Simple glutenfree and dairyfree meal ideas

Moses will be starting at a new dayhome in a couple of weeks. Given his food allergies / sensitivities, his dayhome provider wanted some ideas for meals.

His current list of allergies: tree nuts (Oct 2011 – he can now eat almonds! update here; we will slowly start to introduce other tree nuts over time, but in the meantime, we are still avoiding other tree nuts until we know for sure they are all safe), dairy, gluten, fish

Sensitivities: peanut (May 2011 – now eats organic peanut butter every day), soy (can tolerate in small quantities), eggs (recently downgraded to sensitivity from an allergy), turkey (Sept 2011), mangoes (May 2011), peas (Dec 2011), grapes (Sept 2011),  MSG, preservatives, artificial colours, artificial flavours, etc.

This is much, much, much less than what it once was (once was 40+ food allergies/sensitivities).  Yay, yay, yay!!

Generally, we try to feed him as much organic food as possible, which is very limited where we live, unfortunately. We try to buy local, organic chicken as much as possible, and we only buy local, organic lamb and beef directly from the farmer.

Breakfast:

• glutenfree oatmeal with blueberries / raspberries / strawberries /bananas and maple syrup
• hot brown rice cereal with fruit and maple syrup
• fruit shake (frozen blueberries, banana, hemp seeds, water, lettuce)
• another morning shake recipe here
• glutenfree, dairyfree, eggfree French toast
• glutenfree toast with olive oil and avocado
• grapefruit with drizzled with some maple syrup
• hemp hearts in apple juice with blueberries
• glutenfree granola cereal with hemp hearts, chia seeds and water or apple juice (instead of milk)
• GFCF eggfree pancakes
• Occasionally (around once a week or so), he can have organic peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwich (he likes it with bananas and we use his allergyfree bread, of course).  Peanut butter is a sensitivity, but not an allergy.  We were avoiding it for a few months, but recently have reintroduced it back with moderation. (Update – May 2011 — he can now have this every day)
• I try to hide 1 tsp of flax seed oil in whatever he’s having for breakfast.

Lunch/dinner:

• organic brown rice and chicken and veggie (grated carrot, corn, broccoli, avocado, mushrooms, cucumber, peppers [green, orange, red], zucchini, lettuce, tomato, etc.);
• glutenfree, eggfree, dairyfree brown rice bread chicken sandwich;
• brown rice or corn pasta with organic spaghetti sauce and ground chicken;
• chicken with mashed potatoes and veggies;
• chicken barbecued on the grill with organic ketchup instead of bbq sauce;
• barbecued veggies on the grill (e.g., peppers, mushrooms);
• easy brown rice with vegetables;
• sweet potato fries (cut up sweet potatoes and put it in the oven with oil, or check out this recipe);
• Bone broth — we use this to make chicken soup or squash risotto
• One of his favourite meals:  squash and chicken risotto (chicken, brown rice, chicken broth (saved from baking a chicken), butternut squash, Bragg’s sauce (a “healthy” soy sauce), some onion and garlic)
• His other favourite meal: homemade chicken soup (chicken, chicken broth, celery, carrots, brown rice, millet, quinoa, Bragg’s sauce, garlic, onion.  yummy!)
• quick and easy stirfry (tonight we had a stirfry with leftover chicken, leftover brown rice, avocado, orange peppers, mushrooms, garlic, onion and Bragg’s sauce. yummy!)
• Instead of chicken, he can also have lamb and organic beef with rice/potatoes. I normally bake his chicken, lamb and beef steaks in the oven in a covered pan with a little bit of water.
• veggie burger (we haven’t tried this recipe yet, but looks delicious!)
• dairyfree chicken tetrazzini (yummy!)
• GFCF mac and cheese (or in our case, just sprinkle nutritional yeast on the pasta, along with some pasta sauce).
• organic meatloaf muffins (yummy!)

Salads

• Carrot, beet and avocado salad

Fermented Foods:

• Importance of fermented foods here.
• Fermented salsa

Snacks:

• organic rice cake with apple butter
• organic apple sauce
• fruits (apples, bananas, oranges, berries, watermelon)
• plain potato chips (potatoes, oil, salt)
• peanut butter balls (if your child is allergic to peanut butter, you can use pea butter) — highly recommended!
• homemade apple juice popsicle; check out what this mama is putting in her homemade popsicles, and this mama makes popsicles with fruit (blood oranges).
• peanut butter Larabars (They only contain peanuts, dates and salt). You can make your own here:
• rice crackers (as long as there is no cross-contamination with his allergens)
• popcorn popped in an air popper with olive oil and a touch of sea salt
• raisins
• cranberries
• “ants on a log” – celery with peanut butter and raisin
• kale chips
• roasted quinoa (take quinoa and fry up in a pan with some canola or olive oil [we use canola oil for frying because I've read that olive oil breaks down at high temperatures], lightly salt with sea salt).  We used this as a snack when my son’s diet was very, very limited.
• Old Dutch Corn Twists (a “new to us” snack — a bit more variety than plain potato chips when we’re out and about)
• organic babyfood (homemade or store bought) — we generally don’t do this, but it’s an idea. Gave him organic prune babyfood when he was sick.
• on special occasions: organic lollipops (If you live in St. John’s, NL, you can get them at Food for Thought, Natural Health Shop on Stavanger and Winners)

Dessert:

• apple crisp
• apple juice “jello”
• glutenfree, dairyfree banana bread (one of our favourites)
• one bowl allergy-free muffins (we make this all the time, but use 50% GF oatmeal flour and 50% brown rice flour). Add raisins and it’s raisin muffins!
• baked banana
• vegan corn muffins (we found these a bit dry)
• dairyfree organic blueberry/raspberry sorbet (with no cross-contamination with potential allergens). We even found GFCF ice cream sorbet cones at Dominion.
• homemade easy-to-make mango sorbet
• healthy chocolate chia pudding (haven’t tried this yet, but looks yummy!)
• Glutino chocolate GF cake mix with egg replacer (yum, yum!)
• Glutenfree, eggfree, dairy free white cake recipe here. She also has recipes for allergy-free frostings.
• dairyfree icing recipe here (yummy!)
• in dessert recipes, 1 whole egg can be replaced with: 1TBSP Ground Flax & 3 TBSP water (whipped together)
• peanut butter chocolate pillows (haven’t made this yet, but looks delicious!)
• crunchy dark chocolate and peanut butter (haven’t made this yet, but looks delicious)
• frozen chocolate peanut butter banana bites (again, haven’t made this yet, but looks delicious!)
• brown rice pudding
• chocolate chia pudding (haven’t tried this yet, but looks delicious)

Beverages:

• water
• apple juice, orange juice, pineapple juice, cranberry juice
• homemade hemp milk (blend up a 1:5 ratio of hemp seeds to water). Recipe here.
• glutenfree oat milk
• green smoothie
• peanut butter bomb smoothie and peanut butter crunch bars. Recipes here.

Condiments:

• Instead of butter or margarine, we use olive oil or coconut oil (Update [January 2012] – we now use Earth Balance, a dairy-free “buttery” spread)

Eating out:

(Of course, always doublecheck with serving staff about potential sources of cross-contamination with allergens)

• Swiss Chalet Fries and Chicken (note: they fry the fries in oil where they also fry stuff with gluten, dairy and fish, but seems to be okay for Moses);
• Montana’s – Moses can eat their rotisserie chicken, fries and carrots sticks (basically the same as what he can eat at Swiss Chalet).  More expensive, but DH and I have a lot more variety to choose from than at Swiss Chalet.  Montana’s allergy information is here.
• Fries at New York Fries (note: no cross-contamination with any potential allergens);
• Jugo Juice or Booster Juice: smoothie made with banana, strawberries and apple juice
• Hava Java (in St. John’s): freshly squeezed orange juice or carrot juice
• convenience store: plain potato chips, apple juice, orange juice
• The Rocket — has organic lollipops that Moses can eat,  chips that Moses can eat, and a fruit salad (but we haven’t asked staff yet about potential sources of cross contamination).
• misc. restaurants: fruit salad

Of course, there are other foods that he can probably be eating, but he’s not a very adventurous eater and I’m not a very adventurous cook.  I’m learning though! Would love some additional ideas too!

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For more GFCF meal ideas and recipes:

• For more simple GFCF meal ideas, read Shannon’s post about what Gem eats at Autism Miracle in my Kitchen.
• Jaime at Keely’s Kitchen has great ideas for feeding her daughter, Keely, who has 35 food sensitivities. She’s currently following a Body Ecology diet, and was following the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD). Check out Jaime’s 2-week meal plan.
• Real Sustenance — delicous GFCF recipes
• GFCFetcF Kitchen Chemistry – diet that is free of gluten, dairy, soy, and a variety of other foods
• Tori’s GFCFSF Blog - GFCF and soy-free diet
• Whole Food Healing - a journey of dietary renovation to treat Autism and ADHD
• Shakti Yoga recipes (not all are GFCF, but some are)

GAPS / Paleo recipes

• Keely’s Kitchen’s GAPS / Paleo recipes