Dinner, Lunch, The Food Allergies, Uncategorized

Takeout Food Tuesday: Mexican Food

It is really typical to have a day (or week) when you do not want to cook. As an Allergic Halal Foodie, you might feel like it is your obligation to cook, but it isn’t the whole truth. There is always a way to eat good food cooked by someone other than you. I like to remember when I was a little girl in New York City, my mother would have a night when she didn’t cook dinner, rather she ordered takeout food. For us it was Fridays, but takeout food day can any day you choose. The first thing I would suggest to do is to pick a cuisine and call up those places. Tell them about your food allergies and ask if they can make accomodations (like cook without peanut oil or hold of on the grated cheese). Also ask if them for their meat and chicken supplier. Then you can check on your own time if their supplier is halal. Many restaurants may serve halal meat and chicken, but may not put a visible halal sign or may not obtain halal certification for a variety of reasons.

I like the Hot Shop located in Albany, CA. I found it unexpectedly while driving througn the town. This eatery is a family friendly and family owned place. It is a popular place to eat and all without a website. I walked in and loved that I can see the whole kitchen. This is helpful to ensure that my order is correct and there isn’t any cross contamination. The food is Mexican cuisine and there are some specialty dishes including one with an Afghan cuisine flavor. At the end of the day, we all found something to eat and their food is delicious. Try these tips at your local Mexican cuisine place and enjoy your “takeout food day” at your convenience.

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Breakfast, Dinner, Lunch, Recently Discovered, Snacks, Sweets, The Food Allergies, Uncategorized

Costco Haul: July 2017

There are always great finds at Costco. Even though I shop at various grocery stores to complete my grocery shopping list, the bulk (literally and figuratively) of the items on my list are at Costco. What does an Allergic Halal Foodie need that isn’t from a health food store and doesn’t break the bank? Well, take a peek here at July’s Costco haul.

  1. Organic Raisins. Two huge bags of organic raisins for your delight are available at Costco. I like to put them in my couscous, oatmeal, and homemade dairy- and nut-free trail mixes.
  2. Nature’s Path Organic Cereal Flakes. How do you take grains like spelt, barley, and more and make it into a very tasty cereal? Nature’s Path successfully found a way. Plus this cereal has a great amount of protein. Add the organic raisins that you just purchased from Costco and you will have a high protein and healthier “Raisin Bran”-ish cereal. I also add these flakes to a homemade trail mix.
  3. Organic Blueberries. Blueberries are so great and nutritious. My kids loved blueberries since infancy. There is a good size list of things to eat with your blueberries. If you are not sure where to start your blueberry path, here is a dairy- and egg-free recipe for blueberry muffins.
  4. Organic Quinoa. Typically expensive for a small box, this huge bag of quinoa is the best deal around. The amount of protein along with its health benefits makes this item always on the Costco list.
  5. Organic Ketchup. What else goes well with sweet potato fries, halal chicken bites, and meat patties? Ketchup and lots of it! You get a twin pack of big organic ketchup bottles at a price that is unmatched elsewhere.

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Dinner, Lunch, Recently Discovered, Uncategorized

Takeout Food Tuesday: Saffron Road

At some point, an Allergic Halal Foodie may experience not being in the mood to cook.  Although it is the safest and most assuring option to cook your own meals, it is a completely normal sentiment to not want to cook. It is essential to not feel restricted because of your dietary restrictions. To assist with this potential dilemma, I’ll post takeout food options on Tuesdays.

This Tuesday’s Takeout Food is Saffron Road.  Frozen food for an Allergic Halal Foodie?!?! Yes, frozen food is an option. Who says takeout food has to come from a restaurant? My definition of takeout food is prepared food that is eaten outside of the place where it was prepared. Saffron Road is 100% halal and has a variety of products for people with food allergies. Their takeout frozen food products have the ingredients clearly listed as well as highlight the common food allergens. Also, check out their website for product details and locations. Don’t be surprised to see that some of the product locations include the whole gamut from specialty grocery stores to the big chain supermarkets. If you really want to maximize your takeout food experience, have the groceries delivered to you from the grocery store. Many stores offer same delivery. Enjoy your takeout food!

 

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Breakfast, Dinner, Lunch, Ramadan, Recently Discovered, Snacks, Sweets, Uncategorized

Costco Haul: June 2017

When I first heard of the big box stores that sold bulk items, I immediately thought that those stores existed only for business owners or rich people. Then I moved to California when I got married. I became my husband’s plus one (+1) to his Costco account. Since you only get one extra Costco membership card without any additional fees, I felt honored to have access to this store. I couldn’t wait to see what products were sold and what was the big deal (literally and figuratively). Once inside I immediately noticed how there is something for everyone in this huge store. If you are newbie shopper or a frequent shopper at Costco, it can get overwhelming.  I want to spotlight some items that you may not have noticed.

1. Organic non-dairy milk. As you know, an Allergic Halal Foodie is dairy free. Most likely you will drink non-dairy milk when eating your cookies. There is a lot of allergy safe cookie eating in an Allergic Halal Foodie’s life, so why not save time and money by buying your dairy-free beverage at Costco. It has a long shelf life, too.

2. Organic dates. With Ramadan this month, this item is a handy addition to your Costco shopping list. They’re organic and delicious. It is sunnah for the fasting Muslim to break their fast with dates and water. Not interested in sunnah practices of breaking your fast with dates, you have plenty of ways to eat dates like this homemade Twix bar that uses the dates for the caramel. Yum!

3. Organic maple syrup. The uses of maple syrup is vast. In addition to using it to drizzle onto homemade dairy free Belgian waffles, I like to use it for quick allergy friendly barbeque (equal parts of ketchup and maple syrup) and teriyaki (equal parts of soy sauce and maple syrup) sauces. Yes, it is really that simple to make those 2 sauces.

4. Halal Lamb Roast. Sometimes you can’t or don’t want to make an extra trip to your halal butcher. Alternatively, Costco has halal meat! It doesn’t get any sweeter than that…

5. Organic pasta. Most “gourmet” pastas have egg. Costco has an organic pack of pasta that is egg-free. True foodies know that there are endless options with pasta meals. 

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Breakfast, Ramadan, Uncategorized

Pre-dawn (Suhoor) Ramadan Menu

The pre-dawn meal called suhoor is eaten  before the Islamic dawn prayer Fajr. In addition to this meal being mandatory before one starts fasting each day during the month of Ramadan, there are blessings just in eating it. Make sure to load this meal with protein, fiber, fruits and vegetables, as well as hydrate yourself with water.  So don’t skimp on this meal as it provides you with blessing and feul for your day. 

  • Fruit and protein wrap. Take a flatbread and spread nut-free butter of your choice (I use this  soy nut butter because of a nut allergy). Slice some fruit and place on top of the nut-free butter. Sprinkle some cinnamon then roll it up to eat it as a food wrap or fold it in half and eat with a knife and fork. If you don’t have any flat bread, you can use any slice bread. Cut off the crusts of the bread slices and then use a rolling pin to make flat.
  • Bran muffins are a great source of fiber that you can easily make dairy-free with this recipe or buy them at the store. 
  • Oatmeal is a healthy suhoor staple  that is easy and filling. You can prepare your oatmeal and toppings in advance and just add your dairy-free milk and heat when ready to eat. Here are some DIY oatmeal packet ideas. 
  • Smoothies are a great way to get in protein, fruits, veggies, and liquids.  The picture is an apple, spinach, and ginger smoothie. Super easy and delicious. Add your dairy-free yogurt or dairy-free protein powder and you’ll have a quenching pre-dawn fiesta in your mouth.
  • Water. Simple, yet essential for suhoor. Make sure to include at least 2 cups of water before you start your fast. Not a fan of water, try drinking it room temperature or try putting some fruit slices for flavor.

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    Gift Ideas, Gifts Ideas for An Allergic Halal Foodie

    Friday Foodie Gift Idea: Grater

    Do you think that a grater is just for grating cheese? Well, that is just one of the many things in life that couldn’t be be farther from the truth in an Allergic Halal Foodie’s world. Chances are a dairy and nut allergic person will not even consider a grater to be useful. However, there are quite a few great allergy free foods to grate and I just wanted to spotlight a few.

    Chocolate. Grate some dairy-free and allergen free chocolate pieces over ice cream, dairy-free whipped cream, hot cocoa, or directly into your mouth and you won’t be disappointed. Only have chocolate powder in stock or don’t have the time to make a quick stop at the market for that tasty allergen-free chocolate? Don’t fret. You can easily make your own solid chocolate. Recipe is here.

    Bananas. Yes, you can grate bananas. Frozen bananas. A positive result of grated frozen bananas is dairy-free ice cream. When you grate the frozen bananas, top it with some of the chocolate you just grated, too.

    Veggies. Carrots, zucchini, beets are just a few of the vegetables that will be quickly cut and ready for consumption with a hand grater.

    Garlic. Instead of mincing this flavorful seasoning, try grating it. I have a garlic press which is also very helpful, but I personally always feel like a little bit of garlic remains in the garlic press compresses section and that always gets wasted. Try sticking the garlic clove with a fork and then grate without making your fingertips bleed. Nothing beats quick and fresh cut garlic and odor free fingers. 

    Onions.  This always helpful if you don’t have a food processor, tend to use fresh onions frequently, or if you just hate chopping onions. 

    So go ahead and purchase a grater for that foodie in your life (maybe it is you). 

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    Dinner, Lunch, Uncategorized

    Mac & Cheese Haul

    Sometimes you don’t want to make something from scratch. Macaroni and cheese is one of those dishes that is typically made from scratch and has a distinct homemade taste. This distinct taste of this classic dish can be made dairy-free without skimping on the deliciousness.  It doesn’t have to be one or the other. In this case, you can have both. Justifiable if you want to cheat a little bit, but not with the flavor or risk of eating something that tastes horrible. 

    Here are the various “not-from-scratch” dairy-free Mac & Cheese options that exist and meet the Allergic Halal Foodie standards:

    Daiya Macaroni & Cheese. This is a great option because you don’t have to melt the cheese. This mac & cheese box includes the uncooked pasta and cheese sauce packet. The cheese sauce is extremely cheesy, eliminating the work of adding dairy-free butter, dairy-free milk, and any other extra cooking steps. Just boil the pasta and add the cheese sauce and you’re done! You do have the option to use their elbow pasta included or swap it out for your own preferred pasta shape. Decisions, decisions…

    Earth Balance Macaroni & Cheese is a nice choice for boxed mac and cheese. You can use their dairy-free butter, too, for the recipe.

    Amy’s Frozen Macaroni & Cheese is great because all you need is a microwave and patience of about five minutes. It makes it to the top of the list because of pure convenience.  They also use Daiya cheese, which is a plus and adds to the familiar great taste. The extra special bonus with frozen dairy-free mac and cheese is that you can quickly turn it into baked dairy-free mac & cheese by putting it into the oven in an oven safe dish. Dare to sprinkle some bread crumbs on top beforehand and you might be amazed with the quality results.

    Annie’s Macaroni & Cheese is a product in their line of products that is vegan and dairy-free. It comes with an already cheesy sauce included with the uncooked pasta. This line includes a gluten free option, too. 

    For some variety you can cook some halal ground beef with tomatoes or in a marinara sauce and add it to your boxed dairy-free mac and cheese of choice. It will become your beef and cheesy mac, beeferoni, mac and cheese with beef, beef chili mac and cheese without the beans, etc (or whatever is your preferred name for the dish). It all adds up to tasty halal food for the allergic foodie.

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