday I was forced to eat our because of what our group was doing. At one place, our Chinese office manager took 10 minutes to explain to the wait staff my allergies, and we gave the food allergy card to the kitchen. I managed to get steamed rice and a salad, but they totally messed up on the steamed potatoes and corn, as they put a pile of boiled peanuts and chestnuts right in the middle of the steamed vegetables which killed that option. At the other place, in Guangzhou, again there was a 10 minute explanation with the show of my card. I got a supposedly peanut free bowl of rice, broccoli and chicken (no meat, just bone joints and innerds) that I took a few bites of and was not comfortable eating. My face felt tingly after and I immediately took an antihistamine and I was fine for the rest of the day. It's exactly what you told me previously - the chinese really don't comprehend what food allergies are and they don't have the patience or time to prepare a special dish to accomodate your needs. All in all, I never had a bad reaction because I "ate in" most of the time, and I didn't starve even with the few foods I was limited to having. I was glad to have had the experience because not only was it so worth meeting my co-workers in China but I discovered that I can travel with food allergies and it turned out ok.

I understand I may have to go back there again, but I can go with less apprehension than the first time. I'm proud that I was able to overcome an obstacle that brought me great anxiety at the thought of what I had to do initially.

Please feel free to share my experience about this trip with anyone.

Best regards,

Margaret Lee

#Foodallergy peeps: just say no to self-basted turkeys

2010-11-06T22:45:00.000-07:00

This may be a bit obvious, but I thought it was worth repeating. When buying your turkey for Thanksgiving this year, be sure to avoid "Basted" or "Self-basted" turkeys, as they are injected with fillers and miscellaneous mystery ingredients that could prove harmful to those of us with food allergies. Here's the official definition:

"BASTED or SELF-BASTED — Bone-in turkey products (such as whole birds) that are injected or marinated with a solution containing butter or other edible fat, broth, stock, or water, plus spices, flavor enhancers, and other approved substances should be labeled as "basted" or "self- basted." The maximum added weight of approximately 3% solution before processing is included in the net weight on the label. Labels must include a statement identifying the total quantity and common or usual name of all ingredients in the solution, e.g., "Injected with approximately 3% of a solution of _____________ (list of ingredients)."

Helpfully, the USDA has a cheatsheet for turkey rules to explain the differences between the types of turkeys you can buy. Budget permitting, always try to find the least-processed meat you can. If fresh is out of your reach, then flash-frozen is likely the next best thing.

Turkey is probably one of the few things that most of us allergic people can all eat, so I for one, make tons of it for Thanksgiving so that I have superfresh turkey meat stashed in the freezer for later use.

Sarah saved thousands

2010-11-01T19:50:00.000-07:00

This sweet story in today's news from the UK reminded me of how lucky we are to have come so far in the sharing of information for food allergies. Unfortunately it took the loss of life for the medical community and the public to pay attention.

Now that we have the Internet, we can all share information with friends and family to protect those we love.

Thank you, Sarah.

The FAQ

Help research for celiacs/gluten intolerance

2010-10-30T10:42:00.000-07:00

I have been traveling like a madwoman for my new-ish job, which is both great and not-so-great. The great part is that I'm working (yay!) in a category that I'm passionate about (double-yay!) but because we are in a new-product launch mode, I am finding myself stretched too thin these days (as Bilbo says "like butter spread over too much bread"). I can't eat either anyway, so the metahpor seems a bit funnier to me. :) One of the pluses about business travel though, is that I am finding more and more places for us #foodallergy or intolerant peeps to be able to manage our issues!

I was in San Diego this last week, and at the suggestion of a woman with celiac's I met at my conference, I found the Jimbo's chain, which is local to the SD area. It's sort of a cross of Wild Oats and Whole Foods, with a great deli and bakery section for takeout. While in the bakery section, I overheard a young woman inquiring about gluten- and soy-free items in the bakery, and we started a conversation (shoutout to Laura!) about how time-consuming it is to bake from scratch when you have both a gluten- , dairy- and soy-allergy (and add rice to mine). It made us both feel good to know we're not alone out there. (For you SD peeps, she mentioned Pizza Fusion who offers gluten-, casein- and vegan pizza, and Gluten Not Included bakery as friendly for us.)

Pizza Fusion has two locations in LA, fyi, will try them out even though the crust includes rice. I think they're using Daiya cheese, I'll let you know!

I also found in the bakery a questionnaire for a celiac research project that I encourage you all to take and to share with others with gluten issues. This student, Jaquelyn Askew, is looking for a connection between colic as a child and celiacs and/or gluten sensitivity. As for me, I already know I was colicky as a child, my mom has mentioned it on more than one occasion (sorry Mom!), so I am intrigued to hear about her results, which according to her questionnaire will be published in spring 2011.

Here is the link to the simple questionnaire, comprised of six questions. If you're answering for a family member, please submit answers for each person. I'm a tad annoyed that she doesn't introduce herself, tell us of her school affiliation or credentials, etc. but as the questions don't ask for name or contact info, I'm not worried about privacy issues.

http://www.celiacresearchproject.com/index.html

The more we learn, the faster we'll figure out some solutions, right? Thanks all!

A new food allergy study from the NIH

2010-10-18T16:02:00.000-07:00

Finally. Food allergies are getting more national attention from the medical community. An article just came out about a study funded by Johns Hopkins and the National Institute of Health (NIH) that 3 in 100 people have genuine food allergies, most of them children under 5.

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/health/2010/10/three_in_100_people_have_food.html

Interestingly, they used blood tests for antibodies, rather than scratch tests, which have been generally agreed are more accurate for food allergies, so this 3% number may actually be higher.

Also speaking of testing, I was in my allergist's office the other day for my weekly shot (for my also-numerous environmental allergies), and saw that they had little baggies of fresh shrimp, a sandwich, etc. on the counter. When I asked what they were doing, they said "fresh food allergy tests. They're more accurate than even scratch tests." Interesting. Has anyone had this done in addition to, or instead of scratch tests?

Hopefully we can finally get more well-researched scientific information from balanced, credible sources so that we can stop only getting hysterical anectdotal reports about either "food allergies taking over our kids' lives" or conversely "everyone is getting too neurotic about food allergies". I like to think we can find a happy balance in the middle. "Vigilance not panic" is one of my mottoes. Stay safe, peeps!

Allergic Girl on TV this Friday!

2010-09-22T09:59:00.000-07:00

My #foodallergy buddy and hero Allergic Girl will be on "My Life in Food" on the Cooking Channel, this Friday Sept 24 at 930pm EST: http://bit.ly/aqjvKb

Be sure to watch! And share with your foodallergy buddies too!

WARNING: Wine can contain dairy, egg, fish and gluten!

2010-09-13T13:48:00.000-07:00

This article came to my attention from a tweet today from Susan Weismann, who blogs at Peanuts in Eden.

Here's the article. http://bit.ly/9iBCuE

..."when the wine is clarified to get rid of cloudiness and impurities, to make it look more appealing and to improve the flavour of a wine in poor condition. Possible fining agents include:

• Gelatine – from boiled animal skin, tendons, ligaments or bones, mainly used in reds

• Egg white – used to remove harsh tannins in red wines

• Isinglass – a very pure form of gelatine made from fish blad-
ders – used in reds and whites

• Fish oil

• Chitin or chitosan – derived from the shells of crabs, shrimps or lobsters

• Milk or modified casein (from milk) - used in whites to remove off colours "

Note from the FAQ: I was working with a celiac chef who informed me that some of the barrels which cure wine us have glues that contain gluten. So you need to look for wine that is cured/stored in stainless steel. *sigh*.

So, I guess for wine drinkers that means you need to pay attention to how you feel (presuming you haven't had too much!) allergy-wise. I wonder if organic wines have less purifiers? (Of course, I am allergic to alcohol -- that's why I'm the Queen.) So I'll have to leave this to readers to figure this out. Maybe start a link on the discussion board?

Cheers! :)

The FAQ

Toast is back! (Well, English muffins, really)

2010-09-07T18:25:00.000-07:00

This is probably true of many people avoiding gluten...but I deep down miss good BREAD! I ran across another fine Glutino product at Whole Foods the other day (I almost never go into the freezer section, I must do so more often!). This time I found frozen English muffins, which don't sound so great on paper, but trust me they were GOOD. They are gluten-free, and more importantly to me, RICE-free. They do have corn, eggs and soy in the form of lecithin, so they are not completely allergy-free. They also have a bit of dairy in them, but a small enough amount that it only caused me a mild reaction. For me, it was worth it to have TOAST again. I've been having fried egg sandwiches for breakfast all week!

The English muffins are rock hard when you pull them out of the freezer, but if you let them thaw for a few minutes, you can get a knife through them to split the muffin. Just be careful and use a cutting board! (A bit of dorky trivia...did you know that one of the most common injuries in ERs comes from people slicing bagels in their hand?)

Here are the Ingredients: Water, corn mix (corn Starch, skim milk powder, evaporated cane juice, salt, glucono-delta-lactone, pectin, sodium bicarbonate, sodium alginate, modified vegetable cellulose), tapioca starch, corn flour, liquid egg whites, skim milk powder, evaporated cane juice, margarine(palm and palm kernel oils, soy lecithin), yeast, guar gum, baking powder(corn), salt.

You can buy Glutino products at Whole Foods, or online at glutenfree.com-- click here. They're not cheap, a 6-pack is $6.99, but for the few times I want toast, they're divine, crunchy-chewy goodness.

Toast is the most!

Inspiration #gf Mixes

2010-08-30T17:17:00.000-07:00

I just found this article about a new company making gluten-free mixes out of Oregon, Inspiration Mixes. Does anyone have any experience with them? I'd love to hear some feedback....they have rice in them otherwise I'd try them myself. Here's their website http://inspirationmixes.com/catalog/index.php

Still looking for a great #gf bread recipe without rice...

Thanks, the FAQ

Allergy tee-shirts on sale!

2010-08-17T11:48:00.000-07:00

I was just alerted to these adorable tees for kids with food allergies. They don't make them in grownup sizes. Poop.

The manufacturer (who's a fan of the blog btw, thanks Jeff!) has generously offered a 60% discount when you use the coupon code "allergy". To see the Jeeto allergy tees on sale, click here.

These are super cute, they also sell patches for the different allergies as well. Check them out!

Tomato-free BBQ, yes it's possible!

2010-08-05T21:13:00.000-07:00

A long time ago decided that I was born in the American South in a previous lifetime. For some reason, I have a passionate love for Delta blues and southern cuisine (fried chicken, fried okra, biscuits and gravy, fried green tomatoes, cornbread and of course barbecue) that is completely inexplicable for a second-generation Chinese girl from California. (Either that, or it's because my mom grew up next door to a Soul Food restaurant in Oakland. I prefer the previous life theory. You decide.)

As a confirmed carnivore, fried chicken and BBQ are my favorite summertime proteins. And if you don't know, there are so many styles of barbecue in the south (Memphis, North Carolina, Texas, it goes on and on) that you can actually get into a fistfight there if you ever are thoughtless enough to insult someone's barbecue -- which is usually someone's mama's recipe. But since I discovered that I am allergic to chicken, I am now forced to eat only within the BBQ genre. And since I am also tomato-free, I can no longer rely on the standard American tomato-based barbecue sauce.

Enter the dry rub.

My first encounter with the dry rub technique of barbecue was in Santa Maria, California, which is renowned for their dry rub barbecue over maple, usually a tri-tip. (Dry rub is just what it sounds like -- a combination of dried spices, usually including salt, rubbed onto the meat for flavor ahead of time, then thrown on the grill as usual.) I of course ordered pork baby back ribs because dangit, I just love them so. It was at an old-school place called Shaw's, where they served retro relish plates sporting olives and celery sticks, and iceberg lettuce salad with bottled bleu cheese dressing. All of which I completely ignored because my ribs were OUT of this world. I had ordered a full rack with the intention of eating half and saving some for later, but ended up wolfing down the entire rack in one sitting! I was in so much pain afterwards that I was forced to lie down in the car on the way home, with my jeans secretly unzipped, trying not to complain. My very skinny friend who brought me there looked on with amusement and slight horror. However, I was hooked on dry rubs ever since.

The best two things about dry rubs are that (1) they are completely flexible, you can change ingredients to suit your tastes, and (2) they taste great on their own, or if you MUST add a wet barbecue sauce, you can! How great is that?

Here's my favorite dry rub for pork ribs right now. Sweet, salty and the ancho gives it some depth, much better than paprika. If it's not warm enough to throw on the grill outside, you can do it inside the oven as well.

Kansas City style Ancho dry rub for pork
Enough for 2 racks of baby back ribs

1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. ancho chili powder
1 Tb. fresh ground pepper
1 Tb. kosher salt
1 Tb. each of garlic or onion powder, I use 2 Tb. all onion powder since I can't have garlic
1/2 tsp - 1 tsp cayenne pepper

Mix all dry ingredients together until well blended. I put mine in a jar and shake it, then keep the excess until next time. (Note: for food safety reasons, don't reuse rub once it's touched meat, only keep what doesn't get sprinkled on.)

Wash and dry the ribs.

Sprinkle and press dry rub equally on both sides of the ribs until thickly coated and evenly covered.

If using the oven, bake on foil in a preheated oven at 250F for 2 1/2 to three hours, turning once or twice.
If using the grill, smoke on low heat 275-325F for about 2 hours turning once or twice.
Low and slow keeps the meat moist and tender. You can cover the ribs with foil if it starts to burn prematurely.

If you like, you can throw the ribs under a broiler for a few minutes until the brown sugar bubbles right before serving. You get a little burnt, a little extra crunch for extra taste. Yum!

Allergic Girl wrote a book!

2010-07-22T09:32:00.000-07:00

I'm SO excited and proud of my food allergy blogger pal, Sloane! (FYI, her blog is Please Don't Pass the Nuts.) She has just published a book called Allergic Girl: Adventures in Living Well With Food Allergies!!!

Sloane is not only a blogger, she is a licensed social worker who coaches those with food allergies, she organizes Worry-Free Dinners at restaurants for those with food allergies, and also works with the commercial food industry to teach them about better techniques and training for dealing with food allergies! She is a one-woman tornado.

Her book will be available in March, 2011 and will be available for pre-order before that.

Please join me in not only congratulating her, but supporting her in our quest to make living with food allergies easier!

Yay Sloane! We need to have an allergen-free celebration on one of the coasts soon. You go, girl. :)

Study looking for twins with Eosinophilic esophagitis

2010-07-21T17:54:00.000-07:00

Food Allergy Peeps,

Please pass this on if you know someone who qualifies! The more we learn, the closer we are to finding treatment!. :) Thanks, the FAQ

****************

Dear Friend of FAI,

Eosinophilic esophagitis (EE) is an allergic disorder that occurs in the esophagus (the tube that carries food from the mouth to the stomach). Symptoms of EE are different depending on age, but the most prevalent are reflux, difficulty swallowing, food impactions, nausea, abdominal pain, poor weight gain, vomiting, and poor appetite. Treatment options range from a restricted diet to the use of a swallowed steroid.

EE can occur in multiple members of families. Prior studies have shown that twins have a great risk of co-developing EE if one twin already suffers from the disorder. To learn more, investigators are conducting further research on siblings and twins with EE.
The Cincinnati Center for Eosinophilic Disorders (CCED) at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center is a multi-disciplined team that provides leading, specialized care for eosinophilic patients and is conducting research on this problem.
For a study on the occurrence of EE in twins and multiples, CCED is seeking participants from around the country. Participation is conducted through the mail and involves filling out a questionnaire and providing saliva samples. To participate, you must be a twin with a medically confirmed diagnosis of EE.
FAI is providing this information as a service to our constituents. For detailed information about this clinical trial and to contact the research coordinators, click here.

Our Mission

FAI supports research to find a cure for life-threatening food allergies; clinical activities to identify and treat those at risk; public policy to make the world safer for those afflicted; and educational programs to make the hospitality industry, schools, day care centers, and camps safer.

FAIusa.org | info@faiusa.org | Privacy Policy

Review: Enjoy Life Nut-Free Trail Mix

2010-07-18T18:54:00.000-07:00

Awhile back, the lovely people at Enjoy Life products sent me samples of their newest product, "Not Nuts!" nut free trail mix! It's really too bad the "not nuts!" theme only applied to the product, because at the same time these babies arrived, my life got a little nuts, and I desperately could have used some of the nut free magic.... enough with the corny jokes already....I was reeeaaally trying to stretch that out there and go for the laugh. Done now. :)

These trail mixes rely on seeds instead of nuts for their crunch and protein, and like all Enjoy Life products, are made in dedicated nut-free and gluten-free facility. It's so awesome to be able to have a reliable manufacturer committed to allergy issues! (Case in point: the packaging says "no nuts, no dairy, no soy, no gluten, nut and gluten free", "nut free trail mix", has a big blurb on the front of the package noting it's "allergy friendly" AND it says "made in a dedicated facility". THAT, my friends, is committed to food allergy issues!)

Anyhow, I'm not really that big into trail mix unless I'm traveling or just late running out the door and need a sturdy portable snack. Trail mix always seems to me to be kinda high-maintenance because I always have little bits falling out of my hand, the spoon, or whatever instrument of death I am using at the time. But luckily, since the weather started getting warmer, I suddenly started craving yogurt and trail mix for breakfast in the mornings. And now I'm armed with my So Delicious coconut milk yogurt (I'm eating so much of it I'm toying with trying to make my own soon!). BINGO. What a perfect way to taste test trail mix! I usually only eat plain yogurt, adding in a bit of honey for sweetening, so the yogurt flavor was perfectly neutral and didn't compete with the trail mix.

There are two varieties of "not nuts!" trail mix: Beach Bash, and Mountain Mambo. I went for the Beach Bash first, here are the ingredients:

Sunflower kernels, dried pineapple, pumpkin seeds, sunflower oil, citric acid, salt, cranberries and apricots.

Most trail mix for me tastes flat, but not Beach Bash. There was a nice blend of crunch, salt and sweetness from the dried fruit (most trail mix I've had underutilizes the salt), but I would have preferred just a bit more of the seeds to add some heft to the mix. (And of course, I removed the apricots since I'm allergic to stone fruits. Luckily they were a pretty vivid orange, and easy to spot.)

The Mountain Mambo I didn't care for as much. The ingredients: sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower oil, citric acid, salt, raisins, apples, chocolate chips, cranberries. And as much as it pains me to say it, there was a bit too much chocolate (yeah, I know!) and it made the whole thing too sweet since it also had three other dried fruits in it.

But in the end, both were great tasting. I would probably only use Beach Bash for my yogurt, and Mountain Mambo for a hand snack or dessert, since it's sweeter. For nut-free people, you should be good to go, since these seeds are processed in a dedicated facility, you won't have to worry about cross-contamination issues.

Dare I say it? ("Say it! Say it!") Okay people, go nuts!

Thanks again to the Enjoy Life folks for asking me to taste their product, and sorry for the delay.

Chasing the White Rabbit...or in this case, white birthday cake

2010-06-29T11:06:00.000-07:00

I get the most requests from readers for an allergy-free birthday cake (gluten-free, nut-free, dairy-free, egg-free) -- it's an especially tall order to remove all the key structural ingredients like eggs -- and harder still when you can't hide some of the substitution tastes behind chocolate! As you may remember, I'd rather have chocolate than ANY other flavor, but over the years I've been testing out all kinds of white cakes, and am STILL not happy with the results.

Yesterday, for my Mom's birthday (Happy Birthday Mom!) I made Rebecca Reilly's Basic White Cake recipe which is based on her gf mix. I used Bob's Red Mill gluten-free mix, based on garbanzo bean flour (with a mix of potato starch, sorghum, etc.), which is usually neutral-tasting enough for most recipes, and performs well so that you can't tell the difference...except in this case. The cake texture was heavy and dense, the bean taste came through, and as my sister pointed out, it tasted a bit like bread rather than cake. I was disappointed because all of her other recipes I've tried have been great! Ugh. The technical part was fine because the texture was cakey, but the taste was just not there. Luckily I was worried enough about testing it on a real birthday so also made one layer out of her Chocolate Applesauce cake to make sure we had something nice, and it tasted great. I used her 7-Minute boiled frosting (egg-based), flavored with espresso powder and a little coconut on top for decoration to hide my very poor cake decorating skills.

*sigh*. I feel like Alice in Wonderland, chasing the White Rabbit around yet another corner! However, in the story she eventually caught up to him, so I know I'll just keep running, and I'll get there. :)

Food Inc., and Corn Allergies

2010-06-24T15:41:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, so sorry I've been away for awhile, but I just returned from photographing a friend's wedding out of state! I was a physical and mental wreck preparing for it since I'm an amateur photographer, and it was for a REALLY close friend so I REALLY didn't want to screw it up, but it mostly went well. Whew! What a relief.

The other night, I was finally catching up on my Netflix queue, and was watching the documentary Food, Inc. If you've read Michael Pollan's powerful and influential book, "The Omnivore's Dilemma", this movie is based on that as well as Eric Schlosser's book "Fast Food Nation". Both authors are calm yet factual and authoritative voices., and this documentary does a great job of simply and vividly pointing out how flawed the US food system is. (On a positive note, they included a visit to the Polyface Farm in Virginia, which is "grass-based" not "corn-based" and uses the natural rotation of fields and animals).

And although corn has yet to "break into" the top eight allergens in America, it's only a matter of time since it's in practically everything. I'm sure those who are corn-allergic are having a really difficult time since it's in things you would not expect, like baking powder (which sometimes has gluten, btw.) Here's a screen shot of just a few corn-based items from the movie.

I also want to bring to your attention Sharon Rosen's site of www.livecornfree.com has posted a really great list of all the ingredients which contain corn.

Another scary statistic is that 90% of the soy used in America comes from Monsanto's genetically modified soybeans that are designed to thrive despite being treated with Roundup pesticides. So when possible, try to purchase soy products that are as close to organic as you can!

Recipe: Flourless Peanut Butter cookies REVISED

2010-06-03T17:13:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in an earlier post that I would tweak Gluten-free Girl's recipe with less sugar and make it egg-free, so here it is! Impress your friends with these since they're both delicious AND vegetarian. :) PS. The chocolate cookies pictured are Chocolate Sparkle cookies.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
Adapted from Gluten-Free Girl

One cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar

1/4 cup white granulated sugar

One teaspoon gluten-free baking powder

2 Tablespoons of unsweetened applesauce

Pinch of kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Cream the peanut butter and sugars in a bowl by hand. Stir in the baking powder. Add the applesauce and salt. Mix until it is all well combined.

The dough will be sticky, so be prepared to get your hands messy. Wet your hands lightly, and roll the dough to the size of a walnut. For the traditional decoration, press lightly with the tines of a fork. Place the balls at least 2" apart on a baking sheet lined in parchment paper.

Bake in the oven for about ten minutes. You will know the cookies are done when they feel coherent, but still a little soft and are lightly browned. Take the tray out of the oven and let the cookies rest for at least five minutes. Afterwards, carefully transfer them to a cooling rack.

Eat them.

Makes twelve cookies.

The Food Allergy Queen got some press!

2010-05-25T15:13:00.000-07:00

I'd completely forgotten until today that I was contacted by a writer from Maclean's magazine in Canada (it's their version of Newsweek) who asked to quote my post on Daiya cheese. Apparently Daiya is made in Canada but not yet available there! Look ma, I got "interviewed" by the press! Well, kinda.

Here's my quote:

“It’s revolutionary in that now people can have pizza and mac and cheese,” writes Kishari Sing on her blog The Food Allergy Queen. When Sing taste-tested Daiya, she declared it “delicious,” then listed its ingredients: no dairy, no soy, no eggs, no nuts, no gluten, no casein, no wheat, no barley, none of the usual allergy suspects. Tapioca and water are the top ingredients. Everything else is plant-based. The company claims Daiya contains 33 per cent less fat than regular cheddar cheese. “It’s probably the best vegan cheese substitute out there,” Sing told Maclean’s. “Mostly because the previous versions have all been so hideous!”

And here's the link to the entire article for your viewing pleasure. Ta da.

http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/05/25/for-these-vegans-its-the-holy-grail/

Recipe: Mmmm...Millet Crispy treats!

2010-05-25T13:38:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, the name "millet treats" doesn't roll off the tongue quite like Rice Krispies (R) treats, but I was trying to get you all pumped up anyway. :)

I met with some friends to watch the "Lost" finale last weekend, and I wanted to test drive a new snack...something savory that wasn't deep fried or super fatty but still irresistable and munchable. On "Top Chef Masters" last week, Chef Susan Feniger (her LA restaurants include Border Grill, Ciudad, and the newest one, Street) made a dish which included savory crispy puffed millet balls, and they looked so tasty I was inspired to make them! (Since I have a rice allergy, I'm always on the lookout for good alternatives to rice, and puffed millet could do the trick nicely. Millet is a gluten-free ancient grain going back almost 10,000 years and is still a staple food in many countries in the world including India and China.) I looked up the recipe online (thank you Oprah!), and found that they were made with Indian spices in addition to the traditional marshmallows and was even further intrigued.

I had to substitute a few of the spices since I didn't have some of them, but the puffs were easy to make, and jackpot!...they were DEE-lish -- a very adult version of Rice Krispie squares: sweet, spicy, chewy. (Note: if you're not a fan of Indian spices, you won't like these.) Because they use whole seeds, the flavors are bold, yet not overpowering. These are light, chewy and addicting. Chef Susan serves them as an appetizer at Street, but they would make a nice savory snack anytime...I'm going on a road trip next month, I may make a batch to take them along.

Here's the Spicy Millet Puff recipe from Susan Feniger. Try them out and let me know what you think!

Millet Puffs
Recipe created by Susan Feniger
Oprah.com

Servings: Makes 36 small balls (about 6 servings)

Ingredients:

Millet Puffs

4 Tbsp. unsalted butter (I used Earth Balance soy-free margarine)
2 cups marshmallows
3 cups puffed millet cereal
1 Tbsp. whole cumin seed
1 tsp. whole fennel seed
1 tsp. black mustard seed
1/4 tsp. Reshampati chili powder (Note: I used Ancho chili powder)
1/4 tsp. turmeric powder
1/2 cup dried currants (I used dried cranberries)
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. chopped curry leaf (I used a pinch of curry powder)

Directions

Note: Arrowhead Mills makes millet puffs, but you can also substitute other unsweetened puffed cereals, like Kashi 7 Whole Grain Puffs. Dried cherries, cranberries, or raisins can be used instead of currants. All of the spices are available at Amazon.com.

Place the butter in a large skillet or Dutch oven; heat over medium heat until frothy.

Add the marshmallows and start to melt them, stirring with a rubber spatula so that they don't stick or burn (you can lower the heat if you need to). When the marshmallows are halfway melted, add all the remaining ingredients except the millet and stir well, so spices start to toast and are fully mixed with the marshmallow.

Add the millet, turn off heat, and stir until all of the millet is mixed and evenly coated in the spiced marshmallow mix.

Move the pan to a heat-proof surface, and immediately start rolling into small balls, about the size of a cherry; if your hands are slightly damp with cold water, the mixture will be easier to work with. Place the balls on a plate, uncovered, until they dry out slightly, about 1 hour. Store in an airtight container up to three days.

PLAIN CRISPY TREATS RECIPE:
I had extra marshmallows, so also tweaked the original Rice Krispie treat recipe and made a puffed millet version. Because the millet isn't presweetened like the Rice Krispies cereal, the proportion of marshmallow to cereal needed to be adjusted to be 1:1. Melt 1/4 cup of dairy-free margarine with 4 cups of marshmallows. When melted, add 4 cups of puffed millet, stir until mixed, scoop into an oiled pan and press lightly. Cut while warm!

A Julia Child tribute: strawberry tart

2010-04-29T11:04:00.000-07:00

I went to the dinner party of some dear friends last weekend, and this is the dessert I brought: a strawberry tart from Julia Child -- adjusted of course to be Food Allergy Queen-friendly. The pie crust was from the always-amazing Rebecca Reilly, and the filling was from Julia's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". I've been wanting to cook more from her books (I have four) after seeing the wonderful "Julie and Julia" movie of course, which got me to read "My Life in France" -- Julia's biography which her portion of the movie was based on. I didn't think I could be a bigger fan, but after reading her book, I was! Julia was a rock star. Luckily, I got to meet and thank her at one of her final book signings. See our picture below! :)

The tart was a hit, since this crowd doesn't usually get homemade desserts! (The experience made me wonder how Marie Callendars gets all their strawberries to fit in closer together....I guess you need a bunch of little guys to fill in the holes. Oh well, it tasted fine.) Personally, I was cringing inside since the custard didn't set correctly (I switched out the flour with a gluten-free tapioca starch) and the texture was weird. Tasty, but weird. Luckily no one else but me noticed. I'll tweak the custard again and post the full recipe soon! Meanwhile, start enjoying the season's strawberries!

And thank Julia for saving American palates from the relish trays and weird molded food that were in style when her cookbook came out. Thanks Julia!

Recipe: My favorite savory hamburger

2010-04-28T17:48:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you're thinking to yourself, why in the world do we need yet ANOTHER burger recipe? Because, people, even though it's a classic, there are always those out there looking to take it to the next level. Here in LA, there are always chefs who are trying to become THE best burger in LA for either culinary ego or public relations reasons. Lucky us! My current favorite is the Umami burger. Umami is a Japanese word meaning savory. Generally, scientists note that the palate can detail four distinct tastes: salty, sweet, sour and bitter. Umami burger tries to deliver a fifth taste: savory.

Unfortunately the restaurant serves it with cheese and a bun with a sweetish taste, so I came up with an Food Allergy Queen version of their burger reminiscent of that combination of flavors. Luckily for us, a burger (without the bun) is gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, egg-free, nut-free and peanut-free. Yum!

The ingredients are simple, but it's really more about timing and technique than anything else -- beef loses its flavor the longer it's cooked. The best pan for cooking burgers (when you can't grill outside on an open flame) in my opinion is cast iron...MUCH better than stainless steel. You can heat it to become really hot, and it sears beautifully. It even adds iron to the food you're cooking. Even better, use a cast iron grill pan to add grilled flavor in the house! (There's one listed on my Amazon favorites on my home page -- it's one of my secret weapons for easy and great cooking. A plain chicken breast is never the same when made in this baby!)

Also, be sure not to cheat and use a leaner cut of ground beef. The burger needs to cook in some fat to be juicy, and much of it will drain off after cooking.

The FAQ Savory Burger
Makes four burgers

1 lb. ground beef, (85%, 15% fat)
1 Tablespoon finely diced onion, or 1 tsp. dried chopped onion, rehydrated
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp. ground oregano
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

Condiments: grilled onions and a sweet pickle or relish

1. Heat the cast iron pan over medium heat for 10 minutes until hot. If using another type of frypan, the important thing is to get it hot throughout before adding the meat, but it won't take as long as 10 minutes :).
2. In a medium bowl, mix all ingredients thoroughly.
3. With medium firmness using your hands, form into four patties, flattened to the size of your palm. (If you pack it together too tightly or it's too tall, then the burger will be tougher since it takes longer to cook.)
4. Cook for four minutes each side, (to 135 degrees for medium rare), then remove from heat.
5. Let the burgers sit for a minute or two to allow the juices to come back into the meat.
6. Serve with grilled onions and your favorite sweet pickle, chutney or other sweet relish. (I pile them on way higher than in the picture, but it didn't photograph as well so I took them off.)
7. Obviously if you can have bread, serve on a bun! :)

Recipe: Flourless Peanut Butter cookies (gluten-free)

2010-04-21T14:59:00.000-07:00

One of my buddies, Allergic Girl, was chatting about how these delicious gluten-free peanut butter cookies from Gluten-Free Girl were, and it immediately made me ravenous for some. (Hillary Clinton was right, it DOES take a village of us food allergic people, right?)

These were so easy to make that I had to share the recipe now! Perfect for a last-minute sweets craving.

The recipe only has four ingredients you probably already have in your pantry: creamy peanut butter, sugar, egg and baking powder. They were yummy! They would also make the perfect recipe to send to friends who don't know what to feed you when you come over. :)

Here's the recipe,

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

One cup creamy peanut butter
One cup white sugar
One teaspoon baking powder
One egg

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Cream the peanut butter and sugar in a bowl. (As much as I love my KitchenAid, I have found that this is a hand-stirring job). Beat in the baking powder. Add the egg. Mix until it is all well combined.

The dough will be sticky, so be prepared to get your hands messy. Roll some dough into a ball. (How big? That depends on you. I have found, however, that the smaller these cookies are, the better they hold together. Eat two instead of one!) Roll the ball into white sugar. Line a baking sheet, covered in parchment paper, with sugary balls of dough.

Bake in the oven for about ten minutes. You will know the cookies are done when they feel coherent, but still a little soft. Take the tray out of the oven and let the cookies rest for at least five minutes. Afterwards, carefully transfer them to a cooling rack. After ten minutes or so, they will have hardened and be glistening with sugar.

Eat them.

Makes ten to twelve cookies.

Here's a link to Gluten-Free Girl's original post.

They were a bit too sweet for my taste, so I'll tweak a version to reduce the sugar, and try to make an egg-free version next. Enjoy these in the meantime.

Reader recipe: riceless sushi

2010-04-20T15:45:00.000-07:00

This is cool! A reader contacted me on my Facebook page because she was excited to share her latest creation: riceless sushi. She used quinoa instead of the rice and made sushi rolls with nori and other goodies. (As you may know, when I go out for sushi I ask for hand rolls made without rice. I've never tried making it at home, though.) I didn't want to edit her email since I thought it was perfect as is! :)

Hi Kishari,

I really feel that sharing ideas is the only way to get through. I just keep feeling crappy even though I eliminate all these foods, then I find out something else and eliminate that and so on and so on. So anything I can do to help anyone else I will do!

Anyways, the recipe for the quinoa is 1 cup quinoa to 2 cups chicken broth, but water can be used. I put everything in a pot, bring to a boil with lid on then when its boiling I turned it down to simmer, still with the lid on, and then cook until all the water is evaporated. It took about 20 minutes, I wanted the quinoa really dry so it would stick to the nori. I put it in the fridge overnight because I didn't want the seaweed to get mushy, it was a bit too dry in the morning so I through it in the microwave for a min and then scooped out the quinoa and put it on the seaweed just like you would rice.

thanks for listening, Anna G :)

Note: one is avocado and smoked salmon, the other is avocado and crab.

I love this! If you'd like to share your creations, please contact me on Facebook or email me at foodallergyqueen@gmail.com. I'll try to figure out how to archive these so that they're easily accessible.

Recipe: Pickled daikon and red radishes with ginger

2010-04-15T13:27:00.000-07:00

I found some nice daikon radishes at the farmers market yesterday, and found this easy-peasy recipe on Epicurious for making a light pickle. Crunchy, fresh-tasting and pretty, it would be great with bbq! BTW, a few Epicurious reviewers noted that these pickles can be smelly when you first open the container, but don't let that deter you from making these!

Pickled Daikon and Red Radishes with Ginger
Gourmet | November 2007 by Lillian Chou

Crisp disks of two kinds of radishes taste clean and sweet in this Japanese- and Korean-influenced pickle.

Yield: Makes about 3 cups

1 1/2 pounds daikon radish, peeled
1 bunch red radishes (about 10), trimmed and each cut lengthwise into 6 wedges
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/4 cup rice vinegar (not seasoned) (NOTE: I used white balsamic vinegar instead, you could also use white wine or champagne vinegar)
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon very thin matchsticks of peeled ginger

Halve daikon lengthwise, then cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Transfer to a large bowl and toss with radishes and kosher salt. Let stand at room temperature, stirring occasionally, 1 hour.
Drain in a colander (do not rinse) and return to bowl.
Add vinegar, sugar, and ginger, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Transfer to an airtight container and chill, covered, shaking once or twice, at least 12 hours more (to allow flavors to develop).

Cooks' note:
Pickled radishes can be chilled up to 3 weeks.

Product Review: Daiya vegan cheese. Do not be afraid!

2010-04-01T17:49:00.000-07:00

I LOVE real cheese. Grilled cheese sandwiches are a gift from the universe...a brie and butter sandwich I once had in Paris almost made me cry, it was so good. Tragically, I discovered my dairy allergy only a few months after a friend shared her mad skills from her job at the Beverly Hills Cheese store (the Disneyland of cheeses for Southern California). I'll admit upfront, I've been suspicious of soy cheese, rice cheese, almond cheese, nut cheese, cheese food, cheese replacements and raw or vegan cheese (I'm starting to sound like Monty Python so I'll stop) ever since they came into existence. All the reviews I've ever read, including personal opinions from my veggie friends, confirmed that they were pretty lame excuses for cheese, and lovingly warned me off them. So I didn't bother. A particularly vivid bad food memory on the same subject happened years ago when I sat next to my coworker (a healthy marathon runner) during lunch. She enthusiastically bit into a slice of soy cheese only to cringe, freeze, then bolt to the kitchen to huck it out of her mouth. It was SO bad (how bad was it?) that when she returned she madly began scraping her tongue off with a napkin to get the taste out of her mouth. It left an impression.

Since then, I made a heartfelt vow of "no cheese unless it's real". And have been perfectly fine with that.

Last year, I was working on a recipe that needed some cheese love, so I tippy-toed out of my self-made box to make an enthusiastically-described vegan "cheese spread" using nutritional yeast (a standard cheese replacement in much vegan cookery). Nutritional yeast comes in bright orange dehydrated flakes, and is described as having a "cheese-like" taste. I made the sauce, tasted it, then made an unattractive "gack" sound. It was bitter, smelly, and just plain nasty so into the trash it went. Ugh. Back into my non-cheese cave, disappointed yet again.

Then I heard from my allergy pal Alisa at GoDairyFree.com last summer that there was Daiya vegan cheese, which was made from tapioca starch. Hm. Tapioca has a gelatinous texture and a mild taste, so I thought it might actually work. It was delicious! Pre-shredded, Daiya looks, smells and tastes like real mild dairy cheese. At that time it was only available online, and because it required overnight shipping/refrigeration it was PRICEY. It was not available in retail stores yet, so I was waiting for their distribution to improve before posting about it, and now that day is here! Click here Where to enjoy Daiya in the US and Canada! By the way, they don't have retail packaging yet, at least at my Whole Foods they don't, WF is repackaging it in generic, non-descript store containers. Daiya should be near the refrigerated soy and other alternative cheeses.

Daiya vegan cheese is based on tapioca starch and arrowroot, and is FREE of common allergens such as "Soy, Casein, Lactose, Gluten, Egg, Wheat, Barley, Corn, Whey, Rice, and Nuts". Here's the official ingredient list:

Purified water, tapioca and/or arrowroot flours, non-GMO expeller pressed canola and/or non-GMO expeller pressed safflower oil, coconut oil, pea protein, salt, inactive yeast, vegetable glycerin, natural flavors (derived from plants), xanthan gum, sunflower lecithin, vegan enzymes (no animal rennet or animal enzymes), vegan bacterial cultures, citric acid (for flavor), annatto.

It tastes great! It melts! It broils! It doesn't have a weird aftertaste! There are two varieties: cheddar and Italian blend which is like mozzarella -- they're both mild in flavor so those of you who love strong, stinky cheeses are out of luck, but these will do for most general cheese uses. My days now have cheese omelets and nachos in them, la! Daiya is also selling their product to the food industry, so there are pizza restaurants using Daiya, and some manufacturers like Amy's Kitchen are making gluten-free dairy-free pizza and mac and cheese with it. Cool.

I decided to see how it performed beyond just as a topping, so whipped up a cheese sauce and used it as a dip for turkey strips and on top of steamed cauliflower. This cheese sauce can be thinned and also be used to make mac and cheese, folks! This recipe is based on the classic bechamel, or French white sauce. I used tapioca starch instead of flour used in the traditional recipe. Try to use the best butter substitute you can here, it will impact the flavor. Have everything measured out and ready before you start, as this only takes a few minutes to make!

Thick Cheese Sauce
Makes approx 1-1/4 cup

1 Tablespoon best-quality butter substitute of your choice (margarine, Earth Balance, coconut oil, a buttery French or Spanish olive oil, canola oil)
2-1/2 Tablespoons tapioca starch
1 cup milk substitute of your choice (soy, rice, almond, oat)
1/2 cup Daiya cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste
dash of nutmeg

1. In a small saucepan on low heat, melt the butter substitute (or warm it if it's oil). Sprinkle in the tapioca starch and whisk thoroughly to incorporate and form a paste.
2. Spread out the paste on the bottom of the pan, and cook it for a few minutes so that it bubbles a little, and cooks any raw taste out of the starch.
3. While whisking, pour in milk substitute a little at a time, so that you don't create lumps.
4. When all the milk substitute is incorporated, add in the cheese a little at a time, whisking until melted and smooth.
5. Salt and pepper to taste, finish with a dash of nutmeg. Serve.

When this cools, it will congeal to be pretty thick but it reheats just fine. You can also thin it out with more milk substitute to suit your needs, but remember to correct the seasoning again.

Once you have cheese again in your life after a long absence, it calls for a little happy dance. Go ahead, I won't look.

Recipe: How to cook delicious chard (really!)

2010-03-18T22:55:00.000-07:00

One of the things that bugs me about most dietitians and nutritionists is that they tell you what to eat that's healthy (more kale! more legumes!) but rarely tell you how to cook it well so that you (and your family) WANTS to eat them. So they don't make the weekly grocery list.

Eating greens is an easy way to eat healthily, and this delicious chard recipe is easy to make -- bonus! Chard is a mild-tasting green (not as strong or bitter as kale), and a good one to start with if you don't usually eat them. You get a food that's nutritionally dense, full of good dietary fiber, and lots of vitamins and minerals. Sounds miserable, right? Wrong! Done right, you can get both your nutrition and good taste in one place!

This recipe is from the wonderful Alice Waters' Chez Panisse Vegetables cookbook, my go-to book I crack open the minute I come back from the farmer's market. While it's written for chard (also known as swiss chard), this technique can be used for most greens such as turnip, mustard and beet greens. For kale and collards, you need a little sugar to balance out the bitterness of the greens.

A few prep notes:

WASHING. Be sure to wash your greens thoroughly. There's nothing more unpleasant than getting a mouthful of dirt or grit from your veggies. The best way to do this is to fill your sink with cold water, throw in all your greens loosely, then agitate them well to get all the dirt out of the nooks and crannies, letting gravity do the work for you. Pull out the greens, set them aside, then drain the sink and fill it with water and repeat. Two rounds of rinsing usually does it, but look to see if any more dirt settles to the bottom or not. If you see dirt, rinse again.

DE-RIBBING. Loosely fold the leaf in half along the stem, then grasp the leaf with your other hand and strip the leaves from the ribs. This will go quickly when you get the hang of it. You can wrap the leaves in paper towels and into a plastic bag and keep them in the refrigerator for a few hours ahead if you like.

CHIFFONADE: this term is a cutting technique. Roll the leaves into a loose roll (like a sushi roll), then slice the roll thinly to create shreds.

Braised Chard from Chez Panisse Vegetables
by Alice Waters

2-3 servings

Separate the leaves and ribs of a large very fresh bunch of red or green chard. Wash, drain, and cut the leaves into a rough chiffonade. Slice a large sweet onion, and start stewing it in some olive oil in a pot large enough to hold all of the chard leaves. After the onion softens, add the chard leaves, season with salt and pepper, cover, and stew for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring every so often. (My note: add a little water if the greens stick to the pan.) Although additions such as garlic, pancetta or lemon can be made, the chief virtues of chard cooked this way are its own sweet flavor and a meltingly tender texture.

I eat these as a side dish, or with my eggs in the morning instead of spinach. Enjoy.

Recipe: Tasty Chickpea Chips for snacking (gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, nut-free)

2010-03-16T15:12:00.000-07:00

If you're like me, snacking is a tricky issue that can quickly blow up all my well-laid food allergy-safe meal plans for the day. I can have a great breakfast and lunch, then at that time between afternoon and dinner (the Brits cleverly invented teatime for that reason, I think) I start meandering around, looking for something tasty to nosh on to take that edge off, even if I'm not really that hungry. And if I don't have something already prepared, I'll go digging -- usually for something salty or sweet, and it's not always a good choice. Dark chocolate (dairy-free) candy bars and potato or corn chips are the usual victims. While they are Food Allergy Queen-friendly, they are certainly not healthy and in most cases are just empty calories. I can do better.

Luckily for me, a newsletter from SeriousEats.com just arrived with a recipe for chickpeas (also more clunkily known as garbanzo beans), that are deep fried and salted as a snack. French Chickpea Chips! Yay! The snacking gods have taken pity on me, apparently these are eaten on a regular basis in Nice (which I am told is foodier than Paris, yum). There's a premade version of fried chickpeas that I've found in Indian markets, but I much prefer these. I used dried garbanzos which I had in the cupboard already (soaked overnight), but this recipe uses canned. I think the dried ones would offer a slightly better texture for this snack, but whatever prevents you from eating something nutritionally void, I'm all for it.

A few of my notes on this recipe:

(1) The recipe is for deep-frying these, but you can certainly bake these as well. I did both, and found that the taste of the fried was infinitely superior. However, if you need to avoid fat for any reason (caloric, IBS, fear of fire), use the baking directions that I include here.

(2) If you deep fry, be sure to use a good-tasting, mild or fruity olive oil since they infuse the chickpeas with their flavor. My favorite olive oils are from France or Spain. Italian olive oil tends to taste "greener" and can sometimes be a little bitter, and that would make the snack bitter. I also reduced the amount of oil used for frying, using a smaller high-edged pan and I only used 1/2" of oil. I hate using too much for deep frying unless necessary (like for chicken), because then I reuse the "flavored" oil later.

(3) I tried this with both my standby kosher salt and Maldon (Celtic) flake salt since I didn't have any fleur de sel (French flake salt) in the house. Maldon by far made this snack fabulous rather than "just ok", especially since I had to omit the lemon peel due to my citrus allergy.

(4) Keep leftovers in an airtight container. I live by the beach and forgot this important fact, in the morning they were soggy and sad. So I had to dry them out again in the oven.

Here's the link to the recipe.

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/03/french-in-a-flash-nicoise-chickpea-chips-recipe.html

Niçoise Chickpea Chips (from Kerry Saretsky, March 4, 2010, SeriousEats.com)

- serves 6 -

Ingredients

Olive oil for frying
1 clove garlic
1 15.5-ounce can chickpeas, drained, rinsed, and VERY WELL DRIED in a towel
1 teaspoon fleur de sel
Zest 1/2 lemon

Procedure

1. Fill a small saucepot half full with olive oil (my notes, I only used 1/2" in a smaller pan as to not waste oil), and heat over medium heat until it reaches 350°F. Drop the garlic clove into the oil when it is cold, and remove it as it comes to temperature—just to infuse the flavor into the oil.

2. Fry the chickpeas in batches for about 5 minutes, carefully, as they may splatter. They will go from looking like cooked chickpeas to toasted hazelnuts—smaller, and golden, and crunchy. Drain on a paper towel, and toss with the fleur de sel and lemon zest.

TO BAKE: Preheat the oven to 425. In a small saucepan, heat a little (about a 1/4 cup) of olive oil, then add the garlic for a few minutes until lightly browned to infuse the oil. Discard garlic. Let the oil cool.
Place the chickpeas in a cookie sheet, and drizzle the oil on top. Shake around the pan to coat all the chickpeas with the oil. Bake for 30-45 minutes, or until they are light brown and look like hazelnuts. Drain on a paper towel, and toss with the fleur de sel and lemon zest.

For me, I had to omit both the garlic and the lemon peel, but the flavors were still really good! I could really taste the lovely Spanish olive oil that's my current favorite (I get it at Trader Joes) because it's buttery and mild and less than $10. My snack-searching tummy was satisfied, and because there's more protein and fiber here than candy or chips I was satisfied with less.

FAQ Tips on: Getting food allergy support from others and Going out to eat

2010-03-11T15:42:00.000-08:00

A reminder, I started a discussion board on my Food Allergy Queen Facebook page, and took a poll as to the most difficult issues encountered for those of us with food allergies. Here is the URL to view the poll http://tiny.cc/qyYvE

The options were:

What are your biggest problems with your (or others) food allergies?

(1) Being confused as to what you can actually eat or not eat
(2) Being fearful to eat
(3) Being depressed about your food allergies
(4) Getting support from others (family, friends, restaurants) to maintain an allergen-free diet
(5) Going out to eat (both restaurants and other people's homes)
(6) Learning to cook for your allergies
(7) Finding products that work within your specific diet
(8) Cooking for non-allergic family members
(9) High cost of pre-made allergen-free foods
(10) Managing stress from your food allergies

Answers #4 and #5 were the most difficult, not too surprisingly, and I just posted my tips on managing both. NOTE: you must be a member of Facebook to be able to view and participate. It's free, and easy. No need to put in any private information if you don't want to!

New products: it's a good time to be food allergic!

2010-03-10T16:21:00.000-08:00

As I was walking through my local Whole Foods today, I thought to myself, "Wow, what a good time it is to have food allergies! It's true! Honestly, it's not something that I usually say....usually it's the exact opposite -- especially when I'm walking by a yummy European bakery and there are big, fat, buttery pain au chocolats (chocolate croissants) in the window. Then I usually say something to the effect of "!@#$%^ food allergies!".

However today, I felt grateful and lucky. People all over the world are more aware of what they eat than ever thanks to the efforts of people like Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, Mark Bittman, author of Food Matters and his How to Cook Everything Vegetarian cookbook, First Lady Michelle Obama, and movies such as "Supersize Me" and "Food, Inc". The Internet allows us to share information and idea with others almost in real-time. Manufactures have also figured out that there is a profitable market for people like us who don't want to eat food with conventional fillers and preservatives and using non-traditional ingredients. And retailers like Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and other mainstream grocery stores are carrying more specialty foods than ever before. My recent discoveries:

(1) New Earth Balance butter substitute WITHOUT SOY. I have not had anything that tasted like butter in years since they almost all contain soy, so I may have to go find something buttery to bake right this second!
(2) Another vegetable shortening, Jungle Shortening, which uses 100% organic palm and sunflower oil. Before this I used Spectrum shortening which is 100% palm oil.
(3) Soy Delicious brand creamer made with 100% coconut milk. Light, smooth, excellent with coffee and tea, a little thin for everyday drinking, like with cereal.
(4) Daiya cheese, made with tapioca. Free of soy and rice. I'll post separately on this since I'm still experimenting. Delicious.

(5) And lastly, today I saw a commercial for the new Silk Almond milk and am SO excited to try it! Before I discovered I was allergic to soy, Silk was my favorite soy milk brand because it had the best texture and taste to match cow's milk. So I have high expectations.

Anyhow, today I feel deeply grateful that I'm living in a place and time where I have so many food allergy substitutes available to me. And that I'm not forced to eat food that is bad for me just because there are no alternatives to be had (for example? When I was in China last year, trying to avoid soy there was like trying to avoid oxygen. Ugh.). One way you can help to keep up this momentum is to be a vocal consumer! Continue to talk to manufacturers -- send emails and call to ask for products that you want to see. When manufacturers hear from enough of their customers, they are more likely to look at creating new products. Empower yourselves and others to get the food products we want and need!

Keep the faith people! More good stuff is coming our way.

Earth Balance products can be purchased at these stores
Jungle products can be purchased at these stores (on online soon as well!)
Soy Delicious products can be purchased at these stores
Daiya cheese products can be purchased at these stores
Silk Almond milk can be purchased at these stores

Lovely! Hot chocolate w/ macadamia nut milk (gluten, dairy-free)

2010-03-04T18:08:00.000-08:00

Just came back from a last-minute visit with my friend Sarah who posted on FB that she was temporarly perched at a lovely little ethnic vegan place in our neighborhood called Vardo Cafe. (Strangely, it's been there for a year and we both only noticed it a little while ago.) It's a gypsy-themed vegan restaurant that serves northern Indian-style food. On paper, it sounded like just another LA wacky-themed restaurant, but it was actually cozy and not over-the-top hippie-ish. Comfortable. My friend had a nice cappucinno and tasty scone.

Of course, I had issues ordering, but after I explained my complicated list of food allergies to the lovely Amanda, she offered to make me a hot chocolate that was "off menu" which she makes for friends. How thoughtful was that? It was made from cocoa powder, macadamia nut milk (which they make onsite), and honey to taste. It was...lovely! Rich, creamy, chocolaty. She even managed to whip a little foam into it. Mmmmm. It was a little bit nutty-tasting, but certainly not off-putting. I've been noticing that there are quite a few vegan dairy recipes which use cashew milk as a replacement since it offers a richer body and flavor than other dairy alternatives, but since the FAQ is allergic to cashews (of course) I was tickled to find a another alternative in the same vein as cashew milk. It's giving me some new ideas. (Sorry to Allergic Girl and others, but this doesn't help you nut allergic readers, erk.)

The next lovely thing was meeting Natasha and Vanessa. They overheard me chatting with the waitress about food allergies, and perked up since they're both celiacs with other food allergies as well, and we launched into animated food allergy conversation for another half hour -- talk about the universe throwing people together! They alerted me that Earth Balance butter-replacement spreads have come up with a soy-free version, so I may soon be reviewing that as soon as I get my paws on some.

Anyhow, just wanted to share my experience that all kinds of lovely things can happen when you step outside your usual circles, and that your adventuresome decision could reward you with chocolate and other cosmic goodies!

Vardo Cafe
235 Main Street
Venice, CA 90291
310 664 9696
www.vardocafe.com

Recipe: Carmelized Cauliflower Soup (gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, nut-free)

2010-03-02T17:05:00.000-08:00

Cauliflower is one of my favorite veggies. I like its crispness, its subtle flavor, its versatility and the way it looks. It can be eaten raw, cooked, be plain or fancy and works with just about every cuisine out there, from French to Vegan to Indian! Not only does it taste good, it's a cruciferous veggie that's good for you because it's a cancer-fighter, low-carb, high-fiber and low-sodium -- it's everybody's best friend, even if they don't know it!

A few weeks ago I posted a picture on my Food Allergy Queen Facebook page (are you a fan yet?) of some very pretty cauliflowers that I found at the farmers market that had turned a lavender color because of the rain. The vendor told me that rain affected the sugars in the caulis somewhat, so that they would be sweeter. Mmmmm! Since it has been hot and cold on and off in LA for the past few weeks (a friend said that LA was menopausal, ha ha), on the cooler days I've been making this delish carmelized cauliflower soup that is easy to make and can work as a casual lunch or as part of a fancy dinner to impress someone special. You may even trick your kids into eating veggies if you plop some cheese on top!

Carmelized Cauliflower Soup
Makes 4-6 servings

Quick, easy and delicious. You can use this technique to also make broccoli, or mushroom soup. Gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, nut-free, peanut-free, vegan.

The secret to this recipe’s success is carmelizing all the vegetables to be sweet, nutty and not bitter before simmering the soup. Be patient! This is much easier if you have an immersion blender, but a regular blender will work as well. Just be careful to check that all the seals (on the bottom and in the lid) are airtight because hot whirling liquids outside a container are bad news!

2 Tablespoons olive oil (or other mild-tasting oil of your choice: canola, coconut, grapeseed)
1 medium onion, roughly diced
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 medium cauliflower, washed, dried and cut into flowerets (about 5 cups)
5 cups of water
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 tsp ground black pepper (or white pepper if preferred)
Optional: ½ cup of milk alternative of your choice (rice, soy, almond, coconut)

1.    Heat a large 3 qt saucepan on medium heat, when hot add 2 Tablespoons of olive oil. Add chopped onion, and cook on medium heat, occasionally stirring, until uniformly golden brown, soft and carmelized, 5-10 minutes. Remove onions and set aside.
2.    Add another 2 Tablespoons of oil to the pot, then add cauliflower florets. Turn heat down to medium low, and cook, stirring occasionally, until all the florets have golden coloring, about 10 minutes.
3.    Add onions back into the pot, then add water. There should be enough to just cover the cauliflower. Bring to a boil, then turn to a simmer. Simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until cauliflower speared with a fork offers no resistance whatsoever. We don’t want any fiber because we want this to be smooth!
4.    Add salt and pepper.
5.    Using an immersion blender, carefully blend within the saucepan until smooth. If using a traditional blender, be VERY careful that it seals tightly on the bottom and lid otherwise you could have boiling hot liquid flying everywhere.
6.    If you’d like to add a creamier taste, add the milk alternative and return to the stove to heat through.
7.    Taste and correct salt to your taste. It should be mildly nutty, but flavorful with a rich mouthfeel. If too thick, add more water or milk alternative and correct the seasoning again.

VARIATIONS;

Broccoli soup: use same proportions (5 cups broccoli/5 cups water), no need to carmelize broccoli, it doesn’t add anything.

Mushroom soup: use same proportions (5 cups mushrooms/5 cups water), but since mushrooms shrink so much the soup won’t be as thick as the other two versions. Be sure to sauté mushrooms until all water has evaporated and mushrooms are carmelized (up to 15 minutes) before adding water to simmer. Add a Tablespoon of sherry at the end for a great additional flavor.

Review: Food Allergy Survival Guide

2010-02-23T19:05:00.000-08:00

My apologies to the publishers, it's taken me quite a while to get the chance to write this review. A copy of the Food Allergy Survival Guide by Melina, Stepaniak and Aronson, was sent to me so that I could try it out, review and share.   This book differs from the others out there in that it was written by dietitians rather than chefs. The first half of the book is informational, the second half consists of recipes.   This was originally published in 2004, and even though we've learned a lot since then, a lot of the content is still relevant!

Overall, I think the Food Allergy Survival Guide offers lots and lots of great information, but personally I found it poorly organized and clunky to use. It could really use a good editor so all the advice could be accessed more easily. Because of the title "Survival Guide" I was hoping that it would provide quick tips, shortcuts, etc. ala the "Dummies" series since it acknowledges how people are in survival mode when they are first diagnosed. But unfortunately, this book is awkward, academic and not user-friendly -- the authors take way too long to get to the point, even when it's an important point. For example, the first chapter is full of the scientific background behind food sensitivities and allergies.   When I started reading, I got impatient reading about mast cells and histamines -- and I was someone deliberately searching for the promised survival information! I imagined that if I was a mom who's child was newly diagnosed, I would want to know what to cook my allergic kid for dinner TONIGHT. I found this disappointing.

I loved the charts in Chapter 3 about food allergies and the medical conditions to which they contribute: migraines, arthritis, asthma and IBS, all which I have experienced and are not usually covered in food allergy discussions. I also liked the deep detail in Chapter 5, the label reading chapter, which offered charts detailing "Terms that indicate the presence of..." ingredients that may contain allergens. The chapter on feelings about food allergies was also a nice touch. But some of the chapters were downright confusing: Under Chapter 8 Nutrition and Planning, "Tips for Eating at Restaurants" was listed right before "Decreasing the risk of Allergies for Infants". Both are great tools to have, but seemed illogical to list next to each other -- and would have been hard to find if I was looking for one or another.

As for the two recipes I tried, I found them to taste just okay. I usually go to the baking section first, as that's the most difficult when making allergy substitutions and is one of my standards to test against. I made the "Magical One-bowl Muffins" and the "Perfection Pie Crust" since I have made several versions of these from other cookbooks.   They were average -- although the muffins were described as "plain", and plain (as in donuts!) can be excellent when done well. I made the quinoa/corn variation, but they tasted flat and were heavy. As for the pie crust recipe, the crust barely held together when rolling, but since I've baked a lot of pies I could make it work, but imagine it would have been tricky for a beginner cook.

I will definitely try some of the other sections: specifically entrees and salads, but as I read through I found a lot of recipes are largely based on beans and seeds, even though the book's cover doesn't indicate this book was designed to be deliberately vegetarian. Hm, puzzling. Personally, I've found that being on a restricted diet is already frustrating as it is, and not having some familiar meat-based entrees made me less inclined to want to jump in and try more of these recipes. Thumbing through the back half of the book, these recipes seemed to be written nutritionally than to taste, and since I'm a stickler for cooking for taste and texture, sadly I'm not that excited to forge on. There were a few unusual ingredients recommended that I'm not familiar with and would like to try: chickpea miso and umeboshi plum vinegar (they may be more difficult to find for those not in major cities). Next stop: Asian market for these.

My review in summary for the "Food Allergy Survival Guide": volumes of helpful analytical and academic information, but poor organization/usability which made it not very user-friendly; recipes tried were fine but not very inspirational.

Has anyone else cooked out of this book? Would love to hear other input. Thanks again to the Survival Guide publisher for sharing this with me.

Food Allergies and why Plastic Food Storage Containers are bad

2010-02-09T18:00:00.000-08:00

One of the topics I haven't addressed yet are plastics and their impact on your health. It's important for all people, but especially impacts those who are more sensitive to external toxins such as....people with food allergies! :) It just makes sense to protect your food environment as best you can when your system is already vulnerable. For some reason, the green/environmental movement, while making progress, has not given this topic much press. It's certainly pretty easy to understand that household chemicals such as spray cleaners, paint, solvents, mothballs, air fresheners and dry cleaning chemicals let off gasses which negatively impact your health. They emit Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) into the air, which accumulate into our bodies over time. You can learn more on VOCs from the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) here.

What's not so commonly known, however, is that common household plastics in water bottles, baby bottles and other food containers leach toxins into foods (remember osmosis in school?) that accumulate into our bodies over time as well. While the FDA has been slow to recognize the effect of plastics on our health, a panel of the NIH (US National Institutes of Health) has indicated it poses a risk to humans (specifically on developmental and reproductive health). See NIH article on one particularly bad type, BPAs (Bisphenol A), here. (I'm personally not gonna wait until the government makes this official, who knows if and when that will happen? Also plastics are petroleum-based products, which opens another can of worms that would take too long to address here.) While we can't completely avoid all plastics in our lives, it's critical to ensure that we try to minimize its contact with food. Plastics release even more toxins when heated, so please don't microwave food in plastic containers because it accelerates the migration of toxins into your food! Transfer food to glass or ceramic dishes before microwaving.

What to do? Here are four quick things you can do now:

(1) Slowly get rid of old Tupperware (trust me, this is harder than you think -- I've had some pieces since I was a kid!) and other reusable plastic containers. If you use disposables, use them only a few times them then recycle them. Here's an easy way to identify the more toxic plastics if you want to prioritize -- flip over the container, and look at the number inside the little triangle symbol. Numbers 3 (PVC) and 7 (BPA) are the most toxic, so get rid of those first. Numbers 1, 2, 4 and 5 are less toxic. Rather than throw them completely away (#3 and #7 aren't always recyclable, btw) use them in the garage or hobby room or for other non-food storage. (More on what the numbers mean on the link below!)

(2) Use disposable water bottles only once, don't refill them and reuse since they're designed only to be used once and can leach into the water over time. Use the new stainless water bottles instead.

(3) Try to reduce the use of plastic wraps, these have higher levels of BPAs. For microwaving, use waxed paper or parchment paper. Glad and Saran Wraps are promoted as being free of BPA and PVC–but remember that these plastics live for 1,000 years in our landfills.

(4) Replace plastic containers with glass and metal storage containers. Although I've tried metal storage pieces, the GlassLock type is my absolute FAVORITE. I can see what's inside, the glass doesn't add anything to the food, and the silicone lids seal airtight and are easily washed. Another benefit is that you can use non-toxic markers on the containers in case you need to separate allergic and non-allergic foods for your family! (BTW, I discovered there are several brands using the name GlassLock, I have both the Wellbeing and Kinetic brands.) You can see these on my Amazon "I recommend" widget on the right hand side of my blog. Also, I just saw an 18 piece set at Costco for $29.99 which is a SUPER deal, much better than I got at Bed Bath and Beyond. The only problem I've found so far is that these are a little on the heavy side when I bring my lunch somewhere, so I just got a stronger bag.

Read more here:

Kitchen Plastic, Easy Greening
More on toxins in plastic in this Scientific American article
What do the plastic numbers mean?

Thanks to my good friend Mary Cordaro, an environmental consultant in Los Angeles, who taught me all this important stuff! Please share this news with friends and family to let them know how easy it is to improve their health and help the environment right now.

Food Allergy Tests add confusion #foodallergies

2010-01-26T15:15:00.000-08:00

My pal Allergic Girl alerted me to an important article that ran in the WSJ. It's great that food allergies are making national news...the more people are aware, the better!

This article notes some new findings which are unfortunately confusing, especially for newly diagnosed patients. Essentially, even if your blood tests positively for IgE antibodies, you (or your child or loved one) may not actually react to those foods and may be unnecessarily avoiding some foods! Ugh. Here's the article by Melinda Beck http://tiny.cc/nmsv4 And here's a quote:

Blood tests measure the level of antibodies, called immunogloblin E (IgE), a body makes to a particular food. But having IgE antibodies doesn't mean that a person will actually have an allergic symptom when they encounter it. Skin-prick tests are slightly more predictive, but there, too, a red wheal in response to a skin prick doesn't necessarily mean that a child will have an actual allergic reaction to that food.

So what does this mean? That in the end, doctors recommend a medically-monitored food challenge following allergy tests. You can do your part by listening to your body as you navigate through your challenge foods, and work with your allergist closely.

Pie is back in my life! Gluten-free pie crust

2010-01-22T19:35:00.000-08:00

Just as there are distinct differences between "dog people" and "cat people", when it comes to food I firmly believe that there is a significant distinction between "cake people" and "pie people".    This is not a lukewarm subject for most...when asked, most people can firmly and vocally place themselves in one camp or another. For those who claim to like both, or who are undecided, I submit that they are aliens. Just my opinion.

As for me, I am firmly a PIE GIRL. Why? Because pie is a luscious study of contrasts -- textures, flavors, and versatility. Crisp pastry against smooth filling (or chunky filling) that can be sweet or savory. Pies can be breakfast (bacon and egg quiche), entrees (chicken pot pie), country fair prizes, or snacks on the go (oh, how I miss McDonald's fried cherry pies!). And they're just plain delicious. Take that, cake!

When I was learning to bake as a kid, for some reason I learned how to make apple pie from scratch. It became my signature dessert -- people requested it as gifts, and over the years I've even gotten several spontaneous marriage proposals from them (one from a woman)! People were impressed because I made the crust from scratch, which was unusual then, and freakishly obscure today. It's not as hard as people make it out to be -- just like everything else fab, it just takes a bit of practice. And I've developed some techniques to make it easier for beginning pie bakers.

When I went gluten-free due to my allergies, I went in search of a decent pie crust that was flaky, tender and delivered that pleasurable contrast with the filling. Time and time again I was dissapointed. Most gluten-free pie crust recipes were nasty things that made me either sad or mad -- tough, dry, crispy or stiff, with no flavor. But this year, once again, Rebecca Reilly has delivered! Last Christmas, I made two pies with her crust recipe from her book Gluten-Free Baking (you can see it in the Amazon box on the right hand side of my blog). Tastewise, it was close to my old crust recipe. The texture was slightly less flaky, but it was good enough to fool people who weren't even noticing that it was gluten-free! Yay!

I'll include the recipe for the crust, and my famous apple pie here.   And I'll work on this crust recipe a bit to determine if I can adapt a version which doesn't use eggs for you egg-free people.

NOTE: the picture shows my Christmas pumpkin and rhubarb pies. The recipes aren't quite worked out yet (they were a little runny when I made all my substitutions), when they're fixed I'll post them at a later date.

Flaky Pastry adapted from Rebecca Reilly
Double Crust

Equipment you'll need: 9" heavy aluminum pie pan (don't use glass or it won't brown!)
rolling pin
pastry cutter (or two forks)
waxed paper

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups gluten-free mix (I used Bob's Red Mill Multipurpose GF flour since it has no rice)
If you can have rice, you can also use 1-1/2 cups of Rebecca's gf mixture: 2 c. brown rice flour+ 2/3 c. potato starch, + 1/3 c. tapioca starch and save the rest.

3 Tablespoons sweet rice flour (I used sorghum flour instead)
2 tsp. sugar (omit if using for savory filling)
1/4 tsp. salt
9 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (I used Spectrum organic vegetable shortening instead)
1 jumbo egg
1-1/2 Tablespoon cider vinegar or lemon juice

Mix together the gf mix, sweet rice flour (or sorghum flour), sugar and salt. Cut the butter into chunks, and use a pastry cutter (or two forks) to work the butter into the dry ingredients to form a coarse meal. Once thoroughly mixed, make a well in the dry ingredients and break the egg into the well. Add the vinegar or lemon juice. Use a fork to stir from the center, working the flour into the egg to form a soft dough. Shape into a flat cake, cover and refrigerate if it's too soft to roll out. You'll want the dough to hold a shape, but not be so stiff that it cracks. You'll want the texture to be like Play-doh.

Cut two large pieces of waxed paper, about 3"-4" wider than your pie plate. On one piece of paper, sprinkle a little of the gf mix (or cornstarch) onto the paper to keep the dough from sticking to the paper. Take out your dough, and flatten it a bit with your hand to make it sorta round. Sprinkle the top with a little more mix or cornstarch, then put the second piece of waxed paper on top.   The you can use your rolling pin to roll out the dough. Start from the center and roll outwards. Because of the waxed paper, you can flip it over and adjust as you go along if it becomes uneven. (When it gets really unruly, I also pin one corner of the paper with my hip against the counter to keep it from moving. Hey, whatever works, right?) Roll the crust to be about 2" wider than your pie pan (measure using the pan itself!).

When it's the size you want, peel off one side of the paper, put the pan upside down on top and flip it over into the pan, and adjust. Then peel off the other paper, tada! Then cut another two pieces of waxed paper and roll out another circle for the top crust, Cover the rolled out dough and put them both in the fridge while you make the filling.

Famous Apple Pie filling
From Farm Journal's Complete Pie Cookbook

Pastry for 2 crusts
6-7 cups of sliced, peeled Granny Smith apples (2 to 2-1/2 lbs)
3/4- 1 c. sugar (adjust depending on how tart the apples are)
2 Tbls. cornstarch
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg (it'll make a huge difference if you can use fresh vs. pre-ground)
1/4 tsp. salt
2 Tbls. butter cut into small pieces (optional)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Peel and slice the apples into a large bowl.
Combine sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt, the mix among the apples (easiest if you use your hands).

Put filling into 9" pie crust -- it will be high, don't worry! Then arrange the small pieces of butter (if using). Add on top crust then trim the crust edges with a knife so they're even all around. Then you can decorate (or "flute") the crust edges together as you like. Cut small vents in the top to allow steam out.

Bake in hot oven 50 to 60 minutes or until crust is browned and apples are tender. Serve warm or cold.

Oh pie, I missed you so. Welcome back!

Food Allergy Testing: which type is best?

2010-01-15T14:51:00.000-08:00

I get asked this question a lot: what is the best test for food allergies? Elimination on your own may give you some ideas, but to be the most accurate (and to differentiate from food intolerance), you should get tested by an allergist. But which test? Some doctors recommend blood tests, others scratch tests (I got a scratch test). Food allergy blogger pal Allergic Girl posted a wonderful interview last year with Dr. Matthew Greenhawt, who specializes in food allergies, to give a clear description of the merits of scratch tests, blood tests, and also Immunocap testing which is a newer, more accurate blood test.

A sample from the interview:

A food allergy is a clinical disorder based on clearly defined, repeatable symptoms that are directly attributable to a specific food ingestion. These symptoms must occur within a specific time period related to ingestion or contact with a particular food. The most important part of making such a determination is the clinical history—what actually happened or happens when a particular person ingests or comes in contact with a particular food. Without a history of symptoms, one cannot have an allergy to that item. No single test, outside of a direct food challenge, can diagnose someone as food allergic. Read the entire allergy test post here!

Click here to read Allergic Girl.

Follow Allergic Girl on Twitter .

Follow Dr. Greenhawt on Twitter .

"My biggest problem with food allergies": a poll

2010-01-12T14:33:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! As part of the new year, I wanted to develop a food allergy discussion board since lots of people ask me really good questions, and I want to keep them all in one place to be able to share with everyone, as well as give the opportunity for other people to offer support since everyone has a unique experience (and I certainly don't have all the answers!). So I created a Food Allergy Queen Facebook page (click here to become a fan) with a discussion board. Once you've become a fan, you can join in the conversations, and post topics that may be of interest to others with food allergies as well. (To reply to a post, click the "Reply to Topic" link located at the top of each individual topic. Every new post will be considered as a reply to the whole thread.)

So here's the premiere topic: "What is your biggest problem with your (or others) food allergies?" This topic is different answer for everyone, and it should be enlightening to see what impacts us the most. Please go to Facebook and pick your top two issues and let's discuss -- I'm sure there are lots of people who have been where you are and can share their experiences, thanks.

PS. I'll share the results in both places!

More holiday baking: Chocolate cake (gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free)

2009-12-23T15:48:00.000-08:00

I made another recipe from Rebecca Reilly's awesome cookbook Gluten-free Baking -- her recipes ALWAYS work. This time, it was a Chocolate Applesauce cake -- I wanted something closer to a "normal" cake, light and fluffy, to bring to a group who are not foodies so I didn't want to go too far off the reservation, if you will. :)

This cake turned out wonderfully. It tasted great, with a nice texture that was moist, light, fluffy -- my only complaint was that it didn't look as nice as it tasted. I suck at decorating cakes! (For this version, I made a fake "mousse" for the middle filling layer from Cool Whip and a few tablespoons of cocoa. NOTE: Cool Whip is not 100% dairy-free, but the label says it's less than 2%...a filling is totally optional, especially if you want to keep this purely dairy-free. You could also use a raspberry jam or other filling, I just happened to have this handy.) I get lots of requests for gluten-free cakes for birthdays, this would be a good one. I'm still working to find a good recipe with this kind of texture without using eggs and will let you know when I find one.

This recipe calls for Rebecca's gluten-free flour mix, you have a few different ways to put it together:

Option 1: 2 c. brown rice flour or garbanzo flour, 2/3 c. potato starch and 1/3 c. tapioca starch; OR
Option 2: 1 c. garbanzo flour or garfava flour, 1 c. brown rice flour, 2/3 c. potato starch, 1/3 c. tapioca starch; OR
Option 3: Bob's Red Mill gluten-free flour mix

Double this recipe for a two-layer 9" cake like the one I made!

Chocolate Applesauce Cake (Makes 1 (11x7-square or 9x2 round) cake)
From Rebecca Reilly's Gluten-Free Baking

3/4 cup gluten-free flour mix (I used Bob's Red Mill)
1/3 c. cornstarch
1 tsp baking gluten-free powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp xanthan gum
1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
2 egg whites
2/3 c. sugar
1/2 c. warm milk of your choice (I used almond milk)
1/2 c. light corn syrup
1/4 c. unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp. gluten-free vanilla

ICING
2 c. powdered sugar
2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
2-3 Tbsp. milk of your choice

Preheat the oven to 350. Lightly grease baking pan and line with parchment paper. Lightly grease the paper. (Don't used waxed paper if you don't have parchment. Just be sure to grease and flour the pan well instead!)

Mix togther the gluten-free mix, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and xanthan gum. Sift cocoa powder into bowl. Whisk until blended.

Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until foamy. Add the sugar slowly. Pour in the milk, corn syrup, applesauce, and vanilla. Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 25 minutes or until done when cake pulls away from the pan and a toothpick comes out clean. Let rest 10 minutes in pan before inverting onto a cooling rack. Let cake completely cool before icing.

To make the icing, whisk the powdered sugar and cocoa, adding just enough milk to make an icing thin enough to spread over the cake. It dries quickly and loses its shine, so make this right before you are ready to frost the cake.

I cut a pattern out of paper to make the flower design on my cake, and used mini candy canes I broke up for the bottom of the cake -- mostly to hide my bad frosting skills!

Happy holidays!

Chocolate Sparkle cookies for the holidays (gluten-free, dairy-free)!

2009-12-18T14:58:00.000-08:00

I am madly baking for the holidays, are you? I love to have a few homemade sweets ready to take to a party hostess, to reciprocate for the friend who gives you an unexpected gift, or just to get me into a holiday mood!

These Chocolate Sparkle cookies were shared with me at a holiday party, so I'm sharing in turn. They're gluten-free, almost soy-free (a small amount of soy lecithin is in chocolate) and dairy-free (sorry, they're not egg-free or nut-free) and simple to make. Chocolaty delicious and rich-tasting, they're crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside and oh so pretty on a holiday table! NOTE: the dough needs to rest in the fridge for at LEAST 8 hours, so make the dough the night before you want to serve them. Also, because there are few ingredients, the quality of the chocolate is key to the taste. Use the best chocolate available to you, Belgian (Callebaut) and French (Valrhona) are best. If European chocolate is unavailable in your area, you can of course use Nestle's semisweet chips. Please just don't use Baker's chocolate, that stuff will produce a flat-tasting cookie.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Sparkle Cookies
Makes about 3 dozen 1-1/2" cookies

8 oz. (1 cup) semi-sweet chocolate (I use Callebaut)
3 Tablespoons shortening (I use Spectrum organic, but you can use butter or margarine if your diet allows it)
2 eggs
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup ground almonds

1/4 cup sugar for rolling
powdered sugar for garnish

1. Melt the chocolate and shortening in a double boiler over simmering water. Set aside to cool.
2. In an electric mixer using the whisk attachment, beat the eggs on a medium speed, then gradually add the 1/3 cup of sugar while increasing the mixing speed. Beat the eggs and sugar until the mixture turns pale yellow and thickens, and drops into ribbons. This should take about 3 minutes at high speed. Fold in the chocolate mixture.
3. Gently fold in ground almonds and mix thoroughly until all ingredients are combined thoroughly. Put the dough in a small bowl, cover and refrigerate for at LEAST 8 hours, or overnight.
4. When ready to bake, pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (do NOT use waxed paper, it will melt! Grease the pan if you don't have parchment).
5. Put the 1/4 granulated sugar into a pie pan or plate. Scoop out small spoonfuls of dough, rolling between your palms to form 1" balls and drop them into the granulated sugar. (Your hands will melt the dough a little, don't be alarmed!) Make enough to fill one baking sheet at a time. If you need to take a break, put the dough back into the fridge.
6. Bake until the center of the cookies is no longer wet, 9-12 minutes. Test cookies for doneness once the tops crack, but don't let them bake too long or they'll be dry. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack.
7. When slightly cooled, dust with powdered sugar.

Save in an airtight container.
Recipe from the LA Times

Happy holidays from the Food Allergy Queen!

My new fave: Trader Joes ready-made soup!

2009-12-09T19:20:00.000-08:00

How much do I love Trader Joes? Let me count the ways: (1) they offer products that are usually JUST what I'm looking for (latest ingredients, or combos of my fave things), (2) are reasonably priced, (3) are healthier than regular grocery store products since they typically have less fillers and preservatives, and (4) I usually have pretty good luck finding ready-made items that are FAQ-friendly!

Today's discovery: Creamy corn and roasted pepper soup. Chicken broth-free, carrot- and celery-free, kosher and dairy-free! Nice balanced flavor with no need to add anything else, smooth and quick to heat for a cold day! I am accustomed to buying these soups for others when I'm making dinner -- they're creamy, tasty and ready to use. Also, they're mild enough to garnish with other flavors if you wanted to get sorta fancy for a dinner party.

The color was a little green, but hey it was tasty and ready-made so I gratefully gulped it down. Ah. (Note although it is gluten-, dairy-, fish-, soy- and nut-free, it is processed in a facility that processes those as well if you're super sensitive). If not, look for it at your local Trader Joes!

Yum!

Traveling with Food Allergies: homemade sugar scrub

2009-11-30T14:31:00.000-08:00

Whew. Just got back from a whirlwind eight-day trip through China! I've never traveled on a tour before, it was good but exhausting since they packed a lot of sightseeing into a limited amount of time -- waaay more than I would have done on my own. I can see now how being a rock star traveling on the road could be so physically taxing, why they would need a personal assistant and why it would be so easy to go off the deep end! :) I am going through my pictures now and will post a few soon to share, I promise.

The most urgent thing I noticed when I got home was how much damage I did to my skin during this trip. Any time I travel my skin goes haywire since I am out of my controlled environment (hypoallergenic organic bed, HEPA filter), and I'm usually forced to eat some non FAQ-friendly food, and can't maintain my hyper-vigilance as usual. On this trip, there was also tons of environmental pollution to contend with as well. But this time when I got home my skin was so dry and damaged it was PAINFUL. It was rough from the minor rashes I got every day, dehydrated from drinking less water (I only drank bottled so was drank much less than I drink at home), and my skin felt like it was so hard and brittle (is that technically possible?) that it was going to crack -- it was painful enough to kept me from sleeping.

What to do? I was too jet-lagged to go shopping for a gluten-free, soy-free body scrub/moisturizing treatment, so looked up a recipe for a homemade sugar scrub on the internet. This recipe has only three functional ingredients available at any health food store (thank goodness for the Whole Foods down the street). If you can't find glycerine, the original recipe author used avocado oil, you could also use grapeseed oil.

I scooped some scrub onto my legs, since that was where there was the most damage (btw, I also bruise my legs every single time I travel just managing the luggage!). This was much easier to do in the bathtub vs. the shower, trust me on this! This scrub worked nicely for a first round of defense, now I just need to keep putting more good food and lots of water into my system, and use tons of lotion.

About the scrub ingredients: sugar is a natural softening agent, and vegetable-based glycerin (which is usually made from palm and/or coconut oil) is a moisturizing agent. (Although the author uses avocado oil, it's more expensive so I went with the glycerin.) The aloe or vitamin C is to promote healing. I didn't have any essential oils or colorings on hand which would have made it nicer, but this worked just fine and I'll add those to a later batch. This recipe is from Care2.com I took a bath to soften my skin, then scooped some scrub, rubbed it in to exfoliate for about 30 seconds. Then I left it on for about 3 minutes before rinsing off. My skin was smoother, softer, and more receptive to lotion -- it was no longer in defense mode! Be sure to have the ingredients handy to make this scrub when you return from traveling.

Homemade Sugar Scrub (gluten-free, soy-free)
from Care 2.com

* 50 percent white cane sugar (note that organic sucanat, while the best choice for food, doesn’t work as well for this recipe)
* 50 percent vegetable glycerin to moisten the sugar (I used avocado oil since I was out of vegetable glycerin and it proved to be a successful substitute)
* Small amounts of aloe vera gel, vitamin C crystals, or anything healing that dissolves in water
* 1 or 2 drops of essential oil if desired (Larry recommends combining orange and lavender)
* Enough ground hibiscus powder for pink color (if desired)

Combine the ingredients in a bowl. Scoop some of the scrub onto your hand and massage gently onto your skin for a minute (the scrub will actually tighten onto your skin like a masque). Leave on for 3 to 4 minutes before rinsing.

The Food Allergy Queen is traveling to China

2009-11-17T18:55:00.000-08:00

One of the benefits of being unemployed is that you are suddenly freed up to new opportunities -- I was recently invited to accompany my mom on a 10 day trip to four cities in China and depart this week! Once I said yes (very enthusiastically) the mad preparations began.

International travel requires planning as it is -- but the Food Allergy Queen needs a military-style deployment! Not only am I traveling to the land of rice and soy (two of my major food allergens), there will be language barriers (my Mandarin is minimal, although my mom speaks Cantonese), mystery ingredients, and my other environmental allergies to contend with. (For those with life-threatening food allergies, obviously you would have to be more selective as to where you would travel, not all countries are knowledgeable and/or accommodating about food allergies -- Europe might be a better choice than a less-developed area like Africa. And it helps to familiarize yourself with the cuisines of the country -- peanut oil is used almost universally in China, fish is a staple in Scandinavia. You get the idea.)

Also remember, China is a Communist country, so it also necessitates being overly cautious with how and what I bring. What's a Queen to do? Be uber-prepared and ready for anything!

Here's how I do it...presenting "The FAQ Travel Checklist for food allergies, chemical and environmental allergies"

1. Ordered a customized Allergy Translation card with up to 10 specific allergens in Simplified Chinese. This only took only a few minutes, I got to print as many cards as I wanted, and was only $8. You have a choice to note whether your allergies are life-threatening or not. Great deal. I've attached a screenshot of the card I ordered.

2. Kept all prescription medication in the original containers with the prescription on them.

3. Updated my prescription Epi-Pen and made a copy to keep with it in my purse (it was two years overdue. Oops).

4. Packed all my natural remedies for any possible tummy troubles: papaya enzymes for digestion after every meal, activated charcoal for upset stomach, and Digestive Advantage for IBS (free 30 day trial!) probiotics every day.

5. Packed my Imodium, just in case the items in #4 fail to work!

6. A friend reminded me about the super-polluted air quality in Beijing (totally forgot that was an issue during the Olympics)! It will be worse in the winter because a lot of Chinese heat their homes with coal! Eeek. Because I also have asthma, I went to my allergist and got a new emergency inhaler and allergy meds (Singulair).

6a. I got a personal air purifier for the plane as well as for the pollution. I've never tried one, but am giving it a try! It works by producing negative ions that help repel particulates from your face. But it produces ozone, so may not work for those sensitive to ozone. A review to come later!

7. Also for the pollution, I'm bringing my one-two punch of Ocean nasal saline and Nasalcrom, which I usually use religiously during hay fever season. I use the saline first to rinse everything out, then the Nasalcrom to put a protective coating in the nose so that you don't react to the allergens in the first place. Both are over the counter at any drugstore, about $15 total for both.

8. For both the pollution and potential exposure to H1N1 (swine flu), we are also bringing disposable face masks. Asians have been doing this since SARS broke out a few years ago so it won't look THAT weird there! Plus no one will recognize us in a sea of Chinese people anyway, ha ha.

9. Just in case we do get sick while traveling, I'm packing natural cold and flu remedies Airborne and Oscillococcinum.

10. Bringing alcohol-free hand sanitizer (don't forget that all liquids in carry-on luggage need to be 4 oz. or less!) and a roll of toilet paper and baby wipes since you never can be sure of the state of toilets in developing countries.

11. Since I also have some chemical allergies (of course), I also bring along some detergent I'm familiar with to wash out undies on long trips so that I don't have to rely on strange hotel laundry detergents. Tide makes these handy little travel packs.

12. On a side note, my stress-related IBS symptoms were almost 100% conquered by my wonderful acupuncturist, Jill Harrison. The cramping, bloating, nausea and anxiety were fixed with one treatment because I certainly didn't want travel on a rigorous tour looking for a bathroom every 10 feet! I ate gingerly the next day or so and seemed to be in good shape. I tried a trigger food (red meat) and had a little trouble, but after having some papaya enzymes was feeling pretty good. For those of you with IBS, I highly recommend trying acupuncture to alleviate symptoms. It may not totally cure you, but the relief was immense and immediate -- this after having chronic symptoms for over a month!

13. I always pack a dust-mite pillow cover and put them on my pillow in every hotel. The hard part is remembering to take them off again!

14. FAQ friendly foods going in the suitcase:

- Dried fruit and nut mix as a portable meal replacement in case I can't eat somewhere (I bring one big bag and little baggies to redistribute along the way)
- Fritos corn chips in a canister
- Dark chocolate bars for quick energy
- Peppermint tea
- Candied ginger for nausea

I'm still adding items to this list as I go along -- obviously for other humans, the list won't need to be as extensive unless you're a Queen (or King) like me. But some of these are my tried and true tips to make traveling doable, and to help cut down on allergy misery where ever you can so that you can enjoy the wonders of other parts of the world.

Gluten-free oatmeal. Or is it?

2009-11-04T15:36:00.000-08:00

I finally got a chance to try gluten-free oatmeal to try and add different soluble fibers back into my menu. This was from Bob's Red Mill who is usually pretty reliable with quality and accuracy. These oats have been ELISA tested. Interestingly, they had to put on a disclaimer on the package that it "Some celiacs react to even the purest of oats"...why? Because there is still SOME gluten in it! Wha? Why not call it "gluten-reduced" instead? I tried the steel cut version out, and even thought I'm not a celiac I still had a gluten reaction to it after one bowl. I guess it's sorta the same situation as decaffeinated coffee -- it's not TRULY caffeine free, there are still small amounts. *sigh*. I had hoped for better from Bob's.

I'll close with a line from The Princess Bride, "Get used to disappointment."

Has anyone else have better luck with other gluten-free oat products? Or have other celiacs been okay with this product? I'd love to make oatmeal cookies again.

Thanks for sharing.

******

This just in! This post sparked a conversation with Beth, co-president for Cream Hill Estates, a producer of pure GF oats. Apparently all gluten is not the same -- here's her explanation:

The term “gluten” is a catch-all word used to describe the storage proteins found in all cereal grains, including corn, rice, wheat, barley, rye, oats, etc. These storage proteins have many similarities from one variety of grain to another, but each grain variety is also composed of other unique gluten components that distinguish it from the other grains. Wheat, barley and rye (WBR) (plus half a dozen or so other closely-related cereal grains) have similar amino acid sequences (portions of the gluten protein chain, or “peptides”) to which people with CD/DH are intolerant. Oats, and even more-so corn and rice, are more distantly related to these WBR grains and thus do not contain the offending peptides.

Here's link to the entire article for exhaustive detail about pure oats.

So what does this mean? That there is gluten in oatmeal, corn and rice, but just a different type that does not impact most celiacs. However, because the Cream Hill Estates audience is celiacs, Beth was not aware that there are people like yours truly with a true allergy (rashes, respiratory distress, mild anaphylaxis) to the other types of gluten as well. She also agreed that they could be more clear with the labelling. So the answer is: you'll have to try gf oatmeal for yourself to see if it is tolerable for your specific diet.

IBS tummy troubles (and how to get out of them)

2009-10-27T19:15:00.000-07:00

I think I posted (or did I tweet? I'm losing my mind so can't remember what I said when!) that I had bad food poisoning earlier this month. (Thanks for the kind words, Mar!) After a week of antibiotics and eating bland food (nothing spicy per the doctor) my stomach has sort of settled into a bit of a delicate balance with occasional veering into IBS territory. Additional stress from getting laid off from my day job last week did not help matters, tummy-wise. Argh! I did some research that indicated that food allergic people are more susceptible to colitis (the official name for the pain from the food poisoning), so it seems reasonable that we're gonna have digestive issues in general. And so it goes.

I keep a lot of natural digestive aids around the house -- dairy-free acidophilus, activated charcoal for an upset stomach, papaya after meals for improved digestion, and peppermint tea to settle things in general. My doctor prescribed a terrific anti-spasmodic called Hyocsyamine to take 30 minutes before meals, and this has helped tremendously to prevent the awful abdominal cramping that I was having. It's prescribed fairly often for IBS, and is inexpensive, I highly recommend it if diet alone isn't helping. Ask your doctor! Personally, I don't want to rely on this heavily but it's nice to have something else in my arsenal if all else fails.

Anyhow, I found that during this month that I've been gravitating towards foods that would make me feel better. I've been much more stringent on the IBS diet -- less fat (including olive oil), more soluble fiber. The cookbook Eating for IBS has been a lifesaver. Lots of fish (sauteed fillets, tuna salad), turkey in all forms, mashed potatoes, grain dishes like polenta and GF cornbread, and less meat for this usually enthusiastic carnivore. I had some al pastor (BBQ pork tacos) that I usually demolish without a thought but this time it took me down BIG time, oy. The interesting thing was that I also seemed to crave different beverages as well. I'm usually satisfied with water or tea (no coffee for IBS!) but wanted something healthier. Luckily for me, the POM Wonderful people shared with me two new flavors of pomegranate juice -- tangerine and my fave, kiwi! These new blends are much lighter than the original (can I call it POM Classsic?), and sweeter. Much more drinkable straight out of the bottle, so they didn't really need dilution. They would be great for mixing regardless! (Any mixologists out there?) I preferred the kiwi which was a nice balance of sweet and tart. The BF preferred tangerine because it was a little more robust and tangy. The bottles have little color-coded lids to let you know they're different from the others. Anyhow, these really helped during the bad tummy time, thanks POM!

Since my stomach problems seem to be sticking around for a bit, my recipes are going to adjust some to be more IBS-friendly: less fried food, no egg yolks, little to no red meat, more fish, more high soluble fiber, and lots of water and hot peppermint tea. I also read that cranberry juice is beneficial and not too acidic, so will be going for that as well. Will report in later.

Cheers for now.

It's chilly! Time for white turkey chili

2009-10-12T22:49:00.000-07:00

All of a sudden it's turned chilly and fall-ish in Los Angeles. Two weeks ago we were sweating in shorts and flip flops and now we are dragging out sweaters and boots. It was time to make something warm and hearty for dinner! I posted earlier that I am always searching out chili recipes without tomatoes (still have to try a Texas Chili recipe submitted by a reader), but in the meanwhile I rely on my white turkey chili, which has become a favorite with friends and family. With lots of hearty taste and texture, you won't even miss the tomatoes! Another reason this has been welcomed is that my stomach is still recovering from my recent battle with food poisoning (the longest duration I've ever had -- one week, requiring antibiotics) and this chili is not spicy yet still satisfying. For you hotheads out there, you can still add hot sauce at the end!

The secret ingredient is the broth. My absolute favorite broth is from Savory Choice -- easy to use individual packets, and rich, hearty flavor that doesn't use garlic, celery or carrots. Hooray! I've seen Savory Choice sold in Whole Foods and Bristol Farms, hopefully they get to regular grocery stores soon, they're AWESOME. Please try to find this brand when you can. You can also use chicken broth, but keep in mind that the quality and saltiness varies greatly from brand to brand and you may have to adjust the seasonings accordingly.

FAQ Famous White Turkey Chili
Four generous servings

2 TBS. olive oil
1 small onion or 1/2 medium onion, diced
1-1/2 lbs. ground turkey (dark meat if possible)
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 TBS. ground cumin
1 tsp. onion powder
2 15 oz. cans of cannellini beans (or other white beans)
1 4 oz. can of diced mild green chiles
4 cups turkey broth made from 4 packets of Savory Choice (or chicken broth of your choice)
1 can whole black olives
diced green onions for garnish

Heat the oil in a large pot (6 quarts/dutch oven) over medium heat. Add diced onions and saute until softened and lightly browned.

Add in ground turkey, salt pepper, cumin and onion powder and cook until browned. As turkey is cooking, break up the turkey with a wooden spoon so that the meat is in smallish pieces, it's tough to eat big chunks!

Add in broth, bring to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes for flavors to meld. Add in olives just before serving to heat through (if you add the olives too early they get mushy). Taste and correct seasoning. This is meant to have a thin broth. If you like it thicker, you can crumble a few tortilla chips into the chili and simmer for a few minutes (this is a good trick to thicken soups without using flour!)

Serve with diced green onions as a garnish. Tastes great served with cornbread. My non-allergic bf likes to top his with sour cream or cottage cheese as well.