"Peanut" Butter Balls

Mix together:
1/2 lb  Gluten Free, Nut Free S'moreables Graham Style Crackers by Kinnikinnick. Make into crumbs in food processor

1 box powdered sugar (1 lb)
1 tsp vanilla

1 and 1/2 cups natural peanut butter (the kind with the oil on top to replace the missing butter. I used Sunbutter because I can't have peanuts. Both are oily so I'm assuming they'd work the same way.)

Make into balls (you may have to adjust ingredients if it's too wet or dry to make them stay in ball form)

Melt in a pot inside of another pot of water:

12 oz chocolate chips (Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips are free of every allergen, but sometimes you can find dark chocolate bars that don't have dairy. If it says cocoa butter, that isn't dairy so it should be fine)
1/2 bar sealing wax

Dip balls into wax mixture (use toothpick). Place on wax paper. Let harden and cool. Store in a sealed container.

Wedding Cake Hunt

I am in the process of wedding planning for next fall. It’s finally one year away! Of course weddings mean wedding cakes, so I figured it would be a struggle to find a wheat/dairy/egg/almond free wedding cake. If this is my wedding I want to be able to eat the cake too!! So I decided to ignore the fancy pants cake designs and go for something more meaningful than looks, edibility.

I started by contacting Vermont Gluten Free. They are a bakery in southern barre Vermont that primarily makes cookies, brownies, cupcakes and small cakes. I told them about my dilemma and they were kind enough to make me a small gluten free, vegan chocolate cake. Was it ever good!

 

I also knew about another bakery in Essex Vermont called West Meadow Farm Bakery. Again, I ordered a gluten-free, vegan, chocolate cake to taste test. Half the fun of wedding planning is tasting the cakes, so it’s only fair. Oh boy, this was good too. It was like a brownie cake covered in sugary frosting.

My decision came down to a few things.

1. Matt is picky about his frosting. 2. Convenience on the actual wedding day.

For these reasons I chose the cake from West Meadow Farm Bakery. Even though the first cake was lovely and delicious, West Meadow is closer to work with, they seemed a little bit less swamped with work, and Matt preferred their frosting. I had also seen on their facebook page that they had previously made a wedding cake which made me feel more secure.

Back to School and What to Eat?

Back to school. Yesterday was the first day of my last year of college (at least for a while). So, since I knew this would be a busy time of year, I prepared ahead and stocked the freezer with some “instant” breakfasts. I really do love muffins for those “I stayed up too late last night” mornings. So here is a new favorite recipe.


Blueberry Apple Muffins

½ cup canola oil

1/3 cup agave

1 ½ cups cinnamon apple sauce

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

3 cups bob’s red mill (or King Arthur) all purpose baking flour

¾ tsp xanthan gum

1 ½ tsp baking soda

2 Macintosh apples

2 Handfuls of blueberries (I have small hands)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin pan with muffin liners. Combine all wet ingredients and cinnamon. In separate bowl combine the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet until just combined. Fold in apples and blueberries. Fill muffin tin with batter (makes 12 heaping muffins). Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Dinners aren’t any easier to prepare when on a tight schedule, or just feeling plain tired (which can happen when your body is constantly attacking allergens). We made a spaghetti sauce tonight that was simple and delicious and is also a nice make- extra-and-freeze dinner.

Spaghetti sauce on rice noodles

1 Summer squash

2 Tomatoes and handful of cherry tomatoes

1 Onion

1 Green pepper

Fresh Oregano

Fresh Basil

1 lb Turkey burger

½ jar of spaghetti sauce

½ cup of water

Chop all vegetables and herbs, and sauté squash, onion, and green pepper until tender. Brown the meat. Add meat and tomatoes to the sautéed veggies and sprinkle with fresh herbs. Add ½ jar of spaghetti sauce and ½ cup of water. Stir until heated through and serve over rice noodles.


I hope you enjoy some pictures from my last summer bike ride in my beautiful home state, Vermont.

Mood Dessert

I honestly don’t feel very deprived unless I go out to a chain restaurant and have to ask for special alterations for everything on the menu. But since I’m often the one that cooks anyway, I make my would-be-bland diet exciting by trying new things. To all my dairy-free friends, give this a try, you won’t be disappointed.

Rich and creamy chocolate mousse –dairy free!

1 avocado

¼ cup unsweetened cocoa

¼ cup agave

½ tsp vanilla

Blend in food processor and serve OR fill ice cube trays for frozen treats…or make fudge pops!

This is a very rich dessert, and high in fat/calories (but it’s the good fat: monounsaturated fat and omega-3

fatty acids.). It may be good with bananas mixed in, or some gluten free/ dairy free Oreos, or graham crackers. It was hard for me to eat a whole bowl full, I definitely recommend having a small amount mixed with the before mentioned items and saving the rest as little frozen treats.

 

Fall is my favorite season and the weather lately is starting to put me in the mood for apples, pumpkin picking and pies. This weekend was a good bonding experience with my future mother-in-law. I have to give her lots of credit for being so willing to prepare meals for me that are free of all my allergens. She decided she wanted to make a fruit dessert that I could eat. So we hung out in the kitchen and played with some flavors.

Fruit Cobbler

1 can of cherry pie filling (or homemade cherry pie filling if you prefer)

1 can of peaches (or 2-3 ripe peaches, peeled and chopped)

3 Tbsp Sugar (or use a substitute such as Agave but less will be needed b/c it is sweeter than sugar)

2 tsp Cinnamon

½ tsp Nutmeg

½ cup Ground oats (Bob's Red Mill makes certified gluten free oats now)

½ cup Whole oats

The first crucial step is to toast the ground and whole oats in a frying pan with some cinnamon on low. Move the oats around frequently so they don’t burn.

Combine the pie filling, peaches, nutmeg, cinnamon and choice of sweetener in a bowl. Pour mixture into a baking dish. Sprinkle toasted oats on top and place the dish in the oven on 350 for 10-15 minutes or until heated through.

This dish was really simple, but very warm and satisfying. This has a flavor almost opposite to the chocolate mousse, so choose whichever suits your mood!

Summer Rain

This blog is about everything allergy. Not just about food. So I thought I’d share some info on natural beauty products. I’m often called a hippy by a friend of mine who goes to school in Boston (he jokes that my name would be Summer Rain)  because I like natural and organic foods and products. But, once you learn about it, it’s hard to ignore the risks associated with toxins and enter back into the Standard American Diet and overall lifestyle. Ignorance is what deteriorates our health. So these are the things I’ve learned about beauty products.


Lots of products contain traces of gluten/wheat, sugar and just plain nasty things like sulfates, and dyes. Your skin is an organ, so anything you wouldn’t put in your mouth, is not something that should be applied to your skin. If a label warns against ingesting, think twice about applying. Sulfates in the very shampoo you use every day to look your best have been shown to cause damage to roots and result in hair loss. Not to mention your body begins to compensate for being stripped of all of its oils, so it produces in excess which causes you become dependent on washing with these products every day. So I researched homemade, natural shampoos. I discovered that using baking soda in water on the scalp cuts down grease, and apple cider vinegar in water acts as a conditioner.

1Tbsp baking soda + enough water to make a paste (massage gently, this will not create a foamy lather, b/c it does not contain sulfates)

2 Tbsp ACV + 1 cup of water (pour over the ends of your hair)

I feel as though my body is already working overtime when it comes to allergies and stress, so I don’t need to overload it with more toxins than necessary. These methods are inexpensive and environmentally friendly. I’m sold.

On this site you can enter the beauty products you use every day and see how their ingredients rate on a scale of 0-10 in toxicity levels. One of the connections this site checks for is between chemicals and Allergies/immunotoxicity.

Although the idea of making soap sounds like fun, some might not be that excited about the mess and playing with ingredients such as lye. I recommend these products.

Dr Bronner’s Fair Trade, Organic, All-in-One, Pure-Castile Soap (1-2 toxic level)

Crystal Body Deodorant  (0 toxic level)

Jojoba oil – as a facial moisturizer

On a side note, the only medication that has worked to prevent my cat allergies from affecting me, without putting me to sleep, is Claritin. I also vouch for Hepa Filters. I have a small Honeywell air purifier, and my future mother in law has a Hepa vacuum. Also, Peppermint oil can ease a sinus headache and a stuffy nose. These things help me survive weekend visits in their three cat home.

Soup and Salads

So, not only are prepackaged foods labeled “gluten free” pricey, but they’re often not all that healthy due to processing and sodium content etc. I do keep “instant gluten free” meals on hand, but I like to make as much as I can myself.

It’s still summer but I have been craving soup with a passion. We made chicken last night for dinner in the crock pot, so I saved the broth and added some extra Swanson’s Natural Goodness Chicken Broth to it (this broth does not list wheat as an ingredient, but always read the labels first because you never know when companies will change their recipes). Usually I would just boil the chicken bones and use that for the broth, but this didn’t make quite enough liquid on its own. This is wheat-free, dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free.

Save the broth from one chicken cooked in crock pot with favorite seasonings

1 boil in bag rice – takes about 8 minutes

Carrots/celery/onions/peppers – any veggies you want. I like to pre-cook the veggies in a frying pan because, as I discovered the hard way once, it will take hours to soften carrots in the soup broth.

I cut up some of the chicken from the night before.

After the rice is cooked, I just toss the ingredients in a pot together and heat thoroughly.

I love that chicken soup is so easy to make allergy friendly and tastes so good.

I made a salad with lettuce and cherry tomatoes that I purchased from my favorite local farm. And lunch was served; in the same time it would have taken me to drive to McDonalds and back, or run to the nearest grocery store and microwave something. Sometimes it just takes some planning ahead or creativity with leftovers from the night before.

I’m also in love with adding berries to salads. If you’re brave, you can try a tuna salad by replacing the mayo with mustard (if you have an egg allergy like me). Place this on top of a bed of lettuce and tomatoes, toss in some fresh blueberries and top it off with homemade hummus.

Good Bugs

When I discover that something is wrong, be it within myself or otherwise, I don’t like to slap a band aid on it or pop some pills (at least not anymore). Studying for my psychology degree has led me to seek out the underlying reasons why people are as they are. Allergies are no different. I wanted to know why people develop allergies, so I began to research. Isn’t it fascinating that more and more people are developing allergies and intolerances later in life?
Although this isn't the only cause of allergies, I discovered something called “leaky gut syndrome” or intestinal permeability (where food particles that are too large, manage to get through a weakened digestive system and the immune system attacks these particles, causing an allergic reaction). Ok. Fine. So what causes leaky gut syndrome? Lots of things. Taking over the counter pills like Ibuprofen, Aspirin, Tylenol etc., taking antibiotics and not restoring the good bacteria within your digestive system, and a fungal infection called Candida.

I want to note that I did not spend the 90 some-odd dollars on the test to be diagnosed for intestinal permeability. But due to the fact that I ignorantly took antibiotics numerous times in high school, and used to take a pain reliever for every minor ache, the possibility exists. I decided to start taking probiotics, drink soothing tea (Marshmallow root, Peppermint, Slippery Elm) and be very gentle with my digestive system. I stumbled across “The Water Cure” by Dr. F. Batmanghelidj and realized that my body is primarily water. If I gave it what it was mostly composed of, there would be more right with me than wrong.

I don’t watch the Oprah show religiously or anything, but I was sucked in when I noticed she was doing an episode on food. My weakness. She was interviewing Michael Pollan and discussing the movie Food Inc., which everyone should see. With all of the chemicals and antibiotics on/in our food it’s not surprising that so many people are becoming allergic to the very things that are supposed to be sustaining us. I visited the Food Inc. website, and discovered their blog. The following article hit home fast: Western Diet Kills Good Bugs in Stomach, Causes Obesity and Allergies.

I am entirely convinced that food allergies, are not merely a hereditary thing. Despite the fact that most of my family has problems with food, it may be because we have been eating the same conventional foods, taking the same pain killers, and antibiotics. So, I try to eat what is local and in season (and grow whatever I can at home).

Farmer's Market Peaches and Plums

Purple Basil from Sarah's Garden