New Allergy-Friendly Foods for Kids!

Cherrybrook Kitchen has just made my life so much easier. This summer, they will be coming out with a new line of GF, DF and egg-free mini cookies and ready-to-spread frostings - just like good ol' Duncan Hines, but better for you. :)

You can't imagine how excited I am about these new products! Now that Mia is in school twice a week, there are birthday parties and celebrations almost every month. Which means, I have to run out to Whole Foods or Trader Joe's, buy a box of allergy-friendly cake mix ($4-5) and a box of frosting ($6) and whip up a treat that my daughter can enjoy while all of her other friends are eating cupcakes made by a local grocery store (loaded with who knows what in them!) that probably cost $1.99 for a dozen. Grrr.

The biggest challenge with these cake mixes and frostings is I have to substitute a ton of stuff in them so they are "okay" for Mia to eat. I can't just dump the cake mix in a bowl, add the liquid ingredients and then bake it for 12-15 minutes. I have to substitute coconut oil (which looks like Crisco, so I have to melt it before I add it) for vegetable oil, rice milk for regular/soy milk, and if the recipe on the box calls for an egg or two I have to mix up some Ener-G Egg Replacer. Same deal with the frosting. All this for one, perfect, tasty cupcake for her to take to school or a birthday party so she won't feel excluded. Don't get me wrong. I am happy to do it for her and I don't ever want my daughter to feel left out, but it is a lot of work and I'd rather be in bed at 11:00 p.m. at night than playing around with egg substitute in my kitchen to get the batter to just right to make one little cupcake. Now you know why I dread going to birthday parties! Well, for that reason and because Mia is at the age where she is starting to realize she can't eat what everyone else is eating and it makes her very sad. Literally. Try explaining to a 2 1/2 year old why she can't have what all her little friends are having. It's not fun.

So, "thank you" Cherrybrook Kitchen. You've made this Mommy so very happy!

For those parents with kids who have food allergies, check out this awesome newsletter I subscribe to by Kids With Food Allergies. They always have helpful information, recipes, or ideas in their newsletters. Besides the Cherrybrook Kitchen products, they just posted a list of other allergy-friendly foods that are currently available or are about to come out soon. :)