A Week of Allergy Free Foods

This week I am personally delving into the world of food allergies.  My youngest son Zach is allergic to milk, soy, eggs, peanuts, peas, and some bean varieties.  Although, I hope he outgrows most of these allergies, there are no guarentees.   As Zach get's older (he just turned 1), he's wanting more and more different types of food.  Since I can't just grab the typical toddler foods and feed him those, I'm finding that forethought and planning is something I have to start doing more consistently.

 To kick off my allergy-friendly food planning, I decided that this week, I will only eat the foods Zach is able to eat.  I want to enter into his world and see what's it's like.  If he doesn't outgrow these allergies, I want to feel confident in providing nutritious and tasty meals for him.

Although food allergies and sacredness are probably not used in the same phrase very often, I decided to share this aspect of my life with you because I think there is something sacred that happens in a momma's heart when she labors on behalf of her children.   I want to give Zach the gift of tasty meals without letting his allergies get in the way.  This will mean more cooking, more planning and more creative ability in the kitchen.  Honestly, I'm a bit intimidated by the whole process!

This week, I will share with you what Zach and I eat, some recipes, feelings about eating predominantly unprocessed food, pictures, and anything else of interest.  I will also share with you what I spent on groceries for the week.  Eating mostly organic and locally grown food can get pricey but I will try and stay within my set weekly food budget.    

This afternoon I made a menu of sorts and a grocery list. I decided that instead of doing a weekly food menu I was going to do a "weekly food option board" that includes various breakfast options and lunch/dinner options.  One thing I don't like about creating a weekly menu is that I don't always feel like eating the particular meal that is "scheduled".   I'm hoping that my food option board will solve this problem.  I've never used this method before so we'll see how it goes.

A more attractive looking board will follow if this system ends up working for me :)

When I went grocery shopping today, I bought all of the ingredients needed to make any of the foods on my food board.  This will give me the flexibility to choose whatever meal seems appetizing at the time. Once I cook one of the food options or I'm out of ingredients, I will cross it off.  I've included a meal for left overs and an eating out option as well.  All the meals I prepare and recipes I use will be dairy-free, soy-free, nut-free, pea-free, and bean-free.  

I'm excited to try new foods this week!  The most intimidating meals I'm venturing to prepare are a non-soy vegan yogurt and coconut cheese quesadillas (not sure if Zach is allergic to coconut but I guess I'll find out).  To prepare for these recipes, I had to buy ingredients I didn't know existed.  Purchasing tapioca flour and agar agar sea vegetable flakes were definitely a first for me.  

I will need all the help I can get as I move forward into the world of allergen free cooking.  Do you know of any great websites that can help me with recipes that are allergy friendly?  

Blessings!