Showing posts with label food allergies. Show all posts

Celebrating National Allergy Awareness Month With Red Robin's Interactive Allergen Menu

Disclosure:  This post is sponsored by Red Robin.  I did receive a gift card to facilitate this review.  However, all thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.




Did you know that May is National Allergy Awareness Month?  It's no secret that when it comes to allergies, my family has its share and then some.  The allergy type that affects us the most would be the kids' food allergies.  It's really changed our lifestyle, especially when it comes to eating out.  Not many restaurants cater to patrons with food allergies, less more offer menus that help us customize our meals to meet our dietary needs.  That's why I was delighted when Red Robin asked if we wanted to celebrate National Allergy Awareness Month by trying out their new Interactive Allergen Menu at one of their restaurants.


While Red Robin has been allowing diners to customize their meals for years, the Customizer Hub allows guest take customizing their meals to the next level.  You have the option to "Customize Your Nutrition" or "Build a Customized Allergen Menu."  What I loved about building a customized allergen menu for both Moo and JJ was how easy it was to do.


After you click on the "Get Started" button, you can just check off all of the allergens that you need to avoid.


Then, the Interactive Allergen Menu, will bring up your new menu options by category.  You can click on each category to see what is available.


You might see that once you click on categories that there are even more options available to customize your meals, like switching out the sesame seed bun for a lettuce or gluten free bun.


I was surprised at all the options that were still available once we had entered in all of the kids' allergies.  So, once you've decided what you want to eat and customized your meal, your server then submits your order.  Orders with food allergies are rung in with an allergy alert that includes showing the order in bold, bright red letters.  This notifies the kitchen staff to that a food allergy is present and that they will need to use an allergen kit to prepare that order.

The Red Robin allergen kits include all of the tools that will be needed to prepare your meal.  The tools are purple so that the kitchen staff will be able to distinguish them from the regular kitchen tools and also because purple is to color associated with Allergen Awareness.  In addition to being able to customize your meals, starting May 12th, Red Robin will be offering Omission Pale Ale, a gluten-free beer, for beer drinkers (21 & over of course)!  Brewed with malted barley, Omission Pale Ale is specially crafted to remove gluten.  

Honor, integrity, continually seeking knowledge and having fun are the four core values on which Red Robin was founded and our server that definitely embodied those for us during our visit.  I loved that she was very knowledgeable on the differences between an actual food allergy and an food intolerance because there is a difference. Being lactose intolerant is not the same as having a dairy allergy and that is very important to know because it could mean the difference between just an upset stomach and a trip to the hospital or worse.

It's no surprise that they have been the Gourmet Burger Authority their first restaurant opened in Seattle, Washington in 1969 or that they have 500 restaurants all over the US and Canada.  In my personal opinion, Red Robin is definitely setting the standards for changing the dynamics of the family dining out experience.  I feel so much more at ease when we eat at Red Robin because they have gone above and beyond to help me choose the best meal options for Moo and JJ.

 It's definitely one of the only three sit down restaurants that we frequent and I highly recommend Red Robin above the other two or any restaurant for families with food allergy issues.  The service great, the staff is knowledgeable and there are variety of options to choose from.  So, visit the official Red Robin website to find a Red Robin near you and give them and the new Interactive Allergen Menu a try if haven't already.   Don't forget to follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to stay up to date on all news, exclusives and discounts.

Lastly, Red Robin was also nice enough to offer me the opportunity to give one of you a $25 gift card!  Use the Rafflecopter app below to enter before 5/27 at 11:59PM.  Good luck!
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Grilling With Charm

As the mom of an allergy baby (toddler) it's important when cooking to distinguish her food from the rest of the family's.  I must admit that can be hard to do when baking, grilling or frying meats.  I can't tell you how many times I've had to cut a bite off almost every piece of meat to figure out which piece was hers.  So, I was thrilled when I stumbled across Grill Charms.



So what are Grill Charms?  They're these cute little charms about the size of a dime, made completely out of stainless steel and have a serrated steem that prohibits the charm from falling out "while flipping, moving and grilling food like you normally do."  And Grill Charms come in various collections to suit just about all your different cooking purposes.

There's The Spicy Collection that will allow us  fellow Grill Masters to "offer mild, medium and spicy sauces and rubs without any confustion. So those guests who like it hot can have it HOT, and other guests that walk on the milder side know which is mild."


Grill Charms also offers The Charm Life and The Pink collections.  Both collections consists of six charms that allows you the ability to personalize your food as you cook.  We all know that when it comes to ingredients like garlic, dill and other strong flavors there is no one size fits all.  So, these two collections help you "to distinguish spices and flavors, avoid health or allergy concerns or any other reason you can dream up!"



You could even use these charms to allow guests to season their own meat before you put it on the grill.  All they have to do is remember what charm symbol is theirs.  And with The Pink Collection 10% of the proceeds is donated to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.  Leslie Haywood, Founder and President of Charmed Life Products LLC, developed The Pink Collection to give back to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation because both she and her mother were diagnosed with breast cancer in their thirties.  "And with two daughters of my own, I'm sure you can understand the sense of urgency I feel to find a cure," Haywood says.

In addition, Haywood has designed The Steak Collection to help other grillers to stop doing like me and having to cut into all our beautifully prepared meats to see which ones are well done, rare, medium rare, etc.  Grill Charms is a really great buy and will help to take some of the stress out of cooking and add a little fun and charm.  Plus you can give Grill Charms as a gift to all the Grill Masters in your life for Father's Day, Mother's Day (women grill too), Christmas and any other holiday or event that comes up.



With my summer wedding coming up next year, I will be purchasing a few of these to serve as gifts for the groomsmen as well as for my grilling groom and me.  And the best part is that Leslie even does custom box sets to match your needs. 



You can't beat this or pass this opportunity up. So be sure to slide on by Grill Charms and see what Leslie has to offer.  And while you're there use coupon code YUMM to receive $5.00 off your box Grill Charms.

Happy Grilling!!!