Get your coupons!

On my quest to save more money in the grocery budget, I discovered that I could get coupons for most of our favorite food-allergy products on the products' websites. Some of the sites require signing up to be on the product's email list to get the coupon. I got multiple coupons by signing up myself and Dave separately and by asking my other family members to do the same and give us the coupons. Below are websites where you can get coupons for Silk soy milk, Rice Dream rice milk, So Delicious/Turtle Mountain soy ice cream and other treats, Enjoy Life products, and Smart Balance margarine (Smart Balance LIGHT was dairy-free last time I checked). Happy coupon clipping!

http://www.tastethedream.com/promos/coupon.php

http://www.silksoymilk.com/user/register

http://www.turtlemountain.com/products/coupon.html

http://enjoylifefoods.com/

http://coupons2.smartsource.com/smartsource/index.jsp?Link=E3ZRDETDN4L3O

Chefs walking in our shoes

Did anyone out there catch the Top Chef Masters episode on Bravo that aired last night? The show is a competition for master chefs where (as in the original Top Chef) they are given various challenges and scored on the results. Last night's challenge was to prepare food for a dinner party for the actress Zooey Deschanel, who is vegan and who also avoids soy and gluten. You should have seen the chefs' faces when they found out about her dietary restrictions! They clearly had little to no experience cooking for food-restricted individuals. Still, the results were pretty good, all things considered. The winner made quinoa pasta with roasted tomatoes and basil - it looked divine. The loser was the guy who made the dessert. I knew he got off on the wrong foot when he decided to use store-bought rice ice cream. Not that rice ice cream isn't good, but come on, what vegan ice cream is better than coconut milk ice cream (which is why I'm so excited that Ainsley might have outgrown her coconut allergy)? His inexperience in this arena certainly showed. On the other hand, that challenge was right up my alley! For once I felt more qualified for a Top Chef food challenge than the chefs themselves.

What I found most amusing about the episode was how the judges seemed shocked that the chefs made vegan dishes that actually tasted good. Now, all of us who have a lot of experience cooking vegan recipes (especially vegan desserts) know how good vegan cooking can be. It was fun to see the judges realize that as well.

Reducing your food allergy family grocery budget

One of the biggest downsides to dealing with food allergies is that families are very limited in the types and brands of foods that they can buy. We become very loyal to our "safe" brands and thus cannot bargain-shop like most other families.

I remember laughing to myself last week when I heard another mom say she limits herself to $50 in groceries a week. Ha! My weekly grocery budget is over twice that amount, mostly because I can't save money by feeding Ainsley peanut butter & jelly and grilled cheese sandwiches and having her drink cow's milk that's on sale for $1.99/gallon. Instead, she eats sunbutter sandwiches (sunbutter is normally $4.99 a jar) and drinks soy milk, which is $2.99 per half gallon. Other things, like her soy ice cream, is about $4 a pint, and the dairy-free margarine we use (Earth Balance) is $3.99 for a small tub. The only brand of bread my grocery store sells that's safe for Ainsley is Nature's Own, which is $3.59 for a small loaf. We also buy things like Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese and Better Than Sour Cream, which are much more expensive than the real thing.

As we all know, these extra costs add up quickly. To try and limit our expenses, I have decided to reduce my grocery budget as much as I can without sacrificing out staples or eliminating shopping at my favorite store, Whole Foods. I successfully did this last week by going to Whole Foods and planned our family meals around the meat that the store had on sale. I bought four large chicken legs for $3 and that, coupled with a $2 bunch of asparagus I bought at my regular grocery store, was a great meal one night this week - for $5! I also bought $4 of chuck roast there and plan to make a slow-cooker meal out of that and some potatoes and carrots.

In the future, I am going to look online at the weekly circulars for Whole Foods and my local grocery store (Kroger) every week and plan all our meals around the sale items. I just went on both stores' websites and found not only that the circulars are readily available either on the stores' websites (here's Kroger's and here's WF's), but also that the sites provide coupons and other neat features to help families like us save money. Whole Foods has a webpage on saving money at its stores and a newletter called "The Whole Deal" that includes coupons and has meal ideas for cheap, healthy dinners. Kroger had links to several different coupon websites that allow you to download coupons electonically onto your Kroger frequent shopper card. Additionally, Kroger also offers a no-fee credit card that allows you to build up points you can redeem for free groceries - this is enticing to me because it awards double points any time you use it at a Kroger store and it also gives you $25 in free groceries the first time you use it. I also noticed when looking at this week's Kroger circular that the store is offering $25 in free groceries if you transfer a prescription to its pharmacy - so right off the bat you can get yourself $50 in free groceries!

As only other moms can appreciate, I am very excited about these features and interested to see how much money I can save. If anyone else has money-saving tips on grocery shopping, please share!

Easy asparagus

The other night I ventured out of my food comfort zone and baked some chicken. I know ... sad when baked chicken is an adventure. As often as I cook with chicken, I have never cooked chicken that had bones in it - I always stick to boneless chicken breast and tenderloin. But Whole Foods had a big sale on chicken legs this week, so I bought some and made the Orange-Glazed Chicken from What Else Is to Eat? (see cookbook sidebar). The chicken was incredibly easy and quite yummy.

As a side, I made baked asparagus in the way that my mother-in-law usually makes it - I bought a bunch of it, spread the spears on a cookie sheet, sprayed them with olive oil and threw a little kosher salt (course sea salt would also work) on them, and baked them in the oven at 375 degrees for ~20 minutes. Mmmm ... they were good. Ainsley kept eating them right off of the cookie sheet. Both the baked chicken and the asparagus were such a hit that I will be making them quite often in the future.

Allergist's appt.

The appointment today went just as I expected - no big deal. The doctor suggested I should be hopeful that Ainsley has outgrown her coconut allergy. Last year the hive to coconuts during her skin test was very small and her blood-test number to it was only 1.5. He thinks that given how mild her allergy was to it before, she may very well not have it now, so I guess I will cross my fingers that she's outgrown that one. It would be great to incorporate coconut into Ainsley's diet. I have a lot of dessert recipes that call for coconut, and the So Delicious brand of allergy-friendly products (yogurt & ice cream) has a whole line of foods made with coconut milk. In fact, I just saw today in my supermarket that that brand has come out with a Coconut Milk beverage - it was on the same shelf as the soy and rice milk.

The doctor also encouraged me to incorporate shellfish into Ainsley's diet. I needed extra reassurance on that because, although Ainsley's blood-test numbers to shellfish were 0 last year, she had a tiny hive to the shellfish mix during the skin test. Given the severe reactions shellfish can provoke in allergic individuals, I have been too afraid to give any to Ainsley despite her good test results. Now I guess I'll just have to be brave and give her some shrimp next time my in-laws grill some (believe me, I will give her the tiniest bit of shrimp imaginable). I have to admit, I am not a fan of fish or shellfish so I've never been particularly motivated to incorporate it into my cooking, but I guess I'll have to.

Anyway, after the appt. I took Ainsley to have her blood drawn at the lab. She was a trooper. She kept saying, "Mommy, I don't want to do this, and the only way we can get out of it is to leave right now." Still, when I explained that we couldn't leave and we had to do this to know if she had outgrown any of her allergies, she didn't fight or throw a tantrum. As the nurse took the three vials of blood (!) needed for Ainsley's many tests, Ainsley sat there calmly, and only whimpered a couple of times. Afterwards, a Daffy Duck bandaid made it all okay.

Ainsley's blood will be tested for all of her known allergens, including milk, egg white, peanuts, coconut, sesame, and the tree nuts (pecans, cashews, pistachios, and some more I can't remember).

We should have the results by next Tuesday.

Happy birthday to a great food-allergy dad! Plus a request and some easy recipes

First of all, happy 35th birthday, Dave! We celebrated with his parents Sunday night by eating a birthday cake his mom made using a Duncan Hines German chocolate cake mix and Pillsbury vanilla frosting with sprinkles (she used egg replacer so the cake would be safe for Ainsley, and it turned out great).

Yesterday, I took the kids up to his office in the afternoon and we gave him a bag of his favorite candy, most of which was also safe for Ainsley (they share a particularly strong love of Twizzlers). He enjoyed walking the kids around his office and showing them off to his coworkers.

Then this morning Ainsley and I made him breakfast in bed, with bacon, toast (from some challah bread I made this weekend), and wholewheat/applesauce/strawberry/blueberry pancakes we made this morning using the pancake recipe in the Kid-Pleasing Cookbook (see sidebar, "My Favorite Cookbooks"). He loved it!

Second, I am sorry I haven't posted more lately. Honestly, until today, I haven't had anything much to say. Things are going really well but I haven't done many new things, especially on the food allergy front. Instead, the last couple of weeks we've been taking it easy and enjoying the summer.

Today, however, I do have an important request: Ainsley's annual allergist appointment is tomorrow so I would appreciate any good vibes you could send us. Specifically, we are hoping (but not particularly optimistic, given our past experience) that some of Ainsley's allergy numbers have gone down.

For those of you not familiar with food allergy appointments, once a year, we meet with Ainsley's allergist and tell him about any significant food-allergic reactions she's had within the past 12 months (like the now-infamous yogurt incident) and whether we think she's allergic to anything new (thankfully we don't). Then he gives us a lab form and we go get her blood drawn to test her immunoglobulin E ("IgE") numbers for the foods we know she's allergic to (a food-allergic reaction is caused by the body's creation of IgE antibodies to the food; when these antibodies react with the food, histamine and other chemicals are released, causing hives, asthma, or other symptoms of an allergic reaction).

About 5 days after the blood draw we get a call from the allergist telling us what her numbers are and what he thinks they mean (for example, last year Ainsley's number for peanuts went from a 12 to a 6, suggesting she might be outgrowing the peanut allergy. Boy, wouldn't it be great if that number were a 0 this year!).

I've learned over the last three years not to get my hopes up too much about this appointment, because so far she hasn't outgrown any of her allergies and the studies I've read suggest that she may not outgrow any until her teens at the earliest. Still, there's always that little flame of hope in my heart that this will be the year .... I can say her eczema has gotten markedly better since last year, so perhaps that means something in her little immune system is correcting itself. As I've said before, if I could choose an allergy for her to outgrow, it would be milk, so COME ON MILK I say as I kiss the dice and throw them on the table.

Finally, I have collected a few more excitingly easy, safe dishes that I wanted to share below. I found the chicken couscous recipe in Family Circle magazine in an article on dinners ready in under 20 minutes. It was, indeed, quite easy, and the family really liked it (the kids gobbled theirs up and Ainsley said more than once, "Mmmm, this is good!").

The vegetable skillet and cobbler recipes are from my wonderful friend Elena, who is so considerate when it comes to Ainsley's allergies. We've eaten over at her house several times and she always keeps safe snacks and prepares safe foods for Ainsley. She is also careful to note when something she prepares for her family looks safe for Ainsley and sends me the recipe. Thanks so much, Elena - every food allergy mom should have a friend like you!

Chicken Couscous with Grape Tomatoes

2 chicken breasts or 3 tenderloins (to make things easy on yourself, you could use a package of safe, precooked chicken - I often use Hormel Natural Choice oven-roasted chicken, found near the refrigerated deli meats)
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 C safe chicken broth
1/2 chopped onion (okay, you do have to chop one vegetable, but I promise that's it!)
2 C thinly sliced carrots (I use fresh matchstick carrots so I don't have to do more cutting)
1 C uncooked, plain couscous
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt

If chicken is uncooked, saute in the oil until fully cooked and then remove chicken from saute pan. Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces. Add to the pan the chicken broth, onions, carrots, spices and seasonings and simmer for 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender (also add the oil if you didn't add it before while cooking the chicken). During that 10 minutes, cut the grape tomatoes into quarters. After vegetables are tender, add the chicken, tomatoes, and couscous to the pan and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes before serving (time enough for the couscous to fluff up). Makes about 4 adult servings.

* * * *

Hearty Vegetable & Rice Skillet

1 15oz can black, garbanzo, or kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 14.5oz can stewed or diced tomatoes, cut up
2 C loose-pack frozen mixed vegetables
1 C water
3/4 C quick-cooking brown rice (if you use instant brown rice, use only 2/3 C water)
1/2 tsp dried thyme or dillweed, crushed
1 10.75oz can condensed tomato soup (optional - still tastes good without!)

In a large skillet, stir together beans, undrained tomatoes, vegetables, water, uncooked rice, and thyme or dillweed. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 12 to 14 minutes or till rice is tender. Stir in soup; heat through. If you are not allergic to cheese, you can add some shredded cheese on top. If not allergic to almonds, you could also top with slivered almonds. Makes 4 servings.

* * * *

Ultra-Simple Fruit Cobbler

4 Tbsp safe margarine
3/4 C flour
3/4 C sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 C soy milk
2 C sliced fresh peaches or nectarines, or whole blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries or a combination of fruits (or a 12-ounce package of frozen berries)
1 Tbsp sugar

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Put margarine in an 8-inch square or 9-inch round pan; set in oven to melt. When margarine has melted, remove pan from oven. Whisk flour, 3/4 cup of sugar, baking powder, and salt in small bowl. Add soy milk; whisk to form a smooth batter. Pour batter into pan, then scatter fruit over batter. Sprinkle with remaining 1 Tbsp of sugar.

Bake until batter browns and fruit bubbles, 50 to 60 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature with a dollop of safe whipped cream (Soyatoo, available at Whole Foods, is safe for some) or soy ice cream, if desired.

Ahhhh ... now I can breathe a bit

I have not posted in a while because I've been really busy at work. Finally, I have gotten almost back to normal in terms of my schedule so I can spend a little more time at home.

Let's see, what's been happening with us ... well, to start off with, Ainsley's hypochondria has certainly lessened. She has pretty much stopped with all of the worrisome habits, like washing her hands every two seconds and refusing to swallow something she's already chewed up because it might have germs. I guess it was from food allergy camp. I will still send her next year but I think I'm going to mention to the teachers that this happened so they can be more aware that this is a possible side effect.

We had a wonderful Fourth of July - went to Fort Worth for a concert in the park and fireworks with some good friends who have kids the same age as ours. We went to the zoo the next day, which was great but H-O-T (if you don't know, the Dallas area is having record-setting temps these days ... these are the times I wished we lived up north!).

Ainsley's OT continues to go well. She seems to be improving in practically every area of physical development. She can ride a tricycle better, she can write her letters better, she can climb on things better - it seems to really be paying off these days. She continues to go twice a week but we'll scale back to once a week when school starts again. Funny story - on Saturday, she came up to me and said, "Mommy, I need to do a little work today" (I think she might have heard that phrase come out of Dave's mouth one too many times). So she took a marker and three pieces of paper, sat in a chair in her playroom, and proceeded to draw letters all over the papers, which she then taped up on the wall. Very hard work indeed! One thing that's gotten her into letters these days is the Leapfrog DVDs on letters and words. These really do help kids learn their letters.

Finally, my recent workload has caused me to create even more "ridiculously easy" meals. Tonight we had yummy, ham & veggie hash browns and pancakes. Here's the "recipe":

Dairy-free, egg-free hashbrowns

1 package safe frozen hashbrowns (I have used Kroger and Alexia brands)
1 package ham chunks (you can find them pre-cut in the refrigerated meat section)
Optional: if you feel like chopping, you could add green peppers, onions, mushrooms, or whatever other veggies you like with your hashbrowns

Pour about 3 tbsp vegetable or olive oil in saute pan. Pour frozen hashbrowns in pan. Heat over high heat for approximately 20 minutes, stirring often. Add ham chunks and optional veggies after the first 10 minutes.

Although I did make the pancakes tonight from scratch, I often just toast safe frozen waffles (many brands available - buy at Whole Foods or Sprouts), throw some fruit (blueberries, cut-up strawberries, etc.) on them, and then serve them with syrup. Pancakes or waffles make a great accompaniment to the hash browns.