No Peanut Allergies Allowed

Ok, seriously - what is wrong with these people?  Here is a link if you don't believe us.

Thanks to Gina at Allergy Moms for calling them out on it.

The Groupon Kidz Quorner: Your Ultimate Tree House

Hey, kids who have unlocked the awesome secret of reading! Here's your guide to building the ultimate tree house, tree fort, or awkward tree duplex you share with your former best friend who changed during summer camp. Let's get started!

• Find a tree in the backyard that can support your ambitious plans and the growth spurt your lying mother insists is coming "any day now."
• A well-armed tree fort needs plenty of ammunition. Fill your tin buckets with as many collected chestnuts, pine cones, dog bones, unseasonal snowballs, and dad tools as you can find lying around.
• A good fort layout is still available in the 1952 Dennis The Menace story arc entitled A Few Good Menace, where noted terrible boy Dennis the Menace starts a counterfeit money ring.
• Ditch that outdated "No girls allowed" sign in favor of the modern "No peanut allergies allowed."
• Why go up into a tree, when you could go down into a well and become a TV star?

Sanctuary Thinking in Progress

Happy New Year Peeps!

Hope those of you celebrating had an enjoyable holiday and enjoyed some non-dry brisket.  We are currently working on our pseudo-annual "Notes from the Sanctuary" post so please feel free to send any and all suggestions. 

In the meantime, please to enjoy the archives.

Thoughts from the Sanctuary, Part II

or the original

Confessions from the Sanctuary

Cooking on the Edge of Insanity

You might wonder why it's taken us so long in getting around to write this book review.  After all, it came out months ago.  The author, Emily Rosenbaum, first published this as an e-book (you can get it on nook or kindle e-reader), and due to its popularity has also been published in hardcover as well. 

 

So again, you ask, why so late on the review? Well, peeps, it's all well and good to read a book when it comes out, but we are of the firm belief that when it comes to a cookbook one must actually try a few recipes before you can give it a fair assessment.  If you ever saw the size of the closet kitchen we cook in, you'd understand why it took so long.

That said, the good news for you peeps is you know we're not feeding you any bullshit when we say we've actually used her recipes a lot.  You'll know we mean it when we say that mini, lover of all foods white, brown and bland, child who thinks fresh fruit is the stuff horror movies are made of, actually likes the spinach-chocolate muffins in this book.

Now we know the trend is all "hide it and they'll never know," but we went ahead and involved mini in the cooking process.  The hiding thing may be all well and good for some peeps, but mini is too smart to be outsmarted like that.  Not when it comes to food, anyway.  If she ever found a muffin tainted with a peach or an apple (the horror!) she'd stop eating muffins of any kind, altogether.  And mark our words, peeps.  She would know.  No matter how hard you tried to hide it, she would know.

But of course, if you read Emily's book and her endearing stories about trying to cook something all three of her children will eat, in the two minutes she has free between pickup and pulling out her hair, you'll know that if she can do this, you can do this.  And if her child will eat it, yours might too.

So instead of hiding things we sold mini on the idea of how fun it is that you're eating fruit, it's healthy for you, and you can't taste it at all!  This actually worked for a while, especially because it's really fun for kids to press that giant black button on the food processor and make that whizzing sound.  And once we calmed her down after the panic attack she had upon seeing the neon green substance in the food processor that is all the wet ingredients, she stopped hyperventilating long enough to realize that it all turns to brown once you mix it with chocolate.  Ahhh, chocolate.  

See? Brown.

What was next? Well we would never in our lives have considered making tortillas from scratch, but after a trip to whole foods where even the tortillas are processed on equipment that handles eggs and seeds, it was time.  So we broke out the flour, braced ourselves for the mess, and followed Emily's easy tortilla recipe.

These tasted delicious

While we were at it, we figured we might as well follow her method for cooking garlic, her spinach recipe, and her black bean recipe (forgive us, we used cans!)  Amazingly, despite smelling the cumin and curry that went into the beans and declaring them "disgusting!!!" to her mother and her friend, both mini and her friend gobbled it up.  Even with the visible chunks of onion and garlic.

So tomorrow, instead of a bland soy nut butter sandwich on whole wheat she doesn't like or eat anyway, mini will be bringing a bean burrito with homemade tortillas to school for lunch.  And a spinach muffin for her after-school snack. 

Seriously, if you have kids, and you care about what they eat, you should get this book.  The recipes are totally doable for those of us who cook in the real world, and even if you only cook once in a while, you'll be glad to have this one in your arsenal.

Proof That We Are Wise Beyond Our....Oh, Wait...

If you're wondering who this is, keep a'readin

Hello peeps.

Today we have some exciting news to share: Theresa at A Mountain Momma has featured yours truly as a guest blogger on today's Wednesday's Words of Wisdom!  Link below...

Wake me up When September Ends

We won't give away any more other than to hint that if you're a mother, particularly a working mother, we'll hope you can relate and offer some thoughts and comments of your own as we all know no mother is perfect and it's not always easy. 

Please go visit and check it out, even if it's only to satisfy your curiosity to see how a sane woman could willingly connect Poker Chick and "wisdom" in the same thought.

While you're there check out her other posts, she's quite entertaining and worth reading.  No, really, that wasn't sarcasm.  For reals.

The Princess and The Peanut

I was lucky enough to snag* an advance copy of a new book called The Princess and the Peanut, written by Sue Ganz-Schmitt. 

This is a new book that covers a sorely needed gap, food allergy education for children.  And it's not just for the children with the allergies.  In fact, after reading this, I'd say it's really best for kids who have a friend or classmate with food allergies.

See, some crazy people have the notion that if you educate kids on food allergies they'll be less likely to - you know - protest and such when they have to give up things.  Crazy, I know.  But I just happen to buy into that kind of crazy.

So I sat down with my 6-year old girl who is also allergic to sesame, eggs, tree nuts, and (wouldn't you know it) peanuts, and we both dived into our first book review together.  Truth be told we were both skeptical: she, because she feared it might be boring or scary, and I because I was terrified it'd be cheesy.

It was neither scary nor cheesy.

The Princess and the Peanut is a cute, modern take on an old classic, however in this one, a poor unsuspecting princess who doesn't even know she has food allergies is in for a surprise when the Queen runs out of peas and uses a peanut for the royal princess test instead.  After all, what could happen?  What follows is a smart, matter-of-fact and fun story showing what to do should you have or encounter anyone with an allergic reaction. 

Beyond the obvious, there was a lot to like.  Things the mini liked:

It was silly.  The book has a surprisingly humorous tone to it, which she loved.  She particularly enjoyed it when the royal princess had a skin test to various things.  While "peanuts" came out positive, we were both pleased to find out that neither "three blind mice" nor "dragons" induced a reaction.   And any book with a court jester is automatically awesome to her.

She could relate.  She saw the picture of the princess having a reaction and knew what it was.  She saw the royal epinephrine, the skin testing, the abandonment of products that may contain peanuts, and she knew exactly what that felt like.

What did I like? Well any parent knows if you find an educational book your kid likes that's reason enough to like it! But beyond that, what made me happy was that it was accurate.  My biggest fear was that it would perpetuate some kind of misinformation, like if the princess got a shot of epinephrine but then stayed home instead of calling 911.  Fortunately, our fears were put to rest as the book elegantly weaves in key topics of treatment, diagnosis, and the importance of avoiding the offending food.

Wait, there's a book that shows a princess looking like this?

I thought it was surprisingly engaging.  I particularly liked the pages of illustrations where mini had to come up with the story herself.  I like books that force my child to think.  I like that it presented information without being preachy or boring.  

Another good thing? The princess was still cool.   There was no "poor me".  No one was pitying her or looking down on her.  She was still a strong, smart, desirable princess.  However, people who loved her like the prince had to do things a little differently if they wanted to be around her.  And it was no big deal.  Which is exactly as it should be. 

My favorite part? When we put the book down and I asked my daughter if she liked it and she had a huge grin on her face as she said "I LOVED IT!"  That princess was cool, and she could relate.

Overall, I love the lesson that this teaches.  I love that it teaches kids actual facts that are medically accurate.  And while it did not end as I had hoped (we don't want to spoil it but here's a clue: they went traditional vs. modern), I let that one slide because the story was so cute overall. 

So we'll be going on Amazon and pre-ordering a copy for her classmates tomorrow, along with Ganz-Schmitt's first book, Even Superheroes Get Diabetes. 

You can do the same, or you can wait until it'll be sold in bookstores next month.  If you simply can't wait, check out the trailer, the music alone will put you in a good mood.   Meanwhile we can't wait to see what topic she tackles next.

*When we say "snag", by "snag" we mean they sent us one. Thanks peeps!