The NASG needs YOUR help

The National Allergy Strategy Group needs your help.

The have a Patient Case Study Report live on the site  and need YOU to join in with their campaign.

Despite the All Party Parliamentary Group for Allergy reporting little progress in treating Allergy in the UK  the situation is not improving and many people are receiving poor or inadequate care, inappropriate referrals and partitioning of treatment between disciplines rather than a patient overview.

Read "The Unmet Need" on the NASG site.

Please share with anyone who might be able to join the campaign. Get involved - things are moving in the right direction, it's just time to crank up a gear.

Mango Ice Cream

As everyone who knows me will agree, I like a challenge! So when Tots100 challenged Bloggers to come up with a healthy summer recipe for kids, I decided to find one which was safe for MY kids, many of my readers and would be delicious for any who wanted to try, with or without allergies.

This is what I came up with!

My children much prefer the creamier texture of ice cream (albeit "Free From") to sorbet, and certainly an ice cream texture is more filling than the sugary watery mixture that is sorbet. But without an ice cream maker, I wasn't sure I could achieve this. I have tried unsuccessfully to use milks, it always goes runny. Then I had a lightbulb moment and decided to try RICE CREAM!

There are a few types available in Health Food Stores now, I have tried a few but my favourite is the Isola Rice Cream as it is really thick. You can buy it online too. Because it is thick, a little goes a long way - although it also means it needs a little more mixing in. it ALSO meant it was perfect for "ice cream"!

You could use Oatly cream if gluten is not a problem, soya cream if tolerated, coconut cream - you choose. And equally you could use a variety of fruit -supermarkets this year are selling bags of frozen fruit chunks and my chest freezer is full of them!

Ingredients

• Rice Cream or your choice of alternative. I used 100mls for half a bag to test, so it would be 200ml for one whole bag of frozen fruit.
• Frozen fruit of your choice! 

Tip - needs to be frozen or it will be a mushy mess in your food processor before it's whizzed up properly!

Method

• Place both ingredients in the food processor and keep blending until it is mixed!
• Transfer to a freezer proof container and freeze! 
• Serve as desired :)

Creative potato cakes - fun with food!

After reading Julia's potato recipe posts on her Free From recipe blog Alimentary Bites a few weeks back, I must have made potato cakes/farls six times since then. Never before have my twins willingly eaten (and more impressively, ENJOYED) potato before, other than chips. Memories of choking were hard to shift, potato is a sticky food which children with reflux can find difficult to swallow, and scary to reflux back up. But there is something about potato cakes that is reminiscent of chips, which as long as they are not too soggy they have always been able to eat safely and enjoy.

I'm not going to reproduce Julia's recipe, you must visit her Blog to find out how to make them but they only contain potato, or possibly another flour of your choice in addition. I sometimes add a little "Pure" margarine but this is optional.

Since the mixture the recipe creates is so easy to roll and shape, as well as the gnocchi I have yet to try, you can cut it into shapes. So today, we got creative!

The pizza has some of the Redwood Cheezly soya free cheese on the top, which I cut into chunks and freeze on opening, then lift out and grate frozen as required or take a wedge at a time out for the fridge - otherwise it tends to go bad very quickly.

For the bunnies, I used carrot strips for the whiskers, and raisins cut in half (watch your fingers!) for the eyes. I experimented with my stove-top griddle to try and burn on eyes etc too.

These potato cakes have revolutionised our lunch boxes too - they are fine cold and make a lovely change from sandwiches. Today, I also added some of the protein powder I wrote about before to make them a very healthy cold snack.

Spring Chicken Casserole

I made this for lunch today, and unbelievably EVERYONE enjoyed it! Since I have two of the fussiest eaters around and three on exclusion diets making a "one size fits all" dish is little short of miraculous.... so I thought I would share!

Quite honestly, I wasn't sure what to call it! It's kind of like a casserole.... except it isn't! A bake? But without a creamy sauce..... whatever you want to call it, it worked for us.

Feeds 4 adults (or 6 with smaller appetites)
Serve with rice

Free from dairy, soya, corn, (depending on your choice of stock), wheat, gluten (same) and egg.

Ingredients

• Pack of chicken breasts - each cut lengthways into half/
• 1 red pepper
• 1 large leek
• 1 large courgette
• 500ml vegetable/chicken stock or whatever your family uses
• seasoning (salt and pepper)
• optional - before the stock goes in, add some garlic and mix it well
• 4 rashers of bacon - diced
• Free From crumbs

Method

• Cut the pepper into long thin strips and lay over the base (stops the chicken burning on the base)
• Arrange the chicken on top of the pepper
• Dice the leek and courgette finely (I was playing with my new Magimix Food Processor!) and spread evenly over the chicken
• Pour on the stock (make sure it is cooled if like me you are putting this on a delayed start) until everything is almost covered (picture 2)
• Sprinkle over the chopped bacon, 
• Followed by the breadcrumbs 

Bake for 50 minutes at 180C, until the top is golden.

Travelling with Allergies!

Travelling with children is tough enough, but travelling with children with any other health issue is definitely into the next league. We have a collection of complex issues and haven't travelled abroad once in ten years because it is just too anxiety provoking. The last time was when my twins were two, one drinking elemental formula and one 100% tube fed. This actually made it a million times easier than sourcing free from foods abroad, or having to take ingredients and find somewhere to cook when you get there.

Don't get me wrong, travelling with any medically complex child earns you the right to feel smug about what is no small feat when you return home, triumphant yet in need of a proper holiday to recover.... but travelling without knowing if you can actually FEED your child precipitates a nasty churning feeling in your stomach which has thus far put me off trying.

That's fine if you have summers like 2008 or 2010 with long weeks of summer sun and you can do THIS in the UK...

But sometimes our temperamental climate just doesn't cut it. We are desperate to travel next year so I ask some of my lovely Facebook Group friends to offer some advice.

Coconut Loaf

This delicious cake recipe was supplied by Michelle, from FABED, the only charity supporting families affected by Eosinophilic Disorders. You can read more about EGID here.

This recipe is MEWS free, gluten free, egg free and depending on your choice of flour, corn free, potato free too. I think it's also evidence for people like me who can bake with eggs that they are NOT required for a lovely, light texture and a large cake that rises!

Ingredients

• 300 g free from flour
• 2tsp free from baking powder
• 1tsp ground cinnamon
• 4tbsp flaxseed or linseed
• 225g golden caster sugar
• 150g desiccated coconut
• 350ml coconut milk
• 50 ml sunflower oil
• 900g loaf tin

Method

• Pre heat oven to 180 and lightly grease the loaf tin
• Sift the flour, baking powder and cinnamon in a large bowl, add ground flaxseed, caster sugar and coconut and mix together. 
• Pour over the coconut milk and sunflower oil stir until you have a batter.
• Tip into tin and bake in the oven for 45-50mins until it is slightly risen and golden.
• Leave to cool and turn on to a rack.

Serve warm or cold!

Free From "Mini Milk" Lollies

I was fortunate enough to "bump into" the lovely Nia from "Carrots and Maple Syrup" on Twitter via #AllergyHour. (Thursdays 8.30-9.30pm if you are interested!) Nia has worked with Julia from Alimentary Bites (Julia is a dietician) and Hailey from Allergy Adventures recently, so her profile is rising! Check out their substitutions sheet, it's really good.

Nia is amazing, a self taught cook she suffers from multiple allergies herself. That's a nightmare for anyone but for a young person just setting out into the world independently it's REALLY tough. Nia is the most INNOVATIVE baker/cook I have come across, she is 100% self taught and creates all her own recipes. 

Knowing that summer is coming, I asked her to create a recipe for The Recipe Resource. Knowing that it is a site mainly catering for children she came up with these delicious free from "Mini Milk" Lollies! 

Makes 10 - you can buy these little lolly makers everywhere, even in Poundland!

Ingredients

• 150 ml cream (millet, coconut, soya, almond, dairy, oat)
• 560 g yogurt (pea, soya, coconut, rice, greek)
• 3 1/2 tbsp sugar (honey or agave would do)
• 125 g pureed strawberries or cooled melted chocolate (such as Moo Free, Kinnerton, Plamil, Sweet William, Enjoy Life)

Method

So easy!

• Mix together in a bowl and pour into ice lolly moulds
• Freeze for 4 hours