Those Great Summer Salads!

The best part of summer is the food!!  For those on an allergy-friendly diet, it's a lot easier and much more common to chow down on the fresh fruits and veggies.  It's a common farm-to-table menu for most households and restaurants, which makes it much easier for most of us to dine-out.  Salads for everyone!  You can do so much with salads; grilled, roasted over a campfire, raw, dressed or undressed, etc.  The list goes on and on..  What's even better is that a salad doesn't have to be over greens necessarily.  What about those favorite potato, bean, pasta, corn, fruit, and even veggie salads?  I love, love potato salads; pierce their skins with a fork and place in microwave on the baked potato command.  Set aside and let cool and then slice and finish on the grill to get that great char flavor.  The fun part is that you can add anything you want to it from there.  You can go greek with capers, red onions, a little feta, with salt, pepper, and olive oil.  You can go traditional with chopped cooked bacon, shredded cheese, green onions, some fresh dill, salt, pepper, and a little sour cream-mayo combo.  I, personally, love to fix a corn and tomato salad; it's a southern thing.  Chopped fresh tomatoes, corn, onion, bell pepper, cilantro, salt and pepper.  Super simple with tons of flavor and especially good on those summer days.  Speaking of hot summer days; why not try a melon salad.  Your favorite melon such as watermelon (my fave) chopped into bite size pieces or scooped with a melon baller for those pretty presentations.  Add some fresh mint, lemon zest, and a very light amount of extra virgin olive oil; talk about a summertime treat.  Who wants to cook on these lazy days of summer?  I would much rather be outside with my kids playing, swimming, or reading a great book.  You know what makes these even better?  The fact that you can't get much healthier than these!  These salads, some great sandwiches, and homemade ice cream.  I am truly loving an allergy-friendly summer!

Allergy-Friendly Catering, Baking, and Sharing..

Sooo much going on in my ‘neck of the woods’, gardening, baking, cooking, cleaning, referee, etc. You know, regular ‘ol mom stuff. To be perfectly honest with you, all the good food have been going to my clients interested in my allergy-friendly goodness. AND I LOVE IT!! I love to cook and create new recipes; I always have. I’m very excited and extremely nervous to have my creations available to other people. It’s one thing to have your family eat your food; they don’t really have a choice. It’s completely different to have other families eat your food; kind of intimidating to say the least. What if they don’t like it? Luckily, I didn’t overdo things and kept my menu small and to what I felt most comfortable making. So far, so good; I haven’t had anyone be disappointed. I recently catered a birthday party for a 13 year old gluten-free young lady. How scary is that? Mini corn dogs, pizza rolls, cake pops, and creamsicle cupcakes. My house smelled wonderful! I couldn’t wait for the day of delivery so my family would quit complaining that I didn’t make any extras for them. Luckily, her mom sent me a message on Facebook stating that everyone LOVED the food. I sooo hope she wasn’t just trying to be nice. Anyway, I hope everyone stops by my Facebook page, Kentucky Mom Cooking Allergy Free, to say hi and “Like” me. I have found an easy recipe, however, for our family in a pinch for lunch. I look forward to sharing it with you. It’s an easy one to change up and make it with whatever you have handy. The only change I would make would be to grill the slices of polenta to get that ‘crust’ on the bottom. Enjoy!!

Barbecue Chicken Polenta Pizza Bites

1 prepared polenta roll cut into thin slices
2 pieces left over barbecue chicken cut into bite-size pieces
2 green onions sliced thinly
Ranch Dressing
1 cup shredded cheese ( I like Monterey Jack)


Place polenta on greased cookie sheet, I like for them to be touching each other because it makes it easier to spread ingredients. Drizzle ranch dressing all over polenta, spread green onions all over polenta. The cheese is next, and then the chicken. Place in pre-heated oven for 15-20 minutes. Use a fork to enjoy.

Family Updates and A Namaste Foods Cookbook

A lot of things going on in our family recently, the oldest graduated from Elementary School (tears).  The youngest has had a lot of tummy problems later, causing us to eliminate dairy for a while in our home.  I hope this helps her and yet does not get permanently added to our "NO" list.  Eliminating Soy, Wheat, Peanuts, and Tree Nuts feels like quite enough for now. Presently, we are trying coconut milk until her tummy problems can be solved.  I'm finally getting a handle on all of our food options with a business opportunity to boot.  The gardens are looking great right now, the rains have wrecked havoc on our home but been great for the farm.  A lot going on in our family, but that doesn't get in the way of what I have to share with everyone..
Recently, I received a shipment from Namaste Foods, LLC of products for an upcoming charity health carnival for our group "Gluten & Allergy Free KY" is attending.  How excited was I to see their first-ever cookbook?  It's title is "Simple Pleasures Gluten-free Cookbook" and I was thoroughly thrilled to dive in and check out the recipes.  I knew this cookbook was going to be great when the first recipe was apple fritters, the way to this KY mom's heart.  The cookbook is separated into Breads & Breakfasts, Savory Soups & Salads, Main Dishes, and Desserts; all of which involve a Namaste Foods mix.  You can definitely tell that a lot of creativity went into planning these recipes.  From the Perfect Piroshkis to the Luscious Lemon Cake, these recipes sound like a lot of fun to start playing with.  I highly recommend checking out this recipe book.  I love the mixes and are ready to share with my support group all the goodies I have received.