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Have
some fun replacing peanut butter
July 31, 08
Suzanne Havala Hobbs
It’s hard enough to come
up with good tasting and convenient school lunch ideas.
So when a child’s school goes peanut-free, parents face
a major challenge: What can replace that staple of the lunch
box, peanut butter sandwiches?
Peanuts are one of the most common food allergens. Children
with peanut allergies can have reactions that range from mild
– itching and minor skin irritations, for example –
to severe, including nausea, vomiting and life-threatening
anaphylaxis.
More schools are becoming peanut-free zones to protect kids
at risk of accidental exposure. It’s forcing parents
to get creative about finding alternatives.
Plenty of good alternatives exist. They share many of the
characteristics that made peanut butter so popular in the
first place.
We like peanut butter because it tastes good. It’s sticky,
spreadable, nutritious and convenient. It doesn’t need
refrigeration, so it’s highly portable.
Most nuts can be ground like peanuts into a spreadable butter.
Good examples include cashew butter and almond butter, which
you can pick up at nearly any natural foods store and many
supermarkets. (But watch out: Nutella, a popular hazelnut
spread, contains peanut oil).
Like peanut butter, these alternative nut butters are delicious
and rich sources of protein, vitamins and minerals. The oils
these nuts contain are mostly health-supporting monounsaturated
fats, so they fit into nearly everyone’s diets.
Use nut butters in every way that peanut butter is used –
on sandwiches, piled onto a celery stick, dipped with apple
slices or in recipes for peanut butter cookies.
But there’s a catch.
Many children who are allergic to peanuts are also allergic
to other tree nuts like cashews and almonds. If your child
has a peanut allergy, check with his or her health care provider
to make sure other tree nuts are OK to eat.
And consider other options. For example:
* Experiment with soy nut butter. Whole, roasted soybeans
are ground to make soy nut butter, which is sold in jars like
peanut butter and has a similar consistency and a pleasing
flavor. Find it in natural foods stores. Spread soy nut butter
on whole grain bread, add jelly, and it can pass just fine
for a PBJ. Like peanut butter, soy nut butter is rich in protein
and low in saturated fat.
* Consider seed butters. Check natural foods stores for jars
of sunflower seed butter. It’s delicious and a rich
source of protein, vitamin E, B vitamins and several minerals.
Another option is tahini, a Middle Eastern spread or paste
made from ground sesame seeds. Tahini has a mild flavor and
is rich in protein, healthy fats and calcium. It’s often
mixed with mashed garbanzo beans to make hummus, a versatile
Middle Eastern bean dip.
Speaking of bean dips, they make good alternatives to peanut
butter, too.
Find hummus in the refrigerated section of supermarkets, natural
foods stores and warehouse stores. Black bean dip is typically
sold in jars or cans as a dip to go with tortilla chips and
vegetable sticks.
Bean dips are highly nutritious, rich in protein, dietary
fiber, calcium and iron. They make good fillings for wrap
sandwiches, in pita pockets or rolled inside a flour tortilla.
Add grated carrots, a handful of chopped lettuce and tomatoes,
or a scoop of salsa.
Seed and nut butters don’t need refrigeration, but bean
dip and other vegetable spreads, like guacamole, should be
kept chilled if they’re not eaten within a couple of
hours. That’s especially true in warmer weather.
If in doubt, place an ice pack inside lunch boxes to keep
the contents cool until your child gets to eat.
Don’t let new peanut-free rules get you down. Turn the
limitation into an opportunity to add some new staples to
your lunchtime routine.
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