Getting things back

The last 6 years have been quite interesting, to say the least. When I was first diagnosed with a huge list of food allergies, my doctor had mentioned that some of the milder allergies I may be able to incorporate back into my diet. He did say anything in red I would not get back.

These are the things I got back after about a year: black olives, red grapes, avocado, turmeric, ginger and zucchini.

Over the last few years I decided to try some things. I noticed that I didn't have issues with cross contamination with certain things, so I tried some things. First was goat cheese. I didn't seem to have any reaction so that quickly went on my list because, well, CHEESE! Then I decided to try barley. That's a no no for gluten sensitivities and allergies, but I tested not allergic at all to barley. So I tried it on the weekend just in case. Totally fine. Then I tested wheat in small amounts, like I'd try "may contain" statements and "trace amounts". Totally fine there as well. Then it was soy sauce. Still good. So then I decided to really try wheat. Went to subway and got a sandwich. What a treat! Until the next day when I went to the store and didn't know if I was going to make the bathroom. I ran in there no less than 3 times in the 15-20 minutes I was in there. I quickly ran home and stayed there for the next 3 days. FAIL.  Huge FAIL.

Then I got talked into trying elephant garlic as I am fine with onions and had been told and read about how elephant garlic is closer genetically to onion than garlic. Fail, but the reaction wasn't as severe as regular garlic. The regular garlic is getting close to anaphylaxis.

Next, I decided to try beef. I had a bite of my boyfriend's sous vide steak. Man it was so good! And no reaction. So I started eating it. The more rare it is I started getting a migraine. I found that well done I'm fine.  I still kept eating it though because I had been so deprived. I did that until the migraines were too much to bear. So I stuck with burgers and backed off the steak. Then one day I had a moment where the craving was stronger than the threat of a migraine. And nothing happened. WTH? Well, I discovered it I don't eat it too often I can get away with it here and there. That's fine. At least I can have it.

Then I decided to try cow dairy. Cheese and yogurt, fine. Cottage cheese was fine. I do get some eczema, but we make compromises. I did find out, however, that if the dairy is not cultured, I will have uncontrollable dry heaves. How I found out was when I had cottage cheese at a diner. But I had been fine eating it at home. That was when I found out that small curd is not treated with rennet and large curd is! Aha. So the protein structure has to have been altered.

I had accidental exposures to egg and almonds and won't volunteer to test those at all. I even had to get rid of my pans that eggs were made in because just that I react to. I am too chicken to try peanuts. The tests were higher than almonds and peanuts are one of those that are notorious for turning anaphylatic. I also will no longer test any garlic. That one is playing with fire. I haven't tried kidney beans or navy beans. I accidentally had great northern beans which I didn't realize at the time are essentially navy beans. That was another migraine moment. I probably won't try them again because there are plenty of bean varieties out there.

So, I am still allergic to enough, and technically still allergic to dairy, but mildly so, and I have a hard time completely eliminating it again. But I did get several things back, and that makes me happy. In fact, I even tried einkorn wheat, which is an ancient grain that has never been hybridized. Turns out it is so radically different from the wheat we have here in the US, that I have no trouble with it. Finding things made with it are sparse, so I still eat mostly gluten free, but it's nice to have something to work with.

What about other things? Well, over the years I have found that I'm also allergic to lamb in medium rare states.  Also the aforementioned chamomile and beeswax. I am pretty sure I'm putting shrimp on that list as my hands were full of hives when I made shrimp for my son. I have tried a bite and didn't notice anything, but I won't push it. For one I don't care for it, but also because I was borderline on the tests for shrimp, and I never ate it. Best to not mess with that one.

So if you are starting to learn you're allergic to many foods and think there are only dark days ahead, hold a little hope. Sometimes just healing your gut goes a long way in allowing you to add some things back in.

Let's talk about fridge meat!

Have you heard about the gospel of sous vide? I am here to share with you how if you have trouble eating out due to food allergies, you need sous vide in your life!

What is it? It is a precise method of cooking where you vacuum seal your chosen protein,  veggie, grains  beans, and you cook it in a water bath that is temperature controlled with an Immersion Circulator. You can cook at very low temperatures and pasteurize the food to where it will be fresh and yummy in a fridge under 38° F for 30 days, and under 36° F for 90 days. This is where fridge meat comes into play, AND  this is where you can safely eat rare burgers and poultry at 145° F (lower if you want) with no worries about e.coli or salmonella. 

The reason this is a game changer for us food allergy sufferers is because when you want to eat  you can grab something and go then reheat how you like. Slaving over a stove when you're rushed for time or not feeling well is a thing of the past. This is your own fast food  but safe! 

If you want to know more about this, just leave a comment and I'll be happy to answer your questions! 

What the beeswax?

I am one person who has been plagued with one allergy or another all her life.  Grasses, pollens, whatever could make me sneeze, did.  I felt like I always had a cold.  So it shouldn't surprise me when something else crops up, but it always does.  Like the time I was in the hospital with heart flutters and they gave me chamomile tea and I burst out into hives.  Always an adventure with me!

So in the fall of 2016, suddenly my lips and the area around them got swollen, weepy, and my skin was sloughing off.  I could not for the life of me figure out what was going on.  I went to the doctor.  She told me I had impetigo.  What?!?!?!? So after a course of antibiotics did nothing, I went to another doctor who told me that I had chelitis.  No cream or potion was helping.  I resorted to putting hydrocortisone cream directly on my lips. It was embarrassing to go out to eat.   The minute I opened my mouth, my skin would split and my makeup would part like Moses parted the red sea, leaving me with a red weepy ring around my mouth.

At that time I was convinced it was a nutritional deficiency, so I was loading up on B6.  In the meantime I had completely changed out my lip balm supply just in case it was something contagious. And I switched up the brands just in case it was the coconut oil.  Something I was doing was working, and I was convinced it was the B6 since I had been tolerating coconut fine.  Finally my skin was healing.

Then one night I woke up a bit parched and I rummaged through my nightstand looking for a lip balm. I had a lingering tube of the coconut oil and beeswax lip balm that just didn't get thrown away for one reason or another, so I used it.  Then I woke up in the morning to itchy and swollen lips.

Thanks to help from Doctor Google, I was able to finally find the source of the problem.  Very few people report beeswax allergies, but there are a couple out there.

That is not the end of my story, however. On a Facebook group for food allergies I discovered another person with a beeswax allergy.  We started chatting and she was explaining to me all the things beeswax can hide in (carnuba wax being one).  I showed her a picture of what my lips looked like and then it hit me.  In this picture there are sores on my chin.  Sores I have had ever since then that I could not heal!

Yes, it just happened to be that the concealer that I used to hide those sores.....carnuba wax.  In fact, many of my cosmetics contain it.  Even the Cherry Chapstick that I thought was safe has it.

Now, from reading up about it, the allergy isn't actually to the wax.  It is the propolis, which is a glue that holds the wax together and is created by bees from the resins and buds of trees.  So essentially if you can find a cleaned and decontaminated beeswax, it should not be an issue.  This may be the case with the Chapstick I had been using as I didn't have a flare up on my lips.  And just because it has carnuba wax doesn't mean there is definitely beeswax in there, it just means that it is often mixed with it.

What this means is that now along with all the other vegan alternatives to egg and dairy that are super expensive, I get to buy vegan makeup which is also crazy expensive.  I may never retire.

I did it! Vegan Egg Yolk!

I finally figured out how to make vegan egg yolk  You'll have to probably get many of the ingredients on Amazon, but it's worth it! 

Vegan Egg Yolk Mix

★★★★★

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup and 1 Tbsp Sodium Alginate
• 1 1/2 cups Nutritional Yeast, Red Star preferred
• 3 Tbsp Kala Namak salt
• 1 Tbsp beta carotene
•

Note: Some brands of Kala Namak are saltier than others, so you can undercut that a bit to fit your taste.

Directions:

Mix all ingredients well.

For each 1/4 cup of hot water, add 1 tsp of mix to start. Add the mix to the water, not the water to the mix, or it will clump. You can get it to mix better by putting it in the microwave a few seconds at a time. Add more mix to get desired consistency. 

Can I interest you in a very eggy tofu scramble?

A Very Eggy Tofu Scramble

Before I grew allergic to everything good, I was a huge egg lover. I ate them every single day. No wonder why I was so sick!

I lived without them for awhile before I knew I needed to find a replacement. I fought with tofu over and over until I came up with something I now find addictive. I want to devour this like I used to devour Egg McMuffins!

First, although this can be vegan, it isn't made for vegans. It's made for those who love,  but are allergic to, eggs. I have to be honest and say I found other tofu scramble recipes very very vegan tasting.  So I set out to make one that is eggy. I've eaten tofu scrambles made by chefs, and I have to say, I can teach them a thing or two. Yes, I said that!

Here I go step by step with pictures so you can see products and textures.

1) Get prepped. What do you like in a scramble? For me that is onion, bell peppers and mushrooms. The cheese here is real (yes, I'm being bad, but it's hard to give it up when your main reaction is eczema!), but for dairy free,  I recommend for this Daiya shreds. This is about the only thing I like them in. You'll need extra firm tofu, Kala Namak salt (for the egg flavor), onion powder and paprika.

Ingredient list:

2 blocks extra firm tofu, pressed and drained
1 small onion, diced
2 bell peppers, diced
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 cup shredded cheese or Daiya shreds
Kala Namak salt to taste
Paprika to taste
Onion powder to taste

Part of prep is taking the tofu out, then place it on several layers of paper towels, toppled with several layers more of paper towels, and pressed with a weight. Do this before you start cooking. In fact it's best before you start the other prep. You need to get as much water out as you can.  You can use firm tofu, just make sure to drain it really well. Anything less will result in a pile of mush. This is where the draining is most important part of the tofu.  I have also tried the dry packages of extra firm tofu, and they are too firm and too dry. Skip that, as well.

2) With cooking oil of your choice, start by sweating off the veggies that take longer to cook. In this case it would be the onions and peppers. Add in about half a teaspoon of Kala Namak salt.

3) Add in the mushrooms to sweat them down.

4) Now, crumble the tofu into the pot.

5) Now Sprinkle in another half teaspoon of Kala Namak salt. (It won't be enough, but you'll taste along the way to adjust that.)  Also sprinkle in the paprika and onion powder.

6) Continue cooking to combine. The tofu will soften slightly and more liquid will cook off. This doesn't take long. Just 3-5 minutes. Lower the heat and add the cheese. 

 7)  Now is time to taste and continue to adjust seasoning. Add more Kala Namak salt as needed. The more, the eggier! Since MSG is one of the few things I'm not allergic to, I added a dash of that here. Feel free to leave it out if it bothers you.

This keeps well in the fridge. In this case I made it for our breakfasts this week. This makes 4 good size servings. 

Feel free to add breakfast meats to this if you like. For this scramble, I left the sausage on the side. 

This is a really satisfying hearty low carb breakfast for any egg lover. My egg eating boyfriend and son love this and they tell me you really can't tell it's not eggs. Thank you Kala Namak salt! 

As for where you can find Kala Namak, I got mine on Amazon. Some larger cities with spice shops probably also carry it. It is also referred to as black salt.  (Even though it is pink, it will turn black once it hits moisture.)

Let me know if you try this and leave me your thoughts! 

It Lives!

First, I'll start by hanging my head in shame that I started something and abandoned it. But I think it took me several years to navigate this food allergy stuff before I knew what the focus of this blog should be. 

Now, I have decided that it is a good place to share the recipes I've developed over the years. Some of them I think are pretty amazing. I also want to share some products I love. I think I've found my stride and I try everything that I'm not allergic to. So I'll share those things as well. 

For now, I'll send this quick post because I have a couple more posts dancing around my head that I want to share. One is my favorite tofu scramble and the other is how to cook Vegan Egg and how to make vegan egg yolk from scratch. 

Also, I probably will be changing the name of this blog to something that is more fitting since I've been told NO COFFEE anymore. 

See ya around the bend. 

Dina

The Mourning Phase

When I went to my doctor to get my test results, he sat me down and this is how it started off:

"First, I have to tell you how very sorry I am to have to deliver this news..."

You'd think I was about to be told I have days to live, and I thought "Oh come on. I can live without gluten, don't be so dramatic!"  

Then he pulled out 4 pages of big thick black lines.  

And my jaw dropped.  And he started ticking off all of the things I could no longer eat.  Eggs, cheese, yogurt, milk/any dairy, beef, wheat, gluten, rye, barley because it has gluten, peanuts, almonds, red grapes, avocados, navy beans, kidney beans, some squash, ginger, turmeric and he paused with this one...GARLIC! 

He went on to explain that some of the foods in the moderate category I could reintroduce later, but the stuff in the red I would never tolerate again.  Never again to have eggs cheese or garlic.  No more beef.  Ever.

So then the negotiations come in to play: but I have a bunch of avocados, can I eat those then get rid of them? So I decided I would try to finish off the food in my house before starting on this allergy thing.  He gave me his blessing to do that but urged me to start soon.  Then he paused and told me to prepare for the mourning phase.  

What?

I mean I understood mourning as I recently lost my mom and was feeling it with that.  But for food?  Yes, he said, for food.  He then told me it is common to feel depressed and that I will be in mourning for the food I ate.  I didn't really believe him.  

Then I got home.

I went through my cupboards and fridge.  I obviously had some shopping to do and a lot of food to give away.  Bread was the least of it.  I had a huge beef tenderloin in the freezer, cans of soups, pickles, ketchup, mustard, mayo, all my gluten filled things I was ready for.  The egg garlic and dairy I wasn't!   I sat down and realized I couldn't eat everything first because all this food would last for months.  So I decided that the next day I would clean out my cupboards and fridge.  

The next day I got my heavy duty shopping bags out and I started loading.  Bag after bag after bag.  Goodbye my beloved soy sauce!  Goodbye garlic chili sauce.  Goodbye kosher pickles!  I called my ex and had him come pick it up.  Then I looked around and I had hardly anything in my cupboards left. Tuna.  Chicken. Beans.    I was starting to feel it.  I was starting to feel lost.

So I decided to go shopping and get new food.  I went to the gluten free section. Garlic, garlic, garlic.  Navy beans, beef, milk, butter, eggs, cheese....there was NOTHING I could eat.   I stood in the aisle and literally threw my hands up and felt like I was going to start crying.  A tear escaped and my face was hot.  I had to get out of there.

I had no idea how I was going to be able to pull this off.  I then realized that everything I ate was going to have to be homemade.  Now consider that I was still so very exhausted from having such a toxic system, I could not imagine being able to do this. 

So yes, I was in mourning.  Very much so.  Life just got a whole lot harder.  I needed a plan.  I needed something to help me out.  I decided to be thankful that I've always been a curious and experimental cook, then I started going through books and recipes to get ideas.  Then I did the one thing that helped me the most.  I made a list!  Not a list of what I couldn't have but a list of the things I could have.  That included things from individual foods to full on dishes of things I could make. Then when I got stuck, I could look at that list for help.

At first I made a lot of chili and gluten free spaghetti. I also ate a lot of chicken salad.  It gets old after awhile but that would then inspire me to try something new.  Over time I found that I was feeling better.  I initially couldn't find a bread without eggs, so one day after work I decided to make my own.  I went to the store and bought my supplies and when I got home I decided to make it.  Then it hit me.  I HAD ENERGY!  I actually felt like I could do this, at last!  

9 months later I have found a lot of go to foods, but yes, it is still hard sometimes.  There are days I contemplate grabbing a burger and just suffering the consequences, but then I remember how crappy I feel after a slight bit of hidden allergen, and I think again.

One thing I now know for sure.  My mom wasn't just allergic to gluten.  She had a lot more that she was allergic to that she was never tested for.  And that is partly why I'm writing this.  So that if someone stumbles upon this, maybe they will realize they need to look at more than just gluten.  That's generally just the tip of the iceberg.