Pizza Friday or What to do

What to do. What to do.

Yesterday Max received an invitation to a birthday party at Chuckie Cheese. What to do. What to do. Now I would never in a million years send this kid to a peanut factory or even one of those restaurants that scatter peanut shells all over the floor as he is allergic to peanuts and I don't know how much peanut residue could cause a reaction in him. So do I send my milk allergic son to a place covered with cheese residue?

It has been a long time since Max has had a contact reaction to milk. And though we (meaning I, for my own personal consumption) keep milk products in the house, it is limited and we are careful with cross contamination. Would just being at Chuckie Cheese cause any problems for him? I don't think I have ever knowingly subjected him to being around that much milk residue. Correct me if I am wrong here but I imagine Chuckie Cheese to be a place where children go from handling cheesy pizza to playing games to handling cheesy pizza to jumping in the ball pit. Greasy cheesy hands must touch every inch of that place.

The birthday boy is a classmate of Max's. The popular one (and you thought such a thing didn't exist in Kindergarten). The boy Max most wants to have playdates with. His mother knows Max is allergic to milk and the boy's father is an ENT doc (actually the last ENT I saw who tested me for food allergies!)

Max is also so sensitive lately about people eating things he can't have. Would Chuckie Cheese let me bring in food for him?

What to do. What to do. Any opinions on this?

Happy Birthday to ME

For my birthday I got carded at Safeway buying a bottle of wine. I'm 38 today. Didn't figure I still needed to carry ID.

Mommy Secrets

SHHHH! Don't tell anyone, I have been eating EGGS in my own house! Egg whites to be exact. In my desire to lose weight I decided I need a low fat high protein breakfast and well for me nothing satisfies this more than eggs. So I bought a special "egg" pan meaning that the only thing this pan is to be used for is eggs. I eat them while Max is at school and I choose to get the cartons of egg whites because I felt this would be less messy than cracking eggs.

We have tried at various times to eat eggs here since Max's diagnoses 4 1/2 years ago. When he was two frying an egg in the house resulted in a screaming Max (like he was in pain) and hives on his torso. He would only calm down once we had taken him outside and aired out the house.
Hence, we stopped frying eggs.

While I was pregnant with Owen I craved eggs. So I designated an egg pan and boiled eggs while he was at school. This system worked fine until my sister came to stay with us after Owen was born. I forgot to tell her about the egg pan and one morning she made Max's oatmeal in the "egg" pan. After a few bites he said "My lips are burning." and developed a few hives around his mouth. The egg pan got thrown out.

So two years later, I am trying it again. Owen will challenge eggs at the doctors office in April and hopefully Max is outgrowing and we will tell all visiting relatives about the "egg" pan.

Clearing My Head

The beginning of the week someone forwarded me an article from Harper's magazine written by Meredith Broussard. Ms. Broussard makes some fantastical assertions about food allergies. I have been so angry about the article and Ms. Broussard's interview on NPR's Leonard Lopate show that I can barely function. So this is my exercise in letting it go. Meredith Broussard is an idiot. My children's food allergies are real and the they are THAT serious. I am not paranoid.

I feel Rational Jenn expresses all I want to and more.

Kitchen Complete with Fake Allergens

Owen is two today. He got a new kitchen complete with fake allergens (ie cheese, egg, pizza). So Max "boiled" an egg and served us cheese and pizza.

David and I like to laugh about things like this. Are we sadistic? "Son, go play with your allergens."

At one of the local malls the play area used to be in a breakfast theme. Huge soft waffles and long pieces of bacon and a huge, puffy fried egg. When we would go there we used to ask Max if he wanted to go jump on some allergens. Are we sick or what?

Hitting the Nail on the Head

David and I had ordered pizza one night and the next day I was trying to secretly eat a leftover piece. Max caught me and was upset. "No food in the house that I am allergic to!" he grumbled.

"Max, I said why does it upset you so much lately when people are eating things you are allergic to?"

He paused and finally said the words, "Becuase it isn't fair."

I guess that says it all.

Solstice Party Post Mortem

The food was not as good as I had hoped. The "Yummy" Vegan Spinach Dip (it's actual title) was not yummy. Some kind people said it was good but I would never make it again. And now I have a whole can of Nutritional Yeast Flakes. What do I do with Nutritional Yeast Flakes?

The Solar Candy tasted like rinds of citrus fruits (which is truly what it was.)

The lamb, I thought, was underdone. But I had left David in charge of cooking the lamb. I aslo forgot to put out the mint jelly. David commented we should rethink the "lamb on the solstice" tradition.

The fudge didn't set up and was too mushy.

The only real hit I had was the lentil soup. I got this recipe from the internet years ago so someone deserves credit for this tasty concoction.

Solstice Soup
1 cup of brown lentils
2 litres of water
1 onion
1 clove garlic
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1 cup each of grated carrot, parsnip, pumpkin or root vegetable of choice (I used carrot, parsnip and potato)
1 tsp coriander seed
1 tsp cumin seed
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tbsp sugar
salt and pepper
1 tsp powdered chicken stock (Note: I used 2 litres of vege broth and omited the chicken stock)
1 1/2 cup of peeled roasted garlic tomatoes (I used a can of plain diced tomatos)
2 cups of chopped silver beet or spinach or other greens of preference (I used spinach)
More water as required

Soak a cup of brown lentils in 2 litres of water (or stock) while you are gathering and preparing the other ingredients.

Put olive oil (or butter) in a large capacity saucepan, add chopped onion and saute. Then add the crushed garlic, the celery, and the grated vegetables. Cook together for a few minutes. Then add the lentils and the liquid they are soaking in.

Crush coriander seeds in a mortar and pestle and add those, plus the whole cumin seeds, the garam masala, the powdered chicken stock and the sugar.

After about 15 minutes add tomatoes.

Cook for about 30-40 minutes in total, adding more liquid if necessary.

For the last five minutes of cooking, add the greens.

Test for flavour, adding salt and pepper to taste.

Serve hot with crusty french bread.

The Wassail and Spiced Mulled Wine was also a hit as well as the hummus (Whole Foods)