I maneuvered the grocery cart down the aisle with one hand, nestling my 22-month-old son, Alexander, on my hip with the other.
That’s when I saw it: a box of cake mix, with a picture of a luscious chocolate slice smothered in gooey frosting. For a moment my imagination took off. Alexander would turn two soon, and this would make an awesome birthday cake! I could just see him smashing the cake into his mouth on his big day, family and friends snapping photos.
Then I came back to reality. Alexander had severe food allergies. He couldn’t eat eggs, dairy, wheat flour. Forget cake. At his first birthday party he had to have mashed fruit. What was I going to do for him this year? Stick candles in a plate of okra?
My husband, Ron, and I longed for a child for years. Adopting Alexander was the answer to our prayers. When we’d brought him home from the hospital a few days after he was born, I noticed red spots on his cheeks. Eczema. Maybe he was allergic to milk.
We switched him to soy formula. The eczema only got worse. Fiery patches enveloped his legs and wrists. Aloe cream was the only thing that soothed him. Then the food allergies started. Even the healthiest foods—like brown rice cereal—gave him rashes and indigestion.
At 18 months we took him to a specialist. Once we knew what he was allergic to, we’d cut out those foods and he’d be fine, I figured. Wrong.
The nurse handed me a list of foods to avoid. It was a mile long! Beans, carrots, potatoes, pepper, rice, nuts, eggs, soybeans… “Isn’t this a lot of allergies for one child?” I asked.
The nurse nodded. “That’s the longest list I’ve ever seen.”
Nearly every food, even those the specialist thought would be okay, caused problems for Alexander. Five minutes after eating applesauce his face and hands were splotched. Cheese gave him stomach pains. The specialist gave us a prescription for steroid cream and recommended a children’s antihistamine. Alexander had reactions to those too. Mealtimes were exhausting. I’d feed him a few bites. He’d break into a rash and cry. Ron would spritz him with allergy spray. I’d rub aloe on his skin. Repeat.
That cake mix at the grocery store just made me feel more hopeless. Would Alexander ever be able to eat normally? Have birthday cake? Lord, Alexander’s pain is my pain, I cried, and not for the first time. Show me what to do. I’m at the end of my rope and his birthday is right around the corner.
Back at home, I put away the groceries. My thoughts suddenly went back to a party Ron and I had thrown years before. I’d baked eggless cookies for a guest with allergies. Everyone raved about them. What if I bake something like that for Alexander’s birthday? An eggless, dairy-free, soy-free cookie.
I turned into a mad scientist. My kitchen was my lab. I picked up tips everywhere—online, health food stores, cooking shows. Things like using olive oil instead of butter, or spelt flour, which is easier to digest than white.
One day, with Alexander watching from his high chair, I combined oats, spelt flour, flaxseed, water, evaporated cane juice and olive oil, spooned some onto a baking sheet and put it in the oven. What a mess!
I tried again, adding a little more flour to keep the cookies firm. Ron tasted one. “Honey,” he said gently, “maybe you should go back to your regular cookies.” I took a bite.
“Whoa! These are yucky all right!”
I recruited our neighbors as taste testers. Alexander and I went house to house, delivering samples and collecting comments. “Can they be a little bigger?” “More moist?”
Batch by batch the cookies came together. For the first time in nearly two years, I had hope. Hope that I could help Alexander. And that just maybe he’d enjoy a birthday treat.
Right before the big day, I finally baked a batch that passed the taste test. But would they be okay for Alexander? I gave him a small piece and looked on, waiting for his cheeks to turn that familiar shade of red. He broke out…in a giant smile! “Cook-ee. Mooore,” he said. Those were the first two words he’d ever put together.
Alexander’s second birthday was as happy as I’d imagined that day in the grocery store. Family and friends gathered ’round his high chair, snapping pictures. There was no cake, but watching Alexander gobble up oatmeal cookies was an even bigger victory.
Since then, my imagination really has taken off. I’ve developed over 60 allergy-sensitive recipes. Alexander, who’s seven now, no longer suffers from eczema and eats a wide variety of foods. He’s inspired me to write a cookbook, Mommy and Me Gluten-Free! Stories and Recipes to Inspire You.
When you mix love, patience and prayer, the results are sweet indeed. After all, God has a way of turning our biggest problems into our greatest successes.
Try Sharon’s gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free Chocolate Cake Brownies!
