I have also been obsessed with a fellow blogger’s challenge to feed her son. Jenny, who blogs at Multiple Food Allergy Help, has been struggling with a severely limited list of foods her son can eat. Like my son, he suffers from EE, but he reacts to many more foods – and there is nothing that tugs at my heartstrings more than a child who lists the only ten foods he can eat, when asked what he is allergic to.
Jenny just recently made the decision to put her son on a feeding tube, but he can still have a very short list of foods – and that list includes cranberry and pear. So, guess what I made?
Jacob's Jam (Cranberry-Pear Jam)
1 ½ cups cranberries (whole)
2 cups pears, peeled and diced (2 medium pears)
1 ¾ cups sugar
2 tbsp water
½ tsp vanilla (optional)
Combine the cranberries, pears, and sugar in a large non-reactive saucepan:
Let it sit for about 30 minutes until the sugar starts to liquefy:
Boil the mixture on medium heat in a nonreactive saucepan (stirring frequently), about 12-15 minutes until the cranberries have popped. Use a potato masher to mash the pear chunks:
Add the vanilla (if desired). Boil for another 3-5 minutes (stirring frequently) until the jam has thickened. Cool completely before serving.
Cranberries are just starting to show up in the grocery store, so this is the perfect time to make this jam. It can be made and preserved (as I am doing above), or simply made to eat right away. It will keep in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks.
Jacob can’t have any grains (which means no bread). Clearly this can be eaten alone as a bowl of fruit, but here are a couple more ideas:
Freeze it in ice cube trays with a lollipop stick, and serve it as a popsicle.
Serve it on top of a baked sweet potato (another one of his safe foods) (sounds Thanksgiving-ish, doesn’t it?)
Dip spoonfuls into melted Enjoy Life chocolate chips, and eat it off the spoon after cooling. These can be chocolate covered “lollipops.”
What else might Jenny do with the jam?
3 comments:
What simple ideas - but very yummy! I like the lollipop and icy pole ideas. It's giving me inspirations... I've been thinking about sweet alternatives for our son too since he can't have any of the store bought lollies due to his multiple food allergies. I've been tossing up marshmallows... I wonder if you can put jam in the middle somehow? Then dip it in chocolate...
This sounds awesome! What I loved most is it simplicity. Instead of vanila am sure any other can be added too.
Yes, sometimes simple is the best!
Grace, marshmallows dipped in chocolate sounds pretty fabulous!
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