The Cooking Substitution Curve

 

When my kid got diagnosed with egg allergies, one of the sheets they gave us had ideas for egg substitutions- to bind things together, to help baked things rise, to glaze, to make an emulsion, or to coat foods. One, wow eggs do a lot of things. Two, while they gave lots of ideas for substitutions, I was skeptical that the end product would turn out as good as the original.

But, the real problem? When you start to add more and more allergies, the more and more substitutions you have to make. Egg and milk allergies really mess with baking. You can get away with taking a normal muffin recipe and use a flax seed egg and it’ll turn out ok. Or you can use some dairy free milk and it’ll still be pretty tasty. But replacing both the egg and milk? You are going to have some problems. And it’s not a one-to-one situation. If you replace two things it’s not twice as different as the just making one change. No, we’ve got an exponential curve going on. Instead of a muffin, you have a “muffin”. Replace the wheat, too, and now you’ve got something that’s potentially edible, but definitely won’t respond to the name muffin.

This is why I just haven’t tried to make pesto. Our CSA kept sending us basil this year and making pesto is so easy. It’s really just a couple of ingredients:

• Basil- fine, no problem
• Oil- yeah, good
• Garlic- nope, she can’t have that. Hmm… maybe green onions?
• Pine nuts- oh nope, that’s not a tree nut she can have. Sunflower seeds? Pecans?
• Parmesan cheese- oiy. Nutritional yeast……????

Blend it all up and I would have something green. Made from basil. But it’s not going to taste like pesto. And nobody from Italy is going to want to have anything to do with it.

This got me thinking. What’s the most Top 9 allergens one food can have? Is there something that you just can’t make allergen free??

Seafood was my first thought. Some kind of creamy clam chowder- you got dairy to make it creamy, shellfish of course, and maybe some wheat flour to thicken it. Okay, 3 Top 9 allergens, that’s a third of them. Not too bad.

My next thought was baking. You automatically get eggs, milk, and wheat. And if you add peanuts, in say, a delicious peanut butter cake, you are up to 4/9. Now we are getting somewhere.

Alright, so what about an extravagant breakfast bagel? If it’s an everything bagel you got sesame and wheat. Then you can put some cream cheese on there. An egg. You could also go a different direction with lox and get some fish on there. Depending on how extravagant you make it you could really start to add on the allergens.

I think, though, the most is Pad Thai. Egg and shrimp are pilled on top, that’s two of the top 9 right off the bat. But the real killer is the sauce- peanut butter, soy sauce, and fish sauce. Add them all up and you have at least 5 of the top 9. And you better hope they used rice noodles without any wheat!

 

Are there any things you crave that you just can’t eat anymore because there are too many substitutions?

Going to the Beach and Bringing Along Some Food Allergies

 

We’ve been living with food allergies for over a year now, but we haven’t done much traveling (thanks COVID!). After two summer beach trips, here's my run down on going to the beach with food allergies.

Road tripping with food allergies

What we were prepared for- we had already planned to eat at rest stops, bringing our own lunch and snacks. That way, we know all the food is safe and we are eating in the clean, fresh air blowing off the interstate (oh, the soothing sounds of cars traveling at 70 mph). We still haven’t figured out if there’s anything at any restaurant that our kid can eat and this way we don’t have to worry about it.

What we were NOT prepared for- how sad it would be to buy snacks at the gas station. One of the best parts of road trips? Browsing gas stations to get a deliciously different snack from what we normally eat. I’m talking Combos (where else are you going to eat pizza flavored stuffed pretzels?), candy (milk chocolate covered peanuts and tree nuts, obviously), and checking out what random hot food they have (you’re telling me that chili dog isn’t calling your name?). When we went into the gas station to look for snacks, do you know what the safe options were? Oh. The same crackers we had in the car. The same cookies we have at home. Oh! We can get a smaller bag of the same pretzels. Plain chips. Lame. Lame. Lame.

Beach snacks with food allergies

What we were prepared for- before leaving, we asked everybody going on the trip to only bring safe foods on the beach. You know, where you can't easily wash your hands before accidentally contaminating all of the shovels and buckets and beach toys that my kid is playing with. This was met with some resistance, but generally the family stopped eating the peanut butter cheese sandwich crackers while sitting on the beach (at least when we were around).

What we were NOT prepared for- the amount of peanuts washing up on the beach. I had no idea it was a thing to eat peanuts at the beach and then just toss the peanut shells in the sand. Baseball game? Yes. Beach? Never done it. It happened not once, but twice this year! We were playing in the sand when a batch of peanut shells just washed up into our area. Logically, I know that these peanut shells are harmless. She’s allergic to the peanut protein, right? And, whatever peanut protein dust happened to be left on the shell was definitely washed away by the ocean water. But still. I snatched that baby up and eased on down the beach.

Group eating with food allergies

What we were prepared for- we knew the rest of the family was going to eat things that my kid is allergic to. When we presented the idea of limiting allergens at the share beach house, we were told we were asking for way too much. I get it. She’s got a lot of allergies. But for 7 days? You can’t try to adjust your diet? That was a hard pass. So, we knew would have to prepare separate food for her. Wipe down the table a lot. Remind everybody to wash their hands.

What we were NOT prepared for- trashcans with missing trash can lids. The worst part? It was eye level for my kid. She was drawn to that trashcan like a moth to a flame. When I was trying to cook in the kitchen, every time I turned around she had her head in there, trying to grab whatever was the shiniest. Things that had been tossed into the uncovered, completely accessible, kitchen trashcan:

• Egg shells
• Cracker packets with peanut butter still on them
• Aluminum foil cover for casseroles covered in cheese
• Butterfinger wrapper with melted chocolate and crumbs spilling out

I changed that trash bag so much we ran out of them by the weeks end. I kept putting the trashcan on top of the counter only to find it back on the floor. Guys. At the very least, keep your poison out of reach.

I guess this is all to say, while you may feel like a crazy food allergy person at home, you will definitely be a crazier food allergy person at the beach.

The Best (Top 9 Allergen Free) Toddler Snacks

 

If you do a quick google search for the best toddler snacks, there are a lot of suggestions out there. Unfortunately, a lot of the suggests are a no go if you have food allergies.

• Cheese? Yogurt? Milk. Milk. Milk.
• Hummus? Sesame seeds
• Crackers? Bread? Muffins? Wheat. And maybe some eggs.
• Peanut butter? Nut butters? Womp. Womp.

You’re mostly left with fruit (which can have its own problems) and vegetables (Ha. Ha. Ha. Toddlers eating snap peas? Not when they gain control of their hands and can chuck it across the room.)

Having healthy, filling snacks is extremely important to my family because my two kids are skinny little guys. When I see a big, chunky baby, it’s hard for me not to envy those cute little rolls; their parents probably never get comments on how small their kids are. When people feel the need to point out my kids are small, I always respond with a “I feed them!” as I huff away.

To stop the “wow, she’s a lot smaller than my 20-month-old Michelin tire baby” comments, I try to pack some high calorie foods every time they eat and that means finding some protein and fat to add to the carbs. For my toddler, this includes having high calorie things to dip into because that kid loves to dip. And, whether she digs in with the other food on her plate or goes straight for the sunbutter with a spoon, I don’t care. I’m just happy she’s getting those calories.

My favorite allergen* friendly dips:

• Vegan cream cheese – it’s creamy, it doesn’t taste that different from the real thing, and the best ones don’t have soy or nuts!
• Coconut butter- guys. This stuff is so delicious. It’s just coconut meat that they blended up until it became a cream. It’s a fatty. It’s sweet. It tastes like dessert.
• Sunbutter- it’s not peanut butter but it’s close. I guess.
• Avocado/guacamole- my little one calls it “cado” and we always have to have it around
• Black bean dip- really any kind of pureed vegetable spread is a good hummus substitute. I guess you could just make homemade hummus and leave out the tahini paste, but making homemade hummus always sounds like a great idea but never works out. How do restaurants get it so creamy? I’ve tried cooking dried chickpeas, boiling in baking soda, more oil, blender instead of food processor…. It’s just not the same. Black bean dip, carrot dip, lentil dip on the other hand, all are winners. Just pick a vegetable. Cook it until it’s falling apart. Blend it up with some oil, lemon juice, salt, and leave the tahini paste in the pantry.
• Smoothies- they’re cold and refreshing and a good way to hide some spinach. My favorite? Frozen banana, nondairy milk, sunbutter, spinach. You can add some flaxseed if you are feeling yuppie. It’s a healthy milkshake.
• Vegan yogurt- a lot of the vegan yogurts don’t have a lot of calories… which is why I make my own. But if some of the coconut ones have some good fat in them.

Honesty, our dippers are usually fruit or crackers. Since wheat is out for some people, I did some brainstorming to think of some delicious cracker alternatives.

Dippers:

• Cheerios- cheerios are just the best. There’s a reason they are classically a kid’s first cereal. No wheat. Easy to chew. Great for dipping.
• Rice/corn squares- the cereal aisle is just a good place to go for wheat free snacks.
• Rice cakes- these seem a little harder for younger toddlers, but once they get those teeth in, it’s a crunchy snack
• Tortilla chips- it seems weird to put chips as a healthy snack idea, but tortilla chips are a little bit better for you than their potato cousins? Maybe?
• Veggie straws- again, I’m not sure these are that different than chips and they definitely don’t deserve to have “veggie” in their name, but when wheat is out, you gotta go looking for other things.
• Corn tortillas- corn tortillas mostly make me want a taco, but dipped in some black bean dip would be ok, too.
• Fruit- my family loves some fruit
• Veggies- I guess??? How do people get their kids to eat vegetables? The smug look on my friend’s faces when their kid dives in to a beet salad drives my blood pressure through the roof. I get it. Your kid will eat beets. You’re clearly the superior parent.

 

Have fun snacking!

*I’m not including coconut as one of the Top 9 allergens. The FDA qualifies coconut as a tree nut (so it has to be clearly labeled), but allergies to coconut are very rare and usually occur in people who are not allergic to other tree nuts.

Taste Test: Vegan Cream Cheese

Once we were faced with trying to find allergen friendly snacks that didn’t involve milk, vegan cream cheese became a staple in our house. Either dipping cereal in it or spreading it on crackers, it’s a good way to add some fat to our kid’s diet. Our grocery store only has one brand, but when Wegman’s opened up nearby, we had to taste some alternatives. Here’s the run down:

WayFare- easily spreads, but with a sweeter taste

The consistency was closer to a whipped cream cheese and it was good spread on graham crackers, but way too sweet for an everything bagel breakfast sandwich. I think it would be perfect for dessert applications, like a vegan cream cheese icing, but not great with anything savory.

Daiya- it has an after taste of popcorn and once you notice it, you can’t not notice it

The first time I tried it, I didn’t not like it… it just had a weird taste that I couldn’t put my finger on. It was familiar… but unexpected in cream cheese. Not bad, but a little off putting. After my wife said “popcorn,” it hit me. Yes. Popcorn. Not movie theater buttered popcorn, just like normal popcorn. Who doesn’t like the classic combo of creamy tart cream cheese with a popcorn sprinkle? My kid. I think this tub is still in our fridge because nobody wants to eat it.

GoVeggie- strangely soft

It’s very soft and just.. kind of… neutral? Plus, it also has soy in it which isn't great for avoiding allergens. Not a winner.

Follow Your Heart- our first, our only, our one true vegan-cream-cheese love

I’m not sure if this one is actually the best one, or if it was just our first one and toddlers love what the know, but it’s definitely our favorite. It’s less spreadable (my youngest actually enjoys just eating it by the chunk off her plate), but you can dip into it with pretzels and crackers, and with a little work you can spread it on a bagel. It has a very neutral flavor, just kind of creamy, with a hint of tartness, but really, I’d take it over bland or popcorn. Because it’s soy free, it is safe from the top 9 allergens! It’s almost all coconut oil, flavored with fava bean extract (which gives it a light cheese flavor). Now my kids won’t eat any other brand.