It’s a long weekend for Little J because his school has added two furlough days to the holiday. So we have a five day weekend. We decided it was time for a quick family vacation but didn’t want to go too far so we are off to Arizona!
The three of us are sitting in the airport, Little J is watching the planes go by, my husband had some McD’s for breakfast and is checking his email and I go off in search of something healthy. I looked around at all the little pastry shops, the starbucks….nothing. So I went into the magazine shop hoping to find something more than a vitamin water zero. And while looking at the granola bars, I did! I found Skout Trailbars! They contain almonds but no peanuts, eggs, wheat or dairy. They are really good ( and filling enough for breakfast) and have very simple ingrediants. I am so thankful that they were in the airport and am going to try to find them again when we get back.

Summer is coming and nothing is better than a tall glass of lemonade. But I have to admit that most of the time I am way to lazy to make it from lemons. And with Little J’s food allergies I am a bit careful of what I will let him eat or drink. No chemical sweeteners (yes, I prefer good old sugar to chemicals) in fact I try to keep him away from chemicals as much as possible. So lemonade has been a rare thing in our household. Until now. I found True Lemonade and True Raspberry Lemonade. It’s really good and all natural. And  there is a 100% guarantee that you will like it….what’s better than that? How about the fact that it is SPEWD Free? Seriously good stuff. Little J likes it and so do I. If you are interested in finding some near you click here True Lemon

About a month ago my husband and I decided to go to Baja Fresh for dinner. We were wondering if Little J could eat anything there, so I decided to check out the website. After searching for about 15 minutes for any kind of nutritional info (and finding absolutely nothing) I decided to use my old standby and and click on the “contact us” button.  That led me here : http://www.bajafresh.com/contact.php

I clicked on the “FAQ” link, on the off chance that there might me some allergen information there. What I saw was interesting….

I have severe allergies, whom may I contact for specific nutritional information?
Our nutritional page will provide basic nutritional breakdown of our menu items. If you have specific questions, please feel free to contact us and we will try to answer your questions to the best of our ability.

So I clicked contact us and dialed the number. It was Sunday and the offices were closed. Figures. So my husband and I pack Little J a plan B meal and headed out with the plan of speaking to a manager.

When we got to the Baja Fresh, I asked to speak to the manager, and he came out in a timely manner. I told him about Little J’s allergies to peanuts and eggs and asked if anything on the menu was safe. The manager looked behind the counter, pulled out some nutrition facts, looked me in the eyes and said, “I don’t know.”

I don’t know? How does a manager not know what they are serving in their own restaurant? Does Baja Fresh just not care? Are their “fresh” ingredients really that bad?

On Monday I called the Baja Fresh corporate offices to explain what had happened. The women on the phone apologized and proceeded to tell me that they weren’t sure about the factories that the ingredients were produced in and that any of the ingredients “may be produced in a factory with peanuts or other nuts or eggs”. The only foods that CONTAINED peanuts or eggs to her knowledge were the mayonnaise containing sauces. I was told that my concerns about the fact that no one knew about any allergens in the food would be forwarded to upper management and that someone would be contacting me. To this date no one has. I will be calling again.

I will keep all of you posted if I make any progress with Baja Fresh. Until I do,I won’t be letting Little J eat here.

I was at Toys R Us the other day with Little J when he saw candy canes….”Candy Mommy! Candy Mommy!” and he pointed to the candy canes. My first response was, “I don’t think you can have those sweetie”. Everything is made in a factory with peanuts, right? Wrong. I looked at the box on the Spangler candy canes and saw this statement “This product does not contain peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs, or wheat gluten. It has been manufactured on dedicated equipment.”  YEAH Candy Canes for ALL!!!!  (there doesn’t appear to be soy in them either.) THANK YOU Spangler!!!

Spangler makes a variety of other candy too (including dum-dums and circus peanuts) that are allergen-safe (some of them have soy..see their website)  Check out the website here: Spangler Candy

I hope everyone had a wonderful, safe Thanksgiving. I know we had a wonderful one! Little J ate tons of turkey with cranberry sauce (his favorite). I have a couple of new products to share with all of you, and one bad thing that happened to us.  So here goes:

My first new find is only sold at Toys R Us and Babies R Us.  It’s Ella’s Kitchen “baby food”! Now, I have to say that I hate the fact that it’s marketed as baby food, but I get it. What these pouches contain is pureed fruit and veggies (that’s all..completely SPEWD Free!).  So just don’t tell your kiddos that they are “baby food” and they will never know!  Ella’s Kitchen pouches don’t need refrigeration, so they can go anywhere, and they come in a fun pouch (which makes them mess free). Little J loves all the flavors and begs for them! How can you say no to a new way to get your child to eat fruits and veggies? Yummy!! Check them out here: Ella’s Kitchen

My second new find is: Wildwood Organics Pro/Pre- biotic soy yogurt  with fiber. If you can eat soy, this yogurt is the best. Little J has digestive issues, like constipation and acid reflux, so I am always looking for natural ways to help. This yogurt really does the job, and he likes it better than any other brand. It comes in lots of yummy flavors….so check it out here: Wildwood Organics By the way the yogurt I bought at my local health food store isn’t on their website yet. I will email them and find out why and get back to all of you.

Now for the bad, Wendy’s. Little J has become sort of a french fry monster. He loves french fries. I try to keep him away from most junk food, but every once in a while I let him have some. This was the case when we decided to take my nephew to Wendy’s before a softball game. I checked online and the french fries at Wendy’s should have been safe. I asked the manager when we got to the Wendy’s just to be sure. But two bites into them, my Little J started having a reaction. Luckily it was mild, but it was enough that I won’t be going back to Wendy’s anytime soon. Be forewarned.\

I hope everyone has a good day!!

Little J LOVES fruit…if I give him the choice between gummies and a banana, he picks the banana. That being said, I don’t always have a piece of fruit in my bag. I have been looking for some fruit snacks to put in my bag that were free of soy, peanuts, eggs, wheat, dairy and for me , the dreaded corn syrup. So imagine my glee when I found Sharkies Organic Fruit Snacks at Target the other day. Finally! No peanuts! No Corn Syrup!!! Little J loves them and I don’t feel so bad giving them to him. (I just have to remember not to sneak too many myself )

Check out Sharkies Fruit Snacks here: Sharkies