Disney magic

We just finished a few day mini-vacation at Disney and got a great juxtaposition of best-in-class and mainstream allergy handling. At Disney, THE chef comes out and asks about allergies and, if necessary, goes back to check on ingredients and prepares an individual meal for whomever needs it. There were usually two or three safe choices for us. 

Contrast the with the Courtyard by Marriott (a "partner" hotel just off property) breakfast buffet where no "chef" showed up and our instructions were "everything except the Danishes" were safe. Then we go up and find a bowl of peanuts at the waffle station and find out later everything is cooked in vegetable oil (soy). Whoops. Enjoy your tiny box of Rice Krispies. 

So for allergic folk, go see Mickey but bring your own breakfast if you're staying off property. 

Apple Butter (in the crockpot)

After having a possible allergic reaction to some jam, I'm very jumpy buying jam. When I find a 'safe' one, it costs $4 for 8 oz which seems to go fast here. I decided to make some jam.  Plus then I get to control the amount of sugar which isn't an allergic thing but just all around beneficial. Can't wait to try some other in season fruit but as it is apple season, I started with Apple butter. Here's the recipe, adapted from All Day Apple Butter from Allrecipes.com. My grandmother made a great apple butter I'll try next time- just can't beat the ease of this crockpot recipe.

Original recipe makes 4 pints 

5 1/2 pounds apples - peeled, cored and finely chopped 1

1 1/2cups white sugar

 1/2 cup brown sugar

 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (prefer McCormick spices because well labeled for allergens)

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves 

1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Place all in a slow cooker and mix well.

2. Cover and cook on high 1 hour.

3. Reduce heat to low and cook 9 to 11 hours, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is thickened and dark brown.

4. Uncover and continue cooking on low 1 hour. Stir with a whisk, if desired, to increase smoothness.

5. Spoon the mixture into sterile containers, cover and refrigerate or freeze. ( I used True Seal by Anchor containers for putting the apple butter in fridge and freezer. When you press the top of these, it expels the air. I didn't want to add canning to my list of to dos and quite frankly, am a little intimidated by it.)

Soy in personal care items

So disappointed to go through our shampoos, body washes, lotions and hair products and discover so much soy! Since our little one is anaphylactic to soy and we want to be able to snuggle him without restriction, we are eliminating soy containing personal care items from our home. Yesterday, I found a number of personal care items (mostly in hair products but also in a few lotions) here with soy protein in them in addition to other soy ingredients. Soy protein is the biggest concern (although we are getting rid of all) because the protein is the most potent part of the allergen. As for our little fellow, we'll be switching him to California baby shampoo and conditioner (soy free) today. We already love their sunscreen and it has the added bonus of being readily available at Target.

P.s. We were already careful about nut ingredients. Nut oils are an occasional problem in personal care items. Some people also (on the recommendation of their allergist) avoid Shea. Due to nut allergies. I don't have enough information on Shea at this time to know whether we shouldn't include

Companies' Good (mostly) Label Policies

Labels are all over the place! The food labels have to state the allergen above a certain threshold. However, particularly for peanut and treenut, sensitive kiddos like mine can have a severe reaction below that amount. So it is very important to know if items are made on the same line and same equipment. We seem able to get this information for peanuts and treenuts but not for soy. Only time will tell if that's ok for Gus. I am making a twin post for brands I am uncomfortable with. Here are some manufacturers that seem committed to labeling for possible cross contamination or they have a comprehensive allergy friendly manufacturing policy readily accessible:

*Horizon: email received 10/2013

*Quaker: email received 10/2013

*Kelloggs:  10/2013  
 http://www.kelloggs.com/en_US/FAQ.html?category=/content/NorthAmerica/data/lookups/faqsCategories/faqsCategory_29 

Trust the label?

Found this great site:. She's investigated a bunch of labels to see if they label for cross contamination (a big issue for my super allergic little one). She notes whether she finds them reliable or not and why. As she hasn't included some of our favorite labels, I'm expanding on it here:

Trader Joe's: their PRIVATE label items are great! They label for cross contamination  and for 'natural flavorings' and spices which is huge for us (soy hides a lot in 'natural flavorings' and of course technically it is natural). In addition they follow good manufacturing processes for equipment cleaning and component segregation. Can not wait until they open here next year! Here's a link to it in their own words.

365 brand at Whole Foods: another good labeler. Again, it isn't all safe but they label for cross contamination which means I can actually figure out at the store if the item is safe for us or not! The exception is sometimes they don't put an allergen statement 'if there isn't room' (grrr) and advise us to call in that instance. To avoid needing to call about everything- I am only buying things there that do have an allergen statement but isn't allergic for us (i.e. 'made in a facility with milk products')- it isn't a perfect system but at least I can get information this way. We currently use two of their organic flours for baking with no issues and I found a bunch of items that weren't safe so the labeling really helped me eliminate unsafe products. Here's a link to their allergen info and a helpful FAQ.

Applegate Farms: oh my goodness, love love love them! They have a great tool on their website for plugging in your allergens and getting a list of safe products. I put in peanuts, tree nuts and soy and got a great list. In general, so many times soy safe foods are also organic so organic is a good place to start looking. Here's a link to that tool.

Enjoy Life: this is just the tops of the brands! They make products that are top 8 allergens safe! So if we can find thir products, we buy them! 

Ian's: this brand actually has some pre-made meat products safe for our allergies. And let's face it- some days you just need some safe chicken nuggets in the freezer! They also have a nifty food allergen calculator where we punch in our allergens and get some 'safe' foods. 

Udi's: They are always gluten and nut free facility for baked goods. They do have some cookies with nuts but those are made in a different facility. They are excellent about labeling- says right on the front when they are nut and soy free! Looking forward to trying some of their muffins and cookies from the freezer section of my local natural food store. I can't find allergen specifics but here's a link to their general website.

Katz: Also at the freezer section of our local natural food store. We just enjoyed their donuts yesterday! Ours were labeled right on the front (love that!) soy, dairy and nut free (as well as gluten free) but I think that is only some of their products. They don't have allergen specifics on their website but here's a link to the general website.

2 recent reactions...more food sleuthing begins

Had a teeth grinding sort of day, but let me back up. On Thursday, My little one had a reaction to the food he was eating. He said his tummy hurt after eating and had hives on his face after a lunch of homemade bread (with egg, milk, yeast, pillsbury bread flour and Pillsbury wheat, and salt), Barney Butter (which he just tested positive on Rast but negative on skin), Ikea Lingonberry jam, and probably some fruit I've forgotten. I gave him Benadryl. That day, I was a little torn about whether I should give him the Epipen. It subsided quickly.

Fast forward two days to yesterday. Made another loaf of homemade bread (with Pillsbury white bread flour, Quaker oats, water, yeast, butter, salt), butter (land O Lakes with natural flavoring but I called them and it wasn't soy), the same jar of Lingonberry jam, pineapple I cut up, and Horizon chocolate milk. He began having hives around his mouth and saying his tummy hurt. At this point I am very worried about giving Benadryl again afraid it will mask the progressing symptoms. I wait and he tells me 'there is a hair on my tongue, ants are biting me, I am just very tired' and his tummy still hurts and hives are progressing. At this point I absolutely positively most certainly should have given the Epipen. Instead I gave Benadryl. It is so dumb but we just gave him the Epi and took him to the hospital by ambulance last week and I didn't want to traumatize him further. I will NEVER do that again. I will give the Epi. I will, I will. 

So now, we have no idea what caused it. And why was the second reaction worse? because of the food or because I waited to give medicine? Some cause theories:

1. He IS allergic to almonds despite the tests. And I had cross contaminated the jam for the second reaction.

2. The jam was cross contaminated with nuts or soy at the factory.

3. The chocolate milk has nut or soy exposure (although that doesn't explain Thursday- I bought it Friday).

4. The bread flour has thiamin mononitrate which can be derived from soy. The regular flour has this too and Gus has been eating things made with our regular flour which has thiamin mononitrate without reaction- if it is the thiamin mononitrate, maybe this is explained by it coming from different sources in the two different same brand flours?

5. He's allergic to something else we don't about. Something in that lingonberry jam?

Where is Angela Lansbury when I need her?

Candy

Trying to make a list of 'safe' (soy, treenut and peanut) candy. So far...

All chocolate candies are out.
All gum is out so far. Has soy.

Yum Earth are Great! Everything free. At Target, Publix, and Whole Foods. Suspect TJ's are these too.Yummy suckers. :-) http://yummyearth.com/ingredients.html

Dum dums are safe of the top 8 allergens. (Check out the soy oil information to make sure you're comfortable with it.) http://www.spanglercandy.com/faqs/allergen-information

Skittles original flavor are free of peanut, tree nut, and soy (email received 10/2013).

Smarties are peanut, tree nut and soy safe. They have a great allergen chart here: http://www.smarties.com/allergen/

Surf sweets (whole foods) are free of the top 10 allergens and artificial coloring and sweeteners. They also happen to be delicious! http://www.surfsweets.com/faqs.php