Enjoy Life Snack Bars

When I bought these snack bars, I was hoping they would be something like a nutri-grain bar. No such luck. They have the potential, there just wasn't much fruit in them which I thought was strange since they are called Very Berry.

http://www.enjoylifefoods.com/our_foods/snack_bars/very_berry.html

They also have the Sorghum flour, but I don't think it's quite as noticeable as in the cookies. Also again disappointed with the small number actually inside the box.

Household rating:
Very Berry: 5/10

Enjoy Life Cookes

Sounds good doesn't it? After having Enjoy Life's chocolate chips and chocolate bars, I just had to try their cookies. First up was their Gingerbread Spice.

http://www.enjoylifefoods.com/our_foods/cookies/gingerbread_spice.html

For the first time ever, I had to throw out cookies. I just couldn't stand these. I even tried their recommended warming them up in the microwave suggestions. It didn't make any difference. Enjoy Life is known for everything they make being allergen free. This is fantastic, but when you don't have to worry about gluten, you would like to have regular flour in your cookies rather than the sorghum flour used in their cookies. I didn't like the texture of this flour and I didn't like the way my stomach felt afterwards. Maybe the sorghum flour takes a little getting used to. I was also disappointed that there we so few cookies in such a large box.

Next up was their Double Chocolate Brownies.

http://www.enjoylifefoods.com/our_foods/cookies/double_chocolate_brownie.html

They aren't bad, but I think I would rather try to come up with a chocolate cookie recipe myself (again the flour was an issue, but I was able to eat more of these cookies than the gingerbread ones).

I still have a box of the Snickerdoodle ones is the pantry. I just haven't wanted to try them yet.

Household ratings:
Gingerbread Spice: 1/10
Double Chocolate Brownie: 5/10

Chocolate Bars!!!

And no I'm not kidding! Enjoy life came out with a line of chocolate bars so I just had to try them. They come in 3 flavors - Crispy Rice, Dark Chocolate, and Rice Milk.

http://www.enjoylifefoods.com/our_foods/chocolate_bars.html

I tried the Crispy Rice first, and it was by far my favorite. I was hoping it would be like a Crunch bar, but there wasn't much rice in it (to my disappointment). I wasn't crazy on the dark chocolate one, but to be fair, I'm not a fan of dark chocolate anyway. If you like dark chocolate, than you will probably like this one best. The rice milk one was ok, it just tastes like melted chocolate chips. I really think it could use something else in it (like lost of puffed rice)! The dark chocolate and rice milk ones I couldn't eat the whole bar at once (even though they are less than 2 oz). I don't know if it was because it had been so long since I had had chocolate or if it was just too rich (not usually something that bothers me).

Household ratings:

Crispy Rice: 8/10 (would have gotten a 10 if it had more rice in it)

Dark Chocolate: 5/10

Rice Milk: 6/10

Rice Puffs

Emily's stomach is really bothered by oats. When it was time to give her finger foods, we weren't sure what to give her. We first tried Rice Krispies (because we already had them in the house). She really liked them, but they got soggy very fast, so we were hoping to find something a little bigger for her. That's where we came across the Rice Puffs by Nature's Path.

http://www.naturespath.com/products/cold_cereals/puffed_cereals/rice_puffs

Their one ingredient is Organic Brown Rice and their size is perfect for mastering that pincer grasp. They get a little soggy (as everything does when a baby is eating it), but they hold up quite nicely.

Emily rating: 10/10
Household rating: 10/10

Amazon Frosted Flakes

Since I enjoyed the Gorilla Munch cereal so much, I thought I would see if there were any other brands that I could have and came across Amazon Frosted Flakes.

http://www.naturespath.com/products/cold_cereals/flaked_cereals/amazon_frosted_flakes

Another great find! I love them! These are also corn based, but the taste is really great!

Household rating: 10/10

No-Buttercream Here Frosting

Here's a frosting recipe I changed to make it milk and soy free.

1 cup spectrum shortening
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioner's sugar
4 tbsp rice milk

In a large bowl, cream together the shortening and vanilla. Add sugar gradually, one cup at a time, while beating on medium speed. Add milk and continue beating on medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep covered with a damp cloth until ready to use. You can refrigerate any unused frosting for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container.

Makes about 3 cups.

Wacky Cake

This is an awesome chocolate cake recipe that I randomly found in a cook book (Company's Coming - Cakes). I made it, and when my husband took a bite, he got all excited saying that this was a cake his mother made for them when they were kids. He requests it now on a regular basis. I also made cupcakes with this recipe for a baby shower a little while back that was a big hit.

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup canola oil
2 tsp vinegar
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Measure dry ingredients into mixing bowl and stir. Make a well in the center. Add remaining ingredients into well and mix until smooth. Pour into greased* 9x13 pan and bake for 35-40 minutes (or 30 cupcakes for 30 minutes)

*be careful greasing pans, most cooking sprays contain soy so I use one of the spray cans that you add your own oil to and pump.

I either sprinkle confectioner's sugar on top or use the No-Buttercream Here Frosting recipe also posted on this blog.

Egg, Milk & Soy Free Pancakes

Here's the updated version of my previously posted pancake recipe. I've made these twice now (and will probably do so again tomorrow) as they are a big hit with my husband and daughter!

2 cups flour
6 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp unsweetened apple sauce
2 cups rice milk or water
1 tbsp canola oil
1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients together and drop by 1/4 cupful on a hot griddle. Makes 12-16 pancakes. I usually cut this recipe in half for my husband and I and it makes 8 pancakes.

Update

Sorry I haven't updated the blog lately. We've had quite a few sleepless nights the last few weeks but I think we're getting back on track. On the 18th, we went to see Dr. Stephen Hardy, a pediatric gastroenterologist. He feels that because Emily broke out into hives while having formula, that she has a milk and soy allergy and not just an intolerance, no matter what the allergy test say. He feels they are too unreliable in the first year. He also agreed with me on the possible meat and egg issue, but again is worried they are allergies so he was kind enough to get us scheduled with a pediatric allergist who we will see next month and then with a nutritionist to make sure Emily and I are eating well. In the meantime, Emily and I are eating milk, soy, egg, and meat free. I'll repost some of the previous recipes that I have so that they are updated without eggs.

Also, we went to see our normal pediatrician yesterday as Emily was still having issues with laying down flat. I could rock her to sleep up on my shoulders but the minute I tried to lay her down, she would arch her back and scream (sometimes while still sleeping). Since we got the food thing straighten out (for now anyway), we figured something else was wrong. They think it's acid reflux so they prescribed some medication, and what do you know, after the first dose, she had a wonderful night!

Healthy Times Baby Food

I was recently looking for a teething biscuit that was milk and soy free and came across the line of Healthy Times Baby Food.

http://www.healthytimes.com/hthome.htm

They offer products that are wheat, milk, and soy free. I found the Vanilla Arrowroot Cookies and thought they would be good to try (they are not wheat free, but they offer a Maple Flavored Arrowroot Cookie that is). When I first handed it to Emily, she thought it was a toy. I put it up to her lips and she licked it. She immediately had a big smile on her face and couldn't get enough of it. She was able to suck on it for quite some time before she was able to break it up into pieces she could chew. It was a wonderful treat and fun to watch her explore a new kind of food.

I only found a few of their products at our local Whole Foods Market, but they are available to purchase from their website and Amazon.com has listings for their items with a "coming soon" disclaimer.

Emily rating: 10/10
Mommy rating: 9/10 (I had to try one too of course!)

Earth's Best

Earth's Best Rice Cereal was the only rice cereal we could find at any of our local stores that doesn't contain soy. It's available in all our local grocery stores - Shaw's, Stop 'n Shop, Whole Foods, and Sudbury Farms, as well as Target. You can also buy their products online:

http://www.earthsbest.com/products/product/291.php

They have a whole line of products that we have used, however, with Emily now having issues with protein, we're sticking with the fruits and vegetables as well as the rice cereal only.

Emily wasn't a fan of rice cereal at the beginning. We took the suggestion from our pediatrician to add in a little veg or fruit to give it some flavor and she's been eating it ever since. We tried the other cereals, but they bothered her stomach so it was suggested we stick to rice only as that doesn't seem to bother her.

Emily rating: 8/10 (only because she doesn't like it without something mixed in)

Vanilla Frozen Rice Dream Dessert

Vanilla was the only flavor of Frozen Rice Dream that our local Whole Foods stocked. There are only a few (3 I think) of the frozen desserts that don't contain either milk or soy. I wasn't a fan of this one. I could get used to the texture (more like Italian ice than ice cream), but it has a really strong rice flavor. I had to doctor it up with some homemade chocolate syrup (I made with cocoa, confectioners sugar and rice milk) in order to eat it. I'm not giving up though - I'm still looking around for other flavors to see if they are better.

http://www.tastethedream.com/products/product/1483/204.php

Household rating: 6/10

Chocolate Rice Dream

I made the mistake of trying the Chocolate Rice Dream drink after trying the Rice Dream Supreme ones. It's good, it just doesn't compare to the taste of the Supreme drinks.

http://www.tastethedream.com/products/product/1471/202.php

Household rating: 7/10

Vanilla Hazelnut Rice Dream Supreme

Next I tried the Vanilla Hazelnut from the Rice Dream Supreme line.

http://www.tastethedream.com/products/product/1833/202.php

This was also great - as I drank a glass, all I could think of was how great it would taste in rice pudding (only I drank too much so I didn't have enough to make it with what I had left). I can't wait to buy these again!

Household rating: 10/10

Chocolate Chai Rice Dream Supreme

During the same trip to Whole Foods where we found Gorilla Munch, I checked out their stock of Rice Dream products. I picked up quite a few that I have been testing this week.

The first product I tried was from the new line of Rice Dream Supreme drinks - Chocolate Chai.

http://www.tastethedream.com/products/product/1832/202.php

I've always been a fan of Chai tea, so this sounded like an interesting combination. It was quite a treat! The chocolate and Chai flavors worked well together but the Chai flavor may not be for everyone.

Household rating: 8/10

Gorilla Munch

So I went to our local Whole Foods in Wayland, MA a few days ago looking for Enjoy Life's bagels thinking they'd be a great breakfast idea. No such luck - I'll have to order them online to try them. Having breakfast on my mind, I headed to look at toaster pastries while my loving hubby found this great cereal - Gorilla Munch. It reminds me of Cap'n Crunch cereal I loved growing up. It awesome with Rice Dream - makes me forget for a few minutes that it's all milk and soy free.

If you can't find it in your local grocer, it is also available to purchase online:

http://www.naturespath.com/products/cold_cereals/shaped_cereals/gorilla_munch

Household rating: 10/10

Banana Bread

This is my mom's recipe that I've tweaked.

1 3/4 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup canola oil
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2-3 mashed overripe bananas

Bake at 350 degrees. Makes either 2 medium loafs (50 minutes) or 1 large loaf (1 hour) and 1 small loaf (take out after 40 minutes).

Baked Rice Pudding

I got this recipe from my great Aunt Lou and tweaked it a tiny bit.

1/2 cup raw rice
3 cups Rice Dream rice drink
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup sugar
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/3 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup raisins (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a covered dish and place in a cold oven. Heat oven to 300 degrees. Bake 1 and 1/2 hours (stirring after 45 minutes). Sprinkle with cinnamon and serve.

Bonnie's Cookies

When I found out I was going to have to go on a milk and soy free diet, I wasn't sure what I was going to do about sweets (as I have a very sweet tooth). I searched through my collection of recipes and found this recipe for cookies I loved growing up. They called for oil instead of butter or margarine and that was when it dawned on me that I could probably modify other recipes to use canola oil as well. We called them Bonnie's cookies because my Aunt Elane always made them for my cousin Bonnie and mailed them to her for her birthday and Christmas every year (and I believe she still does). They are a sugar cookie, but in our family, they will always be referred to as Bonnie's cookies.

2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Combine sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients. Shape into 1/2 inch balls. Dip in sugar and flatten lightly with fork. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes (Do not brown). Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Not-So Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies

In honor of my loving husband, I am baking his favorite cookies (Nestle Toll House of course). I'm also making a batch of my Not-So Toll House modified version of this recipe so that I can have a treat too! Here's the recipe for you to enjoy!

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
1 (10oz) pkg Enjoy Life semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Sift four, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Beat canola oil, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla in large mixer bowl until well mixed (will look like a wet crumbly mixture). Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tbsp (I use large cookie scoop) onto ungreased baking sheets.

*the consistency of the dough will seem more sticky than regular cookie dough, but once cooked, they will be fine.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Makes about 3 /12 dozen cookies.

* I have friends who use spectrum shortening instead of butter or margarine in recipes at a 1:1 ratio, so if you prefer, you can use 1 cup spectrum shortening (original recipe calls for 1 cup butter) instead of the 3/4 cup canola oil. I modified this recipe before learning about spectrum shortening, so I continue to make it with canola oil.

Rice Dream

Rice Dream rice drink is a wonderful alternative to milk. It's great in baking and cooking. It's also good alone as a drink. I was a BIG milk drinker before we found out Emily was intolerant so this was the hardest change for me. The first time I had a glass I was so thrilled to find something that was similar to milk, but there is a bit of an aftertaste that reminds you it isn't the real thing. I've talked to another mother who is on a milk free diet for the same reason and she loves Rice Dream, however, she wasn't as big of a milk drinker before, which I think is what makes the difference. They have many flavors if you are looking for something to drink, I just need to get around to trying all of them. They also have frozen products (alternative to ice cream) that I'll be trying next. There are only a couple of their frozen products that don't contain soy, but there are options :)

http://www.tastethedream.com/products/product/1467/202.php

Remember to really watch labels closely as there are many other brands of rice milk but many of them contain soy. Rice Dream and Trader Joe's brand are the two that I have found without some form of soy.


Household rating: 8/10

Mayonnaise

Cains All Natural Mayonnaise Rich in Omega-3 is a canola oil based mayonnaise that is great on sandwiches as well in cooking and baking. There are other canola oil based mayonnaises out there - but please be careful and read the labels carefully - as many of them contain soybean oil as well. The taste is really good - my husband really likes it and I used it in sandwiches for a baby shower last weekend (chicken salad and a turkey mango wrap) and got many compliments so I don't think anyone knew the difference. My only complaint is that I tried to use it in crab cakes and they fell apart in the pan. I used the same amount of mayo as I would normally use, but I think I need to tweak that recipe a little more. The crab cakes still tasted awesome, they just didn't hold together very well. I was also using panko crumbs instead of bread crumbs in the recipe, so I don't want to blame it on the mayo alone.

http://www.cainsfoods.com/News_April2007.html

According to their website, they have come out with a line of natural salad dressings as well. They don't have the ingredients on their website and I haven't seen them in the stores yet, but I'm hoping a couple of them are milk and soy free. Cains products are sold in New England and Upstate New York, but they do sell to other parts of the country by calling their 800 number (according to the FAQs page of their website).

Household rating: 7/10

Pancakes

In honor of the weekend (and the fact that I made these for the family this morning), here is my modified recipe for pancakes. I believe the original recipe is from my grandmother, but I've tweaked it a bit so that it is milk and soy free.

2 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs (I'm sure egg substitute would work as well, but I've never tried it)
2 cups rice milk or water
1 tbsp canola oil
1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients together and drop by 1/4 cupful on a hot griddle. Makes 12-16 pancakes.

I usually cut this recipe in half for my husband and I and it makes 8 pancakes. Emily tried a little of mine this morning (without maple syrup of course) and loved them. I can't wait to make them for her again! Enjoy!

Crackers!

I can't believe that with all the labels I've read in the crackers and cookies section of the grocery store, that I somehow missed these I don't know how many times! I was at our local Sudbury Farms grocery store shopping for a friend's baby shower and just happened to stumble upon Late July Organic Classic Saltine crackers.

http://www.latejulysnacks.com/pdf/panels/ClassicSaltine12-61.pdf

They're fantastic! They look just like a Ritz cracker but tastes something between a Ritz and a Saltine cracker. They are so good I had to triple check the ingredients as I couldn't believe there was no butter in them! I couldn't help myself - I ate the whole box (including some with Skippy's Natural PB of course).

Household rating: 10/10

Could it be Complete Protein Intolerance?

A couple of weeks ago, Emily had her 9 month appointment where we got the ok to introduce meat into her diet. We started out with turkey - giving her Earth's Best Organic Turkey Dinner (it also contains barley, apples, and carrots). The second night she woke up screaming through the night (very unusual for her) and nothing we did would calm her down. For 2 hours my husband and I tried everything we could think of to ease her stomach pains until finally she had a bowel movement that calmed her right down. We decided to stop giving her the turkey dinner as we weren't sure if it was the turkey or the barley causing the problem. The following week, I was busy preparing for a friend's baby shower. I tried different recipes during the week including one for Potato and Bacon Fritattas. I am not normally a fan of eggs, but these were very tasty, so I ate a few of the testers and the following day Emily had horrible gas. On Monday of this week, we decided to try her with chicken giving her Earth's Best Organic Sweet Potatoes and Chicken (knowing that she had had all of the other ingredients this time). I also tried not giving her much each day to slowly introduce it to her. By the 3rd day, she was up almost every hour with gas or hunger pains. Again, we stopped giving her the meat, and we had our happy baby back. I started doing a little research online as I thought I was going crazy - she can't be intolerant to everything! I found an article that sounds exactly what she is experiencing - an intolerance to complete proteins (meaning anything from animals as well as soy). I hope it isn't true, but it's the only explanation we can think of right now. We have an appointment scheduled with a pediatric gastroenterology on September 18th to be sure. Maybe we are over reacting, but I have a beef intolerance and my sister has a milk protein intolerance, so I can't help but think this is something I passed onto her. I also know the pain that it causes and I can't imagine my poor baby going through that.

Orgran Outback Animals

Having a sweet tooth, I'm always looking for sugary to snack on. Organ Outback Animals are a pretty good choice. They're a chocolate animal cracker (more like a cookie than an animal cracker to me), nothing more, but a whole lot less! The Organ brand is primarily gluten free, but many of their products are also dairy and soy free. In fact, these cookies are gluten, wheat, dairy, egg, yeast, GMO, soy, and nut free! I found them in the health food section of our local Sudbury Farms (Roche Brothers) but I'm sure they can be found in other grocery stores as well. According to their website, they are also available in vanilla (our store only carries the chocolate). They have many other products, I just haven't gotten around to trying them yet. Will let you know when I do. I just happen to pick these up whenever I'm at the grocery store (my husband usually does the shopping so these are my special treat when I go).

http://www.orgran.com/product-information/biscotti-cookies.html

Household rating: 8/10 (they're good, they just don't compare to a real animal cracker)

Enjoy Life Brand

I've recently discovered the Enjoy Life Brand of foods. They make all their products allergy-friendly and gluten free. I've only tried the chocolate chips so far - they're great! I made chocolate chip cookies that were very well received. We happened to have company the first time I made them including two kids without allergies - ages 2 1/2 and 5, and they couldn't tell the difference and loved them! I took the traditional Toll House cookie recipe and tweaked it (I will post it soon). I'm looking forward to trying their bagels next! I will post a review once I have. Not all stores carry their brand, but their website allows you to find stores in your area that carry them or you can shop directly from their website:

http://www.enjoylifefoods.com/index.php

Our household rating: 10/10

Peanut Butter

Let's face it, there's lots of natural peanut butter's out there, but before Emily, we were a Skippy household. My husband and I are both big fans of PB sandwiches (although he prefers PB&J), and our favorite is now Skippy's Natural Peanut Butter which is soy free.

http://www.peanutbutter.com/natural.asp

It's got the same great Skippy taste (it's even won a tasting award), but it does get a little bit oily (much less than I would have expected). Of course this isn't recommended for infants, but I highly recommend it to older kids and adults who are allergic to soy.

Our household rating: 9/10 (only because of the oil)

A little history...

On November 16th, 2007, I gave birth to our beautiful daughter Emily. My husband and I decided that it would be best if I breastfed, at least for the first month or so. Once I was back to work we would play it by ear as my job usually involved a fair amount of travel. Emily was supplemented through the night with 10cc's of formula twice - once each night that I was in the hospital. We never thought anything of it until much later.

Emily is our first child, so we had a lot to learn. She was an incredibly happy baby, right from the start. She slept well, ate well, but got really fussy in the evenings. The fussiness got more frequent and involved a lot of gas, but we still didn't think much of it. We talked about it with our pediatrician, but Emily was gaining weight, so they didn't think there was anything to worry about. The only thing we could think of was for me to start a food diary.

On January 23rd, 2008 (yes, I remember the day clearly), we decided to try supplementing Emily with a bit of formula. She had been taking pumped breast milk from a bottle for a couple of weeks, but we wanted to try to mix in some formula to give my aching breasts a bit of a break. Within minutes of giving her about 2 oz, she broke out in hives from head to toe, was red as a lobster and her ears started to swell. I have an allergy to an antibiotic where I get the same reaction, followed by my throat starting to close. I started to freak out and told my husband that we had to get her to the hospital fast. The hospital was only 10 minutes away and they took us in pretty quickly. Emily was a trooper through the ordeal. She just sat on my lap and sucked her thumb while they have her some benadryl and kept an eye on her for a few hours. The benadryl worked, her swelling and redness went down and the hives slowly started to fade.

The next day we had a follow-up appointment with our pediatrician. She thought Emily might be allergic to one of the ingredients of the formula (probably milk or soy), so she sent us for some blood work. To make a long story short (and so I don't have to relive the pain she went through), it took 2 blood test and over 5 weeks to find out that everything came back normal. In the meantime, I decided to take diary and soy out of my diet to see if it helped. The difference was incredible! Don't get me wrong, Emily still gets gas - she's just not clenched up in pain and crying for hours in the evenings anymore! Now the hard part was for me - how was someone who LOVES dairy going to cut it out of her life completely? Soy, I doubt that'll be a problem. Boy was I wrong! The dairy was quite easy to remove - soy on the other hand, who knew it was in EVERYTHING???

So, it's been over 7 months. We've become experts at reading labels, tried lots of products, and lots of recipes. I'm hoping to share as many as I can remember with you starting with some of our favorites.

Welcome!

I've been asked to record my findings, write a recipe book, go into business, you name it, so I thought I would start small with this blog, and if it is helpful (and the demand is there), then see where it goes.

I have a 9 month old who has "issues" with milk and soy. I say "issues", because she passed an allergy test yet has horrible stomach cramps along with mucussy (I know it's not a word but I don't know how else to describe it) bowl movements if I eat anything with milk or soy in it. I am still breastfeeding and am still living on a no diary, no soy diet. I'm creating this blog to help others as there isn't a lot of information out there. I plan on sharing my findings, suggesting products I have tested, as well as recipes I have found or tweaked from my own personal collection.

I am not a doctor, nor am I pretending to be one. I just want to share my experiences (and some from my friends who have children with similar issues). Feel free to contact me if you have any other suggestions or comments.