Through my son’s experience I realized how difficult food allergies can be, especially for children. 

Allergies, asthma, and eczema are all related (who knew?!?).  With my husband’s history of allergies and asthma and my eczema, my kids inherited the genetic equivalent of the allergy “perfect storm”.   My son started out with eczema and wheezed a lot when he was sick, which was often.  Since we figured out his allergies and medications (which have been reduced over time; now he’s just on Singulair), he has been a very healthy kid! 

Birthdays and parties in general are some of the trickiest situations for kids with allergies.  Here are a few tips I’ve learned about party fare and egg-free baking. 

  • Note that eggs are used for both leavening and binding, so you’ll need to experiment on what works best for your purposes.

  • For Bisquick pancakes, corn bread mixes, and mixes in general, I use this equivalent:  1 Teaspoon baking powder, 1 Tablespoon water + 1 Tablespoon vinegar (added as the last ingredient) = 1 egg.  You won’t be able to taste the difference!  (Another tip: let the Bisquick mix sit for five minutes for smoother pancakes, without bubbles.)

  • For cakes, I’ve had moderate success with chocolate box cakes by combining the substitution above with a yeast substitution.  Now I stick to cupcakes and Cherrybrook Kitchen box cake mix.

  • Cherrybrook Kitchens has an excellent chocolate chip cake mix; the cake itself is so-so, but the chocolate chips make it great.  All Cherrybrook Kitchen products are free of eggs, dairy, trans fats and nuts.  You can find it at Whole Foods or order through Amazon.  Be warned, though: each cake mix box only makes enough for one cake layer.  http://www.cherrybrookkitchen.com/.

  • Vegan recipes are a great source of egg- and dairy-free meal ideas.  It seems to me that vegan recipes taste better than altered regular recipes. 

  • For great cupcake recipes, check out Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.  It’s a great, fun book of cupcake recipes by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.  They also have a great blog at http://vegancupcakes.wordpress.com/ .  I’ve only tried vanilla and chocolate so far; both are great. Make sure you sift your dry ingredients or they’ll taste like corn muffins!

  • Canned icing (like Betty Crocker) is often dairy and egg-free.

  • Many ice creams have egg in them; be sure to read the ingredients! Two non-egg favorites are Breyer’s All Natural Vanilla and Edy’s mint chocolate chip.

  • Earth Balance margarine tastes great and has no dairy, egg, hydrogenated oils, or trans fats.  It’s so good we just eat it for the taste.   http://www.earthbalance.net/product.html. We find it at our Wegmans in the organic fridge section, on the bottom shelf.