One Simple Food

Travel Log #2: The Potato

The History: The potato is a simple food which has provided great nourishment for many people throughout the world.  It is native to the Americas and was initially cultivated by the Incas.  They worshipped the potato and even buried it with their dead.  Spanish explorers brought the potato to Europe where it finally took a foot hold and gained respect in Ireland.  Unfortunately, it became the complete source of feeding the nation.  The 'Great Potato Famine' reduced the population of Ireland by at least half by consequence of death or emigration.

Where to find it: In our modern lives, we have not experienced life without the potato; and we take it for granted.  Recently, we have added the baked potato to our list of 'go-to' allergy friendly and gluten free foods.  When we travel, spend the day away from home, have a spur of the moment diversion, or simply go out for dinner; the baked potato is always available.  My favorite source for a baked potato is Wendy's, but it can be found at most steak houses and restaurants. 


How to use it: If we follow our mantra of planning ahead, we will bring some dairy-free butter spread, dairy-free cheese, and some diced lunch meat to go along with the potato.  Another great option is to have individual servings of hummus or an avocado to mash into the potato.  Baking potatoes ahead of time and using them in school lunches is a great way to send your little one off to school with a hot lunch.

BBQ is your New Best Friend

Travel Post #1  Asheville, North Carolina
 
This summer we traveled from Roanoke, Virginia to Asheville, North Carolina.  Asheville is a great place thriving with art, music, and outdoor adventure. I lived there for a short time 15 years ago and I have been anxious to go back.  Asheville is a mixture of Boulder, CO; Santa Fe, NM and the South all rolled into one town. 
 
We hiked the Pisgah National Forest, drove the Blue Ridge Parkway, toured the downtown funky art co-op's, visited the Biltmore Estate, and ate some Carolina BBQ.  We all ate BBQ-even my child who is allergic to the 'Great American Diet"*.    Here is little more detail about our great weekend:



The Art of the Picnic:  My previous post highlighted to importance of planning ahead and knowing the details of where, why, how long, etc.  The first day of our road trip, we planned to hike to a waterfall off the Blue Ridge Parkway. We planned the timing so that we would be able to have a picnic lunch at the trail head, then proceed with our hike.  After our hike, we headed to downtown Asheville to tour around and enjoyed a rootbeer float (after we checked the ingredients of the ice cream).  My allergic to the GAD kid wanted water only, but he could have had an Italian Soda.



Biltmore Estate is the largest private home in America.

Using your Tools and Planning Ahead:  The next day, we visited the grand Biltmore Estate.  We started out early because we wanted to have lunch on site so we could hike in the afternoon.  We packed a lunch for my GAD kid and referenced the menus online for the restaurant options at the Biltmore. Since we planned ahead, we knew that our daughter could have the BBQ ribs for lunch. 

View from the top of Looking Glass Rock

Get out There!: We left the Biltmore for more adventure in the Pisgah National Forest and headed towards Brevard.  We did not have a solid plan for the rest of our day, our only focus was on hiking Looking Glass Rock and stopping by Sliding Rock for a ride on the natural rock slide. Dinner was not even on our minds at 2pm.  Our hike was beautiful, but long.   It was about 5 miles of hiking and we finished around 5pm.   Since we had promised our kids that we would take them to Sliding Rock, that was our next stop. 

My New Best Friend: BBQ for dinner!  Sliding Rock was an absolute blast and we stayed for over an hour taking multiple runs down this natural water slide.  At the end of the day, we were tired and extremely hungry.  So much for my planning mantra!  We headed back towards Asheville which was at least another 45 minutes to an hour away.   We remembered seeing a BBQ restaurant at our turn off for the hike and decided to at least try and check the ingredients and menu. We knew that natural hardwood smoked BBQ is GF and does not have added smoke sauces that can contain wheat, soy, etc.  We were so happy to hear that our son could eat their BBQ and as a bonus, they had baked potatoes on the menu!  That is a winning combination in my book, and my son had 2 baked potatoes that night!


*Great American Diet:  Diets that rely upon wheat, milk, eggs, soy, and nuts.

The Spontaneity Toolkit for Food Allergies

GET OUT AND SEE THE WORLD!

I changed the view of my blog to reflect my recent revelations related to traveling with food allergies and kids.  Admittedly, we have not been the most adventurous family due to our children's food allergies.  We recently broke out of our shell and started to travel more than in previous years.  I am devoting my posts over the next few weeks to what we have learned and experienced while traveling with food allergies.

A part of traveling is being open to the adventures that arise in the moment-spontaneity!  This should be fun, but with food allergies it can be stressful. The moment often presents a choice that must be made about going forward or holding back.   We have opted to not go out for a meal or to even join an activity that may go past a meal time because we lacked the food for our children. 

So how does one act spontaneously for fun adventure when it comes to being allergic to milk, peanuts, soy, eggs and wheat?  It requires planning to be spontaneous!

Here is my 'Spontaneity Tool Kit Essential List':

The PLAN: Try to know the where, when, how long, why, etc.  When you know where you are going, you will be able to make a search for allergy friendly restaurants and food stores.  When you know about when and how long, you can plan on how much food you need to bring.   The 'why' is helpful for knowing if you need to bring a dessert item if the occasion is a birthday party.

• The LIST:  I wish I could remember everything, but I can't.  Be specific!  I find that if I write "bring lunch" it has a better chance of making it into the car.

The TOOLS:  The right tools help when packing food for the day or for the week.   I pictured my favorites like Contigo brand thermos and drink cups and cupcake holders for birthday parties.  I also think it's helpful to have a cooler, blue ice, lunch box, microwave safe dish (glass)for heating up foods, and a can opener.  I also love my Zojirushi rice cooker (more on that later!).

The FOOD:   I bring certain food items on each trip because they provide either a nutritious meal or they are extremely handy.  Here are some examples: cans of vegetarian refried beans, easy open cans of veggies, applesauce pouches, shelf stable milk boxes/juices, granola bars.  I even bring breakfast muffins, some precooked meals, and maybe some lunch meat, rice cheese and GF bread.  When traveling to new and sometimes, remote places; it's good to have a supply of the basics and then supplement with items you can purchase at any store or gas station. 

The ROOM:  We try to stay with family or friends, rent a house, or stay in a hotel that has a microwave and refrigerator.  Some suite rooms have a full kitchen (with a freezer). 

The CAMERA:  Take it; you are going to have a great time!

 

 

Pictured to the left is my crew hiking Tinker Cliffs near Roanoke, VA.  We packed a lunch for everyone and hiked for about 6 hours.  At the end of the day, we ate at one of our favorite allergy friendly restaurants, Chipotle Mexican Grill.

A 'NEW' EGG?

No Chicken? No Eggs? No Problem?

 

I just read an article about the new chicken-less, vegan, GF egg that is hitting the shelves at Whole Foods.  It's called "Beyond Eggs" and is a plant based product.  I have included the link to the blog post for Delish so you can read about it yourself.  Since I am hours away from a Whole Foods, I have not tried them or seen the ingredient list, but I am anxious to know more!  When I told my kids about it, my daughter's first response was, "does that mean I can have angel food cake someday?".  Hopefully so...

Beyond Eggs link

 

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

My son is NOT a cereal eater for breakfast, but he will happily eat these muffins every morning.  They are wheat/gluten free and are also vegan.  I have experimented with the recipe over the past few months and I am really happy with how they have improved with texture and taste.

This is an updated version of my Vegan Banana Bread recipe featured on this blog.  It includes more canola oil, a flax egg and chocolate chips.  Refer to the post for a flax egg to learn how to make an egg without a chicken.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins-Updated

3 ripe bananas, over ripe bananas make great banana bread
1 flax egg
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour or flour mixture
1 tsp guar gum or xanthum gum
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3/4 cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mash bananas, add flax egg, oil, vanilla, and sugar and mix well. 
3. Sift flour with salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Add to banana mixture and mix until blended, add chocolate chips.
4. Place batter in a greased and floured loaf pan or muffin tins.
5. Loaf: Bake for 50-60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
6. Muffins: Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

No Chicken Needed-Flax Eggs

I love chickens, don't get me wrong.  I had chickens named after the characters in 'Grease' and I can be an impromptu instructor of the Chicken Dance at weddings, but we just can't eat eggs.  Two of my kids are allergic to eggs, but they still love cakes and cookies.  A flax egg is an easy alternative that works great in baked goods.

A vintage egg dish that is more about art and less about eggs.

Flax is a seed and is known for being rich in Omega 3's, antioxidants and for benefits related to cancer prevention and digestive health.  The most effective way to obtain these benefits is by grinding the seed in a coffee grinder or spice grinder.  Grinding the seeds is also needed for making a flax egg.

Flax Egg
makes one egg

1 1/2 TBSP of ground flax seed
1/4 cup of warm water

Mix the two and let stand for 5-10 minutes until thickened.  Whip with a whisk or fork and then add to your recipe as you would an egg.

I have better luck substituting a flax egg for recipes calling for 1-2 eggs and in baking items like cookies, quick breads, and cakes.  Refer to my recipe for Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins for use of a flax egg.