I was not always good about following directions.  I was way too curious.  So during my early attempts at cooking as a kid, when anyone would put a recipe in front of me, all I could see were “rules.”  The boundaries telling me to do “do it this way”, “do it that way”, too much, too little.  Those rules didn’t seem to allow for much deviation.

So my tendency was to opt out of cooking, which I did for a very long time until we hit some bumps along the road in the health of our children.  I then realized that I was going to have to set a new rule for myself if I were going to attempt anything in the kitchen: Don’t make the perfect the enemy of the good.

In the years since, I have had to lean on this rule a lot, especially in the kitchen.  I was  known to burn beans, noodles and pancakes, so those insecurities lingered, and I wasn’t too sure I was going to be able to create much of anything.  And as I got started, while I tried to follow the rules in recipes, I found it far less intimidating to get creative.

So today, when a friend asks for “a recipe”, I reflect back on how much we can learn, at any age, and how, if you think about it, we have the ability to become the best version of ourselves that we can be.

Did I ever think I’d be sharing recipes? Not at all.  I hardly trusted myself to hit 2:00 START on a microwave without burning something, but life’s lessons can be sweet, especially in the kitchen, so here’s that recipe (and the different ways we made it listed in the options below).  It’s been a favorite, and it incorporates foods that are good for balancing blood sugar levels, full of vitamins and minerals and full of antioxidants and health benefits.

But better than that, it just tastes good.

Sweet Summer Salad

Heat oven to 400°. Bake potatoes until tender, about 15 minutes; gently peel off skins (you can do this with your fingers as they cool). Cube potatoes.

For dressing, in a bowl (though in all honesty, I mix dressings in water bottle canteens), mix lemon juice, oil, salt and pepper.

In another bowl, mix potatoes, beans, onions and pumpkin seeds; add dressing and toss.

Chill in the fridge if you have the time for about an hour then serve over the greens…or not.  We love it absolutely plain.

And if you have some ideas of ways you want to change it, add to it, we’d love to hear them.

Written by Robyn O’Brien

When I was asked to write the foreword for Kiwi Magazine’s new cookbook, Allergy-Friendly Food for Families, I was totally intimidated.  Because in the beginning, I couldn’t really cook.

But as I leaned into it, the words began to flow, and with the release of this extraordinary resource for food-sensitive and food-allergic eaters, I thought I’d share them below, because the book is an incredible tool, offering 120 gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free and soy-free recipes everyone will love.

The landscape of childhood has changed. In the last several years, we have seen jaw-dropping increases in the rates of allergies, autism, ADHD and asthma, earning these conditions the nickname “the 4 As” and our children the title, “Generation Rx.”

Today, it is estimated that food allergies affect at least 1 out of 17 kids under the age of three, with a study showing a doubling of the peanut allergy between 1997 and 2002. And according to an October 2008 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there has been a 265% increase in the rate of hospitalizations related to food allergic reactions.

And as we work to protect our food allergic families from the hidden dangers that foods can present, a growing number of us are finding our ways into the kitchen in an effort to prepare foods that are both safe and nutritious for our families.

For some, like me, this may be an intimidating task. Because a few years ago, I couldn’t cook. But when my youngest child had an allergic reaction one morning over breakfast, which in all candor included blue yogurt, frozen waffles and scrambled eggs, life changed. And like so many of you, I was thrown onto this new landscape of childhood and into the kitchen in an effort to manage these food allergies.

And in learning to cook, I realized that we can take the fear out of food and make it fun.

To be honest, I’ve burnt everything from pancakes to noodles, but I’ve also learned that the most important ingredient in any recipe is love.

So I invite you to pull up a chair, flip through Allergy-Friendly Food for Families and soak in the love and wholesome goodness that are tucked into these pages. Because Allergy-Friendly Food for Families is an invaluable resources for those interested in protecting the health of their families.

And remember, while none of us can do everything, all of us can do something. So pick a recipe and get started,

Because with inspiration, practical suggestions, heartfelt instructions and real world solutions, Allergy-Friendly Food for Families is both a sound investment in the health of your family and a resource that will pay dividends for a lifetime.

You can pick up a copy of Allergy-Friendly Food for Families at Barnes and Noble, your local retailer or on Amazon. To learn more, please visit Kiwi Magazine.

¼ c Tahini

1 t Fresh grated ginger

1 t Fresh chopped mint

2 T Lime juice

2 T Maple syrup

¼ c water

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Salt and pepper to taste. Add more water to make salad dressing; add less water if using as a dressing for meat.

From The Food Allergy Cookbook: A Guide to Living with Allergies and Entertaining with Healthy, Delicious Mealsfocuses on foods that are dairy, gluten, soy, corn, nut and shellfish free. It is available in all bookstores as well as on amazon.com and Carmel has graciously shared a recipe with our readers which can be found on our Recipe Page.

To become part of The Food Allergy Cookbook team, please visit their Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Food-Allergy-Cookbook-A-Guide-for-Living-with-Allergies/220720771272899

Growing up in the South, I loved all things hot and spicy, from huevos rancheros in the morning to fajitas at night. The spicier the better.

But when we moved to Colorado twelve years ago, I realized (much to my dismay) that I was doing a pretty dismal job of getting fresh veggies into our diet. So we started trying to incorporate a few more greens.

And this weekend, while at a BBQ, these two worlds combined when a friend from New Orleans who was visiting Colorado introduced me to this Pico de Gallo recipe. It’s hot, spicy and loaded with…cabbage! Who knew that eating your veggies could be so easy?

So have it, it’ll feel good, taste good and it goes well with everything from grilled veggies to burgers…..but it may just be best as a stand-alone salad.

Cabbage Pico De Gallo

Ingredients

• 1 head of cabbage
• 1 large red onion
• 4 or 5 roma tomatoes
• 1 bunch of cilantro
• 3 or 4 limes
• 1/4 cup sliced pickled jalapenos with 2 or 3 TBSP. juice.
• 2 or 3 TBSP. red wine vinegar.
• 1/4 teasp. cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teasp. chili powder
• 1/4 teasp pepper
• 1/4 teasp salt (note: last 5 ingredients can be adjusted to taste)

To Prepare:

Shred cabbage and red onion with a food processor and put into large bowl. Add: chopped tomatoes, juice of limes and chopped up leaves from cilantro. Add remaining ingredients to taste and stir.

Great (seriously great!) for several days stored in refrigerator. Stir before serving with chips, fajitas, salad, eggs, grilled veggies…or just by itself!

As originally seen on Better Recipes: Mexican

When I learned about the efforts of a guy who was tweeting out “Bachelor Pad Info” where he was giving advice for guys who have champagne taste but live on a beer budget, I had to laugh, as he sounded just like my husband did when we first met. So when I reached out to see if he might be interested in sharing his thoughts with our readers on AllergyKids, I think I might have caught him by surprise.

But when I shared how many dads are on the frontlines when it comes to protecting the health of kids and how important it is to share the perspective from a guy’s point of view, he was game.

So with that, meet my friend, Adam, who tweets under @BachelorPadInfo. He has some great thoughts and an awesome recipe, and it is an honor to share them here.

Summer time, the days are longer, school is out, and the smell of charcoal wafts through the air. It’s a special time, because in every young child’s life and in every father’s life there comes a point where cooking secrets and grilling knowledge is passed onto the younger generation.

Spending time preparing food and teaching how to tend to the grill is one of the best ways fathers can bond with their kids. We all know its important to teach healthy eating habits at a young age, this a great way for children to learn. Kids learn about the importance of seasoning food, and how to successful to mange heat control of the grill so food isn’t undercooked or burnt.

So here is a healthy and fun to grill recipe below.

Salmon steaks: Easy to grill and prepare with kids. Also very healthy and in easy way introduce children to eating fish.

• Salmon Steak (Only wild caught, never farm raised)
• Tin foil
• Pepper
• Salt
• Garlic powder
• Olive oil
• Butter

Take piece of tin foil and drip a small amount of olive oil onto it. Then place your salmon steak scales down onto the tin foil and season lightly with pepper a pinch of salt and garlic powder. Place a tsp. of butter on top (if dairy allergies aren’t a concern) and wrap the salmon steak tightly in the tin foil.

Place on the gill for 10-12 minutes on medium heat.

Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?

If you want more ideas from Adam, please visit his site at http://bachelorpadinfo.com where he gives “advice for guys who have champagne taste but live on a beer budget and can make your bachelor pad look high style without the high price tag”.

As consumers are learning, our meat is often injected with all kinds of growth hormones and antibiotics, fed livestock feed that has been laced with genetically modified organisms, insecticides and antibiotics (as recently highlighted in the New York Times), and often industrially grown and produced. That knowledge can lead to some pretty jaw-dropping reactions (think, Food Inc.).

And in our efforts to afford more fresh produce in our diets, what we have learned is that for those on a budget, opting out of meat once a week can help us to afford those fruits and veggies.

So this week, we turn to our friend, Kim O’Donnel, who authored The Meat Lover’s Meatless Cookbook, in search of a meatless recipe. And since we’re all about kids here, we thought we’d share her Dino Mash.

DINO-MASH

This pretty mash is completely dairy free yet manages to be creamy and full-flavored, with the help of starchy cooking water and a head of roasted garlic.

INGREDIENTS

1 head garlic
Olive oil for slathering, plus 1/4 cup
2 pounds Yukon Gold, Yellow Finn, or red-skinned potatoes (4 or 5 medium-size), scrubbed, trimmed, and peeled as necessary
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups kale, stemmed and chopped finely
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

HERE’S WHAT YOU DO:

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Trim the top of garlic and pull away the outermost skin. With your hands, lightly rub the garlic with oil and place in a small roasting dish. Cover with foil.

Roast the garlic until the cloves are fork tender (but not burned), about 50 minutes. Check for doneness at 40 minutes. (A kitchen timer is helpful.)

Meanwhile, prepare the potatoes: Quarter and place in a medium-size saucepan with 4 cups of water. The water should just barely cover the potatoes. This is important.

Add the salt. Cover the saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to medium. Cook for 25 minutes, place the kale on top of the potatoes, replace the lid, and allow the kale to steam for 5 minutes. Test the potatoes with a fork for doneness. Remove from the heat.

Squeeze the garlic flesh from the cloves into a large mixing bowl. With tongs or a strainer, transfer the potatoes and kale to the mixing bowl, reserving the cooking liquid.

With a hand masher, mash the potatoes and kale, focusing on the potatoes at first, ensuring that they’re smooth, ladling in their cooking liquid as necessary (you’ll use some, but likely not all). Use a wooden spoon to combine all of the ingredients. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of oil and black pepper, stir, then taste for salt, adding more as needed.

Eat hot.

Makes 4 servings

For more meatless cooking ideas, please visit Kim’s site at www.kimodonnel.com

I am a huge fan of a woman named Kris Carr. She has absolutely taken cancer to task. Not only did she conquer the disease, but she also dismantled a lot of the barriers that prevent us from accomplishing seemingly impossible goals. And she helps others to do the same.

Kris challenges convention, unbridles creativity and inspires others to create the changes that they want to see in their lives. And her work is absolutely heroic.

So when her blog recently suggested making brownies with black beans, I had to laugh at how crazy that sounded. Always a fan of black beans (I grew up in Texas) and always on the hunt for variations on sweet-treats for my kids, I couldn’t quite picture how to weave the two together, and I loved the challenge.

So I am going to give this one a try. And if you are interested in doing the same, as well as learning more about Kris, her New York Times best-selling books and her incredible take on life, visit Kris’ site for added inspiration at Crazy Sexy Life. And bookmark it.

Black Bean Brownies

Originally seen on Crazy Sexy Life by Meredith Terranova, RD

-15 ounces black beans, drained and rinsed
-2 bananas
-1/3 cup honey, maple syrup or molasses
-1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
-1 tablespoon cinnamon
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1/4 cup raw sugar (optional)
-1/4 cup instant oats (gluten free if preferred)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease an 8- by 8-inch pan and set aside. Combine all ingredients, except oats, in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth, scrapping sides as needed. Stir in the oats. If too soft, add another 1/4 cup oats or flour.

Pour batter into the pan. Bake 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool before slicing.

Notes: Because there isn’t any flour these brownies come out pretty dense.
Rolled oats may be substituted for the instant oats. Put the rolled oats in the food processor.
Use optional sugar if your bananas are still green and not very ripe.

As my son handed the sheet over, he said, “Mom, this is the stuff that makes lettuce taste better.”

And as I looked down, there on the page was a recipe for salad dressing.

So as a tribute to all of the moms out there who have kids that are loathe to try anything new, especially veggies, I thought I’d highlight the recipe that my son brought home.

Disclosure: he is Chief Picky Officer (CPO), and this recipe has been CPO-approved.

Recipe for Strawberry Salad Dressing

Prep:

Enlist the help of your kids
Turn on your favorite music
Grab the following:

• 1 Lemon – juiced
• 1 Orange – juiced
• 1 Tablespoon of honey
• 5 Strawberries chopped or pureed
• 1 Tablespoon Red Wine Vinegar
• 10 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• Chopped garlic and shallots are optional

Using a blender or a bowl and a whisk, combine all of the ingredients.

Enjoy over your favorite salad…with your kids and their friends, as the recipe serves twelve!

Written by Robyn O’Brien

Orginally seen on www.dairyfreecooking.about.com and posted by Ashley Skabar

King Cakes are a traditional Mardi Gras desert. The King Cake is sort of like a pack of cinnamon rolls that decided to hook up and form a cake. The royal colors of purple, green and gold used on King Cakes apparently are used to honor three kings.

A Mardi Gras tradition, the king cake is served on Fat Tuesday as part of the feast, and a figurine of a baby or, alternatively, a dried bean is hidden within the cake. The person who receives this slice is, according to tradition, to have good luck throughout the coming year. One word of warning, don’t bake the plastic baby. It’s best to insert it into the bottom of the already baked King Cake.

This recipe does take several steps, so feel free to prepare the filling and “sprinkles” a day in advance to ease party preparations.

Makes one cake/Serves 10 to 12

• For the Cake:
• 1 package dry active yeast
• ¼ cup warm water
• 1 T. maple syrup
• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more if needed
• 1 t. salt
• ¼ t. nutmeg
• 3 T. organic white granulated sugar
• 6 T. GMO-free soy margarine, cut into pieces
• 3 T. Egg Replacer Powder mixed with ¼ T. hot water
• ¼ cup coconut milk (not “lite” variety), plus more for brushing
• ———————————
• For the Filling:
• ¾ cup dark brown sugar
• ¼ cup dairy-free soy margarine, softened
• ½ cup finely chopped pecans
• ½ t. cinnamon
• ———————————
• For the Sprinkles:
• Unrefined Cane Sugar (about 1 ½ cups)
• Instead of using Yellow, Green and Purple Food Coloring, opt for decorating with Mardi Gras beads
• ———————————
• For the Icing:
• 1 ½ cup confectioners sugar
• ½ t. salt
• 3 T. warm water

So when we came up with this recipe for roasted blackeyed peas, we got excited and decided to share it. You can eat these toasty creations by the handful or sprinkle them over a salad.

To Prepare:

• Turn on your favorite music
• Drain one can of blackeyed peas
• Toss them with:
  1 Tablespoon olive oil
  1 Teaspoon Kosher salt (optional)
  1/2 Teaspoon chili powder (optional)
  1/2 Teaspoon cumin (optional)
  

Bake the blackeyed peas on a baking sheet at 425 degrees for 20-30 minutes, turning them halfway through.

Cool and serve!