My Recipe Designations

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Interpreting My Recipe Designations

It is my goal on this site to list recipes that are as natural as possible in content and, in some way, allergy-friendly.  This means that, most of the time, my recipes will consist of whole food ingredients, but they will sometimes contain ingredients that aren't so natural (case in point, my Leaves and Acorns recipe).  My recipes will, however, always be allergy-friendly in some form. 

I am ok with using sugar (I don't consider using it as "breaking the rules") and a few other refined ingredients (i.e. all-purpose flour), but I still like my ingredients to be as untouched by processing as I can reasonably afford whenever possible.  You can always feel free to visit my Ingredient Substitutions page and see if you can modify a recipe further to fit your individual needs or tinker with a recipe using your own substitutions.  If you do so, let me know how the recipe turns out!  I'd love to hear from you! :)

As to how to interpret my recipe/page designations: 

Egg-Free: No eggs, egg yolks, egg whites or egg substitutes or egg containing products are used in the original recipe, variations excluded.

Milk-Free: No milk or milk products such as cheese or butter are used in the original recipe, variations excluded.

Nut-Free: No peanuts or tree nuts like pecans, walnuts, cashews, etc. or peanut/tree nut containing products are used in the original recipe, variations excluded.  (Yes, I know that peanuts are not tree nuts and that you can be allergic to one without being allergic to the other.  I know that people avoiding tree nuts often also avoid peanuts and visa versa for various reasons, too.  Because of this, and to keep things a little simpler, I decided if a recipe/product was free from any tree nut-containing products or free from any peanut-containing products it would be included in the "nut-free" category.  I apologize in advance if this causes you any confusion!)  I do NOT consider coconut a tree nut, though some do, so nut-free recipes may contain coconut.  If you are allergic to coconut, please avoid these recipes or substitute ingredients that fit your needs.  I also do NOT consider seeds of any form nuts, so these recipes can contain seeds.  If you are allergic to seeds, please avoid these recipes or substitute according to your individual needs.

Wheat-Free: No wheat or wheat containing products like flour, wheat germ, etc. are used in the original recipe, variations excluded.  Wheat-free does NOT necessarily mean gluten-free, but all recipes should be reasonably made to be so by substituting gluten-free products and by possibly adding one or 2 more ingredients.

Soy-Free: No soy or soy containing products like tofu, "natural flavorings", etc. are used in the original recipe, variations excluded.  

Fish-Free: No fish, seafood or shellfish or fish/seafood/shellfish containing products are used in the original recipe, variations excluded.  (Yes, I know that fish is not seafood and that you can be allergic to one without being allergic to the other.  I know that people avoiding fish often also avoid seafood and visa versa for various reasons, too.  Because of this, and to keep things a little simpler, I decided if a recipe/product was free from any item that was or contained fish or seafood it would be included in the "fish-free" category.  I apologize in advance if this causes you any confusion!)

If there is the phrase "Can be...", it means that there is a variation listed that makes it allergy-friendly in that way.

NOTE: I make sure all of my recipes use foods that are free of the allergens they say they are free of.  You will need to do the same.  For help with this, please see the appropriate "Alternative Names" page for the allergen(s) you need the recipe free of. 

I hope this isn't too confusing!  If you have any questions, please, do not hesitate to email me or comment below. :)