Chicken Wings: Elminiation Diet Meal

Hot Wings!!!! My favorite food on the planet.  I eat these almost everyday (no joke) since I discovered that Franks Red Hot Sauce doesn't have sugar!  Who knew?  Not me. Now I put that Sh** on everything. Of course you can make these wings not hot too. But that would be boring ;)

 Heat oven to 375C. In a bowl mix equal parts canola oil and Franks, enough to cover however many wings you're making. Add some salt and pepper.
If you want breaded wings roll them now individually in a flour you can eat (I've used almond for a sweeter taste, all purpose blend or any other will do too).

 Put some tinfoil down on a baking sheet, not necessary but will save cleaning the pan.  Dump out wings and spread them out.
For breaded, oil the pan/foil before putting wings down. Once you've breaded and laid them out, brush the tops lightly with more oil - or spray them if you have an oil spray you're allowed to use.

Cook for 45 min - 1 hour, until crispy and cooked through.

 For a restaurant style taste mix more Franks with some agave (or alternate sweetener).  This will also add more heat, so if you prefer just a hint of spice skip this step.  If you don't want any hot at all then you can use a different sauce to toss in, try making your own if you can't find one that fits your diet. My all purpose dressing would do! Also, you could use flax seed/water mix instead of canola/franks as the sticky layer before breading.

 Toss the cooked wings in your new mixture. Make sure you don't use the same bowl the raw chicken was in, unless you washed it in between.

....And now I'm going to the store to get more raw chicken wings because even just making up this post is giving me nearly uncontrollable cravings for this deliciousness that is these!!

Cereal: Elimination Diet Breakfast

Ok, so this isn't really cooking, but non-gluten cereals tend to be bland and boring.  This combo, however, is awesome.  Pretty much all grocery stores now carry some version of a Chia and Hemp based cereal, and they usually have freeze dried apples or raisins in them too. Though you can mix them with water and they're pretty good, they're oh so much more cereal like with the touch of creamy sweetness from coconut milk beverage. Mmmm.

Pancakes: Elimination Diet Breakfast

I used to make pancakes almost daily, so it's been strange not having them for a month. I found a gluten free, sugar free pancake mix but its quite bland. So I decided I might as well just make my own.

> 1 cup all purpose flour (that you can eat, or use any other flour you can)
> 1 cup (give or take to preference) coconut milk or other milk
> 1 egg substitute, I use 1 tbsp flax and 3 tbsp water (mix first)
> 1 tsp baking soda
> dash of cream of tartar
> 2 tbsp canola oil or oil of choice

 Mix ingredients well in a bowl with a fork, work out clumps. It should be fairly running but not quite milky. If you find your first pancake to runny add more flour, if it's too thick add more milk. If you want it sweeter add 1 tbsp agave or sweetner, or try it with cinnamon.


 

 Oil and warm a pan, preferably non-stick, on medium heat. When pan is hot pour on some batter to desired size.  If you want to make cinnamon apple pancakes, press sliced slivers into the batter in a clock-like pattern now. When whole pancake has permanent bubble holes (like in photo) it's ready to flip.

 Viola! Gluten free, sugar free, dairy free, baking powder (corn) free, egg free PANCAKES! Top with 100% fruit syrup or jam.

Mochi Waffles: Elimination Diet Breakfast

So I had heard about this mochi stuff and thought I'd give it a try. It's a rice...errr...slab like thingy you can get in the freezer or fridge section of some grocery stores (the first organic market I tried had three flavors, I got cinnamon raisin).  I wanted it because I'm a big waffle fan and I heard you can just throw a piece in a waffle iron and voila. For syrup substitute I used Summerland Sweets *no sugar added* strawberry syrup, which should be in most grocery stores.

 For my first attempt I simply cut/broke the slab piece into four, put two pieces into the iron and the other two I wrapped and put back into the fridge for later.

 So.... that didn't so much work. After a few minutes it was obvious this wasn't going to cook properly. I took them off and cut them into four strips each. This meant I could actually lock the iron shut too, which I couldn't do before. I think I'll repeat this pattern again though because it was so much easier to cut the warm mochi, so accidentally a great idea.

And look at that! Waffles from nowhere. Kind of.

They look great, don't they.  And now you're wondering how the taste.  Well... They have a very appetizing crisp on the outside. The inside is very very chewy. It's an odd texture for waffles, but actually tasted ok.  Though I wouldn't eat them without a tonne of syrup.  Also, once they start to cool they get even chewier, not good. So cook one at a time, or speed eat.

Lamb and Potatoes: Elimination Diet Meal

While I'm not allowed to have pork or beef, for some reason lamb is categorized with poultry and fish instead of red meat. So if your rules are the same and you're craving red meat this is as close as you're gonna get!

Roasted potatoes are quite easy.  Preheat the oven to 350C. Toss baby potatoes in a bowl with olive oil, salt and pepper. If you're not sure how much salt and pepper to add err on the side of less because you can always add more on your plate. You can also use dried herbs of any variety here, but because the lamb will have a lot of herbs on it I opted for less.

I also had a yellow onion on hand so I chopped it up, tossed it in the olive oil mix left at the bottom of the bowl and threw it on the cookie sheet with the potatoes. They caramelize beautifully and taste even to onion haters. Bake for an hour. If you want to cut down the cook time turn the oven up to 400C and bake for 45 min. When they're done you'll be able to poke a fork into one with no internal resistance - or try one.

I used lamb loin chops. Again, flavoring options are endless.  The herbs de provence blend is a good choice here, which is basil, thyme and rosemary with a bit of savory, tarragon, lavender, and fennel. I didn't have lavender or tarragon on hand so I omitted them, and I added salt and pepper. Simply brush/rub lamb with olive oil, then sprinkle on herb mix (or each individually) and pat into the meat. Do this to both sides.

Heat an oiled pan over med-high heat. Add seasoned lamb. Cook for 4-5 min on one side then flip, cook for another 4-5 min and they should be done to medium rare. Cook more or less for your preference.





Plate and serve! I added some of my all purpose dressing and a lime slice for squeezing over the meat. Yummers.

All Purpose Dressing: Elimination Diet Sauce

 

I've made a salad dressing that I can take with me to restaurants, I know it seems strange at first but I haven't come across a single restaurant that has a dressing I can eat as most contain sugar if not something else on the list.  After a month of having oil and vinegar everywhere I went I decided to make my own dressing portable by using a small camping liquid bottle. 

The mixture is 1/3 Olive Oil, 1/3 Balsamic Vinegar, then fill the rest with a 50/50 split of mustard and agave.  I actually used a little more mustard and a little less agave, but you can mix to taste. This sauce is not just good on salad, I also use it on chicken, fish, potatoes, or anything else that fits my fancy.

Coconut Balls: Elimination Diet Dessert

These are super easy and super yummy.  All you do is...
> take crushed macadamia nuts (I had whole so I put them in a freezer bag and crushed them myself with a hammer)
> put in an equal amount of unsweetened coconut flakes
> add agave syrup (or honey if you can have it) and a bit of coconut oil (or you can use almond butter or the like if you have it on hand).
If you start with about one cup each macadamia and coconut, I'd add about 1/3 cup agave and a tablespoon of coconut oil/butter, but taste it and see what you think.

Mix it up well with your hands, try squeezing a bit of the mix into a ball. If it sticks together your mix is good, if not add more agave and oil/butter. If your mix is dripping wet and more dry ingredients. Make all the batter into small balls, eat right away of store in the fridge and enjoy later. They totally satisfy my cravings for white chocolate!