A couple of days back, my friend Bhanu and I were brainstorming over a cup of warm green tea laced with honey. The goal – a unique pie recipe for the vegan pie contest organized by Earth Balance. Now, when a couple of rule-breaking bum-chums think – fun results emerge: and this time it was a new twist on a Southern Indian fav! So, the crust is made from rice flour. It also takes the unique aprroach of steaming the pie as against the traditional baking…go figure 😉
Today is such an exciting day at Allergy Foodie 🙂 I got the wonderful opportunity to take part in Circle of Moms’s (a network of 6 million mothers) online interview as a reward for coming in 2nd in their search for the ‘Top 25 Food Allergy Mom Blogs’. ‘Circle of Moms’ also gave the blog a badge that you see in the top right hand corner of this page proclaiming Allergy Foodie as one of the ‘Top 25 Food Allergy Mom Blogs’ – the perfect Christmas gift 🙂 Thanks again to so many of you who voted over such an extended period else this blog would not have seen such a glorious day. Here is a glimpse of how the interview went…
Absolutely honored and delighted that Allergy Foodie came in 2nd in the search for the ‘Top 25 Food Allergy Mom Blogs’ organized by ‘Circle of Moms’ (a network of 6 million mothers). A heartfelt ‘Thank You’ to all my supporters who continued to vote over such an extended period – the contest lasted a little over 3 weeks! This event has fuelled my passion further to make the world a safe, fun and empowering one for all those with life-threatening food allergies including my child. A world where no child with food allergies has to fear that some mean kid may put peanut butter in his lunch box and has hope for a better tomorrow in terms of cure and more. Am I envisioning utopia? Maybe, but every big thing starts off with an impossible dream.
The words of Tagore – a poet and Nobel laureate come to mind:
‘Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free…
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action…’
So, this post is by way of my Thanksgiving for the opportunity to get my voice heard and features one of my all-time favorite comfort foods growing up – ‘crispy, diced potatoes’. Yup – potatoes are one my favorite vegetables if you can call it that 😉
The first birthday party I attended with Arjun was when he was less than 2 years old. I was just not prepared for the heart-wrenching moment when he was the only one in the room who could not eat either the slice of pizza or the cake. Tears flowed down my cheeks unbidden and I ran out into the play area with my son lest the hosts mistook my tears as those of someone who could not share in their joy. That day, I made a bizzare vow to myself – ‘I would never partake of a birthday cake till my little one could eat it too.’ A tad dramatic?!? Yes, but I am willing to bet that most moms of food-allergic kids have done similar things. However, my son has way too many food allergies so, it was impossible for a foodie like me to stop eating everything 😀
That’s when I consciously started working on myself and the way I talked to my son about food allergies to ensure that he is an emotionally well-adjusted child despite his food allergies. Here is a link to an informative article I read about the emotional impact of food allergy on children – http://www.foodallergy.org/page/survey-reveals-emotional-impact-of-food-allergy-on-children.
He is just 6 years now and seems to accept the restrictions imposed by food allergies as a way of life rather than an impediment. I don’t know how he will turn out to be in the long-term but as of now he just wishes that he was allergic to peas because he dislikes them with a vengeance 😉 Sharing some of my thoughts on helping our children accept their food allergies gracefully (some pointers may be inapplicable for those with severe air-borne food allergies.):
I am so honored to have been nominated for this contest, organized by Circle of Moms, a network of 6 million moms. It has been awesome meeting so many mom bloggers and learning from their experiences. I feel truly enriched and I will be a better caretaker of a food allergic child, thanks to this invaluable experience.
Thanks to all my new readers for taking the time out to read my posts. Thanks also to all my old readers for continuing to visit ALLERGY FOODIE 🙂
Wishing you all a wonderful Allergy Friendly Holiday season!
Reposting a previous blog post by popular demand. This chronicles my journey since the twinkle in my eye and the mirth in my smile was born 🙂
As some of you may have noticed, I have not blogged regularly in the past month. The past few weeks have been action-packed…my 4 year old son, Arjun started pre-K which was an exercise in ensuring that he, his teacher and the other school staff who came in contact with him were aware of his multiple food allergies. Then we did his annual blood work to see if he had overcome any allergies. But, I am getting ahead of myself here so, let me start at the beginning…
My pride and joy, Arjun
When Arjun was just 4 months old, his whole body broke out into hives and his breathing became laboured as he was ingesting less than 2 ounces of Enfamil (a dairy based baby formula). It was one of the most frightening and sad moments of my life. Arjun came into our lives after 3 miscarriages. Seeing him squirm in pain, his lips swollen and his tiny hands reaching out to unsuccessfully relieve himself from the itchy hives was heart-rending. I did not need to be a doctor to realize that he was having an allergic reaction. Subsequent blood work showed that he was allergic to all the top 8 foods that cause a majority of the food allergies. Since he was so small, they did not test him for too many other foods. The bottom-line was…I could not give him anything new without the doc’s permission and even then it had to be introduced very slowly. The doctor told me to continue nursing him exclusively till he was at least 6 months old because studies have shown that nursing has a positive impact on how quickly children outgrow food allergies. Here the doc and I made our first big mistake! He did not tell me and I did not research because of the intense fear that had gripped me – I did not exclude the food items that Arjun was allergic to from my own diet. So, Arjun continued getting exposed to the very food items that he was allergic to in tiny amounts…an absolute no-no!
My little one had to keep away from all the top 8 food allergens and a few more till age 4 – wheat, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shell fish, soy, dairy, peas, sesame, poppy seeds, sunflower seeds and garbanzo beans. The only place he lucked out was – he was not allergic to the gluten part of the wheat protein so he could try oats and barley. So, in the first instant it seemed like there was literally nothing he could eat but I did find quite a few items that he could have. My son has outgrown a few allergies like wheat so remembering the brands free of all the top 8 food allergens was a trip down memory lane. I have not mentioned any of the Indian brands I use because I use it exclusively for Indian cooking and neither have I mentioned local New Jersey brands that I see and pick up once in a while in my local health food store but the supply is not consistent. Given my background in Food and Nutrition – my focus has been on nutrition and variety. Here are some of the go-to brands in our Allergy Friendly household (I will keep updating as I remember more or find new brands). Here are my top go-to AF (Allergy Friendly) picks as of now…
I am tickled pink and extremely honored that ALLERGY FOODIE has been nominated for a spot in the Top 25 Food Allergy Blogs by ‘Circle of Moms’ – a network of 6 million moms. This blog is one of the very few that exclusively addresses the issue of thriving with ‘All the Top 8 Food Allergies and more’. A spot on the list will ensure that many more can benefit from what I have learnt through my trials and tribulations.
Many of you have already been voting for ALLERGY FOODIE – thank you so much 🙂 Please continue voting once/day till November 16th. If you have not voted till now but enjoy my posts and would like to vote for me, click on the pretty pink ‘Circle of Moms Vote For Me Badge’ in the top right corner of this page or go to the link: http://www.circleofmoms.com/top25/top-food-allergy-blogs-2011?trk=t25_top-food-allergy-blogs-2011. Scroll down the list and look for ALLERGY FOODIE by Anu Rao and vote for it. Voting is open till Nov 16th and you can vote once/ day.
Thank you so much and dont forget to keep voting. It is your support that will earn me a spot in the Top 25 🙂
Granted, cauliflower is not most people’s first choice for a side dish vegetable but trust me on this one – it tastes delicious when cooked the right way and will ‘up’ the gourmet quotient of any Thanksgiving spread 🙂
Not to sound like a strict nutritionist but seriously cauliflower is a good source of Protein, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Magnesium and Phosphorus, and an awesome source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Vitamin B6, Folate, Pantothenic Acid, Potassium and Manganese.
So, consider dressing up your festive table with this powerhouse of nutrition – Allergy Friendly (AF) Roasted Cauliflower!
Asafoetida is a spice used almost exclusively in Indian cooking. Asafoetida (Ferula assafoetida) is also believed to have medicinal value and used to aid in digestion, decrease flatulence, figthing flu and even to give relief in cases of asthma. It is also referred to as asafetida, devil’s dung, stinking gum, asant, food of the gods, giant fennel, hing and ting.It is essentially the dried latex exuded from the living underground rhizome of several species of Ferula.
Asafoetida has a very pungent, unpleasant smell when raw but when used in minute quantities while cooking – it lends a rich aroma that is characterastic of many an Indian dish.
However – people with multiple food allergies and celiac disease should be careful when using Asafoetida because many commercial spice boxes of Asafoetida also contain wheat as one of the ingredients. So darn complicated – even a spice is not available in its pure form…
Allergy Foodie 