As I have mentioned before, my youngest child has some severe food allergies. As of right now, he is allergic to eggs (though he can eat them in baked goods such as cake and muffins), peanuts, tree nuts, fish and shellfish. The fish and the shellfish allergies are technically borderline as far as his doctor is concerned, and she has given approval for him to "challenge" the allergy by eating progressively larger amounts of the food in question while under her supervision in their office. We did a "baked egg challenge" a little less than a year ago, in which he ate a single serving of white cake over the course of two or three hours (I have blocked the actual time out). The staff monitored his vital signs throughout the process and, at the end of his time there, proclaimed him able to eat baked goods which contain three or fewer eggs. The up side to the success of that particular challenge is also that it gives him a fair chance (75%) of outgrowing his egg allergy before the age of five. Yay.
Tomorrow, I am taking him back to the allergist's office for his second food challenge: fish. As per the doctor's instructions, I have sauteed a nice piece of wild-caught Alaskan cod (they require it to be a white fish) in a small amount of olive oil, with a sprinkling of gray sea salt and just a hint of fresh ground black pepper. I have not cooked fish in our house since he was diagnosed with food allergies (specifically since the proteins in both fish and shellfish can become airborne, thus provoking an allergic reaction, even if he didn't actually ingest the food) and even that small amount of fish smelled really heavenly. My oldest daughter, who loves all seafood, pestered me for some (uh...no, ma'am!) and even I had a little trouble keeping my paws off the flaky and delectably smelling fish.
To be completely honest, I am a little nervous about this particular food challenge. First of all, my son is now at the difficult age of almost two years old and he can be hard to control, even for very short periods of time. I have a bag full of activities for him and, if all of that fails, I am sure the Netflix app on my phone will save my ass, but I am fully prepared for a very long, very exhausting morning. We get this party started at 9 a.m., but even as good as I think the fish smells right now, I am not sure even I would want to eat cod that early in the day. I am just hoping he is hungry enough by that point not to care what he is putting in his mouth, just as long as it is food of some kind. I am also nervous because of the borderline status of this as an allergy. I trust his doctor and I do not believe she would willingly jeopardize his health, but I can't help but remember the last time he had an anaphylactic reaction to a food that I fed him. There is a very real possibility that we (primarily me, as I will be holding the fork and *probably* force feeding him a potential allergen) will provoke an allergic reaction of undetermined severity. I know this is why we are doing the "challenge" under the doctor's supervision and that it will be a slow process (vvvvveeeeerrrrryyyy slow, actually) of consuming 4 ounces of fish, but I am still a little worried.
Anyway, despite my fears of an allergic reaction and the certainty of matching wills with a very strong (physically, especially) and hard-headed toddler, I will be glad to put this particular challenge behind us. If we can mark just one of his allergenic foods off of our list, it will be a very good thing. If we can get past this food, we can go on to a shellfish challenge next which is good because we all miss eating shrimp. Wish us luck!
Showing posts with label food allergies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food allergies. Show all posts
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Monday, November 26, 2012
Disney Dining
We just got back from our Thanksgiving vacation at Walt Disney World in Florida, where we enjoyed fun at the Magic Kingdom and EPCOT (though the kids were pretty unimpressed with the giant "golf ball"). We stayed on property for the very first time, at the wonderfully whimsical Art of Animation Resort, and enjoyed the added benefit of the Disney Quick Service Dining Plan. Since my son is under the age of 3, he was not afforded his own meal
plan, and so was expected to share meals with either myself or my
husband. Because my son has severe food allergies, I did my homework and talked to the customer service reps at WDW several times to determine just how I needed to ensure that he was not ingesting something that could make him very ill. I was assured that all I needed to do was to notify a cast member and they would verify that the food he was being served did not contain any of the potential allergens. Easy peasy, right? Well.....almost.
Our resort had a restaurant called "Landscape of Flavors", which offered a fairly large variety of foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It was a Luby's or Furr's (anybody remember Furr's?) style service with an open kitchen behind the serving staff. I was fairly impressed to see that they offered tandoori oven cooked foods, including freshly made naan bread, in addition to the more expected fare of pizzas, pastas and burgers. All this food was served in fairly rapid pace to the teeming crowds that seemed to fill the space almost to capacity for every meal time. The first time I stepped up to the serving counter to order a meal that was to be shared by my son and by my husband, I told the cast member that I had a child with food allergies. She smiled in a strange way and pushed a button behind the counter, actually stopping the serving line for me and my request. (I am sure the people behind me were really pleased to see this happen, but I did not dare turn and face their hungry wrath.) After about five minutes, a "chef" cast member arrived and assured me that the meal I was ordering did not have any of the allergens I needed to avoid. I was served the meal and moved on my way to feed a "breakfast sandwich" of naan bread, spinach paneer and curried cauliflower to my son (who enjoyed it, thank-you-very-much. That kid ate A LOT of naan bread during our stay at WDW.)
That same day, we decided to lunch in the Magic Kingdom at a restaurant in Fantasyland. I made my way through the line, ordered our food and then made the mistake of trying to verify that the Caprese-style flatbread I had just ordered to share with my son did not contain any of his allergens. The cast member actually dressed me down, saying, "You should have told me this before you ordered. I can't answer any of your questions and I would have to call a manager." (*without actually offering to call a manager*) I was very flustered and with the beginnings of tears in my eyes, waved her rudeness away with an, "I am sure it is fine." (I should also point out that we had gotten VERY little sleep the night before and I don't do well AT ALL when I am that tired.) I overheard the woman, literally the next person in line after me, say, "I have a little one with food allergies", to which my nasty new friend replied, "Ok, honey. Let me call a manager over and we will get that taken care of." I. Was. Pissed. I fumed and kvetched throughout my lunch, which I ended up eating by myself anyway, as my son completely rejected the food by throwing the offered bites on the floor. As most of us were finishing our meals, my husband took my son outside, where he apparently ran into another cast member asking how his meal was. He told her that she should "talk to [his] wife", which, without knowing that I was the person he referenced, she did, almost as soon as we stepped outside and I started complaining about my experience. I told her exactly what happened and she made notes on her tablet. I don't know if anything I said was actually recorded or will make any difference, but I will tell you that it made all the difference in my day to just feel like someone heard and responded appropriately to my complaints. (Of course, this made for a new family joke as we all decided that the Disney Happy Police will descend upon you, should you dare to be less than mirthful whilst in the "Happiest Place on Earth".)
After that lunch, I decided to just follow their ridiculous allergy protocol, so whenever I needed to order something that I was unsure of (french fries, in particular), I said clearly, without daring to order preemptively, "I HAVE A CHILD WITH FOOD ALLERGIES!" Most of the time, it worked out well.....it always took a looooonnnnnggggg time to get our food, but at least I was certain that they made sure nothing had been contaminated by those three big, nasty allergens (eggs, nuts, and fish). Here's a word to the wise though, Disney (and I will be sharing this when I do my "guest survey" in a minute): just freaking print the allergens on your menus. Make it EASY for children/parents/people with food allergies. I was trying to be responsible and as the mother of a child with food allergies, I know what is in most foods and I know which foods could be potentially dangerous because of the ways in which they are cooked. I know you are doing some major CYA, but for goodness sake, shift some of the responsibility back to the people ordering the food. I promise it will make our lives easier and the lives of your cast members easier as well.
Anyway, all in all, it was a good trip. The food wasn't spectacular, but it wasn't bad either. My son got his fill of allergy-free naan bread, supplemented with milk, grapes, the occasional banana or random bite of meat, french fries and strawberry yogurt. Not the world's best diet, but doable for a few days. The rest of us are a bit burned out on tandoori food, pizzas and, as my oldest daughter said, "no more chocolate chip pancakes!" This week is about returning to our regularly scheduled diet. Disney was fun and I would totally do it again, but not any time soon.
Our resort had a restaurant called "Landscape of Flavors", which offered a fairly large variety of foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It was a Luby's or Furr's (anybody remember Furr's?) style service with an open kitchen behind the serving staff. I was fairly impressed to see that they offered tandoori oven cooked foods, including freshly made naan bread, in addition to the more expected fare of pizzas, pastas and burgers. All this food was served in fairly rapid pace to the teeming crowds that seemed to fill the space almost to capacity for every meal time. The first time I stepped up to the serving counter to order a meal that was to be shared by my son and by my husband, I told the cast member that I had a child with food allergies. She smiled in a strange way and pushed a button behind the counter, actually stopping the serving line for me and my request. (I am sure the people behind me were really pleased to see this happen, but I did not dare turn and face their hungry wrath.) After about five minutes, a "chef" cast member arrived and assured me that the meal I was ordering did not have any of the allergens I needed to avoid. I was served the meal and moved on my way to feed a "breakfast sandwich" of naan bread, spinach paneer and curried cauliflower to my son (who enjoyed it, thank-you-very-much. That kid ate A LOT of naan bread during our stay at WDW.)
That same day, we decided to lunch in the Magic Kingdom at a restaurant in Fantasyland. I made my way through the line, ordered our food and then made the mistake of trying to verify that the Caprese-style flatbread I had just ordered to share with my son did not contain any of his allergens. The cast member actually dressed me down, saying, "You should have told me this before you ordered. I can't answer any of your questions and I would have to call a manager." (*without actually offering to call a manager*) I was very flustered and with the beginnings of tears in my eyes, waved her rudeness away with an, "I am sure it is fine." (I should also point out that we had gotten VERY little sleep the night before and I don't do well AT ALL when I am that tired.) I overheard the woman, literally the next person in line after me, say, "I have a little one with food allergies", to which my nasty new friend replied, "Ok, honey. Let me call a manager over and we will get that taken care of." I. Was. Pissed. I fumed and kvetched throughout my lunch, which I ended up eating by myself anyway, as my son completely rejected the food by throwing the offered bites on the floor. As most of us were finishing our meals, my husband took my son outside, where he apparently ran into another cast member asking how his meal was. He told her that she should "talk to [his] wife", which, without knowing that I was the person he referenced, she did, almost as soon as we stepped outside and I started complaining about my experience. I told her exactly what happened and she made notes on her tablet. I don't know if anything I said was actually recorded or will make any difference, but I will tell you that it made all the difference in my day to just feel like someone heard and responded appropriately to my complaints. (Of course, this made for a new family joke as we all decided that the Disney Happy Police will descend upon you, should you dare to be less than mirthful whilst in the "Happiest Place on Earth".)
After that lunch, I decided to just follow their ridiculous allergy protocol, so whenever I needed to order something that I was unsure of (french fries, in particular), I said clearly, without daring to order preemptively, "I HAVE A CHILD WITH FOOD ALLERGIES!" Most of the time, it worked out well.....it always took a looooonnnnnggggg time to get our food, but at least I was certain that they made sure nothing had been contaminated by those three big, nasty allergens (eggs, nuts, and fish). Here's a word to the wise though, Disney (and I will be sharing this when I do my "guest survey" in a minute): just freaking print the allergens on your menus. Make it EASY for children/parents/people with food allergies. I was trying to be responsible and as the mother of a child with food allergies, I know what is in most foods and I know which foods could be potentially dangerous because of the ways in which they are cooked. I know you are doing some major CYA, but for goodness sake, shift some of the responsibility back to the people ordering the food. I promise it will make our lives easier and the lives of your cast members easier as well.
Anyway, all in all, it was a good trip. The food wasn't spectacular, but it wasn't bad either. My son got his fill of allergy-free naan bread, supplemented with milk, grapes, the occasional banana or random bite of meat, french fries and strawberry yogurt. Not the world's best diet, but doable for a few days. The rest of us are a bit burned out on tandoori food, pizzas and, as my oldest daughter said, "no more chocolate chip pancakes!" This week is about returning to our regularly scheduled diet. Disney was fun and I would totally do it again, but not any time soon.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Processed Foods and Allergies
This is probably going to be a fairly short post today primarily because I have just a little time left on my nap countdown clock and secondarily because I don't have much to write about. I am still baking our bread (I have two loaves of the ATK recipe bread in the oven right now, as a matter of fact) and I am still trying to adhere to the idea of no (or low quantities of) processed foods. Honestly, after more than three weeks of this, I am still having kind of a hard time with completely removing processed foods from my diet. I keep longing for the days when I could send my kids to school with some kind of granola bar for their after school snack, not to mention the ability to just scoop some animal crackers into a bowl for the twice daily snack for my toddler. I know, I know. That is just the lazy in me talking. Sometimes though, I really wish food was easier for us - so much of it is complicated both by my own extremely high standards (or psychosis, whichever you prefer) and my son's food allergies. I was actually just looking up allergen information for a chicken chain fast-food place (you know the one), where my oldest daughter's softball team is having an end of season party this evening. Pretty much everything on their menu contains some kind of allergen and though they say that they prepare their food to avoid cross-contamination, I have to question whether or not the minimum wage employee behind the counter knows just how dangerous a speck of egg can be to my son. So, no processed chicken for him or for me tonight. My husband will just have to take the older two to "dinner" on their own. That is fine. Really, it is, but it just brings to mind how often I will have to do this for my baby. Just this morning, I almost had a panic attack at the gym because another little toddler was finishing her breakfast of a hard-boiled egg as she walked into the nursery. I literally had to talk myself down and not rush back into the room to remind the ladies that my son cannot have eggs and shriek, "are you SURE she finished and doesn't have any more with her?!" I wish I could say that the allergies would get easier and I really wish the no-processed foods thing FELT easier right now. Ah, well, like I said, that is the lazy talking. This is the hand I (really my son) was dealt and the lack of processed stuff is just the path I have chosen (be it permanent or temporary). I will deal and for now, I guess I need to go check on our bread. I can already smell it and it does smell heavenly (and not processed at all).
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Bread Making
It is hard to believe that it has been almost a year since I wrote anything food related. I have had a lot of ideas kicking around in my head since then (I should hope so), but have not really been inspired to sit down and actually write about any of them. Today is different and should hopefully begin (again) more regular postings. Today I want to write about bread; specifically about my recent brilliant idea to begin baking all of our bread. That's right. I said ALL. I recently started reading the blog, 100 Days of Real Food (www.100daysofrealfood.com), and really took a good long look at the processed products that we consume. One of those things, and perhaps the most oft-consumed processed food in our house: sandwich bread. The blog suggests that any processed food you buy (and you will need to buy some) should contain five or fewer ingredients. The sandwich bread available at my grocery store contained a list so long that it looked like a freaking paragraph and this was the "good", 100% whole wheat bread! My kids have never even had white bread and, when presented with it, usually ask for something in the more familiar hue of brown. I thought I was making the very best choice for my family; maybe I was, based on what I had close to hand, but reading this blog made me think that I could do better.
I started off by searching for a suitably low-in-ingredient-numbers substitute that I could purchase. I tried the higher end, "natural" grocery stores (cough....Whole Foods....cough) and was pleased to find a couple of sandwich loaves for a moderately acceptable price. But.....(sigh).....but, as I may not have posted on here yet, my son (now almost 18 months old) has severe and anaphylactic food allergies to eggs, nuts, tree nuts and possibly fish and shellfish. Every single one of those sandwich loaves at Whole Foods stated that their products were made on shared machinery using nuts and tree nuts. The baby can't eat any of it. So, I decided to start baking bread to feed our family of five.
I have found a couple of decent bread recipes, but the only one I have repeated is the whole wheat sandwich bread recipe from America's Test Kitchen. I saw it demonstrated on one of their programs and decided to try it. I love it and the kids love it. It makes a decent amount of bread (2 loaves, as opposed to other recipes that only make 1), is light, fluffy, tasty and wonderfully filling. (Amazing what real ingredients - without "dough conditioners" - can do to fill a hungry tummy!) It is not five ingredients, but I know every ingredient that goes into and I feel good about it.
Now, the only beef that I have with this bread recipe is the ridiculous amount of time it takes to make it. (This is kind of typical for recipes from ATK, so beware when experimenting.) You start the dough 24 hours in advance and then, after you mix it, the dough requires a total of 3 hours to rise before you bake it. So, at 7 o'clock this morning, I was up, in my pajamas, drinking coffee with my toddler running around while I mixed the dough so it would have time to rise before lunch. My oldest daughter (now 9) came downstairs and asked for breakfast. I told her that I would fix her something after I finished with the dough, to which she replied, "why are you making all of our bread? You know, we CAN just buy it at the store." My reply was something to the effect that I actually enjoy making our bread, but the reality was slightly more complicated.
I think there are two reasons that the 100 Days of Real Food blog and especially making our food from scratch appeals to me right at this moment. The first is fear. I am, honestly and truly, afraid of our food. I am afraid of the chemicals that might be contaminating the food I offer to my children to nourish their bodies and minds. I am afraid of the science experiments that go on behind closed doors to genetically modify staple crops so that they can survive plagues of insects and epic droughts. I am afraid of what this God-play is doing to our food supply. In fact, I am just afraid of our food supply. I am afraid of the hard truth that, someday, perhaps sooner than we think, we might just run out of enough to feed everyone. I am afraid that this next presidential election could have far-reaching ramifications on our future and the future of our children. I know it all sounds a little crazy and crackpot-ish, but it is my truth: I am afraid and I worry about what the future holds. I often wonder if our parents worried about the world the way I do. I know I am not alone in this worry and that I have done the best I can. I have made the best choices that I can, especially where feeding my family is concerned, and I will continue to do so with the information that I have at hand.
Ultimately, that brings me to the second reason that making "real" food speaks to me right now: it brings me joy and a connection to people that make me happy. My grandmother was a baker and an amazing cook. She died almost 12 years ago and I still miss her so very much. I have always felt a very deep connection to her through my cooking and I feel that deeper still when I bake. My children make me happy (and equally frustrated, of course) and it gives me a soul-stirring joy to see them nourished with food that I made. My son, God love him, is at such a difficult age - so independent, yet so much a baby still. He is, however, currently my best eater and will try anything we put on his plate. It is wonderful to see him eat with such relish and to know that I created it all from scratch. Seriously, there is something deeply soulful to taking a bunch of raw ingredients and turning it into something deliciously satisfying.
So, I don't know how long I will keep this "real food" thing up. Right now, I like it and I am kind of enjoying being more stingy with my delicious bread. Everyone gets a little bit every day and we all seem to enjoy our bread that much more. If I come across prepared bread that meets my criteria, then, sure, I will buy it. I am trying not to be crazy about this, after all. Trying is, of course, the operative word.
I started off by searching for a suitably low-in-ingredient-numbers substitute that I could purchase. I tried the higher end, "natural" grocery stores (cough....Whole Foods....cough) and was pleased to find a couple of sandwich loaves for a moderately acceptable price. But.....(sigh).....but, as I may not have posted on here yet, my son (now almost 18 months old) has severe and anaphylactic food allergies to eggs, nuts, tree nuts and possibly fish and shellfish. Every single one of those sandwich loaves at Whole Foods stated that their products were made on shared machinery using nuts and tree nuts. The baby can't eat any of it. So, I decided to start baking bread to feed our family of five.
Now, the only beef that I have with this bread recipe is the ridiculous amount of time it takes to make it. (This is kind of typical for recipes from ATK, so beware when experimenting.) You start the dough 24 hours in advance and then, after you mix it, the dough requires a total of 3 hours to rise before you bake it. So, at 7 o'clock this morning, I was up, in my pajamas, drinking coffee with my toddler running around while I mixed the dough so it would have time to rise before lunch. My oldest daughter (now 9) came downstairs and asked for breakfast. I told her that I would fix her something after I finished with the dough, to which she replied, "why are you making all of our bread? You know, we CAN just buy it at the store." My reply was something to the effect that I actually enjoy making our bread, but the reality was slightly more complicated.
I think there are two reasons that the 100 Days of Real Food blog and especially making our food from scratch appeals to me right at this moment. The first is fear. I am, honestly and truly, afraid of our food. I am afraid of the chemicals that might be contaminating the food I offer to my children to nourish their bodies and minds. I am afraid of the science experiments that go on behind closed doors to genetically modify staple crops so that they can survive plagues of insects and epic droughts. I am afraid of what this God-play is doing to our food supply. In fact, I am just afraid of our food supply. I am afraid of the hard truth that, someday, perhaps sooner than we think, we might just run out of enough to feed everyone. I am afraid that this next presidential election could have far-reaching ramifications on our future and the future of our children. I know it all sounds a little crazy and crackpot-ish, but it is my truth: I am afraid and I worry about what the future holds. I often wonder if our parents worried about the world the way I do. I know I am not alone in this worry and that I have done the best I can. I have made the best choices that I can, especially where feeding my family is concerned, and I will continue to do so with the information that I have at hand.
Ultimately, that brings me to the second reason that making "real" food speaks to me right now: it brings me joy and a connection to people that make me happy. My grandmother was a baker and an amazing cook. She died almost 12 years ago and I still miss her so very much. I have always felt a very deep connection to her through my cooking and I feel that deeper still when I bake. My children make me happy (and equally frustrated, of course) and it gives me a soul-stirring joy to see them nourished with food that I made. My son, God love him, is at such a difficult age - so independent, yet so much a baby still. He is, however, currently my best eater and will try anything we put on his plate. It is wonderful to see him eat with such relish and to know that I created it all from scratch. Seriously, there is something deeply soulful to taking a bunch of raw ingredients and turning it into something deliciously satisfying.
So, I don't know how long I will keep this "real food" thing up. Right now, I like it and I am kind of enjoying being more stingy with my delicious bread. Everyone gets a little bit every day and we all seem to enjoy our bread that much more. If I come across prepared bread that meets my criteria, then, sure, I will buy it. I am trying not to be crazy about this, after all. Trying is, of course, the operative word.
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