No-Cheese Macaroni Bake

I stumbled across this recipe one day while surfing the internet. It's one of the first dairy-free casseroles that I've been able to find that does not from the outset try to clone its cheesy counterpart. While admittedly it looks like macaroni and cheese and apparently has even fooled some kids into thinking so, it was created to be tasty on its own merits. It's healthy too, with pureed cauliflower being the main "creamy" component of this dish.

The recipe is by Lucy Waverman, a well-known Canadian culinary personality. I especially like the fact that her approach to cooking for food allergies is similar to mine. She says, "My recipes are made with natural ingredients and are not intended to imitate the more conventional recipes. They make superb eating on their own." This one is definitely good eating on its own and will appeal to both kids and adults alike.

I found this recipe at the Canadian Epipen site. You will need to register for free to get the recipe. There are other dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free recipes as well which you may want to try.

RECIPE for Creamy Macaroni Bake by Lucy Waverman

Grilled Peaches and Pork

I love peaches. Everything about a fresh, plump, ripe peach just beckons you to partake and enjoy. Now that we're well into summer, the peaches are plentiful at my local farmer's market. Each time I go, I pick up several to last me the week. However, I'm now finding that the little mouths to feed in the house have also developed a taste for fresh peaches and before I know it, my store of these luscious, sweet fruits are depleted. I guess that means this mom needs to haul more back from the market each week. They're good, but good grief, they sure can get heavy to lug around with all my other produce purchases!

Anyway, here is a great dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free recipe for those days you'll be doing some summertime grilling. The peaches here are paired with boneless pork chops and drizzled with a balsamic vinegar sauce. It's very yummy and gives you a different way to enjoy your peaches. You can also use nectarines instead of peaches if you prefer.

RECIPE for Grilled Peaches and Pork by Cooking Light

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.

Simple Teriyaki Chicken

If you enjoy Asian foods, there are many dishes that you can make that are dairy-free, egg-free, and nut-free. Here is one of those classic dishes - Teriyaki Chicken - that is allergy-friendly, very easy to make, and simply very good. It's from Ellie Krieger, the health-conscious celebrity chef on the Food Network. I really like her version of the teriyaki marinade. You can use it on other meats or tofu too.

RECIPE for Teriyaki Chicken Thighs by Ellie Krieger

Recipe Notes:

• If you are allergic to or avoiding seeds, omit sesame seeds.
  
• If you don't prefer the spiciness, omit the red pepper flakes. It tastes fine without them.
  
• For kid-friendly eating, try this with chicken drumsticks. I've done this many times. Rather than broil I like to roast them in a 450 degree oven for about 30-35 minutes.
  

Braised Asian-Style Spareribs

Here's a really good dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free sparerib recipe everyone in my family enjoyed. It's sweet and sour Asian-style and fall-off-the-bone tender (yum, yum !). It makes a great addition to a multi-course meal or you can just serve it with some vegetables and rice.

RECIPE for Sweet-And-Sour Spareribs by Bon Appetit

(The recipe is for standard size spareribs, but I like to get my ribs cut smaller cross-wise. This makes the ribs easier to handle and easier to fit on any size or shape serving platter.)

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.
  

Hearty Bean & Barley Soup

Over the last several years I've gotten into a routine of making soup at least once a week. This has been driven more by practical reasons than a sudden love for soup. With young children just learning to eat solids, soup is an easy meal solution. You can blend individual portions of the finished soup to whatever consistency your child can eat while the adults in the family can continue to eat the soup as is. Everybody's fed, everybody's happy.

However, practical benefits aside, I have to say that this weekly soup routine has caused me to develop a much greater appreciation for soup than I previously possessed. Soup is warm, comforting, and surprisingly satisfying, often a meal on its own. The following soup is no exception. It's a dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free soup comprised of a hearty combination of beans, barley, diced tomatoes, spinach and some other aromatic vegetables. It has good flavor and is quite nutritious as well.

RECIPE for Hearty Bean and Barley Soup by Cooking Light

Recipe Notes:

• Omit parmesan cheese to make this dairy free
  
  
• To save time, I've skipped the initial step of boiling and straining the first several ingredients. Instead, I will add minced garlic while sauteeing the other aromatic veggies (carrot, onion, celery), add rosemary directly into the soup, and simply omit the crushed red pepper.
  

Quick & Tasty Chicken Tagine

If you're in the mood for something just a teensy bit more exotic, try this tasty dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free chicken tagine recipe from Rachel Ray. A tagine, as I recently learned, is traditionally a slow-cooked dish originating from North Africa. I believe this particular dish has Moroccan flavors and it also happens to be one of Rachel Ray's "30-minute-meals", so no slow-cooking going on here (which is fine by me). By using chicken breast, this dish can be cooked in a short amount of time and it holds onto all the aromatic spices quite well.

This is a very flavorful dish that works well with the couscous that is also part of the recipe. It's aromatic with some subtle sweetness coming from the dried fruit ingredients. If you have the spices on hand (cumin, coriander, sweet paprika, tumeric, cinnamon) I'd definitely give this recipe a try. And even if you don't, consider making this at a later point in time. It's fast and it adds variety to the regular meal rotation.

RECIPE for Quick Tagine-Style Chicken by Rachel Ray

Recipe Notes:

• Don't get too caught up in having all the ingredients called for. I didn't have dried prunes or raisins on hand, and ended up using dried cranberries. I also didn't use any of the condiments. Many recipe reviewers also used different types of dried fruit or didn't use any at all and still enjoyed the dish.
  
  
• Taking a cue from several reviews, I added just a touch more spices to ensure optimal flavor.
  
  
• Vegetarian/Vegan Version: As noted in the recipe, eggplant or tofu may be used in place of the chicken. Vegetable broth can be substituted for the chicken broth.
  

Turkey Meatloaf

Here's a dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, wheat-free, and soy-free turkey meatloaf recipe that was really much better than I expected. Let me first qualify this by saying that I did opt to make this with wheat ingredients (substituted panko bread crumbs for the quinoa) so I can't really comment on the recipe exactly as written. However, if you are simply looking to avoid dairy, eggs, and nuts like me, then I would definitely recommend this recipe with the use of dairy-free/egg-free bread crumbs. Since eggs are often used as a binding ingredient in meatloaf, I was happy to find that this version without eggs held up very well. I was able to easily cut bite size pieces for my 3-year-old without it crumbling at all. Overall a great meal option that was easy to make, nutritious, tasty, and popular with the kids.


RECIPE for Turkey Meatloaf by Delicious Living

Recipe Notes:

• As mentioned above, try this with dairy-free, egg-free bread crumbs (wheated version of the recipe). I made it with panko crumbs and it worked out great. You can probably find these Japanese-style breadcrumbs in the international section of your grocery store.
  
• Mix a bit more ketchup (~2 Tbsp) into the meatloaf mix to further boost the flavor
  

Super Healthy 17 Bean & Barley Soup

Here's a relatively new product that is being sold at Trader Joe's. It's their 17 Bean & Barley Mix which can be made into a very hearty soup if you follow the recipe printed on the back of the package. I've never been a huge bean person before, but I've discovered that many bean-based dishes also happen to meet my dairy-free, nut-free, and egg-free food requirements. I've also learned over time to appreciate nutrient-rich foods, such as beans, and in general try to eat as healthily as possible.

When it comes to healthy, this bean mixture certainly delivers. One quarter-cup serving includes 13g of fiber, 13g of protein, and 20% of the daily recommended allowance for iron. To make the soup, you will also need vegetable broth, onions, carrots, celery, bell pepper, canned tomatoes, garlic and a variety of spices. It's pretty hearty so it definitely qualifies as one of those soups that is a meal in itself. To make this easier for kids to eat, you can take a portion of the soup and blend it roughly with an immersion blender. This has turned into a great meal solution for me since everyone down to my one-year-old enjoys eating it and I can feel good knowing that we all managed to get something healthy in us for the day.

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.
  

Ratatouille Recipe (& Film) Earns Top Marks

In honor of Ratatouille, the movie, winning the Oscar for best animated film yesterday, I thought posting a recipe for ratatouille, the dish, would be fitting. Anyone who has seen the movie will recall at the end when a beautifully plated morsel of ratatouille is served to a harsh food critic. As the plate is presented before this critic, it seems as though you can almost smell the wonderful aromas emanating from the screen. Watching this scene was great except for one thing, I didn't have a clue what ratatouille was so I didn't know what I was supposed to be smelling. So, as I'm sure many people ended up doing after watching the movie, I immediately set out to discover what ratatouille was. Here's what I found:

Ratatouille is a classic French Provençal vegetable stew which can be served either as an appetizer, a side dish or a meal on its own. According to Wikipedia, "Ratatouille comes from "touiller," which means to toss food. ... It was originally a poor farmer's dish, prepared in the summer with fresh summer vegetables. The original Ratatouille Niçoise used only courgettes (zucchini), tomatoes, green and red peppers (bell peppers), onion, and garlic. The dish known today as ratatouille adds aubergine (eggplant) to that mixture."

Most importantly, however, given that I'm writing about this on this blog, is that ratatouille, in its basic form, is dairy-free, egg-free, and nut-free. If you like eggplant, you will probably like ratatouille. Below is a well-reviewed ratatouille recipe from Epicurious that is intended to be a meal on its own. In this version, the vegetables are roasted in stages and then tossed with cooked penne pasta. I made this recently and thought it was quite good despite the fact that I wasn't using peak summer vegetables or fresh herbs. I imagine this would be even better if I did use the freshest of ingredients. I've also included a link to a basic recipe for ratatouille by Everyday Food. I haven't tried this one yet, but it looks simple and promising. Please let me know how it is if you decide to make it.


RECIPE: Ratatouille with Penne* from Epicurious

*Recipe Note: To make this dairy-free, simply omit the grated cheese accompaniment.


RECIPE: Ratatouille from Everyday Food

Giada's One Pot Chicken Stew

I'm a recent Giada De Laurentiis fan. You may be able to tell given that this is my third Giada (yes, we're on a first name basis now) recipe post in a short amount of time. I've never really paid much attention to her before because she specializes in Italian cooking and when I think of Italian food I think of cheese. However, in my continuous search for flavorful, allergy-friendly meals to cook, I've actually found that she does have some no cheese, non-dairy recipes (or cheese-optional recipes) and they have all been consistently good.

Here's another one of those recipes I've tried. It's great because it's hearty, nutritious, and you can cook it all in one pot. Perfect for a cold day or when you just want some warm, comforting food.


RECIPE by Giada De Laurentiis

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.

A Dairy-Free, No Cheese Pizza That Holds Its Own Against Traditional Pizza Pies

Given that cheese is a defining characteristic of pizza, anything that calls itself a pizza but doesn't have any cheese on it really has to excel on another defining characteristic of pizza - the toppings - in order to justify its place among the pizza ranks.

In the frozen pizza aisle at the grocery store I found one such cheese-less pizza that compares quite well against its cheese-laden counterparts. Amy's Roasted Vegetable No Cheese Pizza is a tasty pizza that I would seriously consider swapping a slice of traditional pizza for. The roasted vegetable topping has a subtley sweet roasted flavor that creates a nice aroma and is pleasing to the taste buds. I usually pick one of these up for my daughter whenever we want to have a pizza night and inevitably, I will want a slice of her pizza along with my other cheesy slices.

A side note on dairy-free pizzas: You may think that soy cheese pizzas are dairy-free, but I've found that soy cheese pizzas are typically not safe for those suffering from dairy allergies. Soy cheese pizzas often contain the milk protein casein which may not be safe for many people with dairy allergies. So you're better off just getting a no-cheese version like this one. No cheese, no worries.

Chinese Spareribs 101 (or rather 1,2,3,4,5)

Thank goodness meat is not off limits to those on dairy, nut, and egg-free diets. Here is one meat dish we're glad is still accessible to us. It's a very basic and classic recipe for Chinese style spareribs that is both easy to make and delicious.

1•2•3•4•5 Chinese Spareribs

Serves: 4-6 as part of a multicourse meal

2 lbs pork spareribs (cut crosswise into roughly 1 inch pieces and trimmed of excess fat)
1 Tbsp rice wine
2 Tbsp vinegar
3 Tbsp sugar
4 Tbsp soy sauce
5 Tbsp water

In a 3-4 quart saucepan, add ribs and enough water to more than cover the ribs. Bring water to a boil. Remove sludge that rises to the top as water is boiling. Remove pan from heat and drain ribs. (I sometimes skip this "cleaning" step if I don't have time or if the riblets are very small, but I think it makes for a neater presentation later.)

In a separate bowl, mix together remaining ingredients. Add ribs back into pan and cover with the sauce mixture. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for about 45-60 minutes*, stirring occasionally. If sauce begins to dry up before ribs are tender, add a little water. Ribs are done when meat is tender and sauce clings to ribs.

* Note - Depending on the thickness and size of your ribs, simmering time can fluctuate.

A Hot Bowl of Udon in Minutes

Living with food allergies means that you are preparing almost every meal from scratch. Conveniences like outsourcing pre-prepared foods from grocery stores or getting take-out from restaurants are rare. The continuous daily thought process behind meal planning can be quite tiring. So when you come across an allergy-safe packaged food item that also happens to be tasty, reasonably healthy, and quick to prepare, it's quite thrilling.

Annie Chun's Udon Noodle Soup bowl has become for us a great option for a quick, easy meal. It's microwaveable and literally takes about 3 minutes to prepare from start to finish (the packaging says 2 minutes, but you still need to do some minor preparations before putting it in the microwave for 2 minutes). My food allergic daughter really enjoys this noodle soup as does the rest of the family. To supplement the meal, we often add chunks of tofu and/or pre-cooked vegetables into the soup.

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

Lentil Soup Can Actually Be Good(and it's good for you too)

I would never have considered myself a lentil person before. Somehow I had formed an impression that they were tasteless, mealy fare. While watching the Food Network one day, I saw Giada De Laurentiis whip up this lentil soup. It looked simple, fresh, and surprisingly good so I thought I'd give it a try. I followed the recipe, excluding only the parmesan cheese. My entire family, kids and all, loved it. It's now become a staple in our family. Serve it with some nice crusty fresh bread and you have a nice light meal.

Nutritional Notes:
Lentils pack quite a nutritional punch. They are rich in dietary fiber, protein and iron. And they contain more folic acid than any other unfortified food - a one cup serving contains 90% of the recommended daily allowance!

RECIPE by Giada De Laurentiis

Allergy-Friendly Tweaks & Other Recipe Notes:

• Dairy-Free Tweak: Omit parmesan cheese
• Vegetarian/Vegan Tweak: Replace chicken broth with vegetable broth
• For a slightly thicker consistency, puree roughly 1/4 of the soup prior to adding the elbow pasta
• Try this soup using French green lentils (pictured above) if you can find them since they don't break apart as easily, otherwise brown lentils work out fine