Category: General

Allergy Free Grocery Shopping – Part 1

admin February 27, 2013 1 Comment
Allergy free eating is not cheap.  But that is okay; there are ways to make it more affordable.   By eliminating your food allergens you will invariably start cooking more whole foods and less processed food.  Processed food is expensive, so you will cut out that expense.  But you are also cutting out food that is chuck full of sodium, additives, gmo’s and so much more non-food food. Since...

The Truth About Coconuts As I See It

admin January 29, 2013 4 Comments
Coconuts are not tree nuts.  True or False?  Well, that is not so easy to determine it seems. Coconuts are drupes, which are large seeds with a hard shell.  They are not nuts.  However, the FDA added some confusion to this matter by stating in 2006 that they are tree nuts.  Well, just because they say coconuts are tree nuts, does not actually make them tree nuts. Now, someone could be...

Pinterest “Food Products I Use” Board And More

admin January 9, 2013 0 Comments
Have you checked out my Pinterest  "Food Products I Use" board?   I have added some things, although I cannot find a picture of everything I use.  But this should give you a visual of some of the things I use or talk about. You can check it out here. Also, everytime I post a new recipe I pin it to my Allergy Free Test Kitchen board.  Articles, how-to's and product reviews are pinned to this...

Daiya Cheddar Style Wedge-Product Review

admin January 8, 2013 0 Comments
While I am a huge fan of the Daiya Style Shreds, I have not tried their wedge cheeses.  I think because I did not want to fork over a lot of money for something that wasn’t a sure thing. But one day, I went into a grocery store that I never go to (I needed bananas) and walked around and saw that they had the Daiya Cheddar Style Wedges on a crazy sale.  For that price I had to try it for...

Dairy Free Sour Cream Options

admin January 2, 2013 2 Comments
There are two options for a dairy free sour cream that I know of.  One is Tofutti, Better than Sour Cream.   To me, this most resembles in look and taste to regular sour cream.  It is firm and smooth and very white in color.  It works just like regular sour cream.  It lasts a long time after opening.   According to the package directions, it not only is milk free, but also gluten free,...

Alternatives to Butter (and soy) in Baking–Spectrum Shortening and Earth Balance Coconut Spread

admin December 12, 2012 43 Comments
Today I bring you some information about alternatives to butter and regular shortening in baking.  Butter of course, makes things delicious and flaky, but it is made out of milk.  So it’s out for people with milk allergies or vegans.  But you can still bake wonderful treats without butter.  There is shortening, like Crisco, or your store’s generic brand.  This works very well in most...

Trader Joe’s Waffles vs. Van’s Natural Foods Waffles-A Comparison/Product Review

admin December 4, 2012 0 Comments
I am not one to purchase a lot of premade allergy friendly food.  It is expensive, and often not that healthy.  But I recently found wheat free, egg free waffles at Trader Joe’s and thought I’d try them out.  They pretty much tasted like Eggo’s at least as best as I could remember.   The nice thing about them is that they are also yeast free and rather bland tasting.  It might be...

The Whys and Hows of Making a Good Homemade Soup

admin November 20, 2012 7 Comments
I love making homemade soups; for so many reasons.  First, they are a great one pot meal.  Second, they are healthy.  Third, it is a good way to get vegetables into children.  Fourth, they taste so much better than a soup from a can, not to mention much lower in sodium. Fifth, they are fun and easy to put together.  Sixth, canned soups may contain food allergens.  Seventh, many...

Facebook Info You May Need To Know

admin November 18, 2012 0 Comments
I am by no means a Facebook expert.  In fact, I know very little.  But from reading other blogs it has come to my attention that you may not be getting all the posts from Allergy Free Test Kitchen in your news feed.  So, in order to keep getting my updates, meal ideas, and other Allergy Free Test Kitchen news, you need to take one more step after "liking" the page.  Once you "like" the page,...

A Milk Free Hot Chocolate Mix—Product Review

admin November 6, 2012 2 Comments
Finding a milk free hot chocolate mix is nearly impossible!  I have been looking for two plus years. I stumbled upon this quite by accident and thought I would share it with you so you do not have to visit store upon store only to get disappointed when you cannot find a milk free hot cocoa mix.  I found this Dark Chocolate Hot Cocoa Mix by Archer Farms at Target.  I am not trying to endorse...