different yet the same

Hi, I'm Monique, a mum of three just trying to feed her family, while managing a whole bunch of allergies, intolerances and food preferences. Lucky for me (and my family) I love cooking and experimenting!

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different yet delicious is a space for exploring the science and art of substitutions in baking and cooking and sharing recipes. Plus a little allergy education and advocacy along the way. We may have to eat a little differently but it can still be delicious and fun!

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A little bit of background - I grew up with allergies with my first peanut reaction at the age of two. It wasn't a huge surprise when our first born was allergic to egg, then came dairy, egg and banana allergies with number two. Then number three came along and he reacted to almost everything he ate. It was a pretty scary time. He reacted more and more as time went on, different types of reactions from anaphylaxis to EoE and FPIES. We had to reduce his foods to potato, chicken, pumpkin and apple for 6 months. Then slowly start introducing foods like quinoa, chickpea and coconut yoghurt. 

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Add in food intolerances like dairy and sulphites along with a vegetarian and so the experimenting began. Thankfully I was never any good at following recipes, there weren't any recipes out there for cookies made of of quinoa flour, chickpeas and apple. So with a love of cooking, instilled from my mum and nana, and science, it makes for a fun and messy kitchen with plenty of great recipes and plenty of mistakes along the way. 

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In my spare time I work for a charity providing social and emotional support for people living with allergies.