Our Vegan Disneyland Adventure

The other day we went to Disneyland. Slim pickings already for vegans when you are going to a place like that but even slimmer when you have allergies, food aversions, and Crohn's disease in your party. My husband has Crohn's. He was diagnosed when he was about 18 years old. He does really well with it. No surgeries so far, he doesn't take any medications, and he feels pretty good most of the time. He's noticed that fatigue and food effect him the most. He can't eat anything with a thick skin (okra, corn, green beans) and if he eats too much wheat or nuts, he has some issues. Being vegan has really helped him a lot. Then there is my son. Picky eater!!! Drives me crazy most days. Plus he can't eat corn or pineapple (intolerance). With corn he gets a wicked stomachache. Just brutal. Really sends him spinning. Corn is actually a really hard one. Corn syrup is in everything! He wishes he could eat popcorn like everyone else when we go to a movie but it just isn't worth the reaction. And pineapple gives him a rash, like the one my daughter gets from apples. So far our daughter eats just about anything but can't eat apples.

 

So when we get ready for a big adventure like Disneyland, we have to bring snacks that will get us through the day without effecting the health issues in the family. I knew that D-land had plain pasta with a tomato sauce that was vegan. So that covered our daughter, my husband, and me. Henry won't eat it. I would rather go eat rice, beans and corn tortillas at the Mexican food restaurant but can't tempt Henry with the corn. So I made seitan for him to snack on throughout the day. Seitan that my husband can't touch because he would be down for the count. My go to recipe is from Nava Atlas. It is in The Vegetarian Family Cookbook. Then there was fruit. I'm not paying D-land prices for fruit. Packed tangerines so that Lily wouldn't get upset with us eating apples. Dessert, you have to have something sweet for the kids. You pass a lot of lollipops, popsicles, and other sugary items while in the land of Mickey. Henry can't eat any of it since they are packed with high fructose corn syrup. So I made Rock Road cookies from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. Last I packed some juice boxes to make sure that it didn't have any corn syrup or apples in it. If any room left in the bag, I throw in trial mix, some seaweed, and nutrition bars. Oh, I also threw in a small container of nutritional yeast for us to sprinkle on our pasta. Give it a little something something.