My sweet sweet neighbor Maryellen gave me a TON of fresh rhubarb last week. We love rhubarb season. Today’s cookout was the perfect opportunity to debut this New York Times Rhubarb Crisp recipe. (I LOVE the New York Times recipes, they ALWAYS are fabulous. And I love reading the paper. A dead medium, I know. But it’s relaxing to me). Usually during this time of year we make rhubarb cake, but I wanted something a little lighter, faster and less cakey. Needless to say, this crisp was a crowd pleaser. My only regret is that I didn’t make a double batch to share with more friends! This dish is a…
Blueberry Breakfast Muffins
One of my kids is staring at the back of my head from the top of our stairs as I type this, and I refuse to turn around to see what they need….it’s been a looooong weekend, a preview of what summer will be like, perhaps, and I’m just a wee bit annoyed. I need some down time. A mommy break here. I’m blogging, something I enjoy, for me. And I need it. I need to take time for me to be a better person to help you. You being kids. It’s a cycle. Anyway, typing. Typing. Typing. Blueberry Oat Flax Seed Breakfast Muffins…MMMMMMMMMMMM. We had a huge container of…
Nut-free Ice Cream + 1 Year Anniversary of Anaphylactic Episode
Well duh, most ice creams without nuts are nut-free, right? Wrong. If you have looked at the ingredient label of your ice cream lately, you’ve probably noticed a change in the label. All labels have to clearly state if an allergen is present. The top 8 allergens are: Milk Eggs Peanuts Tree nuts (such as almonds, cashews, walnuts) Fish (such as bass, cod, flounder) Shellfish (such as crab, lobster, shrimp) Soy Wheat There are MANY other allergies besides these, but these are the most common. What manufacturers do NOT HAVE TO STATE is whether or not the facility in which the ice cream is made contains nuts. This is a…
Two Nutty Moms
What do two nut-free Mom’s do on their night out together? We eat whatever the hell we want. Seriously. A good friend of mine shares the same food restrictions that I do when it comes to feeding kiddos. No nuts allowed! Her son has nut allergies too, so we lean on each other for support and ideas all things food and holiday related; and life in general, too. We have a lot in common, conversation and humor come easy. That being said, we had a ball last night on our “girls night out” together. We enjoyed pedicures, dumplings (not a “safe place to eat”), specialty chocolates (also, never safe), and…
Nut-free Mixed Bag of Candy
This bag is nice – nut-free, gluten free and resealable (you know they can’t eat all this candy right away!). I found it at Metcalfes Sentry. Yesterday I also Primed (that’s a new word right? As in Amazon Prime?) Some easter colored sixlets. And now my shopping is complete. Time to focus up on this menu I’m building. Super simple stuff that I can make ahead and enjoy Easter Sunday with my family. I’ll post the recipes soon!!
Grocery store nut-free cookies!
It fills me with utter GLEE when I stumble upon new nut-free items at the grocery store! Lofthouse Bakery makes sweet treats in a nut-free facility. The two we decided to try for Easter are sugar cookies with sprinkles and chocolate layer, and lemon meltaway cookies. These sweet treats are so good and I actually prefer the lemon cookies. They melt in your mouth and have a very distinct ? flavor. So if you’re out and about looking for a “safe sharing snack” for school church, or play group, or just a desert among friends, Lofthouse Bakery is 100% nut-free! Lofthouse Bakery items can be found at Target and Metcalfes…
Allergy Free Popsicles!
As I was scouring the shelves at the newly renovated Pick N Save on Fish Hatch, I came across these popsicles in the freezer section. I’m very cautious about ice cream and popsicles since we had an anaphylactic reaction to Chocolate pudding pops last May. The popsicle was made in a facility where nuts were also processed, and that information was NOT on the box. These popsicles, their formal name is “Chloe’s Soft Serve Fruit” are wonderful. They are non-dairy, GF, vegan, kosher and non-GMO. While the box does not say anything about nuts, they are nut-free. Originally I bought them as a joke, since my daughter’s name is Chloe…
Cross-Contact vs. Cross-Contamination
Uggg. I wish I could turn this side of my brain off, but I can’t. These two terms have been spinning in my head for the better part of this week now. I have wanted so badly to define them and talk about them, and it seems like this is the best place for that. So, cozy up. Here’s what’s on my mind. What a sexy Saturday night this is! Atleast HBO is on. And I have ice cream. mmmmmm. What is cross-contact? Cross-contact happens when one food comes into contact with another food and their proteins mix. As a result, each food then contains small amounts of the other…
Nut-free Cookies at Whole Foods
Bless her heart! My MOM! She’s amazing. She went to Whole Foods on Farwell Ave. on Valentine’s Day to scour the shelves for safe treats for our nut-allergic lady here and found these! They contain wheat, milk, eggs and soy. They taste like a homemade cookies, delicious. Just one more quick option for parties, school, etc. Thanks, Mom!
Cookies with Belgian Chocolate
Live post here from World Market on Madison’s West Side. If you need something quick for Valentine’s, here’s a great choice – individual packets of delish cookies! Coated in Chocolate. Each packet contains three small cookies.
Chocolate Covered Pretzels
My Mom and I have a few things we “bake” each December. I say it in quotations because it’s not really baking. More like coating pre-made things in chocolate that we can then say we “made” or as Food Network’s Sandra Lee commonly says, “Semi-Homemade.” Here’s one of our favorites, pretzels with a melted chocolate with a Vermont Nut-free skipper on top to smush all the chocolate into the pretzel. Once it cools, you have a very tasty little sweet and salty treat that’s easy to package up and gift, or travel with. Chocolate is difficult this time of year since so much of it is just not made in…
Allergy-Free Candy Canes
“I love candy, candy canes, candy corns, and syrup.” Buddy the Elf If you follow me on Insta, you saw that yesterday I was making chocolate covered pretzels when I suddenly ran out of chocolate skippers to top each pretzel with. Some quick thinking led me to an entire unopened box of candy canes in our pantry. I did not know why they were sealed shut, or if they were even safe? Who knows – when I clean up after the holidays, things get crazy and I just start chucking stuff. So I decided to find out who the heck Bobs Candy’s Canes really is. After some research, Bobs is…
It's Our Snack Week!
Just thought I’d share some of our snack week ideas: Monday: Mandarin Oranges + Teddy Graham’s Travel Size Bags, Original flavor Tuesday: Fruit Leather by Target (simply balanced) + Mini Cucumbers – photo below Wednesday: Holiday Party Food + Cheese-Its Thursday: Pirates Booty individual bags Friday: Skinny Pop individual bags
Snyder's Pretzels!
We rarely buy pretzels, so today when Carter and I were grocery shopping, I had to stop and think about brand and manufacturing. At HyVee there are a while host of pretzel options. Usually I try to stay away from any brand that also makes a peanut or peanut butter pretzel. Not the case for Snyder’s. Snyder’s manufacturers out of several different facilities, one of which is nut-free. Yay! We are making salteen toffee bars and I will post the recipe later!
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