What do you feed your kid?

That's what I get asked every time I pull out Buggy's allergy list. I have also asked myself many times a similar question - what on Earth do I feed her? In the era of fast food and processed foods, it's hard to imagine there is anything left for people with multiple allergies. But think healthy! There are tons of options.. granted, most are fruits and vegetables ; ) but there's also things like quinoa, gluten free oats, homemade bread, and sun butter! Well... maybe not the last one. Today, while we were shopping, Buggy enjoyed a tasty single serving packet of Sun Butter which she LOVES! But when I went to wipe her face off I found hives everywhere.... I'm crossing my fingers, hoping there was just cross contamination somewhere (hard not to get that with all her allergies), but since she recently had an endoscopy done and allergy patch testing, I'm going to give her a break for a while before trying it again to see. I plan on getting up both a list of no-no's for allergies and a list of good foods to have because I know the hardest thing is trying to find foods while looking at a list of can't haves. Like I said before, our list of Buggy-friendly foods has been a life saver. In the meantime though, there are three cookbooks I have found tremendously helpful in getting her fed (and keeping her healthy) that I'd like to share with you:

Raw Food Real World by Matthew Kenney and Sarma Melngailis - Raw foods... are delicious foods! No real "cooking" in this book, they use a dehydrator, a blender, and a few other tricks to make things like almond milk, almond flour, macadamia nut cheese, tomato and zucchini lasagna, and some very scrumptious looking desserts :) One of my favorite cookbooks because even with all of her allergies, my daughter can eat almost everything in the book without substituting things

Allergy Self Help Cookbook by Marjorie Hurt Jones, RN - One of my favorite parts about this book that sets it apart is it's description of all the different flours. I spent a lot of money and time trying to figure out which wheat free flour to use for pancakes, breads, etc that could have been saved if I had bought this book first. For each flour, there is information on flavor and color, breading (how well it makes bread), thickening (how well it works for things like sauces and gravy), baking (for some, it recommends only using 25-50% of the called for amount in one flour, and use the other 75-50% in a different flour), and a section called comments, where anything else she has to say about that flour falls in. The book is labelled as being free of all common allergens - corn, gluten, sugar, wheat, egg, milk, soy, and yeast :)

And last, but not least - the first cookbook I bought when I found out my daughter is pretty much just allergic to the world *drumroll please*

Allergy Proof Recipes for Kids by Leslie Hammond and Lynne Marie Rominger - These tasty, kid friendly (and husband friendly) recipes are wheat, gluten, nut, egg, and dairy free, but also low in sugar! I love this book, and truth be told I actually purchased it because of my husband! He is somewhat picky about what he eats, but generally ate like a kid at the time. I didn't want to be cooking 2 or 3 different meals every day so I figured this was my best bet for getting everyone eating food that is Buggy-friendly! I have to make some substitutions because she has so many allergies, but overall this is a great book (and most kids don't have as many allergies as mine does). This book has many kid favorites like mac and cheese, chicken nuggets (we sub turkey and it's still awesome), corn dogs, and who could forget - cakes and cookies :)

So your kid has allergies...

Relax! At first it can be stressful, difficult, even seem like there's absolutely NOTHING your kid can eat; I've been there. I've started crying and felt like a failure as a mother because it seemed like everything I gave my child gave her hives. But it gets better, I promise! It isn't the end of the world, it's not as scary as it seems (you just need resources, information, and allergy mama buddies to talk to!), and there's plenty your child can eat.

One thing I highly recommend is to write a list of what your child can eat. It's good to have a list of what your child needs to avoid, have it ready for other caregivers, and take it with grocery shopping... but it's also kind of depressing to stare at list after list of what your kid cannot have. It was such a relief the day I sat down and wrote a list of what my daughter could eat; it was after I broke down and said I had no idea what to feed her - everything was giving her hives. I calmed down, pulled up my laptop and started typing foods she hasn't reacted to. I got 3 whole pages! I also learned to start searching vegan recipes because those wouldn't have the beef, chicken, dairy, or eggs that she's allergic to and I could go from there easier than starting from scratch and working out all of her allergies individually.

Buggy's Current Allergies:

Peanuts
Legumes
Wheat
Beef
Chicken
Rice
Corn
Dairy
Eggs
Shellfish
Sesame
Ginger
Soy
Lemons
Potatoes