Avoiding Contamination #4

The toasted sandwich maker hasn't had much of a workout since Miss 3's allergies turned up and even less since my diet was restricted. I don't know about you but I tend to just give it a wipe with a damp paper towel and that's the extent of my cleaning of it. Which means I leave lots of things on it like the margarine I used on the outside of the bread to make it golden and the bread itself, and the cheese - you get the idea.

I thought I'd give toasted sandwiches a try since I was looking for an easy Sunday night dinner and I used to love them as a kid. And thankfully allergen-proofing wasn't particularly hard - I used my trusty roll of baking paper and created a lining to put the sandwich in and it cooked beautifully! Pity Miss 3 wasn't that thrilled about a toasted baked bean sandwich. Will have to think about yummier options for her - she's not that keen on baked beans or tinned spaghetti (not that I can blame her!). Any ideas for dairy and egg free toasted sandwiches?

Check out my other posts on avoiding contamination in the kitchen - #1, #2 and #3

Allergy Testing - what to take with you

image from here

An allergy test takes a long time. At a private allergy specialist you arrive, wait, meet with the Doctor and take a history, go out, wait for the nurse, have skin prick tests, wait for 10mins for the reactions to occur, go back into the nurse, she measures the reactions, then you wait for the Doctor again and then they see you and tell you what everything means. It's a long time for kids especially if they are the one with the itchy arm. You will need to take a good amount of food, special treats, comfort items and anything that will keep them sitting still or happy waiting. Here's what we took to our latest allergy test with Miss 2:

- morning tea snacks - corn thins, fruit
- special treats - itsy bitsy bears, mini chuppa chup lollypop
- comfort item - her muslin wrap that she likes to snuggle
- my iPhone with Dora episode and Justine Clarke on it

I knew that the Doctor's waiting room had a decent amount of toys and books so I didn't need to take any but if it's your first time, I would take a couple of books at least.

We had morning tea while we waited to see the Doctor the first time. The chuppa chup lollypop was the best thing for having while we waited the 10mins for the reactions to occur - it kept her hand busy and you could cope with keeping an eye on the other one and making sure she didn't scratch. Her wrap really helped her deal with the pain of the skin prick test. I used the itsy bitsy bears to keep her quiet while the Doctor explained the results to me.

I also took her out for a special lunch afterwards and that was something she could look forward to.
Do you have any allergy test tips?

Vanilla - a flavour saviour

In general, allergen free foods don't taste anywhere near as nice as 'normal' foods. It has been hard to work out how to make things more enjoyable. Here is one tip - use vanilla in baking. Most of the recipes that I've liked when I've baked allergen free have had vanilla essence or vanilla beans in them. It's a pantry essential.
Here's a few recipes that I use vanilla flavouring for -
Sultana and Oat Cookies
Vanilla Bean Biscuits
Brownies
Berry Muffins
Wacky Cake
Coconut Vanilla Icing

Never leave home without it

I have rarely forgotten our kids' medication when we have gone out and, thankfully, never been in a position where we had a reaction and couldn't do anything about it. I want to encourage you to never leave home without your child's medication because you never know if or where a reaction could occur and sometimes even unpredictable reactions occur. A couple of examples from our life:

- I was buying a few things at the supermarket with my Mum. We had the 2 kids in the pram - they didn't get out/touch anything/eat anything - all of a sudden I noticed that there are itchy welts appearing on my son's face and they were spreading by the second. Antihistamine in and the reaction slowed and stopped. We have no idea what caused it - was it an airborne reaction or did he touch the pram wheel that had something on it and rubbed his face? Very thankful for meds then and although he had a reaction, I appreciated that it was very educational for my Mum to see how quick, real and mysterious reactions can sometimes be.

- At playgroup last week I was about 30 seconds behind my daughter to the morning tea table but by the time I got there another mother had set her up with a bowl of fruit and crackers - she is allergic to all the crackers that were in her bowl and had already had a bite out of two of them. Thankfully she barely reacted (her reactions are pretty mild compared to my sons's) and I didn't need to medicate her. But she became very distressed that I took the food away (I think she thought she was in trouble, rather than the loss of the food - I need to work on not showing panic!), poor thing, and it took about 5min to console her. Funnily enough, I had to give my son some antihistamine because he had a reaction - big itchy welt on his chin and cheek. I have a feeling coconut could be the problem (we have had 3 possibly coconut related reactions). It's not a nut and he hasn't been tested for it due to no concerns in the past, and what I've read tells me that there isn't actually a test for it...
Most of the mums at our playgroup are very aware of my kids' allergies and always ask before serving my children anything. Unfortunately this mum's English is pretty limited and it seemed like she didn't know. It's possibly time for another announcement about my kids.

I pack our medications in the bag pictured above - it is a formula bottle bag so is insulated - good for temperature control and protection for the glass antihistamine bottle, it's also red and therefore easy to locate. We have the antihistamine, epipen and asthma gear in there. It's easy to carry on your shoulder or pop in the nappy bag.

How do you carry your medications?

So your child has allergies...

Here's a few suggestions of what to do first
- Follow your allergist's advice. Eg - remove allergens from their diet, buy medications as required, such as antihistamines and epipens and make sure you always have them with you, tell everyone who cares for your child the action plan for when an allergic reaction takes place.
- Meet with a dietician who is experienced in children and allergies. It's worth paying for if you can afford it. They will go through your child's current diet, make suggestions for changes and give you ideas for substitutes.
- Meet with your GP if you think your child is lacking nutrition somewhere and work out if there is anything you can do - like going on vitamins with iron, like we did.
- Work out what substitutes there are for your child to help you cook more eg No Egg, GF flours, Milk, Margarine etc and buy them.
- Find recipes that help you cook good food for your child - your local library should have a good selection, look online (you are here already!) and speak with friends who might have ideas.
- Something I've yet to do, but is a good idea, is join up to your local allergy support network such as Anaphylaxis Australia. They will keep you up to date with the latest information about allergies.

Feel free to contact me if you want to chat personally about anything. It's a tough road.

Looking for something?

Have you noticed the search function on my blog? I just added it. I have found it really helpful to find specific things on my blog without trawling through the lists.

It is on the right of the screen just below my introduction. Hope it helps you too.

Look in different places

This year, we have been shopping for our fruit and vegetables at a local fruit and vegetable shop rather than the big supermarkets. 

Only recently I ventured into the shop's deli/pantry section and discovered that they had a gluten/allergen free section with lots of the products I regularly buy and some ones I hadn't seen before. The prices were almost the same (the dollar amount was the same, the cents may have been different, so really not that different!) and so I bought them there.

I went into another fruit and vegetable shop and found the chocolate mousse mix that I blogged about last week. I've never seen that in the supermarket.

I think it is worth looking in different places every now and then - you may find something you've never seen before and that is always worth it when there is so little for your child (or you) to eat in this world.

Margarine

I have been using Nuttelex for my daughter's replacement margarine since the beginning. While I was at the supermarket the other day I spotted Meadow Lea has a Dairy-free spread as well, and it was on special! As much as I appreciate Nuttelex providing for us for so long, I also really appreciate saving money where I can, so I think I'll be going with Meadow Lea while it's cheaper. The only thing to be cautious of is that it is much more easily confused with a normal Meadow Lea so you have to be extra careful to avoid accidentally contaminating it! I have written my daughter's name on top as an extra visual cue.

Cheezly

I have seen this product mentioned on websites but never found a place that sells it, until I went to Choices Bakery and saw it in the fridge (it comes in a roll). Having had other soy cheeses without success, I thought I'd give this one a go, given its claims to being yummy and able to melt. I always feel my daughter is missing out on the true pizza experience when I put her pizza in the oven without cheese!

We tried it and it didn't quite melt as you would expect normal cheese to melt, but it did it better than the other ones I've tried. It also tasted reasonably cheesy and my daughter actually ate it all compared to the absolute 'No' we got with the others. I don't know if she'd like it without it going in the oven but we'll try it soon. It's a pity it's supposed to be used within 5 days of opening - we won't get through it.

Psyllium

Fibre is something that is often lacking in a gluten free diet. Psyllium husk is gluten-free and helps add fibre to the diet. My daughter's regular breakfast cereal seems to have gone out of production so we are using another rice puff and adding psyllium. It's a good thing to have in the pantry.

Play Dough

I'm still mastering this...

Cooked playdough
3 cups gf flour
1.5 cups salt
6 tsp cream of tartar
3 tbsp oil
3 cups water
few drops of food colouring

Pour all ingredients into a large pot. Stir constantly over medium heat until a dough ball forms by pulling away from the sides. Remove and knead dough until the texture matches playdough (1-2 minutes). Store play dough in plastic container. It should last for 3 months.

Travelling in non-English speaking countries

We are planning a trip to Japan in January and are very much looking forward to it! We are going skiing with friends. My only major concern is the fact that I can't speak/read Japanese and we will go to restaurants and I have a child with a life threatening allergy. You can only imagine my relief when I read on an SMH article (4th comment) that there was a Japanese restaurant in Sydney that not only provided allergen free (and environmentally friendly ways of eating/presenting etc) food but that they offered to provide a free personalised information sheet in Japanese to present to restaurants telling them about the allergy and asking them to provide appropriate food. I have been in contact with the owner Yukako and she has been very diligent in asking questions and being in regular contact. I just received an email telling me that she is starting to write up the information sheet now.

Here's the link, just in case you ever Japan is on the itinerary - Wafu.

If you are planning a trip, it might be worth finding someone who speaks the language to write up a sheet for you (in the language and corresponding English). I'd be happy to pay for that peace of mind!

Soy Cheese

Kingland Soy Products (website not great but you can see the logo) make a soy cheese without the dairy protein starter. It comes in a roll (like devon/polony) and wrapped in a pale yellow wrapper. I found it in Coles (finally!) and bought it. My daughter has had a bit of cheese a few times before we realised the dairy allergy and she loves it. So we tried the soy cheese today and she popped it in thinking it was normal cheese and unfortunately she didn't like it very much.

I think it would be best used mixed into other foods, like on a hamburger or something else. I don't know what I'll do with the rest. I'm not going to pursue it with her. It's not fortified with calcium. It just would have been a great extra food.

I also bought Tofutti's soy sliced cheese. I tried one and it was a bit yukky for me, but it could be nice mixed in a sandwich etc. She's yet to try it, but I think it will be a similar reaction.

Oh well.

Morning Tea with a group

Twice a week my kids eat morning tea with a large group of children. This can be quite a stressful situation.

The first morning tea is a creche situation when I go to a women's bible study. Here the morning tea is totally provided and due to the allergy situation, the only things that are served are fruit and plain corn thins. It is a very healthy morning tea for all the kids as well as being safe and means I don't worry that my kids might get someone elses food while I'm not there to control it.

The second morning tea is at playgroup. There can be up to 25 kids and parents there so it's pretty crazy. Thankfully the kids all sit at tables but they have a shared morning tea. We bring a piece of fruit but some parents bring other things like popcorn, biscuits, cake etc. When we started playgroup this year, the playgroup coordinator made an announcement about my son's allergies and asked that people don't bring anything with nuts in it. So far so good.

Since then, my daughter was diagnosed with gluten, dairy and egg allergies - non life-threatening but health-affecting. I spoke with the playgroup coordinator this term and we worked out some guidelines that would make it better for everyone.

These are what we agreed on:
- Morning tea is only to be eaten in the morning tea room at the tables (this was expected anyway, but not always abided by) and no food in the play area where possible.
- People can still bring biscuits, cakes etc to share but know that my daughter can't eat it and protect her from it eg: fruit is on a separate plate to other foods and try not to cross-contaminate serving implements (something that still happens, so I try to serve her early)
- A reminder of no nuts (My son's allergy is life threatening. The group needs to care for him) We avoid things with nuts in the ingredients list. My allergy specialist said to ignore the warnings of 'this product may contain traces etc' because it is used too widely now in this litigious society.

The playgroup coordinator announced it to everyone and thankfully, no-one seemed to have a problem with it.

I bring a container of food my daughter can eat (including something yummy, like "Itsy Bitsy Bears" - everyone else gets something yummy so she should too really) and she gets to have a bowl of the fruit as well.

It's a lot less stressful knowing that everyone in the playgroup is aware of my children's allergies. They ask about it and I can educate them. By them knowing, they can help me protect my children as well. Preschool will be our next hurdle. I'm thankful for all the kids with allergies who have gone before us - paving the way would have been hard work.

Can I encourage you to tell coordinators about your children's allergies. The more people who know the better. And I think it's important for the kids to keep hearing it as long as it's presented in a way that doesn't bring any shame on the children. Keep an eye on their reaction to announcements and keep talking to them about it and help them know that it's ok to have an allergy (we have no control over who gets them) and that they must not eat what makes them sick. Teach them to ask before they take food as well - a self-control skill that is good to teach to any children - but one worth being strict on early with children with allergies.

Book Review: Managing Your Child's Food Allergies

I heard about this book on the radio and went out and bought it that same day.

The Complete Australia Guide For Parents: Managing Your Child's Food Allergies

It goes through the following things, plus more:

- What is a food allergy
- Understanding anaphylaxis
- Food-allergy testing
- Getting the message across to family, caregivers and schools
- Understanding food labelling
- Keeping your food-allergic child well fed
- Living positively with food allergies

It is a great way for parents new to their child's diagnosis to familiarise themselves with everything about allergies, plus a few chapters of it would be helpful for extended family or friends to read, if they are having a hard time coming to grips with the news. It also considers possible reasons for the unbelievable increase in food allergy in the western world. There are many options but I want to point out (because lots of people think this and say it to the mother) that maternal diet while pregnant/breastfeeding has nothing to do with causing food allergy. That has been scientifically proven.

I am going to go back and read a few chapters again, especially about keeping my child well-fed. I encourage to you get your hands on a copy. I am pretty sure I've even seen it at Big W (which would, no doubt, be the cheapest place to buy it) and you can get it from numerous online stores like Borders (free postage) and Angus & Robertson.

Xantham Gum

I've just bought some because I've read about it on various allergen-free websites as being useful in baking etc. It can be used to thicken and stabilise dairy replacements like soy milk so that you can re-create the richness of sauces normally created by cream, butter or eggs. It also adds volume and viscosity to gluten-free breads and doughs.

My only concern from reading wikipedia is that it can be produced from wheat and therefore can have a wheat gluten residue. So check that it is gluten free before buying it.

I am going to use it the next time I make pizza dough and see what difference it makes. Normally the dough breaks up quite easily when you roll it. So I'll let you know how we go.

For cakes, add 1/4 tsp xantham gum per 150g (1 cup) gluten-free flour.
For breads, add 1 tsp gum per cup of flour.
For pizza dough, add 2 tsp gum per cup of flour.

Menu Planning

After a recent melt down when I was feeling the strain of cooking for my daughter and thinking of meals to cook her that she would eat, I realised that I was doing it the hard way. I was trying to think of what to cook for dinner on the day, with no real planning apart from having staple meats/vegies etc in the fridge. It really makes things a lot more difficult for someone who isn't very good at just throwing fabulous kid-friendly meals together.

So, I have started menu planning my weeks again. I plan a week at a time, make my shopping list and then only have to shop once a week (unless we run out of bananas or yoghurt as tends to be the case!). I have felt a lot less stressed this week. It also helps me look at what my daughter is getting and can show me if I am missing any food groups/nutrients too.

Egg substitutes

Although nothing is ever able to totally replace the glorious egg, there's quite a few things you can use in different ways to still have a similar result. Here's what my research (google only) has brought up:

1. Synthesised egg replacer such as No Egg (by Orgran)
2. Milk/Soy milk
3. Bananas (good for baking cakes, muffins etc)
4. Applesauce (mixed reviews but use for cakes and muffins - won't bind as much I would think)
5. Tofu - good for more egg-dominant meals like quiche (I don't know if I could do it though...! Anyone tried it?). Silken tofu can be used in baking etc as well.
6. Flaxseed - 1-2tbsp ground, add boiling water until it's an eggy consistency and let stand for a little while, adding more water if necessary.
7. Sometimes just adding more water will be sufficient.

I tend to use the No Egg because of it's versatility and it is also a source of calcium (which is a good thing for us).

BBQ Sauce

BBQ sauce has so many ways of being made. It's really important to check the ingredient list and the allergy warning section to make sure your child can eat it. And even then, you need to be wary as you try it. We found one that looked fine for my daughter to eat and then she reacted to it. So we don't tend to give her BBQ sauce at the moment. We discovered one the other night that one brand even has peanuts in it (just as my son was about to eat it!) - so make sure you read the ingredients list and the allergy warnings (the peanuts weren't mentioned specifically in the ingredient list, but were in the warning section).

The main lesson I learnt from this is to assume nothing - read the back of every label if you haven't used that specific product before. Don't assume that because you've had one version of it, the rest will be the same.

Pizza base

I adjusted this recipe from a sister-in-law who got it from a Super Food Ideas magazine years ago.

2 cups plain GF flour (I have discovered F.G. Roberts brand flour and it is working really well)
1 packet dried yeast
3/4 cup warm water
1/2 tsp caster sugar
2 tbsp olive oil
pinch salt

Put yeast and sugar in water and leave to become frothy.
Sift flour (I didn't do this - I think the flour might be a bit weird to sift but I haven't tried it) into bowl, add salt, oil and yeast mixture. Mix to combine.
Turn onto lightly floured surface and knead until it is 'playdough like' (the real recipe suggests til it becomes elastic, but you won't really get that with GF flour).
Add more flour if necessary. Cut in half and roll out to make two rounds.

I reduced the amounts so as to make one small pizza for my daughter. I found I had to add more water but maybe I got the math wrong.

I topped it with tomato paste, sliced mushrooms, diced red capsicum, sliced zucchini and cannelini beans and cooked it at 180C for 15min. Best to put it on baking paper so that it doesn't stick to the tray. I also cooked up a beef steak, planning to put it on the pizza in slices but ended up just putting it on the side since the pizza went in the oven before the steak had cooked enough.