Floor plans have been drawn and we have been to quite a few coffee establishments to get a feel for what our place will be like. The cafe/bakery will be an open concept plan with baking and cooking visable to the public.  We plan to have a full coffee selection besides the bakery and breakfast and lunch options.  Friday and Saturday nights will be pizza night.

How exciting… I have had such great feedback on this project. Keep your suggestions coming. Thanks to everyone for your support!!

My calling in life must be to re-invent recipes. And I have done my fair share. If you come to one of my allergy free cooking classes at Hy-Vee I always give many different options to make a favorite recipe. One of the favorites was and is the Mango Pepper Salsa. And just to let you know, there is really no good substitute for cheese! I have been grieving cheese for quite some time now. It is better since I’ve been able to eat raw sheep cheese (manchango, yum) in moderation.

Here’s my current list - IgG: almond, asparagus, avocado, pinto bean, cabbage, cashew, cauliflower, swiss cheese, coconut, egg white, eggplant, garlic, grape (NOOOOOO, my wine!!!), grapefruit, lettuce, cow’s milk, mustard, green olive, peanut, chili pepper, green pepper, red pepper, rice, pineapple, sesame, soybean, tomato, black walnut, watermelon, yogurt. IgE: whole egg, cow’s milk, rice, soybean.

I’m re-reading all my labels. Even some of my vitamins have olive or coconut oil or rice starch in them. Yikes! And no grapes??? I just might have to start making my own wine too. Now that grapes are out for awhile I’m going to have to get creative here. Michael did go to the store for me and found a cherry wine. Not too sweet… although, I really prefer a dry red wine.

The next three - six months will be strict adherence to not eating these foods. I plan to do more with the rotation of foods I can eat. Eating the same foods over and over again has a tendency to create more intolerances. As I experiment I will post more new recipes! Tomorrow I’m going to try and get in a batch of chocolate chip cookies and a loaf of bread. hmmm… no eggs, no butter, not even smart balance sticks! I will come up with something.

Today I experimented with making a “no tomato” salsa. My idea was to mix fruit and peppers to give it a sweet and spicy taste. I usually start by “dumping” ingredients into a mixture and then come up with a specific recipe later. Today I added pitted cherries, apricots, peaches, green pepper, red pepper, onion, lemon and lime juice, apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper, chili pepper, cumin, allspice and a touch of tapioca starch to thicken it up a bit. Throw it all in the food processor and cook just a little to thicken. My first recipe was a Mango and Pepper salsa a couple of years ago.

I really should have marketed the idea. Now I see all these fruit and pepper salsa’s in many stores!