Mama Knows Best: The Food Allergy Mama’s Easy, Fast Family Meals

Friday, January 25, 2013

You know what they say, Mama always knows best, and in this case she certainly does! My dear, sweet, darling friend, Kelly Rudnicki, (a.k.a: The Food Allergy Mama) mother of five, is the author of the brand new book, The Food Allergy Mama’s Easy, Fast Family Meals (Avery, February 5, 2013). I couldn’t wait to get my hot little hands on the advanced copy because with food allergies, myself, I’m always looking for great-tasting recipes that don’t take a million hours to prepare. Not the case with Kelly’s cookbook; she gets it, she has five kids for goodness sake, one of whom has severe food allergies. With band practice, piano lessons, traveling sports teams, and an active two-year-old, spending a lot of time every night cooking dairy, nut and egg free was not in the cards. Kelly learned in a jiff, how  to substitute, make meals from leftovers, and cook for the week on Sunday. She became a master at time management, efficiency and deliciousness. She takes the complication out of allergen-free cooking and puts the fun and ease back in.

I know that Kelly firmly believes that allergen-free meals should not be devoid of taste and purposely tests her recipes on friends and neighbors who don’t have food allergies in order to make sure they taste “normal” like their non-allergenic versions. And the result is resoundingly delicious. I wish I had been around when she was testing out the recipes!

Along with 125 recipes, Kelly includes advice, tips and make-ahead tricks that make dinner time easy and efficient. She suggests making the Weekday Double Roast Chicken on Sunday and use the leftovers for other delicious meals such as Chicken Tortilla Soup, Chicken Pot Pie (can you say, ooh-lah-lah?) and Chicken Salad during the week. Also included in The Food Allergy Mama’s Easy, Fast Family Meals are suggestions for easy-to-find and inexpensive ingredient substitutions – like tofu, applesauce, and even water for eggs.

Allergies or no, this book is worth it’s weight in gold, so go ahead, pre-order the book already! It comes out officially in a couple of weeks, but let’s be trend-setters and create a buzz!