The Food Allergy Free Month (& Year) in Review!

Happy New Year!!! I hope that you all had a very wonderful Christmas and that you managed to stay healthy and Allergy Free during one of the most difficult times of the year to do so! My personal Free From highlights of the season were 1, Vegideli Beanfeast paté on crackers with Tesco hummus as a pre christmas dinner snack (addictively tasty!). 2, My Mom’s insanely good Gluten Free and Dairy Free christmas cake (pictured above) which was SO good this year that we actually took a mini vote and decided that it was BETTER than the Gluten-filled one, which was already totally awesome! and 3, My beautiful beautiful gramophone, which F. gifted me with - Swooon!

picture courtesy of F. because it was too big to transport to my family home!

But now its all done and dusted and its time to look back over the past year and re-cap, re-group, and re-start all over again. December was obviously very ‘holiday’ oriented with lots and lots of Christmas foods (I’ll do a quick review of the month at the bottom of this post) but first lets do a big sweep of all of the wonderful Food Allergy Friendly things that happened in 2011...

Not only did I get this blog finally looking the way I want but my page views more than quadrupled! Yay!. I reviewed no less than 18 Cafés and Restaurants which cater to Food Allergies and Dietary Restrictions and 12 shops around the city which sell a good range Allergy Free food products, I’ve shared at least 14 Free From recipes (I’ll work on creating and sharing even more in 2012!) and reviewed some books on the topic of food allergies and digestion. I also reviewed a WHOLE HOST of food allergy friendly products that are available in and around Dublin not to mention all the going’s on out and about the city.

Some of my big feature posts over the year were:
- Soya Free & Dairy Free Cheese: The Quest Through Grilling
- Dairy Free Butter/Margarine - Which to Choose?? (Soya Free & Corn Free Options Too!)
- Is Sake Gluten Free, Dairy Free & Soy Free? Not Necessarily
- Gluten Free Bread Baking & Xanthan Gum Trials
- and a little St. Patrick’s Day special: Is Guinness Good For You? Have An Allergy Friendly St. Patrick’s Day

And because a girl’s got to get away every now and then I also did some features on Cork City, West Cork, Salzburg (Austria) and India and all of the allergy free finds in those wonderful places.

...whew...

DECEMBER 2011
And now for the quick review of December 2011 which had a lot of festive foods and some really good year-round appetizers and snacks....



FREE FROM PRODUCTS
Dec 7: An Easy Dairy Free Appetizer - Great for Seasonal Celebrations!
Dec 12: A Delicious (Naturally Dairy Free) Elisen-Ledkuchen - The Prefect Christmas Treat!
Dec 14: Gluten Free, Wheat Free, Dairy Free Rich & Fruity Cider Cake Anyone?
Dec 16: A Free from Appetizer, Perfect for a Savoury Christmas Breakfast: Vegideli Beanfeast Paté
Dec 19: The Verdict on Free From Mince Pies
Dec 21: Food Allergy Friendly Christmas Pudding & Some Essential Free From Extras
Dec 22: The MOST AMAZING Gluten, Wheat, Dairy & Yeast Free Mince Pies

LIFE & LIVING WITH FOOD ALLERGIES
Dec 2: A Petite Treats Charity Coffee Morning: Dec 8!!
Dec 9: Gossip & Gatherings: Loads of ‘Free From’ News That’ll Definitely Interest You!
Dec 23: What I’m Reading: The Last Food Allergy Surf ’11