Break the Recipe: Exploring Allergen-Free Culinary Delights with Chef Nina Jackson

Her passion is helping people enjoy their favorite foods without grains or allergens. So Nina started breaking recipes in 2012 when she was diagnosed with an allergy to grains and dairy. Her quest to recreate her favorite foods without all those allergens has helped her restore her health and improve her energy level.

A conversation or an interview with an icebreaker question. I love table topics questions cuz I feel like they help you get to know somebody just in a little bit of a different way. So if you can invite anyone alive or deceased to dinner, who would it be and why? I grew up watching Julia Child on pbs. I don't remember her.

As anything other than this goofy, funny lady who loved cooking, and I would love to meet her as an adult, as a learning chef. I enjoy reading her cookbooks. I enjoy her Kitchen Wisdom book, which was actually like her notebook where, you know, she kept her notes, so she, oh, that one's fabulous, isn't it?

And she had such a magical quality about her in that way and such a gift. I feel the same way about her books. I just picked up a book the other day at a local kitchen store. I Have It Right here. Julia Child, people Who Love To Eat are always the best people and other wisdom, and they're just random quotes from Julia Child and I had to have it.

There were a lot of tears and I actually found out about my grain and dairy allergy accidentally at an infertility appointment. So if you can imagine like the desperation that comes, like that was my motivation where I was like, okay, grains and dairy, what do I want more? So, Easier said than done, right?

Because I come from an Italian family, and you know, not everybody is Italian, but everyone shares a love for food and a love for sharing mealtimes, and I immediately felt excluded and nobody knew how to help me. There's only so many salads you can have while you're watching other people eat. And of course my will was strong and I tried creating recipes.

And so again, I was back at meat and veggies and that gets boring. And of course, when our menu is boring, we cheat. Yes, I wasn't gonna cheat, so not a problem. I know how to cook. I will just substitute. I will take this gluten-free recipe and I will substitute. It doesn't work like that. There's so much chemistry involved in cooking, and so for your listeners, you need to hear me say this, that I call my website break a recipe because of all the mistakes that I made.

All recipes are created equal. So I think people develop this mentality that it's just really, really hard. It is hard. And at one point I had 17 different bags of flour. In my pantry and I didn't have what I needed to make the recipe that I wanted, and that was the moment where I was like following other people's directions isn't working.

I just needed to break the egg replacer. So I broke the flour. I broke the egg replacer in my cookie recipes. I used coconut oil as a one-to-one sub for butter. Coconut milk can be adjusted, basically when you think about cooking, it's dairy, flour, eggs, and pretty much. Making adjustments as needed. I was good to go.

I be so happy. Like the first time I bought a box of pasta, I think I paid $10 for it and I cried because I was so happy. Yeah, it was probably worth every penny of that $10 just to be able to do it right. Right now I can get it for about $3 a box.

So what was the big shift for you where you went from feeling this overwhelmed and frustrated to really enjoying this process? Because I think so much of what gets in people's way, whether it's allergen free cooking or cooking in general, is this fear of failure and this lack of tolerance for failure.

And then, We quite often just give up before we see that light at the end of the tunnel. So where did that light come in for you and and what was really that turning point that allowed you to be like, this can be fun and I can enjoy this. I think when another person is depending on you. That will always motivate you.

Everybody could enjoy together because the experience of dining together, sharing food is unlike any other. You know, when you can say that looks good, gimme a bite, and somebody loves you enough to let you have a bite of their food. Mm-hmm. And vice versa. that's an intimate experience that. I was really missing out on.

And we've got several. I've got four grain free breads without yeast. I've got a sandwich bread, I've got a garlic bread, I've got rolls, and I've got a chia bread, and it's so fluffy and soft. It makes me feel like I opened a bag and ate a sandwich. It's so good. Oh, I have that recipe. I haven't tried it yet.

It's on my list. Oh, I'm so excited. I'm so excited. Well, I love that. So tell me what made you decide to start this business? And I feel like I already have an idea why, just based on our conversation already. I have a feeling there's an element of just you, wanting to help other people move along that journey much faster.

I'm sure there's a more profound way to say it, but basically when you need help and you can't find the person to help you, you become that person. And as you are surviving and thriving on your own journey, you reach down and you pull the other person along and you make it easier for them. And I wanted to put a cookbook.

So that children and families with allergens can eat together and prepare one meal that everyone enjoys so that no one feels excluded. I think you hit, just hit on something really, really important because so many women that I talk to in my business are cooking something separate, right? They're cooking two meals in order to please everyone because they've given up on the idea that they can cook one successfully for everyone.

And I love that you're showing people that that is possible. It's something I teach in my courses and that I work with people on is you definitely can find a middle ground, whether it's allergen free or it's cooking something with pieces big enough that if somebody doesn't like something, they can pick it out, right?

Did you find it challenging for cooking for others at first? Were they nervous to try your food because it was something so different than what they were used to? Everyone was nervous. So I snuck food in and there were people. And if you are listening right now and you have been bullied or excluded because of your food allergies, I have been there.

It happens to be made without grains, but it's a delicious food that you can enjoy, and then something else happens. Somebody says, I didn't feel bloated after I ate your dessert, or when we went to your house for dinner. That cheeseburger. Pasta was wonderful. And so tasting is believing, right? The same way that I didn't grow up eating Mexican food, but once I tried a taco, I was like, this is something I need to eat again, right?

Then it's just magic. I love that. I mean, that's the whole thing and, and the whole reason why we've connected is this whole magic and connection around food and what it means to feed people food that you put your love into and what it means for people to eat that food, right?

Like that energy goes both directions and it's so incredibly powerful and I'm just so impressed by the journey that you've been on and the way you truly. Break recipes and the passion that you have for it is incredible. And there are so many people out there that, that need what you're doing, that have all these allergens to deal with that are overwhelmed by cooking.

First and foremost. No one should miss out on their favorite foods because of an allergen. And believe in yourself. Love yourself enough to find the foods that make you happy and enrich your life. You're worth it. I love that, and you've managed to do it all without sacrificing flavor. I think that's another key part here to really drive home.

All these foods can be delicious and amazing. And I think you've really explained that. So you've had 10 years of experience developing these recipes, a year of blogging. I know I've seen your e cookbook. Lots of exciting stuff. Tell us what you have going on, how people can connect with you and what you're offering your community.

Both the options for this week are a grain-free, dairy-free dip, how to manage and. Track your symptoms as you transition to grain-free living, a grain-free, no baked dessert, and what can I eat on a grain-free diet? So one of the things that people tell me is, They know this is a journey and they want support.

So I've got a bunch of options for support. I just started a Patreon where in addition to what's available on my blog and my cookbooks, you can get a recipe of the month. Every month you'll get a couple new recipes to help you add variety and flavor back to your table. So recipe card has no ads, or you can have access to my digital recipe archives.

I would love to help you grow your skills as a grain free chef and support your family by adding flavor to your table. Awesome. Thank you so much. For everybody listening. You will find all the links to connect with Nina. she's got. Seven simple grain-free recipes. We'll have a link to that below as well, and I hope you'll check out her group and connect.

She's been amazing to connect with and she's been a really fun resource for my Facebook community so that the people in my group know that they have an ally and they can ask her how to break the recipes that I'm often sharing in my group. Because admittedly, allergen-free and grain-free cooking is not my wheelhouse.

Take care and thank you.