Washington D.C. Trip and Food Allergies

Traveling with kids can be challenging, but traveling with kids with food allergies is MUCH more complicated!  I'm usually a complete stress ball a few days before a trip, even though I try to plan so well. I basically try to bring enough food for every meal and every snack for Little Guy, just to make sure we have enough food.  Plus, I always research and call restaurants ahead of time to make sure we have some safe options for eating out. Well, I'm so excited to share our fun trip to Washington D.C. which went well despite the stress of planning!  We met up with family in D.C. over Thanksgiving break, had fun touring the monuments and Smithsonian museums, and we were even able to eat out at a few allergy-friendly restaurants!

When we arrived in Washington D.C., we planned for our big group of family members to meet at the Pavilion Cafe. When I called ahead, they said they could make a sandwich for Little Guy with bread and ham. I wasn't sure about the safety of the bread (sesame free bread is so hard to find), so I actually packed a hot thermos of leftover steak + cauliflower which he ate instead. I was grateful for the Pavilion Cafe at least trying to accommodate him though!

After lunch we took a photo in front of the ice skating rink:

Had fun at the Natural History Museum (love the impressive elephant):

And talked with cousins while relaxing in the gem room:

We also had fun at the Air and Space Museum

And saw so many monuments:

There's only one good photo of me with the kids, and of course, one isn't looking and the other is hiding behind me!

But what about the FOOD you say?  Well, let's get to the good stuff!!

We had dinner at the Daily Grille on the first night.  I called ahead the week before, and not one, but TWO managers called me back at different times to confirm what they could safely cook for Little Guy.

They brought him out a beautiful fruit and veggie plate.

And a plain burger and broccoli with all the fixings.

I also brought along some carb focused snacks (muffins, etc.) and Divvies and Enjoy Life Cookies for DESSERT!!

For lunches and snacks, I took along the handy Easy Lunchbox (affiliate) containers and filled them with sandwiches, SunButter, cereal, etc. This isn't a great photo or an impressive lunch, but I took this quickly at the hotel during craziness of getting ready to sightsee!!

Speaking of the hotel, I was so grateful that we found an affordable and NICE hotel in D.C. that even offered rooms with a kitchenette! The refrigerator was KEY on this trip to store soymilk, SunButter, yogurt, etc. I highly recommend The Beacon Hotel!!

The restaurant at The Beacon Hotel was also helpful in cooking safe food for him. The week before our trip, they emailed me a list of foods they could cook safely for him.

Little Guy ate this amazing dairy free, egg free, nut free and sesame free breakfast at the hotel. We asked them to cook his bacon on foil in the oven, and they even brought it out on the foil which made this mama feel even more comfortable with the safety of his food!

For dinner on our last night in Washington D.C., we drove about 8 minutes away from the hotel to a restaurant I've heard about for awhile now, The Mellow Mushroom in Adams Morgan. Now I wish I had a better photo of the FESTIVE restaurant and YUMMY pizza, but this is all I have to offer!

We've NEVER gone to a pizza place together as a family, and I don't know of many restaurants that can make an allergy friendly pizza. The Mellow Mushroom has Daiya dairy free cheese, vegan crust, and can even make it gluten free if needed.

We ALL loved the pizza there - SUCH good crust!

On the way home to the Philadelphia area, we made our second trip to One Dish Cuisine (recently named the MOST allergy friendly restaurant in America!).

You can read about our first trip there in my blog post here.

Grammy, Daddy, the kids and I LOVED our second trip to One Dish. Smiles all around.

Little Guy tried spaghetti and meatballs with garlic toast, and he also ate half of my turkey avocado BLT sandwich!

He also got to choose ANYTHING he wanted from this bakery display.

He ate a whoopie pie and frosted cookie, and we took cupcakes home for later!

We had an amazing time in Washington D.C. overall. I'm hoping this post helps others who are considering traveling there too.  I'm also going to put my reviews on Allergy Eats. Has anyone else found GREAT allergy friendly places to eat in or near D.C.? If so, please share!

You may also be interested in:

Eating Freely at One Dish Cuisine

Eating Out with Food Allergies: Penn State Trip

Food Allergy Friendly Trip to NYC

Restaurant Review: Harrison's Harbor Watch Restaurant in OC Maryland

Last week I posted about our fun trip to OC Maryland. I wanted to share more with you about our restaurant experience. Since we rented a beach house with our extended family, we ate in most nights which made it easier from a food allergy perspective.  The one night we went out to eat, we had a positive experience at Harrison's Harbor Watch restaurant.

This wasn't our first time there. We had a positive experience there last year too. Harrison's offers beautiful views of the inlet, Assateague island (where the wild ponies roam) and ships coming in and going out to sea. They also have been great with food allergies.

After we handed the waiter our food allergy card, the manager came over to us with a kids' menu she updated to include all the options for little guy to eat. We've NEVER had that kind of service before. It was such a nice treat to see all the possible options.

I was so excited by it that I of course took a photo :)

Little Guy ended up ordering a plain burger, veggies, potatoes and applesauce. It was the "best burger" he ever had...and that's a direct quote. (I think he was really hungry! :)

Don't ya just love that allergy stick?  It's the same one that I took a photo of last year during a beach trip!

The only thing I would have changed?  The fact that the sides came out all together on a big tray with no allergy stick in them (only the burger had them on). It made me feel less confident that the sides were safe for Little Guy, so I made sure to ask the waiter about them.

Little Guy ended up only eating the burger a few veggies, plus some Surf Sweets gummy worms on the boardwalk that I brought along (in a BIG bag of treats that I made sure to have for him!). 

Did a restaurant ever update a menu specifically for you or your child? I know many restaurants like Red Robin have books ready-made for customers to reference. But I thought this was great customer service!

DISCLAIMER: My reviews are only reviews of our unique experience at these restaurants. They are not an endorsement of safety when eating at these restaurants as each restaurant, staff and kitchen are different. Please do your own research and take all precautions for you and your family when eating out.

Nut Free Snack Mix: A Healthy Summer Treat

Summer is ALMOST here, and boy have we been busy. When the warm weather hits, it means that I immediately want to:

• Grill on the porch
• Go to the pool
• Go to the beach
• Plan fun summer trips
• Exercise/run outside
• Eat outside
• Go outside all the time
• Did I say go outside?

Amazingly, I've accomplished most of these goals within the past few weeks, despite working inside 40 hours/week. We visited family at the beach over Memorial Day weekend (which explains my missed blog post - oops) and we got to enjoy the beginnings of true summer fun.

We got our toes sandy and picked shells on the beach. I biked a few miles to the beach with my cousin on a beautiful woodsy trail. We ate watermelon by the pool and soaked up the sun with family. I didn't want it to end!

Since summer means more travel, trips to the pool/beach and fun with family, it also means that I need more portable food allergy friendly snack ideas. You know, something you can throw in your bag and not worry about it.

I recently discovered the blessing of Gerbs Gourmet Seeds. Gerbs is a company all about Allergen Friendly Natural Foods. 

Just our style!

Gerbs' certainly fulfills a need for bulk nut-free snack foods and seeds. I can't buy from the bins at Whole Foods or other stores due to cross-contact risks. So, I've been ordering all my goodies from Gerbs instead. 

I threw together this BEAUTIFUL and DELICIOUS nut free snack mix with all my new goodies from Gerbs. 

I think I could even call it HEALTHY too if I make sure not to eat too much of it.

INGREDIENTS:
I used all of these ingredients to make my nut free snack mix.

• Non-GMO popcorn
• Gerbs Sea Salted Sunflower Seed Kernels
• Raw (Dried) Pumpkin Seed Kernels
• Dried Papaya Slices
• Dried Banana Chips

RECIPE:
Well, there's really NO recipe. It's just a matter of including all your favorite healthy snacks together in one bowl. Mix and EAT!

I hope you enjoy this tasty, portable and easy summer treat. The best part about snack mix is that you can use any of your favorite ingredients to make a healthy treat.  

I'm posting this on the Real Food Recipe Round-up.

Enjoy the sunshine for those of you who have it! Here are the ingredients I used for this nut free snack mix!

Gerbs did not sponsor this post. I actually buy and use Gerbs on my own! This post does include Amazon affiliate links at no cost to you. 

Eating Out with Food Allergies: Penn State Trip

I have another great food allergy friendly restaurant experience to tell you about. We traveled to Penn State in State College, PA this weekend as a fun little getaway and family reunion. My cousin is graduating from PSU this spring, so it was time for all of us to meet at PSU for some family time. Of course, when planning any travel or long term trip that will involve eating out a restaurants, my first thought is...how am I going to feed Little Guy safe food allergy friendly food?

So, I started my usual process:

• CALL AHEAD: Since I went to school at Penn State, I already knew about a few restaurants that might work well with food allergies (and kids!). I called the Allen Street Grille, The Deli (where we had a previous great experience) and the restaurant at Toftrees where we were staying, The Down Under Steakhouse. All restaurants said they had previous experience cooking for food allergies and could accommodate our requests!

• REVIEW THE MENU ONLINE: I usually order the same thing for Little Guy - a plain burger or chicken, steamed veggies and potato or rice. However, I always like to see if there's anything different on the menu he might be able to have.

• PACK OUR OWN FOOD: I planned to pack enough food that would get him through the weekend - even if we couldn't find a restaurant that could serve him safe food.

• USE OUR CHEF CARD: The chef card is what I depend on to communicate how SAFE we need to be when cooking food for Little Guy. It also helps the information get directly to the chef.

We ended up eating two meals at Toftrees' Down Under Steakhouse since it was the most convenient place to meet family on a busy weekend at Penn State. The kids loved just walking from our hotel, and especially loved playing on the open green space outside of Toftrees golf course.

We ate dinner and breakfast at The Down Under Steakhouse (although I only got a photo of breakfast). Two great meals for everyone!

This was the first time we ordered breakfast for Little Guy at a restaurant. Breakfast is usually such an egg and dairy-focused meal that we haven't really tried to go out for it much. But The Down Under Steakhouse had a number of great options. Little Guy ordered the oatmeal, sausage and fruit (potatoes and bacon were other safe options!).

Look at that oatmeal bowl - ENORMOUS! He loved it. Especially when we added a little brown sugar and raisins.

Little Guy thoroughly enjoyed his food allergy friendly meals as you can see!!

Here's my official review!

Food: American-style food focused on steak, burgers and chicken (of course since it's a steakhouse!). Small kids menu for breakfast, but great food overall.

Allergy-Friendly: Yes. As mentioned above we had a great experience with this restaurant and the staff.

Atmosphere: Dark wooden furniture makes it feel more upscale, yet it's a casual place that's great for kids too. It overlooks the golf course and we walked right outside and down some stairs for the kids to play in the grassy area while waiting for our meals. A great place for kids and adults.

I'll be sure to add my great review to AllergyEats!

You may also like my list of other food allergy friendly restaurant reviews with photos of some of the food! 

DISCLAIMER: My reviews are only reviews of our unique experience at these restaurants. They are not an endorsement of safety when eating at these restaurants as each restaurant, staff and kitchen are different. Please do your own research and take all precautions for you and your family when eating out.

OC Maryland Food Allergy Friendly Restaurants

We recently had a great allergy-friendly experience at two restaurants in Ocean City, Maryland. It was a drastically different beach trip than last year's trip. Although we had fun last year too, I didn't feel comfortable ordering at a restaurant that I wasn't familiar with, so we made all of Little Guy's food in the hotel room.

This year, Little Guy is obviously older and notices if he doesn't get a meal from the restaurant like everyone else. I also felt more confident trying two new restaurants since I did my research beforehand. We ended up having positive experiences at both Harrison's Harbor Watch Restaurant and Phillips Crab House. We've eaten at these restaurants before - even before Little Guy was born! So, our family loves going there anyway, and it's a bonus they could accommodate Little Guy's food allergies.

I called both restaurants ahead of time to make sure they felt comfortable preparing an allergy-friendly meal for Little Guy. I also used our trusty chef cards to help me communicate with the server, manager and chef about Little Guy's multiple food allergies to egg, dairy, nuts, sesame and wheat.

Little Guy had a plain hamburger with steamed veggies at both restaurants. Here's his meal at Harrison's - especially photo-worthy due to the "Allergy" stick:

Love the Allergy stick!

 Little Guy sat by the window to enjoy the view. Harrison's is right on the harbor and the views are so beautiful to watch the water and boats pass by.

Little Guy enjoying his allergy-friendly meal!

I didn't take a photo of Little Guy's meal at Phillips, but it was about the same - burger and veggies. I usually bring extras for him like a gluten-free, dairy-free and egg-free muffin or nut-free granola bar. I also usually have some sort of treat on hand like Enjoy Life cookies!

Little Guy having fun at Phillips with Daddy!

Our trip to OC Maryland was SO much fun, and I was so happy that we had great restaurant experiences. I'll write more about our fun vacation in my next post and more about the food we packed for Little Guy and what he ate the rest of the trip.

What is your best tip for managing food allergies on vacation?  AND/OR what's your favorite place to vacation!!?