The wheat & gluten, dairy free/organic diets on the cheap thread

rising_from_the_ashes

On a more positive note.... I made chicken & leek risotto last night and it was lovely.

I think the recipe should be GF but I'm not an expert on this and hopefully someone will be able to advise substitutes if not.

I use Kallo Just Bouillon stock cubes (both Gluten & Lactose free) - they do beef, chicken & veg ones.

Serves 4

1 Litre chicken stock
2 tablespoons Olive oil (which I think is GF but happy to be corrected)
Approx 350g chicken - chopped
2 leeks - tripped & sliced
Approx 250g mushrooms - chopped
Approx 250g frozen peas
350g Risotto rice


Make stock & keep warm in a pan
Heat olive oil in a separate pan, add leeks and gently fry for around 5 mins
Add the chicken and cook until "sealed" all over
Add the rice and a ladle of stock
Continue to cook for around 15 mins, gradually adding more stock as the previous ladle is almost absorbed
Add the frozen peas and mushrooms
Keep adding stock gradually
Cook until all the stock is nearly absorbed and the rice is tender (took about another 15 mins)
Serve....

If other family members don't need to have GF / Lactose free foods - parmesan can be grated over the top (I didn't have this and it was still lovely:).


Adapted from a recipe in an Asda magaxine

rej-c

FWIW, if you don't want to go the pricey Egg Replacer product route and prefer to keep your ingredients simple, soya flour can be used to replace whole eggs in lots of baking.

I've successfully used a heaped dessertspoonful, mixed with a little water to form a paste, in place of an egg when making batter for vegan Yorkshire puds/toad-in-the-hole.

As far as cakes go, I tend to use vegan recipes that don't need an egg equivalent, but soya flour should do the job if you're converting a traditional egg-including recipe.

I think chickpea flour can be used in a similar way as an egg sub, but have never tried it myself.

It's also worth keeping an eye on the Free From sections of bigger supermarkets - Mr S, particularly, often has reductions on something or other [recently 1/3 off some chocs, Parmesano/Cheddarese, sauces and ready-meal-type stuff]. I've also seen quite a bit of GF pasta [possibly Bob the Builder] with reduced 'sale' SELs over the past 2 weeks or so.

I count myself very lucky that, being vegan, the 'free from' bits of my diet are a choice I make; to those of you for whom it's a necessity, I wish you good luck, good bargains and good health.

misskool

adamantine wrote: »

on one hand you are quoting the NHS saying its important not to cut out dairy completely then on the next you say we dont need to eat dairy?! confused much?

the lactose in the original product before process is exactly the same. its the process that changes the enzymes. cooked/fermented is the same process - using heat to make the final product. they dont contain less lactose just lactose in a slightly different form.

Sorry, you're a bit confused here.

Lactose is made up of one molecule of galactose and one molecule of glucose (2 different types of sugars). Most people lack an enzyme called lactase to digest that specific sugar.

When lactose is digested, most people can digest the galactose and glucose.

I'm lactose intolerent, I can't drink a whole glass of milk but I can nibble hard cheeses as most of the lactose has already been digested (by fermentation) for me before I consume it. Butter is not a problem as it's mostly fat and the sugars are water soluble, thereby the process of making butter removes the lactose.

Also, something to watch out for those who are very sensitive to lactose is that many medicines are made with lactose to bind it together.

D&DD

My son follows a largely gluten free casein free diet although in recent years I have been more lax with it..
I don't know if some of you are aware that some goods for eg chips are sometimes rolled in flour to stop them sticking when frozen if you are planning to follow this diet you have to check all labels with a fine toothcomb as gluten and casein are often hidden in another form.I did tag a list on here somewhere which lists a lot of its different guises I'll see if I can dig it out
found it..http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=6752350&postcount=181

rising_from_the_ashes

misskool wrote: »

Also, something to watch out for those who are very sensitive to lactose is that many medicines are made with lactose to bind it together.

Yup, can vouch for that - my Crohn's medication has lactose in it ..... (although very small amount). I just have to put up with it as others aren't as effective as controlling the disease.

misskool

brenda50 wrote: »

Soy vegetable oils and sugar are all best avoided for health. Soy is bad for thyroid function. Sugar can be substituted by Xylitol or Stevia both of which are beneficial, sweeteners are very bad especially aspartame. Natural food is best and the least tampered with the better.

Just putting my view on the table.

Sugar isn't all that bad if you watch how much you eat. I would rather have small amounts of raw sugar (or processed cane sugar) than eat refined xylitol (a known laxative) as a substitute.

Soy always comes up but I eat a lot of soy products, tempeh and tofu as have many people in Asia as part of their staple diet. I also indulge in soy sauce for some of my cooking. Again, in moderation and as part of a balanced diet, there shouldn't really be a problem. As for thyroid function, this review showed that eating soy did not affect thyroid function.

daisiegg

Fascinated by all these people who can't eat diaries....I'm not surprised, they must be a nightmare, especially hard-back ones! :P

Hawthorn

mozzy10 wrote: »

Why would you want to eat something that tastes nothing like the original and is full of garbage like soya flour or artificial thickeners etc?

Because sometimes you just really crave a biscuit/pizza/pack of crisps/slice of toast.

For most people eating wheat/gluten products is a way of life. I found it extremely difficult to just suddenly stop. I was never a big eater of crisps/biscuits etc, but when I fancied it it was nice to be able to reach in the cupboard and grab a pack of prawn cocktail crisps, or a jammy dodger.
Now I can no longer do that, once that idea gets lodged in my head i can get very grumpy and yes, sometimes resentful. So, although the gluten free subs are not ideal, it beats sitting there scowling and obsessing over something you can't have

Anyway, I found a lot of what I found difficult in no longer being able to eat most processed foods, was the ability to say stuff it, I'll grab a hotdog for lunch, or hey I'm tired, let's have a chipshop for dinner, or a can of tomato soup and a sandwich.
Sometimes, the thought of having to cook everything from scratch wears me out.
Solution - make bulk, and freeze. Burgers, fishcakes, soups etc - I find it easier to avoid that 'gimme pizza/biscuit/crisps' thing if there is something better to hand that doesn't take a lot of work to prepare. Homemade convenience foods.....for the lazy person in all of us

brenda50

"I eat a lot of soy products, tempeh and tofu as have many people in Asia"

Asian diets contain small amounts of soy products. It is a misunderstanding that there is a large amount eaten.

There are many reports such as this one

http://www.naturalnews.com/022630.html

which show that soy is harmful especially in its genetically modified form which was of course not the form traditionally used in Asia.

As for sugar, it all depends on how sick one is whether ones system can deal with what is a highly refined and unnatural form of food and one which sends the blood sugar levels of ones body haywire.

Patchwork_Quilt

I find that nuts are a quick fix, especially salted cashews. In fact, it's very hard to resist them.

If you are fed up of alternating potatoes and rice, you could try quinoa. I quite like it and it's easy to cook. Buckwheat is similar, and is nothing to do with wheat. Look out for polenta, too, although most ready-made brands have wheat in them, so read the label.

I would be interested if anyone has a gf and vegan cornbread recipe in use.