Six Food Intolerance Living

As I am a big proponent of "practicing what you preach," I thought that I should provide allergen-free candy for Halloween. I figure that if I want others to provide allergen-free options for me and others, then I should provide the same to trick-or-treaters.

So, I made my sign (please realize that I'm not an artist! LOL) which said "ALLERGEN-FREE Candy Available. Please Ask." To my dismay, no one asked. Though, I only had about 20 kids come by. Regardless, I think that this is something that I will do every year and maybe one day, some one will ask! ;)

I don't know about you, but sometimes, I really need a quick meal - but not just any quick meal. It has to be safe for me, healthy, and tasty enough for my Hubby to eat. Store bought rotisserie chickens are my answer - many stores (I've found some at Costco and Giant) offer gluten free ones and are labeling them accordingly. There are several rotisserie eateries that are safe too (Chicken Out and Crisp and Juicy). At around $5 each, they can be the answer to healthy "fast food."

Below are my top 10 favorite things to do with a rotisserie chicken:

• For a super quick meal, pull pieces of the roasted chicken, place on a plate then make instant mashed potatoes or instant microwaveable brown rice then heat up a can of your favorite vegetables or use the frozen microwave steam ready ones.
• Make Spanish Skillet, using diced or shredded rotisserie chicken for the 1 cup of cooked chicken.
• Chicken sandwiches - shred the chicken, add mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato and onion to brown rice or corn tortillas and serve with chips
• Stir-fry asparagus or other vegetables(s) in sesame oil, toss in chicken until warmed through, sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on top
• Shred the chicken and use it to make a Cobb salad
• Make chicken salad (I like mine with mayonnaise, dijon mustard, finely diced celery and onions, lemon juice and dill relish) and serve that on brown rice or corn tortillas or on chips
• Shred the chicken and top pasta and your favorite pasta sauce
• Shred some chicken and put it in tacos with your favorite toppings
• Barbeque chicken - pull pieces of chicken off, place on a plate and top with barbeque sauce. This can be eatten off a plate or put inside a brown rice or corn tortilla. Serve french fries and a salad on the side.
• Then, after you've eaten chicken for a few nights and picked off all the meat you can, make fresh, homemade soup. Even if you think you'd gotten all the meat you can off the carcass, you'll be surprised at how much more comes out as you simmer it. Use this recipe to make homemade stock in the crockpot. Then, take out the skin, bones and other inedible things. Put the stock and any edible meat into the blender, blend until all the meat is pureed (and the broth is light). Pour back into the crockpot, put it on high and put in noodles, rice, vegetables or whatever you want until cooked through. This is my absolute favorite out of all of the meals. I always freeze a container or two for when I'm sick.

When I went gluten free, one food I missed dearly was onion rings. I've always loved the flavor of onions and anything crunchy so naturally, onion rings became one of my favorite guilty pleasures. Recently I decided to try to come up with a gluten free replacement. After some trial and error, I finally developed a recipe that I believe will rival any gluten-filled version.

Gluten Free Onion Rings
from Clara Ogren, http://www.sixfoodintolerance.com
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 quart peanut oil (or however much is needed to fill your pan)
1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup corn meal
2 teaspoons Lawrys Seasoning (or other all-purpose seasoning mix)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 cups dairy-free buttermilk (2 cups of your favorite dairy free milk, add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, stir and let sit for 3 minutes)
2 sweet yellow onions (preferably Vidalias)
coarse Kosher salt

Directions:
Pour peanut oil into a dutch oven or other deep frying pan and heat to medium high heat.

Measure brown rice flour, cornmeal, Lawrys and garlic powder into a mixing bowl. Wisk together well.

Pour dairy-free buttermilk into a separate, wide, large bowl.

Slice onions into rings.

Place one quarter of the sliced onions into the dairy-free buttermilk and let it sit for 1-2 minutes.

One at a time, take a ring out, cover in the flour mixture, shake off the excess, dip back into the dairy-free buttermilk, then recover in the flour mixture, shake off the excess again, then drop into the hot oil.

Repeat until there are 3-5 onion rings in the oil at a time. Let them sit in the oil for a few minutes until the outside is browned and onion is cooked.

Take out of the oil and place on a cooling rack. Sprinkle with coarse Kosher salt while the onion ring is still hot.

Tips:

• These freeze and reheat (in the oven) well.
• White rice flour can be used in this recipe but the brown rice flour lends a nice brown color to the finished product and it more nutritious than white rice flour.
• Make sure not to get the oil too hot otherwise it will brown the flour before the onion is cooked.
• Shaking off as much of the flour as you can is very important. If you do not shake off most of the excess, it will gather in the milk causing a mess or in the oil and burn.
• Do not overcrowd the pan, doing so will lower the temperature of the oil.
• Try using this batter for breading other vegetables (zucchini, mushrooms, asparagus, etc) to make tempura.

Can you see what's wrong with this picture? (click on it to enlarge it)

Case and point for my number one recommendation for living gluten free.

Unsafe soy-free food list (unsafe ingredients and where soy often hides) *

Always or typically contains soy:
Abura-age (sliced deep-fried tofu)
Atsu-age (deep-fried tofu)
Bean curd (typically made from soybeans)
Chocolate (many contain soy lecithin) *
Concentrated soy
Curry pastes (many contain soy oil) * ~
Edamame (parboiled green soybeans)
Gan-modoki (a soy dumpling)
Glycine max
Hydrolyzed soy protein (HSP)
Isolated soy protein
Kinako (Japanese for soybean flour)
Koya tofu (freeze-dried bean curd)
Kyodofu (freeze-dried bean curd)
Mayonnaise (most contain soy oil) *
Margarine (most contain soy protein or soy oil - Earth Balance makes one that does not) *
Miso ^
Natto (fermented soybeans)
Nimame (stewed soybeans)
Okara (soybean pulp)
Pad Thai sauce (many contain soy protein or soy oil) * ~
Peanut butter (many contain soy oil) *
Shoyu
Soja
Soy-based meat alternatives
Soybeans
Soybean curd
Soybean paste
Soya
Soya bean
Soy bran
Soy butter
Soy cheese
Soy curd
Soy fiber (can be found in baked goods, as well as processed meats, sausages, hamburgers, etc)
Soy flour
Soy grits
Soy ice cream
Soy infant formula
Soy isoflavones
Soy isolate fiber
Soy lecithin *
Soy margarine
Soy meal
Soy milk
Soy nuts
Soy oil *
Soy panthenol
Soy protein
Soy protein concentrate
Soy protein isolates
Soy sauce
Soy sprouts
Soy whipped topping
Soy yogurt
Tamari ~
Tempeh
Teriyaki ~
Textured soy flour (TSF)
Textured soy protein (TSP)
Tofu and tofu products
Uno-hana (soy pulp)
Vegetable oil (usually all or part soy oil) *
Vitamin E (a preservative typically derived from soy)
Worcestershire sauce (in the US, the Lea & Perrins brand is safe)
Yuba (tofu skin)

The following may contain soy. You'll have to read the ingredients and/or contact the manufacturer:
Bouillon cubes
Broth
Canned tuna (may contain vegetable broth which may have soy)
Diglycerides
Fish sauce ~
Flavoring
Hydrolyzed plant protein (HPP)
Hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP)
Ice cream (many contain soy lechithin) *
Imitation bacon bits
Imitation crab and lobster
Isolated vegetable protein
Methylcellulose
Mixed tocopheryls (a preservative often derived from soy)
Monoglycerides
Monosodium glutamate (MSG)
Natural flavors
Natural flavoring
Oyster sauce ~
Popcorn, microwavable
Protein
Protein extender
Protein filler
Stabilizer
Starch
Textured vegetable protein (TVP)
Thickener
Vegetable fat
Vegetable fiber
Vegetable gum
Vegetable protein
Vegetable protein
Vegetable shortening
Vegetable starch
Veggie burgers

* Soy oil and soy lechithin are non-protein forms of soy and may be tolerated by some soy-intolerant or soy-allergic people.

~ There are several Asian sauces listed, but there are several that are soy free.

^ Soy free miso made from beans and chickpeas can be purchased from South River Miso.

Living gluten free does not mean one has to live pasta free. There is a large variety of gluten free pastas on the market, even some from well-known wheat-based pasta makers

• Deboles - With the wide variety of styles and grains, this brand is quickly becoming a favorite.
• Dr. Schar - Their collection contains unique shapes of corn and rice based pasta and they also make a variety of other gluten free products.
• Ener-G Foods - These pastas are made literally with just white rice flour and water, so they accommodate a variety of allergy needs.
• Mrs. Leeper's - In addition to their corn and rice based pastas, Mrs. Leeper's also makes boxed dinners.
• Orgran - All their products are Gluten Free, Wheat Free, Dairy Free, Egg free, Yeast Free, GMO Free and Vegan.
• Quinoa - This brand sets itself apart by using the naturally gluten free and nutritious quinoa grain.
• Tinkyada - One of the most well known and well liked gluten free pastas, this past is rice based and comes in a variety of styles.
• Trader Joes - They may skimp on the price, but never on the flavor!
• Another source for gluten free, economical pastas are Asian markets. They have many white rice and mung bean based noodles that are naturally gluten free. Often, there are also buckwheat noodles, however, check carefully as many brands mix wheat flour in with the buckwheat, be sure to choose a brand that is 100% buckwheat. Furthermore, a word of caution to those with Celiac or who are highly sensitive - noodles found in the Asian market are not certified gluten free and are often not produced here in the United States so there is always potential for contamination.

Cooking gluten free pasta is quite different from cooking wheat pasta. While the flavor of gluten free pasta is comparable to wheat pasta, getting the texture right can be tricky. Some helpful hints to ensure delicious, perfect pasta every time are:

• The first tip to making good gluten free pasta is to read the directions. There are many different types of gluten free pasta and all are not created equal. Unlike wheat pasta, the directions are not always the same. Some cook better at a constant, rapid boil like traditional wheat pasta, some (especially the kind found in Asian stores) are best soaked in cool water overnight, while others are directed to be dumped into a pot of boiling water, then to turn the heat off, cover them and let them sit in the cooling water until soft. The directions for your brand should be your guide.
• Wheat pasta tends to be heartier and yields more servings than gluten free pasta so always make a little more than what you are used to.
• Cook only as much gluten free pasta as you need at the moment because it does not freeze or reheat well. It is best eaten immediately after cooking.
• Gluten free pasta is known to be very sticky. To combat this, there are two things you can do - add 2-3 teaspoons of oil to the water before dropping in the pasta and stir often. The oil will help coat each strand of pasta, ensuring they won't stick and stirring will agitate the pasta in case some pieces do begin to attach to one another.
• To add flavor, as with wheat pasta, generously salt the water as you bring it to a boil.
• Do not overcook gluten free pasta. Cooking the pasta too long will cause it to get too soft, mushy and it will disintegrate into very small pieces.
• When you drain pasta from hot water (so not with the kind you soak in cool water overnight), run very cold water over the pasta to stop the cooking and to keep it al dente.
• When adding noodles to a soup, only do so at the very end as the noodles will not hold up to long boiling or simmering.

Remember how I told you that I am writing for Examiner.com now? Well, a few weeks ago I wrote a series of my Top Ten Recommendations for Gluten Free Living. I know that once the decision is made to live gluten free, the lifestyle can be quite daunting. There are so many things to think about - what to eat, how to eat out, cross contamination, etc. In a culture saturated with wheat and gluten, one must learn to cook all over again - or for the first time. I created my top ten list in order to make the transition easier and less expensive. In order, here are my top ten recommendations for gluten free living (these links will take you to the Examiner.com article for each recommendation):

Recommendation #10: De-Gluten Your Kitchen
Recommendation #9: Equip Your Kitchen
Recommendation #8: Don’t Be Afraid to Contact the Company
Recommendation #7: Gather Information
Recommendation #6: Join Support Groups
Recommendation #5: Prepare, Prepare and Premix
Recommendation #4: Check Out Your Local Asian Store
Recommendation #3: Try All the Gluten Free Flours – and Then Try Them Again
Recommendation #2: Eat Naturally Gluten Free Foods
Recommendation #1: Learn to Read Ingredient Labels