Food is Good
Allergy Friendly Recipe – Bacon Fried Rice
by Leila on June 24, 2013
Yes, you read that right… bacon fried rice! I love cooking food as much as I love eating. I’ve learned to be very creative with my recipes because of the food allergy challenges we face. I make up recipes all the time and they usually turn out okay. Unless it involved Quinoa… I have a love/hate relationship with it!
Anyway…
We love fried rice and it’s become a big staple in our diet. Making fried rice is very easy and it’s very forgiving and versatile. It is hard to mess up fried rice once you know how to make it. My fried rice has been modified to be allergy friendly (no eggs, milk and can be made wheat/pork free!) and you won’t find this at any restaurant.
Bacon Fried Rice
Ingredients:
- 3 cups of cooked short grain rice
- ½ lb of bacon (or more if you want it to be bacontastic! I often use a whole package! This works well with turkey, veggie or beef bacon)
- ½ white onion (I prefer sweet onion but yellow will work as well)
- 1 cup of frozen or fresh mixed veggies (yanno the kind in the small chunks and it makes me wonder how carrots get to be perfectly square like that!)
- Soy sauce (tamari or wheat free soy sauce)
Step 1 -
Start cooking your rice. Some people have a rice pot and some people cook it on the stovetop. Cut/chop the bacon into chunks and cook them on medium heat. Keep an eye on them and make sure they don’t burn.
Step 2 -
While the bacon and rice are cooking dice up the onion. When the bacon is nice and crispy add the onions to the pan with one tablespoon of soy sauce (or tamari/wheat free soy sauce).
This is where you decide how much you love bacon grease. You can drain the bacon grease or you can keep it in. I don’t add oil to this dish because… well… bacon is oily enough. Nope, I do not drain the bacon grease! Bad… but sooo good!
Stir often and do not let it burn! NO BACON WASTE!
Step 3 -
When the onions are caramelized and delicious looking add the frozen/fresh veggies. Stir, make sure it doesn’t burn and keep the heat on medium.
Step 4 -
Drool a little bit over all the delicious flavors but keep your drool out of the food! Add the cooked short grain rice when the frozen veggies are soft but not soggy. Add another tablespoon of soy sauce if you want it really soysaucy (Yeah, I make up words).
Stir this mixture of deliciousness for a minute or so until it looks like this…
Enjoy your bacon fried rice!
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Super Easy Dairy Free Vegan Pumpkin Pie
by Leila on November 21, 2012
Yes, a super easy dairy free vegan pumpkin pie! Psst… it’s also delicious. Have you ever noticed that allergy friendly recipes have a long freaking list of ingredients? I like to keep things simple. If you want to make this gluten free then use it with my Gluten Free Pie Crust using Chex.
Ingredients
1 can of Libby’s Pumpkin Pie Mix (yes, I totally cheat)
3 tablespoons of GF maple syrup
1/4 cup of rice/soy milk (use vanilla if you want it sweeter) OR 1/4 cup of coconut cream (for a creamier/richer pie)… don’t use both!
1/4 cup of applesauce
Directions
First I want to explain the ingredients. Instead of eggs I’ve replaced them with applesauce and maple syrup. This acts as a binding agent and it sweetens it up a bit. I replace cow’s milk with soy or rice milk but I always use less. Coconut cream is delicious and dense and it will make your baking dishes creamy. I experiment a lot but I found that both work well it’s just a matter of what you dig. You dig?
Preheat oven to 425
Dump can of Pumpkin Pie Mix in a big bowl
Combine applesauce and maple syrup, mix in well with pie mix.Whisk it… whisk it good.
Stir in the soy/rice milk or coconut cream.
Do a little dance… make a little love… get down tonight…
Pour mixture into pie crust of choice.
Bake for 20 minutes. Then reduce to 350 for 60-90 minutes. Bake it until a toothpick comes out of it clean.
The baking times will vary because not all applesauce is made equally. Some is much more watery than others so I’ve found that while it does not change the taste of whatever I am baking it will change the cooking time.
Enjoy your dairy free vegan pumpkin pie! Let me know how it goes
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Dairy Free/Vegan Spinach and Garlic Mashed Potatoes
by Leila on November 20, 2012
When you can’t eat milk you need to think outside of the box for dishes that usually rely heavily on cheese. Replacing your typical cheesy recipes with replacement cheese doesn’t always add up.
This recipe isn’t my original idea… I have to give some credit to my honey otherwise he will come home and talk smack that I didn’t give him kudos on this. I do change it up from his original recipe.
To Peel or Not to Peel?
There are nutritional benefits to leaving the peel on… we all know this. Some people really don’t like the peels or the way they taste. I used to be one of those people but I was determined to change my taste, save my hands on peeling time and stop wasting nutritious peels. I’ve found that the better you scrub your potatoes the less they taste like… well, dirt. Also, red potatoes tend to have thinner skin so they aren’t as noticeable. I say leave the peels on and suck it up or soak up those nutrients. If you are that against it then get your peel on.
Ingredients:
6 large baking potatoes or 10-12 smaller potatoes
1 (16 0z) bag of frozen spinach
3 tablespoons of olive oil (double the amount of olive oil if you do not want to use margarine)
1/2 stick of dairy free margarine (I prefer Earth’s Balance for this dish)
1/4 cup of coconut cream OR 1/2 cup of plain soy/rice milk
Garlic – Either 1 tablespoon of garlic power AND seasalt to taste of sea salt or 1 tablespoon of garlic seasalt or 4 roasted cloves of garlic and salt to taste
If you are really trying to keep vampires away then add a bunch more garlic. Don’t be shy.
Directions
Boil your potatoes until they are soft. Drain and keep in the pot you boiled them in.
Cook spinach according to the package by either steaming in a saucepan or microwaving. Set aside.
Add margarine, olive oil and coconut cream or soy/ricemilk.
Do the mash… yes, like the monster mash but with potatoes.
I use a masher then I bust out my cake mixer to make it super smooth.
Add spinach and mix it all together
Add garlic and salt last
This is a HUGE hit with everyone. It’s a great way to get the kids to each spinach and a big batch is great for Thanksgiving or potlucks. I’ve had friends tell me it’s like a creamed spinach dish. We love it!
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Food Allergy Friendly and Gluten Free Pie Crust with Chex
by Leila on November 20, 2012
Gluten Free, allergy friendly and dairy free/vegan pie crust seems impossible, difficult or yucky. It’s not or… doesn’t have to be!
Over the past ten years of allergy friendly cooking I have experimented a lot with crazy recipes. I’ve found that most recipes are insanely complicated and have a long list of ingredients that I don’t typically have around my house. I really don’t want to have to keep a dozen different types of starches and flours to make one dish. I’m simple and I also have zero storage space in my kitchen.
I have made graham cracker crust from scratch before so I figured if I started experimenting with different crackers and cereals that my kids could have then I would come up with something delicious.
We always have chex in the house. We go through them at a ridiculous rate. Why not try those?
If you have allergy restrictions please only use ingredients I suggested if you know you can have them. I don’t want people getting sick because they were experimenting from my recipes!
Ingredients:
2 Cups of Chex (obviously use whatever chex you can eat or that you like… all of them have great results)
3 Tablespoons of Margarine (we use Earths Balance or Nucoa) or Butter
3 Tablespoons of Brown Sugar (or 2 tablespoons of maple syrup)
Directions (because telling people what to do is fun)
Preheat your oven to 350
Turn on music and get your kitchen dancing on while you cook (optional)
Combine the margarine and brown sugar in a saucepan and on a low heat melt. If you want to speed it up then put them in a microwave safe bowl and zap them for about 15 seconds. All microwaves vary so keep an eye on them.
Don’t do what I do and accidentally put them in for a minute and create a boiling volcanic mess while you are distracted dancing in your kitchen.
Pour the buttery and sugary mixture in a big bowl. Then add the two cups of chex. Smash them with a hammer! Okay, not really a hammer but I use my potato masher. Some people pour all of this in a food processor to do all the dirty work for them but I prefer to work my muscles. *flexes*
Actually, I don’t have a food processor and I think Santa should take note of that. Just sayin.
Once the chex and sugary deliciousness is mashed up to resemble a crumbled topping you will want to pour it in a greased pie tin. Press it evenly.
Stick the pie tin in the over and bake for 8-10 minutes until the crust has taken on a nice light brown color. Let it cool for at least 30 minutes to an hour before filling it. I made this with pumpkin pie and NOMS… it was delicious.
Super easy!
If I was a better food blogger I would have taken pictures instead of getting caught up dancing to oldschool rap and Michael Jackson. I will add pictures later! Promise
So there you have it. The easiest Food Allergy Friendly and Gluten Free Pie Crust that you will ever make.
Enjoy your Gluten Free Pie Crust and feel free to ask me questions or tell me what you think!
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