Sweethearts Candy Blog's

For those of you looking for holiday gifts for the allergic people in your life, (or if you would like to drop a few hints for your spouse or family), here's a short list of some of the best food allergy books/magazines out there.

I've had the pleasure of meeting all of the authors below, either in person or online, and I can tell you that they are completely devoted to helping food-allergic people and their families enjoy a better quality of life.

The Food Allergy Mama's Baking Book by Kelly Rudnicki. Just awesome. Kelly provides delicious recipes for things like apple doughnuts, birthday cakes and a myriad of cookies and quick breads that are egg-free, dairy-free and nut-free. If you ever thought it was impossible to bake without eggs, dairy or nuts, Kelly will set you straight! Your kids will be the envy of their friends with these yummy treats. Full-color photos accompany each recipe. You also get to see Kelly's cute kids hard at work baking! You will love this book! Check Kelly's website to order. I've also found this book available at my local Borders book store.

The Allergen-Free Baker's Handbook by Cybele Pascal. Martha Stewart featured this book as one of the best baking books out there and once you flip through it you will see why. This book is so gorgeous and filled with delicious-looking photos that make you want to roll your sleeves up and get baking. Cybele offers dozens of recipes free of all top 8 food allergens and gluten. A simply beautiful book! You can visit Cybele's website to order or visit your local bookstore. I got mine at Borders!

Food Allergy Books by Linda Coss. Linda Coss is a pioneer of food allergy parenting and cooking. She has wonderful cookbooks as well as a book of advice on how to live with food allergies. Her cookbooks are also free of dairy, egg, peanut and tree nut and she has some really awesome family-friendly meals. Don't miss her books! You can order them by visiting her website.

Enjoy Life Foods: Cupcakes and Sweet Treats for Everyone! and Enjoy Life Foods: Cookies for Everyone! Enjoy Life Foods offers great baking ingredients free of the top 8 allergens and then some. They bring their delicious approach to allergy-friendly eating to you with two beautiful books that will solve your allergy-free baking problems. I've found these at my local bookstore but you can order them from their web site, too.

Allergic Living magazine. I highly recommend a subscription to this amazing lifestyle guide. Besides tackling food allergies with wit, wisdom and tons of practical advice, editor Gwen Smith and her talented team also address seasonal and environmental allergies. Published 6 times a year, you will wonder how you ever got along without Allergic Living. Visit the website for subscription details.

I hope you'll check out each of the resources above. And thanks to the talented people behind them. You make a difference!

Back-to-school time is here and so I thought I would share some of my favorite resources for a safe, stylish and healthy year when you have a student with food allergies.

One big question is how to talk to the school and other parents about your child's food allergies. Beyond what you'll find here at The Nut-Free Mom Blog, I hope you will also check out author and food allergy advocate Linda Coss' excellent take on the subject with her article: Attack of the Peanut Butter Sandwiches.

Nut allergy mom and eco-friendly "Litter Free Lunch" entrepeneur Felice Farran is offering your kids a stylish and "green" way to bring their safe lunches to school with her current sale promotion "The ABCs of Going Litter Free".

And if you're wondering what to pack in your safe and eco-friendly lunch containers, why not place your order for nut-free, egg-free and dairy-free bakery goodies (like individually-wrapped cookies) from the Sweet Alexis Bakery? Sweet Alexis founder Michele Fellows offers the most tasty dairy-free, egg-free and nut-free baked goodies around and is currently offering some good deals. Please take a look and be prepared for some happy kids!

For moms who also want to bake at home, you definitely want to pick up a copy of The Food Allergy Mama's Nut-Free, Egg-Free and Dairy-Free Baking Book. Written by fellow Chicagoan and food allergy pal Kelly Rudnicki, this is a wonderful resource for moms who want to bake soul-satisfying treats for their kids. You can order the book from your favorite online book retailer or directly from Kelly's website. If you have been wondering what you can bake for a child with dairy, nut and/or egg allergies, wonder no more. From cookies to cakes, you'll find school-friendly treats that also work for daycare, playdates and class parties.

Since it's a Monday and we're right in the middle of the back-to-school rush, I thought I'd share this fabulous and simple recipe that I received from food allergy cookbook author and advocate Linda Coss. As Linda rightly points out in a recent press release, "It's not necessary to prepare a separate meal for your food-allergic child and then pick something up for the rest of the family." Besides being a drag and excluding the child with food allergies, I find the pick-up and prepare method to be more trouble than it's worth.

The following dairy-free, egg-free and nut-free recipe comes to the rescue. I like it because my kids love salmon and for those of you trying to offer a meat-free option to your kids, the sweet and tangy sauce makes it even more appealing.

I'll have more recipes from Linda in upcoming blog posts. Enjoy!