A Bountiful Thanksgiving

I love that we live in a nation that has a holiday all about being thankful! What a great reminder to pause from my busy life and reflect on its many blessings. This past year has been eventful and memorable for me in many ways, the greatest of which has been watching my daughter grow into a bright, happy little toddler! Among numerous others, I am thankful that eating allergy free has been successful: I am still nursing Siena and she is healthy and thriving.

I have been eating allergy free for just under a year now, so this was my first Thanksgiving without dairy, wheat, soy, eggs, and nuts. I was pleased to realize that I didn't feel at all deprived! Whole foods are so delicious, even-- or perhaps especially-- without all the extra butter and heavy cream. To top it off, I probably ate 3,000 fewer calories than everyone else and fit nicely into my skinny jeans this morning. :) Here is my menu and instructions:

A Bountiful, Allergy-Free Thanksgiving

Turkey: Most turkey is allergy free. Check the label and ensure it wasn't cooked with ingredients that cause allergies for you.

Gravy: Sweet rice flour works as an excellent thickener and made smooth, delicious gravy! Use it the same way you would wheat flour. No need to make a "regular" batch as well. The rice gravy won a taste test in our family.

Mashed Potatoes: Peel, dice, and boil potatoes until they are soft. I mashed them with a whisk and stirred in rice milk and chicken broth until they were smooth and creamy, then stirred in some salt and pepper. They turned out great, even to people without allergy-free palates.

Dressing: Cube a loaf of allergy-free bread and dry the cubes in a 325 degree oven for 20 minutes, stirring halfway through. Brown a pound of sausage in a skillet. Remove the sausage and wipe out the skillet. Saute about a cup of onions. Add about as much celery when onions become clear. Once celery is soft, turn off heat and stir in about as much diced apples and some fresh cranberries, cut in half. Add some fresh thyme and sage, and stir the sausage back into the mixture. Place the bread crumbs into an oiled 13 x 9 pan and stir in the mixture. Drizzle chicken broth over the top-- about 1 1/2 to 2 cups, depending on how moist you like it. Let it rest for about 10 minutes and stir again. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes.

Sweet Potatoes: Peel and slice sweet potatoes and steam until soft. They can be left in slices or mashed with some water to make them creamy. I stirred in some nutmeg, cinnamon, and a little clove and ginger. Siena ate these as well.

Green Beans: I filled a 9 x 9 pan mostly full with green beans. I added whole cloves of garlic and half a red onion, sliced vertically. Drizzle some olive oil over the veggies, top with salt and pepper and stir. Roast at 450 degrees for about 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Serve hot or cold. (Alternately, I was planning on steaming green beans with julienne sliced water chestnuts and some dill.)

Cranberries: Place fresh cranberries into a pan and cover the bottom with water (about 1/4 the depth of the cranberries). Bring to boil and stir frequently. Add agave nectar into the mixture to taste, or alternately add more water and use sugar to sweeten. Add some fresh orange zest and a little nutmeg.

Apple Crisp: Fill a 13 x 9 pan with sliced apples. For the topping, mix 8 T canola oil, 3/4 cup agave nectar, 1 1/2 cup brown rice flour, 1 1/2 cup oats, 1/4 t salt, 1 t cinnamon, 1/2 t nutmeg, and 1/2 t cloves in a bowl. I like to stir in extra oats to make it thicker. Spread over the fruit. Bake at 350 for approximately 25 minutes, until the top begins to turn brown. If desired, serve with Coconut Bliss ice cream.

Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins: I had to include some pumpkin for Thanksgiving. I made my favorite muffins. See the October 2009 post for the recipe.

Spiced Apple Cider: We're lucky to live near a cider mill with national award winning apple cider. We used a gallon of that. Then tie into a piece of cheesecloth a star anise, a few whole cloves and whole allspice, a two or three cinnamon sticks and a few pieces of nutmeg. Place the cider and spices in a crockpot on low. Serve warm.

The only drawback was that I had to cook nearly the whole feast myself, and I ate it as an allergy-free parallel to everyone else's meals. Other people wanted the traditional, calorie-packed dishes and were even skeptical of my food. (I overheard my cousin ask, "Which are the real potatoes?") At the gathering where people were mostly oblivious, however, everyone dug into and enjoyed my food as well. I got compliments and gave away leftovers. I hope these favorites catch on in the years to come, not just for my and Siena's sakes, but because they were delicious, and also healthy and wholesome. This reminds me once again that eating allergy free is, ironically, one more thing for which to be thankful!

Allergy-Free Groundnut Stew: An Oxymoron?

Early on in my allergy free journey, a good friend invited me over for dinner. Really? Me? But you know I can't eat anything... You sure you want to attempt this? Yes, a really good friend, indeed. It is wonderful having friends who will go that extra mile to make you feel included!

She invited me over for Groundnut Stew, a West African dish that had been a family favorite since her childhood. It sounded a bit unusual: a chicken, tomato, and onion stew with peanut butter in it? And then you top it with cucumbers, scallions, pineapple, raisins, and sour cream? But she assured me it was excellent, and she was right (minus the sour cream for me, of course)!

My friend gave me the recipe, and unfortunately it sat unused in my kitchen for months. As I was still trying to determine Siena's allergies, I went through a time when I didn't eat tomatoes. And now I'm not eating nuts at all, per the allergist's orders. Groundnut stew looked so good, but it just wasn't an option.

Or was it? When Siena was allergy tested, tomatoes were ruled out. (Hallelujah!) And there are other butters besides nut butters. In fact, I had sunflower seed butter in the fridge. And tahini would probably work just fine, too. Yes, allergy-free groundnut stew is an oxymoron, but the idea didn't have to be.

So I gave it a try, and it turned out amazing! It's simple to cook and can easily be made into larger or smaller batches, depending on how many people you're serving. You can tailor the flavors to your own liking-- your imagination is the limit. And the toppings make it versatile and fun. I'm keeping it around as a family favorite for us as well!

Allergy-Free Groundnut Stew
(Inspired by Extending the Table: A World Community Cookbook)

1 lb cubed chicken or steak
1 T canola oil
2 c diced onions
1+ clove chopped or minced garlic
cayenne pepper to taste
1/2 t ground or 1 T minced ginger
2 t chili powder
1/2 t cumin
a couple pinches dried oregano
2 cups chicken or beef stock
2 cans diced tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup sunflower seed butter or tahini
Cooked rice
Toppings of your choice (see below)

Brown the meat in the oil. Add the onions and garlic and cook until the onions begin to turn clear. Add the ginger, stock, tomatoes, and salt and pepper, cover, and simmer for about 30 minutes. Remove about 1/4 cup stew liquid and mix in separate bowl with the seed butter. Stir mixture into stew. Cover and simmer for another 30 minutes. Add water if necessary to keep a desired stew consistency.

In the meantime, cook the rice and prepare the toppings. Some ideas include pineapple chunks, mandarin oranges slices, diced cucumbers, hot sauce, sliced scallions, shredded lettuce or cabbage, diced red bell pepper, sunflower or sesame seeds, raisins, and coconut. (Sour cream or lo mein noodles are a couple suggestions for non-allergic eaters.)

To serve, ladle the stew over the cooked rice. Let each person top their stew as desired.

As I was looking at other groundnut stew recipes online, I came across some variations. Many also included eggplant, okra, sweet potatoes, or green beans. To make vegetarian groundnut stew, use vegetable stock and substitute some of these vegetables, in bite-sized pieces, for the meat, adding them with the seed butter. Cook until vegetables are tender.

Yes, it still does sound a little bit unusual-- all those flavors generally aren't mixed in American diets. But trust me: it's worth a try. And I bet this will become one of your family favorites as well!

Our Story

Taking a step back from cooking, I want to share our story. I know other people with similar stories who have made it through allergies and continue to breastfeed as well. It can be done, and it's a rewarding experience on more levels than I realized when this all started!

When Siena was nearly two months old, she started having trouble sleeping. A baby who would go seven hours between feedings at night suddenly would wake up after 5 minutes, 20 minutes, 45 minutes, maybe 2 hours if we were really lucky. When asking her doctor, I was given lots of ideas on how to burp a baby. I felt unheard, but also like a failure.

Shortly after Siena turned 2-months old, streaks of bright red blood appeared in her diaper. This got the doctors' attention, and she was immediately diagnosed with milk allergies. (This was my first lesson in learning to trust my instincts!) I was instructed to go off dairy products for a week. A week later I was instructed to go off soy and dairy. When that didn't work, I was given formula.

I was very uncomfortable with giving up so fast-- it just felt like we had no answers and there were so many routes we had not explored. I decided on my own to eliminate ALL of the "top 8" allergens: diary, soy, wheat, eggs, nuts, peanuts, fish, and shellfish. I also persisted with the doctors to get a referral to a pediatric GI specialist.

The GI specialist was wonderful. She asked a lot of questions and seemed to be very knowledgeable. She referred us to a nutritionist, who helped us make the complete transition to eating allergy free. Two lessons have guided this journey: 1) learn how to read labels for all forms of the food you're avoiding, and 2) it takes 3 weeks for an allergen to clear your and your baby's systems. (Forgetting this second rule has led us back to the GI specialist and even to an allergist.) I was so glad I held out and followed my gut, and it felt SO good, both practically and emotionally, to have a support system with the GI specialist and the nutritionist, who applauded my persistence.

But still, going home and putting this all to the test took awhile. I ate an altered version of the polenta recipe from the rice milk box for about two months, until I could stand it no longer. I've gone crazy picking up every little crumb off the floor (we have since transitioned to an allergy-free household) and trying fruitlessly to keep Siena from eating grass and pine needles outside, lest she be allergic to those too. One day I put sunscreen on Siena, which it turns out had soybean oil in it. Yep, cosmetics can be allergenic, too; don't forget to check yours and your baby's cosmetics. And another lesson I just recently learned the hard way: spelt IS wheat.

Since then we've branched out and slowly built up my options. I now have many food options and a long queue of meals I'm planning to make. I've explored alternatives to foods I used to enjoy, and I've branched out and discovered dishes from different ethnic cuisines, which have the added bonus of incorporating a lot of unique flavors to my diet. I'm enjoying food again.

Siena is successfully eating solids as well, although she still gets plenty of breastmilk. She started with rice cereal, which I realized after six days that she was allergic to (this was confirmed at her allergist appointment). Once all symptoms were gone, we started her on sweet potatoes. We introduce one new food ingredient every two weeks, and thankfully we haven't discovered any new allergies. She mostly still eats single-ingredient foods-- avocados, chicken, carrots, apple, corn (in many forms), bananas, watermelon, pumpkin, and the list is growing. (Grass and pine needles are okay, too, in moderation.) So far she has liked everything she's tried, albeit not always on the first attempt. She definitely enjoys her food.

The best gift the allergy-free experience has given us is cooking and eating fresh, wholesome foods. I've never eaten this healthy in my life, and surprisingly I've never enjoyed food as much, either. Cooking and eating are very sensory experiences-- the smells, sounds, textures, and colors all accompany the flavors and offer much more fulfillment than any fast food or prepared food ever could. We have discovered completely new foods, such as quinoa, and have more variety in our diet. To be practical, we usually cook in large batches and eat leftovers or freeze portions. The default in our society is definitely not to eat this way, but I've been doing it long enough that it has become a lifestyle change for me. I'm determined to maintain this fresh food diet, at least for the most part, even when we can eat whatever we want again. It will be an amazing gift to pass on to Siena as well.

I feel like such a novice compared to most other food bloggers out there. I'm no chef, and I've never learned "proper" techniques in the kitchen. But I have learned a lot in the past year and I feel like I have something valuable to share. I hope these stories and recipes can encourage someone else. I want to be a strong voice that tells you: It can be done! You can eat well and allergy free. I hope I can help.

Allergy-Free Polenta

1 can corn
1 7-oz can diced green chilies
4 cups rice milk
1 cup polenta
salt and pepper to taste

Add the corn and green chilies to the rice milk and bring to a boil. Whisk in the polenta, constantly stirring, until it becomes creamy (about six minutes). Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve with taco-like toppings: avocados, tomatoes, black beans, jalapenos, salsa, cilantro, seasoned ground beef, etc.

Pumpkin Soup to Remember

Four couples in our area, all with little ones the same age, have gotten together to host rotating dinners. We each fix dinner for the group once a month, and in turn we have a day a week that we don't have to cook at all. It has been a lot of fun getting together, enjoying a home cooked meal, and watching the kids play.

With everyone's dietary restrictions considered (mine being the trickiest), it's interesting to see what people come up with for dinner. They have all been very different so far, and all delicious! We hosted for the first time this week, just before Halloween. We love soup and have a couple good recipes that work for everyone, so we did a soup bar with salad and bread, and pumpkin muffins and spiced cider for dessert.

I have made pumpkin soup many times, but I did it a little differently for our baby dinner, and I do think it was an improvement! I want to remember what I did, and I'm sharing the new and improved recipe with you.

Pumpkin Soup to Remember

1 large onion, diced
drizzle of olive oil
1 large sugar pumpkin, peeled, seeded, and cubed
4-5 apples (I used Fuji), peeled, cored and diced
1 tsp thyme
2 bay leaves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 medium-sized jalapeno, diced
1/2 can coconut milk

In a large pot, sweat the onion in the olive oil over medium heat until it begins to turn clear. Add the pumpkin and apple and enough water to cover. Add the thyme, bay leaves, nutmeg, and jalapeno and bring to a simmer. Cook until apples and pumpkins soften. Remove the bay leaves. Remove pot from heat and use a stick blender (or carefully transfer to blender or food processer in batches) to puree the soup. On low heat, stir in 1/2 can of coconut milk and allow the flavors to combine.

Soup night was a success. It's nice to have our first baby dinner under our belt, and we're already coming up with ideas for next time.

Enjoy!