Anyone have Oral Allergy Syndrome?

Wow, I'd never heard of that allergy before.

Try grilling fruits. Pineapples, especially, are delicious when grilled. Baked apples and pears, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar are also great. Try cobblers instead of pies. Much easier, IMO.

Yes, I have something similar. My doctor told me that a fruit or vegetable that cross-pollinates with something I am allergic to could trigger a reaction. It is hit or miss with the reaction. I have a better chance of reacting in the summer when the pollen is higher. I tend to eat the trigger foods in the winter when the pollen is down. Good Luck!

I have it with strawberries and bananas - a fact I have to keep reminding my DH, even though we've been together over 23 years!

My symptoms are relatively mild for the most part and take weekly allergy shots, but here are a few things that have worked for me:

1) The canning process usually involves high temperatures and/or pressures for pasteurization and sealing, so anything that is canned should be safe. I recommend that if you do home canning, you use an actual pressure cooker.

2) Canned fruits packed in juice or water - don’t go for the sugar free varieties as these usually have sugar substitute additives add fruit is usually sweet enough to stand alone.

3) Canned vegetables, again packed in juice or water - no sodium if you can get it, low sodium if you can’t. You can always add extra salt (or sugar for fruit), but you don’t have control of amounts canned goods unless there is none to start with.

4) Freezing isn’t a great option, the cold may help delay the reaction, but I still have some issues with frozen pineapple.

5) For me, dehydration works pretty well and can be done in a regular oven. That said, dehydration is done at a lower temperature than most cooking and may not be suitable for stronger reactions than mine. Dehydration can get you anything from fruit leather to veggie chips.

6) Pickling is another option as the point of the procedure is preservation, a byproduct of which is the breakdown of what is being pickled to a small extent, but again, proceed with caution. If your recipe calls for you to stick fresh onions in vinegar for a hour and calls it pickle, you should probably skip them.

7) Pasturization is a process that commonly uses a short period of intense heat to kill potential pathogens. In theory, juices and other similar products may be just processed enough to break down the proteins causing cross reaction. Caution, check labels for pasteurized products before trying.

8) For smoothies, you can used that canned fruit. You can freeze it or the juice first, to use it instead of ice cubes. Add some blanched spinach, kale, or carrot for an additional boost. Again, this can be frozen after. I like using either oat milk or almond milk for the liquid, but the canned juice or water is an option.

9) Spiralized veggies. I don’t know how I managed before the spriralizer. Spiralized veggies are fun alternatives to standard flour pasta, and they cook faster too. They even have them pre-packaged (zucchini and butternut squash at least) in the produce section of the grocery store. I don’t recommend frozen unless using them for baking or smoothies.

10) Soups and stews are, of course, a staple. I recommend finding a good vegetable or minestrone soup recipe for easy dinner days. Other good standbys are beef stew and potato soup. For something with a bit more oomph, try a chili recipe or New Mexican Pozole Stew. Don’t be afraid to get creative and add in extra types of veggies if you feel the one you’re working with is not enough.

11) Obviously, applesauce is a mainstay. My godmother used to make a pink version that used cinnamon candies instead of cinnamon sugar. However, it is not just applesauce, add pumpkin pie spice to a bit of pumpkin purée mixed with cream or milk, and you have a fabulous dessert.

12) Have you ever tried a wilted salad?

13) If you are throwing all diets (and perhaps good sense) out the window, then I recommend Bananas Foster ala Mode.

14) As an aside, both Brussel Sprouts and Asparagus are somewhat smelly to cook even if they taste great. I recommend making these dining out treats if the smell bothers you.

15) Want something really easy? My bother has a tendency to add whatever herbs and spices or sauces (premade or packaged) he wants to the meat and veggie mix for the night, before spreading the whole concoction on a sheet pan and sticking it in the oven till it’s done.

16) Just last week, I took a prepackaged Jimmy Dean scrambler mix with kale, onions, cheese, turkey sausage, etc. and a bag of frozen mixed veggies and spread them over a 10”x15” sheet pan. After whisking a dozen eggs with no more than a cup of oat milk (sorry, I didn’t measure), I poured the mix over the veggies and stuck it in the oven at 350. Again, I didn’t time it, but check doneness at 30 min mark to evaluate. It gave me almost 3 weeks of breakfasts and it is freezeable.

17) For a fun drink, try mixing seltzer water with pasteurized juice. I am fond of watermelon with a hint of mint.

18) If you have picky eaters, try emulsifying you veggies in the food processor and exchanging a bit of the wetter ingredients in your next casserole with the mixture.

19) Most grocery stores have microwaveable bags of fresh veggies in the produce section (freezer section too). For a quick snack, I am fond of the edamame or snap peas. For a quick lunch, a sweet potato stuffed with leftover barbecue hits the spot.

20) There is also such a thing as hot chicken salad. I am not sure if a healthy version of this recipe exists, but there is a mix of ranch dressing powder, sour cream, cooked shredded chicken, cheese, onions and celery; all placed in a casserole dish, topped with Ruffles, and cooked.

I should probably stop here. Hope some of these concepts help a few people.