It has been a weekend of First Events. My sister ran her first marathon here in Chicago. I hosted my first food allergy book launch for friends, family and an extended family of food allergy mamas. And on a more serious and personal note, my friend’s son suffered a serious food allergy reaction to cashews, his first ever.
I’ve often said I would never wish a food allergy diagnosis on anyone. It’s terrifying to know that food could inadvertently kill or seriously harm someone you love. I believe that’s why we are all so passionate about awareness and keeping our children safe. I am sure we all can recall that first reaction our children suffered. It’s a life changing event to see your child struggle to breathe or get so violently ill because they happened to eat a cookie that was unsafe, or nibbled on a trail mix bar they’re allergic to. Your life changes in that moment. There is no longer a carefree, eat-whatever-you want type attitude. We all know what could happen, and work very hard to keep food allergy reactions to a minimum. My friend’s life is forever changed after this weekend; having to see her child struggle to breathe, call 911 and spend nearly four hours in the E.R. She was sent home with a much improved son and an EpiPen. But she’ll carry that experience with her for a long time to come.
Which brings me to another first; hosting a book launch party for my first book, The Food Allergy Mama’s Baking Book. The event was held at a fun breakfast spot in my local town. I spent two days baking a ridiculous amount of treats: pumpkin sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, banana chocolate chip muffins, french puff muffins, pumpkin bread and even a gluten free variation on my favorite snickeroo recipe. The parents sipped on hot coffee and lattes while the children enjoyed freshly made Italian Fountain Sodas. Parents mingled happily and children snacked freely. I was so touched and grateful to all my dear friends who travelled near and far to come support this project I have worked on for so long. But what I was most humbled by were the food allergic children, happily mixing with other non food allergic children, and eating all the “normal” treats of childhood. It was a sight I never thought I’d see and it was amazing. I especially empathized with the new food allergy mama’s I’ve never met before, who still had a look of fear and disbelief in their eyes, when told that yes, their child really could eat whatever they wanted. It’s these little moments of normalcy that I never take for granted. I’d love to have more of these events for our children.
In addition to the book launch party this weekend, my older sister ran her first marathon. This was no easy feat for her; she’s had two knee surgeries, two back surgeries, as well as other countless other injuries. In fact, she was registered to run the Chicago Marathon in 2006, but yet another injury sidelined her. She worked hard every single day. And every day presented its challenges; sick kids, travelling husband, exhaustion, naysayers, and a lot of pain from her countless injuries. She NEVER gave up, and never doubted she could do this. And she did it; 5 hours, 45 minutes and 35 seconds. I watched her approach the finish line with her 12-year-old son standing next to me and I swore my knees were buckling because I was so overcome with emotion. She DID it. And she did it well. She never hit the wall, took her time, and enjoyed running through the diverse neighborhoods of Chicago. I am so proud of her and she serves as an inspiration to me that really, we all can do anything we put our minds to. Whether that’s running a marathon, writing a book, or working hard to build awareness so we can someday find a cure for food allergies. The future is limitless and I am still very hopeful we will indeed find a cure, so we won’t have to live with food allergies much longer.
Finally, I want to THANK YOU all of you who post comments and send emails, saying how much you’ve enjoyed the new book and my recipes. It means the world to me and I am so happy that your families are loving these treats as much as mine have. To help spread the word, please consider sharing your experiences with other food allergy mamas by writing a review at www.amazon.com . I’m sure other parents would love to know how the recipes worked out for you.
Happy Baking!
I just ordered your book this weekend! Congratulations on your success. From one food allergy mom to another – THANK YOU!
We were at Kelly’s book signing. What a wonderful day. Seeing my children able to choose and eat EVERYTHING that was on display was an incredible experience…the look of joy on their faces when I told them all was safe for them (”REALLY, Mom??! Everything??!! We can eat ANYTHING??!!) was priceless. And every treat was delicious. I have Kelly’s pumpkin cookies cooling on my counter right now:) Kelly, thank you for an unforgettable day…and a fantastic book. I can’t wait to bake my way thorough the entire thing!
Congrats to your sister…quite a weekend for you two sisters! And my best to your friend. She is lucky to have a “been-there-doing-that” person in her corner. I am hearing more and more about cashew allergy becoming more prevalent. Yet another trend is these allergy world we live in!
What a great weekend (except for your friend’s son). I wish we could have come to your book party. I would love to have Nick run around and eat freely.
I have already written my review on Amazon so I hope it does some good.
This is “Smashing Pumpkins” week at our house. I am making pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies and rounding out the week by making pumpkin cut outs with orange sprinkles.
Thanks a million.
Congrats again on a great book – your event sounds like it was a blast. Our house will be pulling out the canned pumpkin this weekend as well – as soon as the first leaf fell Charlie said “Hey Mom, I think its time to make pumpkin muffins again!” We also made the sugar cookies from your book this weekend and they were GREAT – I love how the cut outs keep their shape even after being baked and Charlie alternated between decorating cookies and eating dough. Thanks again for all the great treats.
Kelly..
I received your book this week and I am just so thrilled with it. I recommended it to all the food allergy families in our city. I just wanted to let you know that you are doing a great service to all of us who are living with life threatening allergies.
I wrote a review about your book and posted it on our web site because I think it deserves a lot of attention. There is no other book like it that I have seen. You will find the review here: http://www.halifaxaag.com/books.html
You are doing a great job. Thank you for being the wonderful person you are.
As your sister I am so incredibly proud of you! You are doing so much good for so many people. Selfishly what I love most about your book is that I have an easy referece of all of your recipes. I am looking forward to you creating a allergen friendly “puppy chow” recipe as well as a coca cola cake. :0)
Thank you so very much for these wonderful recipes! They are perfect! I keep telling everyone that we made “muffins that really taste like muffins and cookies that really taste like cookies”! That is huge for us! I have tried many other recipes with different types of substitutions for the unsafe ingredients and they just didn’t go over very well. Your substitutions are right on!!! With the holidays approaching, I am so excited to have some ideas of safe treats that I can create for my daughter’s school parties and family gatherings, as well. Thank you for all of your hard work! I will definitely be ordering your book!
Thanks so much to all of you for your amazing support and kind words. I truly appreciate it!!
I just ran out and purchased your book and I can’t wait to try all the wonderful recipies!! Thank you for putting together such a wonderful collection. It’s nice to have so many safe recipes to choose from for my son! (So far your blueberry bread is his absolute favorite sweet!)
I LOVE that bread! Can’t wait for you to try all my favorite recipes!! Please help spread the word by writing a review at Amazon!! Thanks!
I love your website!!!! Thank you for all the recipes! I made the blueberry muffins for my daughter preschool today and everybody loved them!!! Just ordered your book! This weekend we will try making pizza!
I feel so lucky to live in the same town as Kelly so I could attend her book launch. I am constantly aware of my daughter’s allergy but it really hit me how aware of it SHE is when she asked me for the third time, “Mom, I REALLY can eat any of these treats?” She has NEVER been in a situation (outside of the home) like that before. And because of that I let her go to town and eat at many treats as she wanted! Thank you Kelly. Everything was delicious. The cookbook looks fabulous and is going to change my baking forever. Congratulation on years of hard work and a gorgeous finished product.
We made the pumpkin bread together the next morning as it was Brooke’s favorite treat.