Peanut Allergy Product Review: Enjoy Life Chocolate Stuff!

So the good folks over at Enjoy Life Foods have done it again!

I was lucky enough to receive a box of two of their newest products recently.  The Semisweet Chocolate Mega Chunks and the Double Chocolate Crunch Granola.

Oh Emmm Geeeee.  Where do I even start?

The chunks are amazing and taste great.  I wish I could say I made a lovely batch of chocolate chunk cookies (or blondies) with them, but nope, B and I just ate them straight out of the bag, perfectly content.  I even put a small container in her lunch one day for her to snack on (what?! don't judge!). They are so delicious and it's great to have another option for chips for cookies and baking.

The granola was a HUGE hit as well.  Nice and crunchy, great, REAL, chocolate taste with no funky aftertastes or mouthfeels. I ate some with banana it was EXCELLENT.  So tasty and you feel a little naughty at the same time eating chocolate for breakfast :)

These are definitely going on the must-buy list!

The thing I like most about EL products is that I would buy these even if we didn't have an allergy to deal with - they taste THAT good.  

Verdict:  4 big thumbs up from me and B for both - THANK YOU ENJOY LIFE!

Things I've Been Doing....

Things I've Been Making:
- Fruit cake
- Fleur de Sel Caramels
- A List (and checking it twice) - Ha Ha! Sorry I had to throw that one in for the holidays.

Things I've Been Contemplating:
- The 6 rib prime rib (only about 10 pounds of 49 grams of fat per serving MEAT) I just ordered for Christmas Eve Dinner. I've never made prime rib before. Is it easy? Please assure me that I'm not setting myself up for disaster! This is the recipe I think I'm using. Gah!
- Making B's annual allergy checkup in January. She's been begging NOT to have one. Can't say I blame her - those skin test are itchy mo flickers!
- the last day of school was today: NO REACTIONS even though there were plenty of opportunities for it. so thankful.

Things I've Been Doing:
- Letting B taste Nutella for the first time (her eyes just about BUGGED out of her head). Don't worry, her doctor said it was ok to try a small taste and go from there. She has tested negative in both blood and skin tests. No reaction. Whew.
- Ice skating in Union Square, San Francisco

Things I'm Regretting:
- The 10 lbs I've gained since I turned 40. Back on the Shred this week now that I don't have to hustle B off to school in the mornings for the next two weeks.
- Letting B taste Nutella for the first time. What can of worms did I open up???

What are you guys up to?

Busy Saturday

I've spent the day doing all sorts of chores. Suffice it to say I feel the need to reward myself.

With these.

Vermont Nut Free Skippers.

Like m&m's except a little bigger. So good*.
"leave on the top shelf so high you need a stepladder to get them" good.

Have you guys had any other VNF chocolates? What's your favorite? I think I might need to order some more safe treats for the holidays.

*and no, they didn't send them to me or ask me to review them. i ordered some from peanut free planet a few weeks ago. they are so good.

CherryBrook Kitchens Chocolate Chip Cookies

I was in the local upscale grocery near my office (boy I'm in there alot) and I found this mix:

Cherrybrook Kitchen Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix

I have heard such good things on the boards about their products, but I always took it with a grain of salt. Did people like it because it was the only thing their child could have, or was it really good?

I thought - what the heck- and tossed it in my cart. They obviously are aware of peanut allergy (look - it says Peanut Free! right on the box in big letters), so I'll give it a shot.

I have to say - this mix could not be easier to make. It was a great activity for an adult and a 3 year old. Just enough mixing and rolling into balls. And there's no eggs, so you can eat the batter without worrying if you are going to get salmonella.

Pop them in the oven and in about 10 minutes they're done. They baked up a little strange though - these are not Tollhouse Cookies mind you - but they come out a nice golden brown. After a minute of cooling, the true test was with Bella, the queen of all dessert (well, at least among the local 3 year old set).

She declared them 'delicious!' and proceeded to eat 3 of them.

The only thing that struck me was that they were a little cakey in texture, and you can definitely tell that you are eating a mock chocolate chip of sorts.

Later on we fed them to my brother, who is a major foodie and he thought they were 'rich' and 'fabulous'. I chuckled a little bit and told my sister in law that I would love to give her the recipe (but I never told her they were from a mix so my secret's still safe). If she only knew :)

But overall, I will definitely be trying more of these mixes in the future. Especially with one of Bella's good pals at daycare having a milk allergy. He'll love these.

Way to go Cherrybrook Kitchen!

Valentine's Treats for Peanut Allergic Kids

So I was browsing around at a chi-chi, upscale grocery store near my office this week, looking for a few peanut-free Valentine Treats for Bella. I figured I could find a little heart shaped box of plain chocolates for her.

Guess what I found?

Nothing.

There's slim pickings for Peanut Allergic Kids for Valentine's Day! Everything is made on equipment that manufactures peanut products, or made in the same facility - both of those no-no's for the vigilant mom.

So how can you fill a Valentine's Basket with safe treats WITHOUT resorting to mail-order?

Here are some options (most of which you can buy at Target or a drugstore near you):

• Sweethearts in 2 oz boxes (in regular, tart, and chocolate flavors)
• Hershey's Kisses (they even have cute, big heart shaped boxes of them without an allergy warning!)
• Hershey's Chocolate Bars (some of the larger ones have a warning though)
• Twizzlers
• Madeleines from Starbucks
• Rice Krispie Treats
• Mike & Ike's
• Gummi Bears
• Oreo Snack Packs
• Whoppers
• Marshmallow Peeps (as long as they don't have chocolate in them)
• Animal crackers
• Hostess Twinkies or Cupcakes (some have warnings i hear, beware)
• Sweet tarts
• Fruitabu
  

At Target, quite a few of these were in Valentine themed cases (i.e. hearts) so it still gets the kids in the spirit. I'll likely get Bella a few of these plus a stuffed animal and some coloring books/pens/stickers.

I must say that not being able to find chocolates and candies is ok with me. I feel a lot better about Bella eating 'real' food like fruit instead of chocolate/sweets for dessert. Is this a bright side of having a peanut allergy? Maybe!

So what would you add to my list?

p.s. Here's a list that details a TON of peanut free/safe foods (note: this list is a year old and originates in Canada, where some products are safe THAT ARE NOT SAFE IN THE USA). NEVER stop reading labels, even if it's a food on this list. Depending on where a product is made (different factory or different country) they could have different manufacturing practices.