Trying To Help A Friend

[Googles]

Hi.

I visited a friend over the holidays who I found out has been diagnosed with food allergies. He said that it has been hard for him to be able to find foods that he can eat apart from very plain foods. I thought of you all when he told me the foods he can't eat. I was wondering if anyone had suggestions on foods/recipes he should try. He doesn't have celiac but he can't eat wheat. He also can't eat: eggs, dairy, and soy (including soy lecithin). He seems to be a little frustrated with trying to find new foods to eat. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks.

[Jestgar]

I'm not sure what you mean by plain. Does he not cook?

[Googles]

By plain I mean without a lot of seasonings or coatings etc. He eats a lot of beans and rice and corn tortillas and beans. He would go and eat vegetarian stuff, but he can't have the soy that is in a lot of it.

[GlutenFreeManna]

Does he think he has addtional intolerances he is trying to figure out? If Dairy, Soy and Wheat are all he needs to avoid he can make a lot of his own dressings/marinades with olive oil for the oil. It's pretty hard to eat out or if you are used to buying only pre-made items, but if he learns how to cook there's so much variety he can have with spices and marinades. Avoidng the dairy is harder in American or European food, but many ethnic dishes don't use dairy. If he's not much of a cook (or not very ambitous to learn) a good place to start would be with the crockpot lady's blog: Open Original Shared Link

Everything she makes is gluten free (therefore wheat free) and she doesn't use very many bottled items that could contain soybean oil or soy lecthin. For the recieps that she makes with soy sauce/tamari I would tell him to get some Open Original Shared Link. I have had great luck using Coconut Secrets in place of soy sauce for my Asian dishes. It tastes just like soy sauce, but it is not as salty. For dairy replacement he is just going to have to experiment with almond milk, rice milk, coconut milk or hemp milk. Is he only allergic to cow's milk? Powdered goat's milk makes an excellent sub for buttermilk if he can have it. Coconut milk works great in anything sweet or anything baked--I have done pumpkin pie, corn bread, etc. I have not found a good milk sub for making mashed potatoes so I just use chicken broth instead and leave out the milk.

[GlutenFreeManna]

Wait, is he vegetarian too? That might make it harder, but still not impossible. One site I like for veggie dishes is : Open Original Shared Link

It is not a gluten free site, but many things are gluten free or easy to make that way. It's also not only vegetarian, but many of the recipes you could just use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. He may need to branch out and try some new vegetables if he wants more variety.

[Googles]

Thank you everyone. I will send these suggestions on to my friend.

[MelindaLee]

For baked goods, look for the cookbook Baby Cakes. She is vegan and bakes that way. she has a VERY successful baker in New York (I think). Though her recipes are not always gluten-free, they are wheat free (She uses spelt some, which I believe is okay for wheat allergies, but not for us celiacs) I don't believe they had soy, but you will need to check.

[sb2178]

Explore Indian and North African food, subbing in rice for the cous-cous!