I volunteered to provide dinner for a local family who just lost their dad very prematurely and unexpectedly. There are four children, ranging in age from about 8-14. I was not told that these are life-threatening allergies, but I was encouraged to avoid wheat and peanuts. That pretty much eliminates hot sandwiches and most casseroles or "hot dishes," which are popular here in the Midwest. Any ideas for me? It also needs to be something I can make in advance and drop off for them in a cooler if necessary.
Your ideas got me thinking and inspired me. I've got a great BBQ rib recipe my kids love and my new convection oven makes a tasty roast chicken. I'm also intigrued by the jello and potato salad ideas. I appreciate the reminders to check labels re allergens for all ingredients and condiments and I will do that.
Rotisserie chickens are delicious, and you could make a big salad.
Also, a huge grilled chicken caeser salad is yummy! (you can add bacon and tomato or whatever you would like)
I'm not much for cooking myself, but you can try looking here:
http://www.foodallergy.org/recipes
They have checkboxes for selecting wheat-free and peanut-free recipes.
When buying ingredients that are pre-packaged, you also need to check the ingredients listing. It should indicate next to the ingredients if it contains any of the top food allergens. But you also need to look to see if it says something like "may contain trace amount of peanuts/wheat" or "produced in a plant that processes peanuts/wheat". If it says either of those things than you need to avoid using that in your meal as well.
You'd be surprised where some weird allergens show up. I saw a package of spinach that said it may contain shellfish because it was produced in a plant that processes shellfish.
http://www.lynnskitchenadventures.com/ and http://www.5dollardinners.com/ hace pleanty of ideas and offer a lot of allergy friendly recipes.
Personally I'd probably do Salsa chicken and provdide corn tortillas or tortillas chips and other fixings on the side....
Cheesy Chicken corn and rice casserole
Shrimp & vegetable stir fry with brown rice
quesadillas with corn flour tortillas
enchilladas again with corn flour tortillas
thanksgiving on a plate- turkey, cranberry, mashed potatoes and gravy.
hot dogs, cheese and jalapenos chopped up and baked in a corn muffin mix.
brussel sprouts cooked with bacon, garlic, and balsamic vinagrette
green bean casserole with french's onions
a casserole of sweet potatos, turkey and pearl onions
pork chops and apple sauce (use corn flakes for the breading)
cream of broccoli soup
chilli
jello
apple crumble
oatmeal cookies
I am sure there are many others.
Good for you for doing this good deed.
F. B.
you could do a cold antipasta salad-tuna salad-sometimes its just easier to reach in fridge and pull something out without having to have to heat it-get a bunch of lunch meat-make a big kettle of soup or chili..list is endless
If you go to stores such as Whole Foods, Trader Joes, local Co-ops, HyVee, etc., and talk to someone who works there, there are a number of gluten-free noodles that a person can buy. Tikiyada is a very, very, good gluten-free noodle that cooks up well and stands up well to being used in casseroles, soups, etc. There is also gluten-free bread such as Udi's, Rudi's (make sure it SAYS gluten-free, though, because Rudi's also makes non-gluten), and Canyon Bakehouse that are very good.
It does take some extra thought and caution when cooking nongluten. Another thing to remember is that condiments and such also sometimes contain wheat in their processing; Organicville makes a whole bunch of condiments that are gluten-free.
Visit the Web site LivingWithout.com for some ideas on various gluten-free dishes. Or peruse some other gluten-free Web site blogs--there are quite a few of them out there.
Bless you for wanting to help this family. Please do what you can to honor their food issues. As someone whose entire family has food issue challenges, it warms my heart to see you care enough to abide by what they can (can't) eat.
How about fried chicken made with corn flakes? And potato salad.
I think I'm in the mood for some potato salad!
I agree with MzKitty. Keep it simple. Avoid prepackaged foods and mixes.
I have girls with wheat, milk and nut allergies, among other things. And we do the meat, potatoes or rice, vegies thing. It doesn't have to be a casserole. It can be a 9x13 pan with
baked chicken pieces (sprinkle with salt and pepper, give them bbq or other sauce on the side)
roasted or boiled small potatoes with a little butter and garlic.
or plain rice or rice noodles.
cooked broccoli, peas carrots or green beans. Or a green salad, dressing on the side, in a bottle with the ingredients listed.
fruit salad or a basket of berries and a can of whipped cream for dessert.
It's important when cooking for food allergic people, to list ingredients and bring labels whenever possible. That way after you leave, if they have any questions, they can check the list. Otherwise, if they are not sure, they may end up not eating it.
Blessings to the cook!
Meat, potatoes and a veggie.
Also, I just made this for my dinner party and everyone RAVED about it:
Put 3# frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the bottom of a crockpot. Add 1 can drained and rinsed black beans, 1 can drained whole corn, and 1 15oz jar any salsa. Cook on HIGH for 4 hours. During last 1/2 hour, add one package of cream cheese, let it melt. Stir before serving. We served it with baked potatoes (was awesome served on top of potato) or you can serve next to each other.
I recently made a "Cilantro lime chicken" in my crockpot and it came out great.
16 oz salsa
1 envelope of taco seasoning (I made my own from allrecipes.com to reduce salt)
3 lbs chicken breast
1 lime (I used more)
3 cups of fresh cilantro
1 can of drained and rinsed black beans
Combine all ingredients and pour over chicken on crock pot, cook for 4 hrs on high o 6-8 on low.
Take the chicken our and shred it, put back on the pot and mix.
Serve with corn tortillas, sour cream and shredded cheese.
Left overs can be used on enchiladas (also corn tortillas), nachos (corn) or just with white rice.
You could make a tater tot casserole, scallop potatoes and ham or some other potato dishes. You could also make soups or salads. Look up recipes on the internet that do not contain wheat you can find lots.
Sounds like you have some good ideas. You can mix up some gravy from the chicken drippings, but just remember to use cornstarch as the thickener rather than flour. Some mashed potatoes would be a great side dish.
I recently made a chicken/cheese/broccoli/rice casserole for a Scouting event--no wheat or peanuts, quite easy (not the healthiest, with creamy soups and lots of cheese) but if you list those ingredients on allrecipes.com, I'm sure you'll find something similar. It was a huge hit at the Scouting event.
