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‘Mama’ serves up allergen-free savory dishes
Turkey Meatballs with Tomato Sauce and Egg-Free Pasta from Kelly Rudnicki's third cookbook, Food Allergy Momma's Fast and Easy Family Meals. | Joel Lerner~Sun-Times Media
Dairy- and Egg-free Spaghetti and
Turkey Meatballs
(From Kelly Rudnicki)
1 package egg-free pasta FOR SAUCE: 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 1 small onion, peeled and grated 1 cup carrots and zucchini, peeled and grated 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes 1 15-ounce can tomato sauce 1 ¾ teaspoons dried Italian seasoning ¼ teaspoon thyme, dried 1 tablespoon fresh Italian parsley (optional) Salt and pepper, to taste
FOR MEATBALLS: 1 pound dark turkey meat, ground ¾ cup panko bread crumbs 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning ¼ teaspoon thyme, dried ½ teaspoon kosher salt ¼ teaspoon fresh cracked pepper 2 tablespoons water
Preheat oven to 425 degrees and line baking sheet with parchment paper. In large bowl, combine meatball ingredients until mixed together. Use your hands to roll mixture into 1-inch balls and place on parchment paper. Bake for 15 minutes or until no longer pink.
Meanwhile, heat a large Dutch oven or heavy pot over medium high heat for about one minute. Add olive oil and grate onion and/or veggies directly into pot. Add seasonings and salt and pepper to taste and sauté for about five minutes, or until onions are translucent. Add canned tomatoes and tomato sauce and simmer on low heat for 15 minutes (during the time the meatballs cook).
Heat a big pot of water to boiling and cook pasta according to package directions. Add cooked meatballs to sauce and simmer for five additional minutes. Drain pasta and pour into a big bowl, adding meatball/sauce mixture to spaghetti.
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Updated: April 18, 2012 3:30PM
Food Allergy Mama will switch from sweets to savories in newest cookbook
She’s all about food allergies. Kelly Rudnicki, the self-proclaimed “Food Allergy Mama,” is at it again. The former Wilmette resident earlier this month submitted to her publisher, Avery/Penguin, the manuscript for her third cookbook, which features more of her food allergen-free recipes.
Unlike her first two cookbooks, Vegan Baking Classics (Surrey Books, 2010) and The Food Allergy Mama’s Baking Book (Surrey, 2009), which debuted her allergen-free recipes for baked treats like Zucchini Bread and Chocolate Chip Pancakes, Rudnicki’s forthcoming collection will highlight savory foods.
The Food Allergy Mama’s Easy, Fast Family Meals is set for publication in late winter 2013, and Rudnicki recently shared one of the recipes, Dairy- and Egg-free Spaghetti and Turkey Meatballs, with Pioneer Press.
“I want easy, no-big-deal type recipes, and this one fits the bill,” Rudnicki said. “It is so easy, yet healthy and delicious. I can make this entire dinner, start to finish, in less than 30 minutes, with all five of my kids around me. In other words, it doesn’t get any easier than this, and your family will love it.”
For the meatballs, she uses dark meat ground turkey. “The lean stuff tastes dry,” she said. She bakes the meatballs to reduce fat. Baking them also reduce cooking time.
And, always looking to up the nutrition of a meal, she adds carrots and zucchini to the traditional tomato sauce.
What leftovers there are she transforms into allergen-free meatball sub sandwiches. “My personal favorite,” Rudnicki said.
Rudnicki’s recipe for allergen-free Pesto Pasta with Green Beans and Potatoes will also be in the upcoming cookbook. “I was shocked by how much it tastes like traditional pesto pasta,” Rudnicki said.
Her recipe calls for dairy-free vegan Parmesan cheese, dairy-free margarine and gluten-free pasta. It excludes one of the more common food allergens, pine nuts. “You don’t need pine nuts to give pesto that incredible pesto flavor,” she said. “I used to make pesto pasta all the time; it was my husband’s favorite pasta sauce.”
All of Rudnicki’s traditional recipes, many of which are from her childhood, required some re-vamping after one of their five children was diagnosed with allergies to foods including dairy, eggs, tree nuts, peanuts and legumes.
She created recipes for traditional favorites without nuts, eggs, dairy or other more common food allergens. For instance, to avoid the problems caused by cow’s milk, Rudnicki uses soy or rice milk and dairy-free margarine. When needed, she even makes her own dairy-free “buttermilk” by mixing ¼ cup soy or rice milk with 1 teaspoon white vinegar.
Her goal is always to combine the best taste with the most nutrition possible in foods all kids (and adults) can enjoy.
“I develop recipes that can stand up to their original versions,” she said. “Children with food allergies no longer have to be excluded while their friends eat scrumptious foods. I wanted my kids to know what macaroni and cheese from the box tastes like — without all the unhealthy ingredients.”
Not only does she make all of the meals at home for her family, which she says “rarely eats out,” Rudnicki shares her recipes through her cookbooks and a blog so that others can be inspired.
For more information about Rudnicki’s dairy, egg and nut-free recipes, visit: www.FoodAllergyMama.com.
For more information about food allergies, see the website for the Food Allergy Anaphylaxis Network, a Fairfax, Va.-based nonprofit group: www.FoodAllergy.org. The organization will host a three-mile walk to raise food allergy awareness, “FAAN Walk for Food Allergy” in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood on September 30.
