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Allergy-Friendly Menus – surviving the food allergy apocalypse (archive)

Category: Allergy-Friendly Menus

These are posts which contain full meals or a menu plan for an event or holiday, which may consist of our recipes or links to recipes on other websites.

  • Be My Vegan Valentine Dinner

    Be My Vegan Valentine Dinner
    Be My Vegan Valentine Dinner

    So Denise posted a Meat-Eater’s Menu for Romance last week. But we know that not all of our readers are meat eaters — and I tend to vacillate. What if you or your significant other don’t eat meat? No fear! I’ve got a tasty vegan menu for sharing — or indulging in by yourself. This is my version of a refined plate, with subtle and complimentary flavors for a fine dining feel in your safe, allergen-free home: Grilled Coriander-Cumin Portabella Mushrooms, Toasted Garlic Green Beans, and Wine-Baked Red Potatoes.

    There is nothing hard about this menu, but the timing is important to get everything to come out at the same time. So I’m going to give you each dish’s ingredients up front, then break down the timing by doing all the instructions for the meal as a whole instead of each dish. Hopefully that won’t be too confusing since I’ve told you up front, and timing’s always the hardest part for me.

    Since I’ve not made a dessert either, I’d echo Denise in suggesting a fine bar of chocolate to share, a pint of your favorite safe ice cream, or check out our desserts category for ideas. I’d tell you that this is heart-healthy or some other such cheesy pun-age, but who knows? It’s tasty, and allergen-free, plus animal-free. Enjoy.

    Artistic Plating, my best attempt
    Artistic Plating, my best attempt

    Be My Vegan Valentine Dinner

    Wine-Baked Red Potatoes (adapted from an Edward Espe Brown recipe)

    • 2 pounds small red potatoes — look for about ping-pong ball size or smaller
    • 10 cloves of garlic, peeled
    • 5-10 sprigs of fresh herbs (dill, rosemary, or thyme are recommended — buy whatever you like best and looks freshest)
    • about half a bottle of red or white wine, your choice (but don’t get something sweet). I had some of each, so I used about 1/4 a bottle of red table wine, and about the same amount of a chardonnay. Pick something you like OR if you don’t drink wine regularly, get a table wine — a blend of wines that should be neither too dry nor sweet.
    • 3/4 cup non-dairy milk or cream — if you make your own, just cut the amount of water in half

    Toasted Garlic Green Beans

    • 1/2 pound (be generous with this) green beans
    • 1/4 cup oil (I used olive oil — you will use about half of this for the mushrooms)
    • 2 Tablespoons chopped garlic
    • salt to taste

    Grilled Cumin-Coriander Portabella Mushrooms

    • 4 mushrooms, washed and de-stemmed
    • 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
    • 1/2 teaspoon salt
    • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
    • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
    • pinch of cayenne (optional, but adjust for your desired spice-level)
    • (you will be adding some oil to this from the green bean recipe)

    Cooking times:

    • The potatoes are going to take about 2 hours — they can go more, if you want, but do not plan for less.
    • The green beans themselves will take maybe 10 minutes, but the garlic will take about a half an hour before you cook the beans.
    • The mushrooms will take about 8 minutes if you have a two-sided grill (like a Foreman grill), and about 13 if you’re using a skillet or grill pan.
    • IF you time it right, this will all be done in 2 hours, with a few periods of activity but a lot of downtime. We’re working in the order of these bullets — potatoes, garlic, green beans, mushrooms.

    To begin, preheat the oven to 375F. Wash and scrub your potatoes. If you were unable to find smaller red potatoes, cut the ones you have down to approximately the size of ping-pong balls. You need a baking dish that will hold all of your potatoes in a single layer with a little space around them — I have an 8.5″ by 11″ glass dish that is perfect for this.

    IMG_0929Lay your herbs out on the bottom of the baking dish so that you have an evenly dispersed layer. Put your potatoes on top. Throw the whole garlic cloves in scattered around the dish. Then add your wine — it should come about halfway up the potatoes, which is why I haven’t given you an actual measurement — just pour it in until you have enough.

    IF your potatoes are cut, add salt and pepper now. If they aren’t, I prefer to add the salt and pepper at the table. Cover the dish with foil, but don’t scrunch it too tight — you want some of the steam to escape, but not most of it. Put the potatoes in the oven and set the timer for an hour. Now go find something to do for an hour. You are not needed here.

    One hour later …

    Reset your timer for 30 minutes. Leave the potatoes alone. They still don’t need you.

    Put a skillet, cast iron if you’ve got it, over medium low heat and let it heat empty. When the skillet is hot, add 1/4 cup of olive oil. Let the oil heat up, and then turn it down to low. Add your 2 Tablespoons of chopped garlic and stir. Stir it every 10 minutes or so over the next half hour — you are aiming for a golden brown garlic here.

    Golden brown garlic, almost perfect
    Golden brown garlic, almost perfect

    While the garlic cooks, rinse your green beans and trim the ends off. Set these aside to drain and dry while the garlic cooks.

    Depending on your speediness, you probably have 15 minutes or so to clean up some dishes or go read some internet.

    When your timer goes off, check on your garlic first — is it golden brown? If so, tilt your pan and skim out the garlic, leaving the oil behind. Set the toasted garlic aside. If it’s not quite done yet, move on to the potatoes, but keep an eye on the garlic.

    Take your potatoes out of the oven, or just open the oven and slide the rack out so you can reach the potatoes. Remove the foil. Add the cashew or almond or soy cream or milk, whatever you’re using. Put or push the potatoes back in the oven, leaving the foil off. Set the timer again, for another 30 minutes.

    If you haven’t removed the garlic, it should be done now. You can safely leave the oil on over the heat — you’ll be cooking the beans in about 15 minutes.

    Turn on your grill or put your grill pan over medium to medium-high heat.

    If you need to wash your mushrooms, do so. Then mix up the spice mix, making sure to incorporate the spices into the brown sugar. Tip your skillet up and scoop out about half of the oil into the spice mix. You don’t need to be exact here, but it should be about 2 Tablespoons if you’d rather measure. Mix the oil into the spices well. Brush the tops of the mushrooms well with this mix, and then liberally baste the interiors of the mushrooms with the oil-spice mix.

    Turn the heat in the skillet for the green beans up to medium, and add the green beans. Stir occasionally.

    If you’re using the grill pan or skillet for cooking the mushrooms, start now — tops down. You’ll cook them for 6-10 minutes on the first side, and another 5-8 on the other. If you’re using an electric grill, you only need about 7 or 8 minutes total. Plan accordingly.

    This should net you three lovely decadent vegetable dishes all done at the same approximate time. Slice the mushrooms, sprinkle the garlic over the green beans, and cut the potatoes in half and salt if they weren’t salted before cooking. Light some candles for ambiance, add some amusing conversation, and enjoy a nice dinner with someone special — or add a good movie and call yourself special. Hey, no judgements.

    Happy Dinner
    Happy Dinner — good food is for everyone
  • Boneless Rib Eye Roast & Sides – the Meat-eater’s special Valentine’s Day Dinner

    Boneless Rib Eye Roast, Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Oven Roasted Asparagus
    Boneless Rib Eye Roast, Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Oven Roasted Asparagus

    So, here’s the thing, I pretty much can’t go out to dinner anymore with the whole corn thing. Makes it hard to go out for a romantic dinner, if all I can do is sip a glass of wine and watch my husband eat his dinner. Fun right? So that might mean finding a non-food related activity or it might mean cooking at home instead. Because some of you might want the nice dinner, and I can’t think of anything fun to do in winter in New Hampshire on Valentine’s Day, cooking at home it is. Shawn is a carnivore, so I’m doing a really nice rib eye roast (two weeks early, just for you guys), but Mary Kate will be supplying a Vegetarian/Vegan option next week. We’ll have you covered. (Also, I would totally make this for myself if I was single, leftovers are awesome!)

    The rib eye roast is a bit pricey, but my thought was that it’s still cheaper than going out to dinner, having appetizers, an entree, dessert, and drinks. I’m also going to you some options for side dishes, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, and Oven Roasted Asparagus. I’m not handling dessert, I’m still having complications with respect to having safe fats to use for baking, and you should just get some chocolate if it’s safe for your allergies from the Dancing Lion (yo, anyone getting me presents for Valentine’s, hint, hint, not that my husband reads this blog).

    One thing that’s really helpful is a probe meat thermometer. Seriously. Get one now, if you’re sick of your meat and poultry being overcooked. I mean it. Why waste your hard earned money on overcooked food? Isn’t making all our food hard enough? Okay, I’m off the soap box, but seriously, do it. Or at least get one of these so you can check the temp periodically. (No affiliation with Amazon whatsoever, but their site has good pictures and descriptions.)

    Garlic Mashed Potatoes

    1/3 cup of roasted garlic (Here’s how to do it, takes an hour, do a bunch ahead of time and store it in a jar in your fridge or freeze it so you can use when you want it without the aggravation).

    Amount of Garlic I roasted, you don't need this much, but it's good to have
    Amount of Garlic I roasted, you don’t need this much, but it’s good to have
    Roasted Garlic in a pint jar
    Roasted Garlic in a pint jar
    • 5-6 large potatoes, peeled and cut into 2″-3″ inch square chunks
    • 2-3 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil (if you have a safe margarine or butter, you can use that, I don’t, unfortunately.)
    • 1/4 cup of non-dairy milk (I’m using homemade cashew milk, but use what works for you.)

    Save a couple of the roasted garlic cloves to one side so you can use it as a garnish if you want to get all fancy about it. Place your peeled and chunked potatoes in a large pot.

    Peeled and chunked potatoes in a pot
    Peeled and chunked potatoes in a pot

    Cover them with enough water that the potatoes are submerged by an inch or so. Bring the potatoes to a boil on high, and then turn down to medium high (about 7-8 on my dial). Continue to cook until the potatoes are fork tender.  Drain in a strainer/colander and place the cooked potatoes back in the pot.

    Potatoes cooked fork tender and placed back in pot
    Potatoes cooked fork tender and placed back in pot

    Mash the potatoes with a potato masher. Add the garlic (with exception of the cloves for the garnish), the olive oil, and the non-dairy milk and mash the new ingredients into the potatoes until all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed. Either place the potatoes in a decorative serving dish with the garlic cloves on top, or place some on the plate with a garlic clove as a garnish.

    Garlic Mashed Potatoes in a Serving Dish
    Garlic Mashed Potatoes in a Serving Dish

    Oven Roasted Asparagus

    • a bundle of asparagus
    • 2 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
    • 1 teaspoon of Penzey’s Greek Seasoning (or use about an 1/8 of a teaspoon each of salt, garlic, lemon peel, black pepper, Turkish oregano, marjoram, and mix it together.)

    Preheat oven to 400° F. Wash and trim the asparagus, and then cut it into 1-2″ inch pieces.

    Asparagus cut in pieces
    Asparagus cut in pieces

    Place them in a bowl. Drizzle the asparagus with the extra virgin olive oil and the seasoning mix. Using a silicone spatula, toss the asparagus in the bowl until it is thoroughly coated with oil and seasoning mix.

    Asparagus in bowl being tossed with oil and seasonings
    Asparagus in bowl being tossed with oil and seasoning

    Spread them out on a baking sheet, making sure to scrape down the bowl so that the oil and seasoning end up on the asparagus on the baking sheet.  Put the baking sheet in the oven and bake for approximately 30 minutes until asparagus is tender.

    Asparagus after roasting
    Asparagus after roasting

    Boneless Rib Eye Roast

    • 3-5 pound boneless rib eye roast
    • about 1-2 teaspoons of Penzey’s English Prime Rib Rub (or use an 1/8 of a teaspoon each of salt, ground celery seed, sugar, ground black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and arrowroot and mix it together).

    Based on this recipe, you need to cook the roast for about 15-18 minutes per pound after the initial 15 minutes as described below, and will need to rest for 15-20 minutes after you remove it from the oven.  Calculate how long that will be based on your roast size to figure out when you need to begin cooking to have the roast be ready to serve at the time you wish to eat. An hour before you intend to begin cooking in order to have the roast cooked and rested by the time you wish to eat, take the roast out of the refrigerator and place it on the counter to bring it to room temperature.

    Preheat your oven to 450° F. Take a baking pan, and place a rack in it.

    Cooling Rack on a baking sheet
    Cooling Rack on a baking sheet

    Season your roast with your spice mix by rubbing it all over the roast.   Place the meat on the rack, with the fat side up.

    Roast with spice rub and placed on rack
    Roast with spice rub and placed on rack

    Place the roast in the oven for 15 minutes, then turn the oven temperature down to 325° F.  Place your probe thermometer through the center of the roast, making sure it is going through the very center.

    Roast after 15 minutes and placement of probe thermometer
    Roast after 15 minutes and placement of probe thermometer

    Continue to roast for 15-18 minutes per pound or until the thermometer reaches 125°F for an internal temperature. This is fairly rare, but as the roast rests the internal temperature will continue to rise for another 5 to 10 degrees.  If you like more of a medium rare, wait until the internal temperature reaches 135° F. Take the roast out of the oven.

    Completed Roast after cooking
    Completed Roast after cooking

    Tent it with aluminum foil and let it rest for 15-20 minutes. Do not cut the roast before it has had a chance to rest. I mean it. Seriously.  Otherwise, you’ll lose all the moisture.  Once the roast has rested properly, cut the strings on the roast and remove them, and then cut the roast into slices.

    Cutting Roast into slices
    Cutting Roast into slices

    Plate up your roast and sides and eat up while asking your husband, partner or date to say something outlandishly romantic. Mine doesn’t do it, but it’s fun to watch the facial contortions, as I make unreasonable demands. Remind me to tell you about the time I nagged him to write me a poem for almost a year and a half. Oh and the sculpture, too.

    Boneless Rib Eye Roast, Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Oven Roasted Asparagus
    Boneless Rib Eye Roast, Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Oven Roasted Asparagus
  • Thanksgiving, Apocalyptic

    Turkey on Cutting Board
    Turkey on Cutting Board

    So this will be our second Thanksgiving on this blog, and we’re really happy that you’re all here and reading our recipes and thoughts — we got online to share, and we’re thankful that some of you find it worthwhile to come read.

    While this is pretty last minute, we thought we’d post what we’re planning for Thanksgiving — Denise and are are cooking together, for a full safe for both of us holiday of food. Some of the recipes are on the blog, some aren’t, and it’s likely things will change the day of. But maybe this will be of some interest to anyone who is still thinking about what to make or what to bring or eat.

    Denise is making:

    Mary Kate is making:

    • Oven latkes (recipe forthcoming if I can figure out how to get it right every time)
    • Mushroom-chestnut dressing (a variation on the dressing in this recipe, with the mushrooms in the dressing)
    • Maple dill carrots (replacing the Earth Balance with olive oil to be corn-free)
    • Brussels sprouts with walnuts and pomegranate seeds
    • Gravy, recipe TBD

    To all of our readers, Merry Thanksgiving, Joyous Hanukkah, and eat safe.

    BUNNY CARD