It started with a Facebook question from Scary Mommy about being THAT mom. Then Theta Mom shared her experience being THAT mom. And then last night, I caught a post from the Food Allergy Mama about a thirteen year old girl who died last week following an allergic reaction at a school holiday party and I could ignore it no more. I am becoming THAT mom. What do I mean? I am referring to the mom that other moms dislike because she makes things complicated. The mom who takes the food fun out of school parties. The mom whose one child determines that the rest shall go without. Food allergy moms have to be THAT mom. We have no choice. We don’t want to make things complicated or a pain in the you-know-what. We just want to keep our kids safe. I’m not quite THAT mom, not yet. But I will be and probably sooner than I think. My son will be school-age soon enough. I don’t like becoming THAT mom; its not really in my nature to request special treatment. But is advocating for a safe, … [Read more...]
For the Love of Apples
I love anything apple. Apple juice. Apple cider. Apple pie. Apple cake. Apple dumplings. Apple crisp. I especially love apple crisp but I never seem to make it right. I recently tried the apple crisp recipe in The Earth-Bound Cook. It came out ok but not great. I fault the baker, not the recipe. I used oat flour instead of whole wheat pastry flour because, well, that’s what I had on hand. Doesn’t quite do the trick. Pastry flour probably makes for chewier crisp. I omitted the nuts because 1) I didn’t have any because little guy is allergic and 2) I don’t like them in my desserts. In this case, I think you need the nuts for the necessary crunch. And I didn’t peel the apples because I’m lazy when it comes to peeling any fruit or vegetable. I just don’t like to. The apple peels made the apples stringy. My husband was not a fan and asked me to let him peel the apples next time. Baker fail. Overall, my version tasted like baked cinnamon apples with too many oats on top. Maybe … [Read more...]
The Food Allergy Grinch Who Ate Halloween
If Halloween had a Grinch, this year it would be me. I didn’t want to deal with the issues that food allergies bring to what should be a fun holiday. I didn’t want to explain to my little guy why he couldn’t have candy. I didn’t want to be the helicopter mom at the Halloween party. So… We didn’t go to the Halloween parade and party at his school. And we didn’t go trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. Instead, I reluctantly bought candy at the last minute and I cheated on his costume – he wore his Superman PJs. And it turned out to be one of the best Halloweens I’ve celebrated in a long time. He had so much fun just sitting at the front door waiting for the trick-or-treaters to come by and give them candy. He’d say “Trick-or-Treat guys” and drop a piece of candy in each open, waiting pillowcase. The teenagers (and there were a lot of them) thought he was adorable in his Superman “costume.” And I realized that I can’t, nor should I, shelter my son because of his food allergies or … [Read more...]
What’s a GMO?
Did you know that yesterday was Non-GMO day? I didn’t either until I saw it on Twitter. Wait. Are you wondering what a GMO is? GMO stands for genetically modified organism. Its an organism that has been created through biotechnology, not by nature. So, then a Non-GMO is an organism that is not genetically engineered. I know. Its confusing. I didn’t understand what it meant either until I read The Unhealthy Truth by Robyn O’Brien. I had noticed Non-GMO labels on many of the organic products I was buying and thought “ok, whatever that means.” Then I got to the “Soy Secrets” chapter in O’Brien’s book and realized I wasn’t the only one who didn’t know what the label meant. It had been a foreign acronym to her, too, until her youngest was diagnosed with food allergies and she began to research the food supply. “At first I thought GMOs were a kind of nutritional supplement,” (O’Brien 64). And what she found was shocking! I don’t think I could do the book justice by paraphrasing it … [Read more...]
