Halloween and Food Allergies- What's a goblin to do?

Halloween time rolls around, and I get a lot of questions (and assumptions) about how we handle Halloween with food allergies. Most people just assume that we opt out of the whole shebang, but that couldn't be further from the truth! We have awesome Halloween traditions!  I want to share them with you, along with some practical tips, especially with you families that are facing their first Halloween with a food allergic child. 

For sure, Halloween can be a scary, and if we're being honest, a truly terrifying day!  The idea of someone putting a deadly substance in your child's trick or treat bag, or of the sticky candy -coated fingers of the neighbor kid next door coming just too close to your food allergic kiddo....these are enough to make any food allergy parent scream and run.  But you don't have to! Halloween can be fun, safe, and memorable for all the right reasons, with some advance planning and attention to detail. Here's how we do Halloween in our family! 

We usually start the day with a Halloween party with our home school group. Games, a costume parade, and non-food treats to share. After the party, we head home and take a rest in order to get ready for the evening's activities.  We have a nice dinner, get the costumes back on and head out for trick-or-treating.  Yep, we go trick-or-treating.  Because some of our children are still quite young, we only go to 10 houses or so.  Here are some tips I have about making it as safe as possible:

• Incorporate gloves into the costumes, reduce the possibility of exposure.  I use dollar tree knit gloves, and I just toss them at the end of the night.  
• Use a single use trick-or-treating bag, NOT a pillowcase, or an expensive cute bag that your child will want to play with again.
• Go up to the door with your child, and if you see a Payday candy bar headed into the bag, politely say "He's allergic to peanuts, do you have a different kind?"  (No one ever just gives out one type of candy, everyone has always responded positively to this...) 

Now, here's my big secret: the candy never enters our house! When we get home, the kids gather on the front porch, and they trade in their bags of candy to me for a clue.  Our tradition is to have a wild SCAVENGER HUNT once we arrive home! 

Here's this year's first clue.  Where do YOU think they should look for Clue #2? Tell me your answer in the comments section to be entered to win a copy of my PDF download: 12 Cookies of Christmas! (Giveaway concluded)

As my kids have gotten older, the clues have gotten more numerous and difficult, and the whole thing gets a little more wild and raucous, but they ALWAYS find the treasure!  What's the treasure? A cute Halloween bag of safe treats and non-food goodies!  This event is much anticipated every year, and honestly, it's the best part of our Halloween!  This year the goody bags will include:

• art supplies like crayons and colored pencils
• safe homemade cookies
• New earbuds for MP3 players for the older ones, coloring books for the little ones, and mini bags of Legos for the middle ones!

So, what happens to all the candy?  Well, my husband, who has a huge sweet tooth (don't tell his dentist), takes the bags straight into his basement workshop.  (The peanut candy gets thrown away, the other candy goes to my husband.) 

I hope that you have a wonderful and safe Halloween this year!  If you need ideas for safe baked goods to make for your children, get a copy of my ebook!  "Love Letters from My Kitchen," there are tons of delicious treats that everyone in your family will love, food allergies, or not!  Also available in paperback! 

 As always, from The Allergy Safe Kitchen, I wish you "Good Cooking, and Safe Eating"!

Photo Credit: Pumpkins - Aidan Van Horn

Whipped Potatoes

Oh, the silky, indulgent lure of smooth whipped potatoes with good gravy...sounds yummy, doesn't it?  Here are a few of my tips for making delicious mashed potatoes:

• Use gold potatoes (Yukon gold, butter potatoes, always organic if you can)
• Cube potatoes in pieces no larger than an inch for quicker, more even cooking
• Drain your potatoes REALLY well, return them to a the hot pot and let them give off that steam, the more moisture you let them   release before whipping, the better!
• Substitute a little chicken stock for milk and use Earth Balance Spread (not the baking sticks, the spread that comes in a tub!)  I use one full container of Spread for 10 pounds of potatoes. (Oh yes, 10 pounds...we are a family of 9 and we LOVE our mashed potatoes.)
• Don't forget to add a generous amount of kosher salt! 

Do the first round of smashing with a traditional potato masher and then....using a hand mixer, whip the potatoes to desired consistency and enjoy!

 As always, from The Allergy Safe Kitchen, I wish you "Good Cooking, and Safe Eating"!

Time to Re"stock" the freezer!



All the veggies in the pot at the start of cooking.

The kitchen smells great today!  It's "restocking" day!  Store-bought stocks/broths can be full of MSG, unlabled "flavorings", and other additives and preservatives.  Some broths are clarified using egg-whites and egg shells.  With a life-threatening egg allergy in the house, I don't want to take any "mis-labeling" chances, so I make my own stocks; chicken, vegetable, and beef.  I make the stock and then freeze it for use in recipes, or to make homemade soup any time someone gets the sniffles! 

When I first decided to make my own stock years ago, I was a little intimidated!  I thought it was only something that professional chefs, or seasoned home cooks could pull off.  Boy was I wrong!  This is one of the easiest ways to "stock" (hee hee) your freezer with safe ingredients for your family or food allergic friends.  YOU control every ingredient that goes into the pot!  You don't have to worry about all that extra "stuff" that can aggravate the allergic body.  You can use your stocks to make soup, pan sauce, gravy, stir fry, and it's a great way to add flavor to rice instead of boiling it in plain water!  So here's what you need to know to set yourself up for some serious success in your YOUR allergy safe kitchen!

Chicken Stock:

I give instructions for making chicken stock in my YouTube video, "Leftover Chicken". Click on the link and get the recipe! In the video, I used the carcasses from four roasted chickens, you can use fewer roasted chickens if that's what you have available, OR you can use whole uncooked chickens.  If you use raw chickens, take the meat off the bones after it is fully cooked and return the bones to the stock pot to continue cooking!  Reserve the meat for chicken soup or use for lunch! 

Vegetable Stock:

This one couldn't be easier.  The basic process is: chop, boil, strain, freeze.  That's it. As you read this recipe, keep in mind that you can adjust any of the quantities to fit your needs or tastes.  If you are allergic to any of these ingredients, leave it out and replace it with a veggie you like!  For example, I omit tunips and parsnips because I don't care for them; I add mushrooms for deep flavor and color.  Here's the combination I that I have come to use:
     1 whole head of garlic with the top trimmed off
     4 cooking onions, quartered
     1 full leek
     6 medium carrots
     4 stalks of celery plus all the leaves I can pull off the bunch!
     1/2 lb cremini mushrooms, halved
     1/4 tsp whole peppercorns
     6 springs of parsley
     6 sprigs of thyme
     2 bay leaves
     14 cups of water
Place it all in a dutch oven or big pot, let it boil and then reduce to a simmer.  Continue cooking for 1 hour (or a little longer, there's no exact science here!).  Cool, strain and freeze!  SO simple! 

Yield is about 8 cups

*An easy way to gather ingredients is to have a big zip-top bag in the freezer labeled "FOR STOCK".  Any time you have an odd or "almost-on-the-edge" carrot/celery/fresh herb/onion/leek/greens leftover, toss it in the bag and freeze it.  When it's time to make stock, add the contents of the bag into the pot!

Beef Stock:

I think this is the most labor intensive of the three, but the reward is worth the effort!  Here's what you'll need:
     7 lbs of beef marrow bones, cut into 2 inch pcs.  (ask your butcher to do this)
     6 oz can of tomato paste
     3 stalks of celery with leaves, chopped
     2 medium yellow cooking onions, chopped
     2 medium carrots, chopped
     1 head of garlic, cloves peeled
     6 sprigs of fresh thyme
     6 bay leaves (I use fresh, but you could use dried)
     1/2 tsp whole peppercorns
     2 cups of your favorite dry red wine (use organic if possible)
     24 cups of water ( I have an 8 cup measuring cup that I fill 3 times!  That's how I got this
                            measurement)
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.  Place the bones on a roasting pan for 1 hour.  Then remove the pan from the oven and turn it down to 400 degrees F - smear the bones with the tomato paste (use a small spatula).  Lay the vegetables over the bones and roast at 400 degrees F for 30 minutes.  Place the roasting pan on the stove and use the 2 cups of wine to deglaze the pan, scraping up the browned bits with a wooden spoon.  (those browned bits are flavor - get 'em all!)  Place EVERYTHING from the roasting pan into a big stock pot and add peppercorns, garlic, and herbs.  Season with kosher salt and add the water.  Bring the mixture up to a boil and the reduce to a simmer.  Simmer for 4 - 4 1/2 hours.  Cool, strain, and freeze! 





The fat will rise to the top as it cools.  Let it solidify in the fridge and then scrape the fat off the top!

Part of this batch is going to be French Onion Soup for a romantic Valentine's Day dinner after the kids are in bed!



I am pleased with my efforts today! Remember, you don't have to cook like this every day!  If you put in this sort of effort and planning every once in a while, you'll set yourself up to have safe ingredients for "quick" meals when you need them! 

As always, I wish you "Good Cooking, and Safe Eating"!

Superbowl Feast - Chicken Quesadillas!

Chicken quesadillas are a fairly frequent lunch in our home, and they make a great addition to a Superbowl Feast!  I always have tortillas on hand, both wheat and corn, and quesadillas are a great way to utilize leftover veggies, leftover meats...really, anything you want to put in there!

 I like that this is an easy meal to customize to each child's taste, just let your child choose what goes in and you'll eliminate any "picky eater nonsense"! (Or let them sprinkle it in themselves if they're old enough to be by the stove!) 

Possible Ingredients:
- chicken
- ground beef
- steak
- bell peppers
- scallions or red onions (we've used carmelized onions...so yummy)
- tomatoes
- salsa
- bacon
- cucumbers
- sliced mushrooms
- soy cheese
- dairy cheese (since we have only mild dairy allergies, we do allow our dairy in our kitchen - this 
                        was not always the case)
- shredded carrots
- ANY leftover veggie!

After getting your counter organized with the chopped/sliced/shredded items you want to incorporate into your quesadillas, heat a little oil in a cast iron skillet or a non-stick pan (use hard adonized if possible - no leeching chemicals) on medium-low. 

Place one torilla in the skillet and sprinkle your fillings over the whole surface.  Cover with a second tortilla and slowly heat through until the bottom is crisp and golden.  Flip the torilla carefully using a large spatula.  Heat second side slowly until golden brown.  (Heat on low to medium-low, you want any cheese/soy cheese to have time to melt!)

Let the quesadilla cool on a cutting board for a minute or two, the cheese/soy cheese will be HOT!  Using a pizza cutter, slice into 6 wedges and serve with small "dipper cups" of dairy-free sour cream, and salsa! Enjoy!

From "The Allergy Safe Kitchen", I wish you "Good Cooking, and Safe Eating"!

Roast Chicken - It's what's for dinner, and lunch, and dinner....

Go to youtube and check out my latest show, in three parts - Roast Chicken!

Learning how to make roast chicken can help give you plenty of raw material for many meals: chicken dinner, chicken salad, chicken stock, chicken gravy, chicken soup, chicken tacos...and the list goes on!

For all of the families just starting out in the "allergy world", this is probably the first roasting endeavor you should master, assuming that your family is not allergic to chicken.  (That isn't a joke, there are those who are allergic to the oils present in the chicken skin.)  But if chicken CAN be on the menu at your house, head on over to youtube and learn how to open up a world of safe meals for you and your family without having to break the bank with expensive "allergy friendly" products! 

"Allergy Safe Kitchen" presents:  Roast Chicken, part 1

Broccolini Basil Spaghetti

Head on over to my youtube channel to see the latest installment of our "in home" cooking show, "Allergy Safe Kitchen"!  We're making Broccolini Basil Spaghetti. 

"Broccolini" is the trademark name, and the actual vegetable is sometimes labeled as "baby broccoli" or "broccoletti".  Is is a hybrid of broccoli and Chinese kale.  If you cannot find it in your grocery store, feel free to substitute regular broccoli in this recipe! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRxnM8A8GQ8&context=C388e208ADOEgsToPDskL5cBzuVqvj3Xc4xBD_tqfY

Before and After - a cook in the making...

When my husband and I first married, I knew how to cook very few dishes from scratch.  I was always calling my mom to find out how to do this or that, and I depended on a fair amount of box/frozen meals to round out our dinners for the week.  I made spaghetti sauce from the jar, defrosted meatballs from a bag, and popped frozen texas toast in the oven,  and I really thought I was COOKING, baby.  And truly, for a newlywed, it wasn't bad! 

I went from defining "baking" as boxed mixes and canned frosting to from-scratch dairy free, egg free, peanut/nut free cake, frosting, and fondant. If I can evolve like that, so can you!  This cake was made at a beach cottage for my sister-in-law's baby shower!