Taco Seasoning

I am always in favor of making homemade spice mixes.  You can control the ingredients, and adjust the flavoring to suit your family's preferences.  I am especially in favor of blending homemade mixes when there happens to be a wide reaching recall underway of a certain ground spice!  So I'm sharing my recipe for Taco Seasoning.  

Kitchen Tip Tuesday - Chopping Herbs

Chopping fresh herbs can be a frustrating experience.  Herbs go everywhere, don't get cut all the way through, half end up on the floor or at least off your cutting board...what a mess. Don't despair, and don't give up on adding fresh herbs to your meals!  There's a simple trick that will have you chopping like a pro! 

Foolproof Juicy Chicken Thighs

"If you give a man a fish, he eats for a day.  If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime." If I share one single recipe, it will teach you one meal.  If I teach you a technique, you can create many meals for your family.  Today, I will share a technique for one of my favorite, budget friendly, juicy cuts of meat: chicken thighs!

So Delicious Soy Frozen Dessert Review

I love ice cream.  LOVE ice cream.  When an ice cream lover is in a dairy-free family, a solution MUST be found. MUST!  So today, I'm reviewing a product that I bought at our local grocery store: So Delicious Soy Frozen Dessert - Chocolate Velvet.  Here we go!

Pros: The name is accurate, this soy ice cream is chocolaty, and the texture of the dessert is smooth, not gummy, like some other brands we have tried. The mouthfeel isn't as creamy as a full fat ice cream, but satisfies my craving nonetheless.  Everyone in the family has enjoyed this frozen dessert, and we even made homemade "Ice Cream" sandwiches with it!  It's organic, Non- GMO Project Verified!

Cons: As with any specialty item, it's pricey - and the containers are smallish (one quart), so for a larger family, that can add up. While So Delicious has high standards, and tests its batches for multiple allergens, it does produce a chocolate peanut butter flavor...which makes this allergy mama have to be very trusting in their process that cross contamination won't occur. 

Bottom Line: I'll buy So Delicious Soy Frozen Dessert again for special occasions for my family!  

For more information on all So Delicious products, including their almond, and coconut lines, click HERE to visit their website!

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

Photo Credit: Aidan Van Horn

Guest Blogger: Kathy Thornburg from Food Allergy Jams!

I have always enjoyed cooking, which you realize is a tremendous blessing when food allergies enter your family! I remember spending time in the kitchen with my mom as a child and learning by watching her and helping her prepare meals. She was always fearless with a frying pan! She wasn’t afraid of tackling a new recipe, which I have always admired.

Now that I have children of my own, it’s important to me to share my love for cooking and baking with them. I enjoy making memories with my son Milo (age 3) as we prepare dinner or a special snack together. He knows just what to do when I start to drag our long heavy bench up to the kitchen counter. Without missing a beat, he runs to his room, opens his dresser drawer, and grabs his oven mitts, apron, and chef hat.

As we cook together, we talk about the ingredients we are using, we read labels together, and we don’t worry too much if we make a little bit of a mess as we mix the ingredients together. 

My son loves to cook, but that’s not the only thing he enjoys. He LOVES music! When I was struggling to find an age appropriate way to teach Milo about his allergies, (peanuts, eggs, and dogs) I decided to try writing him a song. He loved our song, “No No Peanuts” and quickly memorized it and started singing it on his own. I continued to write, we continued to sing, and he continued to learn! Now, we are nearing the end of our journey on Kickstarter to fund a professional recording of our CD, Food Allergy Jams, with Kurt Heinecke (creator of VeggieTales music).

We have until Wednesday, November 19^th at noon to reach our $35,000 goal to make our CD a reality! If you would like to learn more about our project and make a pledge to help us reach our goal, I encourage you to check out the link provided below. With your pledge, you not only get to choose from some great rewards, but you also get to go with us on this adventure of making our music CD come to life!

A big thanks to Beth and The Allergy Safe Kitchen for allowing me to write on her blog and for supporting Food Allergy Jams with a pledge on Kickstarter!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/508784083/food-allergy-jams-music-cd-for-kids

Kitchen Tip Tuesday! Preparing for the Long Winter

I live in upstate NY.  We get our fair amount of snow over the winter, plenty of below zero days, and the occasional blizzard or ice storm.  There are times we go without power, or just have to hunker down until the roads are clear.  Now, I'm perfectly aware that everyone, not just families with food allergies, should be preparing for winter conditions. However, I think that because food allergy families can't just make do with whatever they find at the gas station down the block, we need to think ahead in a very strategic way. Today, I'm going to share my Top 5 items to stock up on for the long winter ahead!

(Drum roll please...)

Number 1:  Shelf stable milk alternative. (Especially if you have toddlers or pre-schoolers!) Each time you do your regular grocery shopping trip, pick up one (or two) large container (s) of whichever milk alternative your family uses.  We use Rice Dream Rice Milk as our shelf stable alternative.

Number 2:  Canned tomatoes.  Whether you've canned your own, or you purchase them, lay in a supply of canned tomatoes.  Stock a variety so you can make sauces, soups, or add them to a crock pot recipe.  Canned tomatoes are versatile, and can be used to create many different warm comfort-food dishes. Again, just pick up an extra can or two each time you go shopping for your weekly groceries.

Number 3:  Pasta.  All different shapes and sizes.  Whether you eat rice pasta, or wheat pasta, stock up on this hearty staple.  Pasta can provide good energy for those days you might have to shovel the driveway, or knock the ice off your roof!  It can be a main dish, side dish, ingredient in a dish... When the brand of pasta we purchase goes on sale, I buy a LOT of it.

Number 4:  Baking staples. Flour (GF if that is what your family needs), sugars, baking powder, baking soda, salt, vanilla, shortening.  If you have a good supply of baking staples, you can make breads, pancakes, waffles, dumplings, biscuits, hey - maybe even some cookies!  I tend to stock up on these items using sales or coupons.

Number 5:  Last, but perhaps most importantly, stock up on prescriptions.  Refill all your/your child's prescription medications in case you cannot get to the pharmacy due to whether.  No one wants to be without epinephrine, nebulizer supplies, steroid cream, or antihistamine when they need it.

May you have a safe winter, and may you eat well if you get snowed in!

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

Photo Credit: Gregory Van Horn

Chicken Pot Pie-less

It's Meal Monday!  Today's meal is "Chicken Pot Pie-less!" This is exactly what is sounds like, except that it's allergy friendly for our family, and hopefully yours!  I particularly like this recipe, because it's easy to adapt.  The veggies that I list in the ingredients are not the only ones that make a delicious pot pie-less, use whatever you have!  Think of this recipe as a flexible guideline, not a "set in stone" scientific procedure.