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Hosting Food Allergies: The Links

Food allergies (different from sensitivities or preferences—and life-threatening) can make hospitality a scary reality for families. But they’re an increasing reality for so many of us! Some will prefer to bring their own food to keep family members safe.

Grab tips for welcoming these often-isolated families:

o    https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/hospitality-in-the-age-of-allergies

o   https://www.hopepaige.com/information/dinner-party-allergies

o   https://healthblog.uofmhealth.org/wellness-prevention/hosting-guests-food-allergies-6-tips-for-a-safer-meal

o   https://ancientharvest.com/dinner-party-hosts-guide-food-allergies/

“People I Can Count On” Poster

Print this here.

Recipes to Make Hospitality with Kids a Piece of Cake

Wishing you had a few shortcut recipes to try–maybe even with the kids–so you don’t fling open the door to your guests while wiping sweat from your upper lip? Grab a few hacks.

• Cracker toffee makes for a super-simple dessert.

• Ice cream cake: Crush a package of Oreos in a blender with 1/4 c. melted butter. Press half of this into a 9 x 13″ pan. Cover with slices of a softened half-gallon of mint-chocolate-chip ice cream. Cover with rest of crushed Oreos. Freeze. (I’m told this works with any kind of ice cream, and even with crushed candy bars. My kids ask for this on birthdays!)

• I love the no-knead bread from blogger The Kitchen Whisperer here. It literally takes me five minutes to stir together, and I’ve found I can replace the butter with coconut oil for my no-dairy guests. If you have a dutch oven, here’s another with just 4 ingredients! 

• When making cookies, roll some dough into a log shape, stick it in a gallon zip bag, and freeze it to slice and bake for last-minute guests.

• Cake mix cookies require literally three ingredients. That means you can whip up those babies while you chat with a friend for five minutes.

• You can also pull together muffins (what is my thing with muffins, I ask you?) with a box of cake mix (chocolate or spice—or use yellow, and mix in chocolate chips) and a can of pumpkin puree. Bake them at 350 for 15-20 minutes.

• I like Ina Garten’s five-ingredient ham and cheese in puff pastry for breakfast, lunch, or brunch. As long as I have the pastry in the freezer, I usually have the rest of the ingredients.

• Bolster your collection of one-dish, InstaPot, and slow cooker meals. (Repeat after me: I don’t need to impress. My hospitality is about my guests, not me.) If you can find two or three go-to’s (ask your friends!), easy hospitality could be, like, four sliced potatoes away. We like Crockpot Thai Chicken Curry from this blogger.

Thoughts on Community, Continued

• Having a hard time resurrecting your vulnerability after many people have misunderstood you or rejected you? Find some encouragement to take the next, gosh-this-feels-naked step in The Stories We Don’t Tell: On Choosing Vulnerability.

• Systweak has a great list of 7 apps to help manage social media use, so we can keep it in the right place.

• Find good thoughts here on secrets and nonsecrets for kids to keep.

• Grab Jared Wilson’s ideas about “How to ‘Disciple’ Your Kids into Church Dropout Status”, i.e. what not to do if you want your kids to continue going to church on their own.