5 Star Food Allergy Recipes: Tacos, Baked Alaska, and the all Essential Margarita

Three more days and counting. That is how many more days of school that are left in the 2014-2015 school year. Overall, the school year has been successful, both academically and with the management of the food allergies. School is one of the most challenging territories for a child with food allergies. Not only are there a variety of foods at lunch time to defend against, but the presence of food in the classroom is more and more common. I will share with you our moments of success and our moments of stress that we dealt with during one day at school this past week.

As an assignment for my daughter’s Spanish class, she needed to research, translate, prepare, and bring an entrée to share with her class. She did a great job and picked a recipe for chicken tacos that was even safe for her brother. We prepared it for dinner since we had to make it for her to bring to school.

Citrus and Tomato Chicken Tacos

1 small can of diced tomatoes

1/3 cup fresh lime juice

1 cup water

1 teaspoon salt

2 pounds chicken thighs

2 tablespoons canola oil

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

1 teaspoon dried parsley

12 corn tortillas

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese or Diaya mozzarella style shreds

Salsa verde, any brand from a jar

2 avocados, diced

½ cup red onions, chopped

1 cup tomatoes, diced

½ cup cilantro, chopped

2 cups of cooked brown rice

DIRECTIONS

1. In a blender, puree the tomatoes with the lime juice, water, and

salt. Transfer the puree to a large re-sealable plastic bag, add the chicken thighs. Seal the bag, pressing out the air.

Refrigerate the chicken for 6 hours or overnight.

2. Preheat the grill to 350 degrees. Brush chicken thighs with the oil, sprinkle with the paprika and parsley, and place chicken thighs, skin side down on the grill. Grill for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, place chicken on one of the grill and turn the heat off on that side. Increase the heat on the remaining burners to maintain 350 degree cooking temperature and close lid. Convection cook (indirect heat) the chicken for another 20 minutes.

Once the chicken is cooked, transfer the chicken to a work surface and let stand for 5 minutes. Remove the chicken skin. Cut the chicken thighs into strips and serve with the warmed tortillas, cheese, salsa verde, avocados, onions, tomatoes, cilantro, and a side of rice.

The intention was for my daughter to share this meal with her class, but she wasn’t able to because of a food allergy reaction at school. Earlier in the school day, a student offered the social studies class homemade yogurt parfaits. My daughter asked what was in the parfait and determined that she could have it without a problem. After her first two bites, she knew something wasn’t right, and asked again about the ingredients. This time her friend remembered that it also had marshmallow cream in the ingredients. Then my daughter knew sure she was in trouble. She is allergic to egg and marshmallow cream has egg. She was escorted by her friend to the office and the allergy plan was followed. Needless to say, she missed sharing her tacos with her Spanish class and was ill for the remaining of the day.

Earlier that same day, I was at a different school with my son’s class to assist in the making of “Baked Alaska”. I was there because of the risk of cross contamination, presence of food allergens with project, and to provide my son with similar ingredients from home so he could participate. The experiment went well and my presence helped make sure that the project was a safe experience for my son. As an added bonus, we have a new dessert for his sweet tooth.

Baked Alaska

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees

3 soft baked snickerdoodle or ginger snap cookies (Trader Joe's or Enjoy Life brand as allergen free and gluten free cookies)

1/3 cup of coconut ice cream (link)

As many marshmallows* as they can handle.

In an oven safe ramekin or homemade foil pan, form the soft baked cookies into a disk with a shallow, sunken center. In the center, place a scoop of coconut ice cream and place marshmallows on top of the ice cream.

*marshmallows and marshmallow cream are not created equal

Bake for 3 minutes and serve with Hershey’s chocolate syrup.