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!

Salmon and Rice: Elimintation Diet Meal

So this meal is really simple, but a great example of how quality ingredients really only need simple cooking and seasoning to turn into a noteworthy feast.

 Of course jasmine, basmati or brown rice are just dandy on their own, but a good medley is great to have on hand.  Mixing many types of rice it gives a dynamic texture and bursts of nutty flavor.  Follow the directions on packaging. In this case it was about 1 part rice to 2 parts water, and took about 45 minutes to cook (don't worry, for most of that you're not actually doing anything).

 The trick to great rice is using the recommended time as a benchmark but making sure that A. all the water gets evaporated (listen for bubbling and watch for steam) and B. the rice is taken off as soon as the water is gone. This usually means about five minutes where you really have to watch the pot. Oh, and make sure the pot has a vent, if not then leave a gap like in this picture. For more flavor use chicken bouillon instead of water in any rice, or with white varieties (jasmine, basmati) use a canned coconut milk instead of water.

 We get this fabulous package of frozen Salmon steaks from Costco that has individually wrapped pieces. So great to keep in your fridge and pop out for an easy meal. They thaw very fast in water, then just open them up season. 

Invest in good olive oil if you haven't already.  It will change your life. You may have to find an Italian market to really get some good stuff.  Either way, use the best olive oil you have on hand and brush some onto both sides of the salmon, then simply grind some salt and pepper onto both sides. Or you can season with a fish herb blend or dill or whatever you please. But really, a good salmon will be fine with just salt, pepper and olive oil.


Broccoli is another item that though plain can just sing when cooked right. Here I used fresh broccoli, steamed it with boiling water (with a simple insert that goes into any pot) covered for about 10 min or until very soft but not mushy - don't worry, it's hard to over-steam broccoli. When its done just sprinkle a touch of sea salt on top. I swear if you cook it this way it tastes like there's butter on it. I have no idea why.

 I heart my George Foreman grill, if only because it cooks salmon perfectly in 4 minutes. No flipping or anything required. Now that's easy salmon.

All this meal used was salmon, rice, broccoli, water, oil, salt and pepper. There's so much potential to dress this meal up using fresh herbs or sauces. But really, this is probably the easiest meal because I always have it on hand.  The salmon steaks are waiting in the freezer, the rice is in the cupboard (quinoa's great with this too), and most of the time I have broccoli kicking around when its in season but if not I usually have it my freezer as well. 


If you or others you're cooking for can have it, drizzle the whole plate with a bit of teriyaki sauce or throw some soya sauce on the rice. Taste it first though, you might be surprised how good it is with nothing!

Pie: Elimination Diet Dessert

Well I might as well kick this off with dessert! An elimination diet friendly dessert, that seems impossible but here's my best attempt so far. It's shown state is a pie-type thing, but the first time I made this mixture it was for cookies.  As cookies they were good, but a little flat.  I'm a big fan of poofy cookies, so the tart approach seemed logical to me.  Either way it tastes delish!

You'll need....

>Almond meal (or some type of flour substitute if you can't have almond)
>An oil you can have - I use Canola
>A banana - overripe is good
>Ground flax seed (if you don't have this buy some, you'll use it lots as an egg replacement)
>Baking soda
>Agave syrup (or sugar/honey if you can have it)
>100% fruit jam - I used raspberry
>Cream of tartar (don't worry if you don't have it)
>flavoring - I used allspice and vanilla

 First make your "egg", the directions will likely say 1 tbsp flax to 3 tbsp water, but I used 1 tbsp flax and 2 tbsp water to cut down on liquid.

 Mash your banana well with a fork. Add it to the flax mixture.

 Add the remaining ingredients.  Here's me pouring in some agave, note I'm not measuring it. I like sweet desserts so I added quite a bit, maybe the same amount as the banana/flax. If you want to start with a bit (1/4 cup) you can always add more to taste later - I did. Add a teaspoon baking soda and about 2 tbsp oil. Then a pinch of cream of tartar if you have it on hand. Add your spices, I added a couple shakes of ground allspice, and about 2 tsp of  vanilla. Now add in your almond flour, start with about a cup.

 This is the only moderately tricky part, you need a decent texture and good taste - so play.  Taste it first and see what you think, not very sweet? Add more agave.  How's the flavor, need more spice? Add almond flour until the mixture is pretty thick, it should sit on your fork like in this picture with only a slow run off.  If you had to add lots of flour check your flavor again to make sure the almond didn't take over.

Think of all the wonderful things you could experiment with as you taste it. I think next time I'll use allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg and add raisins! Coconut would go well too. Or pecans.

 Grease your pie dish with oil can eat. Pour in the batter. Bake at 350C for about 30 min. Check it at 20 in case your oven is hot. It may need up to maybe 40 min.

 It should be golden brown all over when done. Insert a toothpick in the center, it can be a tiny bit wet but shouldn't have any goo sticking to it. Take it out and let it cool.

Finally, smother the top with jam!  Cut and serve immediately, or keep it in the fridge.








There you have it! A gluten free, sugar free, soy free, everything else free, vegan dessert pie cake thingy. And it tastes good to the whole family - my son keeps begging for more!

Welcome!

If you're looking at this page I'm guessing you found it because you're already on an elimination diet and you're going crazy trying to find good food to make that doesn't involve a hundred crazy ingredients you can't find anywhere. This blog is an attempt to share my love of cooking... Ok, that's a lie. It's really more of an attempt to share my hate of bland food. There's plenty of good eats to be had even on this (crazy/stupid/annoying) diet.

You'll notice I don't give a lot of exact measurements, I think food is flexible - and recipes have to power to intimidate us. It sounds silly, but really, when you're making a new dish and it says one medium carrot you likely hum and haw over which carrot is the most medium before you purchase one. And if a recipe says to use one teaspoon of ground cayenne and you don't have any you may just run to the store, but really that paprika you have on your spice rack would do just fine. So I'm going to try and empower you a little more in the kitchen.

What is an Elimination Diet?

If you're reading this blog and wondering what on earth an elimination diet is, let me give you a brief overview. Many of us have "unexplainable" medical symptoms we just kind of live with because nothing is every really wrong. For me, it was that I was tired alllll the time and would catch every single cold/flu that I came near. I went to a private clinic with Doctors and Nurses that focus on natural healing instead of medicine, the most likely cause of my problems came down to the suspicion that I have a major food intolerance or allergy. Basically, every time I eat whatever that food is I'm accidentally causing my body to ignore whatever else it's working on (aka keeping me healthy and energized) because it has to fight this allergen again. The most common intolerance's are eggs, dairy and gluten. All of which I was eating everyday!

There are several different types of ingredients that different practitioners will recommend removing. At the very least you do eggs, dairy and gluten. But I figured since I was already changing most of my diet I might as well go all out. So for 21 days (to establish a new baseline of health) I cut out those three plus soy, corn, oranges, red meat, seafood, peanuts, alcohol, caffeine, and insulin spikers (all sugar, honey, maple syrup). After those 21 days I felt way better! The first week was a little rough - withdrawal headaches. But my energy and health are both a world apart from when I started. I've just begun adding foods back by continuing the diet but on every third day I add back one ingredient for just that day, then I monitor any symptoms over the next two days. Then on to the next potential allergen. So far I haven't had any major reactions, but my mom decided to do this with me and the first ingredient she wanted to add back, because she was missing them oh so much, was eggs. And guess what, she ate one for breakfast and instantly had a stomach ache and was sick all day.

So as annoying as the last month has been, I know it will be worth knowing exactly how certain foods effect me. There's only been a couple days where my husband pretty much had to hold me back! Haha, but really I'm not willing to risk losing all the hard work I've put into this because I just want one taste of that chocolate mouse, or because I don't feel like asking that waiter to make sure there's none of those ingredients in my food. In case you're curious, soy and corn are by far the sneakiest; soy oil masquerades as vegetable oil and corn starch/syrup are used in a ridiculous amount of things.

They don't make it easy on us, but is it ever eye opening to how many random ingredients go into food that should be simple. Hopefully this blog will help you cook some meals that make you forget you're on this crazy diet.