Gluten and Egg Free - Help Me!

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Everydaypaleo.com or Mark Sisson's primal blueprint are good.

Corn flakes? :)

Most of the prepared gluten free foods are crazy expensive. Brush off your measuring cups.

Corn tortillas tend to be gluten free but I am not sure about eggs.

Hi,

A few years ago, my daughter was diagnosed with wheat, egg and peanut allergies. (Note--she had a wheat allergy, not a gluten sensitivity, so we didn't have to worry about other grains and cross-contamination as much, so some of our alternatives may not work as well for you.) She started having reactions when we first introduced new foods, so I didn't bother with a lot of specialty foods. She didn't know the difference. It won't be horrible once you're used to reading labels. Here are a few ideas from what I did.

-Check out the Asian foods aisle. You can find rice-based crackers and noodles there. The texture of the noodles is pretty gummy in comparison to wheat noodles, but they're more cost effective than specialty allergy-friendly ones.

--Try using fresh veggies in place of bread products. Put pizza toppings or a hamburger on top of a portabello mushroom cap instead of crust or a bun.

--Slice zucchini into thin ribbons and sautee until they're soft but not mushy. Top with your favorite pasta sauce. I made a yummy alfredo from margarine, cream cheese and parmesan cheese. Send me a message if you want the recipe.

--You can make cream-based sauces and gravy using corn starch as a thickener instead of flour. Milk + cornstarch until thick + cheese = a decent cheesy sauce to put on veggies or safe noodles.

--Yogurt for breakfast! I put frozen fruit in the blender and added plain yogurt (stirred in for a spoon-friendly texture, or blended for drinkable).

--Rice chex are great for dipping in nut or seed butter, and they're GF now. Also, I noticed that many flavors of Chex cereal are GF now, too. We also used Kix for a snack food or to stir into yogurt for crunchies.

--Try making cornmeal mush (polenta). There should be a recipe on the back of the cornmeal container. Eat hot like oatmeal or spread in a pan and let cool. It becomes more solid, and you can slice it. Then, when you want to eat, pan fry it. For breakfast, top with syrup or honey. For lunch, coat in parmesan cheese.

--Cook large batches of breakfast meat on the weekends and eat leftovers during the week.

--Use corn tortillas for sandwich wraps. Or use large lettuce leaves.

--Mayonnaise alternative: mix a brick of cream cheese with 1/4-1/2 cup of sour cream. Add herbs like ranch or Italian dressing mix (not sure if they're GF, though) to season. I actually like it better than mayo now.

--To bind ground meat for meatballs, meatloaf or burgers, add mashed potato flakes or crushed oatmeal instead of bread crumbs and egg.

--Take-along snacks: fruit leather (I find them reasonably priced at Costco.), string cheese, rice cakes (some flavors of Quakes are OK, others are not, read your labels.)

--Check out Ener-G company: http://www.ener-g.com/ for allergy-friendly products. It's a Seattle-based company, and several of the Top/Haggen and QFC stores in the Seattle area carry some of their products. We used the tapioca and rice breads occasionally. Their texture is more crumbly than regular bread, but the flavor isn't bad when it's toasted. It must be stored in the fridge or freezer, because it doesn't have a very long shelf life. I still use their egg replacer for baking, and it works pretty well.

--Eating out...Red Robin has a great service for allergens in their food. Request an allergy menu from the server, and they can print a specialty one for you. It will not only give ingredients for each item, but modifications for ordering to make foods safe. For example, a sandwich may contain egg, but there will be a note that it's safe when ordered without mayo. It takes care of a lot of guesswork. Also, Asian and Mexican restaurants tend to have menu items that are naturally allergen free.

Best wishes!

Hi ~ yummly.com is a good website that allows you to eliminate whatever ingredients you need to and foodallergy.org is another good source of information. I buy Van's waffles that are dairy, egg & gluten free. Kellogg's rice krispies has a gluten free now which could be used as a breading (and it's cheaper than buying premade breadcrumbs) :0) for your chicken, pork chops or meatloaf. As an egg substitute you can use applesauce or banana for baking or 1 1/2 tbsp oil + 1 1/2 tbsp water + 1 tsp baking powder = egg. I used to mix it up and add it as the egg, but now I just add the wet to the wet ingredients and add dry with the dry ingredients. HTH :0)

Elanas Pantry http://www.elanaspantry.com/
http://www.livingwithout.com/topics/recipes.html
http://www.nourishingmeals.com/
http://glutenfreegirl.com/

I buy gluten free oatmeal from Bob's Red Mill in 25 pound bags and we have oatmeal a lot for breakfast and I also make granola. My son loves it by itself or with yogurt.
I make pancakes using this ratio 4 ounce of a gluten free flour, 2 oz of a gluten free flour and 2 oz of potato starch. My main flour the 4 oz is sorghum and then I add whatever flour I feel like, millet, quinoa, teff etc. 1/2 tsp salt, 2 tsp baking powder, 2 tbsp brown sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ginger, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 cup grape seed oil or oil of your choice, 1 cup coconut milk, (I like to use So Delicious plain coconut creamer for this) I also use eggs, but maybe you could replace them with banana's or applesauce or flax?

We do lots of soups for lunch. My son loves meat and rice. We are working on the veggie part. I also make green smoothies. The base is Kale or spinach with water and then I add banana or avocado and frozen fruit to make it a sweet smoothie. That is one way I get veggies in my kiddo. I experiment a lot with the smoothies, carrots, celery, broccoli,(although he loves broccoli).

We have also done things like gluten free pepperoni and cheese sticks with a fruit or veggie.

We use either rudi's or udiis' gluten free bread and I am not sure if they use eggs or not. I do think the paleo bread on elana's site would be good for sandwhiches.

For pasta we use Ancient Harvest Quinoa Pasta. I am not sure if it is egg free, but we really like it.

Welcome to my world!!! These are my go to websites for recipes:

http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/
http://myaspergersgirl.blogspot.com/
http://www.nourishingmeals.com/
http://www.cybelepascal.com/
http://glutenfreemommy.com/

I'm glad you already know how to get around the egg thing, I think when I went off on this journey that was the most intimidating but now it's no big deal at all. As far as breads, my favorite is Bob's Red Mill Wonderful Homemade Bread Mix. It has a recipe for the oven or if you own a bread maker with a gluten free setting it has a recipe for that too. To get around the egg in that mix, I use the Knox gelatin trick and use the full cup (if you don't know that trick, let me know). I also hear Pamela's brand bread mix is tasty too. I invested in a Cuisinart brand bread maker that has a GF setting and it has been such a time and sanity saver!!

There are GFEF cereals on the market my kid likes. I've even found them at wal-mart (EnviroKidz is the brand name). Also, as far as lunches, this is a list of things I include for my child (just make sure you invest in a couple of food Thermos containers).

Homemade Chicken Nuggets
Homemade Meat Balls
PBJ with homemade bread
Homemade tortilla wraps (usually turkey)
Turkey bacon
Left over pot roast and mashed potatoes
Knox gelatin squares
Yogurt and various nuts/seeds
Left over hamburger patties
Left over pasta dishes
Left over Rice dishes
Left over Casseroles

Hope this helps!!

If you are looking for recioes, go to http://www.cybelepascal.com. When I went gluten/egg/dairy free over 2 years ago, I bought a ton of cookbooks, but Cybele's are the only ones I use. Her recipes taste as good or better than the real thing, and my non-food allergic friends love them as well. Her cookies are in high demand among my circle of skeptical foodie friends.:)

You will have to pay more for some groceries, but the money you save in medical expenses is so worth it!

Get used to reading labels, and focus on foods you Can eat, instead of trying to substitute everything for gluten-free. This lifestyle is much easier if you convert the entire family, that way your home is a safe zone where nothing is off-limits. You can do this, and you wil be so glad you did!

My friend purchases many things from www.cherrybrookkitchen.com a lot. Her children have many allergies, so she has found their products to be allergy-friendly, delicious and easy on her budget. Do you have a Trader Joe's near you? It is a gourmet market, but I know many people find lots of gluten and egg-free products there that are not outrageously priced like other gourmet markets can be.
I would really try to get your family to eat lots of fruits and vegetables (if they aren't allergic) to balance out the starchy foods listed above.
HTH,
A.

I like Ener-G's light tapioca loaf, because it's cheaper than the rest of the gluten free bread. I still toast it before making a sandwich, but I do like it and my CD toddler loves it with peanut butter (toasted, of course.)

Breakfast for her (because she is strictly gluten free and so am I for nursing) is a gluten free cereal...Honey Nut Chex or Gluten Free Rice Krispies (made with brown rice, and it tastes like it, but she loves it) or peanut butter toast and fresh fruit, or yogurt and a banana, etc.

Lunches...I buy Annie's gluten free mac and cheese for her occasionally, but it's usually tuna salad, GF Applegate Farms organic chicken nuggets, or PB toast (if not for breakfast), fruits and veggies, cheese. For lunch almost EVERY DAY I have a sandwich...the toasted tapioca bread with Hormel's Natural Choice (gf) lunch meat, sliced tomatoes, and mayo. Weight Watchers "Smart Ones" makes a lemon herb chicken piccata that's gluten free and it actually tastes very good. Amy's organic TV dinners are good, especially the cheese enchilada, but it's expensive.

Oatmeal is not gluten free, btw, unless you buy it expensive and certified gluten free. It doesn't have gluten itself, per se, but the risk of contamination is really high.

Side note...CornFlakes are not gluten free.

Udi's makes the best gluten free bread and bagels. They also have good buns. Udi's also makes cookies that are soft and good.
Vans and Nature's path make yummy waffles (plain, blueberry and apple cinnamon.)
Glutino makes good pretzels (which are fun to dip in melted chocolate for a treat)
Betty Crocker makes gluten free box mix for brownies, cake and cookies ... all are really good (but you have to add eggs so I am not sure if that will work)

Hope this helps
We have been GF for almost 4 years (our 6 yr old has celiacs disease) so please let me know if you have questions. (____@____.com)

K.