Gluten Free/casein Free Menu Ideas

[Amandas mom 2]

This is my first question I've ever posted,so totally new at this! My daughter Amanda tested pos. for Celiac disease through blood test. It's been a lilttle over a month now & we are already seeing faster weight gain than we've ever seen in her whole life! She is 6 but wears a size 3T. She was a preemie & has had numerous health problems learning delays etc... Anyway I have heard going casein free as well could have some behavioral improvement benefits? are casein free foods the same as lactose free?I've started to get the whole gluten free thing down( slowly but surely) but was wondering if anyone else does the casein free or lactose free as well ,and if so what does your typical day of eating include? She's not that picky of an eater, but some of this stuff is pricey!! So thought I'd see if anyone had some tried & true menue and snack ideas that your kids enjoy. Thanks so much!

[missy'smom]

Namaste cake mixes-make as cupcakes and freeze(I divide it in 1/2 and bake off 1/2 at a time) they make alot.

Earthbalance Spread-as a butter substitute, works well in baking too.

I had spaghetti with broccoli and ham for lunch yesterday. Saute ham and frozen chopped broccoli and a bit of garlic in the Earthbalance, add cold plain leftover spaghetti and a little chicken broth a few minutes until mostly absorbed. My son had the same thing for lunch that he brought to school. That and a piece of Stretch Island Fruit leather.

Other snacks that we have: gelatin made with fruit juice and unflavored gelatin, sometimes with fruit added, popsicles made with fruit juice in dollar store molds.

[tarnalberry]

I eat Gluten-free Casein-free all the time. We have stirfries, chicken soup, stew, grilled meat and sauteed veggies most often. Sometimes I'll make chili or tacos or some other varieties of soup, or pasta, salads, lasagna (yes, Gluten-free Casein-free), and so on.

Lactose free does *NOT* mean casein free. Lactose is the milk sugar, and there's an enzyme the body produces to break it into two smaller sugars that some people don't produce enough (or really, any) of. You can take over the counter Lactaid - which is just this enzyme - to help with that for most people. Casein is the milk protein, and for someone who's intolerant to that, the immune system reacts to it; there's nothing you can take to tell the immune system to not react to it or to break it down to a smaller protein before the immune system reacts to it. Many 'dairy free' soy cheeses, for instance, are really only lactose free, not casein free, and are made with soy and casein.

[CCM]

I came across two cook books at the library you might check out. You would need to make gluten substitutions for one of them, but the recipes seem interesting and do not tend to rely too heavily on rice/bean/Mexican meals which my family tires of. I have not used either of them enough yet to make a recommendation, but the recipes do read/appear nicely:

Grace Cheetham. Gluten-Free, Wheat-Free & Dairy-Free Recipes (2007).

Louis Lanza and Laura Morton. Totally Dairy-Free Cooking (2000).

[Mom23boys]

We are Gluten-free Casein-free. We eat basic meals - baked chicken, roast, pork chops. I try to have a green veggie, a colored veggie and a grain/starchie veggie. I keep bowls of fruit out for snacks. Once in a blue moon we will have rice cakes, chips or something like that.

[missy'smom]

Meatloaf or meatballs and Ore-Ida potato products and a frozen veg.

Open Original Shared Link

You can make homemade chicken nuggets/strips and freeze them. I take them raw from the freezer and directly into the deep fryer.

I make popcorn for snack. Sometimes 1-2-3 popcorn. Take 1 Tb. shortening in a deep saucepan on about med. heat, add 2 Tb. granulated sugar and 3 Tb. popcorn kernels. Put the lid on and pop. We sometimes like a bit of salt on it after it pops. Careful as the carmel that forms scortches easily.

Chicken with Wild Rice

Open Original Shared Link

Broccoli Cheese Rice-CF

Open Original Shared Link

Carriefaith's Breadsticks

1/4 cup shortening

3 tablespoons honey

2 eggs

1 tablespoon yeast

1 cup unflavored yogurt(use soy yogurt-check to be sure it's CF)

1/2 cup potato starch

1 1/2 cups cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons xanthan gum

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon vinegar

Topping: Kosher salt and/or other herbs, grated cheese, sesame seeds, etc.

Directions: Preheat oven to 350. Combine all ingredients. Mix well to remove lumps. The dough will be quite wet. Place dough in a pastry bag with a large round tip (or use a plastic lunch bag with a bit of a corner cut off). Pipe dough into long strips (5-6 inches is nice) on greased baking sheet. Sprinkle with toppings. Bake 10-12 minutes, until golden brown.

[HAK1031]

Think outside the American box! Most international cuisine (with the exception of Italian and some other Eurpoean countries) is naturally Gluten-free Casein-free. Cook a Mexican meal, Indian, Thai, Sushi! Plain meals (staple foods) are also good too, and experiment with herbs and spices to keep things interesting.

[gfgypsyqueen]

I have a three year old who is gluten-free/CF, so feel free to PM me if you need more info. Here is what she likes:

Oscar Myers Hot dogs

Boars Head Ham (Not so found of turkey)

Chicken wings (BBQ sauce)

Chicken (I grill as much as possible, but baked is good too)

Grilled fish

BBQ ribs

Pork Tenderloin

Belle and Evans Chicken nuggets (expensive but really great!)

Homemade chicken nuggets (I use a Fish Fry mix in an egg wash for the batter.)

Soup! (Chicken broth with chunks of chicken is her favorite)

Van's Waffles (gluten-free Original)

Bob's Red Mill Pancake mix

Chocolate chip muffins (gluten-free Pantry mix & Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips)

KinnikKinnik Donuts - Expensive, but haven't found a recipe I like yet (

Bacon & Eggs

Grits (gluten-free/CF butter & sugar)

Rice

French Fries (but HATES a baked potato!)

Broccoli

Corn

carrots

Apples

Bananas

Ener-G Crackers

Glutino Pretzles

Mrs Leepers Alphabet Pasta (no sauce)

English Bay Milk (gluten-free/CF) is the best! Hershey's chocolate syrup for a treat!

Other treats:

CherryBrooke Kitchen chocolate cake mix

gluten-free Pantry Brownies, Coffee cake, muffins

Glutino Waffer cookies

Lunche box lunches are styled like "Stackers". Sliced or chunked meat left overs. Sliced apples or other fruit. Crackers or Pretzels. Juice boxes. I try to keep lunches as "Cold lunch only" to make life easier. But pasta, hot dogs, and chicken nuggets go to school occassionally. When she gets older I might have to do sandwiches, but right now she prefers this.

What helped me at first with the CF shopping was to look for VEGAN dairy substitute foods. Non-Dairy and Lactose free foods can still contain casein.

As for the behavior issue, every time my little Silly is glutened, her behavior is off the charts uncontrollable. It lasts for days. Once she is gluten-free/CF again and tummy has healed, she is happy, healthy, funny, easy going kid. That alone is a reason to keep her gluten-free/CF in my book!

Be advised that some dried herbs have milk products. Check the creams, lotions, liquid soaps, bath products, and your lipstick too. I have found gluten and dairy in some weird products!

Ask more questions if you need anything!

[MySuicidalTurtle]

I would also suggest looking into gluten-free vegan recipes or products. If it is vegan you know it won't have casein. Also, a lot of vegan recipes are already gluten-free. It is easy to find yummy casein-free things and I hope your little girl thrives off of life without gluten and casein! Good luck!

[Juliebove]

You can get Road's End Organic's products that are cheese substitutes. They have pasta and Chreese, Nacho Chreese sauce and from their website you can get Chreese powder. Namaste makes a really good product called Say Cheeze. It's a fauz mac and cheese. We get vegan Rice cheese. Be sure to get the vegan kind because the kind that is not can have casein. There is also almond cheese that tastes good. I can't remember now if it has casein in it or not. I have an almond allergy so I don't buy it. Parma! is a nut based pamesan substitute. Nutritional yeast also adds a cheesy flavor.