Talking Allergies

On Wednesday January 17's show, Martha Stewart will have gluten and allergen free brownie and Cinnamon Toasties recipes.

If you miss the show, you can go to www.marthastewart.com on Wednesday for the recipes.

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15 year old - asthmatic, allergic to cats, dogs, horses, waiting to be "officially" diagnosed for anaphylaxis
12 year old - asthmatic, allergic to tree pollen and mold, OAS
Husband - Allergic to amoxycillin
Self - Allergic to housework only

Here are the direct links for the recipes:

Brownies:

http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml ... out=martha

Cinnamon Toasties:

http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml ... out=martha

These come from an interesting bakery in New York City called Babycakes NYC:

http://www.babycakesnyc.com/index.html

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15 year old - asthmatic, allergic to cats, dogs, horses, waiting to be "officially" diagnosed for anaphylaxis
12 year old - asthmatic, allergic to tree pollen and mold, OAS
Husband - Allergic to amoxycillin
Self - Allergic to housework only

I'm always curious when someone claims a recipe to be 'allergen free' ... with so many people allergic so to many different things, not sure if 'allergen free' exists (though it would be nice)!

I checked out the recipes. They both call for garbanzo bean flour, which if I understand correctly, is the same as chickpea flour.

Not sure what all of your experiences are, but we were told to stay (far) away from beans (in this case the garbanzo bean) for anaphylaxis to peanuts.

The brownie recipe claims to be nut free, and if so, shouldn't the bean flours not be in there (the recipes call for fava bean flour as well)?

Sorry for being a downer.

The pictures of the goodies looked very yummy ... and I suppose it's nice to know that media awareness is growing about allergies. Baby steps ...

I guess if you want to get technical...it is nut free in that there aren't any tree nuts in it. As fava and garbonzo beans are legumes (like peanuts) and they aren't claiming the recipe to be "legume free", maybe we should cut Martha a break...
I agree that it's going to be difficult to find or create a recipe that is going to be completely "allergen free" for everyone -- but I think she should get an "A" for effort too!

Oops ... I didn't mean to come across as being critical of Martha ... I think it's awesome that she is helping food allergy awareness to grow.

And oops again, you're quite right, ethansmom, technically peanuts aren't 'nuts'.

I'm wondering if the wording could be misleading to someone who might not have the luxury of being as resourceful as, for example, those of us who spend hours researching ingredients. Innocent mistakes can happen ... (we're all on a learning curve!).

I went on the website of the bakery that supplied the recipes. My mouth was watering ... Too bad the treats can only be just eye-candy!:cry: The website did have an excellent disclaimer ... Maybe there was something like that on the recipes that I didn't see.

Of course, like with any recipe, you have to watch out for your own particular allergens. I guess they meant the most common allergens. You're right, a lot of people with peanut allergies are also allergic to chick pea or told to avoid them. I wonder if you could substitute the flour for rice flour? That would probably also be easier to find.

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15 year old - asthmatic, allergic to cats, dogs, horses, waiting to be "officially" diagnosed for anaphylaxis
12 year old - asthmatic, allergic to tree pollen and mold, OAS
Husband - Allergic to amoxycillin
Self - Allergic to housework only

My experience is that people who are allergic to peanuts aren't always told to avoid legumes - unless they have reacted to them. If you have reacted to other legumes, then it's probably prudent to avoid them. But if the only thing you've reacted to and tested positive to is peanuts, I'm not sure an allergist would tell you to avoid all legumes. (At least, mine wouldn't.)

I can't remember offhand, but I think it's something like 5% of people who are allergic to peanuts are also allergic to other legumes...

See http://www.anaphylaxis.org.uk/informati ... %20nut.pdf - on page 2 it says that a "small percentage of people with a peanut allergy react to other legumes...".

Obviously if you have been told to avoid all legumes by your allergist, you should follow those instructions. I just don't want anyone here with a peanut allergy who hasn't been told to avoid legumes up to this point to start panicking. They can be an important source of protein for those who aren't allergic.

K.

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Karen, proud Mom of
- DS1 (12 yrs): allergic to cashews, pistachios, Brazil nuts, potatoes, some legumes, some fish, pumpkin seeds; OAS
- DS2 (1o yrs): ana. to dairy, eggs, peanuts; asthma

P.S. I do agree that it's pretty annoying to have someone state that something "is free of all allergens" or "may contain other allergens". It's a ridiculous statement because you can be allergic to anything!

It would be more helpful if they said something like "free of X, Y, and Z" and were more specific.

K.

_________________
Karen, proud Mom of
- DS1 (12 yrs): allergic to cashews, pistachios, Brazil nuts, potatoes, some legumes, some fish, pumpkin seeds; OAS
- DS2 (1o yrs): ana. to dairy, eggs, peanuts; asthma

That was our case. Our allergist asked if he had had other legumes, which he had (green beans without incident). He also asked us about eggs because apparently the protein makeup of peanuts and eggs are quite similar and oftentimes those who are allergic to peanut are also allergic to egg (which he had and was fine). Knowing this our allergist did not advise that we avoid any other legumes and he's had others since without problems.

Hi,

I don't mean to be an alarmist or anything, but the article below says that those with peanut allergies could have a 50% chance of being allergic to legumes:

http://www.health24.com/medical/Conditi ... ,14122.asp

This also means that 50% *won't* have trouble with legumes!

Since we started this 'allergic journey', we've found so much contradictory info out there (i.e. research, medical community, anecdotal stories ...) that the 'better to be safe than sorry' and KISS philosophies really work for us. We don't feel deprived, we keep in close contact with our doctor, and we remain cautiously optimistic about the future ...

Again, didn't mean to be an alarmist. I'm happy to hear that there are a lot of you out there with peanut allergies don't have to worry about legumes ... maybe one day we'll get there too!

Okay, I renamed the topic so as not to mislead anybody.

The point is that they look like yummy recipes, try them, adapt them as need be, enjoy!

_________________
15 year old - asthmatic, allergic to cats, dogs, horses, waiting to be "officially" diagnosed for anaphylaxis
12 year old - asthmatic, allergic to tree pollen and mold, OAS
Husband - Allergic to amoxycillin
Self - Allergic to housework only