Happy 2014 friends!

Happy New Year!! I can't believe it is 2014 already--time flies these days.

Before I move on to the actual post here, I want to tell you that I am praying that we all have a reaction free 2014 and make great strides in finding a cure for food allergies!!

I didn't plan on writing about the treat that I made on NYE basically because it was just a smorgasbord of our favorite treats that I simply tossed together in a fancy cup. Nothing fancy. Nothing from scratch. Just a toss of our favorites.

But she loved it. Seriously loved it and wanted me to share it on here.

So my friends here ya go :)

What you need:
Oreos
Vanilla yogurt
Cut up strawberries
Enjoy Life granola
(We used chocolate, see pic below)

Yup. That is it. Hannah says you need a fancy cup as well because that makes it taste better.

Then you layer it. We started with Oreos, yogurt, strawberries, then granola.

It was a hit :)

Don't forget the fancy dish!! :)





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Play dates and pretzels

I knew the time would come eventually. I admit that I hoped that if I didn't think about it, maybe it wouldn't happen anytime soon.

Hannah was invited to her little friends house for a play date. Of course, she has been to other homes but I have always been there. This was her first time to go by herself.

Thankfully I am friends with this mom(we will call her Abby for her privacy) and I know that she is familiar with food allergies/ epi pens as she is a teacher.

Still I was nervous. Ok not quite true...I was an anxious mess. My head was filled with "what if" scenarios.

We packed a safe snacks and I reminded her of our food allergy rules. The rules boil down to if you didn't bring it from home, don't eat it. Even if you have had it before. Even if you are certain it is safe. Don't eat it. End of story. Just don't.

I was so fixated on that, I nearly forgot to do the last minute review of manners. I knew Abby would not give food, because we already discussed it and felt us bringing snack was best option. Still I was nervous.

We got there and the girls ran upstairs with their American girl dolls.

Abby and I chatted for awhile. Then we sat and chatted a bit more. We had a great time and good laughs but I digress.

I decided to go ahead and leave so that Hannah could gain some confidence in play date scenarios on her own. I trust Abby so that made it a bit easier.

After the play date, I asked Hannah how snack time went. She looked at me surprised and said "don't you know that we were having so much fun that we didn't want to stop for a snack? Fun with friends is much more fun than food anyways"

Out of the mouth of babes

Will I be nervous next time? Probably so. Will I review our food allergy rules? Of course.

But hopefully next time will be a bit easier (for me) and she will gain confidence on how to manage situations with every play date.



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New and Improved Chewy Bars!!

Awhile ago we were went sent
the new and improved chewy bars from Enjoy Life to try out and give our honest opinion on.

Quick disclaimer, I was not paid to blog this and I gave our (my peanut allergic daughter and I) honest thoughts :)





I know Hannah was a bit excited and a bit nervous about trying them out. She has never been a fan of the chewy bars, she simply doesn't like the texture. It isn't just Enjoy Life chewy bars textures either...it is basically ANY food with similar texture.

She laid out all the boxes and decided which ones she would try and which ones she would let me try. Lol.


In fact the only one that she didn't try was the SunButter. Which wasn't a surprise to me as she doesn't like anything even resembling peanut butter.

She tried the other 3 though, and so did I. We did notice a big improvement on the texture from the last ones that we tried. They were softer (less "grainy"?) and had better flavor.

Neither one of us still was a fan of the Carmel apple or the mixed berry. HOWEVER we both really found one that we both loved--which was totally due to the improved recipe!

We are totally excited to add another Enjoy Life food to our list of favorites. My personal favorite was the Sunbutter. The taste and texture is perfect now. They are the perfect size to toss in my purse or in the glovebox in the car!

Hannah's favorite is the Cocoa Loco. She eats them at home, she also packs them in her book bag for a safe snack.




Thank you Enjoy Life for improving your product--we recommend them to our friends with food allergies AND our friends without them!!!

FABlogCon--woot :)

Guess who is going to the FAblogCon? This girl :)

Seriously, I can't tell you how excited I am to be going to the first annual Food Allergy bloggers Conference in Las Vegas! I am SO excited to meet so many amazing food allergy bloggers and personalities that I have come to know via twitter and other social media.

When I started on twitter in 2009, I wasn't looking for an online food allergy family. Over time though, I forged friendships with many food allergy parents who were going thru the same things I was in this "whole new world" of food allergy. Now I can't imagine not having these wonderful friends to talk to when I need an ear, or advice when it comes to food allergy. It was always a pipe dream to meet them in real life and now I get to meet them!

This wonderful opportunity is November 2-4 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada. A huge thank you goes to Jenny Sprague putting this all together. To get more details on the conference, who is speaking, and how to register please go to their website

Food Allergy Blog Conference

I recently reviewed the list of speakers and am totally thrilled at all the wonderful segments that are already scheduled!

There are two tracks to the conference, blogging and advocacy/disease management. No worries about choosing a track, you can attend ANY topic that interests you! Personally, I have already picked which ones that I would like to attend but it was hard to choose!

I am totally looking forward to FABlogCon in November and I hope to meet all of you there!

Oh, and you don't need to be a blogger to attend! This conference is open to anyone who is interested :-)

Please look into this, I promise you that you will NOT regret the experience!

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On-the-Go treat win for Enjoy Life!

Recently I was sent some samples of Enjoy Life's new product, Decadence Bars, to try out and review.

Hannah was super excited for them to get to our house, she would check the porch for deliveries every day :)




The decadence bars are soft baked and perfect for an on-the-go food allergy safe snack. They (like all enjoy life products) are free of the top 8 allergens and made in a dedicated facility so there is NO chance of cross contamination. That is a very important detail to our family as
Hannah has had anaphylaxis to cross contamination before in the past.



They come in 4 terrific flavored! Cinnamon Bun, S'mores, Chocolate Sunbutter, and Cherry Cobbler. Of course, we had to try out ALL flavors immediately after opening the package :)

they are smartly wrapped in individual cute on-the-go single servings which makes it the perfect treat to toss in a bookbag or purse.

They are sweet and chewy with just the right amount of icing drizzle on the top. Perfect for when you have a sweet tooth attack.







Personally I think it's another win for Enjoy Life.

We like them here at our house--S'mores is Hannah's favorite already :)


I can't wait to find out what is going to be next for Enjoy Life...we are hoping for ice cream or frozen treats here at our house :)

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Let us eat cake--hopefully?!

Hey friends--

I am sitting here waiting and hoping. I wanted to make a cake for Hannah's baptism tomorrow. Then I ran into a problem, I couldn't find my trusty tried-and-true favorite cake recipe.

After a full search I ended up searching for one online that sounded comparable. I made it up and switched out all-purpose flour to cake flour like I have always done.

Then I ran into possible problem number #2. The cake batter. It looked thinner than I have ever had in the past. This concerns me. Obviously I can't just run out and buy a cake if this doesn't turn out good.

So here I am waiting. Very impatiently I may add. Hoping and praying that this turns out decent.

I really don't want to make another cake tonight if it doesn't.....and I promised my sweet girl a special cake for her baptism day!




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Ugh ice cream! What?!?

This evening Hannah told me that their class will be taking a walking field trip to the police station and getting ice cream at the local ice cream shop afterwards. That's what she heard at school anyways.

Then she became very upset. Anxious and crying that she wouldn't be safe there.

I am at a loss. I wasn't even told of this stop for ice cream. In fact, I am pretty darn certain that an ice cream shop is pretty dangerous for a someone with a life threatening peanut allergy. It's a very high level of possible (likely) cross contamination

I am not sure what to do. I sent an email to the teacher asking if in fact this was happening. I am praying that its not.

I hate seeing her scared. It's such a fine line between being very cautious and being anxious when it comes to food allergies.

I am praying that her teacher is able to get her email this weekend, AND I am praying that Hannah misunderstood something and they aren't stopping there.

I hate food allergies!!!!!!!




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