Back from Chicago

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Dear Readers:

I’m back from Chicago, where I had such a great time!  Below is the video from ABC 7 Chicago of me making my Gluten-Free, Allergen-Free Brownies.  Chicago is such a fantastic city, a foodie hub, and also a real hotbed for those making  a difference in the Food Allergy and Gluten-Free community.

First I did a demo of “Allergy Friendly” Brownies and Blondies on ABC 7 (where I shared the stage with a band called “Honor Society”, who I guess are a huge band… but I live  in Mommyville, so I’d never heard of them, even though they live like 2 miles away from me!)

Then, I rushed back to my hotel to  have lunch with Kelly Rudnicki, The Food Allergy Mama who was the nicest person in the world.  First of all, she and I have so much in common, it’s eerie… between our son’s food allergies, to our writing backgrounds, to our love of long distance running.  It was great to meet her, but it also brought about the first of what I guess I’d call my  “vulnerability incidents”.  What do I mean by that? Well, usually, I’m very stoic about all that we’ve been through in my family with food allergies. I’m a cheerleader for “living well”, not “living without”.   But the reality is, my son Lennon has been through some very hard times, and still continues to have hard times periodically. So meeting such a nice, kind, food allergy mom took my guard down.  I realized, as I welled up with tears talking to Kelly about the fact that my son is showing signs of a new food allergy, there is a lot of emotion that goes along with this job.  So thanks to Kelly for being supportive and for doing such great work to help kids like ours!   Also, look for Kelly’s new revised Vegan “Food Allergy Mama’s Baking Book” in stores near you soon.

On Saturday, I had the pleasure of going on Mr. Fix-It, with Lou Manfredini, who squeezed in an interview with me between discussing toilets and roofiing. Love this man, he’s my new “Car Talk”.  Then went on to spend the weekend at the Gluten-Free Cooking Expo, where I met more great Food Allergy people.  (I’m telling you, Chicago is Food Allergy Central).  Jen Cafferty  of Gluten Free Life with Jen organized a hugely successful event with lots of great cooking demos, and amazing GF vendors at the Vendor Fair.  Jen is an inspirational ball of energy, and a name I expect we’ll be hearing a lot more about around the country, as she spreads awareness about gluten-free life. She did a cooking demo from Elana’s Pantry,  and I did my Double Choco Chunk Cookies (featuring Enjoy Life).  I sold out of my books the first day (thank God, I was dreading lugging them back to Los Angeles!) so had a chance to walk around and see the other vendors.  Can I just wax poetic about Udi’s for one second? Without fail, the best gf bread on the market.   Hands down.

While selling The Allergen-Free Baker’s Handbook at the book table, I got a chance to hang with the Welcoming Kitchen ladies, two more great moms and cookbook authors. Megan Hart and Kim Lutz are the duo behind the Welcoming Kitchen blog and are about to publish their third cookbook, next spring — all GF, and Allergen-Free, so look for that one in 2011, it will be great!  We had a good time hawking our wares as the public poured in, and I had a great time talking to them about our shared experience in this field, and also as parents.  Again, talking to Kim, mother to a child with multiple food allergies, I welled up discussing my sons’ allergies, and started to feel both a bit embarrassed, but also a little surprised.  What, after all, was happening to me?  Is a food allergy something to shed tears over? Usually, I’d smile and say, “absolutely not!”, and “just think of all the wonderful alternatives you can still eat”… which is absolutely true. The food we eat is not what makes me feel sad. I love what we eat, and feel lucky.  But that doesn’t take away the fact that when you or your child has food allergies, it makes you feel vulnerable, and sometimes, very sick.  So I think what I got most out of my trip to Chicago, was a great sense of community and the realization that I need to fess up to my own sadness about this once in awhile.  I need to shed that tear, and then go back to laughing heartily over some really good allergy friendly cookies.  Speaking of which… has anyone tried the mini chocolate chip cookies from Pamela’s Products? (note:contain eggs and soy) To-die-for addictive.  Uber Uber Yum.

Thanks!

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Hey, thanks for all the great FOOD ALLERGY RECIPE CHALLENGE REQUESTS!  What a great way to return from vacation. I am totally excited to get going on them.  And as you can see from the following photo, I AM BACK IN MY KITCHEN!

Yesterday, I baked Chocolate Layer Cake (p.106), with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (p.91) to test out the recipe as sheet cake for Douglas, (a reader who doesn’t like layer cake). Yes, you can. Use a 9″x13″ pan.

Made Amaranth Date Bread (p.47) for Adam (husband making request).

Made a vat of “The Lady from Naples Red Sauce” from first book (p.69) in prep for the GF Allergen-Free pizza I’m going to make this week with my GF Pizza Crust  (p.169) and the Daiya dairy-free (soy-free and nut-free) cheese I purchased from Whole Foods yesterday during the EARTHQUAKE  (thought shelves were going to fall on me, though there are worse places to be buried than Whole Foods).

Then made homemade gf breadcrumbs and the Turkey Meatballs from first book (p.77), subbing Bison by request from kids.

Finally, it was time to make dinner. So I boiled up the “New” De Boles Gluten-Free Multi Grain Spaghetti bought during said Earthquake at Whole Foods.

I WAS excited about this. “Was” being the operative word.

What the heck is that?! They have the nerve to call that Spaghetti?  How DARE they!  Into the trash it went, and out came my trusty Tinkyada.  I thought when De Boles said “new” that might have meant “improved”, but sadly, it’s still the same old mushy glop.  I hate to be harsh, but when Tinkyada does it so well, why do they have to do it so poorly?

Anyway, today, back to those caramel cupcakes I promised (a food allergy recipe challenge request made last month), which I’ll be starting my WHOLELIVING.COM posting with.  Can I go back on vacation now? 🙂 Just kidding…. I’m only getting started.

Food Allergy Recipe Challenge Requests!

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PLEASE NOTE:
THANKS FOR ALL YOUR GREAT REQUESTS!  THE COMMENTS SECTION ON THIS PARTICULAR POST IS CLOSED. THE “FOOD ALLERGY RECIPE CHALLENGE” BLOG ON WHOLE LIVING IS NOW LIVE. PLEASE LEAVE YOUR REQUESTS AT www.wholeliving.com SO I CAN BE SURE TO SEE THEM.  THAT’S WHERE THE CHALLENGE IS TAKING PLACE.  BASED UPON YOUR COMMENTS BELOW, NEXT WEEK’S RECIPE IS “GF FLOUR TORTILLAS”. Again, feel free to leave more requests (or repeats of what you left here) at www.wholeliving.com. THIS ONLY RELATES TO THIS POST. COME BACK FOR MORE NEW BLOG POSTS, REVIEWS, AND MUSINGS.

Dear readers:

I am seeking more recipe requests. Do you have a childhood favorite you’d like converted to allergen-free for either yourself, your kids, or a friend?  Leave me a comment, and I will attempt to recreate it for you!

When I did a book giveaway a couple months ago, I asked people to enter  by leaving a comment about their most wished for recipe they’d like converted to allergen-free.  I really loved the suggestions, and will be getting to work for you, as often as possible, with “Free-to-Eat” versions of traditional favorites.  Here’s what I’m asking for now:  I begin weekly blogging next month on Martha Stewart’s wholeliving.com

click photo

and it would be really fun to blog about my attempts to convert your recipe requests into new allergen-free, gluten-free delicacies.  So please leave them here for me.  I can’t promise I’ll always make them as tasty as you remember them, or imagined them to be, but I’ll certainly try! Bring it on!  Food Allergy Recipe Challenge!

Additionally, for anyone in the Chicago area, please note that Jen Cafferty (of Gluten-Free Life with Jen) is hosting an amazing GLUTEN-FREE COOKING EXPO, April 17th & 18th. There will be lots of fun cooking demonstrations by GF Chefs (Jen and myself, included)
Hope to see you there!  Spread the word! ps… it’s spring break this week, so I’ll be getting back to you about your FABULOUS recipe challenges next week. Happy Passover and Happy Easter!