my allergy story, in a nutshell

I grew up with allergies. I couldn't eat all sorts of things. Thanks to an amazing mother, I survived primarily on beans and peas and broccoli and oatmeal. And my allergies came with the common triad of eczema and asthma, so I was accustomed to itching, wheezing, and feeling generally miserable (and sometimes nearly dying) thanks to typically harmless things in my environment... but of course I didn't know the difference ;)

Luckily, I outgrew nearly all of my allergies by the age of 12 or so (except the eczema, which drives me crazy to this day). So I had almost forgotten what it was like to touch someone's cereal bowl and break out in itchy hives, or take a bite of a cookie, and realize it must have had nuts in it as my lips and tongue started to swell...

I had almost forgotten until my daughter was born.

While I was pregnant with her, I found myself completely intolerant to milk. When she was being cared for in the hospital nursery, the nurses asked me if they could give her some formula. And I just knew she would be allergic. Thank goodness I didn't let them give it to her.

The nurses told me I could eat anything while breastfeeding--that it wouldn't affect her--but by two weeks, her tiny body was covered in head-to-toe rash, and I began eliminating foods from my diet. Now she is nearly two years old, and her list of allergies keeps growing. Dairy, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, lentils, olives & olive oil, mushrooms, cucumbers, wheat (mild), tomatoes, etc. It seems like we are always scratching our heads, looking at the hives on our little girl's face and thinking, "What did it this time?"

Naturally, I've been cooking according to her needs for the past while, so I hope to share some help and some hope for other allergy sufferers out there.

I was so frustrated when I first started trying to bake for an allergic diet. For a while I tried to do all my cooking and baking with the most basic ingredients. After some time, though, I've found that although having specialty ingredients on hand for such a specialized diet is probably the trickiest part of this whole thing--it's worth it. I've found staples that I love, are locally carried, and I can keep on hand (even if it does mean running to 4 different store for one week's shopping trip). And sooo many things are available online now that even if the local grocer doesn't carry the ingredients I need, Amazon surely does ;)

I hope you find some recipes and tips you like here. Dealing with allergies can be a frustrating and isolating experience, but there are lots of other people just like you out there, including me :)