Allergy-Friendly Recipes

Our son began showing signs of multiple food intolerances a the age of about 8 months. Over the next 1.5 years we began the journey of food elimination. He began to reacting to more and more foods and herbs to where it culminated in over 30 different foods that he could not eat. Thankfully I believe that we are on the downhill slope as in the last month I have been able to add three foods that he previously reacted to back into his diet. Below are some of the recipes that I developed for him. I have listed the main allergens that have been eliminated from each recipe. Feel free to adjust them for your own particular needs.

“Pumpkin” Bread:

This recipe is gluten, dairy, soy, nut and egg-white free.

2/3 cup oil
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey & blackstrap molasses (about 1/8 cup molasses and the rest honey)
4-6 egg yolks (or 4 eggs, or 4 egg whites depending on what you need to eliminate)
1 can pumpkin (not pie filling) or 2 cups of cooked and pureed butternut squash
1/2 cup water, almond milk, goat milk, or cow’s milk depending on your sensitivities

Mix wet ingredients. Then add dry.

1 cup millet flour
1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup whole grain buckwheat flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour or arrowroot powder
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 – 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips or carob chips (optional)

Bake at 350 for 55-60 minutes. Test center with a cake tester to check to be sure it is done. This recipe makes 2 loaves.

Pumpkin Butter:

This recipe came out of a good allergy cookbook recommended to me by a friend. Look on page 277 of The Allergy Self-Help Cookbook for this one.

This recipe is gluten, dairy, soy, nut & egg free. 2 cups (or 1 can) of pureed pumpkin
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup water
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/8 tsp. cloves
1/8 tsp. saltCombine all the ingredients in a saucepan and cook uncovered on very low heat for 1 hour, stirring often. Cool, bottle in a jar, cover and refrigerate. Use within 1 month.

This recipe is very good on the pancakes and waffle recipe below. I’ll be adding that soon. Enjoy!

Gluten-Free Granola:

This recipe is gluten, dairy, soy and egg free.

The reason that this granola is gluten free is because it is made with whole grain quinoa and not oats. Oats is on my son’s no-no list as one of his reactive foods, so I invented this recipe for him. Quinoa is a tricky grain to cook with because it must be soaked and rinsed thoroughly before it is edible. If you try cooking and eating it without soaking and rinsing you won’t do that again! It is very bitter. Soaking and rinsing breaks down the outer casing and increases the grains digestibility. There are many brands of quinoa now that has been pre-rinsed for you. Lately, I’ve been buying Earthly Delights Organic Quinoa. If you buy your quinoa at an ethnic market however it is likely that it will unrinsed. So, be sure to read the label of your package carefully so that you will can rinse and soak it if needed.

All that being said, I still pre-soak and rinse my quinoa even if it the Earthly Delights Organic Quinoa. I just find that the end product is better. So, if you want or need to soak and rinse your quinoa, don’t be intimidated by it. It’s really not that hard.

I put 1.5 cups quinoa in a glass bowl and cover with water about 2 inches above the top of the grain. I soak it anywhere from overnight up to 24 hours. I usually just depends on when I get around to cooking it as to how long I let it soak beforehand. Then I pour it into a mesh collander and rinse it under cool tap water. Transfer to a sauce pan and just a little bit of water. Not much. Don’t cover it with water. Just under that. Because the quinoa has been presoaked it needs very little water to cook. Cover your pan with a lid and turn the heat on medium. Once it starts to boil, remove the lid, and cook for 5-7 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed. The quinoa will look like tiny granules with a tiny white line along one side. Cover with the lid once again and let it cool. The key to a good granola is not having the quinoa be too moist. If you add too much water you will need to cook the excess out or you will have a mushy end product.

Once cool, spread on a baking sheet and bake on 350 for 15-30 minutes until slightly toasted and dry (the cooking time will depend on how moist your quinoa is from cooking). Remove and let it cool.

Put the cooled, toasted quinoa in a mixing bowl and add the following:
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup sweetend, shredded coconut
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Stir the dry ingredients together. Then add…
1/4 cup canola oil
1/3 cup honey
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix well and bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Revmove and stir and bake for 15 more minutes. Cool and transfer to a storage container adding raisins or other dried fruit if desired.

Quinoa Granola Bars:

This recipe is gluten, dairy, egg and soy free.

Follow the cooking directions outlined above for cooking the quinoa.

Before toasting the cooked quinoa mix 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts and 1/2 cup coconut. Mix and spread on a baking sheet. Toast in the oven for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Transfer to a mixing bowl and add 1/2 cup each of chopped dates and dried cranberries or equal amounts of other dried fruits if desired, and 1/2 cup of Bob’s Red Mill Creamy Buckwheat Cereal. 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. nutmeg, 1/2 tsp. salt. Stir.

Now in the same sauce pan that you cooked the quinoa in on the stove, melt 4 tsp. of butter, 1/4 blackstrap molassess, 1/2 cup honey, 1 tsp. vanilla and 1/2 tsp. salt.Pour this heated mixture over the quinoa, coconut, dried fruit mixture and stir well. Transfer to a rectangular baking pan lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Press into the pan and bake at 300 for 30-45 minutes. Remove and let it cool and set in the baking pan at least 3 hours or overnight. Cut into bars and turn the pan over to remove. I wrap mine and freeze in wax paper for a ready to grab snack.Enjoy!

Chocolate Millett No-Bake Cookies:

This recipe is gluten, dairy, egg and soy free.

These drop cookies are great for anyone with multiple allergies/intolerances. They are egg, dairy, gluten-free and soy free. I modified a recipe using oats, butter and peanut butter that I found in an old church cookbook that my grandmother gave me.

Here we go….

Into a medium saucepan add 1 cup of sugar, 4 tbls. cocoa powder, 1/4 of coconut oil (or mild oil of your choice – like light olive, canola, etc.), a dash of salt, 1 tsp. vanilla, and 1/2 cup of water. Heat and stir until boiling. Boil for about a minute or two stirring constantly. Turn off the heat and add 2 tsp. of tapioca starch or corn starch. Mix. Then stir in 1/2 cup of almond butter. When combined add 2 1/2 cups of puffed millett (add more if the mixture looks runny). Spread wax paper on your counter and using a cookie scoop or spoon drop the cookies on to the wax paper and let them sit to cool. All done, and boy are they delicious. (Note: When cool, the cookies should be firm but not hard.)

A tasty variation on this recipe is to add 1/2 cup coffee instead of water. Maybe keep that batch to yourself though and make another for the kids. 🙂

Dairy-free, gluten-free Chocolate:

This recipe is gluten, dairy, egg and soy free.

I made this when I didn’t have a good source for dairy, gluten and soy free chocolate. If you can find a good price locally the Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips are great. If you can’t find those, of if you’re like me and don’t want to spend $5 a bag on them, you can make this.

Using a saucepan add the following:
5 tbl. sugar
2 tbl. cocoa powder
4 tbl. olive oil
2 tbl. almond milk, cow’s milk, water or coffee
1/4 tsp. vanilla
dash of salt

Heat and stir until combined and almost boiling. Then turn off the heat and add 2tbl. Cocoa Butter. Stirl until the cocoa butter is melted. Pour into a heat proof containter. Cover and store in the fridge. The mixture will harden when it cools.

Pancackes/Waffles:

This recipe is gluten, dairy, egg-white, soy and nut free.

I’ve tried this without any eggs at all they tend to fall apart. So, if you can tolerate gluten but not wheat, try using White Spelt Flour and eliminate the eggs if you need to.

This recipe makes a large batch which I refrigerate and eat on all week.

4-6 egg yolks (carefully separated and rinsed with cool water to remove any egg white residue)
1/3 cup canola, light olive oil or coconut oil
2 cups almond milk or water
2 tbl. white or apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. salt

Stir the above ingredients until combined. Then add…

1 cup Brown Rice Flour
1 cup Millet Flour
1 cup Buckwheat Flour
1 cup Tapioca Flour (you can also use Arrowroot Flour or corn starch)
2 tsp. cinnamon (optional)
2 tsp. baking soda

Combine all the dry ingredients. Cook in small circles and be sure that they crisp before flipping.

Chicken Pot Pie:

This recipe is gluten, dairy, egg and nut free.

The key to this recipe is to pre-cook your chicken so that you have your meat and a concentrated chicken stock ready. Refer to the Family Favorites page for making homemade chicken stock.

Once you have your chicken and stock ready, begin by lining a casserole with corn tortillas. This will substitute as the bottom crust of the pot-pie. Be sure to read your labels as some corn tortillas contain wheat.

Next cut some potatos and mixed vegetables into chunks and simmer in the chicken broth until tender. The starch from the potatos will help to thicken the broth. If the broth still seems too runny, then add a bit of corn starch dissolved in cold water and stir until thick.

Now, stir in your cooked chicken meat and pour into your prepared casserole. Top with cornflakes for the top crust. Voila! A hearty and allergy-friendly meal.

Shepherd’s Pie:

This recipe is gluten, dairy, egg, nut and soy free.

Just like in the Chicken Pot-Pie receipe above, the key to this Shepherd’s Pie is concentrated chicken stock. Visit the Pantry page for directions on how to make concentrated stock and boullion cubes.

Start by putting a pot of water on to boil and cubing about 6-8 potatoes (depending on their size) for mashed potatoes. While the potatoes cook, saute 2.5 lbs. of ground beef with 1 tbls. chili powder, 2 tbls. garlic, 2 tsp. onion powder, salt, pepper, 2 tsp. oregano, 2 tsp. parsley and a dash of cayenne or chili powder. When the hamburger is browned, add mixed vegetables and pour 1/2 cup water over the whole mix. Cover and simmer until the veggies are tender.

While the veggies simmer, mash your potatoes. Add salt, pepper, and homemade 4-6 chicken boullion cubes and 1/2 cup of the potato water or concentrated chicken stock. The chicken cubes/stock is the substitute for the butter and milk that you typically use to make mashed potatoes with.

Fill a casserole with the meat/veggie mixture and top with your mashed potatoes. Yum!

Note: Half of a homemade chicken boullion cube is a good substitute for butter on a baked potato too.

More Allergy-Friendly Recipes:
Chocolate Quinoa Custard
Chicken Stir Fry – soy, sesame, egg, dairy, gluten, corn and nut free
Beef Stir Fry – soy, sesame, egg, dairy, gluten, corn and nut free

Mexican Skillet – egg, soy, sesame, dairy, gluten, nut and sugar free

Blueberry, Carrot, Banana Muffins – egg, soy, sesame, dairy, gluten, nut, and sugar free

Harvest Spice Bread – egg, soy, sesame, dairy, gluten, nut, and sugar free