Welcome to nutfreebymeg! This blog is dedicated to making and creating recipes without peanuts, peanut butter, almonds, hazelnut, cashews, pistachios, walnuts, pecans, and many other tree nuts. My name is Meghan and I've had a peanut, peanut butter, and tree nut allergy my entire life.
My family and I found out I was allergic to peanut butter when I was eleven months old after my mom fed me a PB&J sandwich for lunch. My body broke out in hives, my lips doubled in size, and my airways started to constrict. Thankfully, my mom rushed me to the doctor's office, after feeling like the worst person in the world, where I was administered an EpiPen and give the diagnosis. According to foodallergy.org, peanut butter is the most common food allergy in the world. Now, some kids are really lucky and outgrow their allergy by the time they hit kindergarten, but I wasn't one of those kids.
I started elementary school where I learned quickly that I was the only one who couldn't eat a Reese's cup during our Halloween party and I had to tell people constantly that I was allergic so they wouldn't touch me or my stuff. As I got older, I had to start carrying around Benadryl and EpiPen just in case I ate something I wasn't supposed to, such as a cupcake that I assumed was vanilla batter when really it was almond. Or the time my math teacher wrote me a hall pass while she was snacking on peanuts. The contact alone was enough for my face to breakout into hives. Then came the awkward dating stage where I had to ask a boy if he had peanut butter today right before he kissed me (talk about ruining the moment). By the time I went off to college, I thought I had it under control until I had to eat in the dining hall where more challenges arose. Safe to say, I have had my fair share of reactions.
Food struggles helped create nutfreebymeg
While in college, I began trying different recipes that would soon lead to nutfreebymeg. I needed to add more protein to my diet that wasn't eggs, chicken, or yogurt. I would watch TikTok videos of girls mixing peanut butter and yogurt to eat with apples, celery, and carrots and feel a twinge sadness that I couldn't mix that snack into my diet. Until I discovered a product that has forever changed my eating habits!
Sunflower Butter
Sunflower butter has completely changed my world with omitting peanut butter in recipes while maintaining a high-level of protein. Sunflower butter is made entirely of slow roasted sunflower seeds mixed with salt, chia seeds, and other plant-based proteins. Fair warning, it tastes exactly like peanut butter without the reaction. I had to adjust my tastebuds and body to the texture and taste. The first time I tried it my tastebuds rejected it and my body felt like it wanted to have a physical reaction, but it didn't. For a while, I couldn't eat it straight up. Instead, I mixed it into cookie dough, yogurt, smoothies, etc. Now, I can finally enjoy it on bread with jelly and make my own version of PB&J. For anyone with a nut allergy, living with someone who has a nut allergy, or doesn't like the taste of peanut butter, then my recipes are designed for you!
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