Friday, January 31, 2014

Super Bowl Recipes: Allergy-Friendly Spinach Artichoke Dip

What is the Super Bowl without snack food and dips? The problem is that most of the dips have sour cream, mayo, cream cheese and cheese. But even this traditionally cheesy/creamy dip can be made without dairy and egg and still taste delicious!

Have a fun and safe Super Bowl Sunday!

This recipe is free of the top 8 allergens (egg-free, dairy-free, wheat-free, peanut-free, tree nut-free, soy-free, fish-free and shellfish-free) and vegan.

Spinach Artichoke Dip

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 small red onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, minced 
1 1/2 cups frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1 can artichoke hearts, chopped
1/3 cup mayo replacement (I love Soy-free Vegenaise!)
3/4 cup plain hummus
Pinch of cayenne (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium heat.
Add the onions and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
Add the garlic and cook for another minute. 
Add the spinach, artichokes, Veganaise and hummus. 
Stir until heated through.
Season to taste with salt, pepper and cayenne.
Transfer the Dutch oven to the preheated oven.
Bake about 20-25 minutes until slightly browned and bubbly.

Serve with your favorite allergy-friendly chips, crackers or bread.




Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Super Bowl Recipes: Allergy-Friendly Chili

Anyone watching the big game on Sunday and looking for allergy-friendly meal ideas? Or just tired of the cold weather and craving a nice, warm bowl of chili? Either way, this is really tasty and easy to make for a crowd.
This is my husband's recipe and he always makes it, so I especially love the nights we have chili! :)

Enjoy!

This recipe is free of the top 8 allergens (egg-free, dairy-free, wheat-free, peanut-free, tree nut-free, soy-free, fish-free and shellfish-free) and vegan (if you omit the ground meat).

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 lb. ground beef or buffalo (omit for vegan chili)
1 red onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh oregano, chopped
2-4 tablespoons red chili powder (more or less, depending how spicy you like it)
2 large (28 oz.) cans tomato sauce or strained tomatoes
1 cup vegetable broth
2 cans kidney beans

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large soup pot or Dutch oven.
Add the meat breaking it up into small pieces while cooking, until browned.
Season with salt and pepper and transfer to a plate.
Add the onions and sauté until softened, about 5 minutes.
Add the garlic, oregano and chili powder and cook for another minute.
Add the meat, beans, broth and tomato sauce and stir.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to medium low and let simmer for about 45 minutes.
Use additional vegetable broth to thin if it's too thick.


Friday, January 24, 2014

Cheeseless, allergy friendly lasagna and our amazing family!

Who knew cheeseless lasagna could be this delicious?!

The idea came from my mother-in-law, Claudia. And she's part Italian, so she knows good lasagna! I'm really happy she came up with this because I plan on making it a lot! It's really good and so much better for you than regular lasagna recipes. You don't have to feel guilty about eating it.

While we were visiting her last month she made every effort to cook foods that were safe for Cody. I can't fully express how grateful I am for this. It's not easy to do, but just the knowledge that the food around Cody was safe made for a much more relaxing and enjoyable vacation.

We also stayed with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law for a few days and they also went above and beyond to accommodate us and make sure Cody was in a safe environment.

For holiday dinners the whole family was very understanding about the food changes that were made. It was all still really delicious thanks to my mother-in-law's awesome culinary skills which probably helped! :) She has a bed and breakfast in Michigan City, IN. If you are ever going to be in the area and want a nice, relaxing getaway visit Tryon Farm Guest House.

I am so very grateful, probably more than they know, and feel so lucky that both of our families are incredibly supportive and understanding. I know some others are not so lucky.

Ok. Back to the lasagna. We tried some cheese replacement options that were just not working, so Claudia decided to make it cheeseless and that was a really good decision. I'm a big fan of the dairy-free cheeses, but in something like lasagna, these options just don't quite work. Believe me, try this, it works!

Enjoy!

This recipe is free of the top 8 allergens (egg-free, dairy-free, wheat-free, peanut-free, tree nut-free, soy-free, fish-free and shellfish-free) and vegan (if you omit the ground meat).

Lasagna

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 zucchini, sliced and quartered
1 yellow squash, sliced and quartered
1 small eggplant, sliced and quartered
1 bunch kale, stalks removed and chopped
1 package spinach, chopped
1 8 oz. package plain hummus (or see my sesame free-hummus recipe here)
1/2 cup basil, chopped 
1 lb. ground beef or bison (optional)
3 cups Tomato Sauce, or use 1 jar of your favorite tomato sauce
1 package oven ready rice lasagna or other gluten free, allergy friendly lasagna noodles.
Salt and pepper

In a large skillet heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. 
Sauté the zucchini, eggplant, kale and spinach until tender, about 5 -7 minutes. 
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl and stir in the hummus and basil.
If using the ground meat, return the skillet to medium heat and add the meat.
Cook, breaking up meat into small pieces, until browned.
Season with salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Spoon 3/4 cup of the sauce into a baking pan or dish. 
Place a layer of uncooked lasagna noodles over the sauce. Do not overlap noodles. 
Spread half of the vegetable mixture and half of the ground meat over the noodles. Top with 3/4 cup of sauce.
Repeat noodles, vegetables, meat and sauce.
Add the final layer of noodles and cover with the remaining sauce.

Cover and bake for 1 hour. 
Remove from oven and let stand 5 - 10 minutes before serving.



Here is a picture of my little assistant helping me out. :)


Thursday, January 16, 2014

Allergy Friendly Tomato sauce

I have some recipes coming up that use tomato sauce . For a long time I have made my own because I prefer it to buying sauce in a jar. It's really easy and I make big batches and freeze it.

Whenever we don't have time to cook, we can just take some sauce out of the freezer and make spaghetti.

I don't do this when making sauce for Cody, but if I'm just cooking for Josh and myself I add a really big splash of good, Italian red wine.

Enjoy!

This recipe is free of the top 8 allergens (egg-free, dairy-free, wheat-free, peanut-free, tree nut-free, soy-free, fish-free and shellfish-free) and vegan.

Tomato Sauce
 
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon fresh, chopped oregano
1 large can tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoons fresh, chopped basil
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat.
Sauté the onions until tender, about 5 minutes.
Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Stir in the tomato sauce and oregano.
Season with salt and pepper to taste. 
Simmer, covered over low heat for at least 30 minutes, but the longer, the better!
Remove from heat and stir in basil.
Adjust seasoning.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Allergy Friendly Hearty Vegetable Stew

Hi everyone, I'm back! Hope you all are having a fantastic start to 2014.

I know many of you are having a very cold start to the year. We were in Chicago and luckily left before it got really cold. Even here in Florida we had a couple of days of temps in the high 20s. Nothing like the -30s and -40s some were having, but still brrrr!

Cold weather makes me want soup and stew and I love using my crock pot to make these. It's so easy. You just throw a bunch of ingredients in a pot, stir and let it cook all day.

I made this and served it with some of my leftover pumpkin rolls I had in the freezer. Perfect for a cold night!

You can also replace the rice with rice pasta or other gluten free pasta, but just make sure you wait until the end to add the pasta or it will be too mushy.

Enjoy!

This recipe is free of the top 8 allergens (egg-free, dairy-free, wheat-free, peanut-free, tree nut-free, soy-free, fish-free and shellfish-free) and vegan.

Hearty vegetable stew

2 cans diced tomatoes 
2 small zucchini, diced
2 medium potatoes, diced
1 cup uncooked rice
1 can cannellini beans
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon chopped, fresh thyme
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a crock pot.
Cook on low 8-9 hrs, or high 4-5 hrs.