YUM-O - Rachael Ray Comes to Chicago & a Special Recipe from Top Chef Masters Rick Bayless, Naturally Allergen Free!

I just got back from Rachael Ray’s block party and live taping for her show. It was a blast! This was a wonderful event with the focus on healthy eating and cooking with demonstrations by Rocco DiSpirito, Art Smith and Chicago’s favorite son and Top Chef Masters Winner Rick Bayless.

I got a moment in front of Rachael and asked her to add more allergen free recipes to her show, she asked me what I cook free of, I told her the 8 major allergens and gluten and she said, “What do you eat?” So even someone who cooks and develops recipes for a living thought we might be missing out, but not so! Rachael promised to look at more food options for us, keep an eye out allergenistas!

I also got to meet the last two winners of the Biggest Loser, Ali Vincent and Helen Phillips (they are tiny), their lives have completely changed since the show, we were talking about how if anyone told us what our lives would be like a few years earlier, we would have never believed them. Before I was diagnosed with food allergies, I was an Account Executive for a national mortgage lender, dealing with the grind of every day life shoveling foods that made me sick into my mouth. I so love helping people with food allergies, I, like Ali and Helen, have dedicated our lives to helping people become healthy and we both lost a lot of weight to boot! Meeting them has really inspired me to take off these last 25 pounds, the goal date is my 40th birthday on September 23rd, hold me to it!

Onto something you can use for almost every dish….from Rick Bayless

Mojo De Ajo

In Spanish this dish is called Mojo De Ajo; it is a wonderful base for many applications and translates to “Bath of Garlic” it’s much easier to make than to remember the Spanish name!

2 cups garlic, peeled
2 cups olive oil
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 lime, cut in ½

Preheat oven to 325°F.
Take garlic, put it in a plastic bag and lightly crush with a rolling pin or meat tenderizer.
Place garlic in a baking dish and cover with olive oil and salt.
Bake for 40 minutes, remove and squeeze lime over garlic.
Place dish back in oven for another 15 minutes.
That’s it! You can store this in your refrigerator for a couple of weeks.

Now, how do you use it? You can use it with any meat or on salad. By roasting the garlic, all of the bitterness disappears leaving a sweet tasty garlic. Rick topped potatoes, salmon and cilantro wrapped in a banana leaf with this garlic mixture for a light and flavorful grilled meal. If fish isn't in your diet this topping also goes well on beef, chicken or pork. Enjoy!

Look for me in the crowd during the September 14th airing of Rachael Ray’s show!