Making Dairy-Free Yogurt and More with Chef Aubrey at Chicago’s Kitchfix

What do you think of when you hear: gluten-free, dairy-free, or paleo? Does your mind immediately conjure bland, unsatisfying dishes with odd textures? Kitchfix is out to prove that doesn’t have to be true. This Chicago caterer and meal delivery service offers up food that is just as delicious as its less healthy counterparts — and it’s sometimes even tastier.

Chef Josh Katt founded Kitchfix in 2012 to serve nutritious meals made from anti-inflammatory, organic, local ingredients and superfoods for people who don’t have the time to cook. The meals became so popular that Kitchfix has been expanding ever since. Kitchfix now has a storefront in Chicago and an additional kitchen. And, they distribute their granola and waffles to grocery stores, like Whole Foods. This past fall, they catered multiple meals for an Obama Foundation event in Chicago.

We join Chef Aubrey Allen in the Kitchfix kitchen to cook two paleo, dairy-free recipes in our second episode of Kitchen Edition to test out exactly what healthy and dietary-restriction-friendly eating should taste like. Join us to find out just how cashews turn into a dairy-free yogurt, and if dairy-free chicken tenders are as good as the real thing. (Spoiler: they’re not — they’re better!)

Watch our second episode of Kitchen Edition to see how they’re made.

Making Dairy-Free Yogurt and More with Chef Aubrey at Chicago’s Kitchfix: Episode Two of Kitchen Edition

JACOBS:   Hi, I’m Laura from ezCater, and this is KitchenEdition.  I’m here today at Kitchfix in northwest Chicago.  From gluten-free pizza to dairy-free yogurt, Kitchfix is the expert.  You won’t even know it’s so healthy, it’s so delicious.  Let’s check it out.  I’m here with Aubrey of Kitchfix.  Thank you so much for having us.  We’re really excited to be here.

ALLEN:    Of course.  Happy to be here.

JACOBS:   What are we cooking?

ALLEN:    Today we’re going to try out cashew yogurt, which is our substitute for dairy-free, and then we’re also going to make our almond-crusted chicken strips, which is one of our sort of signature chicken dishes.  This is our cashew yogurt recipe.  It’s really simple; it all comes together in the blender.

JACOBS:   That’s great.  So, what is the first step, here?

ALLEN:    OK.  So, what we want to do is, with our Vitamix, we take cashew pieces that we have, and then we add just some regular water, lemon juice, and then we also have some coconut water here.  This is a little vanilla.  So, this is just another seasoning; it’s optional.  This is psyllium; just helps the yogurt set into a yogurt-like texture.

JACOBS:   Yeah, get the right texture when there’s no dairy.

ALLEN:    Exactly.  And just a little salt for balance, and some honey.  OK.  So then, we just start our blending.  All right, and there we have our cashew yogurt.  So then, we have the fruit on the bottom and then we would just sprinkle a little coconut flake on top, or granola — whatever you’d like.  You’ve got an Instagram worthy yogurt bowl.

JACOBS:   That’s awesome.  And so, I know it’s going to be delicious and it’s going to look beautiful; what about that local sourcing?  Are you guys doing anything in that sense as well?

ALLEN:    Yeah, honestly, that is a very important part of Kitchfix’s ideology here.  We do what we can to find as much local, as much organic as we can, make sure we’re sourcing from small farms — people that could really use our business.

JACOBS:   All right, so, let’s try some of this cashew yogurt.

ALLEN:    Yeah, I have spoons just for this.

JACOBS:   I’m so excited.

ALLEN:    Yeah, it’s really great.  Pineapple for you?

JACOBS:   Yes.

ALLEN:    All right.

JACOBS:  A little coconut on top.

ALLEN:    Mm-hmm.

JACOBS:   Oh, that’s really good.  You can kind of taste the lemon.  Very tangy.

ALLEN:    All the vanilla.

JACOBS:   Oh, that’s really good.  And I know you also have great options for other meals.

ALLEN:    Yeah.

JACOBS:   So, can we try out the chicken?

ALLEN:    So, this would be our almond-crusted chicken strips.

JACOBS:   So, what’s the first step here?

JACOBS:   So, you put the eggs in the bowl.

ALLEN:    Yeah.  We need an egg wash; this is just some beaten eggs with a little bit of water.  And for our breading, this is a mix of almond flour and some toasted almonds.  You can see the little almond pieces are in there.

JACOBS:   Yeah, it’s kind of chunky.

ALLEN:    Mm-hmm.  Once we batter it, we just want to toss it in the breading here, so we get them nice and coated, and they’ll be super crispy.  So, now we can just pop these in the oven, 350 degrees, and with the tenders it usually takes about 15 minutes, maybe 20 minutes.  So, you can see the chicken inside is still nice, and juicy, and tender, so we’ve baked it just until it’s cooked, and got a nice, crispy crust on the outside, and that’s it.  Pretty good.

JACOBS:   Really good.  Oh, my God.  Really good.