Long Live Peanuts

We found out recently that my daughter is no longer allergic to peanuts. This has been 11 years in the making for her, and to be honest, for us as well. We have been hoping this was going to happen. Let’s discuss.

When my daughter was a baby she was pretty much allergic to all tree nuts. She couldn't have any of it. We got used to making Wow butter and sunflower butter sandwiches. My folks would go out and find almond butter cups. We found a way to give her a simulacrum of the things we liked made from peanut butter.

Then a few years back I took her in for a test and we found out at that time that she was only allergic to peanuts. All of the sudden pistachios, cashews, all the good nuts, save for peanuts, were on the table. This was great. She loved pistachios the most. She enjoyed cashews as well, especially cashew butter for her sandwiches, but pistachios were her jam. First it was just straight up pistachios too. Then we expanded that to pistachio ice cream and other sweets with pistachio as the only nut in them. This ruled. I fell in love with pistachios again. I would go buy nut mixes with just pistachio, cashews and almonds. Those were great as well. But the big test was peanuts. Her allergist told us to get bloodwork done, and when she got the results she figured it was time to give peanut butter a try.

The test went great. My daughter had zero reaction to the rather large amount of peanut butter she had during the two hour visit. She was stoked, the doctor was happy and my wife and I were ecstatic. We love peanut based sweets and we both enjoy a pb and j during the summer. These were all on the table now for our daughter.

After her visit we asked what she thought of just the plain peanut butter. She was not too impressed, telling me that I overhyped it. But then she had some peanut butter M and M's. She was over the moon. She told me how much better peanut butter tasted when it was wrapped in chocolate. Of course I agreed. She has now gone through a bunch of other peanut butter sweets. She has had Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, which she enjoys. She had a Butterfinger during Halloween, which was also a hit. She had some honey roasted peanuts which she said she enjoyed. Pretty much any sweet treat with peanut butter she is now a big fan of. And since I do the grocery shopping for my family it has now come to my attention all the things I can now buy for her since she is no longer allergic. I shared a Baby Ruth with her recently, which is wildly underrated to me, and my daughter was in heaven. We got Drumsticks, the ice cream cones that are chocolate covered and dipped in peanuts. She had one last night for dessert, and while her reaction wasn't what I expected, she seemed to still enjoy herself. I bought Moose Tracks Ice Cream. For those that don't know, Moose Tracks is vanilla ice cream with fudge and peanut butter cups in it. She can now have a Payday bar, which may be one of the best fueling foods for us distance runners. She can try Abba Zabba if she wants, which is basically peanut butter taffy. My dad and brother were telling her about peanut brittle today, and it dawned on me that she has never had that, and I haven't had any since she was born. She has never had a straight up peanut butter cookie, which we will certainly remedy in the near future. My mother in law makes the best peanut butter chocolate cake that I have ever eaten. That is back on the table. She has never had a Nutter Butter cookie or Nutty Buddy Little Debby. She has got to try those for sure.

It has just recently dawned on me how much stuff that is out there that she has never had, and we have not had to not entice her when she was allergic. It is not just sweets either. My brother mentioned pad thai this morning. She now wants to try that. There's peanut butter chicken we get at Chinese restaurants that she can now share with us. In fact there are a ton of Asian dishes she is free to try now that her allergy is gone. She can try my wife's wonderful peanut pasta. The possibilities are endless.

This was some great news the day we got it, and now going to the store is so much more fun for me because I don't really have to read labels or worry about what kind of factory the food is processed in. i'm stoked that my daughter and son have had their food allergies go to the wayside. Shopping and cooking is much more fun with zero limitations. And I cannot wait to make peanut butter cookies with my daughter as soon as possible. Food is fun again in our home. 

Ty 

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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