I ran away from the park

I ran away from the park yesterday. The park that I take my son to on occasion. We had rode his bike to this facility about 6 blocks from where we live - per his request - when I noticed from the corner of my eye (part of my stealthy scan of our surroundings to detect any food threats) a 10 year old running around with a shelled peanut in his mouth pretending to be a squirrel. I freaked out. I couldn't attach the child to any parent - and thankfully, because after a hard day at work I felt it brewing. "How can you be so insensitive as to let your child run around with that thing in their mouth? How? Does that make sense? Don't you realize how dangerous that is? Don't you...." But alas, these things are only dangerous to the likes of us. I remember how peanut used to taste. I even enjoyed the salty shells - licking them. The taste - inane, a dull sort of splay across the mouth with that distinctive roasted undertone - or overtone if you got a really brown one. And now I flee from these things.
I know I wasn't at my best yesterday when I fled the park with him. I couldn't negotiate with him - he was rapidly transforming into his willful 3 year old self - so I did what I regret doing and said:

"We need to get out here there's a peanut in that boys mouth."

I can hear the therapy bills now.

Chicken Nuggets

You will need boneless skinless breasts - I usually have 1 double breast. Meaning 1 chicken - 2 breasts.

I defrost. Cut against the meat grain. Make sure they are towel dried - then I prep batter.

1/2 cup Ancient Harvest quinoa flour
1/2 cup Ener-G tapioca flour
1/2 cup original hemp milk. We use Living Harvest - last time I called they said they share lines with Almond milk, but use good manufacturing processes. But I did notice recently on label, they specify "tree-nut free." Must call again to check what changes in manufacturing have taken place.
3 tsp baking powder

You mix all ingredients with hand blender - while you've been heating - on medium heat - a frying pan with some coconut oil in it (1 tsp per time you ad fresh nuggets). If the batter is too thick, you can splash a bit more hemp in there.

Then you dip the cut chicken pieces, fry them until brown. Flip. Then I usually bake in oven (350 degrees) for another 15-20 minutes to make sure chicken is cooked through.

One word - yum. The nutty quinoa flavor ads something really special to this. And they travel really well.

I serve with steamed sweat potato and some rice noodles - YUMMY.
Recently discovered yummy rice noodles - Tinkyada Pasta Joy at Whole Foods.

Long Time

I have not published for a long time. I've been avoiding it. Sometimes if I don't put the words to 'food allergy' I pretend that I can forget about it for awhile - but that doesn't last long. There is shopping, cooking, coordinating shopping, calling on products, research, reading labels, re-reading labels, re-calling, introducing - and constantly maintaining a vigilant eye - while battling the desire to just not go anywhere new, or try anything new. But then, I realize I can't raise my son in a bubble. I hate that word - so many people have said it to me. "Denise, you can't raise him in a bubble." Easy for them to say when their potential enemies aren't dangling from other people's lips, food stained hands, clothes, in the car, on seats, tables - everywhere.

I actually came on to post another recipe. I'll title it separately.

On side note -
We have been seeing Chinese Herbalist. She said to me that if we drink the tea (comprised on un-identify-ables) James will be able to eat peanuts, or ice cream, or whatever and not react. He'll technically still be allergic, but not react as severely. I know - When she said that - I was like "there's no way I'm giving my child any of those things." But we did the tea for about 6 weeks this summer. I'm not sure what effect it had - James numbers went down by 50% for wheat and dairy, but all the other numbers pretty much went up. I am going to go back to this herbalist again soon - I also drank the teas for a health problem. She said, drink the tea for 2 months - then go to your doctor for test and problem will be gone. I did. It was. I continue to search.

We've done a soy introduction now. The hospital visit and wait went fine. James drank about 6 ounces of soy. Then on the way home - about 2.5 hours after his finishing the soy - he started vomiting and writhing in his seat. I pulled over behind the Whole Foods - in some alleyway road. There were homeless there making conversation over their shopping cart as they watched me semi-hysterically holding an epipen in one hand, the cellphone in the other - while trying to discern what was happening to my son.

Now. Now? Do I use this now?

Finally, in the ER - some doctor, after examining my thoroughly puked out son - had the gall to suggest that I was simply "thinking this was an allergic reaction." It took all my will - and the fact that I was emotionally drained at this point - to just let him walk away unscathed by the dragon bitch that can occasionally rear her head from mine.

Then we did wheat.

This went alright as well. We stayed at the hospital about 3 hours - to cover some extra time. Then I went home and fed my son wheat. It is over a week later, and I still get a tinge of neausea when I do it. He has recently begun to get eczema on his belly, some on his back, and neck. I phoned the allergist - she told me not to jump to quickly on wheat. She herself "isn't convinced it's the wheat."

Alright rant is finished for now.
The recipe - must post the recipe.

Recipe Lamb Meatballs

These meatballs are still a work in progress, but here's where I'm at. As is, they are amazingly yummy and the quinoa adds a lot of nutrition.

1 - 1.5 lb boneless lamb shoulder
1 organic red bell pepper
1 organic zuccini squash
1/4 yellow onion
1/3 cup cooked quinoa
salt
1/4 cup ketchup (we use 365 organic because they don't have corn syrup)

Sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 organic red bell pepper
1/8 yellow onion

SAUCE
Put pepper and onion through the grinder. Set aside.

MEATBALLS
Preheat oven to 350. Trim fat from lamb shoulder. You're going to grind the lamb twice, and as you put it through the second time, you're going to grind all the vegetables (except for those listed in sauce). Mix in the cooked quinoa, ketchup, and a dash of salt. Roll into little meatballs. Place on parchment paper lined baking sheet, pour 1/2 of the sauce over them. Bake for about 5-8 minutes. Then turn them over and bake for another 5 or so minutes.

They are really yummy. And my very picky son actually likes them.

Recipe Quinoa Cupcakes

This recipe at first tasted like peanut butter cupcakes to me, although I'm not sure what a peanut really tastes like anymore given that I won't even touch them.

These are extremely flaky - but travel great.

1 cup Ener-G Tapioca Flour
1 1/2 cup Ancient Harvest Quinoa Flour
1 1/3 cup apple sauce
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup extra light olive oil (we use Bertoli)
1 cup light brown sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 350. Cream coconut oil and brown sugar. Stir in the 1/3 cup olive oil. Stir in apple sauce and vanilla. In a separate bowl mix together the dry ingredients. Then add to the wet mix, stirring until well combined. Finally mix in the chocolate chips.
Pour into cupcake holders (we use the 'if you care unbleached ones' that we put into a metal cupcake dish.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Shelton's Turkey Burgers

Amidst all the home prepped meals - I never thought I'd get so excited about a turkey burger. We tried the Shelton Turkey Burgers (available at Whole Foods) and I briefly fried in pan and bam - pretty much instant meal.

I called the company - and they we're extremely helpful and knowledgeable about their product.

Turkey Burgers - manufactured on shared lines with Beef. The lines are broken down and sterilized and between beef runs and turkey runs.
They also have Ground Free Ranged Turkey (Aka Turkey Chub...hmmm). We haven't tried it but it's basically a tube - hence chub, I guess (must be industry lingo) of ground turkey that is produced on lines that are exclusively turkey.

I haven't tried their other products but here is their website.
Shelton's Poultry Products

Lundberg Rice Noodles

We eat their rice noodles. We've had, on one occasion, a bright yellow noodle tumble out of the box - and we've been eating it for the last year. I immediately called, and got a the same info as below.

Dear Denise:
Thank you for taking the time to email us. It is very important to us to hear from our consumers with their comments, concerns, and suggestions.
Our brown rice pasta is made in a facility that contains corn and is made on shared equipment with corn. We do our best to prevent cross contamination, but we could not guarantee that there would be none. In addition, there is dairy in the facility in the form of powered cheese, but it is not on the same equipment as our brown rice pasta. There are none of the other allergens you listed in the facility or on the line.
Thank you for your time and interest,

Consumer Response
Lundberg Family Farms