At the risk of sounding like someone who claims to have walked 12 miles to school every day and written my lessons on a slate with a piece of coal, I have to say it’s a lot easier than it used to be to find readymade foods for kids with allergies.

When my daughter was a toddler, I was forever tinkering with recipes, findings way to make good cookies without eggs or pancake without milk or meals my whole family would eat without wheat, fish, eggs, nuts, beef, high protein beans, dairy products or all the rest of things that cause her anaphylaxis. How about barley flour cake with homemade pink, nondairy frosting!

When she was young, we bought all our cereals in health food stores, and we were thrilled when they came out with tofu cream cheese. Poor kid, I used to make her pizza with tomato sauce on rice bread, topped with thinly sliced kosher turkey hot dogs (only kind I could be sure had no milk products) and tofu cream cheese, which deflated more than it melted. And the first time she tasted tofu ice cream, she refused a second spoonful.

Today, a tour of most grocery stores reveals egg free, milk free, peanut free cake mixes, soy milk that actually tastes good (that powdered stuff was horrid) and can be substituted for dairy, even cookies that are already baked and frozen entrees of tofu and vegetables without cheese.

Yes, it would clearly be easier today. And I know that as a grown woman, my daughter benefits from having these products available.

But I think the extra effort required in those early years taught us both an invaluable lesson, and gave us an appreciation for the special treats, prepared with ingenuity and love.

I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

(Will pair with recipes for Nina’s first cookies and cake)

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