Food Allergy Envy Turns into a Frittata

I admit it.  I am envious of people without food allergies and restrictions.  When I join my friends and family for dinner and I can't eat anything, I secretly drool over what their having.  I crave all sorts of foods that I used to be able to eat: Indian, Thai, Mexican, Italian, and especially Chinese.  Sometimes I wish that I had never tasted these foods so I wouldn't know what I am missing.  I yearn for the days when I could just pick up take out food or order a pizza without preparing a meal for myself.  

My food allergy list has only grown longer over the last five years.  I am convinced this is all related to my immune system just being plain old dysfunctional.  It doesn't make sense otherwise that a healthy young women would suddenly develop serious autoimmune diseases and food allergies all around the same time, but that's another story.

Sometimes this envy isn't all bad.  It can lead to creativity in the kitchen on occasion.  The other day we had a couple family members over and they were munching on all sorts of snacks that I can't eat.  My corn and onion allergies are the most difficult and prevent me from eating many foods. I try not to take any risks.  There is nothing scarier than having an allergic reaction and I especially hate when it happens in front of other people. For some reason, I also find it a bit embarrassing and I try to do my best to hide it.  This can be quite hard when my mouth or face starts swelling.  I just don't like the attention.

So while our guests were eating away, I decided to make something that was appealing and safe to eat.  I chose to experiment with making a small frittata for one.  A dish I had never attempted before and one that is conducive to using a variety of ingredients.  That means that as long as you have eggs, it's likely that there will be other vegetables or protein in your fridge that will work just fine.  That day I had a variety of yellow, green, and orange bell peppers and some leftover smoked salmon .  All seemed like they would well with my dish. Now as usual, I didn't follow an exact recipe.  I always find cooking more exciting if I improvise, but here are the basics of the ingredients I used and the gist of what I did.

Ingredients:

Yellow, Green, and Orange Bell Peppers

Smoked Salmon

Three Eggs

Greek Yogurt

Salt 

Pepper

Approximate Instructions 

1. Chop vegetables of your choice and saute in olive oil until they begin to soften

2. In a separate bowl whisk three eggs

3. Add a tablespoon or two of Greek or plain yogurt to eggs and continue to whisk

4. Add salt and pepper

5. Butter or oil oven safe baking dish to prevent sticking

6. Put desired vegetables and protein in oven safe baking dish  

7. Pour egg and yogurt mixture over vegetables and cover with aluminum foil

8. Place in oven at 400 degrees for approximately a half hour or until set. Remove aluminum foil for last last 5 minutes or so of cooking.

  

Leave it say my first mini-frittata turned out unexpectedly well.  Crisp and brown on the edges and the best part is that I didn't spend the rest of the afternoon drooling over what everyone else was eating.  

For others with food allergies, how do manage your cravings for foods that you can't eat?