Adapting Family Favourite Meals to non-Wheat & Egg Diets

Recently I've started feeding my 13 month old son some of our family meals. Why it has taken me a while to introduce him to our family meals is that he has a wheat & egg allergy.  When he eats anything containing those ingredients his face and body will swell up in hives. We've seen it happen a few times and it's really not pleasant for any of us, which has made me very conscious of what he eats. Up until now it's been fine giving him his own special "mush" but as he is getting older he is becoming more aware of what everyone else is eating around him. I don't like to make him feel that he can't eat what mummy & daddy eat so I've had to learn to adapt our family meals to his needs. 

One of our family favourites is Mexican. Simply prepare it by melting cheese over the corn chips (make sure they are 'original' just the basic corn, oil and salt- flavoured corn chips may contain wheat products) in the oven/ mircowave and serve with mashed avocado, sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes, and Mexican sauce (this is optional depending on the child, but feel free to add it to your own, they'll hardly notice that you have it & they don't when they start munching on the corn chips). 

Another meal that is becoming a family favourite is Pad Thai. It uses rice noodles, and the paste from the jar I used didn't contain any wheat product (which was found in the Asian grocer). Just take caution when buying the paste, the one I got from Coles was very spicy, so it's not one I'd give to my son because it was too hot even for me to eat. Luckily my husband can handle the heat & he had 3 meals worth all to himself. I made the Pad Thai as instructed on the jar & just took my sons portion out before adding the egg to the rest for us. He loved eating the bean sprouts (to my surprise) and it's an easy meal to let them eat at the own pace off their tray. I love giving him independence especially at meal times. It gives me a chance to sit back and enjoy my meal too. 

Bean Sprouts!!

When I prepare meals with pre-made sauces or pastes I do a quick scan of the ingredients list & especially look out for thickeners no. 1400 - 1450 (they may be derived from wheat, unless otherwise stated). I have noticed that some foods containing 1422 is from modified maize starch so it's been fine for my son. I've seen this in  yoghurt and Indian curry sauce from the jar. 

Adapting family favourites to children with special dietary needs take practise & some research. Just be confident in yourself and have fun in the process. It's a very rewarding feeling to know that you're providing your family with delicious food. It may take a little while to get use to adapting meals but with a little creativity and practise you'll be able to whiz up meals for the whole family in no time. Good bye to the days when you had to cook separate meals for each child. 

Here are my quick tips:

1. Be aware of ingredients that contain wheat & eggs (eg. thickeners, malt etc...)
2. Do a quick check over the ingredient lists.
3. Use alternatives, such as rice, corn, potato, oats etc.
4. Take out a portion of cooked vegetables and/or meats before adding sauces or pastes that contain wheat/egg products.