Everyday AWESOME Moments!

Have you ever noticed the "Food Culture" that is at the center of American life? Birthday cakes, Christmas cookies, Easter Eggs, Halloween candy...those are the obvious ones, but each family has its own traditions as well - special meals and treats for special celebrations.

...and it goes beyond the actual food itself - certain foods are emblematic of holidays or events and in addition to eating them, we purchase and display symbolic representations of the real food - candy corn, pumpkin pie, candy canes, gingerbread houses & cookies, peeps...people wear shirts and jewelry with pictures of these foods, send cards shaped like these foods, decorate their homes with fake versions of these foods, etc, etc, etc.

One of the recommendations that all the food allergy parenting books make is to try to minimize the role of food in your family traditions and events. That is all fine and dandy, but...
it Totally Sucks!!!

I have literally grieved over not being able to give Isla candy hearts for valentines day, or not get to make the same special cookies my mom made for me when I was little...don't even get me started on holiday baking! It was maddening to find that the Halloween costume I'd been planning for her since before she was conceived was a costume of something she couldn't eat. I had mixed feelings, but still bought and put her in the adorable gingerbread cookie PJ's for Christmas (then my mom and I made safe gingerbread cookies, so that worked out just fine.)

The other recommendation the books make is to try to create safe versions of favorite traditional foods. When children are little, I think this is more for the parents than for the child. While Isla is just getting old enough to notice that she is eating different food (& besides, she has been eating different foods her entire life, so that is her 'normal.'), I have the compulsion to cook entire safe Thanksgiving dinners for her, and make foods that match what everyone else is eating at birthday parties and family gatherings.

Thanks to our favorite new product - Daiya Cheese - Isla has been able to eat authentic pizza, mac 'n cheese, and quesadillas. She loves them all and it has been really exciting to introduce these new kid classic foods to her.

I've also been perfecting my allergy free baking. By baking & freezing cupcakes in advance and then grilling my friends about what the cake / cupcakes to be served will look like, I've been able to provide her with cupcakes that fit right in. Here she is enjoying a cupcake at her sweet buddy, Noah's, birthday party.Thank you friends for sharing your menus in advance. It has made party planning much easier and party attending much more fun for Isla. We made sliders with egg free buns for Ethan's party and Pizza for Noah's party. Yum!Our other favorite recent discovery is In & Out. We found out in October that In & Out Burger will tailor their "allergy burger" to your (or your child's) allergies.

For Isla, that means a hamburger cooked on a separate clean grill with separate utensils by a freshly washed and gloved employee (See, they are awesome!!!), the burger is then served protein style (no bun), with lettuce, tomatoes, onion, catchup and mustard (no special sauce). The fries are cooked in cottonseed oil and their facility is nut free. They are extremely conscientious and package all the allergy-safe food in a separate bag.

We've taken Isla 4 times and she absolutely LOVES it. The best part is that it is someplace we can safely eat on the road. Here's Isla, on her way to Yuma, enjoying her lunch.