Winter Recipes Archives - Allergy Awesomeness

Gluten & Dairy-free Instant Pot Chicken, Mushroom & Wild Rice Soup

February 20, 2018 by allergyawesomeness@gmail.com

A big, hearty soup that is made super easily in your instant pot! Thick and filled with veggies this gluten and dairy free soup will be winter’s best friend. This Gluten & Dairy-free Instant Pot Chicken, Mushroom & Wild Rice is also free of: egg, fish, shellfish, peanuts and tree nuts, with a soy free option too!

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Allergy-friendly Taco Soup

February 3, 2018 by allergyawesomeness@gmail.com

A hamburger-free, taco soup that has a gluten-free, homemade taco seasoning that gives a sweet and spicy punch. I know there are many taco soup recipes out there, but this one is by fare my favorite. This Allergy-friendly Taco Soup is free of: wheat, dairy, egg, soy, peanut & tree nuts. It’s top-8-free too.

Taco soup has been a staple my entire life. My mom made it growing up. Unfortunately, she’d use a taco seasoning packet that had wheat in it, so for a long time, we went without.

I was so glad when I discovered an easy, but DELICIOUS homemade taco seasoning mix that really gives this taco soup a pop. It’s more spice than I’ve ever had in the typical taco soup (take that pre-made packets!), so now I don’t know that I could eat anyone else’s–they might seem too bland. But, don’t worry it’s not too powerful, as I’m quite a baby.

Another trick that sets this allergy-friendly taco soup apart is that it uses brown sugar–which matches the spices and gives it a perfect sweet heat combo.

And lastly, since my son is allergic to beef, we do not use red meat. With all of the recalls on hamburger, I am often glad we don’t eat it anymore. So, we use ground chicken instead for a leaner cut of meat. It still has that same ground texture, and with all of the seasoning you’d never know it wasn’t hamburger. It’s a pretty magical substitute.

OK, I lied–there is one more trick up my sleeve to make this the best taco soup yet. I use an entire Tablespoon of minced garlic. I know this might seem like overkill, but it really isn’t and matches the potency of the spices to give it a well-rounded flavor.

Before I take all the credit, I have to say I got these tweaks from my best friend, Alicia. She is such a wonderful cook. And, that’s saying something since growing up her mom made maybe three recipes over and over. She is self taught and makes so many wonderful recipes for her family. I love it since it goes to show you don’t have to have this great background and that you can teach yourself how to cook.

Another reason I love her so much and am basically writing a love letter to her with this recipe is because we eat together a lot…and she has ALWAYS made things safe for my son. She doesn’t wait for me to think of ideas, but she is proactive and reads labels, checks things with me and always adapts things so that he is included. Her house is one of the few I go to without any reservations and I’m not nervous at all because I trust her completely. She is so thoughtful and loves my son like he’s her own. I am so fortunate to have her. Every allergy mom needs an Alicia in their life.

Taco soup is such a great and easy dinner that takes less than 30 minutes to make and is so filling and leaves lots for leftovers. If you’re looking for a great side dish to have with it try my The Best Top 8 Free Cornbread.

If you’ve had taco soup before, give this new one a try and it’ll bring back a childhood classic for you like it did me, with some extra enhancements and twists! Enjoy my Allergy-friendly Taco Soup and be sure to share it with your other allergy moms!

Allergy-friendly Taco Soup

Save Print

Cook time

25 mins

Total time

25 mins

A hamburger-free, taco soup that has a gluten-free, homemade taco seasoning that gives a sweet and spicy punch. I know there are many taco soup recipes out there, but this one is by fare my favorite. This Allergy-friendly Taco Soup is free of: wheat, dairy, egg, soy, peanut & tree nuts. It's top-8-free too.

Author: Allergy Awesomeness

Recipe type: Soup

Serves: 6 servings

Ingredients

Olive oil
1 pound ground chicken
1 Tablespoon garlic
1 batch homemade taco seasoning (see below)
¼ cup brown sugar
1 can black beans, liquid and all
1 can kidney beans, liquid and all
1 can corn, liquid and all
1 can diced tomatoes, liquid and all
1 small ( 8 oz) can tomato sauce
HOMEMADE GLUTEN-FREE TACO SEASONING:
1 Tablespoon chili powder
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
¼ teaspoon dried oregano
1½ teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

In a large stock pot over medium heat, add the olive oil. Next, add your garlic and stir for up to 1 minute until it's fragrant. Add in your ground chicken and brown. When it's almost done browning add in the taco seasoning and brown sugar. Once it's fully cooked, dump in all of the cans.
Simmer for 10 minutes, or until heated through and the flavors have melded.
Serve warm, with allergy-friendly cornbread. This makes enough to feed 6 adults, so if there are leftovers, store in teh fridge in an air-tight container. This also freezes well.

DON’T FORGET TO PIN IT, SO YOU DON’T LOSE IT! ALSO, CHECK OUT MY OTHER ALLERGY-FRIENDLY PINTEREST BOARDS.

If you’re looking for other allergy-friendly, taco-inspired dishes, check these out:

Chicken Enchilada Pasta (Gluten, dairy, egg, soy, peanut & tree nut free; top-8-free)

Slow Cooker Green Chile Enchilada Pasta (Gluten, dairy, egg, peanut & tree nut free)

Sweet Potato, Black Bean & Lime Taquitos (GF, DF, Egg, Soy, Peanut & Tree nut free; top-8-free; vegan)

Allergy-friendly Rice Krispie Christmas Trees

December 20, 2017 by allergyawesomeness@gmail.com

The easiest tree decorating you’ll ever do. And no blinking lights or replacing bulbs! This festive, no-bake holiday treat is easily made allergy-friendly to involve your favorite allergy kids. Simple decorating helps little hands enjoy this fun Christmas treat. These Allergy-friendly Rice Krispie Christmas Trees are free of: gluten, dairy, egg, peanut & tree nuts. They can be vegan too!

This post contains affiliate links.

I am suffering with being torn you guys! If you’re a female, chances are you know what I mean!

My mom came early due to my Uncle’s death (hopefully you’re following along on my Instagram stories to know what I’m talking about). So, she gets to stay with us for over three glorious weeks.

Because she is an angel in disguise, she is sooo supportive and is like, “go lock yourself in your room and work and I’ll wash dishes/kiss babies/feed children/ and play transformers with your kids”.

And, so you’d think I’d be cranking out a million projects–but I sit up here and feel guilty! On one hand, I feel like because I don’t have family near by and stay up way too late and kill myself to run this little blog and keep littles alive, that I should take FULL ADVANTAGE of a free nanny. But, then I want to just spend my time with my mom and enjoy time with my son while he’s off of school. And then on the other hand, I just want to enjoy kid-free quiet time and binge watch Netflix’s The Crown alone in my room instead of work. UG.

Do you see why I’m torn??

Which is why once again–I’m posting yet ANOTHER rice krispie holiday treat (seriously, it’s adult play doh for me, look at the bottom of the post for other recipes). So, if you’re feeling torn and stretched this holiday season you can still give out cute, festive treats without spending all day baking.

It was great that this doubled as a way to spend time with said family and get a post done for you guys. Have I mentioned how much I love multi-tasking??!!

We did an assembly line and I would cut the krispies into triangles, and my mom would put the gluten-free pretzel in them, I would frost them and my kids would put the skittles on them. Easy, and fun!

Then, to hand out to neighbors, I simply put them in little cellophane bags and tied them with ribbon. Done and DONE!

Now, to the allergy-friendly ingredient questions I know you’ll have:

For pretels:
- We used Synder’s gluten-free pretzels. No, this is not sponsored, in fact–I’ve tried emailing them and they’ve never responded. So, if you know them–please let them know of my undying love for them.
- Glutino also has a straight pretzel.
- Quinn snacks (I have not tried them, but a friend has) also has straight pretzels.
- Unfortunately, I’ve never found a pretzel that doesn’t have soy, hence why these are not top-8-free.
- If you know of any other gluten-free pretzels, please let me know!
- *If you can’t do pretzels/soy I think these would still be cute without the pretzel at the bottom.*
For cereal: Regular and generic brands of rice krispies use barley in all the brands I’ve ran across. (So they are wheat free, but not gluten-free). I’ve found Malt-0-Meal & Erewhon are great gluten-free substitutions.
For food dye: I’ve been asked by many what food coloring I use. So, confession: I used Wilton’s food coloring gels long before I was smart enough to check their label. I don’t know why I didn’t think food coloring might have something in it! I have called Wilton before, and the person I talked to said they’ve added a may contain label if there is something in the same facility. So, we’ve used it and never had an issue–BUT–only do what you’re comfortable with for your own food allergies and go with what your allergist tells you. I’ve heard (but not personally tried) that AmeriColor has allergy-friendly food gels.
For marshmallows: If you’re needing this to be vegan, be sure to use appropriate marshmallows like Dandies. (Does anyone know them–I seriously should work with them since I’m always touting their product!)
For ornaments: We used Skittles. You could use any colored candy, really. Surf Sweets jelly beans would also work well.
For frosting: Welp–just look in the recipe card, silly! Just kidding, here it is.

I hope that we can all put away some of the mom guilt and enjoy this holiday season a little more. It’s hard balancing it–but how lucky are we to have amazing things to be balancing?! Have a safe, allergy-friendly holiday dear readers–I truly appreciate you stopping by my little corner of the internet. Every click you make helps my family out.

5.0 from 1 reviews

Allergy-friendly Rice Krispie Christmas Trees

Save Print

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

25 mins

The easiest tree decorating you'll ever do. And no-blinking lights! This festive, no-bake holiday treat is easily made allergy-friendly to involve your favorite allergy kids. Simple decorating helps little hands enjoy this fun Christmas treat. These Allergy-friendly Rice Krispie Christmas Trees are free of: gluten, dairy, egg, peanut & tree nuts. They can be vegan too!

Author: Allergy Awesomeness

Recipe type: Christmas dessert

Serves: 20 trees

Ingredients

3 Tablespoons of coconut oil (or if you can't do coconut, shortening can work too)
6 cups of gluten-free crispy cereal (see post for details)
1 package of marshmallows (if you need a vegan option, see post)
Green food dye
Half a batch of my best dairy-free vanilla frosting
Skittles
Gluten-free pretzels of choice (see post for options)

Instructions

In a stock pot over medium-low heat, melt the coconut oil. Then, add the marshmallows and stir until they're melted. Add in your green food coloring until it's your preferred shade of green. Take it off the heat and stir in your cereal until everything is coated.
Pour the finished cereal onto a flat, greased surface. Flatten and shape into a large rectangle, or square with wet or greased hands.
While the cereal is cooling, make the frosting.
When the frosting is ready, put it into a baggie and snip the corner. Cut the cereal into triangles. Place a pretzel in the bottom, and frost the top in zig-zags. Place skittles along the frosting.
Keep in an air-tight container until you serve or eat. If you do use coconut oil, they can toughen when they get cold, because coconut oil is temperamental to temperature changes, so be sure you keep them room temp when storing.

BE SURE TO PIN IT, SO YOU DON’T LOSE IT. ALSO, BE SURE TO CHECK OUT MY OTHER ALLERGY-FRIENDLY PINTEREST BOARDS.