Tag Archives: Allergy

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To say that mornings and I do not get along is something of an understatement, and early mornings are the worst. I am, without a shadow of a doubt, a genuine, bona fide, card-carrying night owl and so anyone who saw me out and about at 6.30am last Saturday, was probably left checking their watches and convinced that something extraordinary was going on. The occasion was Allergy UK‘s first annual conference, being held at St Thomas’ Hospital in London. I first heard about the event at the start of this year and had been excited about the prospect of finding out more about allergies from the experts attending and presenting at the conference. The day had been designed to address the needs of individuals and families dealing with allergies on a daily basis and consisted of speeches and workshops as well as open Q&A sessions held during the afternoon.

Professor Peter Howarth of Southampton General Hospital was the keynote speaker for the day. He opened the conference with a fascinating insight into the on-going and future research that is currently being carried out in the area of allergies and allergic responses. He talked about the recently well-discussed research into peanut allergies, which is looking at whether it is possible to “switch off” the allergic response through regular exposure to peanuts in known sufferers, and whether this approach could be applied to other allergies too.

I was also fascinated to learn from Professor Howarth about the link that appears to exist between Vitamin D and the allergic response. Studies carried out suggest that Vitamin D can help to reduce the allergic response, particularly in individuals suffering from asthma or urticaria and it is evident that much more research into this area could be extremely beneficial, although there is no funding available for this at the moment. This is definitely an area I will be keeping an eye on to see if it could be of benefit to M in the future.

Mike and I then attended 2 afternoon sessions, the first of which was a child allergy workshop and proved invaluable, not least because Dr Jo Walsh, who ran the session, explained clearly and concisely the difference between intolerances, IgE allergies and non-IgE allergies. Her excellent explanation simplified what is a complex and much-misunderstood area and would be an amazingly useful tool when trying to explain M’s food allergies to anyone who comes into contact with him. She also touched briefly on how to manage the risks to an allergic child out of the home and brought to our attention the NICE guidelines drawn up in 2011, that cover the diagnosis of food allergies and intolerances in children.

The second workshop was run by Dr Helen Brough and was aimed at looking at dealing with allergies with teenagers. Although this workshop promised a lot, I felt that it didn’t really deliver on our expectations. The time allowed was just too limited to even begin to touch on what is a complex situation and certainly didn’t really offer any practical tips on how to deal with your teenager and their approach to life with their allergies. She focussed a lot on the Adolescent allergy clinics they are beginning to introduce, but the time was spent discussing what the parents and teens in the room would like from such clinics, rather than on what is actually provided.

All in all, we were impressed with the day and would be keen to attend another one should Allergy UK decide to hold it again. There was lots of information available on the day, but I would recommend that the workshop sessions be extended in length as 45 minutes was just not long enough to spend in discussion on such an involving subject. I will be keeping my ear to the ground to see if Allergy UK run another conference next year and will let you know the minute I hear anything about it.

The Great Easter Egg Hunt

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Easter is always a tricky time for those suffering from food allergies, but there are some great options out there if you know where to look. The selection for those who are dairy-free has improved and increased over the past 5 years and several of the leading supermarket chains now stock some of these alongside their “normal” counterparts. My findings and recommendations for future Easters (as it’s probably a little late for this year now!) include:

Choices Dairy-Free White Chocolate Easter Egg

Dairy, wheat, gluten and egg-free
Price: £2.29 – £4.99
Available from: Sainsburys; Freefromforkids.co.uk; alternativestores.com
Also available in Caramel and Milk Chocolate

Kinnerton Dairy Free Easter Egg

Dairy, wheat, gluten and egg-free
Price: £4.99
Available from: Sainsburys; Freefromforkids.co.uk; Tesco; Morrisons

Sainsburys Freefrom Easter Egg

Dairy, wheat, gluten and egg-free
Price: £2.99
Available from: Sainsburys

Chococo Dark Chocolate Eggs

Dairy, wheat, gluten and egg-free
Price: £9.50+
Available from: John Lewis; Chococo
Also available as Ginger, Honeycombe

NB – these are not guaranteed dairy-free as they are produced in a factory that also handles dairy chocolate, but a good alternative if you’re able to manage the risk

As always when it comes to M, our challenge for Easter is a little trickier. Not only do we have to seek out a dairy- and soya-free option, but, due to his hypersensitivity, we also have to avoid any chocolate alternative that contains soya lecithin. This isn’t an easy find, but I have discovered these few that are suitable, fun and delicious too:

Moo Free Organic Dairy Free Easter Egg

Dairy, wheat, gluten, soya and egg-free
Price: £3.49 – £7.09
Available from: Sainsburys; Freefromforkids.co.uk; Alternativestores.com; Goodnessdirect.co.uk
Also available in Bunnycomb or sold in sets with a soft toy

Maoam Pinballs Eggsplosions

Dairy, wheat, gluten, soya and egg-free
Price: £2.49
Available from: Freefromforkids.co.uk

Haribo

Dairy, wheat, gluten, soya and egg-free
Price: £4.00
Available from: Waitrose

In years past, we have also opted not to buy Easter Eggs of any description, instead choosing small gifts such as books, crafts and even gardening equipment one year. Whatever your choice, I hope you find your “perfect” egg and enjoy a marvellous Easter!

And that’s a wrap

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I don’t know about you, but I frequently find that mealtimes can get a bit repetitive, especially when we’ve had to cut yet another staple from M’s diet. Much as I love to cook and bake, sometimes I really, really hate having to decide what to prepare for dinner. Add into the mix the need for packed lunches on a daily basis, which are generally formed of the same key ingredients due to a restricted diet and I end up pulling my hair out in desperation. M’s recent longing for a prawn mayonnaise sandwich meant that I had to seek inspiration and work out whether it was possible to create something even vaguely similar or not.

The easy bit, believe it or not, was the prawn mayonnaise. Using a squirt of some Really Not Dairy original mayonnaise, a dash of Heinz tomato ketchup and a generous serving of prawns, I was able to whip up a reasonable prawn cocktail. I diced a chunk of cucumber, grated some carrot and threw a handful of sweetcorn in to add a couple of portions of vegetables to the filling too. This mayonnaise is egg-, dairy- and soya-free and tastes more like salad cream than traditional mayonnaise, but it does the job and has been a great find for M.

Next came the more challenging aspect, the bread. G is able to enjoy Genius bread, which is the best gluten- and wheat-free bread we’ve tried, but unfortunately it contains both egg white and potato starch which are now excluded from M’s diet. M’s sandwiches are usually made from Sakata rice crackers as his bread is really only edible when toasted, but these are small and don’t lend themselves to being a critical part of a prawn mayonnaise sandwich! Mike and I both enjoy eating wraps, either for lunch or filled and baked for a Mexican inspired dinner and at last year’s Allergy and Free From show we stumbled across the amazing Bfree gluten-free wraps. These taste delicious and both children enjoyed them whilst we had some. Unfortunately, they are incredibly difficult to source in the UK, though most larger Asda stores do stock them now and I headed to our nearest shop with my fingers tightly crossed to see if they were available.

Part of my regular shopping routine, even when buying foods that I’ve bought before, is to scan quickly through the ingredients list for anything that isn’t M-friendly. Recipes do change, even on tried and tested products, so it’s worth those few extra minutes to avoid days or even weeks of pain because of a missed offending food. To my dismay, I noted that the wraps contained potato starch, which is now a forbidden food for M and I thought my chances of buying a good alternative to satisfy M’s cravings were over. I went home and even attempted to make some M-friendly wraps, but the rice flour didn’t lend itself to the recipe and the kids understandably turned their noses up at the finished product that was presented to them.

It was a couple of weeks later when I was in our local Waitrose, that I spied a new-to-me package on their free-from shelves, Newburn Bakehouse gluten-free wraps. I picked it up to cast my eye over the ingredients, fully expecting to find either egg or potato flour or both lurking there, but to my delight, this new product contained nothing that wasn’t M-friendly and I quickly snapped up the remaining pack to take home and try.

I prepared M’s lunch using one of the Newburn Bakehouse wraps and a generous spoonful of my home-made prawn mayonnaise and called him to the table. He was overwhelmed to see his much longed-for sandwich waiting for him and made short work of devouring it all. He relished every bite and, what’s more, requested a second wrap, something that doesn’t happen all that often in our household. The wraps looked and tasted good and, with 3 to a pack, there was enough left for his school lunchbox on Monday. Both M and I award them with a much-deserved 10 out of 10 – a great product, delicious to eat and suitable for a MEWS-diet, what more could a Mum ask for?

Something nutty for the weekend

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Having tried a variety of snacks over the last few weeks – Dorset apple cake, chocolate chip cookies, ginger cream biscuits and banana bread – I decided it was once again time to turn my hand to something new. This time I felt inspired by the children’s love for all things peanut butter and decided to venture into the world of peanut butter cookies. I’ve sampled these delicious treats when visiting family and friends in Canada, but have never thought to bake them at home. We are extremely lucky that neither M or G suffers from a nut-allergy, so I was keen to perfect this recipe as another addition to my ever-expanding repetoire of M-friendly snacks.

"Perfect" cookies, courtesy of www.alaskafromscratch.com

“Perfect” cookies, courtesy of http://www.alaskafromscratch.com

The recipe I found was easy to follow, easy to adapt and most definitely easy to bake. The first batch of cookies spread to an unbelievable size, so once those had been devoured – and trust me, they really didn’t last very long at all – I used the remainder of the dough to cook another batch. This time I popped a spoonful of dough into each well of a muffin baking tray, which produced a more even and crispier version of the cookie. M loved the second batch even more than the first as he prefers his cookies with a crunch.

You can find my adapted recipe here, but I have to confess that I’m still working on reducing the sugar content as they are extremely sweet and I think could be just as good with a little less sugar. Enjoy the weekend!

My “not-so-perfect” ones

School trip!

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WOW! Haven’t things changed since we were young? Way back when, I remember the school trips from my Junior school years. They always seemed to be to places of historical importance or museums and not necessarily to the places my friends and I would have chosen for a day off school. As I got older, the trips involved a little more travel and even, very, very occasionally, a theatre trip, or suchlike, that required additional financial input from willing parents. These days school trips appear to have changed dramatically or, at least, that appears to be the case this term for my pair. They appear to be far more exciting than any school day out that I remember.

Courtesy of http://www.education-gate.com

M’ school trip happened a couple of weeks ago and, as it fell on a day I didn’t have to work, I tagged along for the ride. The day itself was grey, wet and miserable, but that didn’t seem to dampen the spirits of the 27 7- and 8-year olds going out for the trip. We clambered aboard the bus and off we set, amongst much discussion of just how long it would take for us to reach our destination. Fortunately, a mere 20 minutes later we arrived, disembarked and were ready for the next 2 hours. Our location? Pizza Express!

Last year, Pizza Express teamed up with the Children’s Food Trust to encourage children to get cooking. They offer free visits to schools, where the classes are taught about the provenance of the food they eat, learn basic health and safety in the kitchen and have the opportunity to make their own pizza to enjoy. What was even better, from my point of view at least, is that Pizza Express offers an excellent experience for food-allergy sufferers, which meant that M was able to participate fully on the day itself.

They started with a tour of the kitchens and a quick step into the enormous fridges – if they dared. We saw the pizza ovens, where we were told that a pizza takes no more than 4 minutes to cook, which certainly left us adults scratching our heads and wondering quite why it takes so much longer when you’re waiting at your table! This was followed by a food-based quiz, where 1 of M’s classmates impressed me by being able to identify oregano just from a photo and the children were able to taste, if they wanted, some of the ingredients they would be using later. Next, the pizza chef on site prepared from scratch one of the most popular pizzas, cooked it and offered a slice to everyone there.

Finally, as every child was now nearly at bursting point, they were sent to wash their hands thoroughly before starting to prepare their pizzas. An impressive array of ingredients was set out on the tables, enough to satisfy even the most picky of eaters, without overwhelming them with choice. Pizza bases were passed along the lines and the restaurant manager made certain that M’s gluten-free base was on its own tray to avoid the risk of any cross-contamination. M was given his own spoon and first go at the tomato sauce, so I was confident that his pizza would remain “safe”.

Every Pizza Express restaurant has a reference folder which shows every ingredient used in their recipes and indicates what allergens each contains. I was confident that the pepperoni provided was M-friendly, but it was fantastic to be able to check so easily and without fuss. I had prepared some slices of our newly discovered Violife cheese too, which meant M could finally have a pizza with cheese, rather than without which has so often been the case. M stood happily with his friends, laughing and chatting as they each designed their idea of the perfect pizza.

Once the pizzas were made, including those of all the teaching staff and parent helpers present, they were popped into the massive ovens to bake. As soon as they were ready, they were placed into individual takeaway boxes for transporting back to school and each box carefully labelled with each child’s name. All the hard work done, it was back to the coach and to school, ready for a pizza lunch.

It was great morning out and once again my heartfelt thanks go to Pizza Express for ensuring it was an experience that M could share in too, despite the multiple food allergies. Not only do they provide great ingredients and plenty of allergen information, but they are clearly conscious of the risks of cross-contamination for food-allergy sufferers and work hard to ensure those are minimised as much as possible. I was impressed with the birthday party we had there for G and equally so that time and care was taken to make sure that this school trip was 100% successful too. I have no idea what trip is planned next, but I suspect it will take a lot to beat this one!

Banana bread to rival the Godmother’s!

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Courtesy of minionslovebananas.com

As part of our recent plan to given M a substantial bedtime snack, M and I sat down to discuss what sort of foods he could choose from before bed. I originally proposed a bowl of cereal or a couple of slices of toast, but quickly learned that this caused M no end of confusion. Sometimes M struggles with his understanding of the world, can take things a little too literally and is very much a creature of habit. Unexpected changes to his routine have been known to throw him for a loop and cereal at bedtime proved to be one such thing. M very much associates cereal with breakfast and just couldn’t grasp that it would be okay for him to have it again later as a snack. No amount of patient explanation would persuade my obstinate lad to change his point of view and so I gave in to the inevitable, abandoned that suggestion and hunted around for some “acceptable-to-both-of-us” alternatives.

We agreed on a few staples from the fridge and the store cupboard including Wot no Dairy! yoghurts, Frank* bars and Nakd bars, but I wanted to add something new to the equation too. Thinking hard, I remembered that M had been requesting banana bread for a while and I wondered if I could once again find and adapt a recipe to satisfy this craving. Around 4 and a half years ago, one of M’s godmothers, L, looked after him for an afternoon whilst I was at a check-up at our local eye hospital. I’m not sure she’ll even remember the occasion, but M certainly does, predominantly because that afternoon they baked banana bread together. This banana bread has gained a position in M’s memory as the best, most delicious banana bread in the whole wide world ever and nothing has ever compared, or even come close. He talks about the amazing smell and delicious taste, whilst the rest of us have, I have to confess, pretty much forgotten all about it,

My challenge, therefore, was set. To create a loaf of banana bread that not only met M’s current dietary requirements, but that also needed to equal the memory of L’s bake all those years ago and I was ready to give it a go. I found a relatively simple recipe, adapted it to suit and set about whipping up my masterpiece. The smell of baking banana bread tantalised both M and G, who were forced to wait patiently until bedtime to sample it.

Our kitchen was silent as they took their first, and then subsequent bites and Mike and I waited nervously for the verdict. G declared it instantly as the “best thing she’s eaten, ever” and was full of praise. M was a little more discerning in his comments. My banana bread was great, as the empty plates in front of my children attested to, BUT it comes a very close second, as L’s still tops the rankings in his opinion. So L, if you’re reading this and have even the vaguest recollection of that now infamous banana bread and the recipe you used, please give me a clue, so that I too can bake the “Best banana bread in the world”.

Ginger creams

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Since our appointment at GOSH at the beginning of January, I have had to flex my baking muscles in an attempt to create some tasty treats for M. Some of our old favourites have had to be shelved due to the additional exclusion of potatoes and raisins from his diet and choices have become limited. I’ve chosen to work within the constraints of rice flour, despite how granular it can taste, as we are fortunate to receive this on prescription for M. This means that every new recipe has to not only be delicious, but also moist enough to incorporate the rice flour and disguise its texture. I can’t imagine that my baking and cooking adventures will continue at the current rate, but this week’s offering is a definite winner and one I’m delighted to be able to share.

Courtesy of thedailybalance.com

One of my all-time favourite treats has to be Fox’s Ginger Crunch Creams, which combine a deliciously crunchy ginger biscuit with a cream filling that has a hint of ginger too. I’m a big fan of ginger of any kind, always have been and, having been treated to one of those delicious biscuits recently, I decided it was about time I made a version M and G can eat. I have never made ginger biscuits before, so wanted a recipe that was relatively simple to adapt for M. I found. and rejected, a number of recipes that I felt had too many steps and ingredients to work in a M-friendly environment, before settling on this recipe by celebrity chef, Paul Hollywood, who is now perhaps best known for his role as a judge on the Great British Bake-off.

As this recipe for his Mum’s ginger biscuits contains just 5 ingredients, I felt up for the challenge and set about making my M-friendly adjustments. The whole process was quick and easy, and I was very impressed with the results. I decided to leave a handful of biscuits plain, but whipped up a delicious ginger “cream” filling to sandwich the remaining pairs together. I used a simple home-made buttercream icing that I flavoured with some ground ginger and created my home-made ginger creams.

Both G and M enjoyed the biscuits, although I may have added a little too much ginger to the filling for their taste, which was reflected in their scores of 7.5 out of 10. I have taken their comments on board and will try to remember to reduce the amount of ginger I use the next time I bake these treats. I am certain that it would be relatively easy to also adapt both the biscuit and cream filling recipes to mimic the others currently produced by Fox’s, or indeed any other flavour that might be enjoyed. The rest of the family loved them and I can highly recommend them dunked in a nice cup of tea!

Time for elevenses – choc chip cookie anyone?

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Another peaceful Sunday afternoon could only mean one thing – another chance to try my hand at a new recipe. Since our last visit to GOSH, M’s diet has become even more restricted and I desperately needed a new treat to add to his lunch-box and hopefully bring a smile back to his face. Whilst the children were outside enjoying some long-awaited sunshine and Mike was working on our bathroom renovation plans, I sat at the kitchen table, pouring over my vast array of cookbooks. This may come as something of a surprise, but I only have one that is dedicated to allergy-friendly cooking, instead I prefer to take my inspiration from regular recipes, which are adapted to suit M’s food needs.

Courtesy of theguardian.com

I had already looked through my store cupboard to see what interesting ingredients might be waiting for me to use them and stumbled across a pack of Moo-free dairy-, and soya-free chocolate drops. For those who have yet to discover the delights of Moo-free chocolate, this amazing product has been a real revolution for our household. Not only do they produce chocolate buttons, but themed chocolate bars for Christmas and even Easter eggs that are suitable for both dairy- and soya-allergy sufferers. I added their Cranberry and Hazelnut chocolate to M’s Rainforest flapjacks recipe, which became an instant hit in our household last summer.

Chocolate drops could only mean one thing – chocolate chip cookies. I had a quick hunt through the books and found a recipe that seemed to be easy enough to convert for a M-friendly batch. It came from a fundraising cookbook called “Squeeze your Lemon”, which Father Christmas kindly left in my stocking a few years ago. I hadn’t before attempted a recipe from here, so was excited to see just how well the cookies would turn out.

The recipe itself was easy to follow, though the end result was a little sweet for my tastes. G and M sampled them warm from the oven and, after mere seconds of deliberation, awarded them – and me – a more than satisfactory 9 out of 10. The only complaints were that they were too crumbly, which is probably due to the rice flour used, and that they were too puffy! M insists that they would have been near-perfect if only I had made them a little smaller and flatter. Either way, the recipe worked well and a cookie has found its way into 2 small lunch-boxes every day this week. A definite bake to add to my ever-increasing repertoire, which makes it a success in my book.

7 years to diagnosis

Searching for an answer

Tag Archives: Allergy

Eosinophilic Awareness Week 18th-24th May 2014

The Digestive Biscuit Challenge

Allergy UK Annual Conference

The Great Easter Egg Hunt

And that’s a wrap

Something nutty for the weekend

School trip!

Banana bread to rival the Godmother’s!

Ginger creams

Time for elevenses – choc chip cookie anyone?