Allergy-Free Thanksgiving Recipes, 2014

By Kelley Lindberg

Thanksgiving is rapidly approaching, and if you have food allergies in your family, you’re

Yes, it's possible to have an allergy-safe Thanksgiving dinner!

probably already wondering how to make the traditional meal safer. Every year I look for new recipes that are free from the Top 8 allergens, or can be made that way with simple substitutions. So here are some recipes I’ve found this year. (And by the way, when I’m listing all the things I’m thankful for, the internet will be on that list. I can’t imagine how much harder dealing with allergies would be without the internet as a source of support, education, and recipes!) I hope this recipe round-up helps simplify your holiday cooking!

Looking for more allergy-safe Thanksgiving recipes? Check out my earlier posts: Allergy-Free Thanksgiving Recipes 2013 and Allergy-Free Thanksgiving Recipes 2012.

Turkey:

• First on the menu? The turkey, of course. Turkeys, especially the self-basting kinds, are injected with solutions that make them tender. However, those solutions can harbor allergens like milk, wheat, soy, or corn. So check labels before you buy. Read the very helpful article at about.com called “Before You Buy a Thanksgiving Turkey” for some great advice.

Stuffing:

• Traditional Sage Stuffing: For all you traditionalists, this version uses olive oil instead of butter and skips the eggs. Use your favorite type of bread (sandwich, French, or gluten-free bread would all work just fine). 
• Cornbread Stuffing: I come from a long line of Texans, so I love cornbread stuffing. This recipe mixes cornbread and white or whole wheat bread, but you can substitute your favorite gluten-free bread for the white/whole wheat. (My grandmother always used crumbled white biscuits—heaven!) If you need a good cornbread recipe to use in your cornbread stuffing, try this one for Albers® Corn Bread, which I’ve been using for years. However, skip the sugar (unless you like sweet cornbread—but I prefer savory, especially for stuffing). Also, you have to make two or three substitutions: replace the egg with Ener-G egg replacer or other egg substitute, replace the milk with a safe milk, like soy or rice (I use rice milk, and it works great), and you can replace the white flour with your favorite gluten-free blend. 
• Quinoa Sage Stuffing (Gluten-free and Vegan): Dressing without bread? You bet. This one uses quinoa instead, along with olive oil, vegetable broth, and plenty of savory herbs.

Sweet potatoes:

• Sweet Potato Marshmallow Casserole: The popular way to make them is to mash them with safe margarine and spices, then top them with marshmallows. This recipe for Sweet Potato Casserole II adds 3 T of orange juice for an extra little bit of flavor.
• Roasted Sweet Potatoes: Not a fan of marshmallows? Try these Twice-Cooked Sweet Potatoes—the recipe is much easier than it sounds! Just fry sweet potato cubes in safe margarine, then roast them in the oven with some brown sugar, salt, and sage leaves.

Potatoes:

• Mashed Potatoes: Use any basic mashed potato recipe and replace the butter with a safe margarine and replace the milk or cream with rice milk or soy milk. Or, ditch the whole butter-and-cream idea completely and use chicken broth instead to flavor them. Here is the super-simple recipe from Campbell’s Kitchen for Skinny Mashed Potatoes. 
• Garlic Roasted Potatoes: Simple and flavorful! 
• Vegan Scalloped Potatoes: This recipe calls for flour and soy milk. I wonder if it would work with a gluten-free flour blend and another type of safe milk. If you try it, let me know!

Gravy:

• Allergy Free Gravy: I post this recipe from EatingWithFoodAllergies.com every year because it’s simple and it works. It explains the steps well and you can use either regular flour or gluten-free flour. YouTube has lots of videos showing how to make turkey gravy if you’re not sure of the process.

Cranberry Sauce:

Sure, you can dump it out of the can. (And let’s be honest, we like it that way!) Or you can try these versions:

• Traditional Cranberry Sauce: The easiest recipe is the one printed on the bag of Ocean Spray cranberries you pick up in the produce section. Water, sugar, cranberries. Boil for ten minutes, and voila! Cook it up a day ahead and refrigerate it. Perfection! 
• Cranberry Strawberry Relish: Add in some frozen strawberries, and you’ve got something a little bit different and even more delicious. 

Green Beans:

• There are a gazillion delicious ways to make green beans that don’t involve cream soups and French-fried onions. Here are a few:
• Bacon-smothered Green Beans: I mean, really. Bacon-smothered. What more do you want? 
• Green Beans with Ham: Okay, ham is good, too. 
• Green Beanswith Caramelized Onions and Tarragon: Can’t do pork? Here’s a meatless version that looks lovely and elegant on a platter.

Pumpkin Pie:

• It’s just not Thanksgiving without a pumpkin pie on the table. So here’s a recipe for Vegan Pumpkin Pie that looks delicious! You can use a regular pastry pie crust, but I like a graham cracker pie crust for my pumpkin pies.
• Gluten-free Pastry Pie Crust: If you need a gluten-free pie crust, try this recipe. 

Allergy-Free Breakfast Recipe Round-Up

By Kelley Lindberg

Lately I’ve been looking for breakfast ideas that are higher in protein than my usual

Protein Pancakes from
Meme Inge's Living Well Kitchen

high-carb routine of cereal, granola, milk, and fruit. So I put on my Stetson, my boots, and my bandana, and I went out into the wilds of the internet, lassoing up some new breakfast ideas that go beyond the usual eggs and bacon, and avoid most (if not all) of the Top 8 allergens (peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs, soy, wheat, fish, and shellfish). I haven’t tried any of these recipes yet, but I’m a-fixin’ to give ‘em a whirl soon! If you try one, let us know how it worked for you!

• Sweet Potato and Bacon Hash – Although Meme Inge’s Living Well Kitchen blog isn’t geared towards food allergies at all, but more towards healthy recipes in general, she actually has a few recipes that fit allergy needs and sound good, like this recipe for Sweet Potato and Bacon Hash. She tops it with a fried egg, but of course you can leave that off. Other than the egg, it’s free from the Top 8. 
• Protein Pancakes – Here’s another one from Meme Inge. I love to make pancakes on the weekend, but I know I need to find healthier versions. So this one looks good, plus it packs more protein in than my usual recipe. It’s only free from 7 of the Top 8 (it uses cottage cheese, so it’s not suitable for milk allergies). I can’t wait to try the pumpkin variation next weekend! 
• Breakfast Oatmeal Cupcakes To Go – So what do you get when you cross a cookie with a cupcake? These! Another make-ahead, enjoy-all-week option, and you can make it free from the Top 8. 
• Sausage-Flavored Breakfast Beans and Grits – Surprise! They don’t have any sausage. It just uses the herbs and spices usually found in sausage to flavor cannellini beans. She suggests cooking the beans in a crockpot overnight, but I don’t see why you couldn’t use canned beans and cut out that step. Anyway, she ladles the beans over grits in the morning, and voila! A savory breakfast that’s free from the Top 8, and it’s vegan, too.
• Almost Instant Breakfast Quinoa – Now here’s something I hadn’t thought of. Instead of oatmeal or cream of wheat, try quinoa for breakfast! The recipe recommends making up a batch of quinoa the night before, so you can just microwave it with your choice of safe milk (rice, soy, etc.), sweeten it with some maple syrup, honey, or brown sugar, then top it with your favorite fruit, spices, etc. Of course the recipe recommends topping it with nuts and seeds to add more protein, but you can certainly leave those off, or use something like Sunbutter or soy butter if that works for you. 
• Loaded Blueberry Muffins – These muffins are packed with blueberries, zucchini, and bananas, elevating them from “cupcake” to “health food” in my opinion! This recipe is gluten-free, as well as free from the Top 8. Bake up a batch on the weekend, then grab one and go on those weekday mornings! 
• Breakfast Banana Pops – Okay, this is NOT a high-protein breakfast. But I just had to include this one because it looks so fun for kids! If you use a safe granola (like Enjoy Life Foods brand or your own recipe) and you have a safe yogurt you can use, freeze up some of these pops for a totally unique way to get your kids to eat their breakfast!  

  

  Breakfast Banana Pops from
  www.ChocolateCoveredKatie.com

Egg-free, Milk-free, Nut-free Crepes

By Kelley Lindberg

I got brave this morning and decided to try making egg-free, milk-free, and nut-free crepes for breakfast. So I found several egg-free recipes online that were all identical (that’s always a good sign that the recipe will work), made my substitutions to eliminate dairy products, threw out the first couple of crepes which were too oily and became sacrificial train-wrecks, and finally—Voila! I hit on the right formula.

I used all-purpose flour, so if gluten is your enemy, you can try using your favorite all-purpose gluten-free flour instead. I also used a small non-stick skillet, so I did NOT need to add oil to the skillet (when I did, trust me, it was ugly). So if you use a non-stick skillet, do not add oil to the skillet. If your skillet is NOT non-stick, you’ll have to use a little oil.

Also, the original recipe I used said to refrigerate the batter for 2 hours. Yeah, right, like I ever plan ahead enough to do that. So I didn’t. They worked just fine.

Here is my recipe. Bon appétit!

Allergy-Friendly Crepes

Crepes:

1/2 c. rice or soy milk

2/3 c. water

1/4 c. safe margarine, melted

2 T. safe vanilla extract

1 c. all-purpose flour

1 T. white sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1 T. vegetable oil

Strawberry filling:

1 – 2 c. sliced strawberries

1 – 2 tsp. lemon juice

1 tsp. white sugar

Garnish:

Additional white sugar or powdered sugar to taste

Safe chocolate or other syrup (optional)

1. Heat oven to 150 degrees, then turn off. You will store the crepes in the oven on a heat-proof plate until you’ve made enough to serve everyone.

2. In a small bowl, toss sliced strawberries with lemon juice and 1 tsp. white sugar. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, mix together rice/soy milk, water, melted margarine, and vanilla.

4. In a small bowl, mix flour, sugar, and salt.

5. Whisk flour mixture into liquid mixture until smooth. (You don’t need to use a mixer. A hand whisk is easy. It only takes a minute.)

6. Warm a small skillet over medium heat. If skillet is NOT non-stick, coat bottom of skillet with a small amount of oil.

7. Pour about 3 T of crepe batter into the skillet, and swirl it around until it spreads out thinly. You’ll have to experiment with the amount, depending on the size of skillet you use.

8. Cook until the edges are crispy and golden (about 1 minute and 15 seconds). Slide spatula around the edge to gently loosen. Then lift the edge slightly to look at it – the bottom should be turning golden. Then flip the crepe to cook the other side until lightly browned (about 1 minute more). If you try to flip them too soon, you’ll have a rubbery mess. Wait until the bottom is definitely golden/toasted-looking.

9. Slide onto the heat-proof plate and keep in warm oven while you make more.

10. Repeat with remaining batter, adding each cooked crepe to the warm plate in the oven.

11. When ready to serve, place crepe on an individual plate, spoon a few slices of strawberry onto the crepe, roll up, then sprinkle with powdered or white sugar. You can also drizzle chocolate syrup over the rolled crepe (optional).

This recipe made 10 6-inch crepes, but I had to throw away 2, so I only got 8 out of this recipe. Alter quantities to suit your family! (The original recipe I started with said it made 16 6-inch crepes. It lied.)

Allergy-Free Thanksgiving Recipes 2013

By Kelley Lindberg


The food-oriented holidays just keep coming, don’t they? Thanksgiving, more than any other, is ALL about the food. There’s simply no way around it. The crazy thing is, the food is also wrapped up in traditions. Some folks get downright militant about those food traditions. Even if they don’t particularly like sweet potato casserole, for example, they’ll serve that dish or die trying, because it’s tradition, darn it!

Yeah, I don’t really get it, either. But most of us do it anyway.

So if you’re aiming for traditional this year, but you’re dealing with food allergies, I’ve put together another round-up of traditional Thanksgiving recipes that can be made allergy-safe. To see last year’s Thanksgiving recipes, see “Allergy-Free Thanksgiving Recipes 2012.” This year, I tried to go for different recipes to give you more choices. So check out last year’s post, too, to double your options!

• The turkey: Turkeys, especially the self-basing kinds, are injected with solutions that make them tender. However, those solutions can harbor allergens like milk, wheat, soy, or corn. So check labels before you buy. Read the very helpful article at about.com called “Before You Buy a Thanksgiving Turkey” for some great advice.
• Stuffing: The type of stuffing you like probably depends on where you’re from. Southerners might go for cornbread stuffing, while East Coasters might indulge in oyster stuffing, for example. So here are some variations. (Be sure you substitute safe ingredients, such as your family’s favorite safe bread, for whatever the recipe calls for):
• Traditional-Style (bread, celery, onion, spices): Try these: Traditional-Style Vegan Stuffing, Traditional-Style Vegetarian Stuffing (YouTube video), or this nifty recipe for making your own Instant Stuffing Mix that you can store in the pantry and cook up any time.
• Herbed Oyster Stuffing: Try this recipe, but use a safe cornbread recipe for the cornbread (see below), use safe margarine instead of the butter, and make sure to use a turkey, chicken, or vegetable stock that is safe for your allergies.
• Sausage, Apple, and Cranberry Stuffing: Again, be sure you check the labels on your bread and stock, and substitute safe margarine for the butter. 
• Quinoa stuffing: Skip the bread completely and try this gluten-free quinoa stuffing with zucchini, butternut squash, dried apricots, and cranberries. Yum! 
• Wild Rice Stuffing: Skip the pecans in this recipe and make sure your chicken broth is safe for your family. 
• Cornbread Stuffing: This recipe from The Pioneer Woman is very similar to my grandmothers (except my grandmother’s recipe calls for biscuits instead of French bread). So use whichever white bread is safe for you, use safe chicken stock or broth, and safe butter. Lots of photos!
• Cornbread: If you need a good cornbread recipe to use in your cornbread stuffing, try this one for Albers® Corn Bread, which I’ve been using for years. However, skip the sugar (unless you like sweet stuffing – but I prefer savory, and I’m originally from Texas, so you’ll never find me putting sugar in my cornbread!). Also, you have to make two substitutions: replace the egg with Ener-G egg replacer or other egg substitute, and replace the milk with soy milk or rice milk. I use rice milk, and it works great.
• Mashed Potatoes: To make mashed potatoes allergy-safe, use any basic mashed potato recipe and replace the butter with a safe margarine and replace the milk or cream with rice milk or soy milk. Or, ditch the whole butter-and-cream idea completely and use chicken broth instead to flavor them. Here is the super-simple recipe from Campbell’s Kitchen for Skinny Mashed Potatoes. Or for something a little fancier, try this dairy-free recipe for Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes. 
• Gravy: This is the same recipe I wrote about last year, but it’s a great, simple Allergy Free Turkey Gravy from EatingWithFoodAllergies.com that explains the steps well. You can use either regular wheat or wheat-free all-purpose flour in this yummy Thanksgiving staple. YouTube has lots of videos showing how to make turkey gravy if you’re not sure of the process.
• Cranberry Relish: How about a no-cook Cranberry-Raspberry Relish? Throw everything in a food processor, and voila! Or this Cranberry-Raspberry Relish is even easier, using only 2 ingredients (a can of whole berry cranberry sauce and raspberry Jell-O).
• Sweet Potatoes: Tired of the traditional mashed sweet potatoes topped with marshmallows? Try Cinnamon Roasted Sweet Potatoes & Apples (just use safe margarine or olive oil). And here’s a delicious version of Candied Yams that uses orange juice and brown sugar. Heaven! Just use safe margarine instead of the butter. 
• Green Bean Casserole: Whoever does the marketing for those French-fried onion rings is a genius, because they’ve managed to convince us all that green bean casserole is a traditional food. I’m so over that. Personally, I’d much rather indulge in this traditional Greek recipe for Fasolakia, which is green beans, tomatoes, and onions all sautéed together with a little garlic and olive oil. Super easy, healthy, and delish! And personally, I replace the water with a can of safe chicken broth. This recipe calls for fresh green beans and tomatoes. Here’s a secret: this works equally well with 2 drained cans of green beans (look for Whole Green Beans instead of cut) and 1 can of diced tomatoes. Shhh…don’t tell. You can always sprinkle some safe breadcrumbs or crushed Chex cereal on top after it's done cooking if you want it to look more "casserole-ish."
• Pumpkin Pie: This recipe is a repeat from last year, but really… allergy-free pumpkin pies are hard, and this recipe works: “Mom’s Pumpkin Pie” from the Kids with Food Allergies website.  This recipe is in the “free recipe” section of the website, so you don’t have to be a member to access it!

 

BBQ Tips for Food Allergies

By Kelley Lindberg


Barbeques are a mainstay of summer. Whether we’re throwing some chicken on for a quick weeknight dinner or hosting a big ol’ summertime bash, our grills can be indispensable helpers. But if we have food allergies, we have to take a few extra steps to be sure that this weekend’s fun barbeque doesn’t end in a trip to the ER.

The first thing to consider is that food residue on a grill can be a problem. So if the grill you’re about to use has been exposed to food allergens in the past, you’ll want to use caution. For example, if your friend is allergic to seafood and you cooked salmon or shrimp on your grill last night, it’s not a good idea to cook your allergic friend’s food on that same grill. Just scraping the charred remains off of the grill isn’t good enough. If you can, first scraping the grill, then clean it thoroughly with soap and water until all residue is completely gone.

Remember that the grill lid may have residue on it, as well, which might drip onto cooking food. So clean the inside of the lid, too.

If you can’t clean the grill yourself (for example, if it’s someone else’s party and grill), then you still have options. First, you can wrap your food in aluminum foil – use heavy-duty foil or double-wrap it so that it won’t tear and expose the food to the contaminated grill or to other food that may be cooking at the same time. Second, you can use a grilling tray to separate your food from the grill itself. Third, bring food that can be cooked in the oven or in a skillet, and bypass the grill completely. Most hosts and hostesses will be more than happy to accommodate you, because no one wants to be the reason you had to rush to the hospital mid-party. Nothing puts a damper on a summer barbeque like having to call an ambulance.

Next, consider the seasonings that the grill-master is applying to your food. Ask to read the label of any packaged seasonings, marinades, or barbeque sauces that the cook may be liberally shaking or splashing onto the food. If any of the seasonings look suspicious, don’t hesitate to ask for your portion to be wrapped in aluminum foil first, to prevent cross-contamination.

Finally, take a look at all the other dishes being served. Potlucks are always problematic for food-allergic folks, but there are ways to make them a little more manageable. For example, if you can, enlist the host’s help to try to position the dishes with food allergens in them at the end of the serving table, so that the safe food gets served first, reducing the chance that anyone will drip sour cream or grated cheese onto the milk-free grilled zucchini. Separating the food allergen dishes from the safe dishes also helps prevent spoon-sharing between dishes.

Another hint is to ask the host if you can dish up the allergic person’s meal first, before everyone else begins to swarm the table.

And finally, the tried-and-true way to avoid problems at a barbeque is to eat your own meal at home before you arrive. Then at the party, you can enjoy a beverage with your friends without having to worry about the food at all.

Now, go fire up that grill and have a safe and happy barbeque!

Is Your Cookware Safe for Food Allergies?

By Kelley Lindberg

I posted this originally about three years ago, but I think it’s time to dust it off again and repost it, because safe cookware is something we all need reminding of now and then!

Okay, so you’ve cleared your pantry of the foods your newly diagnosed family member is allergic to. You’ve found some new recipes and discovered your new favorite brands of safe cookies.

Now it’s time to look in your pots and pans cabinet.

Hunh?

Yep, it’s true. Some of your cookware may not be safe to use for your food-allergic loved one.

For the most part, your regular pots and pans and baking dishes – the stainless steel or non-stick ones and the glass dishes – are probably safe. As long as the surface is non-porous and can be thoroughly cleaned, it should be okay.

Stoneware, however, needs a closer look. If your stoneware is fully glazed (and the glaze isn’t cracked), then the food probably washes off just fine and it’s probably okay to use. But if your stoneware’s cooking surface is rough and unpainted (that pizza stone or that Pampered Chef casserole dish), then that rough surface absorbs the oils from any food cooked in it. That’s what gives the stoneware that nice non-stick finish the more you use it, but it also means the stoneware has probably absorbed unsafe food allergen proteins. So you shouldn’t use it for preparing food that will be eaten by a food-allergic person.

The same goes for that Dutch oven you take camping. If you’ve made Aunt Rita’s cheesy biscuits in it in the past, don’t make dinner in it this weekend for your milk-allergic son.

A cast iron skillet is in the same boat. If it’s a true cast iron skillet with that beautifully seasoned surface that you’ve spent years building up (the kind where you just wipe it clean or maybe use a quick rinse, but you’d divorce your hubby if he scrubbed it with a Brillo pad), then that great black surface is made of hardened food oils, some of which may still contain allergens.

Be aware of cookware when you go to parties, too. Check with the cook to see if they used a stoneware pan for those yummy-looking pumpkin bars before you indulge in them.

If you do find unsafe cookware in your cupboards, and you’ve wondered why your child keeps getting sick even though you’ve eliminated the allergens from his or her diet, you may have just discovered the culprit.

While you’re at it, check your non-stick pans and skillets. If the non-stick surface is peeling off and you can see the metal beneath it, toss it out. That has nothing to do with allergies, and everything to do with toxic materials leaching into your food. Ick. And think twice about any aluminum pans, too. Aluminum is allegedly being tentatively linked to Alzheimer’s and other illnesses, so you might want to consider avoiding aluminum cooking surfaces and go with stainless steel instead. Just something to think about.

So… sad but true, it’s time to ditch the old stoneware. The good news is, when you purchase new cookware, this time you can be sure it’s only used to prepare safe foods, and you’ll embark on a long, safer life together!

Soy-Free Soy Sauce

by Kelley Lindberg


When you have to eliminate specific foods from your diet, there’s always an adjustment period as you learn how to replace your favorite foods with safe brands, varieties, or outright substitutes. Normal condiments that enhance so many recipes are one of the first things you have to learn to replace.

For example, if you have to eliminate peanuts, you discover products like Sunbutter (made from sunflower seeds). If you have to replace eggs, you learn about Vegenaise mayonnaise replacement. If you have to replace dairy, you learn about soy and rice milks, and margarines like Nucoa or Earth Balance.

But if you’re allergic to soy, how do you replace that standby of Asian cooking, soy sauce?

A friend let me know about a replacement for soy sauce that is… get this… soy-free!

Coconut Aminos is a seasoning sauce that is made from the sap of coconut palms and sea salt. It’s vegan, soy-free, dairy-free, and gluten-free. It’s also touted to have 17 amino acids and to be “raw—enzymatically active.”

It’s supposed to taste very much like real soy sauce, so your stir-fry recipes should taste like you expect.

In Utah, it looks like Whole Foods, Harmons, Good Earth Natural Foods, and other health food stores are carrying it. If you have tried it, share a Comment to let us know what you think!

Coconut Aminos is just one more handy tool in our tool belt of allergy-friendly foods that make cooking easier and tastier for us all.

 

Chili Recipe Round-Up

by Kelley Lindberg


It’s perfect chili weather. At least it is here in Utah, where it’s cold and crisp, and the snow sparkles like diamonds in the sunlight. If you’re somewhere tropical right now, I don’t want to hear from you.

Anyway, if, like me, you’re in the mood for some chili this week, maybe you can try some of these recipes I’ve found.

"Easy Chicken Chili with White Beans," from Campbell’s Kitchen. This one whips up fast with mostly canned ingredients you might even have hiding in your panty already. Perfect for weeknights.

"Thick & Hearty Two-Bean Chili." Another super-fast recipe from Campbell’s Kitchen, this one uses ground beef, Pace Picante sauce (but any salsa will do), and canned beans and tomatoes.

"Authentic Texas Crockpot Chili." This recipe claims to be authentic Texan, but it has pinto beans in it. As an authentic Texan myself, I know that only non-Texans put beans in their chili. Whatever. It still looks yummy, either way.

"A Fantastic No Bean Chili Recipe." Now this looks more like an authentic Texas chili recipe – beef chuck, spices, and tomatoes. Plain ol’ goodness.

"Super Easy Vegetarian Chili." And if you like your chili without any meat at all, try this recipe for vegetarian chili that features black or pinto beans, kidney beans, and diced tomatoes, in addition to all the spices that make chili…well, chili!

Remember, even though cheese and sour cream are common toppings for chili, you don’t need ‘em. Try crushed tortilla chips, chopped olives, or sliced green onions for a pop of color. Serve your chili with safe cornbread, rolls, or tortillas, or you can spoon it over a bed of hot rice or plain grits. (And if you miss grated cheese and sour cream, you can always use Daiya’s dairy-free shredded cheese and Tofutti’s soy-based sour cream.)

So cozy up with a bowl of chili tonight, and stay warm!

Allergy-Free Rosca de Reyes (Three Kings’ Cake)

by Kelley Lindberg


Once again, I found myself up to my elbows in bread dough and candied fruit yesterday. My son’s Spanish teacher, who is from Spain, wanted to serve the class Rosca de Reyes (Three Kings’ Cake) today, January 6, as she teaches them about the huge Epiphany cultural celebration in Spain. The Epiphany is a Christian feast day that celebrates the arrival of the three Wise Men (the Biblical Magi) after Jesus’ birth. In some cultures, such as in Spain, the Epiphany can be as big (or even bigger) holiday than Christmas Day. There is a parade in Madrid that rivals our Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, but instead of Santa, the Madrid version brings the three Wise Men on floats. Children get presents on January 6 in many cultures, too.

While some local Mexican bakeries probably offer Rosca de Reyes, I volunteered to make them because there are a few kids in the teacher’s classes with food allergies (my son included), and I don’t want them to miss out on this cultural experience. I did some research to find out how to make a safe Three Kings’ Cake for my son’s teacher, and discovered that the Rosca de Reyes that is served in Spain on the Epiphany is basically the same thing as the Three King’s Cake served in New Orleans on Mardi Gras. It’s a simple bread shaped into a ring (to represent a crown), lightly glazed and decorated with candied fruit and sugar. There are as many recipes as there are chefs, naturally, but last year I practiced making several different cakes for a couple of weeks until I developed a recipe that was simple and free from egg, milk, and nuts.

Another fun tradition with the Rosca de Reyes is that the baker always tucks a small plastic baby Jesus, or a coin, into the baked (and cooled) cake. Depending on the region’s traditions, whoever finds the coin or doll will either: 1) have good luck, or 2) have to bring the cake to the next celebration.

The simplest recipe I finally created uses frozen bread dough. Kroger’s frozen white bread dough (available locally at Smith’s) is free from milk, eggs, and nuts, so that is what I used. Rhodes dough had a milk warning, so I didn’t use that one. If you need a gluten-free recipe, just substitute your favorite gluten-free bread dough. All Rosca de Reyes (or Three Kings’ Cake) recipes call for candied fruit – the best is home-made candied fruit (like orange rinds), but I don’t have the patience to make my own, so I used the candied cherries you find at Christmas-time that people use to make fruit cake. But not everyone likes that kind of candied fruit. So a better option might be to use maraschino cherries – everyone loves those! And they’re easier to find any time of year. You can also use raisins or dried cranberries.

Start a new tradition in your family this year, and serve a Rosca de Reyes for the Epiphany this week, or make a Three Kings’ Cake for Mardi Gras (which will be Feb. 12 this year). It is surprisingly easy, the kids can have fun decorating the “crown,” and you’ll find a new way to connect with cultures near and far who celebrate these fun holidays.

(I ended up making cakes for all 5 of the teacher’s Spanish classes. Because each cake had to serve about 25 kids, I used two loaves to form each cake, so the photos show larger cakes than a single loaf will make.)

Rosca de Reyes (Three Kings’ Cake)
1 loaf frozen bread dough (or make your own dough for regular white bread)
1/4 c. candied fruit, raisins, dried cranberries, or maraschino cherries cut in half (or a mix of your favorites)
2 T corn syrup (like Karo syrup)
1 – 2 tsp hot water
1/4 c. granulated sugar
Food coloring (optional)
Small plastic baby or coin

Heat your oven to 175 degrees, then turn it off. Place the frozen bread dough in a greased loaf pan, and cover it with a sheet of plastic wrap sprayed with non-stick spray. Put the pan in the oven and let it rise for several hours, until it has risen about an inch higher than the top of the bread pan.

Grease a large cookie sheet, or put a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet. (Parchment paper is the best!)

Dump out the dough onto the parchment paper or greased cookie sheet, and gently stretch out the loaf until it is 12 – 15 inches long. You don’t want to handle it too much, but you need a long-ish rope. Then form the dough into a circle. Pinch the ends together well so that it doesn’t come apart while baking.

To make a glaze, put the corn syrup in a small bowl or cup, then add a small amount (1 tsp or so) of hot water and stir it. It just needs to be thinned a little so that it will be easier to brush onto the top of the cake. Then use a pastry brush to brush the glaze over the dough.

Place the candied fruit, raisins, or cherries along the top of the crown. Press them down into the dough a little so that they stick to it, but are still showing – otherwise they might fall off during the baking. This is where the kids can get creative – the candied fruit are the jewels in the crown!

Finally, you can use either white sugar or colored sugar to finish decorating the crown. Mardi Gras cakes usually have green, purple, and yellow sugar. The Spanish version served on the Epiphany uses white sugar. If you’d like colored sugar, use a small glass jar to shake the sugar with food coloring, or purchase colored sugar at the store. When you put the sugar on the cake, don’t be shy – it isn’t really sprinkled on, it’s dumped on, usually in bands around the cake! Google some images of Rosca de Reyes or Kings Cake and you’ll find hundreds.

As soon as you’ve finished decorating the cake, bake it for 20 -25 minutes at 375 degrees. (If you’re at sea level, you might start checking it after 15 minutes. I’m at 4500 feet, so things always take longer to bake up here.) It should be just turning golden, like bread, but don’t let the bottom burn. When done, place it on a wire rack to cool.

After the cake cools, carefully lift up one edge of the cake and slip the plastic baby or coin (I like to wrap the coin in aluminum foil) under the edge so that it is hidden. Warn your guests/family about the prize in the cake so that you don’t have to make any unplanned trips to the dentist.

Warming Up with Soup

by Kelley Lindberg


Winter is a great time for curling up with the ultimate comfort food: a big, steamy bowl of soup. It’s even more comforting when you don’t have to make it from scratch! With food allergies, that can be challenging.

So I was happy to find a line of soups from Boulder Soup Works that are free from eggs, shellfish, fish, wheat, peanuts, soy, sesame, and gluten. The founder, Kate Brown, was eating a gluten-free diet when she founded the company, so she decided that all of the soups her company made should be gluten-free. “We realized the need for a gluten-free soup with dairy-free options, as consumers in our area are highly cognizant of food-related challenges,” says Kate. Over half of their soup flavors are vegan or vegetarian varieties, too.

Their soup comes in a variety of flavors. Some of their soup flavors contain milk and casein (Roasted Tomato Basil, Potato Leek, and White Bean with Tomato). The other flavors don’t contain milk as an ingredient. However, all of their soups contain a “made in a facility that processes tree nuts and dairy” warning. When I spoke to a representative, she said the only tree nut in their facility is coconut – and it’s only an ingredient in two of the varieties (Carrot Coconut with Ginger, and Red Lentil Dahl). Because my son isn’t allergic to coconut, I would be fine serving this soup to him. However, when I asked the representative about dairy contamination, she said the Boulder Soup Works factory uses good manufacturing processes, but she obviously couldn’t guarantee that there would be no risk of dairy contamination (if she could, they wouldn’t need that warning).

In the mood for something a little out of the ordinary, I picked up some of their Red Lentil Dahl soup to take to a party where several of the party-goers are eating gluten-free diets, and they all loved the mild curry flavor and tasty texture. All the soup varieties from Boulder Soup Works are fresh and made with local, organic ingredients, and they don’t use preservatives or artificial ingredients. You can find them in tubs (not cans!) in the refrigerator case at Whole Foods in Salt Lake City.

To read more about why Kate Brown started making gluten-free, fresh soup, see the article “Boulder Soup Works Brings Fresh Soup to Grocery Stores.”

Food Allergies? There’s an App for That!

by Kelley Lindberg


Got a smart phone or iPad? Then you probably have a screen full of favorite apps. They make our lives a little easier, our errands a little faster, and our time-wasters a little more fun. They can also make living with food allergies a little more manageable.

Here are a few food-allergy-related apps I’ve found that seem to be helpful. I haven’t tried them all yet, but I’m working my way through them. There are plenty more food allergy apps where these came from, so go to your favorite app store and search for whatever you need – from cooking, to shopping, to eating out, to traveling, there’s an app for that! And if you have a favorite food allergy app that I haven’t listed, let us know about it by posting a Comment.

• Myfoodfacts (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, $1.99) – With this shopping tool, you personalize your food allergen alerts, then use your iPhone camera to scan product label barcodes to search ingredients for your allergens. If a food allergen is found, the app alerts you. It covers food products in the U.S. now, but future releases will include Canada, Europe and other countries, as well as other smartphones.
• Restaurant Nutrition (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Free, but a paid version has more features)  – This app provides nutritional info for food at chain restaurants. It notes if the restaurants provide allergy info. You can customize the allergy info so that foods that contain any or all of the Top 8 allergens won’t be displayed for that restaurant, so you can see if there is anything you can eat at that restaurant.
• AllergyEatsMobile (Android, iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Free) – This is the app version of the AllergyEats.com website, where users write reviews of restaurants and their food-allergy friendliness. You can click a “Find Restaurants Near Me” button, or type in a location to find restaurants elsewhere. Because their information is created by users, some cities in the U.S. have more reviews than others. You can also log in and rate restaurants yourself.
• Cook It Allergy Free (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, $4.99) – Includes lots of recipes that you can customize to avoid your allergens, and it even suggests safe substitutions for recipe ingredients. You can add your own notes to the recipes, save your customized recipes, and create a grocery list of ingredients for a recipe.
• Allergy Translator (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, $1.99) – Translates your food allergies and requirements into other languages, so you can show the translated screen to your restaurant server when traveling in other countries. Lets you choose from 45 allergens and 33 languages.
• SelectWisely Allergy Cards (iPhone and iPod Touch) – I’ve used Select Wisely translation cards for years – they are wallet-sized cards that list your allergies and a warning message in the language you choose. Now you can order the same card and have it on your iPhone. Contact Select Wisely directly for cost and more information.
• EMNet findER (Android, Blackberry, iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Free) – Finds the nearest emergency room with one click, and lets you display directions.

Gingerbread Men, Women, Houses, and Other Gingery Sorts of Things

by Kelley Lindberg


It’s rapidly becoming the time of year when gingerbread houses and gingerbread men (and their assorted wives, children, neighbors, dogs, and lawn furnishings) make their appearance. Traditional gingerbread recipes are full of common allergens, so I did a little sleuthing to find some allergy-safe recipes for those days when you have entirely way too much creative energy and time on your hands. (Yeah, right. We can all hope.)

So if you’re in the mood to go all Habitat for Gingerbread Humanity on your family, here are a few places to jumpstart your allergy-free baking frenzy:

• Gingerbread Cookies from Kids with Food Allergies
• Gingerbread Cookies from Eating with Food Allergies
• Gingerbread Cookies from Allergy Free Mom
• Gingerbread House Frosting from Kids with Food Allergies
• Links to several sites with instructions for Gluten-free Gingerbread Houses at About.com
• Need inspiration? Check out the story of how Izzi B’s Allergen-Free Cupcakes entered a gingerbread house contest, on Julie Anne Rhodes’s website.

And, if you are infected with the gingerbread house fever, but you REALLY don’t have the time or patience to bake all the components yourself (and let’s be honest here, doesn’t this really describe most of us?), A and J Bakery has an “Allergen Friendly House Kit” that is free from peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, gluten, soy, egg, dairy, and sesame seeds. Cool, hunh?

Happy Gingerbreading!

Swiss Chard and Other Fresh Finds

by Kelley Lindberg


Finding fresh vegetables and fruits at the store, farmers’ markets, and roadside stands is definitely one of the highlights of summer.

Last week, my son and I got to go on a tour with some friends of a local farm, East Farms, which grows more than 50 types of vegetables and supplies grocery stores and restaurants all across Utah. It was fascinating to learn first-hand how farmers buy and share water to irrigate their fields, to learn how many varieties of vegetables can grow in this climate, and to see how much work it takes to bring fresh veggies to our table every day.

My son even got to practice putting a rubber band around a bunch of spinach. Sounds easy, but he ended up shredding many of the leaves and took far too many seconds – professional pickers can cut and band around 95 bunches of spinach an hour, we heard. We have a whole new appreciation for something that looks simple and that we take for granted in the grocery store.

We also learned that our whole growing season here in Utah is about a month behind normal – so it’s not just my own garden that had a hard time getting started this year!

Even though it’s early, there are still some delicious finds in the produce aisle and farmers’ stands these days. My latest discovery is Swiss Chard. I planted some this year only because I couldn’t find any spinach to plant, and the nursery recommended Swiss Chard as an alternative. I took a chance and planted it. So far, it’s the only thing in my garden that’s growing like gangbusters, so I’m glad I did. If nothing else, it makes my garden look good. But fortunately, it also tastes good!

I hit the internet to figure out what to do with it, and found that it’s easy to prepare. Swiss Chard is similar to cooked spinach, but with a little more flavor (but milder than kale). Consumer Reports even mentioned it this month, describing it as an “overlooked” vegetable worth trying, having “a wealth of nutrients” including iron, magnesium, potassium, and vitamins A, C, E, and K, which are all “key for growth and immune system support.” (See Consumer Reports’ “Five Overlooked Vegetables that Deserve a Second Chance.”) 

The easiest way I found to cook it is to just cut or tear it into big pieces (2 inches or so), then sauté it with a little garlic in olive oil and safe margarine (about one tablespoon of each), until it wilts like cooked spinach. It’s good plain like that, or if you want, you can add a dash of your favorite flavoring to the sauté: lemon juice, white wine, or balsamic vinegar. (Sprinkling the sautéed Swiss Chard with parmesan cheese is also tasty, if you’re not allergic to dairy.) My family really liked this – even my picky son.

Another day, I sautéed diced tomatoes with the Swiss Chard using the same recipe, then put it over pasta with some sautéed shrimp. Replace the shrimp with crumbled bacon, grilled sliced chicken, or whatever your family likes for a fast and fresh summer dinner.

As the farmers’ markets are getting started, I hope to find some more fun veggies or fruits to try. If you run across an interesting new or “overlooked” veggie or a great summer recipe for an old standby, please share it! We can all use a little fresh summertime inspiration.

Relearning to Cook with Food Allergies

by Kelley Lindberg


One of the first questions everyone asks when first told they or their children have food allergies is:

“What on earth are we going to eat now?”

We look in our pantries and our fridges and we panic. Half the stuff we bought on our last grocery trip turns out to contain the ingredients that have been making us or our kids sick. We toss out boxes of crackers and cookies, seasoned rice and pasta pouches, pre-cooked skillet meals, frozen Italian and Chinese meals, and cake mixes. We stand there in our now nearly empty kitchen and try to think what to make for dinner. We’re thinking raw carrots and a jar of applesauce.

Our next trip to the grocery store is agonizing. It takes 4 hours. We read every label on every package, and we despair. There it is – that warning label we’ve just been taught to look for, and it’s on everything: “Contains milk (or soy, or nuts, or wheat, or egg, or…)” We fight back tears in the grocery aisle because our routine is suddenly all shot to ragged bits, lying on the floor at our feet. Everything we relied on is now considered “dangerous.” Everything we used to throw on the stove at the last minute when the kids are fighting, we’re exhausted, and everyone is hungry is now off-limits.

It’s scary. It’s frustrating. It’s maddening. It’s overwhelming.

“What on earth are we going to eat now?”

Over the next week or two, we try to pull ourselves together. We search the internet. We ask friends. We go back to the store and try again. And finally, we begin to piece together new routines. New recipes. New foods to prepare.

And we relearn how to cook.

That’s the tricky part. Let’s be honest. We live in a society where cooking has become optional. Before you found out about your family’s food allergies, when was the last time you made a cake from scratch? The last time you made stir-fry that didn’t pour out of a frozen bag? The last time you cracked open that great cookbook you were so excited to get that one birthday? The last time you made a sack lunch for your kids?

The thing is, prepackaged food has gotten surprisingly good over the last decade or so. The frozen lasagna ain’t bad. The frozen Chicken Cordon Blue is downright tasty. Meats come pre-marinaded and ready for the grill. Frozen veggies come with their own cream sauce. Those frozen lunches are fast and easy.

And we love to eat out. Depending on the poll you read, Americans eat out an average of 2 to 5 times a week. And according to the USDA’s Economic Research Service, about half of Americans’ food budget every month is spent on food away from home (up from a third in the 1970s).

So it’s not surprising that most of us have sort of forgotten how to cook. I mean sure, we can throw hamburger meat in a pan and toss in some taco seasoning – I call that cooking, don’t you? But you can only make tacos so many times a week before someone starts to whine.

What we discover when we develop food allergies is that we can, indeed, cook again. We relearn how to grill, roast, and stir-fry meat with seasonings out of our spice cabinet instead of out of an envelope. We steam veggies and discover that a little balsamic vinegar is just as tasty as all those cream sauces. We drag our crock-pot out of the cabinet and it becomes our new best friend when we toss in some meat, some veggies, and some apple juice or water or safe chicken broth.

And eventually, we have new routines. We can go to the grocery store without melting down. We hang out in the fresh produce aisle and at the meat counter instead of in the frozen food section. We crush potato chips or safe crackers to coat our chicken breasts instead of buying chicken nuggets. And we realize that cooking isn’t as hard as we remembered it, in most cases. And, as a bonus, it’s often healthier, tastier, and cheaper. It’s a pain to relearn at first, sometimes, and it often takes a little longer, but after a while, it finally becomes second nature to us. Even the pies I made last week that took so long tasted better than the frozen ones, and it’s not like I make them all the time, so an occasional big-effort cooking day isn’t so bad. Most dinners I make are fast and easy, in comparison.

So when we’re looking for silver linings to the black clouds that life scoots across our skies, maybe this is ours. In a world of fast-food, super-sized, mega-calorie excess, those of us with food allergies in our families have an edge.

We’ve relearned how to cook.

Is Your Cookware Food-Allergy Safe?

by Kelley Lindberg


Okay, so you’ve cleared your pantry of the foods your newly diagnosed family member is allergic to. You’ve found some new recipes and discovered your new favorite brands of safe cookies.

Now it’s time to look in your pots and pans cabinet.

Hunh?

Yep, it’s true. Some of your cookware may not be safe to use for your food-allergic loved one.

For the most part, your regular pots and pans and baking dishes – the stainless steel or non-stick ones and the glass dishes – are probably safe. As long as the surface is non-porous and can be thoroughly cleaned, it should be okay.

Stoneware, however, needs a closer look. If your stoneware is fully glazed (and the glaze isn’t cracked), then the food probably washes off just fine and it’s probably okay to use. But if your stoneware’s cooking surface is rough and unpainted (that pizza stone or that Pampered Chef casserole dish), then that rough surface absorbs the oils from any food cooked in it. That’s what gives the stoneware that nice non-stick finish the more you use it, but it also means the stoneware has probably absorbed unsafe food allergen proteins. So you shouldn’t use it for preparing food that will be eaten by a food-allergic person.

The same goes for that Dutch oven you take camping. If you’ve made Aunt Rita’s cheesy biscuits in it in the past, don’t make dinner in it this weekend for your milk-allergic son.

A cast iron skillet is in the same boat. If it’s a true cast iron skillet with that beautifully seasoned surface that you’ve spent years building up (the kind where you just wipe it clean or maybe use a quick rinse, but you’d divorce your hubby if he scrubbed it with a Brillo pad), then that great black surface is made of hardened food oils, some of which may still contain allergens.

Be aware of cookware when you go to parties, too. Check with the cook to see if they used a stoneware pan for those yummy-looking pumpkin bars before you indulge in them.

If you do find unsafe cookware in your cupboards, and you’ve wondered why your child keeps getting sick even though you’ve eliminated the allergens from his or her diet, you may have just discovered the culprit.

While you’re at it, check your non-stick pans and skillets. If the non-stick surface is peeling off and you can see the metal beneath it, toss it out. That has nothing to do with allergies, and everything to do with toxic materials leaching into your food. Ick. And think twice about any aluminum pans, too. Aluminum is allegedly being tentatively linked to Alzheimer’s and other illnesses, so you might want to consider avoiding aluminum cooking surfaces and go with stainless steel instead. Just something to think about.

So… sad but true, it’s time to ditch the old stoneware. The good news is: the holidays are coming up! Maybe it’s a good time to ask Santa for some new stoneware or a new Dutch oven – and this time, you can be sure it’s only used to prepare safe foods, and you’ll embark on a long, new, safer life together!

Replacing Wheat and Gluten in Recipes

by Kelley Lindberg


What a treat I have for you today! Shelley, a gluten-free expert and frequent participant on the UFAN email forum, has graciously agreed to be my guest blogger today. She is continuing my series of allergen-replacements for recipes by writing today’s article on gluten-free cooking. You will LOVE what she has to say… Thank you, Shelley! Be sure to check out Shelley’s blog, at http://www.enjoythelittlethings.wordpress.com/

*****

To be honest, when my oldest son was first diagnosed with a wheat allergy (along with several other severe allergies), I had never heard of gluten. At the time, I was just a few weeks away from giving birth to my second child, who I was told was likely to have the same allergies as my son and my best bet was to avoid the top allergens while nursing her. I was totally overwhelmed.

Lucky for me, my mom was scheduled to come and visit and she just happened to have a degree in food science and nutrition. She knew exactly what gluten was and started reading everything she could get her hands on. I don’t know how we did it back then, before blogs and Google and everything we take for granted. She showed up at the airport with two huge suitcases (remember when you could take those on airplanes?) full of gluten-free cookbooks and bags and bags of gluten-free flours.

For the next 2 weeks we spent every day in the kitchen, trying every recipe in The Gluten-free Gourmet and making up our own. It took a lot of patience and a good sense of humor because more of our creations ended up in the garbage than in our tummies – but I learned a lot.

Flash forward four kids later, my youngest was done nursing and I was ready to start eating “normal” again, only to find out the hard way that the gluten issues weren’t entirely my kids’ problem. I immediately began having problems and my doctors realized for the first time in my life that gluten was my problem as well.

So here we are 11 years later, and with a house full of gluten-free eaters, I have some tips to share:

Tip #1 - Xanthan gum or guar gum
Gluten-free cooking just doesn’t happen without them. They are the glue that gluten-free flours are missing. Without them, the only thing your gluten-free baked goods will be good for is bread crumbs. A good rule of thumb is 1 tsp of xanthan or guar gum per cup of gluten-free flour in your recipe. If you are using eggs, you may not need as much, and if you are replacing eggs, you may need a bit more.

Tip #2 - Know your alternatives.
One of the cool things about gluten-free cooking is all the alternatives we have to regular old flour. With a little effort and creativity, gluten-free living really opens the doors to a healthier lifestyle than you probably had before.

**A word of warning - when trying any of these flours for the first time, use it in a pancake or something simple and watch for reactions. I try to rotate the flours I use and there are a few that just don’t work for us – but work great for many of my friends. Buy the small bag the first time and if you like it, go back and buy it in bulk!**

Gluten-free flours need cool dark storage; most store best in the freezer. I store many of the whole grains in sealed buckets and put the freshly ground flour in my freezer if I am not going through it fast enough.

Quinoa (pronounced Keen wa) – This is an ancient grain, really high in protein and high in amino acids. It adds structure to gluten-free breads. I use this a lot.

Amaranth – The seeds of this plant are also unusually high in protein and amino acids, adding flavor and structure to the dough.

Sorghum – A really popular grain, kind of sweet without much of an aftertaste.

Teff – High in dietary fiber, protein, calcium and iron, this is a nutritional powerhouse. It has a slightly sweet nutty flavor that adds a lot to gluten-free baking.

Buckwheat – Not a grain; it’s a fruit and has nothing in common with wheat other than the name. This is my favorite grain. It’s hearty, has a familiar taste, and adds lot of nutrition to your breads.

Millet – A fabulous source of the B vitamins, it does have a stronger flavor but combines well with other flours in baking. I use this quite often.

Brown Rice – I use this flour often, too – especially in cupcakes and other treats that I serve to unsuspecting wheat-eaters. It has a familiar taste and the whole grains offer fiber and vitamins. Using this flour entirely on its own results in a gummy-grainy texture, so always mix with another flour or starch to prevent this. You can also use white rice flour; it acts more like a starch and has little nutritional value, but certainly can be incorporated into gluten-free bread making if you choose.

Corn – Corn flour is much finer than corn meal, but it still tends to be a bit heavy to bake with so always combine it with other flours. Makes fabulous corn breads with a little potato starch or quinoa flour!

There are all sorts of bean flours. I am only going to mention the most common:

Garbanzo bean flour – High in protein, and it’s easy to use. Be warned it has a stronger taste so it works best mixed with other flours and can go rancid if not kept cool.

Fava bean flour – I don’t usually see this alone (although you can order it). Often it’s marketed as Garfava flour, a mixture of garbonzo and fava beans. It has a lot of protein and adds great structure to bread, but like Garbanzo bean flour, it has a stronger taste and turns rancid in less than ideal conditions.

Soy flour – I almost forgot to mention it. We don’t use it at our house as soy is a major allergen for us (and many others), but it is also high in protein and has a strong flavor like the bean flours, so go easy.

Starches – Not really known for their nutritional value, starches come in handy when you need some help binding ingredients and making your bread light enough to rise. There are some great commercially available breads out there that rely almost exclusively on starches. I struggle to use a lot of these because the last thing my kids need is empty calories – we need nutritional powerhouses in every bite. But on vacation and in a crunch they sure make life easier. Starches all are fabulous thickeners as well – use like corn starch in soups, sauces, and gravy.

Potato Starch – This is totally different than potato flour. It’s light and has a really “normal” taste. It does tend to get gummy if you use too much, but a 1/2 to 1 cup in a recipe can really lighten things up.

Corn Starch – Acts a lot like potato starch. It’s a great binder and smells great when cooked. Too much makes your bread gummy in the middle, but a bit here and there can make a big difference.

Tapioca Starch – Often called tapioca flour. A little bit of this goes a long ways. I find the best prices at local Asian markets that sell it in tiny packages. While you could never make an entire loaf from tapioca starch, I find I can’t bake without a cup or so in my recipe. It really helps hold things together, gives a nice flavor and lightens up a recipe.

Sweet rice flour – Can be used in place of sugar in some recipes. Be careful, a little goes a long way – but that is a good thing.

Arrowroot flour – I love this stuff but have a hard time finding it in our current home town. It is great to bake with and makes a fabulous thickener that doesn’t change the flavor. If you are fortunate to get a good deal on it, don’t pass it up!

Bonus tip- Flax seed (ground) – Okay, I know it’s not a flour, but adding a few tablespoons to a batch of bread or muffins adds a fabulous nutty flavor and a punch of omega 3s. It’s also a great egg-replacer. (See Replacing Eggs in Recipes.)

Tip #3 - Gluten-free dough is actually more like a batter.
This was hard to get used to after years of making wheat products - but as a rule, gluten-free breads generally turn out better if the dough is more like a cake batter. It just needs more moisture.

Tip #4 - Start small.
This was probably the best thing I learned from my mom. When we would make a batch of muffins or cookies the first time we would only cook a few of them. That way, if it just didn’t turn out, we could add more water, flour, xanthan gum, or whatever and have a chance of saving the batch. The other thing she taught me is to not be afraid to throw it out and start over if it really isn’t working. Really, on a tight budget, you will spend more time and money making a bigger mess out of your dough than you will by just getting rid of it and starting with a different recipe.

Tip#5 - Most of your old recipes will adapt well.
I spent years trying all these elaborate recipes I found in special cookbooks and on the internet. But the ones we like the best are the old stand-bys from our pre-gluten-free days. Once you find a mix of flours that work for you, add some xanthan or guar gum and a little extra moisture, and you’ll be surprised how easy it is to cook gluten-free.

Tip #5 - You Are Not Alone.
That is the coolest thing about living in our generation. With the internet, we are all practically next-door neighbors. Maybe we can’t run and borrow a cup of buckwheat flour, but we can certainly share recipes and tips and struggles. Since our diagnosis 11 years ago we have lived in 3 states and 6 different towns and I have never been the only one. In fact, I am usually the first call for many as they find their children developing allergies. Today I can walk into most eating establishments and ask for a gluten-free menu, and the aisles of most markets have at least a handful of items marked gluten-free.

Some of my favorite sites include:

http://www.glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/ (recipe section and check out the comments on many recipes, people post their adaptations for many allergies)

Google-groups and support groups are like life-lines when you are getting started, so don’t be afraid to reach out and ask for help. You’ll be surprised how many others have stood in your shoes – and you can always call on me – I’m happy and thrilled to help. I still remember how hard it was, worrying every day what I would feed my growing children, and working to educate teachers and family members and friends on a continual basis. But I am here to say that it works out, it is worth it, and my first-born, failure-to-thrive baby is now almost my height, a state-ranked competitive swimmer, and anything but malnourished.

Shelley

Mandarin Orange Upside-Down Cake

I’ve gotten used to cooking for a certain set of food allergies and issues within my normal circle of friends. No milk, eggs, nuts, seafood, sesame seeds, raw tomatoes, or raw peaches, and some of the adults in the group have some other food preference issues we work around. After ten years, it’s become second nature to cook around those restrictions.

Friday night, I got to explore a completely different set of restrictions, and it was a stretch, but it was also fun.

I was getting together with five other friends for dinner at one’s house. We usually eat at restaurants, which lets everyone order their own food with their own particular restrictions. This time, it was a potluck. Here were my new parameters: No gluten, dairy, chocolate, nuts, fruit (except for citrus – lemons, limes, grapefruit, or orange are okay), and as little refined sugar as possible.

Being the adventurous (and masochistic) type, I volunteered for dessert. I considered dessert ideas for several days, making a phone call or email here and there to double-check problem foods. Finally, I hit on making a pineapple upside-down cake, except without the pineapple (a problem food), and using mandarin oranges instead. Never mind that I’ve never made a pineapple upside-down cake before, never cooked gluten-free, and didn’t know if mandarin oranges would work instead of pineapple. See what I mean by masochistic?

Because I’m completely unfamiliar with gluten-free baking and I didn’t have time to do a lot of experimenting with gluten-free flours (I’ll get around to it someday, but not this week!), I went looking for a Cherrybrook Kitchen gluten-free yellow cake mix. The stores I usually haunt didn’t have it, but I discovered a new Betty Crocker gluten-free yellow cake mix! I was surprised and delighted to discover a mainstream brand is finally joining the fight against food allergies/diseases!

The cake turned out beautifully, although it took about twice as long to bake as the instructions said. Here’s what I did:

Put 4 T of melted dairy-free margarine in the bottom of a 9-inch round cake pan. Sprinkle with ½ c. brown sugar. Drain a can of mandarin orange slices, reserving the liquid, then arrange the slices in a round pattern on the bottom of the pan.

Next, make the cake batter according to the box’s recipe, although I substituted the reserved liquid from the oranges for the water that the recipe called for, and I replaced half of the gluten-free vanilla extract with orange extract, and I added the zest from half an orange. (Okay, I know, I’m one of those people who always have to mess with recipes. I’m sorry.)

Pour the batter over the oranges, and bake at 350 for … hmm… it was probably close to an hour, even though the instructions had said about 30 minutes. About half-way through, the top of the cake was starting to look way too brown, so I covered the outer edge of it with a long strip of foil, like you do on pies to keep the crust from getting too brown. When a toothpick finally came clean in the center of the cake, I removed it from the oven and let it cool for about ten minutes. Then I turned it out onto a cutting board, and it was perfect!

Frankly, I was shocked.

Although I like to experiment with baking, I throw away a LOT of disasters. A LOT. Like two-thirds of everything I try. I was so convinced that this would flop, I actually had also bought some dairy-free Italian Ice from my neighborhood Zeppe’s (great place, very aware of allergies!) and baked some gluten-free cookies from a Cherrybrook Kitchen mix.

So I ended up with not just one dessert, but three. I took them all, and they were all a hit, even with the non-allergic women, who couldn’t believe the cake and cookies were gluten-free.

Wow. I don’t know what I did to deserve such good luck on my first gluten-free baking adventure. Of course, given my baking karma, that probably ensured that the next ten things I try will fail in horribly creative ways. But that’s okay. The one friend with the most restrictions was thrilled to actually get to eat a dessert at a party, so that made it worth the worry.

It seems like it should work well with a regular cake mix, too, so I’m going to give it another try this weekend, using a nut-free, dairy-free, egg-free mix with regular flour. If you try it, let me know.

Here’s to more adventures in baking!

Cooking Something New

I am so bored with food, it’s ridiculous. I like to eat, sure. But cooking seems like a lot of time wasted on something that disappears in fifteen minutes. It’s hard to get excited about cooking. And of course, when you’re dealing with food allergies, your choices get limited that much more.

So I’ve decided to challenge myself to try cooking something new once a month. Last month, it was Belgian Endive. I bought some on a whim, looked up recipes, and tried the easiest. It was okay. Not great, but okay. It’s got a bit of a bitter taste so you have to cook it for a long time with something like margarine and lemon to get it to mellow out. The good thing was not that I found a recipe that I loved, but that I branched out of my boring routine and took the mystery out of one of those funny-looking vegetables at the store. Now that I’ve tried it once, I’ll be willing to try it again soon, in a different recipe. And I’ve already found one that sounds much better than the one I tried.

Tonight, I tried frying plantains. I’ve had plantains before, in restaurants, and I really like them. They’re a relative of the banana, but they’re not sweet. They’re actually more like a potato in consistency and taste, and recipes range from sweet (with margarine and brown sugar) to savory (with oil, salt, and spices, or used as an ingredient in dishes such as stuffing). In restaurants, I’ve had plantains sweet and I’ve really liked them. But after cooking them that way tonight (sliced, fried in margarine, and dusted with brown sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla), I wasn’t as thrilled. Perhaps I bought the wrong kind – there are different varieties. But they tasted like potatoes topped with sugar. Hmm. Kind of dry. Not really what I was expecting.

Here’s the funny part. My son, who is extremely picky and rarely likes anything new, liked the plantains. This from a kid who won’t eat potatoes. But he liked them. Maybe that’s how I’ll get him to start eating potatoes, now that I think about it.

Anyway, once again, it’s not so much that I found a great new recipe, as that I tried something different, and dinner wasn’t the same old boring fare that is usually is. My son helped me cook them. We all sat around and evaluated them. We tried pouring maple syrup over them. (That helped.) In other words, dinner became a family experiment, not just a boring chore.

I think next time I buy plantains, I’m going to slice them and thread the slices on a kabob with meat. I bet they’ll take on the flavor of a marinade and be a good potato substitute. Or maybe they’ll be awful. But I’m willing to try, just to do something different and shake up the ol’ dinner routine a little.

So, what have you tried lately that’s different? I could use some ideas.