Look at this beautiful brunch my husband prepared for me this morning!
Its difficult cooking for someone with multiple allergies. Luckily my husband has suffered with me over the past decade as I figured out how to lead a happy, gluten-free lifestyle. But its been only a few months since I’ve realized that dairy and soy are also now causing me problems. While I have been able to navigate somewhat successfully through this food-puzzle of what I can and cannot eat, I wouldn’t expect my husband to be able to figure it out as easily. I usually do all the shopping, and buying allergy-free items is an acquired skill, in which I am still on the learning curve of.
Last night, my husband offered to do the shopping for last night’s dinner and today’s brunch. On the list (which I wrote) was olive oil spray, which he could use for the grill and the roasted veggies last night, as well as for the poached egg cooker this morning. Well to my (almost surprise) after I sprayed the olive oil on a full roasting pan of veggies that I had just cut up, I decided to read the ingredients. As I feared, olive oil spray has soy lecithin in it!
Oh man! I had just sprayed all the vegetables! My husband felt terrible and apologized over and over. But why would he think that olive oil spray would have soy in it? Actually, I understand the reasoning. Soy lecithin is used as an adhesive in many foods, and in this case it is used to make sprayed olive oil stick to the foods you spray it on. Its just too bad it has to be so. (Not to mention that Thomas went shopping at Whole Foods and the spray cost about $7!).
Luckily, I had a few vegetables left over. I cut them up and put them in my own seperate roasting pan, with plain old extra virgin olive oil (not sprayed). And luckily, we caught this before he grilled the chicken with the spray.
While I sometimes lament the loss of dairy in my diet (especially cheese), and I get frustrated over all the sneaky places that soy lurks, essentially cutting off a lot of other foods in my diet, on a day like to day, I remind myself that despite my food difficulties, I am a very lucky person.
This morning, I woke to a beautiful breakfast created by my husband, in honor of the role that I now play as a mother. I have two beautiful, happy and healthy children who fill my every day with joy. And I have a very caring and supportive husband who has always been there to help me through the rough patches in life (e.g. my dietary woes).
Here he made poached eggs over smoked salmon, on top of Udi’s (gluten-free, soy-free, dairy free) bread, spread with Earth Balance’s (dairy-free, soy-free) margarine. On the side he fried up the crispiest, golden hash browns, and served me the rest of my leftover (soy-free) roasted vegetables from last night. He even took a moment to garnish the plate with some fresh parsley! It was a wholly satisfying, very delicious brunch and I couldn’t be more delighted. Even a jazz brunch at a fancy restaurant would not be as special as this meal that came from the heart and is confidently allergy-free.
Happy (allergy-free) Mother’s Day to all you mother’s out there.
). My husband seconded his opinion, with a simple “Wow,” which I took to mean that they were delicious beyond words.
