Sinigang

I was born in Manila and raised in a traditional Pilipino family. With that comes yummy Pilipino foods, blissfully free of both tomatoes and dairy! Here's one of my favorites:

Sinigang (Sour beef and cabbage soup)

Season and brown 1 pound of cut beef for stewing. (Some prefer to use cooked white fish instead) Add sliced onion (optional). Add in 8-10 cups of water. Bring to a boil. Add Knorr tamarind soup base, 1.41 oz packet. Tear 1/4 head of cabbage and add to boiling soup. Let simmer for 10 min. The less cups of water added, the more sour the soup. Let stand for 5 min and serve. A very yummy option is to serve the soup over a bed of white steamed rice.

My boyfriend and I absolutely adore this traditional Pilipino dish; simple yet oh so good!

Stewed, Cooked, or Raw

The Holidays are so difficult when it comes to food allergies. You're not in full control when visiting friends and family. You're kind of at the mercy of what they have prepared. The worse part is, you don't really know what foods are safe based on how they look.

I traveled up to Mammoth with my boyfriend for Christmas to be with his family. At Christmas dinner I inhaled bowls if this spicy Thai soup. It was so yummy! The problem: I had no idea there were tomatoes stewed into it. There were no traces of tomatoes in it so I thought it was ok. I was up all night with a massive headache and blowing my nose every hour. It was one of the worse nights I had with my sllergies since I was tested.

Here's the thing; last night I cheated and had a slice of pizza, and only had a mild attack. Not too long ago I accidentally ate a small slice of raw tomato hidden underneath some nacho cheese in a plate of nachos, and I had a medium attack. So what's the difference? Is stewed more powerful than raw tomatoes? And why does cooked pizza sauce only yield a mild attack? Any one out there know the levels of severity in cooked versus raw?

Celiac Disease

My good friend, Kim, has just informed me that she may have celiac disease, which is an allergy to gluten. Gluten is found in wheat, barley and rye (and sometimes oats). Oh my goodness! The only way to live with this allergy is to erase gluten from your diet. That means cutting out all breads, cereals, cookies, and most beers. It can even be found in sausage casings, lipstick and postage stamps. What is there left???

What has this world come to? Now we have developed an intolerance for the very nourishment that sustains us. Fortunately, with Kim and with my Mikey, we live in an age where there are many vegan and organic foods on the market, both in specialty markets like Whole Foods and even in big chain supers like Ralphs. Whole Foods is a dairy free/gluten free-palooza!

I guess its at least good to know what it is you have an allergy to, so you can curb your diet to fit without that perameter. But if there's anyone out there that can be of any help on how to live gluten free, or for that matter dairy and tomato free, I'm all ears...

Chocolate!

Mike is allergic to all things milk, specifically whey. There are many things he has never been able to taste. Chocolate is one of them. BUT, we have made an amazing discovery! He is able to eat dark chocolate. How can this be?

In researching and asking around, I have found that chocolate is actually diluted with milk in order to make it light and creamy. However, the darker the chocolate, the less milk is added and only pure cocoa remains. Cocoa does not contain lactose or whey. So, for those of you lactose intolerant, try dark chocolate, the darker the better. Mike has even been able to try Godiva's dark chocolate decadence blended iced mocha with no harmful reactions. Thank God I love dark chocolate too! I couldn't live without that in my diet ;)

Spaghetti Withdrawals

I love spaghetti! And the best spaghetti I've ever eaten is from Chris & Pitts BBQ. I know, I know, Its a BBQ restaurant. I don't know what they do to their spaghetti, but I crave it! I can never get enough of it. And any time Mike even remotely suggest BBQ, my mouth starts to water for that greasy, meaty spaghetti from Chris & Pitts.

I don't know what to do. We grabbed some Chris & Pitts ast night and I just couldn't resist. I ate some spaghetti! I couldn't help myself. How can you possibly give up something you've loved your entire life? I know my sinuses will pay for it all day today. But, it was so worth it!

Help! is there any possible way to have spaghetti the way I've enjoyed it for the past 30 years without the tomato?

Picking Out the Bad Stuff

So, the other night I stopped by Taco Bell on the way home. I know, I know, not the healthiest choice, but I worked all week and just wanted to grab something really fast and go home to pass out. I asked for two mexican pizzas, one with no cheese and one with no tomatoes. They got the no cheese one right.

So was it wrong that I just scraped off the tomatoes off mine and ate it anyway? I know that its real hard to get your order correct at restaurants sometimes, and if it were for Mike I definitely would have sent it back. But my allergies are not fatal, so I didn't even bother. Is it that big a deal if the tomatoes were on there? I didn't eat them, and my allergies are just slight allergies. Am I just justifying here or what? What are the drawbacks of scraping off the bad stuff?

No Milk Mashed Potatoes

Mike has never eaten mashed potatoes before, because of the milk factor. Well, I decided to make him some sans milk, because they are one of the greatest side dishes ever. Here's my impromptu recipe:

I douse a clove of garlic with olive oil and rap it in foil to be roasted in the oven for an hour. Then I boil about 4 large russet potatoes til soft. I squeeze the roasted garlic out into a mixing bowl and mash it in with the cooked potatoes. I add in 4 to 6 tablespoons softened butter and salt and pepper for seasoning. Now in order to get them creamy, I do have to whip them. They turn out pretty buttery and garlicy but that's the way we like them. e loves them' can't get enough!

So what do you guys think? Comments, suggest? I'd very much love the help.

My Boy's Dilemma

Here's the kicker: I'm not the only one in my household with a major food allergy. My boyfriend, the love of my life, is allergic to milk; and more specifically, whey. So not only do I have to cut out milk, cheese, cream, and chocolate, I have to read ingredients in all I buy looking for whey, sometimes called casein or caseinate. You have no idea how many foods have caseinate in it as a preservative. Certain breads, deserts, powdered gravies, even bread crumbs contain caseinate. And in his case, this allergy is fatal. I can't make mashed potatoes, certain cookies, certain gravies, certain soups, and the list goes on and on!

Now, with both of our food allergies, it is nearly impossible for me to make a meal that both of us can enjoy without having to make two different entrees or several side dishes to compensate for our allergies. Double help!! All we need now is a child that's allergic to nuts. God help us.

My Dilemma

For the last decade or so, I have had major problems with my sinuses. I sneeze and blow my nose constantly. This problem even wakes me up in the middle of the night several times so as I feel like I haven't slept in ten years. I finally went to many, many doctor's visits and finally an allergy specialist. I do need more testing, but so far the results have been an allergy to peas and tomatoes (on the food end).

Here's my dilemma: I am not fatally allergic to these foods, but they are the main cause of my sinus problems. So, in order to stop the sinus flow, migraines, and finally have a decent night's sleep, I have to cut out the tomatoes. But, I have come to realize that tomatoes are in far more things than I thought: grilled cheese and tomato soup, spaghetti, pizza, ketchup, salsa. These are all foods I've been eating and have loved for the past 30 years! How am I supposed to give all these things up cold turkey? Even harder still is knowing that I won't die if I have a slice of pizza, but it'll make me miserable later that night. I even went to McDonald's yesterday just for a quick cheeseburger and half way through my snack realized there's ketchup on the bun. It didn't even dawn on me.

So how do I find a way to eat all the foods I loved minus the tomato? Help!