Late July Organic Sandwich Cookies

I've been meaning to create a running list of packaged cookies and snacks that are good as well as dairy-free, nut-free, and egg-free. Unfortunately, I just haven't had the time to sit down and do it. However, I thought I'd make a note of one cookie that would definitely be included on this list. It's Late July's Organic Vanilla Bean with Green Tea Sandwich Cookies. Much healthier in comparison to an Oreo cookie with no hydrogenated oils, no transfats, no high fructose corn syrup, no artificial anything, the list goes on. I've tried a number of allergy-friendly Oreo-like cookies including Whole Foods 365 Sandwich Cookies and Trader Joe's Joe Joe's cookies, but I have to say that this one is my favorite so far. I like the vanilla flavor and the consistency of the cookie (not too light and brittle). I can't say that I really taste the green tea part, but I imagine it must be enhancing the flavor in some mysterious way. This is a cookie everybody can enjoy. You can use it at kids parties, mash it into some dairy-free ice cream, or just have it around for general snacking.

(Note: The allergy information on the box reads "Made in a plant that also processes milk, eggs, peanuts and tree nuts.")

Something To Munch On

If you're just looking for something to munch on, here's a good dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free snack option that's relatively healthy, light on calories, and popular with both adults and kids. Fruity Booty is just one of the many natural snacks produced by Robert's American Gourmet. This one is puffed rice and corn with a mango and peach flavor. The flavor is actually quite subtle (I can't really distinguish that it's mango or peach), but regardless, it's still pretty good and I feel healthier eating this versus say a standard bag of potato chips. It's light and airy and would make a good replacement for popcorn.

(Robert's American Gourmet also makes Veggie Booty which is also dairy-free, nut-free, and egg-free, however, please note that the packaging for this product states that it was made in a facility that also produces dairy products.)

A Dairy-Free Cheese That Is Really Dairy-Free

When I first went looking for a cheese substitute after learning my daughter was allergic to dairy, I made the mistake of purchasing soy cheese. It was a logical choice. We were already using soymilk instead of cow's milk so soy cheese instead of cow's milk cheese seemed like a no-brainer. Then I took a closer look at the ingredients label. There in plain writing was the word "casein". As anyone familiar with dairy allergies knows, casein is one of those offending milk proteins that many with dairy allergies are sensitive to. Horrified (since I had already given a slice to my daughter, fortunately with no obvious adverse consequences) and disappointed, I tossed the package into the garbage. Yet another product off-limits to us, but it was a good lesson learned.

As it turns out, most packaged products with soy cheese contain casein. This is unfortunately true of the soy cheese pizzas out there I was also hoping to try out with my daughter (for a good no-cheese pizza option, see this post). I suspect it's the casein in these soy cheese products that allow them to behave much like regular cheese, in particular its ability to melt nicely.

Anyway, I figured going forward any type of cheese would just have to be avoided altogether, that is, until I found yet more varieties of cheese at Whole Foods. We've since tried a couple of completely dairy-free cheeses, this time vegan ones and therefore devoid of any cow's milk product. The one that my daughter likes best is the Vegan American Flavor Soy Slices from Galaxy Nutritional Foods. I like the fact that these are sold as slices so my daughter doesn't feel any different from her peers who may be eating their brand of yellow sliced cheese (although you need to be careful not to get them mixed up). Note that these are also soy-based, but are clearly marked vegan. From the perspective of one who has always eaten cow's milk cheese, this cheese doesn't taste as great and it doesn't melt well. However, since my daughter has no basis for comparison and is quite happy eating her cheese slices, this ultimately makes me a fan of them too.

Puffed Pastry Twists

Here's a dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free pastry/cookie that I just discovered. It's French Twists by Barry's Bakery. They are really good. As the packaging indicates, they are basically layers of puffed pastry in a twisted shape with sweet cinnamony flavor throughout. These would work well as a light dessert, go great with coffee, or in my case, just be a yummy snacking cookie to be eaten at any time of day. I've tried the original and the maple french toast flavors and they are both very good. I primarily buy them for my food-allergic daughter so she can enjoy some sweet snacks every now and then, but I have to admit that I think I'm the one eating most of them everytime I get a bag. They are also only 60 calories apiece, but be forewarned that you will want to eat more than one in one sitting.

Dairy-Free Egg-Free Mayonnaise

[Post updated 3/17/08]

When you're looking to make an allergy-friendly sandwich, you can either go it dry without any type of spread, use mustard or ... use a dairy-free, egg-free mayonnaise. Yes, that's right, there are dairy-free, egg-free mayonnaise products out there. I didn't realize this until well into my first year of living with food allergies. Granted, if you've had "regular" mayonnaise, this kind of mayonnaise may not totally compare in terms of creaminess, but for the most part, they do an admirable job in place of the real thing. Here are three products I've tried:

Trader Joe's Reduced Fat Mayonnaise - Good for sandwiches, but would not recommend for something like macaroni salad as it's slightly on the thinner side. Least expensive of the bunch. (Note: This is "made on equipment shared with egg". I've not had a problem with this, but it's important to note for those wanting to play it totally safe.)

Vegenaise by Follow Your Heart - I had to go try this after a recommendation from a reader. I'm glad I did. This is probably the best one I've tried so far with good flavor and creaminess. It will probably hold up well in non-sandwich applications too.

Wildwood's Zesty Garlic Aioli - This is not super zesty. A good option if you want to vary up the flavor a bit.

Super Healthy 17 Bean & Barley Soup

Here's a relatively new product that is being sold at Trader Joe's. It's their 17 Bean & Barley Mix which can be made into a very hearty soup if you follow the recipe printed on the back of the package. I've never been a huge bean person before, but I've discovered that many bean-based dishes also happen to meet my dairy-free, nut-free, and egg-free food requirements. I've also learned over time to appreciate nutrient-rich foods, such as beans, and in general try to eat as healthily as possible.

When it comes to healthy, this bean mixture certainly delivers. One quarter-cup serving includes 13g of fiber, 13g of protein, and 20% of the daily recommended allowance for iron. To make the soup, you will also need vegetable broth, onions, carrots, celery, bell pepper, canned tomatoes, garlic and a variety of spices. It's pretty hearty so it definitely qualifies as one of those soups that is a meal in itself. To make this easier for kids to eat, you can take a portion of the soup and blend it roughly with an immersion blender. This has turned into a great meal solution for me since everyone down to my one-year-old enjoys eating it and I can feel good knowing that we all managed to get something healthy in us for the day.

A Dairy-Free, No Cheese Pizza That Holds Its Own Against Traditional Pizza Pies

Given that cheese is a defining characteristic of pizza, anything that calls itself a pizza but doesn't have any cheese on it really has to excel on another defining characteristic of pizza - the toppings - in order to justify its place among the pizza ranks.

In the frozen pizza aisle at the grocery store I found one such cheese-less pizza that compares quite well against its cheese-laden counterparts. Amy's Roasted Vegetable No Cheese Pizza is a tasty pizza that I would seriously consider swapping a slice of traditional pizza for. The roasted vegetable topping has a subtley sweet roasted flavor that creates a nice aroma and is pleasing to the taste buds. I usually pick one of these up for my daughter whenever we want to have a pizza night and inevitably, I will want a slice of her pizza along with my other cheesy slices.

A side note on dairy-free pizzas: You may think that soy cheese pizzas are dairy-free, but I've found that soy cheese pizzas are typically not safe for those suffering from dairy allergies. Soy cheese pizzas often contain the milk protein casein which may not be safe for many people with dairy allergies. So you're better off just getting a no-cheese version like this one. No cheese, no worries.

Dairy-Free/Egg-Free/Nut-Free Baking - Simple Substitutions Only Please!

Yummy desserts can be hard to come by when you have a dairy, egg, and nut allergy. When I found out my daughter was allergic to these foods, I (and my serious sweet tooth) was quite dismayed at what this meant in regard to sweet treats for the household. I began a frantic recipe search for allergy-safe cookies, cakes, muffins, ... anything that would hit that sweet spot yet be safe for my daughter to occasionally enjoy as well.

As I mentioned in my very first post, I'm not a big fan of certain allergy-friendly substitutions, especially those that result in an end product that barely resembles the "real" version of the dessert or those where I end up feeling like a scientist in a chem lab mixing up concoctions to mimic common baking ingredients. Having made many traditional desserts before, I simply did not enjoy shifting to a process of shopping for uncommon ingredients (what is xanthan gum anyway?) and then making significant alterations and substitutions to favorite recipes only to end up with something that was less than satisfying. But that's just me. If other people have the ambition and patience to experiment with and combine various non-traditional ingredients into a dessert that ends up being truly delicious, believe me, I would be one of the first people in line to get it.

Having said all this, I do recognize that without dairy products or eggs, baking can be a daunting exercise and that some substitutions using non-traditional ingredients are required. So what kinds of ingredients work for me? I like ingredients that are fairly straightforward in terms of what they're substituting for. For example, I use dairy-free margarine (Earth Balance) or canola oil instead of butter and soy milk instead of cow's milk. I try to stay away from recipes where real eggs are critical (think custard) and instead lean towards recipes where eggs are used primarily for their leavening properties, in which case baking soda and baking powder together with vinegar seem to do the trick. For chocolate, it's often difficult to find any that is not manufactured on the same equipment as nuts. You could use carob, but for that real chocolatey taste, I've found two sources that are safe - Enjoy Life's Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips and Scharffen Berger's 9.7oz Home Baking Bars (see nutritional info here).

But can you bake anything good with only simplistic substitutions? Surprisingly, yes. I have to say that I am very grateful for all those creative vegan bakers out there. With the exception of those that include nuts, vegan recipes are a great resource when it comes to dairy, egg, and nut-free baking. Many of these recipes don't involve obscure ingredients either. I've tried several and, despite my doubts, they surprisingly passed my tastiness threshold. I will be posting these recipes on this blog and hopefully more as I continue to discover them.

So after much initial disappointment about not being able to bake goodies for my daughter to eat, I'm quite relieved and thrilled that I can once again incorporate some sweet treats into our lives that not only my daughter can enjoy, but my sweet tooth as well.

A Hot Bowl of Udon in Minutes

Living with food allergies means that you are preparing almost every meal from scratch. Conveniences like outsourcing pre-prepared foods from grocery stores or getting take-out from restaurants are rare. The continuous daily thought process behind meal planning can be quite tiring. So when you come across an allergy-safe packaged food item that also happens to be tasty, reasonably healthy, and quick to prepare, it's quite thrilling.

Annie Chun's Udon Noodle Soup bowl has become for us a great option for a quick, easy meal. It's microwaveable and literally takes about 3 minutes to prepare from start to finish (the packaging says 2 minutes, but you still need to do some minor preparations before putting it in the microwave for 2 minutes). My food allergic daughter really enjoys this noodle soup as does the rest of the family. To supplement the meal, we often add chunks of tofu and/or pre-cooked vegetables into the soup.

Have Milk, Need (Healthy) Cereal

With the widespread availability of non-dairy milks these days, cereal is a basic food product that those with dairy allergies can now keep in their diets. However, if you are also allergic to nuts, the selection of healthier cereals to chose from suddenly dwindles. (By healthier cereals, I mean those that do not contain a high sugar content, high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors/flavors, or partially hydrogenated oils. There are actually quite a few allergen-free cereals that contain these ingredients, but keeping the goal of a nutritious diet in mind, I will not be looking at those.)

In the healthy cereal realm, there are quite a few cereals that contain nuts and sometimes dairy ingredients such as yogurt. What used to be a simple task of picking out a box of cereal sometimes becomes a drawn out exercise of going down the entire cereal aisle reading and re-reading labels. What makes it a bit more cumbersome is that a certain variety of one brand's cereal may contain unsafe ingredients, while a similarly named cereal in another brand does not. This is especially true with granola-based cereals. However, if you're patient, you will find that there are actually several healthier, allergy-friendly cereal options out there. Here are a few that our family commonly eats:

Kid-Friendly Cereals

• Cheerios - A classic. I think everybody knows what these are.
  
• Joe's O's by Trader Joes- Trader Joe's version of Cheerios.
  
• Clifford Crunch by Cascadian Farm - An organic whole grain cereal that is fortified with calcium, iron, and a bunch of vitamins. Also contains a decent amount of fiber (5g) and has a relatively low sugar content compared to other kid cereals.
  
• Gorilla Munch by EnviroKidz - An organic cereal made from corn meal. I think it's supposed to be a much healthier version of Cap'n Crunch.
  
• Shredded Spoonfuls by Barbara's Bakery - A multigrain, lightly sweet cereal that looks like Chex.
  

Other (even healthier) Cereals

• Flax Plus by Nature's Path - An organic multibran cereal that boasts 7g fiber and 500mg omega-3. If you are sensitive to seeds as well as nuts, you may want to avoid this as this contains flaxseed.
  
• Kashi GO LEAN by Kashi - 13g protein and 10g fiber. Also note here that the seven whole grains that Kashi puts into most of their products contains sesame, so if you are sensitive to seeds, avoid this one too. If you are ok with sesame, many of Kashi's other cereals are dairy, nut and egg-free as well.