Cookbook Story | Cooking with EoE

Guest Blogger - Jun 03, '21 - Cookbook Ideas - Cookbook Stories

Patti is a mother of two, wife, and an X-ray/CT technologist. She approaches all aspects of her life with a sense of commitment, purpose, and joy. Therefore, it is no surprise that when she faced the uncertainty of what’s next after an eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) diagnosis, she used these values to benefit the wider EoE community and those who suffer with food allergies.

Patti grew up with environmental allergies and was diagnosed with EoE in 2013, a diagnosis that often taints people’s relationship with food. However, with a love for cooking and creating in the kitchen, she was determined not to fall out of love with it. Instead, as a keen gardener, Patti decided to expand the size of her kitchen garden and wrote her very own cookbook, Cooking with EoE, which she launched this year. She hopes the cookbook will support and inspire others in the EoE community in their journey with food.

Her cookbook, Cooking with EoE, contains over 100 delicious recipes all made without wheat, dairy, eggs, soy, corn, tree nuts, peanuts, fish and seafood.

"I mostly wrote this cookbook for myself," says Patti. "As a book to help me organize all my favorite allergy free recipes in one spot. I belong to several EoE support groups on Facebook and soon realized that I’m not the only one in this boat and thought I maybe other people with EoE and food allergies could benefit from my favorite recipes too (even if a person doesn’t have EoE or food allergies, this still is a great collection of healthy, delicious recipes)."

Patti says her diet mainly consists of veggies, fruits, meat, rice and coconut. "I have always loved cooking and I have quite the collection of cookbooks. With having EoE, I have done a lot of research, trial and error and have gotten very creative in my kitchen to come up with recipes that are “safe” for me to eat. All the recipes in my cookbook are easy to make. I usually think of a food or recipe that I loved to make/eat and then I would substitute out ingredients that I can’t have for ingredients that I can and would see how it would turn out. Some examples: soy sauce for coconut amino acids, milk for rice milk, all purpose flour for a 'safe' gluten free flour, eggs for egg replacer. It’s so extremely important to read every single label on the packaging. Sometimes allergens are disguised by different wording. Since it’s not time or cost effective to make two different meals, it was important to me to create recipes that are safe for me and that my whole family would love."

^{Bacon Pancake Dippers from Cooking with EoE}

EoE is a fairly newly discovered disease. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of cookbooks out there that are free from the top 8 food allergens plus corn. Patti's goal with this cookbook is to help people who have EoE/food allergies by giving them a resource for “safe” delicious food. When you have EoE/food allergies, you feel like there isn’t anything to eat," Patti says. "Especially when newly diagnosed. Yes...there is finally something you can eat!"

"Eating foods that are fresh and free of pesticides or additives is a priority for me. I love to garden and grow as much of my own food as our short growing season in Northern Minnesota will allow. I try to preserve as much of my fresh veggies and fruits as I can by freezing or canning. It gives me peace of mind knowing that I took special care growing my own food that I know is good for me."

Purchase Patti's Cookbook, Cooking with EoE, here. 

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