No Milk Menu

[mhsjax]

Ds has a friend who has been eating at our house for 7 years and she is deathly allergic to dairy and is unable to eat beef because of the protiens. She has to be extremely careful about cross contamination as even the smallest hint of dairy can cause a reaction which would require her epi pen and a trip to the ER.

She must have some other issues other than milk. And yes cross contamination can be fatal. Like the above pp I had a very good friend
who's son was epi pen allergic to milk even laying his cheek in a drop of his little brothers formula caused a reaction. But could eat beef. However he did also have issues with other foods than came up a little later in life.

These allergies are horrible and I feel for anyone that has to deal with them.

 

[bicker]

This is only marginally related to the OP, but I bring it home in the last paragraph....

Personally, I'd be mortified if I was invited over for dinner and a meal was made separately especially for me. And there is a lot I don't eat: I'm a vegetarian. If I sit down and chicken cordon bleu is the meal, I gracefully and graciously decline a portion, and fill my plate with veggies and starches. That's just me, though.

My sister-in-law is a real expert in dealing with situations like this (read: "situations like me"), though. She typically has an "alternative" slyly included in the meal, as if it were a side dish, but it turns out perfect as an entree for whoever isn't eating the main entree. Once she made a turkey, and served ziti as one of the side dishes. Once she made meatloaf, and served a quiche as a side dish.

(Again, this isn't related to the OP, but rather my own situation, but I'll make the connection later...) One thing she's good about, which some other folks aren't, is avoiding the unnecessary introduction of meat into otherwise meatless dishes, such as the inclusion of bacon in either green beans or quiche. While normally those are reasonable choices, when you know that a vegetarian is coming, it isn't a bad idea to avoid such things. This really allows the vegetarian guest to feel both that there is stuff for them to eat, and, most importantly, that the host didn't go too far out of the way to accommodate our personal choice.

Anyway, bringing this back to the OP, the point of this is, if your friend is anything like me, she'd probably prefer you not make a separate meal just for her. So if you really want to make her feel at ease as your guest, it may pay to choose a menu that doesn't so overtly address her dietary needs, but rather, like my sister-in-law, slyly accommodates it. As such, I'd avoid the chicken cordon bleu. If you want to focus on chicken as the protein (even though I'm a vegetarian, I'm well-versed in all the carnivore stuff, having spent 90% of my life as a meat-eater ), I'd aim for something like chicken francaise (frying in oil instead of butter). No tomatoes; no milk products; and very nice to serve to guests.

 

[kristilew]

I know it's not funny, OP, trying to cook for friends with allergies, but this thread reminds me of a funny story....

We were new to the neighborhood and invited neighbors over for a meal to get to know them. They called an hour before dinner to "remind" us that she was vegetarian, and he was on Atkins We were young and not very skilled cooks at the time...we ended up making french toast, bacon, and eggs. Oh well.

As to the various allergies, when DD was allergic to milk, it was to the casien - the protien in it. So we also had to be careful of many meat products because that was used as a preservative. Not sure if it still is or not. This was before all the organic craze. We found kosher products useful...

 

[Certifiable WDW Nut]

Do a search for kosher recipes. Observant Jews do not mix meat and dairy products in their meals. You do not have to buy kosher meat, regular meat is fine, but none of the meat or paerve (neither meat or dairy - can be used in either type meal) recipes would have any dairy products in them at all. Of course you won't find any pork or shellfish recipes. ;-)

 

[3jsmommy]

I would make a roast chicken, actually I'm making one tonight!
I stuff the chicken with a lemon and a whole clove of garlic cut in half (horizontally).
I set it on top of cut up veggies, tonight I'm using fennel, red potatoes, onions and carrots. Toss the vegetables in evoo, s&p and some fresh herbs...yum.
You could do cous cous, rice or homemade stuffing on the side, no butter needed. Fresh bread with flavored olive oil for dipping.
For an appetizer I would do stuffed mushrooms, hummus or just a really great salad.
The apple pie sounds good!

 

[RUDisney]

Do a search for kosher recipes. Observant Jews do not mix meat and dairy products in their meals. You do not have to buy kosher meat, regular meat is fine, but none of the meat or paerve (neither meat or dairy - can be used in either type meal) recipes would have any dairy products in them at all. Of course you won't find any pork or shellfish recipes. ;-)

This is an excellent idea.

My GF emailed me back and said that ham upsets her stomach, too, so chicken cordon bleu is out. At least her BF isn't too concerned about my birds as long as their cages are clean of peanut shells. He's evidently eaten in the Texas Roadhouse where peanuts are all over the floor without any problems.

I'm starting to think that 3jsmommy is right. A roasted chicken or turkey breast seems to be the fanciest meal that my friend can eat.

I'm a good cook and I like to go into the gourmet realm when friends come over. Their allergies are making that difficult.

I'm thinking about red pepper soup as my appetizer. The one I make has no milk in it but is creamy and smooth. You'd never know that there wasn't cream in it.