Happy Thanksgiving!

Gobble Gobble - Happy Thanksgiving!

What are YOU thankful for?

Image from natureartists.com

Peanut Allergy: Pre-Thanksgiving Meal and Some Thankful Links

Image Courtesy FoodNetwork.com

So last night I decided since I wasn't hosting Thanksgiving this year that I needed to have a turkey dinner in my kitchen anyways dangit!

I went to Whole Foods and got a Diestel Turkey Breast and roasted it up.  But not in any old way - I used this recipe from Rachael Ray and MAN was it tasty (and top 8 free since I used olive oil to baste the top of the bird before I put it in the oven).

Why a turkey breast you may ask?  Well, my oven died (at least the inside cooking part, not the top burners thank goodness) and I still haven't replaced it (gotta get that done before Christmas Eve since about 25 people will be here expecting dinner - can't serve 'em ramen!).  I've been using my handy, dandy convection toaster oven for the last 7 months and it's been great.  And it worked perfectly for a small turkey breast.

Throw in some stuffing, green beans, and cranberry sauce (oh and gravy of course!) and we had one heck of a meal!

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B has minimum days all this week, and I've been finding little 'thankful' things to do each afternoon.  Writing notes to special people, donating canned food/blankets to the local shelter, and today we are dropping off a few frozen turkeys/chickens to our local Second Harvest Food Bank.  There are so many sales at the grocery stores right now - for about $25 I should be able to get a few turkeys (or large chickens) to donate to those who can't swing buying their own bird this year.

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Have you started thinking about holiday shopping yet?  In addition to the usual presents, a few folks close to us will be getting donations made in their name to Heifer International, One Day's Wages or Kiva.

A LOT of our relatives absolutely HATE getting these donations made, and I don't know why.  But many of my relatives love it.  They have plenty of sweaters, and cooking gadgets, and most of all: blessings.  Us giving in their names is their favorite gift of all. 

What's your favorite charity?

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We have so much to be thankful for - but that's for another time and another post (next week).

D'oh!

Hi Guys,

So I blew it on NaPoBloMo yesterday - no post!  I have an ear infection and have spent the last day feeling like I'm underwater.

Gah!

Back tomorrow though, once the antibiotics have kicked in :)

Peanut Free Thanksgiving: Appetizers

So I'm planning on bringing a few items to nibble on during the Thanksgiving festivities.  Some chips/veggies and dips (snore, but who doesn't love a good dip?) and some teeny quiches.

But every year during the holidays I try something new. 

One year I made this - HUGE hit.

But this year, I'm going a little fancy schmancy: Dates with Goat Cheese Wrapped in Prosciutto.   Don't these look killer?

Photo Courtesy Self Magazine

Can't wait!

This time tomorrow....

Not much time to write tonight, but over the weekend I'll regale you with not one but TWO cases of accidental exposure (thankfully neither was B).

Stay tuned!

Veterans Day

It doesn't matter if you are democrat or republican, pacifist or pro-war. We owe our appreciation to those who make the decision to serve our country and protect our freedoms.

To all military, past and present:

THANK YOU.

Peanut Allergy: Cranberry Sauce

This isn't an actual photo of my cranberry sauce. 
I took it from the McCormick site.  Thanks McCormick!

This cranberry sauce is so easy, a 5 year old could do it.

Well, I guess if a 5 year old can zest and juice a tangerine.

OK, here goes. 

Get yourself a bag of cranberries.  It's the bag you always see in the produce section.  Open the bag and pour them in a saucepan.

Put the heat on to medium high heat.

Add a cup of apple juice (or apple cider if you're feeling rich).  Then add a cup of sugar.  Mix it all together to start distributing all that juice and sugar around the cranberries.

Once it starts to simmer, add in the zest and juice of a tangerine (you know, those little cuties work great for this).  Make sure there are no seeds in there!

Mix it all again and bring back to a simmer.  Let it simmer, stirring occasionally, and come to a boil until the cranberries pop.  It wont take too long and as they pop it will become more saucy.  All of this takes maybe 5-10 minutes.

Once most of them pop, take it off the stove (and turn off the heat).  Let it cool and voila!  You're done! Once it cools a bit it will thicken up even more. Just trust me.

I'm not a recipe writer, but this is what I do every year.  It's pretty hard to screw up - I think the only way you could possibly do this would be not to stir it at all and to have the heat too high.  So don't do that, ok?

What's your go-to cranberry sauce?

Peanut Allergy: fresh&easy™ Neighborhood Market Product Recall

If you have a fresh&easy™ Neighborhood Market in your area, this one's for you. Getting a tube full of peanut butter cookie dough would be a big ol' bummer, now wouldn't it??

"Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is voluntarily recalling some fresh&easy^™ "Ginger Spice Cookie Dough" (16 oz.) because they may contain undeclared peanuts. 

Individuals who have allergies to peanuts run the risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they consume this product.

The recalled product was sold in Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market stores in California, Nevada and Arizona. 

The recall was initiated after it was discovered that a limited number of the fresh&easy^™ "Ginger Spice Cookie Dough" (UPC 5051379045210) may contain Peanut Butter Cookie Dough."

Read the PDF of the press release.

We have a peanut allergy. This is our stuffing.

So with Thanksgiving coming up, I've been chatting with my mom about what we're going to make (we're spending the holiday with my folks, close to home).  She's handling the bird itself, plus some mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and green beans.

I thought I would share a few of the items I'll be making over the next few days.  Maybe you care, maybe you don't.  But maybe it's your first Thanksgiving and you're feeling like OMG! What the hell am I going to make for my allergic kid's first Thanksgiving?!

I'm doing appetizers, dessert, and stuffing.  Oh glorious stuffing!  Why don't we start there?

Here's the stuffing recipe I'm making:  Sourdough stuffing with Sausage, Apples and golden Raisins (don't turn your nose up at the raisins, silly, it's good!).  I've made it before and it's pretty awesome.  Here's another if that doesn't do it for you - this one is uh-mazing, but some people turn their noses up at arteeeeechoke hearts.  Whatevs!

So maybe you're looking at the recipe and thinking "my kid is allergic to ____. How can i adapt the recipe?"

Allergic to wheat or you're celiac?  You could substitute corn bread for the sourdough.  But watch out for wheat/gluten in the chicken broth and sausage - check the labels, you'll be ok.

Allergic to eggs?  Hmmm.  How about egg replacer?

Allergic to milk?  I know for sure that Earth Balance will work instead of the butter (I've used it).

Tomorrow I'll regale you with my dessert choices and appetizers.  Can you handle it?

So what are your go-to recipes?  Share please!

Daylight savings time

This really has nothing to do with peanut allergy.

It's just a reminder that it's daylight savings time. Isn't it a good time to change the batteries in your smoke detector?

Yup, it sure is. I use the time change as a reminder to switch ours out.

I just changed ours, in fact. It's so satisfying to test them, with their ear splitting sirens.

Stay safe peeps!

Peanut Free Bakery: Zest (San Carlos, CA)

After I attended BlogHerFood last month, I was scanning the hashtags on Twitter and noticed raves coming from folks who had sampled gluten free treats from Zest Bakery at the Sunday after-picnic.

Zest is a local bakery to me, but I had never gone in.  Why?

Why else?  Nuts!

I just assumed (you know what they say about assuming things) that there would be too much peanutty stuff there, so we just avoided it.

Now I could kick myself.  After a tweet to them, I found out that they are peanut free!  Now, don't get too excited - they use other nuts and things like almond milk.  But B has the clear to eat all other tree nuts (the only ones we haven't tried are Brazil nuts (blech) and Macadamias (still can't find peanut free ones) so we went in and got a sampling of treats.

A chocolate chip cookie.
A cinnamon apple morning bun/muffin.
A raspberry chocolate chip muffin.

O.

M.

G.

These are so tasty, and you'd never ever know they were gluten free.

And they have pies, and other breads, and ravioli.  I even saw a tweet a week ago about pumpkin cream puffs! 

Here's a menu. Not sure if they ship, but they should consider it.

My waistline will not be happy this holiday season, that's for sure.

If you're local to the SF Peninsula (or heck anywhere in the SF Bay Area) stop by and try them out.  It's a small bakery, but they are sure to have something you'll enjoy. Call ahead - see what they've got that day.  You're in for a treat!

Zest Bakery
1224 Arroyo Ave
San Carlos, CA 94070
phone: 650-241-ZEST (650-241-9378)

p.s. they have no idea I've written this post, so no, i didn't get anything free from them to review.  this is just a happy customer!

Thanksgiving Countdown

Photo from www.makesandtakes.com

Here's a fun and easy craft to countdown the days to Thanksgiving: A Countdown Turkey!

B and I made one of these last year and she loved removing a feather a day until Turkey Day (or you could add a feather, depending on your preference).

You don't need much to make one either.

Gobble Gobble!

NaBloPoMo

So it's November, and that means one thing (to me)  - NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month)! I've participated the last two years - this year is no exception. 

I'm gonna do my best to post each and every day to this blog. 

Will it happen?  Will I run out of things to say by November 30?

Watch and see!

Oh, and if there's anything you want me to post about, let me know!

Eating Peanuts While Pregnant = Peanut Allergy?

I hesitated in posting this, but it's a study by a reputable researcher.

Peanuts During Pregnancy May Lead to Later Allergy

Heavy emphasis on the MAY.

I know folks who avoided completely with their second pregnancies and still had a PA child. 

The research goes back and forth and frankly I'm not sure what to believe.  All I know is that I can't beat myself up over something I may or may not have done 'right' during my pregnancy.

And you shouldn't either.

Peanut Allergy: Outgrowing It

A funny thing happened at B's annual checkup yesterday.

Her pediatrician was going through her health history and mentioned "Oh and you have the peanut allergy.  B, you know you're probably not going to outgrow that?"

So I said, "It's not out of the realm of possibility.  She has a negative RAST and her allergist has offered a food challenge."

She looked shocked.

Now, I've read all sorts of stories about kids outgrowing their allergies, or passing a challenge only to redevelop the allergy, or kids with stats like B's failing the office challenge.  That's life with a peanut allergy.

And I know the likelihood of B outgrowing her allergy is slim.  But the likelihood of a treatment to ease accidental exposure isn't.

But why dash her hopes like that?

Hope is something that keeps me going (selfish, I know) - hope helps ease the fears of what she might face down this long road.

But I want to know how you feel about it - are you resigned that your child will never outgrow this?

Or are you hopeful, like me?

Halloween is Done!

We made it - Halloween went great!  B went as Wonder Woman (here's a shot of her and my neice - they were both WW actually - B is so teeny compared to her big cousin!) and came home with a great haul of candy.  And I only had to pull about 6 pieces from her loot - the rest was safe!  I mentioned my astonishment to her and she replied "I knew what I could have so I took those from the bowls."  To which I replied "But what about these non safe ones?  How'd they get in the bag?", to which she responded "Oh, those were from the moms that just dropped one in without asking. I didn't want to be rude, so I didn't say anything."  Love that kid!

She hasn't really eaten much.  Most of her time has been spent organizing and marveling at the abundance of the candy itself.  She doesn't realize that if she doesn't eat some soon she'll be out of luck - it will mysteriously disappear soon :)

It's done...

I made it! A whole month of blogging about Peanut Allergy.

How did I do?

Peanut Allergy Recipe Redux: Sweet and Spicy Sunflower Seeds

Last week I posted about some tasty sweet and spicy pumpkin seeds I made from the guts of our jack o' lantern. They were so tasty, I got to thinking about what other peanut safe snack I could make using the same technique.

And like a lightbulb, it came to me: Sweet and Spicy Sunflower Seeds!

But first I needed to have SAFE, peanut free shelled sunflower seeds, which are a total bear to find usually in the store. And I didn't want to mailorder. What to do??

But then again - a lightbulb! GoRaw Foods! Remember them? They are the ones that make the raw bars that I like (and can't afford to often). They are a gluten/wheat free and nut free facility (well, except for coconut) and they have both sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds (pepitos)! I knew where GoRaw was stocked so off I went. And there, on the shelf at Whole Foods, was a large bag of these. They also had the pepitos in stock, but they were $15 a bag, so I wanted to test this recipe out on the cheaper stuff (it's a $5 difference per bag, but still).

So for the recipe, I used a cup of shelled sunflower seeds. Here's the revised recipe. You'll need:

1 cup shelled sunflower seeds
4.5 T sugar (separated into 2.5 T and 2 T)
1/2 T Lawry's Seasoned Salt (I know, it's not the ideal spice because of the MSG and 'natural seasonings' in it, but here's a copycat recipe you can make instead if you prefer. )
1.5 T canola oil

In a medium bowl combine 2.5 tablespoons sugar and seasoned salt and set aside.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over high heat. Add sunflower seeds and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Cook until sugar melts and seeds begin to caramelize, stirring constantly, about 45 to 60 seconds. Be really careful to watch these - they brown really fast!

Transfer to bowl with spice and sugar, and stir well to coat. Let cool. These may be stored in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

The verdict: So tasty - sugary and spicy (but not too spicy). I fear I will gobble these up fast - they'd be great on a salad. Pepitos here I come!

Here We Go: Peanut Allergy Posts for 30 Days

So last November I joined the folks at NaPoBloMo and posted every day for the month of November. It was WAY harder than I thought it would be and by the end I would get pretty stressed about what I was going to write about.

Well, 12 months sure goes by fast, and like childbirth, I must have forgotten most of the pain. Because I'm doing it again.

So look for a post for every day in November. And of course, this counts as Post #1 (what a cheater, huh?).

Anything you want me to talk about? Doesn't have to be about peanut allergy - feel free to suggest away!

Ready, set, go!

All Done!

If you're seeing this post, that means that NaBloPoMo is over.

Whew!

I must say that posting every day for 30 days has been a great exercise for me. Expect more posts per month from me in December - although I'm not promising one a day.

At that rate I would be talking about sorting laundry or something.