Here we are in the midst of the 12th annual Food Allergy Awareness Week, which runs from May 10 - 16 this year. It seems Canadians finished their festivities last week, but we hope they will join us for this celebratory blog carnival regardless. A blog carnival you say? Yes, this week I have the honor of hosting the Living with Food Allergies Blog Carnival, and it is a good one (27 posts in all!). We have good food, good stories, and several helpful tidbits to keep life with food allergies fun (and delicious)!

So enough with my rambling, it's time to enjoy some featured blog posts! Introducing the May 14, 2009, Food Allergy Awareness Celebratory edition of the living with food allergies carnival ...

May 12, 2009 -- Tofutti Brands Inc. has completed a precautionary investigative recall of 12 pallets of its 8-Pack VANILLA CUTIES mini sandwich frozen dessert novelties (UPC 0-20188-01301-2) due to possible trace level milk contamination reported for a limited number of lots shipped which were produced in July of 2008. VANILLA CUTIES are labeled as Milk Free and persons who have an allergy or severe sensitivity or intolerance to Dairy products run the risk of serious or life-threatening injury if they consume products with milk ingredients.  Tofutti Brands uses stringent quality controls to prevent milk contamination of its products and sells more than 60 million individual VANILLA CUTIES each year ...

Every Tuesday we will feature a review from our Dairy-Free Library. This week is a little special, not only because we are a day late, but also because I am doing a review / comparison of two brand new cookbooks that cover a similar topic. Enjoy ...

Within one week, I received not one, but two fabulous vegan “ice cream” cookbooks, Lick It! and The Vegan Scoop. As luck would have it, I don’t have an ice cream maker, but thanks to these incredible books I will be getting one very soon (this Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker is next on my ‘to obtain’ list!). However, there is no way I was going to wait any longer to tell you about these cookbooks, especially with Memorial Day Weekend and blazing sunshine just around the corner. I know how you all like to prepare for your seasonal sweets. Though the topic might seem narrow, these two books are actually quite unique. I am going to give you some objective information on each, to help you decide if one or both are best for your collection:

I have to postpone our regularly scheduled "Dairy-Free Library" post until tomorrow, as I can't wait any longer to let you know about the just released FREE May edition of the Vegan Culinary Experience. This month's e-magazine is rich with curries from Southeast Asia, East Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean. And just when you thought you couldn't get any deeper into the topic, Chef Jason Wyrick includes numerous recipes for from-scratch curry powders and pastes, desserts, and fusion curry creations (think Red Curry Tamales and Curried Melon Balls!). You can view and download the current edition, "Curries from Around the World," with a simple click. But, if you subscribe to the VCE (still free!) you will have access to the VCE community, you will receive an email each time a new edition comes out (plus links to prior editions), and you will receive bonus recipes from Chef Jason periodically, often themed for holidays and special occasions.

Our monthly "Bits and Bites" from the dairy-free world also include news of interest to the food allergic, vegans, GFCF dieters, and all around health-oriented people. If you have any relevant news or announcements to share for our round-up, simply contact us.  May is rich with news briefs on book releases, contests, new products, and other great foodie news, so read on! …

Dairy-Free AND Soy-Free "Butter" Has Arrived
It's here, it's here! Those wonderful people at Earth Balance have finally addressed a missing link in the dairy-free and vegan world; a butter/margarine that is not only free of dairy (yes, that includes casein) and all natural (no trans fats or hydrogenated anything found here), but it is also soy-free! ...