Allergy-free No Bake Cookies

This is a recipe I got from an allergy free dessert book I have, however, I tweaked it to fit all of Anthony’s allergies.

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She calls these no-bake cookies: haystacks.

One of the ingredients is rolled oats, but the rolled oats I have in the house are made in a shared facility, which is a big no-no here. 🙂

So ingredients I used were:
1 1/2 cups of turbinado sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4 cup of expeller pressed virgin coconut oil (make sure you stir it before measuring)
1/2 cup of unsweetened rice milk
2 cups of baby oatmeal (I used Gerber, it’s what Anthony eats)
1/2 cup of natural sunbutter
1 tsp of 100% pure all natural vanilla extract
parchment paper

In a medium saucepan, I heat to a boil the sugar, cocoa, coconut oil, cocoa, and the rice milk. Once it was boiling, I waited until it boiled and then continued to stir for 1 and 1/2 more minutes.

Then remove from heat and add the oatmeal, sunbutter, and vanilla.

I scooped about 1 tbsp. scoops onto the parchment and let it chill and set in the fridge. The longer it sits, the better, as the coconut oil solidifies again.

These are a nice treat and don’t require a lot of time. They were read to eat right away, but got better as they sat longer. 🙂

What Is In Lunchmeat?

What exactly is in lunchmeat?

Well, I don’t know all the answers, but I do know a biggie that I never would have known about had Anthony not had all of these food allergies.

Back a few years ago when Anthony was having tons of outbreaks, and we didn’t know what more to do, our doctor had him see a Pediatric Allergist.

Anthony has allergies to:

-wheat
-gluten
-dairy
-soy
-egg
-tree nuts
-peanuts

I cried when I found out.

What was I going to feed my baby??

The doctor was fabulous and explained to me about reading labels even more carefully than my health conscious self had already been doing.

She also told me to keep him away from lunchmeat.

Lunchmeat? It’s meat, what could he be allergic to in it?

DAIRY.

She informed me that dairy is used in lunchmeat as an additive to keep it moist, etc.

So she suggested I go to a kosher deli and purchase turkey for him there.

Who would have known?

What allergies do you or your children have?

Do you know of any other foods that have a hidden allergens that we wouldn’t know about?

Pieces of the Pie (Percentages and the Nutrition Facts Label)

You know that little label on the back of all packaged foods?

The nutrition facts label.

Funny, most of the times I’m all over it. Trying to figure out how many carbs, cals, protein, fiber grams.

Within the last 2 years, because of all of Anthony’s allergies, I am looking at it in a new way. Always looking underneath it too to see what types of allergens are in it or processed in the same plant.

There are times though that I try not to look at it. Especially when I was working as a teacher. Meals were rough. I was in grad school, hubby worked late, and so a frozen pizza or TGIFriday’s spinach dip from the freezer were common comforting meals at 9pm when we were home and finally eating dinner.

I didn’t even want to know what was on those labels at that point.

shared from: http://www.simpleeasydiets.com

One part always confused me….those percentages. You know after it tells you how many grams of fat, etc. are in a serving it shows a percent value too?

Well, what the heck. It says on the bottom that it’s based off of a 2000 calorie diet. I never should have or should now be eating a 2000 calorie diet…so I have to do the math in the store and figure it out?

I just need a ballpark figure. So thinking…ok, if a serving of this is 20% of my daily value, but I can’t eat as much…let’s figure its 30%….so out of 5 small meals a day…is that ok?

I learned that anything lower than 5% is a low amount and 20% or more is high.

Now that freaked me out a bit. 20% sounds like a low number…1/5 of daily intake. But, actually it’s considered high.

So be sure to check out not only fat, fiber, calories, protein, and carbs. Check out the percent values of the vitamins.

That in itself was an eye opener…keeping in mind the whole 5% and 20% fact above.

Are you getting enough vitamins?

What are some foods that you consume on a daily basis to up your vitamin intake while staying within your caloric intake for the day as well as staying within the proper amounts of percentages for carbs, protein, fat, and fiber?

Allergy Free Snacks for a Healthy Mom

Our son Anthony is 2 and has food allergies. He’s allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, soy, gluten, wheat, egg, and dairy.

As a stay at home healthy mom, it’s important to me that he gets his nutrients while making good choices with what he eats.

I know what you are going to ask…well..what do you feed him?

I hear that all the time. He’s not an alien! Stop and think outside the box. There is a lot that he CAN eat. More foods that he CAN eat then those he can’t. It’s just a matter of reading every label. As a former teacher, that’s no problem at all. I was always analyzing data.. 🙂

Ok so back to the question…what does he eat?

Breakfast: almost always consists of Gerber Baby Oatmeal with Rice Milk. Never been a problem for him. Also, many times, turkey sausage links (steamed on the stove top and then finished off being sauteed in a squeeze of olive oil.

Rice milk is the only milk he can have. The pediatric allergist said it’s just as well, if not better, but he needs to be on a multivitamin to be sure he gets enough vitamin d and calcium. I am always looking for coupons for rice milk. When I find them, we stock up!

Lunch: Always can count on Anthony having black beans. No questions asked. This was his first solid food. He loved them from the beginning. I just rinse them and he loves them cold. The pediatric allergist also told me that they are so high in protein that they will help him with not having dairy. Again, in my opinion, a much more nutritious choice anyway!

Snacks: Here are Anthony’s favorites, and one not so favorite!

Loves these organic fruit bars from Whole Foods. At 60 cents each I buy them in bulk. Taste like a fruit snack, but nothing artificial and no added sugar (just sugar from the actual fruit).

Rice cakes…eh, he can take them or leave them as they are. BUT…the trick is to break them up and put them in a silver cup. He thinks its popcorn and adores it. (Great trick, Daddy!)

Apples, pears, blueberries, mangoes, bananas, strawberries, cheerios, avocados, zucchini, plums, and peaches are always rotated around the house.

Rice crackers. These are crunchy and he calls them “trackters”. Love it! Have a bit of a salty crisp to them. Tasty!

Brown rice crackers. THUMBS DOWN! These looked promising, but unless you are into eating cardboard, skip them!

Trader Joe’s Dried Banana Slices! Easy to pack in the diaper bag and take with you as a healthy on the go snack!

Dinner: Oh it varies. Ian’s brand makes a great allergy free line for kids like Anthony. They make allergy free chicken nuggets which taste great. They also make onion rings and french fries (in the shape of letters). Those are a favorite.

Hubby taught me to lightly oil a pan with olive oil and then put the fries on those. Bake for ten minutes and flip. Bake another ten minutes. Crisp on the ouside, soft on the inside. YUM! Sprinkle with sea salt and he’s good to go!

He also likes hamburgers, “white chicken” (chicken breast from the bone cut up in chunks and tossed in truffle oil), and the hot dogs that are free of everything. Oscar Meyer makes a good one. I will look next time we have them in the house.

RICE! My husband is Pakistani and makes a delicious rice dish. It’s full of spices. Anthony goes wild for it!

He’s not a huge fan of pasta (what the heck…I’m italian!) .

Veggies vary within the week. He’s into “trees with flowers” right now. 🙂 AKA Broccoli.

Dessert:

Ah ha…yes..this is where you think I’m out of luck. Nope…

Soft baked cookies from Enjoy Life and the candy bars from Enjoy Life….they also make chocolate chips. Everything is allergy free. They are SOOOO GOOOD! I use the choc chips for baking too! (i’ll save the baking info for another post!)

So, Anthony has a variety of food he can eat.

He’s growing healthy and strong. I find this a blessing. He has forced us to really take a look at what we put into our bodies. There is very little processed food in our home!

Do you have a allergy free snack/meal that works for your family? Please share in the comments below!

Do you have allergies or your children have allergies and need some more ideas or guidance? I’d be happy to help you! I recall the feeling when I first found out. I thought..what am I going to eat and what will I feed him??

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