We’re a family with food allergies. We have a child with several food allergies including gluten, dairy, and soy. She was diagnosed with food sensitivities several years ago now, but when we first joined that club it was shocking. I just had no idea how much the food we were eating was full of common food allergens. Since then, we’ve learned a thing or two and now can handle any allergen. Other than peanuts, we eat a lot of peanut butter! Recently, we hosted 2 different meal gatherings and were working with lots of allergies. I thought I’d give a little recap of what we served for anyone looking to host a friend, family, or group that comes with food sensitivities.
First, we hosted a few people for a weekend brunch. We were focusing on gluten-free and dairy-free options. I’ll link the recipes below. I bought some English muffins and we had gluten-free and regular available. We used the “Food for Life” brand of gluten-free English Muffins and the texture was very similar to gluten muffins. For a special treat, I made cinnamon and sugar butter. There are a couple brands of dairy-free butter on the market right now, but several of them are soy-based. I used “Miyoko’s European Style Cultured Vegan Butter” and I have found that it responds like regular butter in baked goods, for cooking and other things. I didn’t use a recipe, I just let both types of butter come to room temperature and then mixed in a spoonful of sugar and some cinnamon. I put them in separate jars and then used different colored spoons so our guests could tell them apart. Finally, we had some fruit and breakfast drinks to round out the meal. It was a really nice and filling meal that works with a lot of different diets. A few side notes to pay attention to: (a) think through the options you use to grease your pans, (b) provide some diary-free creamer option if you’re going to serve coffee, (c) keep your recipes on hand to show your guests and make sure you didn’t miss anything.
The second meal we hosted was a couple of friends over for dinner. One of our friends is allergic to any kind of sugar. I’m so sad for him! I wanted to share a recipe that I make very often. It’s a recipe I found the first time we did a whole30 challenge and was looking for something to pretend was dessert. Because it’s free of a lot of allergens, we’ve used it in a lot of different settings. It’s a great recipe to have on hand! There are two versions of this recipe on the website and I use the second one, it’s unsweetened.
It’s the best feeling ever to serve someone with a food allergy food that is safe for them to eat. There have been many awkward moments we’ve walked through, having to refuse food from well-intended people. Just this last week, my daughter asked our guest if he could have apple crisp. He said that’s a tricky question and turned to me asking what we used to sweeten it. I was proud to say “nothing!” When we use our home to love on people, it makes an even bigger impact to be able to provide for their specific needs.
Links:
Egg Casserole–https://www.thepetersons.cc/weekendcreativeblog/portland-breakfast-skillet
Breakfast Sausage–https://nyssaskitchen.com/whole30-breakfast-sausage-patties-whole30-paleo-keto/
Apple Crisp–https://livingwellmom.com/grain-free-apple-crisp/#tasty-recipes-57573
Abigail Denton 