About This Blog

  ((While a lot of the recipes in this blog are labeled 'Vegan', this is NOT a vegan lifestyle blog. Our oldest son is allergic to all animal products except turkey and fish, so we often eat food completely free of animal products but we do not necessarily pay attention to the manufacturing process or other factors that may be of concern to certain vegan lifestyles))

My Name is Abby. I live in Fort Worth Texas with my wonderful husband Chris and our two boys, Jack and Benjamin.

 We found out that our oldest son Jack was allergic to milk when he was 5 months old, and allergic to eggs on his first birthday. He has since developed anaphylactic reactions to both milk and eggs. After removing those two items (in all forms, including baked goods), we felt like he was so restricted and that there was nothing he could eat. Little did we know his diet was about to get a whole lot more restricted!
  After almost a year of Jack crying, screaming, and choking through every meal, I finally sought the help of his pediatrician (because up until that point, I am ashamed to say, we thought he was just being willful). In June of 2011 Jack was diagnosed with a condition called eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE), inflammation of the esophagus caused by food allergies that makes eating very painful. These specific allergic reactions occur almost exclusively in the esophagus, without the tell tale signs of 'normal' allergies, such as hives, vomiting, or breathing trouble. Because Jack is also non verbal and mostly non communicative due to a chromosomal abnormality, his EoE is even harder to get a handle on because he can not always tell us when a particular food causes him a problem. We end up doing a lot of guessing! At that time he was diagnosed with EoE, he was also diagnosed with wheat, beef, and pork allergies in addition to dairy and eggs. (When I started this blog, he was only avoiding milk, eggs, beef, pork, and wheat).

  Treatment for EoE includes avoiding the offending foods and swallowing steroids. As of January 2012, the foods that Jack is allergic to and avoiding include:

• Milk                                                    
• Eggs
• Wheat
• Soy
• Beef
• Pork
• Chicken
• Rice
• Oats

  I hated making separate meals for Jack because he would ask for a bite and I would find absolutely nothing that he could eat on my plate. Thanksgiving 2011 I decided that, even though family was coming over, I was going to make the entire meal Jack Friendly so that he could eat everything just like everybody else. To my surprise, not only was the food no more difficult to make than regular Thanksgiving fare, it actually all tasted very good! And being able to let Jack try EVERYTHING, and not having to worry about if someone dropped something he couldn't eat on the floor and he found it, felt so darn good! My husband and I decided shortly after to switch the entire family to a diet void of those foods rather than make separate meals. While we still eat 'regular' foods when we go out to eat, at home we are "Jack Friendly".

  Since beginning this special diet, a whole new world has opened up to us. I have found so many honestly great recipes involving foods I would never have looked at before, and I wanted to share them with others who may be dealing with food allergies, intolerances, and EGID's.