Sweethearts Candy Blog's

With the school year half over, now is the time to update or address any ongoing issues at school. You may also need to restock essential supplies, be it updated EpiPens or safe treats for class celebrations.

At this point of the school year, you probably have a pretty good idea of how your school is handling food allergies. If there can be improvements made, now is the time to say so. After all, teachers have now had an opportunity to see how often food is brought into the classroom, often with no forewarning.

I hope you'll check out my Chicago Parent article about food allergies in the classroom. These tips can be used all year long.

Here are some things that may need an update as the school year begins its second half:

Check with the Health Office regarding meds. Are all of your child's medications up to date and unexpired? This can include EpiPens, of course, but also Benadryl and asthma medications. You will also want to make sure any new staff are up-to-date on EpiPen usage.

Are food allergy policies being followed consistently? Something tells me I'm going to get a lot of mail on this point. :) By now you've had experiences in the classroom, both good and bad, that will alert you to what procedures are taking place. You may need to issue some reminders and just be aware of what goes on at parties and such. For example, I volunteer each year to send food to the classroom for my daughter's parties but others always send food at the last minute and guess what--it's usually unsafe. Other times, lunch room policies go by the wayside or class size prevents safe lunch-eating areas for allergic kids. If you notice any problems, now is the time to discuss your concerns with your child's teacher and/or school admin.

Send in a new stock of safe treats. Even though our school doesn't allow b-day treats, sometimes treats are offered for unexpected rewards or celebrations. Ask your child's teacher to store some safe treats for your child to turn to if a surprise treat is offered at school. If your child is older, have them keep some packaged treats in their locker or backpack.

Evaluate what is working and what isn't. You and your child's teacher and other admin if necessary may need to make some adjustments based on experiences you've had in the first half of the year. In fact, expect this because you can't know what every situation will entail. If you feel some things should be changed, don't delay in scheduling time to talk to your child's teacher or other school staff.

A final word: a lot of people ask me what to do if schools don't "get" food allergies. Unfortunately, every school is different but one thing remains the same. You are your child's best advocate and if you really feel that something is endangering your child, please speak up. Some problems can't be solved overnight but if you opening a dialogue is a good first step.

Nut allergies are tricky at the holidays--it seems that nearly every cookie contains some kind of tree nut, not to mention the every present "peanut butter blossom" cookie. That's why it's time once again for my Snowballs recipe, a family favorite I created from my grandmother's recipe that used a large portion of ground pecans. Obviously any recipe containing tree nuts wasn't going to fly in our family, so I scoured cookbooks until I found something surprisingly similar to snowballs--a Greek cookie called Kourambiethes. Unlike most Greek cookies these contain NO nuts at all. Plus, they have the same shape, taste, delicious flavor and yummy powdered sugar coating that my grandmother's cookies had.

For a festive and attractive addition to any holiday celebration, give these a try! Also, keep in mind that the dough for these is not super-sweet--kind of like a shortbread cookie. The sweetness comes from rolling these in powdered sugar when they're hot and then sifting more over them when they are cool.

Snowballs

1 lb. (4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar + 2 tbsp, plus lots more for sprinkling on cookies
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp pure orange extract (optional)
1 scant tsp salt


5-6 cups of all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using a standing mixer, beat softened butter until very light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar, egg yolk, vanilla and orange extract if using, beating thoroughly after each addition. Add flour a little at a time until soft dough is formed that can be handled easily. Taking about a teaspoonful at a time, (I use a tiny ice-cream scoop) roll into a small ball. Place on a non-stick cookie sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes. Sprinkle liberally with powdered sugar while still hot. Once cool, sprinkle with plenty of powdered sugar again. Literally, they should look like snowballs1

Check it out: Chicago Parent magazine decided to include these cookies in their online cookbook.

Here's a link to my new article that appears in the current issue of Chicago Parent magazine.

This short piece was exciting for me to write because it addresses families without food allergies and strives to explain the food allergy situation to them. This is something I do every year at school, along with all of you, so I hope it's helpful!

Click here to read the entire story.

I just read this article in Chicago Parent about new research about introducing solid foods in babies. The timing of solids is thought to have an effect on later development of food allergies.

When my kids were babies, we were told to hold off on solid foods until 6 months of age. Now, the new research (discussed in the Chicago Parent article) shows that babies should be given solids at 4 months of age. This is thought to possibly prevent the development of food allergies.

Medical disclaimer alert! Of course, every baby is different, so please always consult your own doctor about the introduction of solids. Thank you. :)

I don't know about many of you, but I had no choice but to give my two kids solids younger than 6 months. Way younger. (I got the OK from the pediatrician, of course.) My babies were huge and they were hungry. Interestingly, one child developed food allergies and one didn't. This new research raises more questions for me, defintely.

The whole idea of babies getting diagnosed with food allergies is very interesting to me because I didn't know about my daughter's nut allergies until she was in preschool. I can imagine how difficult this would be for parents of infants -- what would you do about introducing new foods, for example. And of course, the introduction of babysitters takes on a whole new level of stress.

On a freelance writing note, I'm interested in writing about this issue for a local magazine, so any of you Chicago-area parents who have young babies getting diagnosed with food allergies, please send me an e-mail. I'd love to hear from you if you wouldn't mind sharing some of your experience with me for a future interview. I have a few sources already but I can always use more.

No matter where you live, I'd love to hear about your concerns in caring for food-allergic babies. What support and info do you need? Let us know.