Hitting the Books

What’s to Eat? The Milk-Free, Egg-Free, Nut-Free Food Allergy Cookbook Linda Marienhoff Coss

Good question. Certainly nothing from this extremely unhelpful food allergy cookbook.

Out of 151 recipes, there are a mere 24 that my daughter might touch. Thirty-five if I include those with veggies or potatoes, but since she refuses to let either enter her mouth (except sweet potatoes for some reason), they really don’t count.

Of those 24, there are:

• 2 kinds of tabouleh (not too many American toddlers are all that interested in tabouleh. Though the Punkin does like Ethiopian-style spiced lentils…)
• 4 different sauces (Dilled mustard? Oriental dressing? Sunflower pesto? Tofu and spinich dip? Actually, she might eat that one–she loves tofu)
• 3 kinds of biscuits (the Punkin can’t even eat the pancakes and waffles as written–they call for vanilla soy milk, and she’s allergic to vanilla.)
• 3 desserts (including pie crust and frozen fruit. Like I needed a cookbook to tell me that frozen fruit was a good dessert. Sigh)
• 1 pasta dish (basically spaghetti. Again, duh.)
• 2 cookies
• 5 rice dishes (apricot, basil, bell pepper, “second-time around,” and Burgundy wild rice pilaf. Yeah, that’s it. Let’s give the toddler some Burgundy (I know, the alcohol is mostly cooked off. Still…).)

And a few other odds and ends.

Other than the spinich dip, I think I might be able to adapt the lemon poppyseed muffins. Those are the only two recipes I’m planning on trying. I might not even use the muffin one, as I’ve had better luck adapting Betty Crocker for baked goods than using special “allergy-free” recipes.

I paid $16.95 for this cookbook. That’s what I get for buying cookbooks off of Amazon–you can’t flip through the recipes beforehand. Yes, it’s milk-free, egg-free, and nut-free, and if those are the only allergies you’re dealing with, this is an okay cookbook. I suppose. Personally, I think the dishes are rather upscale for a household with kids. Burgundy wild rice pilaf? Dilled cucumber and bay shrimp salad (I was shocked to see that one, as shrimp allergies are fairly common, and usually pretty nasty)?

Supposedly the recipes are kid-tested, but I’m dealing with a toddler. You know, the type that won’t touch anything green (I was ecstatic when she willingly put a green bean in her mouth this week. She spit it right back out, but I didn’t have to fight her to get it in there in the first place). Or will only eat brown foods this week and only liquids the next.

I’ve been mostly on my own, figuring out stuff to make the Punkin, and she seems to be doing just fine. Perhaps I should write my own cookbook, “The Neutral-colored, Wheat-only, Soy-only Cookbook for Discriminating Toddlers.”