Sunday, September 28, 2008

Cinnamon buns and rollercoasters

I don't know how other allergy moms have dealt with it, but I've been in a total baking funk since we realized the full scope of Andrew's allergies. Yes, I'm confessing to almost 3 years of buying safe pre-packaged stuff full of chemicals because I can't figure out what -- and how -- to safely cook for my kid.

But now that Andrew's in kindergarten, there are all sorts of treat days and birthdays and other opportunities for other parents to bring in not-so-safe food that he's not allowed to have, so I'm kicking myself in the butt and trying out a bunch of recipes.

And here's my total plug for the cookbook in the photo below: What's to Eat? The Milk-Free, Egg-Free, Nut-Free Food Allergy Cookbook. (And now that I've found the link for that cookbook, I see that she's got a new cookbook out too -- it's going on my shopping list!)

She's got a cinnamon roll recipe in this cookbook that's so good, only one survived past the first hour out of the oven. I forgot to get a shot of them when they came out, and that's Geoff's hand stretching out as far as he can reach (anything that's a few inches onto the counter is out of his reach), to get another one.


Last Friday was Tim Horton's donut day at school for the kindergarteners, so we made another batch of cinnamon bun dough on Thursday, and deep-fried it for Andrew to eat instead of donuts. They were really good, he reported that evening, and he didn't even seem sad that he hadn't gotten the Tim Horton's ones.

I've also gotten the kindergarten teacher a bag of mini-Oreos and a box of Transformers fruit snacks for the random birthday parties. Apparently that's gone over well -- some of his friends have wanted his Oreos over the treats that the birthday kid's folks provided. Oh, and apparently Andrew was kissed by a girl in kindergarten last week. :-)

The other thing Andrew's been doing is asking us to cut his rice cheese up into thin slices. He's been seeing all these ads for cheese strings on TV, and I guess he's also seeing cheese strings at school, so he wants his cheese to look long and stringy too. I have such mixed feelings about this. I'm glad that he's so resourceful and creative, but I hate that he's feeling like he wants his food to look like everyone else's food. And I'm sad that he might be feeling left out.

And there are the boys in car #3 of the kids' rollercoaster at Playland. They're both such adrenaline junkies that they would get off the ride and run back to the beginning of the line to do it again. I think they rode this one about five times before they finally wanted to move on to the mini-golf. We went yesterday, on the second-last day of the season, and they had a fabulous time.

15 comments:

Kate said...

I love that cinnamon roll recipe - it's absolutely delicious. I never even thought to *fry* it - OMG. I'm all excited just thinking about it!
: - )

www.katespot.com

wenat said...

I added raisins to the dough, rolled it flat, and let the boys at it with some cookie cutters. After I fried the dough, I rolled the "doughnuts" in a mix of brown sugar and cinnamon -- it was so tasty!

Unknown said...

It's really hard to be creative sometimes, but it sounds like you're doing great! We keep a safe treat in class for those birthdays too.

Libby said...

Your boys are both adorable! I have the first Coss book, but haven't tried the cinnamon rolls. That may change shortly... Libby

Anonymous said...

I've used that recipe book also. It's a great book.
I just wanted to post a Hello from Illinois. I have an allergy blogspot also. It's statelinefast.blogspot.com
Take Heart,
Bev

Becky @ BoysRuleMyLife said...

I have that same cookbook - I'll have to try those rolls! Thanks for the suggestion!

I'm also wondering what brand of rice cheese you use? All the ones I have seen contain casein and I'd love another option beyond soy cheeses. Thanks so much!

Maggie said...

The What to Eat? book was a HUGE help to me when I first started cooking for my son's allergies. I haven't used it in far too long. I'll look out for her new book too.

It is hard trying to know whether your food allergic kids feel left out or not. Sometimes having homemade treats can backfire too. For two years in a row I made homemade donuts in May for Alex's school when they were having a donuts with dad day. This year he had to fight to get some they went so fast!

Linda Coss said...

I'm glad you're all enjoying my recipes. It never occurred to me to try frying that recipe! :)

All 3 of my books are available at www.FoodAllergyBooks.com (and I've got my recent TV appearance posted on this page, too). Eight of my recipes are posted on my site, including a muffin recipe and a cookie recipe from my new book, "What Else is to Eat? The Dairy-, Egg-, and Nut-Free Food Allergy Cookbook." I hope you all will give them a try!

Unknown said...

It does take some creativity when you have an allergic kid. I know when I first found out the extent of my son's allergies (dairy, gluten, soy), we simply ate the most basic meals for the longest times. Then I started to long for a scrumptious chocolate cake or a delicate and complex taste, and I started to get into it. Now, I have found some good web resources that are using all kinds of creativity to provide yummy food without forbidden ingredients. I personally like Katrina's Gluten-Free Goddess recipes (http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/) and I also sometimes include a few tricks of my own at www.beallergywise.com

Unknown said...

We love that cinnamon roll recipe too! I also regularly make the Wheat Germ Baking Powder biscuits from that book. If you make them larger, they're great for sandwich or burger rolls. Did you know that she (Linda Coss) has a new cookbook out. I think it's called, "What Else is to Eat?"

Joanne
www.foodallergyassistant.com
foodallergyassistant.blogspot.com

Nowheymama said...

Sounds great! What else have you been cooking lately? I love to read about what other allergy families create.

Thanks for leaving me a comment. :)

TxMom said...

Hi there! We have similar allergies (my daughter is allergic to dairy, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, sesame, and coconut). Aside from "What's to Eat?" I love "The Dairy-Free, Egg-Free, Kid-Pleasing Cookbook" by Theresa Kingma: http://www.dairyfreeeggfreekidpleasingcookbook.com/ . Also, I just started a blog that might be helpful to you -- it lists what we eat on a daily basis: www.foodallergyfamilyfun.blogspot.com .

Unknown said...

I also have that cookbook! It is great. Eat, Learn, Live (ELL) is a not-for-profit foundation that just released a new entertainin guide and cookbook entitled "The Party is at the Safe House". It includes 130+ allergy-free unique recipes.
Visit ellfoundation.org Products to view.

Angie McCullagh said...

I have that book too. It's awesome. Bakin' Without Eggs is a great one too.

Bliss said...

Thanks for your blog and recipes.

We are allergic to a little bit of this and some of that but can manage to eat most stuff in moderation.

I also have a lot of mommy friends who have children with allergies. It seems to be the norm now rather than the exception.

I got here by doing a search on Google for dairy-free pumpkin pie.

Yaaaaaaayyyyy Google! :o)

Thank you again.