Cravings Busters

After eating allergy free for so long, my palate has adjusted and I rarely crave the foods I can't eat. Surprisingly, even as I've added some foods back into my diet, they taste different than I remembered them, and not as good! But recently I have been in touch with a new mother who is just starting out on an allergy-free diet. Talking with her has reminded me how difficult that transition time can be. Here are some ideas that can help curb those cravings and keep you going!

The big one, creaminess: Going dairy free eliminates most creamy foods from one's diet, and going soy-free as well eliminates nearly all the dairy substitutes. What can you eat when you want cheese, sour cream, yogurt, a glass of milk, ice cream? My staples in this category are avocados and coconut milk, and both give you healthy fats as well. There are some other options, such as Coconut Bliss ice cream, rice milk (try some flavors: Chocolate Chai is my favorite!), and coconut-based yogurt. These tend to be pricey and have a lot of unnatural ingredients. I use them in moderation and buy lots of avocados when they go on sale. Avocados were one of Siena's very first foods, too, and remain a favorite. Coconut milk in smoothies adds a great flavor. Be creative in using coconut milk. We found a tandoori spice mix and substituted coconut milk for the yogurt and it turned out amazing!

Baked goods: There are a few brands of allergy free baked goods carried by health food stores or in the natural section of grocery stores. Enjoy Life makes numerous allergy-free products such as cookies and snack bars. Ener-G makes my favorite bread, which is rice based. There are some lines of gluten-free baking mixes. Make sure your mix won't require eggs, because they're hard to substitute, but it's handy to have an easy option on hand. My preference, however, is to do the baking myself. I have reviewed some great cookbooks on my blog and, now that Siena has failed her wheat test, I have another in queue. Most wheat-free cookbooks are also gluten-free. If you want to alter a favorite recipe, you can mix half oat flour and half barley flour in place of wheat. (Yes, you need both. Just oat will be crumbly and just barley will be tough and chewy.) Ener-G makes an egg replacer as well. Allergy-free baking takes some patience and experimentation with texture, but it's worth it in the end. Anything you make will satisfy you so much more than anything you can buy!

Feeling satisfied: When I first switched to allergy free and ate mostly fruits and vegetables, I could eat all day and never get full enough. I've found some tricks to help. Don't be stingy with healthy oils such as olive oil to add some calories to your cooking. Make sure to eat some grains: rice, corn, and quinoa are good options. I eat more meat than I used to. Meat helps a lot in giving me that satisfied feeling. Lastly, baked goods often fill that void I feel in my stomach, especially something home made. But watch out: adding these baked goods back into my diet marked the point when I had to watch my weight again and I stopped losing. ;) In moderation it can be a great way to feel satisfied.

Fried food: I deep fried food myself for the very first time now that I'm eating allergy free. I'm still a novice, so I'm not going to write about it. If you're better at frying than me, just don't use an offending oil. If you go out, make sure they use an oil you can eat and, depending on your wheat sensitivity, ensure they don't fry wheat-containing food in the same oil. This hasn't been a problem for us but very well may be for others! My next project is to make Indian pakoras, using chickpea flour and canola oil. I'm excited to give it a try. ** Very important note about oils: soybean oil is often marketed as "Vegetable Oil." While the term can also refer to other plant oils, be sure it's not soybean oil!

Asian food: My husband and I enjoy eating Asian foods, but it's so hard to eat Asian without soy! We have actually managed to find two Asian restaurants that are very aware of food allergies, but it's risky because people often don't recognize all the foods soy hides in. I don't recommend trying restaurants until you are very familiar with the foods and cooking methods that can be a problem. We have enjoyed cooking Thai food using coconut milk. I got the recipe below, Thai Basil Chicken,from a friend and we have enjoyed it multiple times! We even made fresh spring rolls at home with shrimp and a sweet chili sauce. I have found one soy-free stir fry sauce, carried in the South Sound at the Olympia Food Co-op, called Toi Sauce. It uses tamarind instead. I also bought tamarind chutney at the Indian market, which can add some flavor and texture to home made Asian foods.

Comfort foods: Most comfort foods are heavy on the wheat (starch) and dairy (cream) and are hard to replicate. Macaroni and cheese is a favorite around here and I found a couple substitutes at our local gluten-free store, GF Joe's in Tumwater. Namaste's "Say Cheez" was my winner and especially good with some ground beef. Rice pasta is easy to find, and I really enjoy pasta with tomato sauce. Add your own sausage and vegetables and top with nutritional yeast to make a hearty meal. Try topping a baked potato with chili and avocados. Make an allergy-free meatloaf and serve it with mashed potatoes with rice milk (and some salt and pepper) to make them creamy.

These are the big categories of cravings I can think of for now. One very valuable thing I learned from our nutritionist is to google search "allergy free" and perhaps "substitute". Type in what you're craving followed by those terms, and most likely someone else has come up with a recipe or product that can satisfy you.

As I said at first, however, these cravings subside over time and you palate changes. Unfortunately bread and cheese still sound very good, but most junk food doesn't even sound appetizing anymore. I hope, and I really think, that this experience has ingrained more nutritious food habits in me that will endure even after the food allergies are no longer an issue. What a great gift to give Siena!

Thai Basil Chicken

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
3 t curry powder (or curry paste)
1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper
1/2 t chili powder
1 onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
5 cloves garlic
2 jalapenos, seeded and finely chopped (or red pepper flake)
1 T olive oil
1 14-oz can coconut milk
1 T cornstarch
a handful of torn basil
2 t grated fresh ginger
3 T sugar (optional)
1 t fish sauce (optional)

Cube chicken into 1 inch pieces. Place them in a bowl and stir in curry powder, salt, pepper, and chili powder to coat evenly. Cover and chill for two hours to allow spices to penetrate meat.

In a large nonstick wok or skillet, cook onion, garlic, and jalapeno in hot oil over medium heat for 2 minutes. Remove onion mixture from wok. Add chicken and stir for 4 to 6 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink, and remove from wok. Combine coconut milk and cornstarch (and optional sugar and fish sauce) and add to wok. Cook and stir until bubbly and slightly thickened. Return chicken and onion mixtures to wok. Stir in basil and ginger. Cook about 2 minutes and serve over cooked Jasmine rice.

We all scream for... Sorbet!

I am a huge fan of ice cream. One of the first things I realized when I began the allergy-free journey was that I would be deprived of my favorite treat. I'd tried sorbet previously, but didn't really give it much credit. I preferred ice cream, year round.

As I anticipate the beginning of summer for the second time while eating allergy free, I felt inspired to try making sorbet for the first time. I have friends who own and operate a bed and breakfast who often served sorbet as the fruit course at their inn. For some reason it caught my attention last time they mentioned it. It sounded delicious, and also special and fun to make it at home. I had an ice cream maker that had been unused for ten years, so I pulled it out and gave it a try.

I googled recipes; there are so many ideas online, even if you don't have an ice cream maker. The basic formula only requires simple syrup and fruit juice or puree. Some recipes add lemon juice to "brighten" the flavors, or alcohol to prevent it from freezing too solid.

I started with a minted watermelon recipe to use some mint from our garden and some leftover watermelon. It was decadent, but it filled the ice cream maker too full and therefore didn't freeze enough, which in turn caused it to freeze too solidly in the freezer. (Next time I plan on freezing it in two batches, but in the meantime we're enjoying "shaved ice.") Second I made lemon sorbet, which I processed too long and it was actually crumbly(!). I tried the lemon recipe again, watching it more closely, and stopped it when it was perfect-- right out of the ice cream maker and after sitting in the freezer.

While I hardly gave sorbet a second thought before, I rate it quite highly today! It's a light, energetic alternative to ice cream. And all those fancy flavors we ate weeks ago in Las Vegas are now at my fingertips. I can't wait to experiment with more recipes: I already have a queue of ideas that I'll be trying as fast as we can eat them, and it will be a great way to preserve extra fruit this summer. In anticipation of some warmth and sun, let's all celebrate with some sorbet!

Cilantro, Cilantro Everywhere!

Late spring and abundant rain in the Pacific Northwest! All this rain is making the garden-- and the weeds-- grow like crazy. Among the craziness are numerous volunteer cilantro plants, which are growing so fast they're already starting to bolt.

Naturally, tonight's meal featured cilantro, and it turned out even better than I expected! If you find yourself with an excess of cilantro-- or even if you just want to use a little-- give this meal a try. As usual, I didn't really measure the ingredients; use more of what you like, and it's easy to adjust the meal for a large or small crowd.

Cilantro Lime Chicken

Place chicken breasts in a shallow pan. Drizzle with olive oil and fresh lime juice, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and add chopped cilantro. Let marinade for an hour or so, then grill until cooked through.

Avocado Salsa

Chop a couple of avocados and place them in a bowl. Add diced fresh tomato, red onion, chopped garlic or garlic powder, and minced jalapeno or red pepper flakes. Drizzle some olive oil and lime juice over the top. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and mix. Stir in fresh chopped cilantro. Serve over chicken.

Cilantro Rice

Measure out the desired amount of rice. Sprinkle with salt, garlic powder, and a smattering of cumin and achiote/annatto powder. Drizzle olive oil into the rice and stir. Then add water and cook as directed. When done, fluff and serve with the chicken.

I hope the cilantro is the first of many crops we're overloaded with this summer! We still have some planting to do, but the garden is well on its way. Happy gardening to those of you who like to go out and get your hands dirty, your muscles worked, and your minds cleared. And happy eating to us all!