Seeking Recipies for Child with Multiple Allergies

Hi A. I feel your pain. My daughter too has the same allergies but egg is the worst. My cousins daughter is much worse and she suggested the following. Keep in mind she added her own response to some of these. It was a good start for us. I hope this helps you.

Newman's Own: is Paul Newman's line of snacks. There is a wheat-free, gluten-free cookie, Newman-Os that is like an Oreo. There are also chocolate ABC cookies that are WF, GF that Jack likes. Newman's also makes Spelt pretzels and depending on the nature of her allergy, some people allergic to wheat can tolerate spelt. These are actually pretty good, I like them.
Kinnikinnick: makes cookies (don't buy the frozen break-n-bake kind, they don't work and taste bad) and animal crackers/cookies that are WF, GF and also have frozen pizza crust and frozen hot dog buns.
Nana's: make WF, GF cookies and cookie bars. Jack likes the chocolate and the vanilla berry.
Ian's: Great stuff. They make WF, GF cookie buttons, cereal bars, frozen chicken nuggets, fish sticks, and ABC-shaped tater tots.
Enjoy Life: make WF, GF soft cookies. Jack's favorites are snickerdoodle, no-oats oatmeal, chocolate chip and chocolate brownie. The lemon is gross. They also make bars, the coco loco and very berry are the best, but the sunbutter and carmel apple are gross, too. The Enjoy Life line also makes cereal, granola, frozen bagels (cinnamon raisin and plain) and sandwich bread...all WF, GF. Their no-chocolate chocolate chips are WF, GF and soy and egg free, too. You can't taste the difference.
Bob's Red Mill: This is a line of mixes. I use their WF, GF bread mix to make bread for Jack's toast and sandwiches in the breadmaker. They have a ton of different kinds including cinnamon raisin bread and WF, GF pancake mix. They also have an all-purpose baking flour you can use in your own recipes. Use these with the Enjoy Life chocolate chips to make cookies, muffins or pancakes and they are pretty good.
Envirokids: cereal bars berry and chocolate are our favorites.
Cherrybrook Farms: animal crackers
Namaste: WF, GF mixes for brownies, cookies, cakes. The cookies are ok, but I love the cake mixes for making birthday cake.
Tinkyada: WF, GF dried pastas. They have spaghetti, elbow, penne, twist, shapes, bow tie, and multicolored. Be careful, these cook fast and if you over cook them they are really mushy and gummy. To make mac-n-cheese, I use this pasta and then open a box of Kraft mac-n-cheese and use the sauce packet only (follow kraft's directions with the butter and milk). Don't buy Annie's brand pasta mixes, they are really gross!
I.M. Healthy: As an alternative to peanut butter, we buy this unsweetened creamy soynut butter for Emily. But if Mac is allergic to soy, this won't do you any good.
Van's: make frozen WF, GF waffles that Jack likes in lots of different flavors. Read the label to check for soy.
Glutino: Make WF, GF pretzels and crackers that are kind of a cross between a Ritz and a water cracker.
Let's Do: make WF, GF ice cream cones.

We've also found WF, GF frozen donuts and french toast sticks but we're out now and I can't remember the brands. If I do, I'll let you know.

I know you mentioned a milk allergy. Emily is lactose intolerant; she can't drink milk, but if it is cooked into something it doesn't bother her. Ice cream, yogurt, cottage cheese, sour cream, cheese...these don't bother her either. You may have to experiment and see. The process of making milk into these products reduces the amount of lactose occurring naturally. Here are some options, but if she is really allergic to cow's milk, try rice milk or goat's milk.

Lactaid: make a lactose free milk and cottage cheese. Also pills you can take before eating dairy products that aid in digestion and eliminate the discomfort. Meijer also has a lactose free milk that is much cheaper than the Lactaid.
Stonyfield Farm: make a yummy organic yogurt in a large size in vanilla, strawberry and plain. Also more flavors in small serving size cups and in go-gurt type tubes that the kids love when I put in the freezer.
Breyers: makes a Lactose-free ice cream. Breyer's is a great brand. Their ingredient list is cream, sugar and not much else. Other brands are mostly chemicals you cannot pronounce.

All of these in purple I have found at Meijer before. But different Meijer carry different products, so you might have to shop around if you can't find a good natural foods store near you.

Hi A., You have your work cut out for you! Am I understanding correctly that your daughter is not allergic to soy?

We went wheat free...for a while and switched to soy milk then to raw milk. It takes a commitment. I went a bit further to not switch to premade GF products because the Glycemic index is very important for us. I find that the premade and most GF flours are very high glycemic.

So the short answer there is that I found whole grains...quinoa, a little corn, black rice, wild rice, amaranth, oats, barley. Did your Dr say your little girl is allergic or sensitive to the wheat or to the gluten? Those distinctions matter.

Same sort of distinctions with the milk...true allergy or sensitivity? to the milk protein (casien) or lactose?

We could talk about what different options that creates for you.

What are your Drs saying about building her immune system so that her allergies are minimized?

warmly, M.

The autism community will have your recipes. A lot of children are on a gluten free casein free diet. There is a yahoo group called "GFCFRecipes" and another one called "GFCFKids" where you might begin.

E-mail me privately and I'll send you some recipes that I use.

Angel Food Ministries has an allergen free box that I'm told is quite good: http://www.angelfoodministries.com/

Justine's list (below) is pretty comprehensive, so I won't repeat any of it.

I do like Trader Joe's gluten free pancake mix -- I use it for breads (banana bread, pumpkin bread etc) and I like Trader Joe's gluten free brownie mix. They sell a brown rice bar (like a rice krispie treat), a chicken sausage link, a popped popcorn that my daughter can have (she has more on her allergen list than your child does).

Legacy turkey breast- the oil braised version, is gluten free. We roll them and call them "turkey roll ups".

Kroger sells a wrap by La Tortilla Factor that is made from millet and teff for sandwiches. At our Kroger, it's in the deli section across from the deli meat with other wraps and pitas.

Babycakes cookbook uses coconut flour in icing, I noticed, and not powdered egg whites. I haven't located any coconut flour yet, but I'd like to try that. I took a Wilton cake decorating class at Michaels so I could decorate my daughter's birthday cakes.

Meijer sells a gluten free corn dog and chicken nuggets (S'Better is the brand, I think). I want to try to make corn dogs with Coleman natural hot dogs from Costco and Trader Joe's pancake mix.

Hi A.,

I also have this problem with 3 of my children ages 16, 10 & 8. My 10yr old daughter though has severe allergies. She's allergic to mold, dust, grass, cats, dogs, dust mites, cigarette smoke, eggs, milk, wheat, peanuts, fish (she even has to avoid the aroma), shrimp & crab (her favorite), so much have to carry the list with me if we go out. The doctor states that if we eat out I should advise them to cook her food in a seperate pan, that's how sensitive she is! Check out www.eatingwell.com & search this article-Guide to Food Allergies and Special Eating Needs. It may be helpful and there are some other things on that website that may help you also. Another thing I found that's been helping. I bought organic milk & the kids have been able to tolerate that with no problems so far. Yes, a nurse did tell me also that a child's allegies can be activated due to moderation. My 16yr old loves hamburgers, so because of the beef allergy I don't really cook red meat. But they are allowed a hamburger here and there, and they're ok! just make sure they take their meds & keep plenty of BENADRYL...lol

Sorry about the long book, Hope this helps, Good luck,
D.