Scary Sulphites?

As Hallowe’en approaches, I find myself faced with the problem of trick-or-treating with an anaphylactic child.  I’m not sure how I feel about this.  I don’t want to deny William the opportunity to go trick-or-treating, but I also don’t want to unnecessarily expose him to sulphites. This opens a whole can of worms about the extent to which parents should protect their kids from allergens ... but I'm not going to go there today.

I've thought about this for a while, and I think that the tactic we’re going to use is to keep a stash of unsulphited treats for him.  Once we’re all home from trick-or-treating, we’ll go through his bag of goodies, read labels, check anomalies online, and “trade” him Smarties (which I know are safe, and also his favourite) for the sulphited goodies.  It's not the best solution, nor perhaps the absolute safest, but I think it's the best compromise that will allow him the experience while keeping him reasonably safe.  And I'm beginning to come to the realization that reasonably safe is often the best we can do.

Educating the masses

Well, not really, but if the conversation at my work lunch table yesterday is any indication, it would seem that most people have no clue about severe allergies.  A discussion about food led to one about intolerances, which led to a discussion of the difference between an intolerance and an allergy, which led to a brief biology lesson (Mast cells, histamine, and allergic reactions), which led to "how do you do it?"

It seems that most of the people I have contact with understand that there is a significant difference between an allergy that causes uncomfortable and unpleasant symptoms and an allergy that leads to anaphylasis, but most have no idea what that difference is.  And there seems to be a lot of misinformation out there about what can and cannot cause an anaphylactic reaction.

I had to do an in-depth explanation, at Thanksgiving, as to why the after-eating-sulphites protocol for those of us who *can* eat sulphites exists.  We still eat them, within limits.  Food containing sulphites is only served with metal utensils on/in glass or ceramic dishes (less chance of the sulphites adhering to anything they shouldn't that way).  The person who's eaten the sulphites has the responsibility to ensure that their food (and utensils and hands and anything that may have touched the food) doesn't touch anything else.  Once they're done eating, their dishes go directly to the dishwasher (which I will immediately run) and they have to go wash their hands and brush their teeth (using the same do-not-touch protocol).  It seems a bit extreme, but it's the best I can come up with to still allow sulphites to be consumed in the house and protect William at the same time.  The point I made, when having to defend this process, was that an ounce of prevention (in this case, being very careful about cross-contamination) is worth a pound of cure (use of the Epipen and a trip to RUH's Emergency).

We have another family supper this evening, with a large number of fairly close family who aren't familiar with William's reaction to sulphites, so I think it's going to be a steep learning curve.  I'll be making buns this afternoon to take (so I know he can eat those) and will also make sure to bring some of "his" carrots, too ... I don't want him to feel left out (by not eating the same things as others), but I want to make sure that he's not going to eat anything, either, that'll make him sick.  Wish me luck!

Yam & sausage hash

I think this is my new breakfast favourite for fall weekends!  Bright orange yams, sweet onions, sausage, and eggs ... how could you go wrong?

Ingredients (per person):

1/2 lb jewel yams (~1 small)

1/4 lb breakfast sausage (ground or in casings, sliced)

1/2 sweet onion

2-3 tbsp chicken stock

1 egg

Shaved Parmesan cheese

Method:

Peel and cube the yams.  Place in a medium pot of salted water, then bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 4-5 minutes.  Yams should be tender, but not overcooked.  Drain yams and set aside.

Saute sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Once the sausage has begun to release a bit of fat, add onion.  Continue to saute until sausage is cooked through and onions are translucent.  

Reduce heat to medium, then stir in yams.  Add stock, then pack hash down lightly and let cook (without stirring) for 4-5 minutes.  Bottom of hash should become brown and crispy.  With a spatula, carefully lift sections of the hash, mixing it, then lightly pack it down again.  Repeat until desired level of crispiness is achieved.  

Make a well in the hash for each egg, then carefully break the egg into the well.*  Cover and let cook until egg is cooked to desired level of doneness.  Sprinkle with shaved Parmesan, slice into wedges, and serve.  

Notes:

 

* If you like your hash with scrambled eggs, break egg into well, let cook until barely set at the edges, then fold the egg into the hash and repack it.

One eats, two eat, three eat, we all eat ....

We had an interesting conversation the other day after D. came home from getting groceries.  Walter had picked out Spiderman "fruit bits" (you know, the ones that contain lots of ingredients and hardly any fruit) as a snack for Kindergarten.  I rolled my eyes a bit--mainly because I'm such a fanatic about fruit-like things actually having to have fruit in them--but scanned the label and was about to put them in the cupboard when I saw the labelling change.  The only allergen warning for the "fruit bits" (and, no, I can't seem to make myself take the scare quotes away) was for SULPHITES.  *meh*

William was rather miffed, as he knew right away he couldn't have them, and I was a bit upset with D. for not having read the label in the store.

Then we stopped and talked for a minute.  It wasn't fair to Walter that he couldn't have the "fruit bits" just because William couldn't have them, but I didn't think it fair if Walter ate them in front of William, either (more because of the Spiderman thing than anything else).

So, the "fruit bits" are living in the cupboard over the stove (safely out of reach, as even I need a stool), and can only be eaten at school.  While I won't buy them again, D. may well as a treat for Walter, and that's okay, so long as William gets a treat he can eat, too.

I've thought about this for a while since, and I think that the moral is that, as a family, we'll make reasonable changes to our way of eating to eliminate sulphites (and to protect William from exposure to them), but that doesn't preclude us from eating things that contain sulphites ... and, you know, I don't think we should feel guilty about that.

Mountain bread!

So I was home from work for most of the week before last, as both boys had pneumonia. We ran out of bread and William, carbivore as he is, wanted immediately to make more. My usual multigrain recipe is in the bread machine as I write this, but I saw Beth Baker's recipe for mountain bread and figured I'd give it a try. Here are the fabulous results.

This has fast become a favourite around here.  I've made three loaves, and they've all disappeared within a day of being made.  Thanks for the recipe, Beth!

Cranberry Apple Chutney

Canadian Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and while we're not cooking a turkey this year (organic free range chicken, instead), I am making my usual chutney, tweaked so it's free of sulphites. I love the mixture of sweet and tart in this recipe, and it makes a phenomenal sandwich spread with either chicken or turkey.


Ingredients*:

1/3 cup cider vinegar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tart cooking apples (I used Macintosh)
12 ounces fresh cranberries (1 bag)
1/2 cup chopped sweet onion
1/2 cup unsulphured raisins**
1 tbsp orange zest or preserved organic orange peel
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
1-1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves

Method:

Place first two ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Cook for three to four minutes (onions should be transparent), then reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.

If you like a fairly chunky chutney, leave it as is, but if you like a smoother one like I do, run it briefly through the food processor.

Makes about 2 cups. Keeps 2 weeks in the fridge, or can be frozen.

Notes:
* I use all organic ingredients, because this ensures no cross-contamination.
** I usually use golden raisins, but have only been able to find unsulphured Thompson raisins for the last month or so.

There's nothing as scary as grocery shopping

Well, not really, but grocery shopping has certainly changed for us. I used to waltz into the grocery store several times a week, decide on a whim what I wanted to make, quickly grab the ingredients, and be out the door.

Now grocery shopping at one of the major grocery chains is a bit like planning an expedition to a foreign country. Every item is scrutinized. Is it safe? If there's any doubt, it gets left behind. The risk is just too great.

I stand in each aisle for several minutes, reading fine print, comparing products, and often not buying anything. People must think me a bit batty. Labels are my friend, and my arch-nemesis. Does the product comply with the new labelling laws? Was it produced before these went into effect?

Even in the produce aisles, selecting things takes time. After a recent reaction where William had hives and eczema from one of his apples that'd *just* touched one of his dad's, I'm not willing to risk cross-contamination. So unless it's organic and bagged, I'm not buying produce from the major grocery chains.

Thank goodness, however, for the few local health/organic grocers in Saskatoon. I'm a bit more confident buying produce from them (although we just won't talk about the price of organic produce ... it's worth William's safety, and it's not like we can't afford it). Even so, I'm still an unapologetic label reader, but am learning that so long as it's certified organic in Canada, it can't contain sulphites (unless it's wine). Too, we're beginning to find organic brands and items that we like, so the kids know which granola bars, for example, they can pick from.

Many things, however, I've stopped buying completely. The days of buying baked goods in the grocery store are a thing of the past because William's had a reaction to sulphites in molasses. I've managed to find a brand of unsulphited molasses that works for us and doesn't have an huge difference in taste--it's Wholesome Sweeteners Organic Molasses. There's been a lot of experimenting with multigrain bread recipes over the last couple of weeks, and I think I've finally found one that's easy, that doesn't use molasses, and that (most importantly) we all like.

We're slowly adjusting to this new way of doing things, but weekends like this--Canadian Thanksgiving--I look somewhat wistfully at the major grocery chains, where I used to be able to get everything in one fell swoop. This morning, it'll be three or four stops (depending on what's in stock where) to get everything to make Thanksgiving supper ... but the fact that I'll be able to come very close to what we used to make (without even thinking) will be more than worth it.