Fall Harvest

Every fall we head an hour west to spend the day picking apples, pumpkins and partake in a friendly competition through this year's corn maze race. 

Some years the apples are all picked over. We were lucky this time with plenty of Empire, Ida Red, Cameo and Breaburn varieties to chose from. This is Katie's favorite!

A friendly competition has always been healthy for our family but it is getting a bit out of hand. This year it felt like we were running a 5K instead of a friendly trek through the corn maze. What happened to the "no running" rule?

It was such a beautiful day that even the bees were buzzing.

Pumpkin picking was extra hard this year with most of the pumpkins rotten or devoured by the squirrels. We did find four very large, not to bad looking ones. We are a very picky crew. One likes it tall, one likes it round, one likes it a bit more oval. I look for the unusual, not necessarily pretty, pumpkin. I believe the word being passed around this year was "ugly".

Our carved pumpkins and a recipe to follow.

Allergy Testing

The results are in for Katie's new allergy testing. Her last one was two years ago so we felt like it was time to see if things had changed since then. The blood test was done on 16 different items which included peanuts, all nuts, sesame seed, milk, eggs and chickpeas.

The bad news is that she is still severely allergic to peanuts and several tree nuts, sesame and chickpeas. The good news, her milk and egg allergies have gone down to the point that the doctor wants us to start introducing them slowly into her system. Yeah! Maybe Katie will eventually be able to eat food she has never eaten before.

I talked to Katie about this new opportunity and the reception was a bit lukewarm; "I have been not eating these ingredients since I was little but now you want me to eat them?" How do you change something that has been part of you for 13 years? How do you start eating items with an egg or some butter or milk when you have been avoiding them for so long? Has this become an identity issue?

Katie's confidence has grown since we have stated this blog to the point that she has been sharing her "yummy" baked goods with neighbors and friends. She even has a couple of friends who are vegetarian and vegan. She is proud of what she has accomplished and we are too!

How do I feel about this? Could I also have some reservations? How do I change the way I've been cooking for the last 12 years? Actually, I like cooking this way! I have no desire to use butter, milk or eggs in my baked goods. And my son and I only have dairy on a limited basis because of various problems with them. So now does it becomes a question of our way of life. Do we continue as we have always been or do we change the way we look at those "forbidden foods"?

I believe that it is in Katie's best interest to know whether she actually can or cannot eat these items, so we will gradually test her on eggs and dairy. Once we know how these will affect her, Katie can decide how she wants to incorporate them in her life. It will definitely make things easier when she goes out with her friends or at other social situations. I'm not sure if I will change the way I cook now but we will see. Who knows, maybe we can get a deep dish pizza and she can actually eat it!

It's Just Peachy

Look at those peaches! Sweet, juicy, amazing! Hurry up and buy those peaches from the local Farmer's Market before they are gone. I'd recommend that you stand over the sink when you bite into them, they are that juicy!

I have made this recipe year after year because it is a quick and easy recipe that everyone will love! You can substitute apples, pears or apricots in this recipe.

Peach Fruit Crisp (no dairy, eggs, nuts)

 5 C     Sliced peaches

3 T      Sugar

½ C     Regular rolled oats

½ C     Packed brown sugar

¼ C     All-purpose flour

¼ tsp.  Ground nutmeg

¼ tsp.  Cinnamon

¼ C     Dairy-free margarine

Cut up fruit and place in a 8 inch square baking dish and stir in sugar. Next, make the topping by mixing oats, brown sugar, flour, nutmeg and cinnamon together. Cut in dairy-free margarine until mixture is in crumbles. Sprinkle topping over the peach filling.

Bake at 375 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes until fruit is tender and topping is golden. If you like, serve with favorite dairy-free ice cream.

FARE's Eight Annual Teen Summit

It's time to sign up for the FARE's 8th Annual Teen Summit on Nov. 15-17 for teen's with food allergies. This year the Summit is going to be held at the Hyatt Regency on Capital Hill in Washington D.C.

This summit is open to pre-teens and teens from ages 11 to 19 years of age who have food allergies. There will also be special sessions for siblings and friends of allergic teens and for parents to share their experiences and concerns.

FARE has set up group sessions by age during the day and fun activities at night. Some of the specific topics they will be discussion include:

• Social Issues
• Peer Pressure
• Dining Out
• How to Be Your Own Advocate
• Friendship and Dating
• High School Navigation
• How to Prepare for College

This is a great opportunity for allergic teens to be around other kids from all over the country who are just like themselves. For a detailed list of activities, speakers and topics simply go to www.foodallergy.org/teensummit.

Kissing and Allergic Teens

Who would have thought that life for allergic teens could get even more complicated than they already are? Now it seems that they need to worry about something that is a normal part of growing up and something every teen thinks about. What will their first kiss be like!

A teen’s first kiss is the rite of passage that every teen dreams about and experiences sometime in their life. In fact, the innocent first kiss is a favorite subject among many teen writers and the Hollywood film industry.

Who doesn’t remember the scene from the coming of age tale, Sixteen Candles, where sixteen year old, Samantha finally gets a kiss from her dreamy crush, Jake Ryan.

Or from one of my favorite movies, Pride and Prejudice, where Mr. Darcy leans over to kiss Lizzie on the forehead, her eyelids, her cheeks and then her mouth all the while saying “Mrs. Darcy, Mrs. Darcy, Mrs. Darcy.” Which by the way was not in Jane Austin's book or in the European version.

Maybe I’m a hopeless romantic but I believe that, good or bad experience, everyone remembers their first kiss. But for those teens with food allergies, their first kiss can be one of terrible fear or anxiety— What if they ate something I’m allergic too? What if I am too embarrassed to tell them about my allergies? Maybe I won’t tell them and see what happens? These are all serious questions for those kids with allergies.

This recent article from Time Magazine's Health and Family titled How My Nut Allergy Made Me More Monogamous http://healthland.time.com/2013/09/16/how-nut-allergies-made-me-monogamous/ is a great “read” on this subject. The author, who is now out of college and has been through the teen years, talks about what dating has been like with severe allergies. She admits there were times when she was younger and took chances that could have ended up badly because she was too embarrassed to talk about her allergies. She admits that she was not acting smart at the time and urges other teens not to do the same, “… I worry that young teens will act as recklessly as I have, with dire consequences.”

It is for this reason that we have already had a brief, age appropriate talk about our allergic teen being very careful. I hate to think about my 13 year old being interested in boys but I am also realistic to know that just like Samantha or Lizzie, her first kiss will happen whether I want it to or not. I just hope, for her, it is much, much later!

Can You Live on Zucchini Bread?

If you are my son, apparently you can! I made this super yummy chocolate chip zucchini bread yesterday and he ate 5 slices and had another 2 this morning. He was even thinking about taking it to school for lunch. Hold on buddy, what about the rest of us?

I have zucchini everywhere so I've been looking at zucchini recipes all week but I wasn't sure of the reception I would get when they found out there was zucchini in it. We have a bunch from our backyard garden and our neighbor has been sending them over from her garden. Apparently she has radioactive zucchini in her garden because it was three times the size of one of ours. Only half of her zucchini was used for this recipe which made both loaves of bread. Now that's a zucchini!

Yesterday dawned cool and rainy and I know it was the perfect day for me to bake one of my favorite foods from growing up. I've found a great recipe from the Hell Yeah It's Vegan blog http://hellyeahitsvegan.com/vegan-zucchini-bread/. Since the recipe was already vegan I didn't have to convert it too much but I did make a few changes. I cut the nutmeg in half to 1 tsp., changed the type of sugar to a combo on white and brown sugar and used 3 c of all purpose flour. I also used mini-chocolate chips from Enjoy Life instead of the larger ones because I like the mini-chips better and then I chopped the zucchini instead of grating it to hide the "green stuff" better.

This zucchini chocolate chip bread was really "tasty" and the zucchini and flax seeds made it a healthy snack. The top was especially good with the perfect amount of crispness to it. My son actually asked if he could just eat the tops from both loaves. I loved that no only did my son enjoy it but everyone else in the family loved it as well. 

Vegan Zucchini Chocolate Chip Bread (no dairy, eggs, nuts)

Makes: 2 loaves

Ingredients:

6 tbsp ground flax seeds
½ C warm water
1 C light brown sugar
1 C sugar
½ C oil
½ C applesauce
1 tsp vanilla
2 to 2½ c grated zucchini (I chopped ours)
3 C all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
1 C chocolate chips (I used mini chips) or raisins, optional

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease two 9 x 5 loaf pans. Mix together flax seeds and warm water and let sit for 10 minutes. Add the sugar, oil, applesauce, and vanilla and beat well. Chop (or grate) the zucchini and add to the wet ingredients and stir until combined.

In a separate bowl, sift together the remaining dry ingredients. Add dry mixture to wet and stir until they are mixed well. Add the chocolate chips in then divide the batter between two loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 50-55 minutes, or until knife inserted in center of loaf comes out clean. Let cool a few minutes before slicing.

Food Allergy Documentary on Discovery Channel

On September 7, FARE (Food Allergy Research and Education) and the Discovery Channel debuted a new documentary about food allergies called “An Emerging Epidemic: Food Allergies in America.” This hour-long documentary was narrated by Steve Carell and showed several families and individuals who are coping with severe food allergies and what it is like to live with life-threatening food allergies. Also mentioned were some of the new research and clinical trials going on today. Did you know that food allergies affect every 1 in 13 kids in American and that food allergies have increased 50% since 1997?

Even though it is an hour long segment, I think it is worth watching. I thought the documentary was very well done especially for those skeptic individuals who do not understand how scary it can be for the child and parents affected by life threatening allergies. Some of the stories really bring home the severity of their unique situations. I'm also glad the documentary chose to highlight several severely allergic teenagers because of the unique circumstances they face and how hard it is the older and more independent they get. One teenage girl has such a long list of allergies that she has only been out to a restaurant a dozen times and only with her family but was thrilled when they finally found a restaurant she could go to with her boyfriend.

I was happy to hear that of the kids highlighted, they all seem to have a sense of ownership when it comes to their allergies, even the young ones. While they know their allergies can be life threatening, they don't want them (allergies) defining who they are and what they can do. Some of their comments included:

"I'm not going to let a food allergy hold me down."

"There's always another solution."

"I don't let it define me."

I think our allergic kids are very special indeed and much more grown up then we ever were!

If you missed it last Saturday but missed out, it will air again on Saturday, September 21 at 8 a.m. ET/PT or you could watch it they way I did, online at http://www.discoverychannelcme.com/patient-education/food-allergies or available for download on iTunes.