Fine Dining at Home - Osso Buco

So I was wandering around my neighborhood grocery store and came upon a "special today" for veal shanks. Now I don't usually buy veal, but this deal could not be ignored. There were only 3 packages sitting on the refrigerated shelf for only $3.99/lb! After careful inspection, I determined that the rock bottom price was not due to the meat being spoiled or anything bad like that so I snatched up two packages and resolved to finally try a recipe for osso buco, a dish I had, up until now, regarded only as "fine dining" fare. Well that notion could not have been farther from the truth. After making my way through the recipe, it seemed to me that osso buco is simply a glorified beef stew with very little difference in preparation technique.

For the recipe, I chose to go with Giada De Laurentiis' osso buco recipe based on the 5 star reviews. I was pretty happy with this dish. It wasn't difficult to make and the resulting tender morsels of veal were flavorful and satisfying. I think this makes a great dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free entree that would be excellent for guests or if you just want to treat yourself to something different from the usual routine.

RECIPE for Osso Buco by Giada De Laurentiis

Grilled Steak/Chicken & Asparagus

I think grilling is a great way to produce a variety of dairy-free, egg-free, and nut-free meals. With just some basic seasonings and marinades, you can create easy and great tasting food that everyone in the family can enjoy. As the weather has started to warm up a bit, we've begun firing up our grill more often. Here are two allergy-friendly grill recipes that my family really enjoys.

RECIPE for Grilled Flank Steak With Rosemary by Bon Appetit

Recipe Notes:

• The marinade in this recipe is very flavorful and can be used on other meats. As you can see from my picture, I like to apply it to chicken. When using chicken breasts, I like to pound the meat to about 1/2 inch thickness prior to marinating.
  
• I have found, along with other reviewers, that the additional salt in the recipe is not necessary and can result in an overly salty end-product depending on the thickness of your meat.

RECIPE for Grilled Asparagus With Balsamic Vinegar by Cooking Light

• This makes a great side. Just a very tasty way to cook up some asparagus.

Meatloaf Muffins, Mmmmm

Recently, I've been experimenting with meatloaf. It used to be on my banned food list due to its egg content, but after making this egg-free turkey meatloaf, I started to wonder just how important eggs really were in traditional meatloaf. I figured eggs acted as a binding agent and perhaps enhanced overall texture, but were they absolutely necessary? After all, do hamburgers (arguably a flat form of meatloaf) require eggs? Would the taste, structure, or texture really suffer that much if I simply omitted eggs from the recipe? I decided to test this out on a favorite meatloaf recipe from my family's pre-food-allergy days.

The recipe is one for meatloaf muffins consisting primarily of ground beef, chopped vegetables, and crushed saltine crackers. Since I knew I would be omitting the two eggs called for in the recipe, I rounded up a bit on moisture-contributing ingredients, specifically, the vegetables and ketchup. After all was said and done, I'm quite happy to report that the egg-free end product did not stray too far from the original version. It still tasted good and kept its shape well. Perhaps this was a result of them being small muffin shapes versus a larger loaf which might have just crumbled and fallen apart. Whatever the case may be, I'm just glad that I can enjoy a once-favorite dish again and add another dairy-free, egg-free meatloaf recipe to the family meal rotation.

RECIPE for Diner Meatloaf Muffins by Cooking Light

Recipe Notes:

• Omit eggs to make this egg-free.
  
  
• If you find you have slightly more chopped vegetables than called for (i.e. rounded cup vs level cup measurements), go ahead and include it to boost the overall moisture content of the meatloaf. An extra 1-2 tablespoons of ketchup will also help in this regard.
  
  
• I found that this recipe also works fine without Worcestershire sauce if you don't have it on hand or are avoiding seafood ingredients.
  
  
• If your arteries can take it, consider making this with higher fat beef for even more flavor.
  

Chili & Cornbread

Here's a simple yet satisfying meal that is very easy to make. Chili is one of those foods that we don't routinely eat, but every now and then I like to interject it into the rotation to change up our usual meal line-up.

This dependable chili recipe is one from Everyday Food. I like their recipes because they tend to have 10 or fewer ingredients and all of them are usually pantry staples or very basic items that are very easy to get. This recipe mixes it up a little by throwing in some cocoa to lend some depth to the overall flavor. I've never put cocoa in anything besides baked goods so this made the recipe sort of fun to make. Cornbread was something I didn't think we'd be able to enjoy with our chili again, but thankfully I was able to find a dairy-free, egg-free (vegan) recipe for cornbread that everybody in the family really likes.


RECIPE for Lighter Beef Chili from Everyday Food

Recipe Notes:

• This is a very mild chili so it works well with kids. If you prefer more heat, boost up the chili powder or add some variety of hot pepper.
  
• The recipe as written is very low on salt, so be sure to add salt according to your taste.
  
• To balance out the tartness of the tomatoes, you may want to add 1-2 teaspoons of sugar.
  

RECIPE for Moist Vegan Cornbread from Recipezaar

Recipe Notes:

• As the recipe indicates, this is best eaten the day it is made. In my experience, it will last 2 days before it dries out.
  
• If you prefer your cornbread less sweet, cut back a little on the maple syrup (~3-4 Tbsp) and make up the difference in soymilk.
  

A Trio Of 5-Star Simple Pot Roast Recipes

I had never made a pot roast until after I found out my daughter had food allergies. I've just never been too keen on wrestling with large unwieldy slabs of meat in a pot. However, in my search for dairy free, nut free, and egg free entrees, I kept running across pot roast recipes that were perfectly allergen free exactly the way they were written, no substitutions required whatsoever. Given that these are precisely the kinds of recipes I pounce on and the fact that just reading through the recipes made me hungry, I figured I had to give pot roast a try.

Well, after making three different kinds of pot roasts and enjoying all three, pot roast has officially made it onto the meal rotation. Here are the three pot roast recipes I've tried. All of them are 5-star-reviewed (as of this post), all delicious, and all easy to make. Each has a distinct flavor, so depending on your mood you can choose the one you feel like eating.


RECIPE: Pot Roast With Vegetables by Tyler Florence
Classic beef stew flavors that can't go wrong. Includes tomatoes, onions, carrots, celery, and mushrooms. Use a 14oz can of crushed tomatoes as the recipe does not specify size.

RECIPE: Red Wine Pot Roast With Honey and Thyme by Dave Lieberman
I love the flavor of the red wine combined with the slight sweetness of the honey.

RECIPE: Stracoto With Porcini Mushrooms by Giada De Laurentiis
A nice deep, rich flavor. The aroma of porcini mushrooms and red wine as this cooks is amazing.

My Go-To Beef Stew Recipe

Here is a very hearty, very satisfying beef stew recipe that is also fairly nutritious. You can alter the ingredient list a bit according to your taste. I like to reduce or omit the potatoes in favor of more carrots. I've also omitted the pearl onions if I didn't have them available.

RECIPE from Cooking Light