Vacation Part III: The Food

Our successful vacation became a reality mostly because of the food prep before hand. I've mentioned previously we stayed at a beach house where I had a real kitchen. None of this would have worked otherwise.

So...

Here's what we ate. There are links to some recipes. Others are listed below. Enjoy!

Meal 1: Honey Chicken Skewers with Pasta Salad & Fruit
The recipes for this meal are located in my Easter Post.

Meal 2: Italian Chicken Burgers with Two Potato Salad & Fruit

Italian Chicken Burgers are my own invention, but anyone will tell you they prefer them over real hamburgers. At least that's been my experience with people who actually taste them.

Start off with a 1 lb. uncooked ground chicken. Add about 1 tsp. of Oregano, Basil, Italian Seasonings, and Garlic Powder. Mix well and shape into hamburgers. Grill.

They're VERY easy to make, and are delicious. You can add as many toppings as you'd like. But they taste just fine with ketchup too.

The recipe Two Potato Salad comes from the book, The Kid Friendly Food Allergy Cookbook. Can I just say that I LOVE this book!

Here's the recipe:

3 purple potatoes, cooked, cooled, and cubed

3 Yukon Gold potatoes, cooked, cooled, and cubed

1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced

1/2 red onion, thinly sliced (we omitted this ingredient)

1/3 cup rice or red wine vinegar

1/4 cup olive or canola oil

1/3 cup fresh chopped parsley

Salt & Pepper to taste

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (optional) (we omitted this ingredient)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh or dried basil

2 tablespoons chopped olives (optional)

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. If using purchased dressing, omit vinegar and oil.

This recipe is super yummy and tastes SO fresh. One thing to be careful of-overcooking the potatoes. They turn to mush if you cook them too long.

Meal 3: Taco Bar

The taco is a fun meal for everyone. It's very flexible and versatile and will work for picky eaters.

The biggest allergy friendly adjustment I have to make here is making sure the meat is seasoned. Not being able to use packets from the store, I found my own recipe. Actually someone sent it to me.

Homemade Taco Seasoning Packet Replacement

Makes 1 packet

1 1/2 teaspoons paprika

1 teaspoon chili powder (we had to omit because it has cumin in it)

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon salt or garlic salt

1. Stir seasoning and 3/4 cup water into 1 lb. browned and drained hamburger (we used ground chicken); simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

*Because we can't use chili powder I usually add about 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes.

Besides meat at the taco bar I also have:

Black Beans

Rice

Corn Tortillas

Tortilla Chips

Tomatoes

Green & Red Peppers

Olives

Avocados

Salsa

And for those not allergic to dairy products and other ingredients:

Cheese

Sour Cream

Lettuce

With so many mixing options: Tacos, Burritos, Taco Salad, Beans & Rice, etc... no one goes hungry. It's always a winner and perfect for lots of people.

Meal 4: Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

I would like to say I make my own sauce, and I have before, but for vacation purposes, this meal was just a jar of Prego Traditional Spaghetti Sauce. The sauce contains no dairy, no soy, and is all natural. It's great! The pasta was organic wheat. This could easily be substituted with rice pasta. Finally the meat was just ground chicken, although I prefer ground turkey. This is Adam's favorite meal!

Meal 5: Chili Rice

This meal is divine! Again, I haven't found a single person we've served it to who didn't like it. Click HERE for the recipe.

Now, we did make some changes to accommodate Adam that I should mention. Honestly I haven't tried the real version. We omitted the onions, jalapenos, and chili powder. Instead of using kidney beans we used black beans. Lastly, we chose to use ground chicken instead of hamburger or ground turkey. We have used ground turkey before and it's very yummy too.

Meal 6: Hot dogs, Salt Potatoes, & Corn on the Cob

Hot dogs are a staple at our home. When Adam was younger, it was all he would eat. Finding allergy friendly hot dogs for him was really difficult, but we have succeeded. Wegmans carries Applegate Farms Organic Turkey Hot dogs. Besides being delicious, they are super healthy. I don't ever have to wonder what I'm eating either, which is a plus. You may laugh, but we actually order these in bulk. We don't have much food storage at all, but at any given time we have up to 12 packages of these hot dogs. Obviously we brought them with us on vacation.

Salt Potatoes are a central and upstate New York thing, but I've heard they're spreading. If you can't purchase salt potatoes, just buy 5 lbs of tiny potatoes and cook them in boiling water with at least 1 cup of salt. Serve with melted butter. They are really yummy!

Well... That's it for dinners. Next comes desserts!

Dessert 1: Oreo Fest

Both of my children can eat Oreos now, perhaps not all kinds, but the basics. We purchased Golden Oreos, Traditional Oreos, Mint Oreos, and Chocolate Filled Oreos. Adam lives off of these cookies! Quite the yummy treat!

Dessert 2: Mexican S'mores

Enjoy Life has dairy free, soy free, nut free, and I think gluten free chocolate bars now. They are to die for! Our local Wegmans carries them. Both of my boys can eat Honey Maid Original Graham Crackers and marshmallows. So... During vacation they were introduced to s'mores.

Not only that, but they were introduced to Mexican S'mores, my personal favorite. Instead of milk chocolate, use dark chocolate. Instead of Original Graham Crackers use Cinnamon Graham Crackers. The marshmallow is still the same. So YUMMY!

Dessert 3: Ice Cream Bar

Adam doesn't like foods that are extremely cold, but Owen does. He still remembers the day when he had real ice cream. For him we now buy Good Karma Organic Rice Divine Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Creamy Non-Dairy Frozen Dessert. He LOVES it! For Baby A we buy dairy free vanilla ice cream.

Dessert 4: Popcorn Party

I LOVE popcorn. On average I think I eat it at least 4 times a week. The boys love popcorn too, especially Adam. Since corn is a safe food we've thrived on popcorn recipes. You can find them on my other blog Basic Fives. I have many other popcorn recipes too that will probably show up in future posts. Obviously I make alterations for the kids' allergies, but all in all it's a huge hit!

Besides meals we had lots of snack foods around but I won't go into to much detail about that. All I can say is that I gained at least 5 lbs on this trip eating so much yummy food! Hope you enjoy it too!

Christmas Eve Dinner

My goal for holidays is to make EVERYTHING allergy friendly. Here is our Christmas Eve dinner. By far, I think it's the best allergy friendly holiday meal I have ever made or could ever make. All of it tasted so good. Both boys enjoyed it.

The Menu:

Allergy Friendly Roasted Chicken

(sorry for the horrible angle)Basmati & Wildrice Rice Pilaf

click here for recipe

Maple Squash

click here for recipe

Kale with Roasted Peppers & Olives

click here for recipe

Bananas Foster

(without the Rum)

click here for recipe

Dessert 1: Cinnamon & Sugar Popcorn

click here for recipe

Dessert 2: Cornflake Christmas Wreaths

1 bag (10.5 oz.) mini marshmallows

1/4 cup butter/margarine (non dairy)

4 1/2 cups cornflake cereal

Jumbo red nonpareils (I just used sprinkles)

Light corn syrup

Red sour belts (I skipped these)

1. Line 2 baking sheets with nonstick foil or parchment paper. Lightly coat a 1/3-cup measure with nonstick spray.

2. Stir marshmallows and butter in a large saucepan over low heat until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and tint with 5 or 6 drops of food coloring. Gently stir in cornflakes.

3. Scoop 1/3 cupfuls of the mixture and drop into 6 piles on each baking sheet. Let cool 5 minutes. Spray and shape each pile into a wreath, gently compressing the flakes together. Refrigerate until firm.

4. Decorate wreaths with nonpareils or candy balls, attaching them with a dab of corn syrup. Makes 12 wreaths.

Dessert 3: Christmas Ribbon

5 cups boiling water, divided

1 package (8 serving size) or 2 packages (4-serving size) Strawberry Flavor Gelatin

2/3 cup non dairy sour cream or non dairy vanilla yogurt or non dairy plain yogurt

1 package (8 serving size) or 2 packages (4-serving size) Lime Flavor Gelatin

Stir 2 1/2 cups of the boiling water into strawberry flavor gelatin in large bowl 2 minutes or until completely dissolved. Pour 1 1/2 cups into 6-cup ring mold. Refrigerate about 30 minutes or until set but not firm (should stick to finger when touched and mound). Refrigerate remaining gelatin in bowl until slightly thickened. Gradually stir in 1/3 cup of the sour cream; spoon over gelatin in mold. Refrigerate about 15 minutes or until set but not firm.

Repeat with lime flavor gelatin, remaining 2 1/2 cups boiling water and 1/3 cup sour cream, refrigerating dissolved gelatin before measuring and pouring into mold. Refrigerate 2 hours or until firm. Unmold.

Not only was it all allergy friendly, but it was foods the boys loved! Yay!

Christmas Festivities

I am so excited to have found so many wonderful Christmas treats, crafts, and activities that the boys can eat, make, and do.

Here's our plans for the month of December!

Christmas Treats

Allergy Friendly Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Balls

Gluten Free Ice Cream Cone Decorated Christmas Trees
Directions: Purchase gluten free ice cream cones. Frost outsides with allergy friendly frosting, colored green. Decorate with allergy friendly sprinkles, candies, etc...

Corn Flake Christmas Wreaths
(I have no idea where I found this recipe, but I did NOT invent it myself.)

1 bag (10.5 oz) mini marshmallows
1/4 cup allergy friendly margarine
Green Food Coloring
4 1/2 cups cornflake cereal
Allergy Friendly Candy
Corn Syrup

1. Line 2 baking sheets with nonstick foil or parchment paper. Lightly coat a 1/3-cup measure with nonstick spray.

2. Stir marshmallows and butter in a large saucepan over low heat until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and tint with 5 or 6 drops of food coloring. Gently stir in cornflakes.

3. Scoop 1/3 cupfuls of the mixture and drop into 6 piles on each baking sheet. Let cool 5 minutes. Spray fingers with nonstick cooking spray and shape each pile into a wreath, gently compressing the flakes together. Refrigerate until firm.

4. Decorate wreaths, attaching candy with a dab of corn syrup. Makes 12 wreaths.

Allergy Friendly Gingerbread Cookies with Frosting and Decorations
Recipe found at http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org/

Crafts

1. Coloring Christmas Cards

2. Christmas Tree Shapes Craft-found at http://www.dltk-holiday.com/

3. Santa Clause Face Paper Craft-found at http://www.dltk-holiday.com/

4. Pine Cone Ornament-found at http://www.dltk-holiday.com/

5. Winter Windows-found at http://www.fisherprice.com/ under their crafts and activities section.

Activities

1. String Candy on Christmas Tree Countdown Quilt

2. Visit Santa at Bass Pro Shop (free pictures & activities)

3. Christmas Light Drive around town

4. Christmas at Grandpa & Grandma Jackie's house

Trick or Treat

Halloween is approaching all too quickly. I still feel like I have so much to do in preparation for the big event. But mostly it's just picking up a few more items. As mentioned previously, Halloween is the nightmare of all holidays for my boys and their allergies. But I think I've worked hard enough to make the holiday memorable AND enjoyable. I would like to say tantrum free too, but that's asking WAY too much of my 2 1/2 year old.

I've almost completely finished gathering contents for the boys' Halloween bags. While at my parents' home this past week, I counted up exactly how many visits I needed to make before Halloween night, to drop off treats and little gift bags for neighbors, to give my kids when we stop by in costume. There will be 15 allergy friendly stops. I have purchased two Halloween bags for each boy, one for them to put contents in from homes where we know the people, and one for the homes where we don't know the people. I'm hoping this will make taking away dangerous candy much easier. And you never know, perhaps they'll get some candy from strangers that they will be able to eat. We'll wait and see.

Now for the contents... As previously mentioned, the boys are dressing up as Marvel Superheroes, so I tried to keep to that theme with their gift bags and treats. Of course it won't work with everything. It definitely helped me narrow down choices at the Dollar Store, and I'm sure they'll enjoy everything.

Owen is really into stickers right now, so I was able to find these. They should be a hit! Owen should also like this little puzzle cube, especially since he is going to be Iron Man.

Both boys will be able to receive a Frisbee. Even if Adam only uses his as a teether, he'll like it. (The poor little guy is cutting 4 molars right now!)

I'm guessing this little toy will be a HUGE hit with Owen. A paddle AND ball!

Owen has not been introduced to water guns yet, so this will be a fun bath time activity.

Owen enjoys puzzles, and is really starting to try to figure them out. I was excited to find one!

Both boys will receive a sand/clay mold.

Let's not forget cars! One for each car obsessed little boy! (Adam is being the Hulk)

This is Jason's favorite find. The boys love superheroes but have no idea who they are or what they're about, except for knowing their names. Although, Owen does imitate the Hulk quite well. I have no idea where he learned that. Anyways, all the movies we've seen would definitely be too scary for them to watch. We don't have TV and comics are too advanced. But at the Dollar Store of all places I was able to find superhero board books! The boys will LOVE them, especially Owen.

Now for the treats:

I found bubble gum for Owen. He has tried our gum before and didn't like the flavor but always asks to chew gum like Mommy and Daddy. I'm guessing he'll like these flavors.I'm not a fan of these, but allergy AND age friendly candy is hard to find. So I caved and bought Sugar Candy Sticks. Depending on how hard these are, Adam may even be able to have some.Owen LOVES fruit snacks. I found these at Walmart. They are sure to be a hit. Unfortunately Adam can NOT have these though because of the fruit juices in them.Lastly, I ordered dairy free, gluten free, nut free, egg free chocolates! They were quite expensive (About $15 for 22 bite size pieces, once shipping was added to the order), but I'm sure they will be worth it. Both Adam and Owen can enjoy them too! You can find them at Amanda's Own Confections.

I still have yet to pick up a few other items including Skittles for Owen. Willy Wonka candy is safe for both kids too, but mostly hard or sour candy that I'm guessing Owen won't like. I might pick up some Smarties, because both boys can have them. Then I'll make some popcorn bags and possibly homemade candy corn too.

This may seem like a lot, but remember I have to have things ready to trade for the candy that the boys can't have. The cost of Halloween is definitely going to be higher than what it would be for a typical family of four, but I really don't care about that anymore. It's far more important that the boys are able to participate in the holiday traditions like everyone else, even if their Halloween is a little different. Speaking of different-the Great Pumpkin gifts are still being decided, but will be announced soon. I can't wait to have fun with the boys Halloween night!

Allergy Friendly Thanksgiving Festivities

Here are the final plans for our month long Thanksgiving Celebration. Unfortunately there will be no trip to Virginia. It's so funny, just as we make plans, something or many things always seem to come up. Oh well. We'll still be doing lots of fun things!

Thanksgiving Treats
1. Food Allergy Friendly Pumpkin Pie-www.allergymoms.com
2. Allergy Friendly Pumpkin Cookies (same as used in Halloween post)
3. Sweet Turkey Treats with some alterations-www.familyfun.com
4. Thanksgiving Cupcakes

Thanksgiving Activities
1. Charity Donations (Getting rid of ALL the stuff in the house that we don't need!)
2. Football Party & Game
3. Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanksgiving Crafts
1. Thanksgiving Tree
2. Pumpkin Candle Holders-www.familyfun.com
3. Boy Pilgrim Doorknob Hanger-www.dltk-holidays.com
4. Cornucopia Paper Craft-www.dltk-holidays.com
5. Finger Print Turkey Craft-www.dltk-holidays.com
6. Thanksgiving Cards
7. Leaf Place Mats-www.familyfun.com
8. Leaf Rubbing Place cards-www.familyfun.com

My apologies. I could not get links to work again. Who knows why, hopefully the problem will be fixed soon. Meanwhile I'll just label where I get every idea. Hope this helps! We'll definitely be having fun with food allergies in November. Details about food for the football party and Thanksgiving dinner and dessert to come in a later post!

Allergy Friendly Halloween Festivities

Halloween is coming soon and I am FINALLY ready to celebrate the holiday with lots of fun allergy friendly festivities including crafts, treats, activities, and more. All crafts and activities are centered around my 2 1/2 year old Owen. Here are the final plans:

A Halloween Treat a Week

1. Dirty Popcorn Balls

2. Pumpkin Cookies

3. Chex Muddy Buddies/Sunbutter Puppy Chow

4. Pumpkin Decorated Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes (I have to make some adjustments to the recipe.

Halloween Crafts

1. Decorate House

2. Jack-o-Lantern Faces Cut & Paste

3. Autumn Hand Print Wreath

4. Paint Pumpkins (rather than carve)

5. Leaf Rubbings

6. Easy Pumpkin Craft

7. Halloween Cards

8. Autumn Scissors Skills Project

9. Decorate Halloween Cupcakes

10. Decorate Halloween Bag

Special Activities

1. Visit to Pumpkin Patch

2. Halloween Movie Night

3. Library Toddler Time Halloween Party

4. Family Halloween Party

5. Halloween Night Trick or Treating

Other Snack Possibilities

1. Homemade Candy Corn

2. Chocolate Hobgoblins

3. Creepy Spider Cookies

Hope you enjoy! Specifics about our Allergy Friendly Halloween Night are coming soon!

For recipes and crafts, click on craft for link. All pictures come from websites where recipes were found.

Note about post: For some reason the links to the crafts don't work. You can find most of the crafts at http://www.dltk-holidays.com/. I believe there may be one craft that I found at http://www.familyfun.com/. Just search under their Halloween or Autumn sections. Sorry about that!

Adam's Allergy Friendly Birthday

Adam's first birthday went amazingly well. Despite his allergies we all had lots of fun! The celebration started off with an allergy friendly breakfast for both of the boys-Adam's favorite cereal: Trix! After a small immediate family morning celebration, preparations for the next day's massive birthday party commenced. Thirty-five guests were expected. Thirty showed up.

My first task-the birthday cake! The recipe for the cake is in my last post. The decorator's icing recipe is Wilton's Buttercream Icing but with rice milk and Fleishman's Unsalted Margarine in place of butter. Everything was egg free, dairy free, gluten free, nut free, and so much more!

Knowing the cake wouldn't be enough for everyone I made cupcakes too, using plastic decorations I found on the Wilton website. If I were to do everything over again I think I would have put more effort into the cupcakes and less into the cake. I'm learning that rice flour cakes are very difficult to bake evenly. Cupcakes always turn out nice though.

Snacks for this party were quite the dilemma. Did we serve all allergy friendly foods, or only some? Would the party be outside if there was good weather or would we be stuck inside? In the end, with a 70% chance of rain forcasted, we decided to go ALL allergy friendly, which turned out to be a HUGE blessing.

For snacks we served plain potato chips, plain tortilla chips, watermelon, cantaloupe, and a bowl full of Kix and Trix. We served bottled water as a drink. There were no complaints about any of it!When the party was over and our guests had left, there was SO MUCH food on the floor. We couldn't get to it fast enough. Adam was picking up leftovers and putting them in his mouth. That's when we learned the importance of serving allergy friendly food at parties! Can't wait for Owen's birthday. I already picked up the pan that I want to use to make mini train shaped cakes! It will be a Thomas the Train birthday party.

Peanut Butter Balls

Tuesday I was in need of a "no baking required" dessert that Owen can eat. Remembering a delicious treat from my past I began to search for peanut butter ball recipes online. All that I found had either wheat or dairy in them. That is until I found these!
Owen LOVED helping me make them. The only thing I would have changed was the type of peanut butter I used. I used Jiff with 33% less sugar, and it caused the peanut butter balls to be REALLY sticky and not harden as well, but they were still delicious. I didn't have any non dairy chocolate, so we didn't dip them in chocolate, but they were delicious without it! Here is the recipe. The picture and recipe are from Little Joys website.



For peanut butter balls:
18 oz. smooth peanut butter
2 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 1/3 cups ground rolled oats
12 Tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened (We used non dairy margarine.)



For chocolate coating:
12 oz. bag chocolate chips (We'll use non dairy chocolate chips.)
2 Tablespoons butter (We'll use non dairy margarine.)


Line a cookie sheet with parchment or waxed paper. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl until evenly combined. Scoop the peanut butter mixture by the rounded teaspoon and form into 1-inch balls, arranging the balls on the parchment-lined sheet. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes, or until very firm. The best way to test is to pick one up, bring it close to your mouth and bite it in half. It shouldn't be at all squishy. Leather hard, if you’re a ceramicist.

If you desire chocolate covering your peanut butter, pour the chocolate chips and butter in microwaveable bowl (or double boiler). Melt the chocolate and butter, stirring occasionally, until they’re smooth and creamy. Coat the balls in chocolate — you can carefully pour it over top of the balls, or you can do what I did and drop one at a time into the bowl, spin it around or spoon chocolate on top until it’s coated, then lift it out with a fork, tapping the fork on the inside of the bowl a few times to let some of the excess chocolate drip off. Replace the balls on the tray and refrigerate again until chocolate is set.



Makes about 48. Probably more if you don’t eat any out of the bowl.

Serving suggestions: These would be fun for kids to make, to give away at holidays, or for girlie bridal and baby showers. These are also really good for breakfast.


I can't wait to make these again. Owen was SO excited!!! They will make a great holiday give away that Owen can help make! Perhaps someday Adam will grow out of his oats, peanut and soy allergies and be able to eat them too.

Peanut butter balls are wheat and dairy free!

Allergy Friendly Birthday Party Preparations

Adam's birthday is in three weeks. I can't believe he's turning 1 year old. Lots of family and several cousins will be here celebrating the event with us. Plans have been underway for months now. I finally understand why Heavenly Father blessed me with the talent of planning and organizing things. In the past three months I have learned that EVERYTHING must be planned out in great detail when dealing with kids with food allergies. A simple trip to the mall can turn into a nightmare when it's time to eat if I haven't packed lunches for everyone. Food court foods are off limits. My husband and I wanted to go out to eat as a family this week. Adam is eating table food now. Running down the list of restaurants that we are familiar with in town, we realized that there is not one place that can provide Adam with an allergy safe balanced meal. Very few if any permit people to bring in their own food. Family gatherings are now very stressful with buffets of dangerous foods, plates and drinks left out everywhere... Adam is now on the move, putting everything in his mouth. Despite these challenges, we're managing quite well.

Adam's birthday party is the biggest challenge I'm facing right now. It is a soccer ball birthday party. We are expecting a crowd of at least 30 people ranging in age from newborn to 83 years old. There will be food, drinks, etc... everywhere. I've decided to make sure all of the food is allergy friendly for both Adam and Owen. Luckily they can both eat plain potato chips and tortilla chips (without soy bean oil). Plain popcorn and an allergy friendly caramel corn are safe too (not necessarily for a 1 year old, but if he accidentally eats a piece left on the floor, it won't cause an allergic reaction). For drinks I was able to find bottled water decorated with sports balls. The bottles are even shaped like balls.

Last week Adam successfully ate Cherrybrook Kitchen Gluten Free Dreams Chocolate Cake without any allergic reaction. Besides being gluten free it is peanut free, dairy free, egg free, nut free, and soy free. He LOVED it! We have a cake AND a boy who's not allergic to cocoa!

Unfortunately this week Adam had an unsuccessful trial with soy. Unless anyone has information as to where I can find a soy free, dairy free margarine, the poor boy will not be able to have decorative frosting on his cake. Although I do have a glaze recipe that I may use on his cupcake.

My biggest success lies in the goodie bags. Eleven goodie bags needed filling. There will be six girls, four boys, and a baby. All of the bags are allergy friendly! Just look at the contents:

For the Baby: For all of the kids:

For the boys:For the girls:
It may seem a bit overboard to make sure the goodie bags are allergy proof too, but chances are the children will open them before they leave the house. If there is food in them that Owen and/or Adam can't have and they see it, they'll wonder where theirs is. I'd like to avoid this. The second threat is that if the goodie bag were to have treats that my boys can't have, and one were left lying around somewhere, leave it to one of them to find the bag, empty the contents, and start chowing down. This way all is safe for everyone. I'd be surprised if the kids don't like the contents of their bag.

When I went to one of my friend's children's parties my friend handed out goodie bags to adults and/or families too. I LOVED this idea. Obviously parents go to a lot of trouble finding a gift for your child, bringing them to the party, etc... It will be so nice to have a way to say thank you right at the party. My friend's goodie bags were filled with cookies. Obviously we won't be doing that, but I did come up with another idea. Instead of cookies, everyone will be receiving a 1 year portrait of Adam. Over 75% of the people coming to this party are family, so they'll love an updated photo (especially since the last one they received was when he was 6 weeks old). Those who don't make it to the party will receive the portrait in the mail with a "We missed you!" card.

Here's a sneak peak at the unedited photo taken by photographer Bill Lockhart:

It should be a fun birthday party don't you think? At least in the way of goodie bags and thank yous. More details about the party will be posted after the big event! I can't wait! It truly is amazing that we've all made it through this first year. There are definitely reasons to celebrate!!!

Grandparents Coming to Dinner

This week marks my first week of allergy friendly meals without specialty foods from health food stores. It took a few hours to make the menu for the week, but it will be worth it. After having our grocery bill triple over the last two months, I'm anxious to resume a more typical food budget. Although I still will end up buying milk alternatives for the boys and flours on special occasion.

The menu was a bit tricky in places. Grandparents are coming to visit. I wanted to prepare a dinner that they would enjoy, but still allergy friendly for Child 1. It had to be simple and not exotic.

And of course we can't forget dessert! There is a rule in our house that when company comes over we have dessert. This has been extremely hard with the newly diagnosed allergies, but I finally hit the jackpot and found a fun recipe that everyone can have (minus the 10 month old).

Here's what I came up with-

Dinner: Grilled Chicken and Vegetable Chicken Kabobs with Rice
(Click on meal to obtain recipe.)

Dessert: Caramel Corn

Recipe given to me by Dana R. Dwyer
1/2 cup margarine (Fleischmann's Unsalted Margarine contains no gluten or dairy. It does contain soy.)
1/2 c. honey
Dash of maple flavoring
4 Quarts popped popcorn (or more), cooled.

1. Melt margarine and honey. Bring to boil and cook for about 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in maple flavoring.
2. Pour over popcorn and stir. Let cool.

-Can add molasses for more flavor.
-Sugar can be substituted for honey.

What a great way to have fun with food allergies!