Dairy and Soy free Bacon Quiche

Lately I have been craving quiche, but the thought of quiche with fake cheese in it just didn’t get me going.  Instead I found a recipe on Martha Stewart’s web site for a bacon and Gruyere quiche that sounded delicious.  Instead of trying to use fake cheese in the quiche, I chose to just leave it out completely in hopes that the richness of the bacon would make up for the lack of cheese.   Would it have maybe been better with cheese if we could eat that? Yes.   Did we miss the cheese at all?  No!  Would I make it again for company this way?  Absolutely!  I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do!

Dairy and Soy free Bacon Quiche

1-12 inch piece of pie dough (I bought the Pillsbury kind from the refrigerator section but you could use any recipe)

1 onion, diced

¾ lb. bacon, chopped into lardoons

6 large eggs

¾ cup of so delicious coconut creamer, original flavor

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Spread the pie dough out into a 9 inch pie plate, place a piece of parchment paper on the top and cover with beans or pie weights.  Bake the piecrust for 20 minutes. 

Chop the onion and bacon and place it in a skillet on high heat, cook until the onion is translucent and the bacon is cooked through.  After the piecrust comes out of the oven, remove the parchment and pie weights and place the bacon and onion in the bottom of the piecrust.  (I tried to use a spoon and remove as much fat as possible, this way your quiche isn’t greasy).  Next, whisk the eggs and the creamer together and pour on top of the bacon mixture. 

Bake the quiche for 40-45 minutes or until firm and solid in the center.  If the top is somewhat greasy from the bacon, you can lay a paper towel on top of the quiche once it is cooked to soak up the grease.  Serve warm.

Turkey Pineapple Meatloaf

This weekend I cooked a home-style meal.  I have been craving meat loaf lately but it became a little complicated to be beef, dairy, and soy free.  I found this recipe and altered it from my family cookbook and Jeff, Major, and our friend Mitch loved it!  I paired it with brown sugar glazed carrots, smashed potatoes (mashed with coconut creamer and earth’s balance soy free spread), and green beans (with earth’s balance soy free and Mrs. Dash).  It was a meal to remember.  I also am considering making this mixture into meatloaf meatballs, because Major loves a meatball! 

Turkey Pineapple Meatloaf

2 lbs. ground turkey thigh

1 medium sized onion, grated

1 c. whole wheat bread crumbs

1 (soy free) egg, beaten

¼ c. celery, diced

1 T. salt

Pepper to taste

1 c. ketchup

½ c. pineapple juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the turkey, onion, breadcrumbs, egg, salt, pepper, half of the ketchup, and half of the pineapple juice in a bowl.  Stir or knead with your hands until thoroughly mixed.  Pack into a loaf pan or form a loaf on a sheet pan (this is my preferred method).  Mix together the remaining ketchup and pineapple juice in a separate bowl and cover the meat loaf with the mixture.  Bake for approximately 1.5 hours.  Serve warm!

Allergic Girl, a must read!

I just finished reading the book Allergic Girl by Sloane Miller.  I loved the book because it was extremely informative about how to life a full and normal life with allergies.  Sloane, as an “allergic girl” herself outlines her procedures for living her life to the fullest.  She is an inspiration to me for Major and gives me hope that Major can live as full of a life as Sloane. 

         Sloane also provides an amazing service as an allergy coach.  She meets with clients whether it is virtually (in our case) or in person if you live in the New York City area.  I have spoken with Sloane a few times on the phone and she has been a wealth of knowledge and information about how to manage and cope with Major’s allergies.  If anyone is having trouble with personalizing your allergy plan to your or your child’s needs, or even having trouble coping with the implications of an allergy please consider speaking with her!  She is an amazing resource!  If you don’t feel that using her coaching services is for you, please consider reading her book.  I can’t stress enough how much I learned from Allergic Girl.  You can buy the book on Amazon by clicking here, or you can probably find it at your local bookstore! 

Turkey Herb Meatballs

Turkey Herb Meatballs

½ onion

2 garlic cloves

9 fresh sage leaves

9 fresh basil leaves

leaves from 5 sprigs of thyme

leaves from a 6 inch piece of fresh rosemary

¼ cup flat leaf parsley

1 handful baby spinach

1 pound ground turkey thighs

1  three finger pinch kosher salt

olive oil for the pan

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all of the ingredients except for the olive oil and turkey into a food processor.  Whir the ingredients up until finely chopped and no huge chunks are present.  Add in the meat and pulse until combined thoroughly.  Meanwhile, brush olive oil on a nonstick baking sheet for extra insurance because these guys STICK!  Using a small (2 tablespoon) ice cream scoop, scoop up the meat and put the scoops onto the pan.  Bake for 20 minutes or until the internal temperature of the meatballs is 165 degrees.  Let cool for 5 minutes and then serve hot with marinara sauce, or alone!  These are a great finger food for toddlers! 

Note:  These meatballs come out a nice shade of green due to the spinach in them.  You cannot taste it but if the color bothers you our your child you can omit the spinach!

oat milk and caramel corn

Since visiting with the nutritionist at Mt. Sinai hospital’s Jaffe Food Allergy Institute Major has been on oat milk.  The nutritionist recommended this because it has 4g of protein as opposed to coconut milk’s (maybe) 1g.  Protein is a must for a growing boy! This is the brand we use.  It is available at whole foods, but I buy it in cases of 12 here, since we use so much of it!  It is great to cook and bake with as well.  It is naturally sweet so Major loves it even more than the coconut milk. 

Another great product score is finding cocomojoe caramel corn.  This stuff is a.m.a.z.i.n.g.  If you’re not too far into the allergen free eating, you will soon find out that popcorn almost always has dairy in it (even those awesome bagged microwaveable corns at the health food stores are made on machinery that has dairy on it usually).  I am not a HUGE popcorn person but I really love a good caramel corn every now and then.  Enter, this stuff, life changing caramel corn that tastes just like the real thing but is dairy and soy free!  Those of you that know me know that I have a raging sweet tooth, and the cocomo corn has been my poison lately.  Now for the downside, it isn’t available locally so you have to get it shipped to you from their web site.  It is worth every penny! 

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Banana Chocolate Chip Bread

2 cups white whole-wheat flour (or other all purpose flour)

2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. sea salt

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

½ cup coconut oil, heated in the microwave for 30 seconds

2/3 cup agave nectar

2/3 cup oat milk (or other milk alternative)

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

4 ½ mashed bananas

1 cup vegan and soy free chocolate chips (I used the whole foods brand)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  Grease a loaf pan with nonstick spray, I use a coconut oil spray, but anything that doesn’t have the allergens you are sensitive to will work!

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, milk alternative, and vanilla in a bowl.  Stir until smooth, if the batter is too thick and hard to stir, add a little more of the milk alternative until it reaches the desired consistency.  Next, fold in the bananas and the chocolate chips. 

Fill the pan about halfway to the top with the batter.  Bake in the center of the oven for about an hour.  Start testing with a toothpick at around 45 minutes though just in case your oven cooks faster than mine!  The toothpick should come out clean with a few crumbs on it.  If the cake jiggles at all in the middle (like it’s made of Jell-O) when you pull out the rack of the oven, it is not done yet!  The top gets brown and looks done long before the center is cooked!  Let the bread cool in the pan for about 20 minutes, then turn out onto a plate and enjoy! 

Allergens: Wheat (You can find a gluten free version of this recipe here.)

Adapted from the babycakes cookbook.

Gnocchi Bolognese

Tonight I made Gnocchi with Bolognese sauce for dinner.  It was quite labor intensive but every delicious bite was worth the work!  On our trip to New York, we ate at this delicious kosher restaurant called Tevere, where I got gnocchi Bolognese that inspired this dish. 

I adapted two recipes from the food network web site.  I made Tyler Florence’s Bolognese sauce found here, and the only change I made was to substitute (organic soy and dairy free, pacific brand) chicken broth for the milk.  The sauce is delicious and made plenty so I have tons to freeze and use for other recipes.  I am thinking about trying dairy and soy free lasagna next.

  For the Gnocchi, I used Mario Batali’s recipe found here.   Instead of coating the gnocchi in the oil (I didn’t read the recipe before starting, oops!) I put the half-cup of oil into the gnocchi and I thought they tasted delicious this way.  After I mixed all of the ingredients together, I kneaded the dough thoroughly (until dry to the touch on the outside) on a cutting board.  I then broke off palm-sized chunks of dough, rolled them into a half-inch diameter tube, and then sliced them into half-inch long dumplings.  I didn’t roll them on a fork or special gnocchi roller, because I found this step to be unnecessary.  Next, I boiled a pot of water, or Jeff did for me, and put the gnocchi in about 15 at a time and boiled them until they floated on top of the water.  After they floated, we immediately removed them and put them into the Bolognese sauce so they could soak up the goodness as they cooled.  Serve hot!  They also reheat really well in the microwave!  I hope you enjoy the results as much as we did!

Travel Tips

Traveling can be particularly challenging with a child who has dietary restrictions, or if you have dietary restrictions yourself.  As many of you know we recently took a trip to New York to see a pediatric food allergist for Major.  I was VERY nervous about how to navigate the air travel with his level of sensitivity to dairy so I did A LOT of research.  Some of it I found to be very useful and other things that I did were not necessary.

When traveling with a baby who has sensitivities to foods:

         1. Bring your own food and drinks on the plane; according to TSA you can bring a “reasonable” amount of liquids for your young child or baby.  I brought a few sealed boxes of coconut milk for Major, and a straw cup full of coconut milk and it was no problem.  They put it in this strange machine to test it, but it was no big deal.  I also brought a soft-sided cooler with enough meals for Major for about 3 days (overkill I know) and two sandwiches for me, just in case we got delayed.  The food was no problem, we put it through the x ray and nobody even looked at it.  If you are an adult traveling and have dietary restrictions I would highly recommend bringing your own cooler of food! 

         2. Buy your child their own seat and bring your stroller and car seat.  We had 4 adults traveling with us, so bringing all of these things was no problem.  If your child has a skin sensitivity and are around the age of 2 or younger, I would highly recommend bringing a car seat.  It is a way to prevent them from touching things on the plane that may be cross contaminated with various allergens.  I also wiped down EVERYTHING that I could touch or Major could touch.  This way when we were in flight there would be no slip-ups.  I said to bring a stroller with you too… why would this be necessary?  In the airport, Major wanted to get down and crawl SO BADLY.  I was able to use the stroller to stroll him around so that he wasn’t as upset.  Another thing that you could use in lieu of a stroller is a baby carrier/wrap to wear your child.  I brought both and I much preferred the stroller.  You definitely don’t need both!! 

Eating out/finding food in a new place:

When staying in a hotel, I found it to be incredibly helpful to get a hotel with a kitchenette.  This way I could go to the grocery store and cook all of Major’s food for him so I knew there would be no risk of cross contamination.  If a hotel room with a kitchenette is unavailable/cost prohibitive most hotels have mini refrigerators that you can request (usually for a small fee).  The same goes for microwaves at some hotels.  It is best to talk to the reservations agent and ask them how they can accommodate a food allergic guest!  Usually if you explain the situation to them they are more than happy to accommodate you in whatever way possible.  I explained our situation to the reservations agent and it got us upgraded to a 2-bedroom suite with a kitchen in it!  Whenever we went out of the hotel and would be possibly gone for a mealtime, I carried a meal for Major in one of these. 

As I am breastfeeding Major still, I have to eat as though I have a severe allergy to dairy as well.  I have found that when eating out (as we did almost every meal on the trip) if at all possible, I call the restaurant in advance and speak to either a manager or a chef (sometimes even both) and explain my dietary restrictions to them and ask them if this is something they can accommodate.  I usually read a menu on my phone and ask them about specific dishes that seem to be dairy free.  If this were not possible, like if we walked in off of the street, I would ask the host or hostess if they could accommodate a dairy allergy.  I found that if I was up front with my dietary restrictions people are more than happy to help me out! 

I really hope that someone can use these suggestions to make their travel a little bit easier!  Safe travels!