Question about cooking and allergies.

[kyrielle]

I know some of those reading this journal cook, and some have food issues, and I'm hoping you can help me. One of my relatives must now avoid both wheat gluten and dairy products. She's lived her whole life cooking for a normal diet without these restrictions, and she's trying to find alternatives and good recipes.

Anyone have any good recipes, especially ones that substitute for things like bread/pasta/etc.? I'm sure I could do a search and turn up tons of recipes, but I would have no clue whether they were good or not.

Comments

[evalerie.livejournal.com]

Oh -- some cookbooks I like are:

"Food Allergy Survival Guide" by Vesanto Melina, Dina Aronson, Jo Stepaniak. This book starts out with a chapter for each of a number of common food allergies, including gluten-sensitivity/celiac disease, and dairy allergy. Those chapters discuss where the offending food would usually be found, how to avoid eating it, and how to make sure that you are getting the nutrients that would normally be found in that item. Then the book goes on to recipes. They have a gluten-free flour mix that I like (though it's pretty similar to the Bob's Red Mill one that I mentioned) and an awesome gluten-free pie crust recipe. They have lots of other allergen-free recipes for dinner ideas and other meals, too. The recipe are all vegetarian, though it doesn't say anywhere that it's a vegetarian cookbook.

I also like, "Vegetarian Cooking for People With Allergies" by Rafael Rettner. I really like their nut-based veggie burgers.


Oh, and one more store-bought food I like: EnjoyLife makes a bunch of allergen-free cookies that taste good and are made mostly of healthy ingredients like dates and apples. I think it is very neat that there's a company dedicated to making allergen-free foods that people with food allergies can eat. The boxes hold mostly air with just a few little cookies at the bottom, which bothers me. But the cookies themselves are good, with good ingredients, which helps.

Lara Bars are good too, though a bit expensive. Wow do they have few ingredients!