Having a growing two year old who is allergic to soy and dairy has its challenges. Among them is calcium. I give Little J fortified Rice Dream, but the older he gets the harder it is to get him to drink it. Last week I started looking for a new way to get him the calcium he needs.

On Monday, I attended Bake Nite with the Orange County Food Allergy Support Group and one of the other Moms mentioned calcium gummy bears. The next day I was at Costco, and there they were. The best part of them is that they are soy, peanut, egg, wheat and dairy free! Little J loves them too. I tried a couple and they really do taste like candy.

I decided to buy the multivitamin gummy bears too. Little J loves them and they are safe for him.

I highly reccomend these, but check with your doctor if you have any concerns about giving them to your child.

Here is the the link to the gummy vitamin website: L’il Critters

Not a new food craze. Just the basis of my last week. Little J has been eczema free for a while now, and I almost forgot how bad it could get. Then last week we were at our local natural grocery store and there was a woman giving out samples of turkey and ham. I asked if there was any soy, peanut, eggs, wheat or dairy in the meat. I checked the package. Turkey, salt. Ham, salt. Nothing else. I let Little J try some and to my delight he liked it! (he’s been a vegetarian of late) So I bought some of each. I made little rolls of turkey and ham and he loved them. Then the next morning my son had eczema all over his face. And all over his body. All day he would lift up his shirt and scratch his belly. But how could it be? There were no allergens in the turkey or ham!

Then, I recieved an email from a loyal reader who has a young son with food allergies. She bought him some marshmallows that were free of his allergens. He had a reaction from them. I’m not sure I was much help…

The meat and the marshmallows must have been cross contaminated, that’s the only thing I can come up with….Any other theories?

Last time I was Whole Foods I noticed Authentic Foods.  I picked up a package of falafel, because I love falafels! These falafels happen to be SPEWD Free! That’s right, no soy, peanuts, eggs, wheat or dairy. They give you two options on how to make these yummy chickpea balls and I tried them both. One is to bake them and the other is to fry them in oil.

I know which one is healthier and which one is yummier. The baked falafel was ok. It turned out a little dry, but it was ok. The fried falafel was SO GOOD! It was just as good as any falafel that I have ever had in a resturaunt, maybe even better. I like falafel with hummus, and so I will now post a recipe for SPEWD Free Hummus.

SPEWD Free Hummus

6 cloves of garlic or a small can chopped black olives (optional)

1 15oz can chickpeas

3 tablespoons of olive oil

1/2 cup tahini (sesame paste)

5 tablespoons lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste

Place all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.

Then dip your falafel in the hummus and enjoy! Check out the Authentic Foods Website here: Authentic Foods and try the falafel mix!

Yesterday Little J and I went to a birthday party for a friend of his. Little J had a wonderful time! He played with the other children and participated in most of the events. He loved it! And I was happy because he was happy. Then the cake came. Now the mother who was running the party and I are friends so she knows about little J’s allergies. She is so sweet and brought a big bowl of grapes and strawberries (which Little J loves). And when the cake came, she didn’t even offer him a piece. But Little J has recently started grabbing for food he can’t have. So I sat behind him and tried to keep him away from the cake. He seemed fine with it actually. Between the fruit the fact that I fed him before we left and the fact that I brought snacks with me I thought he was good. The birthday boy’s mom even let Little J play with the candle that was shaped like Thomas the Train Engine.  Then other children wanted to play with the candle and when I finally forced Little J to share, he had a breakdown. I am not talking about his normal tantrums. No,this was a kicking, screaming at the top of his lungs, making a massive scene because it sounded like someone was trying to murder him tantrum………

so we left. And he cried and screamed all the way home. And he didn’t stop once we were in the house…..

So, does anyone have any birthday party advice??