Trace Adkins was recently on the Celebrity Apprentice, and unfortunately did not win. His charity was FAAN - Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network - his daughter suffers from severe food allergies. But...you can still help him help FAAN. If you purchase his live version from the show, all proceeds got to FAAN. There is a link on FAAN's website or you can go to iTunes directly. You can hear the song, You're Gonna Miss This here.

You can hear a bit about his story here:

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When you navigate and manage the world of food allergies it can limit the quick, convenience meals that are available to you. Most, if not all of your meals and food need to be made from scratch. This can make things difficult on those days where you are just too exhausted to think about cooking. I was recently told about a company, GF Meals that makes and ships prepared meals, ALL being Gluten and Casein Free. The company was started as your typical company catering to those who wanted quick and yummy meals. They changed when they saw the demand for casein and gluten free foods. Everything is frozen and ready-to-cook with the options of entrees, side dishes and baked goods. ALL their items are gluten and casein free which means neither of those items exist in their kitchen. Which makes me happy – with no cross-contamination issues. I have not yet tried them but after I check into them a bit more, I just may – they’re dishes look delicious. I would love the option for some quick, healthy (they’re all organic) foods that are ready to cook and serve for those really loooong days!

You can check out their website here.

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As Kayla is getting more and more aware of her allergies and gaining a deeper understanding, it is only natural that the subject is being discussed more regularly (everything she sees on the ground she assumes it is dairy now). So Alysa is hearing about this dairy allergy “thing” more and more. I have tried to talk about it more with her so she can be aware of Kayla’s allergy and one day contribute to her Big Sister’s safety. But I have found it quite adorable and amusing to see her as she is trying to understand it. Multiple times a day, now I hear from her, “I need to have some dairy, so I can feel sick.” or, “Kayla needs dairy, so it can make her be sick.” I can almost SEE the wheels turning in her little head as she tries to make sense of this completely abstract concept. It is giving me some good excuses to try to explain it all to her – you know, that we DO NOT want Kayla to get sick. ;)

Today, she was at the food store with me while Kayla was in school and we passed a woman with a half gallon of milk (the container had black spots like a cow). Alysa pointed to it and yelled out, “That’s cow’s milk!”.

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Speaking of FAAN, I will be taking place in their Walk for Food Allergies fund raiser in August Registration has not yet begun, so I will post more on this as I get more information.