A close call with tomato paste

I was making homemade spaghetti and meat sauce last week, and I thought about adding a can of tomato paste to thicken it up. It turned out that I didn't need it, so I put the can back in the cabinet. I didn't plan on reading the label, because it was made by Contadina and I remembered reading the label at the store.

Thank God I didn't add it into the sauce - I read the label later and it turns out I bought Tomato Paste with Italian Herbs. Sounds harmless, right? I read the ingredients and it contained MILK!

Holy crap, that would have caused Rowan to have an anaphylactic reaction. We would have had to use the epi-pen and call 911. I must have bought a couple cans and grabbed that one by mistake?

This is such a great reminder that you need to read labels and ingredients EVERY TIME, even when you get home from the store.

Tomato Paste Ingredients: Tomatoes

Tomato Paste with Italian Herbs: Tomato Puree (Tomato Paste, Water), High Fructose Corn Syrup, Salt, Dried Onions, Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (Soybean And/Or Cottonseed), Spices, Hydrolyzed Corn Gluten, Soy & Wheat Gluten Proteins, Grated Romano Cheese Made From Cow's Milk (Cultured Milk, Salt, Enzymes), Garlic, Citric Acid, Yeast, Soy Flour. Contains Soybeans, Wheat, Milk.

All of this got me thinking about possible cross-contamination in the manufacturing process. I emailed Contadina to find out more, and you can read their response after the jump.

Pot Roast - easy and delicious!

Fall is here and it's starting to get chilly - it's the perfect time a year to start making pot roast!

This is one of the few meals that our entire family can eat together. The girls love it and it's free of the top 8 allergens. The house smells delicious while it's roasting, and we have leftovers for the next few meals.

Prep: 25 minutes

Total: 4 hours 25 minutes

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil (I use canola oil)

1 5-pound beef chuck roast

Salt and pepper

2 cups beef stock or reduced sodium canned beef broth*

3 onions, cut into large wedges

4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 dried bay leaves

1 teaspoon dried thyme   

2 pounds carrots, cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks

2 pounds potatoes, cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks

*I use Kitchen Basics Beef Stock. They test for allergens and their beef stock doesn't contain soy, gluten, yeast, or MSG. They also have an allergen statement on the package.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a Dutch oven (or roasting pan), heat oil over medium-high heat. Sprinkle roast all over with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Place in pan, and brown on all sides, about 10 minutes.

2. Turn meat fat side up. Add stock, onions, garlic, bay leaves, and thyme. Bring to a simmer, cover; put in the oven, and roast for 3 hours. Add carrots and potatoes, and cook until vegetables are tender, about 1 hour more.

3. Transfer the roast, carrots, and potatoes to a platter. With a spoon, skim the fat off the surface of the cooking liquid. Cut the roast into thick slices, and serve with the vegetables. Pass the pan juices separately.

Note: Browning the meat makes the whole dish tastier and gives the pan juices an appetizing deep brown color.

Serves 8.

Article - The Truth About Food Allergies

The September issue of Parenting Magazine featured an article about Food Allergies: The Truth About Food Allergies. It mentions a few of the latest therapies that could be on the horizon, and some of the possible causes for the increase in food allergies. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the prevalence of food allergies rose nearly 20 percent between 1997 and 2007, and it now strikes up to 8 percent of children under the age of 4.

Allergy Reminders for Halloween

Since Halloween is around the corner, I thought I'd repost these reminders I shared last year:

1) Bite-size, individually-wrapped candies may have different ingredients or be processed in different facilities than their regular-size counterparts, so don't assume they are safe just because you have previously used the regular-size candies.

2) The ingredient label on a bag of candy may differ from the ingredient labels on the individual candies inside.

3) Advisory labels such as May Contain, Processed in a Facility, and Processed on Shared Equipment are voluntary. If a candy label lacks these statements, it doesn't mean the candy is safe from potential cross-contamination with an allergen. The only way to know if your Halloween candy is safe from allergens is to contact the manufacturer. (Read "Is Your Food Really Safe?" for more information.)

4) If a product does have an allergen advisory label, the product should be avoided. Studies have shown that many of these products actually *do* contain allergens.

5) Chocolates are commonly cross-contaminated with milk, soy, peanuts or tree nuts.

6) Allowing children to carry candies that contain their allergens can be dangerous. The wrappers can become loose and fall off the candy in their trick-or-treat bag, or children may attempt to eat the candy without you knowing.

7) Halloween dangers don't disappear that night. Be aware that other children may sneak candy to school the following week and attempt to share it. Remind your food-allergic child not to accept candy from anyone but you.

From Kids With Food Allergies eNewsletter

Allergy-free candy for Halloween

Saw some more ideas for safe halloween candy on Cool Mom Picks:

I love the Natural Candy Store for their commitment to helping moms like me who have kids with a food allergy or other food sensitivity.
I especially love how easy they make it to search for treats by particular allergen. Their big Natural Candy Mix is free of all eight major food allergens, is gluten-free and has some of great all-natural treats like gummy bears, lollipops and chewing gum.

Yummy Earth's all-organic lollipops have become so popular, I can find them in my local supermarket any time of the year now. If you aren't so lucky, no worries: Kate's Caring Gifts has them in big 60-pop bags, at a great price.

Rylie turns 6

Rylie turned 6 last week! We had a fun family party and I made cupcakes from recipes in Cybele Pascal's Allergen-Free Bakers Handbook. I made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing, and carrot ginger cupcakes with orange 'buttercream' icing. Both recipes were wheat free, dairy free, soy free, nut free and egg free. Rylie is not allergic to wheat or eggs, but Rowan is - so I always make safe treats that Rowan can have too. The chocolate cupcakes were ok (Rylie and Rowan loved them) and the carrot ginger cupcakes were freakin' delicious! You would never have guessed that they were missing wheat and eggs. The carrot ginger recipe was a little more

Rylie's cupcake tree

complicated - additional steps like shredding carrots, and zesting fresh ginger
and orange rind. But it was worth the effort!

A few nights earlier, on her 'real' birthday,
I made her a safe chocolate cake using Cherrybrook Kitchen cake mix. Having safe cake mix on hand made it really easy to whip something up for our weeknight celebration with just the four of us.

Looking for new allergy-free recipes? There's an app for that.

If you have an iPad or iPhone, and a kid with multiple food allergies, you need to get Cook It Allergy Free. I downloaded this app to my iPhone a few months ago, but didn't have the time to really check it out. I finally took a closer look and realized how great it really is! There are 200+ recipes and with a simple tap, trade out your allergen(s) in any of the recipes with safe substitutions. Then save your customized recipes to your category-organized Recipe Box

As Featured in the App Store's "What's Hot" Section in May:
This is the essential tool for anyone dealing with food allergies. If you are allergic to Gluten, Dairy, Eggs, or Nuts, you no longer have to search for a recipe that does not contain your allergens. Cook It Allergy Free will take any of these great gluten free recipes and make them safe for you.

Only $4.99 and totally worth it. I love baking safe treats for my girls and can't wait to try some of these recipes.