Tag: vegan

Eating Out With Allergies in Madison, WI

foodallergiesmom

Last weekend I went on a girls’ trip to Madison, WI with my daughters and my mom. As you can imagine, I was a little concerned about trying to navigate eating while there with Asa’s multiple food allergies in combination with my Celiac Disease. Avoiding milk, egg, peanuts, tree nuts, and gluten isn’t exactly an easy task! I posted in some food allergy groups I’m in on Facebook looking for recommendations for our travels and some people definitely delivered! I also had several people tell me that Madison was a great city for food allergies and let me tell you… they were right!

The first day we got there, we went to a restaurant called Ollie’s based off of a recommendation. It was such an awesome place! Looking at their website immediately made me feel comfortable. They talk about food allergies on their home page which is always a great sign. When you walk in the door, they offer fidgets and sensory items to take to your table. They also provide noise cancelling headphones if you need them! They had a vegan menu and a regular menu and their menus clearly labeled gluten free items as well. The waitress was great and went to the back to talk to the chef about Asa’s allergies to ensure what we wanted to order would be safe for her. The kids were excited because they even had MARKERS instead of crayons for the kids menus. This was their dream come true! I was able to eat cheese curds (a Wisconsin staple) that were gluten free and they were delicious! We had no reactions and everything was super yummy!

That night we went to an ice cream shop that was recommended by multiple people – The Chocolate Shoppe. This ended up being Asa’s favorite part of the whole trip. She’s never ordered “ice cream” from a restaurant before. We’ve always been nervous to and not many places have safe options for her. But since multiple people recommended them, we decided to try. Their website also made me feel better about their awareness of allergens. She got the Strawberry Hibiscus Italian Ice and LOVED IT! She could not stop talking about how she got ice cream from a shop. It was the first thing she told her dad on the phone! They also had great gluten free choices for me!

The next day we hit multiple stops! We went to Yola’s Cafe for breakfast. We had to wait quite a while because it was a Saturday morning and they were busy, but it was really good! They had amazing, fluffy gluten free waffles and were able to make bacon in their separate fryer just for Asa!

For dinner that day, we went to bartaco which ended up being the best meal we had the whole time – so good in fact that we went back again the next day before leaving town! I picked the restaurant based solely on the fact that they were rated high on the Find Me Gluten Free App and was planning on Asa eating food we brought for her. When we got there, I asked the waitress about the menu and found that there were only a few items that weren’t gluten free! Yay for me! I then told her that I was sure Asa probably couldn’t eat there and we brought her food. She asked what her allergies were so I told her. She then uttered a statement that I’ve never had any server say to me before… she said, “Oh! That’s really not that hard!” And then she proceeded to tell me all of the things on the kids menu that she could eat! I was stunned. I’ve never had anyone tell me that her allergies weren’t that hard. The waitress has no idea what she did for me that night! She made me feel so calm and comfortable. Asa was able to eat chicken, corn wheels, and a fruit kabob. She scarfed it so fast and was so excited to come back the next day for more! If only every restaurant experience could be like our experience at bartaco!

My delicious gluten free tacos!

Overall, our experience eating out in Madison, WI with food allergies far exceeded my expectations! I packed a ton of food that we didn’t even have to touch because of how much Asa got to eat out. I had to come home feeling jealous of our experience in Madison! I hope this blog helps other travelers!

Our Allergy Warrior and Her Allies

foodallergiesmom

I just need to take a minute to acknowledge how much it means to an allergy parent when other parents take the time and energy to go out of their way to make my child feel included.

If you’re an allergy parent, you will immediately know what I mean. And if you’re not an allergy parent, I hope you take a couple minutes to read this to understand how just a couple small gestures can mean the absolute world to someone.

We have been incredibly fortunate to be surrounded by some amazing families so far in Asa’s life. Her friends at school have been awesome with her allergies. I’m sure a lot of this is due to the wonderful teachers that she has had and the way that they educate the kids in her class about her allergies. But it is also due to the kids’ amazing parents. This has been evident by how many parents have taken the time to reach out to me personally when planning birthday parties, in-class treats, and in-class parties to make sure that Asa has safe snacks and treats so that she isn’t left out. We are used to bringing our own goodies to birthday parties and keeping safe treats at school for her. It’s just part of her life. But parents making her feel included not only means the world to us, it means the world to HER.

Today we went to a birthday party where the mom reached out several times ahead of the party to make sure they had safe treats in lieu of cupcakes for Asa. It was adorable because the birthday kids (they are twins) were both so excited to come show Asa the snacks they got her and Asa was beaming. One kid that didn’t know Asa asked why she had a tub of icing sitting at her spot of the table and the birthday girl said, “Because Asa has allergies and the cupcakes aren’t safe for her! So we got her something that is!” The pride on Asa’s face was so evident. Her friends had her back.

I can’t overstate these moments. As a parent, there is nothing better than watching my kid’s friends stick up for her and keep her safe. And as a mom, nothing means more than other parents going the extra mile to make my daughter feel included. They spent extra money on her today just to do that. And it doesn’t go unnoticed by me. Those are moments I don’t forget. And this wasn’t the first time. Other parents have told me that their kid begged to have an “Asa-safe” cake or told them to make sure to buy Skittles because Asa loves them.

These little acts of kindness mean more than these parents and kids will ever know. So if you are ever faced with an opportunity to do one, I really encourage you to think of a way to include those that are probably left out a lot. They won’t forget it! ❤️

Asa with her tub of icing, Skittles, and Starburts 😍

Vegan Pancake/Waffle Mix!

foodallergiesmom

When you have a child with milk and egg allergies, you spend a lot of your time re-vamping recipes to make them safe for your family. So many foods, especially breakfast foods, contain eggs and milk. Doing a google search for recipes sometimes leaves you with bland foods or gritty textures and can leave those of us that are used to “regular” recipes unfulfilled. But there is hope!

My husband spent a lot of time perfecting his pancake/waffle mix recipe and I want to share it with you all today!

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1 egg equivalent of Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer
  • 3/4 cup of oat milk (you can use another dairy free milk, but we really recommend oat milk because we think it has the best consistency)
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
  • pinch of salt

Directions:

Mix dry ingredients together first. Make your egg replacer by following directions on the back of the bag. After the egg replacer is made, mix the oat milk into the egg replacer. Add that combination to the dry ingredients and mix it all together. Then add in your olive oil, vanilla extract, and maple syrup. To get desired consistency, add water as needed (We normally add about 1-2 tbsp of water but it may not be necessary. We feel like it makes them fluffier, though.) Use can use this batter for both waffles and pancakes!

When I say that this pancake/waffle mix is delicious, I mean it! Trust me, you want to try this. You won’t be able to tell that it is egg and milk free. Everyone in our house loves it – our daughter with allergies, as well as the rest of us! In fact, my oldest daughter says that she prefers them to the regular ones! If you try the recipe, make sure to let us know what you think, and make sure to thank my husband – this recipe was all him!

Yummy Vegan Biscuits (Repost)

foodallergiesmom

Biscuits and gravy has always been one of the best meals my husband makes. He’s been dying to find a way to let our daughter try them but her dairy and egg allergies have made that difficult. Today he adapted a recipe found on Pinterest to make vegan biscuits and they were DELICIOUS!!! We’ll attempt gravy soon and I’ll share once we find a good recipe. But for now I’ll leave you with the biscuit recipe! PS – they were taste approved by everyone in our house! Once again, I’ll include exactly the items we used for those that may not know where to start with using good substitutes, but feel free to modify to your favorite brands if you want!

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 1/2 cup Country Crock Plant Butter (sticks – chilled and cubed)
  • 3/4 cup Oat Milk (we used Silk brand) chilled in the freezer

Instructions:

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and place the cubed plant butter and oat milk in the freezer.
  • Combine sugar, salt, flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a mixing bowl. 
  • Use a pastry cutter (or a fork if you don’t have one) to add the chilled cubed butter into the dry mix. This will make the mixture a course ground consistency. 
  • Add the oat milk and work into the flour to form a crumbly, soft dough. Pour out onto a floured surface and knead into a 5-6 inch rectangle. Fold in half and knead a total of 3 times. You should end with the same 5-6 inch rectangle.
  • Roll the dough out with a rolling pin and cut about 6-8 biscuits using a biscuit cutter or the mouth of a juice glass. Reknead the remaining dough and repeat these steps to cut more biscuits. 
  • Brush with melted plant butter and bake for 11-14 minutes or until edges are golden brown. 

**This recipe is dairy and egg free. The Country Crock plant butter, however may contain soy so you’ll want to swap that for a different vegan butter if you have a soy allergy! 

If you try this recipe, make sure to let me know how you like it! It’s definitely going to be our go-to biscuit recipe from now on!

Super Simple Fried Ice Cream!

foodallergiesmom

Ever wanted friend ice cream but didn’t want to mess with actually having to deep-fry something? Well look no further! Here is a super easy 5 minute recipe! Added bonus – you can even make this vegan!

Ingredients:

  • Vanilla ice cream of your choosing (I used a vegan ice cream to keep it allergy friendly!)
  • Corn flakes (or you can substitute Frosted Flakes or Honey Nut Frosted Flakes)
  • Sugar
  • Margarine or butter (again, I used a vegan margarine to keep it allergy friendly)
  • Honey and/or chocolate syrup

Directions:

  • Scoop out your ice cream and put it in the freezer.
  • Add margarine, corn flakes, and a bit of sugar to a small pan and sauté the corn flakes for a few minutes. If you choose to use Frosted Flakes or Honey Nut Frosted Flakes (like I did here!) you can skip the extra sugar.
  • Lay the corn flakes onto a plate and gently roll your ice cream in the corn flake mixture. You can use your hands to add extra of the corn flake mixture into your ice cream.
  • Drizzle with honey (pictured), chocolate syrup, or any topping of your choice. You could also add whipped cream and a cherry if you want to get extra fancy. 😉

This super simple treat is so yummy! Enjoy!

Vegan Banana Crumb Cake

foodallergiesmom

If you’ve ever read my blog before, you can probably tell that I’m a fan of banana breads and finding new ways to spruce them up! I stumbled across a banana crumb cake on Pinterest and adapted it to be vegan and allergy-friendly! It’s perfect for anyone with milk, egg, peanut, or tree nut allergies!

Ingredients for Bread:

  • 2-3 ripe bananas
  • 1/2 cup vegan butter softened (We love Country Crock Plant Based Butter or Earth Balance vegan butter)
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 1/2 cup flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer (or another egg replacement of your choosing) – need the equivalent of 2 eggs

Ingredients for Crumb Cake Topping:

  • 1/2 cup butter (softened)
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup flour
  • 3/4 tsp cinnamon

Instructions:

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and lightly spray a 9×13 pan
  • Combine the softened butter (for the bread) and sugar in a bowl and beat until well blended (I just used a fork to do this but you can also use a mixer.) Add in mashed banana, egg replacer, and vanilla, and mix to combine.
  • Add flour, baking powder, salt and stir until combined. You will have a thick mixture – don’t let that scare you!
  • Pour into the bottom of the greased pan.
  • In another bowl, combine all ingredients for the crumb cake topping. Work the mixture together using a fork to form crumbs. You don’t need to overdo this – picture a typical crumb cake – the lumps are a good thing!
  • Sprinkle the crumbs evenly over the entire bread mixture. This will be a pretty thick layer of crumby yumminess!
  • Bake for 35-40 minutes (or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean).
  • Enjoy warm or cooled!

Let me know if you try out the recipe!

Vegan Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffins

foodallergiesmom

People often think that cooking with food allergies is daunting. But it doesn’t have to be! I have a super yummy banana bread muffin recipe that I love to spruce up with things like chocolate chips or blueberries! Today I’m going to share the chocolate chip banana bread muffin recipe that is totally vegan! (So it’s perfect for dairy and egg allergies!)

Ingredients:

  • 3 ripe bananas (mashed)
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 1/4 cup flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 cup vegetable or olive oil
  • 1/2 cup applesauce
  • 3/4 cup dairy-free chocolate chips (I used Nestle Simply Delicious semi-sweet morsels this time!)

Instructions:

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
  • Mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately (minus the chocolate chips)
  • Combine the two bowls together
  • Add in chocolate chips
  • Put batter into baking cups in a muffin/cupcake pan. Bake for 23-25 minutes. (You can also make as a banana bread loaf for 55-60 minutes, but I think the muffins cook a little more evenly!)

Like I mentioned above, I love to make these with blueberries as well (this is how my husband prefers them), but my oldest daughter and I LOVE the chocolate ones for a sweet treat 🙂

I wanted to highlight the vegan chocolate chips we used! They are Nestle Simply Delicious Semi-Sweet Morsels. We bought these at Target. There are a wide variety of dairy-free chocolates out there now so I encourage you to go seek them out! I highlighted another one of them on a different blog here. You seriously can’t tell the difference between “real” chocolate chips and these!

If you try this recipe, let me know how you like it!

Product Review: First Aid Beauty!

foodallergiesmom

Not only does my daughter have food allergies, but she and I both have extremely sensitive skin, and now my newborn son seems to be following suit. Dry, itchy skin is one of the most annoying things to have to deal with every day. I’ve always struggled with a dry face and finding a lotion that would actually help moisturize without making my face oily was hard to come by. I’ve tried everything – things from the aisles in Target, things my friends were selling through multi-level marketing, home remedies – but nothing ever really worked the way I wanted it too. Then I had my daughter whose skin was even more sensitive than my own and I really struggled. She’s had eczema since she was a baby and even creams, washes, and lotions labeled for eczema seemed to irritate her skin more. We saw a dermatologist and have basically stopped using everything except Vaseline and medicated prescriptions from her doctor. It’s been rough. Add in the food allergies, and the often unclear ingredient labels that are found on cosmetics products, and I felt hopeless that I’d ever find something for her to use besides sticky, messy, Vaseline.

I was talking about my own skin at work one day and a coworker (who used to manage a Sephora store) recommended a product to me. She told me that she even had some extra and she’d bring it for me to try. Thankfully, she followed through and I was introduced to First Aid Beauty.

One of my favorite things about it is that their ingredients are VERY clearly labeled and they have even more details about each product on their website. The product that I first used was their “Ultra Repair Cream”. You can use it in your face and body. After using it myself and LOVING it, I finally decided to try it on my daughter’s hands. Her hands are always one of her worst places for dry, itchy patches, but I don’t like using the steroid cream from her doctor on her hands for fear she’ll put them in her mouth. I had been wanting some sort of lotion to use on them, but again… almost everything contains fragrances and alcohols that actually just make her skin worse. I finally decides to give the First Aid Beauty a try and to my delight – it worked! Not only did it not cause extra irritation, but it actually got rid of her rough, dry patches of eczema!

Photo taken from firstaidbeauty.com

All of First Aid Beauty’s products are animal cruelty-free and have over 1,300 ingredients in their “no-no” list. The Ultra Repair Cream I mentioned above is Gluten-Free, Nut-Free, Soy-Free, and Vegan! It does, however, contain oat, so if that it an allergy for you, you’ll want to avoid this product!

  • Photo taken from firstaidbeauty.com
  • Ingredient List of Ultra Repair Cream as listed on firstaidbeauty.com

A few days ago, I decided to buy one of their kits so I could give a couple other products a try. It came with their Ultra Repair Cream, Facial Radiance Pads, Ultra Repair Hydrating Serum, Pure Skin Facial Cleanser, and their Ultra Repair Lip Therapy. My face has seriously never felt this good. I’m always leery of exfoliating pads because sometimes they seem to make my dryness worse, but in this case, they really helped to get rid of the dry flakes and the serum and lotion helped to keep my face moisturized throughout the day. I’m officially hooked!

Kit purchased at Sephora.

As with anything, I’m not naive enough to think that this product will work for every person. But if you’re like me and you (or your kids) struggle with eczema and overly dry skin, this may be something to try – especially if you also have to contend with food allergies and get scared of cosmetics products that don’t REALLY tell you what is inside them. Knowing that this lotion is vegan and nut-free means that I can feel safe letting my daughter use it despite her milk, egg, and peanut allergies! I always recommend reading labels for yourself and doing some research before trying something new, so I’d encourage you to head over to firstaidbeauty.com to check it out for yourself if you are interested.

*This is NOT a paid advertisement. This is strictly a product review of something I’ve actually found useful. 🙂

Brand review! Oat-ly Ice Cream!

foodallergiesmom

Today is my daughter’s 2nd birthday! Unfortunately, we had to cancel her birthday party because the flu has hit our home HARD and 3/5 of us are sick (including her and me). We still tried to celebrate a little with some Asa allergy-friendly ice cream! She absolutely loved the Oat-ly chocolate, non-dairy, vegan “frozen dessert”! Asa is allergic to dairy, egg, and peanut which makes most ice creams impossible for her to eat – but this was perfect.

Also, I tasted it and it honestly tastes just like chocolate ice cream! I think if I served it to people without them knowing they wouldn’t even know the difference! We will definitely be getting this again! Can’t wait to try other flavors too!

*We bought this at Target for those wondering where you can find it!

Yummy Vegan Biscuits

foodallergiesmom

Biscuits and gravy has always been one of the best meals my husband makes. He’s been dying to find a way to let our daughter try them but her dairy and egg allergies have made that difficult. Today he adapted a recipe found on Pinterest to make vegan biscuits and they were DELICIOUS!!! We’ll attempt gravy soon and I’ll share once we find a good recipe. But for now I’ll leave you with the biscuit recipe! PS – they were taste approved by everyone in our house! Once again, I’ll include exactly the items we used for those that may not know where to start with using good substitutes, but feel free to modify to your favorite brands if you want!

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 1/2 cup Country Crock Plant Butter (sticks – chilled and cubed)
  • 3/4 cup Oat Milk (we used Silk brand) chilled in the freezer

Instructions:

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and place the cubed plant butter and oat milk in the freezer.
  • Combine sugar, salt, flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a mixing bowl.
  • Use a pastry cutter (or a fork if you don’t have one) to add the chilled cubed butter into the dry mix. This will make the mixture a course ground consistency.
  • Add the oat milk and work into the flour to form a crumbly, soft dough. Pour out onto a floured surface and knead into a 5-6 inch rectangle. Fold in half and knead a total of 3 times. You should end with the same 5-6 inch rectangle.
  • Roll the dough out with a rolling pin and cut about 6-8 biscuits using a biscuit cutter or the mouth of a juice glass. Reknead the remaining dough and repeat these steps to cut more biscuits.
  • Brush with melted plant butter and bake for 11-14 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

**This recipe is dairy and egg free. The Country Crock plant butter, however may contain soy so you’ll want to swap that for a different vegan butter if you have a soy allergy!

If you try this recipe, make sure to let me know how you like it! It’s definitely going to be our go-to biscuit recipe from now on!