Wow, in less than five days we will be making the jump over the ditch for good. While it is very scary leaving behind all of our support system, including the places we know to go to get great allergy friendly foods it is kind of exciting knowing that we will be finding new places that are great for allergy free foods.
My son is 5 years old and a bottomless pit at this point in time. We are flying Emirates and while they have a jaw dropping range of meals available for different dietary needs they do also have a statement on their webpage that they can not cater for peanut allergies as other people may bring nuts on board etc. I understand that they need to cover themselves and after all, we do need to take responsibility of these allergies and not rely on others if we are to live as normal a life as possible. The Autumn Allergy NZ magazine had a great article on travelling with allergy children and I used a lot of there advice.
1) We bought a Skip_Hop insulated lunch bag to put the kids meals in. We also bought two foo go storage containers which keep food hot or cold for certain lengths of time. I cooked the kids their favourite food (chicken sausages from WestLynn Organic Butchers in Richmond Rd, Auckland), with some Orgran pasta and popped these into the FooGo containers. I also packed some of their other favourites and a staple in our allergy lives some Natureland baby pouches. This meant that we wouldn't forget about any stray pieces of fruit in our bags but the kids were still getting that necessary Vitamin C and other nutrients.
2) I bought some Janola wipes to wipe down the back of seats, arm rests and tray tables. While waiting to board the plane I asked the attendant if we could be allowed to board amongst the first passengers so that I could wipe down these surfaces. They were more than happy for this to happen.
3) I made sure my epipen/anapen hadn't expired and practiced with our trainer so I had the instructions fresh and clear in my head.
4) While it wasn't necessary I asked and was provided with a letter from my son's GP that explained the allergy situation. We didn't need to use it but it was nice knowing it was there if we needed it.
5) Spoke to every single staff member we came into contact with about my son's allergies, from the person who helped us book it, the person at the check out counter, customs officials everyone. In fact one of the customs official wrote down the name of the cream we use for my son because he had very dry skin on his fingers. While some had more understanding of our situation than others I couldn't fault any of them.
When we landed in Melbourne I was terrified of what would be waiting for us going through their customs as we had declared so much stuff, foods, medicines, etc. Both my husband and I were quite thrown off when we were asked a couple of brief questions by a customs officials and were then allowed to go straight through. It really does pay to be honest!
6) Asked the pharmacist to give us a 50ml bottle to carry some antihistamine on board the plane in. This now stays in my son's kit with a syringe and has been used a couple of times, although not on the flights.
To finish this post I have added a dairy and egg free custard recipe. Cold or hot this is something you could put in the kids Foogo or thermos flask for lunches.
Dairy and Egg Free Custard
1 cup of rice milk
1/8 cup of rice milk (extra)
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 Tablespoons of natural maple syrup (the real stuff)
1 heaped Tablespoon of corn starch (we use Ceres)
In a pot pour in the cup of rice milk.
Add the vanilla and maple syrup and heat through.
While waiting put the cornstarch in with the extra rice milk and mix together, making sure there are no lumps.
When the milk in the pot is hot but not boiling add the milk/cornstarch mix.
Stir constantly, the liquid should start to thicken up straight away, if not give it some time and keep stirring.
Once it has thickened to the consistency you like remove from heat and either serve immediately (over a hot pudding) or wait until cool.
We wait until it is cool and grate fresh fruit over the top or serve with banana.
If it doesn't thicken up enough for your liking, add more cornstarch added to a touch of milk to prevent lumps.
If we don't have maple syrup we use sugar, preferably brown to give it that yellow colour.
If you have any difficulty making any of these recipes let me know and I can try and help you out.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Monday, July 11, 2011
Introduction and a dairy free mushroom soup
Hi,
My name is Kat and I am a Stay at Home mother to two simply divine little people. My eldest is 5 and he has multiple food allergies and is intolerant to a range of foods as well (sensitivities). His allergies are: egg, dairy, peanut (anaphylaxis), sesame, dust mite, cat and grasses. I also think he may have a birch pollen allergy but haven't fully explored that yet. He is intolerant to soy, wheat, and foods high in salicylates. It makes life interesting to say the least when it comes to eating, but it is amazing how quickly you get used to it. He also suffers from eczema which is always far worse in the Winter, and asthma.
My youngest has a wheat intolerance, where my eldest reacts to too much wheat via his skin, my daughter reacts via her bowels. She can cope with small amounts, but if she indulges too much it isn't pleasant...for anyone.
I have decided to start a blog for several reasons, the main one being because allergies are now part and parcel of our lives and I would like to pass on what we learn. The second is that I am always looking for advice, tips and good allergy friendly recipes from other allergy parents, so feel free to post. Finally because I know how hard it can be when you first get the allergy diagnosis to find foods that are tasty and the whole family can enjoy.
So to set the ball rolling here is the first of many allergy friendly recipes. Many of these will be adaptations of recipes I have stumbled across and look easy to adapt, or they will be recipes that I have found invaluable. Wherever I have pinched a recipe I will note where I got it from so that you can explore further for yourselves.
I will also list a number of places I have found invaluable in finding allergy free foods. To start with they will be from stores in Auckland, but as we are moving to Oz soon this will definitely change.
I would love you to add your own stories and thoughts along the way as this allergy journey is so much easier with wise words from others who have had similar experiences.
An adaptation of Jamie Oliver's Mushroom soup
We had this for dinner last night and with the wild Auckland weather blowing a gale outside it was just divine!
Rice Bran Oil
750g button mushrooms
2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
1 red onion, peeled and chopped
salt and pepper
1 litre of vegetable stock (allergy friendly, we use Massel stock powder)
Rice milk
Prepare the mushrooms (wipe with damp cloth and then chop, destalk if you wish) and put in a frypan or saucepan with a good glug of rice bran oil. Stir around very quickly for a minute, then add your garlic, onion, butter and a small amount of seasoning. After about a minute you'll probably notice moisture cooking out of the mushrooms this is what should be happening. Carry on cooking for about 20 minutes until most of the moisture disappears. If you wish tip out excess moisture, I did and it didn't do any harm.
Add your stock and season to taste. Bring to the boil and simmer for around 20 minutes. I then put it in the kitchen whizz and whizzed it to desired consistency, I like it a bit chunky still, but you could have it smooth if you wish. At the very end I added between 50-100mls of rice milk to give it a creamy finish.
Served with fresh rolls or gluten free scones and it was absolutely scrummy. It was a hit with hubby too. Thanks Jamie!!
My name is Kat and I am a Stay at Home mother to two simply divine little people. My eldest is 5 and he has multiple food allergies and is intolerant to a range of foods as well (sensitivities). His allergies are: egg, dairy, peanut (anaphylaxis), sesame, dust mite, cat and grasses. I also think he may have a birch pollen allergy but haven't fully explored that yet. He is intolerant to soy, wheat, and foods high in salicylates. It makes life interesting to say the least when it comes to eating, but it is amazing how quickly you get used to it. He also suffers from eczema which is always far worse in the Winter, and asthma.
My youngest has a wheat intolerance, where my eldest reacts to too much wheat via his skin, my daughter reacts via her bowels. She can cope with small amounts, but if she indulges too much it isn't pleasant...for anyone.
I have decided to start a blog for several reasons, the main one being because allergies are now part and parcel of our lives and I would like to pass on what we learn. The second is that I am always looking for advice, tips and good allergy friendly recipes from other allergy parents, so feel free to post. Finally because I know how hard it can be when you first get the allergy diagnosis to find foods that are tasty and the whole family can enjoy.
So to set the ball rolling here is the first of many allergy friendly recipes. Many of these will be adaptations of recipes I have stumbled across and look easy to adapt, or they will be recipes that I have found invaluable. Wherever I have pinched a recipe I will note where I got it from so that you can explore further for yourselves.
I will also list a number of places I have found invaluable in finding allergy free foods. To start with they will be from stores in Auckland, but as we are moving to Oz soon this will definitely change.
I would love you to add your own stories and thoughts along the way as this allergy journey is so much easier with wise words from others who have had similar experiences.
An adaptation of Jamie Oliver's Mushroom soup
We had this for dinner last night and with the wild Auckland weather blowing a gale outside it was just divine!
Rice Bran Oil
750g button mushrooms
2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
1 red onion, peeled and chopped
salt and pepper
1 litre of vegetable stock (allergy friendly, we use Massel stock powder)
Rice milk
Prepare the mushrooms (wipe with damp cloth and then chop, destalk if you wish) and put in a frypan or saucepan with a good glug of rice bran oil. Stir around very quickly for a minute, then add your garlic, onion, butter and a small amount of seasoning. After about a minute you'll probably notice moisture cooking out of the mushrooms this is what should be happening. Carry on cooking for about 20 minutes until most of the moisture disappears. If you wish tip out excess moisture, I did and it didn't do any harm.
Add your stock and season to taste. Bring to the boil and simmer for around 20 minutes. I then put it in the kitchen whizz and whizzed it to desired consistency, I like it a bit chunky still, but you could have it smooth if you wish. At the very end I added between 50-100mls of rice milk to give it a creamy finish.
Served with fresh rolls or gluten free scones and it was absolutely scrummy. It was a hit with hubby too. Thanks Jamie!!
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