Skip to main content

Lick the Bowl


Life is good when you can lick the bowl
This picture was taken three years ago around the time Ari, my son,was diagnosed with food allergies to eggs, nuts and yes...citrus.  Though he has thankfully outgrown citrus (because it's the biggest pain to deal with) we still deal with egg and nuts.  I am calling this blog, Lick the Bowl, because licking the bowl is a rite of passage for most of us.  We usually have fond childhood memories of licking the bowl, eventhough we knew the risks of raw eggs and did it anyway. For the most part, I don't remember anyone getting salmonella poisoning, but then again, I don't remember food allergies either.

 
Over the years, the whole licking the bowl thing has become tabu and fearful and that's just sad. I mean what's the point of baking a cake or cookies and then not even enjoy the goopy batters of your labor.  If Ari  could eat the bowl, he would.  He basically sticks his whole head in the bowl and laps it up like a golden retriever!


It's a simple pleasure of life, because nothing tastes better than vanilla batter or chocolate chip cookie dough.  But even more importantly in the food allergy world...it means that you can be like everyone else. You can have your eggless, nutless cake and eat it too, and in some respects, it probably tastes better.


At the end of the day, licking the bowl is about appreciating the things we sometimes take for granted. And while small insignificant things may not mean that much to you, it can mean the world to others...like being able to lick the bowl.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

This Ain't No Cake of Affliction

As promised here is the first of some of my most treasured allergy free recipes for Passover.  I hope you enjoy them and use them as part of your tradition for a happy and safe holiday. Chocolate Cake (adapted from Nava Atlas’s Chocolate Cake recipe) This cake is so good, it’s a shame I only make it on Passover. It’s very fudgy and rich, and trust me you can’t eat too much of it at once and yet, the whole thing disappears in minutes. Try it for yourself. It’s super easy and it's egg, nut, dairy and can be made gluten free with gluten free cake meal. This picture is two cakes stacked with raspberry jam in the middle and a ganache topping-it makes a great birthday cake if your birthday lands on Passover. Ingredients-for one cake 5/8 cup cake meal (1/2 cup + 1/8) ¼ cup+ 1 ½ tbsp. Potato starch 3 TBSP cocoa powder 1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. baking powder (you can use the Kosher for Passover one) ½ tsp. salt ¼ cup oil 1 TBSP apple cider vinegar 1 tsp. v

Cookies for Breakfast-(Gluten,egg,dairy and nut free)

As allergy moms, we have to learn how to re-feed our families from scratch.  Ten years ago, this was not a simple task as we did not have the explosive array of allergy free items we have today.  However, just because we have more extensive choices, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s healthy.  In fact, I have noticed that the preponderance of allergy items is snack food, cake mixes, cookies, etc… Moreover, I found it curious that many food allergy parents such as myself, were actually gaining weight, probably because we were always baking for our kiddos so they wouldn’t feel left out at school, family events, birthday parties and playdates.  While I felt good about being able to provide these tasty alternatives, my fitness and nutrition goals were less than stellar and in need of an overhaul. As a trainer and nutrition consultant with a lot of experience in limited diets, I am constantly trying to create healthy alternatives that won’t break the caloric bank, provide nutrition, and

Thanksgiving Recipe-"Cheesecake Cuties"

Thanksgiving is typically the portal to guilty holiday overeating, resulting in New Year's resolutions which are routinely broken by January 15th. Sound familiar? It's a vicious cycle. Moreover, for those of us with food allergies, these types of holidays are landmines. We are constantly surrounded by string beans almondine, pecan pie, walnut brownies, stuffing with egg, and the list goes on.  As a writer about nutrition, a recently appointed trainer at ThePerfectWorkout , and a mom with children suffering from multiple food allergies, I am trying to balance holiday consumption and safety-not always an easy thing to juggle especially when it comes to dessert. This Thanksgiving, try this recipe for "Cheesecake Cuties." They are nut, dairy, egg and gluten free. They are petite,creamy and incredibly easy to make. They won't break your calorie bank (unless you eat all 24) they are safe for those allergy challenged, and they really taste great. There is no reason