Allergy-Friendly Menu for Spring and Summer Entertaining
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By Jessica Smartt, Contributing Writer
We are eagerly, painfully, awaiting the coming of warm weather here in the southeast United States. It has been COLD! We love to have friends over during the warm-weather months and I’m always looking for easy, delicious meals to serve to our friends and family. Today I’m sharing an allergy-friendly menu for spring or summer entertaining.
These items are free of dairy, eggs, nuts, and wheat, and perfect for grill-outs, picnics, or entertaining in the sun!
Appetizers
- Classy Spinach Salad
- Creamy Tomato Basil Soup – Can’t wait to try this with our garden tomatoes.
- Guacamole – The old standby.
Main Dishes
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- Trader Joe’s Secret-Ingredient Grilled Chicken – My hubby is awesome on the grill, and this chicken recipe he created with a Trader Joe’s secret ingredient is a huge crowd-pleaser!
- BBQ Chicken Skewers With Bacon and Pineapple – My mouth is literally watering at the mere thought.
Side Dishes
- Grilled Vegetables
- Pantry Potato Salad
- Spring Green Quinoa
Desserts
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- Fresh Lime, Basil, and Strawberry Hand-pies with Honey-Lime Yogurt (use a gluten-free pie crust recipe)
- Allergy-friendly granola bars – perfect for a picnic!
It’s early as I’m reading this, so it might be just me, but the Tomato-Basil Soup recipe seems to have dairy in it with the half-and-half. Is there a substitute you’d recommend?
Hi Jen! Thanks for the comment! In the post it does mention that I use Earth Balance Spread and coconut milk for substitutes, but I forgot to add that note into the recipe as well. I didn’t try with full-fat coconut milk, I used 1/2 cup of the So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut Milk (the milk carton kind). And you just skip the cheese on the croutons.
What a great list! I plan to try some of these recipes out! 🙂
We also have tomatoes in our home garden so I would definitely try tomato basil soup. And of course that BBQ chicken skewers with bacon and pineapple is so tempting. I’ll make my grill ready for this.