The First Cookbook That Made a Difference

My boys were two and four when I finally decided to venture out to a support group meeting for food allergic parents.  I was at that all too familiar point of frustration and struggling to understand how to feed our family (and to be honest, I can still sometimes feel like this even today with strategies in place).  I remember getting out the door leaving young kids took lots of planning, but little did I know how welcome I would feel or the strength I would take with me after sitting and sharing with parents living with similar challenges.  

Along with a sense of comradery I felt at the very first meeting, I discovered a very simple and straightforward cookbook, Sophie-Safe Cooking, by Emily Hendrix.  I knew I had found a gem that spoke directly to me because the cover of the cookbook read -- ‘A Collection of Family Friendly Recipes that are Free of Milk, Eggs, Wheat, Soy, Peanuts, Tree Nuts, Fish, and Shellfish’.  At the time seven out of eight of these top allergens, plus other unassuming foods, were on our strict list to avoid.

Sophie-Safe Cooking showed me how to deconstruct many simple meals in an easy and straightforward way.  It’s what I would call a no-frills cookbook, no glossy pictures or fancy food styling, just simple recipes with easy to understand ingredients and directions that simplify the steps.  A great first cookbook for those newly diagnosed with food allergies or eosinophilic esophagitis (EOE), or for your tween/teen who’s beginning to cook.  Until I came across this cookbook I honestly don’t remember what I was feeding our family.  It was a time of high stress with a young child with multiple food allergies and a history of multiple anaphylactic reactions, let alone a family to feed.

I have and always will feel a place where I belong amongst the over 100 recipes on these pages.  I felt understood.   While my cooking has evolved over the years, I do take Sophie-Safe Cooking off my shelf of cookbooks often.  I flip through it looking for the recipe I need and find myself looking at the many scribbled recipe notes I made over the years.  I realize how far we’ve come and how much of a difference the discovery of this cookbook was for our family.  I hope you’ll look for it and enjoy it as much as we do.