Monday January 25, 2010
Last summer when Liam was first officially diagnosed with his long list of allergies, I wished desperately for a blog that addressed his specific allergens. I found many, many blogs about allergies. Some of them were helpful. But so many times if I found a recipe that was dairy free, it contained wheat. Or if I finally found something gluten free, it still contained dairy. Or tomato. Or egg. Or soy.
I stumbled around in the kitchen feeling as though I didn’t know how to cook anymore. For awhile I used a lot of gluten free pasta and tried various substitutes. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes Liam didn’t like the food. Most of all, it was expensive.
I still use substitutes sometimes; but I have also learned to cook in a way that all of us can enjoy the same meal a lot of the time. I love it for several reasons. It’s a lot less work. Cooking separate dishes literally means cooking two meals at the same time … and twice the dishes. And, Liam eats better when he is eating the same thing he sees us eating.
My biggest challenge was that our family likes flavor RICH food. “Season it well,” is David’s motto. I turned our weekly recardo chicken over to him and it’s twice as good now because he is so liberal with the seasonings. Unfortunately, we have now run out of recardo seasoning and will have to survive without until someone goes to Belize again.
I really hope that none of you will ever need these recipes; but just in case, I’m going to post one occasionally and tag them with food allergies so they are easily accessible.
This is one of the first “regular food” meals I discovered Liam could eat.
Growing up in the South, we almost always had “hoppin’ John” on New Years Day. I don’t remember all the significance of the food groups … I just remember that the pork (bacon) was to signify prosperity and the greens indicated health for the coming year. We love this dish so when I discovered Liam can eat it, I started making it more then just at New Years.
My recipes are somewhat make and dump so if you need more specifics, feel free to ask.
To make hoppin’ John:
2 cups rice, cooked (We love basmati rice; but you can use whatever you like)
In a separate pan fry
bacon cut into bite sized pieces (I like the 12 oz packages of Oscar Meyer center cut) and
1 lb hamburger and
1 onion, chopped
Once fully cooked, add
1 can black eyed peas
the cooked rice
to the meat mixture. The reason this dish works well is that I can saute without using butter. Liam is so restricted that I suspect he needs a little animal fat. If you’re worried about your own intake, you could drain the meat and then saute in olive oil (although you will lose some of the flavor).
Saute a bit to get everything mixed and flavorful and season to taste with Lawry’s season salt (this has become my best friend in the kitchen … it’s one of the few brands that contains no MSG) and a little garlic.
Enjoy! We love this dish served with
cooked spinach — I add a little butter and salt and we each add our own vinegar sprinkled on top at the table (yeah, I’m the only one who eats seconds and wishes for more but David and Adam like it well enough to claim they “like” the first serving). Liam is still extra “gaggy” so I don’t push spinach on him yet. When I do, I will take a little aside for him before adding the butter.
a salad
and applesauce.
And there you go. No dairy, soy, tomato, gluten, or egg. Just a mouthful of flavor.
i have recardo in my cupboard. my sil brought me some. wonder if i could sneak some to you without her catching on. 🙂
I have some recardo you can have… 🙂 Will try to get it to you as soon as I can. Thanks for the recipe, looks delicious. I would be in such straits, if we had an allergy issue to work around. I am such a quick put together meal preparer anymore. Blessings to you as you serve your family.
It looks great! And you liked cooked spinach with vinegar? I thought my family was the only bunch that liked it! It makes everyone turn up their noses when I describe it, but they don’t know what they’re missin’!
that looks really good! I’m a huge fan of any kind of rice and beans, so food allergies or not, I may have to try this one!
thanks for sharing!
@Esther_lynn –
@qawzse789 –
ahhhh, I sense a bit of hope after all. 🙂
i am serious, I will send it to you. My sil brought two “tubes” of them. And since she rarely cooks, it is gonna last forever. Plus we have enough connections to belize to get more. Message me your address, and it is yours. 🙂 Now if it was Marie Sharp’s steak sauce, stand back and stay away. 🙂 lol.
sounds/looks good enough for us with no allergies! Reminds me of a dish I make quite often with peas, carrots, chicken, etc. We eat lots of basmati rice too…so yummy and healthy too!
I am happy for you that you found a meal that works for the whole family! I have a somewhat picky eater for a husband, but that is nothing compared to all that you have to think of and deal with in relation to food!
That looks really good!!! Can’t wait to try it! 🙂
I have been reading your blog for a while, but haven’t commented before. I’m more of the “xanga stalker” type.
This recipe looks delicious.. I can’t wait to try it! I have many food allergies, (just diagnosed in Dec.) and have been struggling to cook things that aren’t terribly bland. Yeast, wheat, gluten, tomatoes, & potatoes are my biggest problems. There are many more items on the list, but I think these are the hardest to do without. I go searching online for websites and recipes dealing with my particular allergies, but it seems like everything has something in it that I can’t have. Like vanilla. How do you make gluten free cookies without vanilla? (Caramel ice cream topping works) 
Anyway, I wasn’t planning to write a whole book here.. Just wanted to let you know I’m very happy for this recipe and I’ll be checking back for more!
p.s. In a few months, hopefully I’ll be able to eat most of the 59 foods on my allergy list again. But until then.. I’m quite limited. Weaning myself off of food completely didn’t seem to work, so I eat rice. And rice pasta. And meat.
@thinkhappythots82 –
WOWSERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 59 foods to avoid??? And I thought Liam’s list is tough. In case you haven’t found it already, I LOVE elanaspantry.com b/c so many of her things are gluten AND dairy free. The almond flour is terribly expensive but is SO worth it (I hope you aren’t allergic to them) b/c I feel as though I am filling him up with fiber and tons of protein. The simplest thing to make is the honey cake so you might want to try that if it doesn’t include anything on your taboo list.
@smilesbymiles –
Thanks, I’m definitely going to be checking that website out! And I’m not allergic to almonds, thankfully.. After 3 months of being completely off of everything on my list, I can start introducing them to my diet again one at a time to see if I react, or if my body has healed itself of that allergy. There’s a lot of fruits & veggies on the list, so eating healthy can be a challenge, but it makes SUCH a difference! My allergy struggles definitely aren’t as long-term as yours are with Liam, but I can relate at least in a very small way.. and these months are feeling very long right now.
Thanks again!