The Whole Foods Allergy Cookbook

200 Gourmet and Homestyle Recipes for the Food Allergic Family

allergy cookbook

Monday, December 25, 2006

Dear readers:

Merry Christmas! I hope this holiday season has been good to you all.

My column on Lime went up last week and has several allergen-free recipes, as well as a couple that are just "healthy", so read carefully. The focus was "healthy holiday swap-outs". Allergen-free will return next month. For those interested in the new recipes, see
http://www.lime.com/features/holidays_for_the_health_glutton/story/6637/eat_well_and_be_merry

I took my sons and myself to a new allergist last week for testing, with some alarming results. The good news: Lennon tested NEGATIVE to dairy (YEAH, FINALLY!!!!), but tested positive to 16 out of the 24 allergens he was tested for. Apparently he is now allergic to shellfish, wheat (and other glutenous grains), and egg whites, amongst many other severe environmental allergies.

After my total-body hives incident right before thanksgiving, I suspected I was allergic to walnuts. Indeed, I am, as well as hazelnuts, wheat, oats, yeast, halibut, trout, salmon, flounder, shrimp (which I already knew), stone fruits like peaches and apricots, pineapple, and oranges.

Do any others of you out there have such long lists of allergies? Is this increasingly becoming the norm? Will my son continue developing new allergies or will he reach a point where this levels off? I now realize that some of his problems with paying attention at school must be due to the fact that he is literally ALLERGIC to the classroom. Everytime he sits on the rug for story time, he has an allergy attack, to dustmites, molds, etc. He is also allergic to our family dog. The poor child walks around having an allergic response just about everywhere he goes.

And I find myself wondering if I've always been allergic to these foods I test positive for, and have spent years feeling "under" because of them. Clearly my allergies are getting worse, as evidenced by the 4 days of total body hives from the walnuts. Anyone tried probiotics with success? I started taking them, but got sidelined. Think I'll start giving them to the whole family.


Speaking of the whole family, Monte was the least allergic, with very mild reactions to a few environmentals, but we're still going to keep him off dairy due to his occasional bouts of asthma. And next, my husband gets tested....

Expect lots more gluten-free recipes in the months to come.


Cassie:

Jane is right, the list in LIVING WITHOUT is too long to post all the restaurants, but I'm happy to post the NY ones, since that's where you live (and eat!)

Bloom's Delicatessen Cafe
NYC

Candle 79
NYC

Ciao!
Eastchester (in Westchester)

City Crab & Seafood Co
NYC

Curly's Bar & Grill
Lackawanna, NY

Ilio DiPaolo's Restaurant & Ringside Lounge
Blasdell, NY

Irises Cafe & Wine Bar
Plattsburg, NY

Josef's Gluten-free Bakery
Brooklyn

Mama's Italian Restaurant
Oakdale, NY

Pizza Plant
Williamsville, NY

Resaurant Luna
Mt. Kisco, NY

Rice to Riches
NYC

Risotteria
NYC

Sacred Chow
NYC

Soul Dog
Poughkeepsie, NY

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Dear bloggers:

In response to a question about locating allergy-friendly restaurants, I want to let everyone know that the WINTER 2007 issue of LIVING WITHOUT has a fantastic article on 200+ "Allergy-friendly Restaurants", listed state by state. This is a great resource. The magazine is on the stands now, so go and grab one!

Also, somebody asked for soup recipes. My book has a lot of soup recipes, or you can visit the following links to Care2 where they posted a couple of my soup recipes last year.

http://www.care2.com/channels/solutions/food/2661

http://www.care2.com/channels/solutions/food/2659


Enjoy Life just sent me the following recipe. This is a great idea for an allergen-free Holiday Gift. Make up a batch, and package in pretty cookie tins. Great for teachers, friends, and family!

Enjoy Life™ Chocolate Bark
(perfect for the holidays!)

Ingredients
1 10 oz. package Enjoy Life™ semi-sweet chocolate chips (dairy, soy and gluten free)
1 6 oz. package Enjoy Life™ Not Nuts! nut-free trail mix
1 1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil (safflower or canola work well)

Directions
Grease or spray a 5"x11" or 8"x8" pan

Mix together Enjoy Life™ chocolate chips and oil in a microwave safe container. Microwave mixture on high for 30 second and stir. Continue microwaving mixture until melted while making sure to stir occasionally, about every 20 seconds. Total time may be about 1 minute, depending on the microwave oven.

Stir Enjoy Life™ Not Nuts! nut-free trail mix into the melted mixture and spread to about 1/4 - 1/2 inches thick, onto greased pan. Chill for 15 minutes. Remove from refrigerator, break into pieces and munch away! Store this scrumptious candy in an airtight container at room temperature and share with family and friends.