Need Some Variety

[Dru]

Hey all,

I have finished my elimination diet and am now avoiding:

Gluten, Dairy, Soy, Corn, Yeast, Coconut, Peanuts, Egg Yolk (whites are okay).

I do not eat red meat or pork but can sub ground chicken for ground beef recipes. I should also mention that the only nuts I eat are cashews and I can not eat raisins or citrus fruit but all other fruit is fine.

I am trying to find some things that I can make for dinner. I usually take whatever I eat for dinner as leftovers for lunch the next day. I am also supposed to be working on increasing the amount of vegetables that I consume.

I have just bought a crock pot and would be interested in some recipes for that.

I am also looking for a way to make chocolate chip cookies (and other baked goods) without margerine or butter since there is not one that is dairy/soy/corn free. I can use Spectrum shortening or several types of oil but I don't know how to convert recipes that call for margerine or butter.

Also, any suggestions for snack foods that I can easily take to work or eat in the car would be great (I commute 2 hours each way twice a week).

I appreciate any advice or tips you can give. I hope I don't sound whiny. I know that there is a lot of food out there that I can still eat but I was not a cook before this new diet and am not used to any of this (especially the gluten free flour thing). Basically, I have been eating rice, fish, plain chicken, and homemade turkey and bean chili for a month now and am getting sick of it.

[Juliebove]

I buy some pumpkin seed bars from Goraw that should be safe for you to eat. I also eat raw pumpkin seeds. I like them better than the roasted ones. Daughter eats turkey sticks that should be safe for you. They're made by Shelton's. You could also eat raw veggies but you'd have to keep them in a cooler to make sure they stay fresh.

We had tuna casserole last night. I made the sauce out of a couple of handfuls of mushrooms, a couple of ribs of celery and a big handful of onion, all chopped. I cooked them in olive oil until soft, then added some sweet rice flour and water. Seasoned with salt, pepper and parsley. To this I added 3 packs of tuna, and a small package of quinoa pasta. You can use rice pasta, but I prefer the quinoa. Also added a can of peas. I usually use frozen peas but I was out of them. Bake until heated through and top with some potato chips. I put the chips on each serving because they get soft on the leftovers.

You can try varying the types of rice you are eating. We like wild rice on occasion.

For the crockpot, you could try a chicken stew. Cut some chicken into bite sized pieces. Brown it first in a skillet with a bit of oil. Add to it whatever vegetables you like. Use fresh or raw, cut up if necessary. I'd use carrots, potatoes, peas and green beans. You can also use canned but you'd need to add those almost at serving time because they are already cooked. Season with salt, pepper, parsley and perhaps a bit of poultry seasoning. Add some chicken broth and if you like, thicken it with sweet rice flour or mashed potato flakes. Very nice dish for winter.

We've recently bought rice based yogurt and cheese. We like the cheese on pizza and nachos. For the pizza, I use Ener-G rice crusts. Top with your favorite tomato sauce. I use lots of vegetables on mine. Daughter likes meat. Bake as directed. Then add the rice cheese and bake until the cheese is melted. Just be sure to buy the Vegan cheese because it has no dairy in it. This pizza is also good with just the tomato sauce and cheese.

For the nachos, start with a pile of chips. You'd have to use rice chips. Top with little blobs of canned refried beans and pieces of rice cheese. Nuke until the cheese melts, then sprinkle on chopped tomato, green onion, black olives and serve with salsa. You can also add cooked meat to this if you want. Very good!

You can also make a dip of canned refried beans and rice cheese and serve it with chips or raw veggies.

[confusedks]

Juliebove,

What brand of cheese do you use? Is it soy free?

Kassandra

[Dru]

Wow, thanks for all those great ideas. I guess I'm just not very creative yet. Being a mom to a toddler and a full time student I had been "cooking" by adding whatever the box/mix told me to and heating it up. That doesn't work anymore.

I too am interested in the brand name of the cheese. I haven't been vegan since the mid-90s and I'm sure that there is more out there now but I seem to recall all of the rice cheese having either casein or soy in them. I used to be able to eat soy so this was not a problem back then.

Thanks again for all the great ideas.

[moonlitemama]

I believe the cheese brand is Galaxy International. One of their cheeses is gluten-, soy-, and dairy-free. I haven't been able to get it locally, though, so I haven't tried it.

Ricera yogurt is also gluten-free, SF, DF and might work for you (not certain of the other ingredients, so you'd want to double-check). I don't care for it plain, but find that it's great for a smoothie. I use frozen strawberries, a little sugar or agave nectar, water and a container of strawberry or vanilla yogurt. It also works great for a coffee cake recipe I've created. Let me know if you're interested.

For snacks on the go, I like Lara bars (I think there are some that use only cashews as the nuts). Also, trail mix - you could use cashews, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, dry fruits, cereal (maybe something like Arrowhead Mills Organic Maple Buckwheat Flakes).

For baking, I haven't tried many recipes yet, but I think for cookies you can just substitute straight across Spectrum Shortening for the butter/margarine. I'll be interested if anyone can share how to sub oil for the butter/margarine.

You might look at Road's End Organics boxed pastas. I think they may meet your requirements. I like the penne pasta w/ cheese, but didn't care for the macaroni one. Something easy if you're used to cooking from a box.

I'm gluten-, casien-, soy- and glutamate-free and it's definately a tricky combination. Good luck. It will get easier!

[sparkles]

you might take a look at Cherrybrook chocolate chip cookie mix. I found some at a super Target. It wasn't bad.