Allergy free Spring rolls - savoury and sweet

 

Hooray, our son can eat cabbage! I can just imagine the surprise as you read that. For our son, every new food is a cause for celebration - I have to admit that on this one, I didn't follow the strict rules of half a teaspoon one day, one teaspoon the next etc. I don't think that test would have been very successful because who wants to eat spoonfuls of cabbage?!

So, my test method was actually using Coles Cocktail Spring Rolls with Vegetable filling. Two spring rolls on the first day, doubling that portion over the next few days until my son could eat no more! This is where other allergy mums will understand what my cheering was really about. The picture that I've put up is of my home-made spring rolls, but my celebration over cabbage is because it now allows us to buy pre-made spring rolls! Just in time for birthday party number 3! This means that there is one less thing I have to make from scratch and one easy option when we want to bring a plate of something to share to other parties. The reason I chose this brand is because it has the least ingredients in it, thus making it more likely that our son can actually eat it: egg free, milk free and nut free still of course, but be sure to check the packaging every time you buy it.

Up till now, I have experimented with home made spring rolls like the picture above. I used Filo Pastry which is basically just wheat and oil. I wrapped shredded chicken with thinly sliced vegetables, or else slices of apple in the pastry and shallow fried it. Apple was our son's favourite naturally. For adults, I served it with a fresh garden salad, drizzled with sweet chilli sauce and mayonnaise. If you're adventurous, you could wrap them in triangle shapes instead to make samosas.

Home-made was probably more delicious, but shop bought gets my thumbs up for easier living.

Calling other allergy mums out there... do you know of a soy mayonnaise that doesn't contain egg?

Happy New Year everyone!

It's a little late... perhaps Happy Chinese New Year is more appropriate now?

We have been on holidays, but I have also been taking a lot more rests during our toddler's nap time, which hasn't left much time to sit on a computer. What's with all the resting? Well, our little family will be getting bigger by one when June comes around. We are all excited and I'm not completely sure how we're going to do it all... I'm sure every mother has these thoughts every time, and yet we still have more!

The question of allergies comes up often - we've been told there is a 1 in 3 or 4 chances that our next child will have allergies of some sort. Whether it is to food, pollens or animals is unknown. So am I doing anything different? Not too much... oh except for running around after a super energetic toddler! The interesting thing is that our obstetrician, who looks after the pregnancy has nothing to do with our allergy specialist, so neither can really comment can they?

Anyway, with a new year comes new ideas and new year's resolutions. My husband's new idea is that our son should eat at the dinner table with us at meal times, rather than being turned around to the TV. Ugh... that was my basic reaction. As I've put in another post, there are very good reasons for having him watch TV... But, of course, my dear husband is right, there are more good reasons for him to join us at the dinner table, especially now he is turning 3.

So, on return from holidays, we begin our new standard of dining. Initially, I told my husband that we can eat together on weekends when I can plan a dinner that we all share. Afterall, it's unfair to make our toddler watch us always eat food he can't eat. Well, we're nearing the end of January, and surprisingly, everything is progressing smoothly! We actually eat breakfast and dinner together nearly every day. Plus, it's made me put more effort into trying to come up with meals suitable for the whole family. This has led to less cooking and less washing up... who knew?!? Oh, and of course less TV time which is always a good thing :-)

I'll have to put together some more recipes, but so far we've had Roast Chicken and Roast Veg, Chicken soup and pasta, Beef Stir fries, Marinated Lamb cutlets, Sushi ... just to name a few.

So 2012 has gone off to a good start, and there is so much more to come... May your year be filled with love, laughter and adventure.

What are your New Year's Resolutions??

Food allergy interview - Today Tonight

What a way to finish off this year - it's been just a year since I started on this blogging adventure and out of the blue, I received an email from a TV program here in Australia asking for an interview. Excited only describes one part of how I felt... there was also fear, anticipation and the realisation that my house needed urgent tidying!

Today Tonight interview

I must say that we were delighted with the final product - we had been told that the program was about food allergies in children, but we had no expectation that our gorgeous boy would feature in such a major way. Especially since our interview was done just the day before the program went to air. I must also say a big Thank You to Jackie the interviewer and her crew for their patience during the interview and also their generosity in terms of putting the best of our son out there for all to see. They really are quite clever!

For those of us who live with food anaphylaxis, this program doesn't really bring any huge revelations. But for the general public, I think when more air time is given to this issue, it helps those of us who live with it day in and day out.

I feel I should add that when they say I believe genetics are to blame it sounds a bit depressing. The basis of the comment is that I don't believe our son's allergies are due to being too clean or a result of what I did or did not eat during pregnancy, or a result of not introducing certain foods early enough. The idea of distance from the equator was interesting - I've never heard of that before. Also, the idea that perhaps our immunisations and use of antibiotics could also contribute, was interesting. From our personal history, I probably ate way too many antibiotics as a child, while my husband probably never had any medication until his teens... so we're from quite different medical histories... I don't think it's conclusive.

From a parent's point of view - which parent wouldn't be glowing with pride and telling every living person about this interview! What a star of a boy :-)