In preparation for the long weekend festivities ahead, I surfed the web and our own collections to find recipes and grilling tips to make your cooking adventures more pleasurable and relaxing.   Below is an assortment of barbecue- friendly salads, snacks, cookies, and main dishes for grilling that I hope you will find useful.  All are dairy-free (of course), but many are vegan, gluten-free, and/or multiple food allergy-friendly …

Hannah Kaminsky, My Sweet Vegan ~ If there was one pantry staple that I would insist on any vegan having on hand at all times, it would have to be nutritional yeast.  An ingredient that has been tagged as unique to the vegan community and found little place else, it has a flavor unlike anything else, and kick-ass nutritional facts to boot.  Capable of adding in a touch of “cheesy” flavor to any number of dishes, its sheer versatility makes it indispensable for to the dairy-free home cook.  I have to admit though, nutritional yeast does have a very strong and somewhat unusual taste that some may have trouble getting used to, especially for those still yearning for the flavor of actual cheese.  That’s why Parma is so ingenious ...

Alisa Fleming, www.GoDairyFree.org ~ These nutritious dessert recipes are from the August 2008 issue of Foods Matter Magazine.  One option is offered for a pineapple flan, which is held together by rich dark chocolate, and the other is for a pomegranate flan, which is bound by melted sugar. They are not traditional "flans" by any means, but they are wheat, gluten, corn, soy, nightshade, dairy AND egg free.  They can also be nut-free, if you stick with the sesame seed base, rather than going with the optional almonds, which offers a softer taste and texutre ...

Reese, Kicking It In Crazyville ~ The first time it occurred to me to make rice pudding, I was watching Mr Roger's Neighborhood. He took a tour of a bakery that makes it, so I decided to give it a try. It's very simple to make and changing up the flavor is easy too. Add cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger or cardamom, throw in some raisins or other dried fruit when you cook the rice, or try some grated orange zest and a little orange flavoring with the vanilla extract (orange would be great with a tad of cinnamon and some cardamom!). After Ian [my youngest son] was diagnosed with a milk allergy I stopped making rice pudding because it contained milk. Recently I modified my recipe and Ian is now a huge fan! ...

Alisa Fleming, www.GoDairyFree.org ~ My grandma’s favorite cake is carrot cake, so it seemed only fitting that for her 6th 75th birthday (you do the math) I should use her time-tested recipe.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t find it!  After searching through many recipes online, I found one on recipezaar that came quite close, and altered it a bit to fit with our tastes.  The resultant cake was fabulous and received raves from the entire family, especially grandma. This cake is a perfect party pleaser for summer birthdays or upcoming school events.  Feel free to make it in cake or cupcake form.  Since I made an 8” cake (vs the 10" cake this recipe can produce), I did a little of both ...

Hannah Kaminsky, My Sweet Vegan ~ ‘Indecisive’ is practically my middle name. Between different types of breads, salad dressings, and even apples, it tends to take me an ungodly amount of time to buy groceries. Now, I’ll have even more to waffle over because the folks at Larabar have created four additional flavors! Adding two bars to both their original and Jocolat lines has brought their count up to 20 total varieties- That’s a lot to pick from even for the decisive! Luckily, I was able to get my hands on all of the newest bars, so there were no tough choices this time around ...