Nut-free, Dairy-free, Egg-free DELICIOUS Pumpkin Bread

My boys, Luke and Ben, are nut-free. I am egg- and dairy-free. This pumpkin bread with delicious chocolate chips satisfies all 3 of us!

I found two delicous recipes:

This delicious oil-based pumpkin bread

and

This delicious butter-based pumpkin bread.

I personally like the second one better. The main difference is that I prefer the butter version over the oil version. (I know so healthy for the New Year!)

Here is my altered recipe to make the second and first version nut, dairy and egg free. A food allergy friendly pumpkin bread. Also, if you are gluten-free, just add special flour and you should be good to go!

Pumpkin Bread

Yield: 2 loaves

Prep Time: 20 minutes Cook Time: 60 minutes

Ingredients: 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree 4 eggs-- I just leave this out and it does just fine--No eggs and no egg substitute! 1 cup vegetable oil 2/3 cup water 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 2 1/2 cups sugar--I always try to add a little less sugar when it is just for our lil family to eat. 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour--if you are gluten-free here is your chance to add your special flour! 2 teaspoons baking soda 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt 2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice

1 bag of chocolate chips (I use the Kroger Organic Semi-Sweet chocolate chips which are fantasticly dairy-free and delicious! But, please note the package does say MAY CONTAIN MILK which for me is okay, but may not be okay if you have a serious milk allergy)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray with cooking spray two 8.5 x 4 x 2.5 inch loaf pans. 2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl with an electric mixer, combine pumpkin, oil, water, vanilla and sugar until well blended. 3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice until well combined. 4. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour batter into the prepared pans. 5. Bake in preheated oven for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

For the Butter Version (which is my preference, but both are super delicous)

Ingredients 3 cups all-purpose flour 2 Tablespoons Pumpkin Pie Spice 1 Tablespoon Cinnamon (I changed the spices to go with what is in my cabinet) ½ tsp salt 1 tsp baking soda ½ tsp baking powder 3 cups granulated sugar 1 cup butter, really soft, half melted really--I substituted Blue Bonnet Light--dairy free-margerine that bakes the closest to butter. 3 large eggs--just leave them out and it still turns out just fine! 1 16 oz can of pure pumpkin Optional--add dairy and nut-free chocolate chips.

Instructions

1.Preheat oven to 350˚F and spray two medium loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray. 2.In a medium bowl, mix the flour, spices, salt, baking soda, and baking powder and set aside. 3.In the bowl of a stand mixer with the wire whisk attached, dump in the sugar. Take the dairy-free margarine and put it in the microwave for about 30 seconds, so that it is half melted. Dump it into the sugar. Cream these three ingredients together on medium speed for about 2 minutes or until well mixed. It will not be fluffy like when real butter and eggs are used. Add the pumpkin and combine well. 4.In three batches, add the dry ingredients and mix gently until each batch is just incorporated. Scrape the sides between each batch. Stir in chocolate chips if desired. 5.Pour half of the batter into a one of the prepared pans. Bake side-by-side for about one hour or until an inserted knife comes out clean the top is golden.

Yields 2 loaves.

3x5 Folded Card Thank You Card

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Mint Julep Thank You Card

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Candy Canes

Whose child does not love a great Candy Cane? Or as my boys always say, a great Candy Can? We have been chomping on these candy canes. They are made in Mexico, but the box promises that they are made in a nut-free facility. So far, so good. Merry Christmas!

The Spangler Website says this (and I LOVE IT): It has been our experience that families with allergic children take great care to determine the origin of the food their children consume to protect against an allergic reaction. Families should ask the origin of any candy or food product that is in an open bowl or container to ensure what their children consume is free of allergies. If you have any questions, please contact our Quality Assurance department through email at info@spanglercandy.com or toll-free 888-636-4221. 5 ways we make sure our products are allergy free. Our manufacturing facilities are 100% free of gluten (from wheat, barley and rye), dairy, peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, fish and shellfish. All Spangler Candy products are made on dedicated manufacturing equipment. We thoroughly clean every manufacturing line, every day. We notify all of our suppliers about our allergen standards. We also request an annual allergen report from each supplier to verify that the ingredients they provide are allergy free. At least twice a year, all of our products are tested for allergens by an independent food lab. Did you know? Facts about food allergies and intolerances in the United States. •About 3 million children have a food or digestive allergy.1 •About 4% of adults have a food allergy.2 •30-50 million people are lactose intolerant.3 •Over 3 million have celiac disease, an intolerance to gluten, the protein found in wheat, barley and rye.4 •More than 3 million are allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, or both.5 •Over 900,000 have milk allergies.6 •Over 2 million have autism.7 •From 1997 to 2007 the number of children with food allergies rose by 18%.8 (1) National Center for Health Statistics, 2008 Brief, (2) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, 2007, (3) Consumer Health Interactive Report, 2008 (4) Celiac.com, 2007, & National Institutes of Health (5) Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology, 2003 (6) Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN), (7) Autism Speaks (8) American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology, 2008.

Cholinergic Urticaria

This very much describes L. I feel like this answers the questions to L's hives at the pool and in the bathtub, when running around the backyard, and when just getting too hot at night or when playing indoors. For example, tonight L was wearing a tee-shirt, sweatshirt, and jeans while running around the house playing. He came to me with a few hives on his face and said "Will you help me get this sweatshirt off?" I immediately think

Those hives are tempature related, not food related.

A whole new way of thinking about L's hives, for sure. I am in awe that the answer to his constant hives for the past few years is quite possibly due to tempature changes and quite possibly not food related. I really am amazed at how closely the article in the link describes L's symptoms. As always I am grateful to a loving God who has opened my eyes to yet another answer in understanding my children.

Annual Allergy Testing for L

The boys have been to too many doctor appointments lately. But, we have made some great discoveries at the Allergy Appointments.

Below are the blood work results for L. They will be followed up by skin testing of the allergens listed with which fall below .34. To read the results you should know: Less than 0.10...no significant level detected .10-.34 borderline, significance is determined with doctor (our doctor will follow up with skin testing and possibly food challenge) .35-.70 Low .71-3.50 Moderate 3.51-17.50 High 17.51 or greater VERY HIGH L's Results Fall 2011: Peanut >100 (extremely high as expected) Pea 20.60 (This is no surprise really because Peas are legumes like Peanuts. This is a new and very serious allergy) Sesame Seed .62 (This is new and significant. No sesame seeds for L in any form) Almond 7.28 Pistachio 2.51 Hazelnut .94 Chestnut .73 Cashew .97 Brazilnut .77 Conclusion: No nuts, sesame seeds, or peas for my oldest! Numbers that have dropped/or are insignificant: Milk .18 Casein (milk protein) .14 Egg Yolk .30 Egg White .26 Latex .15 Red Dye <.10 Gelatin Bovine <.10 Gelatin Porcine .28 Yellow Dye .12 The next step, to be preformed next Wednesday, skin test to Latex, Milk, Egg. If the skin testing goes well the next step would be a food challenge (a little bit of the food is eaten in Doctor Office and patient would be watched for reaction)

Questions I still have from L's results

Questions I still have: Is L really not allergic to gelatin? The gelatin in Frosted Mini Wheats used to really make him cough, but he did love them? He dislikes most food with gelatin (jello and marshmallows) L always has hives it is a daily occurrence. The cleared up a lot once latex, food dyes and gelatin were removed from his day/diet. But, I learned today there are sooooo many reasons for hives. Non-food, non-latex reasons are very possibly the answer. The hives I thought L was getting to food dyes and latex could also be explained by Immunologic and Non-immunologic Urticaria...basically HIVES. There are several causes of hives and they do explain exactly when L has hives that I thought were food related. Reasons include being exposed to hot and cold temperatures in the pool and bathtub. L regularly gets hives at the pool and almost nightly in the bathtub, which could mean the temperature change causes hives, not the latex toys or the food/medicine he just consumed before bath time. L will get hives when upset and when he plays outside (exercise induced hives), when clothes are too tight (in his most recent growth spurt his clothes, specifically his elastic waist band of underwear, which contains Latex, itch and cause redness and hives), after playing the violin and having an object rest in the "cave" of his neck, the resting of the solid object could cause the hives as opposed to the latex(in the form of bandages to make it softer) on the violin). Hindsight is 20/20 it is easy to see where I could suspect a latex allergy in place of Urticaria. Some foods and medicines do cause Uticaria, such as eggs, nuts, fish, and penicillin and sulfa. But, I am definitely rethinking why L gets hives. I feel like we have some answers from today's results and we have a possibility of adding Eggs, Milk, Gelatin and Dyes back into L's regular diet. Wouldn't that be wonderful? We are still a NUT free home. We now will not let L near PEAS:) Lucky kid...well at least he thinks so. He was not at all allergic to green beans, so I will put those back in his diet:)Sorry L! All of this information is a lot for L, who is just 5 years old. My plan is to talk to him about Urticaria and call it just plain old HIVES and to try to teach him better how to understand his body and be able to alert us, his teacher or other adults when he recognizes signs of an allergic reaction. Also, L very rarely complains of itchiness or any discomfort when he has hives. Hives are not treated with medicine unless they become painful or disrupt life work, play and/or sleep (this is the advice from my doctor....not medical advise for you or your child). I will let you know what the skin results tell us and possibly the food challenge. I really never imagined we would work up to a food challenge for L. If we do great, I welcome it. But, if we don't L already lives without and we know God has a plan for L and we will find Joy in the Journey with or without egg and milk allergies:)

B's Results are so pretty

B's Results Fall 2011: Casein (milk protein) <.10 Milk <.10 Egg White .26 Egg Yolk <.10 Soybean <.10 PEANUT .44 (This is a class 1 allergy. When B was 1 y/o he was a class 4, when B was 2 y/o class 2, and now class 1....this is a very positive trend. The doctor predicts a possible food challenge next year if the number continues to go down. I am afraid to be too optimistic. Time will tell. But for now no NUTS!) Could B possibly be food allergy free in a year? Unimaginable, but really nice to imagine!