Allergy Friendly Camp coming to VA

Camp T.A.G. Coming to NoVA 2011

If you are interested in having your children attend an allergy friendly camp in VA, please consider filling out the survey at the link below. We will be getting a camp in VA - fantastic news!!! There's no mention of exactly where yet.

INTRODUCING....
CAMP T.A.G.
A Safe Place for Food-Allergic Children and Their Siblings
My name is Eleanor Garrow-Majka, President and Founder of "Camp T.A.G. - A Safe Place for Food-Allergic Children and Their Siblings!" Camp T.A.G. was named after my two children, Thomas Andrew and Anne Garrow. They share the "A" as they share their lives and this bonding experience of living with food allergies. Thomas has life-threatening food allergies, eosinophilic esophagitis (EE), and asthma; Anne does not.

Forming a nonprofit organization and providing a safe place for our food-allergic children and siblings to attend camp has been a dream of mine, which is now coming true! Camp T.A.G. will be 95% FUN and 5% educational with a curriculum designed by medical, ley, and restaurant professionals who specialize in food allergies.

Please take a minute to fill out this survey on Survey Monkey for Camp T.A.G.:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=9m7shuRS9SQEUTlw4_2fG_2fdA_3d_3d

PLEASE READ MORE ABOUT CAMP T.A.G...:
http://www.pochaofwillcounty.com/camptag.shtml

Dairy-free While Nursing

With the arrival of our sixth baby, I am once again going completely dairy-free while I nurse her. I am hoping that this will help her with her gassy symptoms as well as decrease her chances of a severe milk allergy like her older brother has (this is not proven, but I have friends who have had much success). In addition to going dairy-free while nursing, I'm also using Mylicon drops as needed as well as Little Tummies gripe water. Both seem to be helping her colicky symptoms tremendously. I have found it quite easy going dairy-free this time as I pretty much cook dairy-free all the time anyway for my other children. That said, I have found a new love in Rice Dream original flavor for my cereal. I much prefer it over soy milk right now and love adding blueberries and walnuts or pecans on top of my cereal. We made homemade pizza the other night and I barely even missed the cheese. I added extra sauce and lots of toppings to compensate. (I don't miss the extra calories either:)). I love using the grill this time of year to grill garden vegetables and discovered a pumpkin cake that is just heavenly! (My mother-in-law created the recipe as she was experimenting with the ingredients that we had on hand in the house. So moist! I'll have to post the recipe next month on my website www.milkallergycompanion.com.) Although I miss ice cream (have to get some Soy Ice Cream or Cuties on hand...), overall eating dairy-free has been just fine and I am happy to make the sacrifice if it will help my little baby. For a quick list of menu ideas that are dairy-free, visit this section of my blog: http://milkallergycompanion.blogspot.com/2008/10/quick-list-of-menu-ideas-for-nursing.html

Earth Balance now dairy and soy free!!!

I got this information off of an allergy support group. Great news for those looking for a soy-free as well as a dairy-free margarine!

Maybe some of you have heard but Earth Balance now offers a dairy and soy-free spread, but note that they do include pea protein and sunflower lecithin in the product.

More info at http://www.earthbalancenatural.com/#/products/soy-free/

And there's a review at:
http://nowheymama.blogspot.com/2009/05/earth-balance-soy-free.html

Other margarine's that can be used for a dairy and soy free diet (as long as soy oil and lecithin are permitted) are Fleischmann's UNSALTED and Smart Balance LIGHT. I've found Fleischmann's has been best in baking because it has a higher fat content. That was a tip from Linda Coss' cookbooks.