Anu Rao

Thanks to Circle of Moms search for the ‘Top Food Allergy Mom Bloggers’ in North America, I met Susan, the blogger at ‘Food Allergy Chronicles’. The food allergy blogging world is like one big happy family with a high sense of camraderie. It’s quite simply because our objective is simple – ‘make the world a safer place for food allergy sufferers’. To that end – we are constantly learning from each other…

What I love best about her blog is – Susan writes about her experiences raising 2 sons with food allergies – field trips, school, vacations and more. My son is much younger than hers so I learn a lot about what to expect through her experiences.

Of course her recipes are also delish and her baked good are supremely decadent!!! All her recipes are healthy, nutritious, dairy-free and nut-free. And this particular recipe is free of all the top 8 food allergens too. But, what makes it extra special is that it is also free of 2 other allergens that are becoming increasingly dangerous – sesame seeds and mustard seeds.

Thank you Susan for letting me share this kid-friendly delicious post on Allergy Foodie 🙂

The Food Allergy Chronicles

This weekend, I embarked on writing on the topic of cross-contamination. As a parent with children with food allergies…it is one of my greatest fears.

The more I wrote, the more I realized how much a factor it plays in my daily life. Cross-contamination touches so many parts of my life the story seemed to take on a life of its own.

I am going to take my time with it and present it as a series. In the meantime, this weeks posts will be a series of simple allergen free dinners that our family enjoys.

To start off the week, I am offering one of my boys’ favourite dinners…‘Flat’ Chicken.
Below is Michael’s finished masterpiece.

Named appropriately as my boys enjoy flattening the chicken themselves!

This is a great hands on recipe for children to experience a start to finish meal. This recipe also offers children an opportunity to try new flavours by…

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Allergy Friendly ‘Diamond Crackers’…

13 Apr 201213 Apr 2012 Anu Rao

My growing up years are replete with memories of mom (or, ‘amma’ as I call her) whipping up batches of these adorable hand-cut crackers every so often. She would even let my brother and me help make the dainty little squares or diamonds – cooking is a great time to bond with family! Traditionally, these crackers are made with all-purpose flour but I will be using a gluten-free flour blend.

The gluten-free blend is the recipe for self-rising flour mixture from Living Without magazine and contains the following:

Sorghum Flour: 1 and 1/4 cup
Rice Flour: 1 and 1/4 cup
Tapioca Flour/ Starch: 1/2 cup
Xanthan Gum: 2 tsp
Baking powder: 4 tsp
Salt: 1/4 tsp

Mix it well and store it in an airtight container till you need it. The recipe is inspired by one of the most popular Indian chefs, Sanjeev Kapoor – whose recipes are simple and easy to follow. The best part is that the same dough can be used to make diamond crackers that are baked or fried. The baked one is obviously healthier but both are equally delicious in slightly different ways.

Continue reading “Allergy Friendly ‘Diamond Crackers’…” →

Recipes

Allergy Friendly Spring – Mint Rice…

10 Apr 201210 Apr 2012 Anu Rao

The days are getting warmer and mint flavored lemonade and mojito is on my mind 🙂 Or, more to the point…the crisp, fresh flavors of mint leaves! These leaves are extremely aromatic with a cool aftertaste and are used to flavor teas, beverages, jellies, syrups, candies, ice creams, lentil fritters, entrees etc. A word of caution people – it has a strong flavor so, a little goes a very long way. The good news is – it is also healthy and has many healing properties. I found this post on wikipedia very interesting – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mentha

So, here is a dish to celebrate Spring – light, flavorful and elegant ‘Mint Rice’! It does not contain any of the top 8 food allergens and is also free of mustard, sesame and corn. Yes – it still tastes delish!

Time: 30 – 35 minutes
Yield: 4 servings as a main dish

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Allergy Friendly Easter Jelly Beans – Gimbal’s :-)

8 Apr 20128 Apr 2012 Anu Rao

As Merriam-Webster very succinctly puts it, a jelly bean is quite simply, ‘a sugar-glazed bean-shaped candy.’ Yet, food allergic kids and their caretakers have to be uber careful of this simple candy especially this weekend – what with the jelly bean being the candy of choice in many a traditional Easter egg-hunt. There are a couple of points, those with food allergies should be aware of before popping in a jelly bean:

They may not be manufactured in a dedicated facility so, there might be cross-contamination with many common allergens like wheat, nuts, soy and dairy. So, even if the ingredients do not contain any allergen, an allergic reaction is a possibility.
As http://www.thefreedictionary.com correctly points out, Jelly Beans is ‘a rich sweet made of flavored sugar and often combined with fruit or nuts’. Yes, jelly beans could contain nuts!!!

So, I looked around to see if there are any safe jelly beans and one company I came across was the San Francisco based company Gimbal’s!

They are not only free of the top 8 food allergens, they also avoid high fructose corn syrup, trans fat, gluten and gelatin and use real fruit juice – go figure!!!

Continue reading “Allergy Friendly Easter Jelly Beans – Gimbal’s :-)” →

Allergy Foodie’s 100th Post – Celebrations!!

6 Apr 201220 Apr 2012 Anu Rao

Pheww – I have been exercising my grey cells overtime the past few weeks to come up with a momentous 100th post for Allergy Foodie! My mind raced over the past few years since Arjun was born and I was unceremoniously thrown into the world of multiple food allergies – it is a kaleidoscope of people who have helped make this journey a joyous one despite the travails.

That’s when it suddenly dawned on me…a parent/caretaker alone cannot keep a child safe! A lot of people contribute through big and small actions to make the life of a food allergic child joyous – family, friends, teachers and more. In fact, I would go a step further and say that it is impossible to raise a healthy and confident food allergic child without society’s help.

In my mind, the one person who stands ‘tall’ amidst them is my niece who was but a child herself when Arjun was born. The 9 year old would get up at 6 am despite her summer vacations just to see a 4 month old Arjun cackling with laughter. Since then a life-long bond of love, laughter, empathy and friendship was forged between these two cousins. So, this special post is dedicated to Soumya on her 16th birthday.

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Carrot Fudge…yup, Allergy Friendly :-)

5 Mar 20125 Mar 2012 Anu Rao

A few weeks back, my son asked me why there were no allergy-friendly Indian (South Asian) desserts. Most Indian desserts are dairy-based and are loaded with nuts so, he was right 😦 At that moment, my quest began – an attempt to create an Indian-inspired Allergy-Friendly dessert…

The Merriam Webster dictionary defines ‘fudge’ as ‘a soft creamy candy made typically of sugar, milk, butter, and flavoring’. That is exactly what the Carrot Fudge is – though we will substitute milk, butter and flavorings with allergy-friendly alternatives…

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Recipes

Homemade ‘Mung Bean Flour’ – oh yes!

1 Mar 20121 Mar 2012 Anu Rao

I absolutely love Mung Bean flour. It is versatile, nutritious, mildly flavorful and most importantly allergy-friendly. Do refer to my post entitled ‘Beyond Lentils – allergy friendly vegetarian proteins’ if you want to know more about the nutritious punch this little bean packs! Little wonder I use it extensively in my allergy-friendly kitchen – in gluten-free baking, crepes, pancakes, dumplings, tortillas, tempura batter and more! If you have a South Asian store around the corner – stop in there and pick up a pound of mung bean flour and start experimenting. If there is no store in your vicinity or like me you love making things from scratch – making mung flour or moong flour at home is soooooo easy and quick that it is definitely worth a try. Once made, store it in an airtight container and it will last for months.

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Recipes

AF Cilantro Pumpkin Seed Pesto

29 Feb 201229 Feb 2012 Anu Rao

I just love, love, love the flavor of cilantro/ coriander leaves because the vibrant green color and fresh smell instantly transports me to a warmer, tropical clime – utter bliss! Little wonder that when I spotted a container of basil and cilantro pesto at Whole Foods recently – I pounced on it 🙂 It was sooooo bursting with flavor and taste that I wanted to churn out my own ‘allergy-friendly’ version with only the cilantro/coriander being the belle of the ball 🙂

A quick note – cilantro and coriander leaves are just different words for the same herb,Coriandrum sativum. Cilantro is a Spanish word and is widely used in the US but it is referred to as coriander in UK and India. A nutritional side-note – coriander or cilantro contains antooxidants and has medicinal uses too.

If you want to know more about this fragrant herb – I found this short write-up on cilantro/coriander very informative. Growing up in India, one of my fav home projects with mom was gardening and a coriander patch was a must, given the ubiquitous usage of coriander leaves and seeds in Indian cooking. I try to do the same with my little one and if growing your own herbs is something you enjoy, this article on ‘How to grow Coriander (Cilantro)’ is pretty good. So easy and so much cheaper than buying it though coriander leaf bunches are very reasonably priced in South Asian stores ( $1 for 2 bunches of leaves during summer months)

Presenting Allergy Friendly Cilantro Pumpkin Seed Pesto…

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Allergy-Friendly Valentine’s Day – a pictoblog!

14 Feb 201214 Feb 2012 Anu Rao

Love is in the air 🙂

In classrooms all over the world, little kids will be exchanging Valentines and the goody bags will be replete with foods possibly containing nuts, dairy, eggs and other allergens. The very thought sends me into shock 😦 So, love this article by FAAN to keep our kids safe at the Valentine’s Day classroom party. Thankfully, my son is in a school district which has strictly forbidden chocolates et al in the goody bags but I will still be volunteering for their party to ensure my little one is safe in the humungous public school system. If circumstances permit – I would strongly suggest caretakers of food-allergic young children try to do the same.

With that, the countdown to a beautiful allergy friendly Valentine’s day begins…

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Allergy Friendly Tempura galore :-)

9 Feb 20129 Feb 2012 Anu Rao

When it comes to food, probably my only real weakness is tempura – broccoli, cauliflower, onion, pumpkin, squash, zucchini flower, spinach, green beans, green pepper, carrot…battered and deep fried to a crisp light golden brown – ‘Life is Beautiful’ 🙂

What an irony that this was the one dish I could not make for my own son. So, began my quest for the perfect allergy-friendly batter to coat these awesome vegetables. Join me on that journey…