22Jul

How to Meal Plan for a Very Limited Grain-free, Dairy-free and Egg-free Diet

I receive a lot of emails from people who have found my site and are looking for ideas for their very limited diet.  Some of these people are at a complete loss as to what to eat because their diet is so limited.  I received one of these emails from someone last week inquiring about a diet for her daughter.

Here was her list of foods that her daughter was told to avoid:

gluten (wheat, barley, oats, spelt, kamut, tricale, and all products containing gluten such as soy sauce, etc)
grain (includes rice, millet, teff, and other gluten-free grains)
dairy
egg
soy
corn
banana
kiwi

This is a similar list to many of the people who come to me.  There are definite variations and more limited diets like those without any meat or fish, legumes, nuts, all fruit, etc.  But I thought I’d start with this diet to give you some ideas on where to start.

So what do you do when you get a list like this?  My hope is that in this post, I can give you my process for starting to come up with some foods and recipes you can eat when you receive a long list of foods you should be avoiding, even temporarily.

I am also working on compiling my recipes into menu plans for different diets such as this one so that people can have a menu planner for their specific limited diet.  I am also going to start writing some blogs about how you can start to do this for yourself!

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08May

How to Eat an Artichoke

Globe artichokes - photo by Sarah

I talked with Diane Eblin today from The Whole Gang.  We had a great little chat and had some laughs about the discoveries we make in the kitchen.  We both agreed it takes a little adventure to delve into cooking some unknown or unusual foods.  But I think we would agree that this is where we have fun and discover new and delicious foods to enjoy.

This week at The Whole Gang for the Friday Foodie Fix, the food is artichokes.  This is giving me a great opportunity to get back into blogging, which if you haven’ noticed, has fallen by the wayside during the past couple of months during our move and transition to Frederick. Thanks Diane for the inspiration!

I will start by saying that artichokes are one of my favorite vegetables for a few reasons.  I love the taste of them, especially the hearts.  I love them on pizza, in salads, in pasta, in dips and other wonderful dishes.

But another reason I enjoy them is they take a long time to savor.  You eat each leaf, one at a time, hopefully with a yummy Hollandaise sauce, or just mayo if you like it.  It isn’t a vegetable you can prepare or even enjoy in a haste.  It almost beckons you to sit down, rest and enjoy each morsel of its tastiness.  I am lucky enough to have memories of enjoying artichokes at home with my family.  Other people I talk to, including Diane, didn’t have the experience as a child of learning how to cook this delicious vegetable or to enjoy one fresh.

But even if you’ve never tried cooking an artichoke, I will tell you right now, it is very easy!!!  Of course there are more complicated ways of cooking them, but if you’ve never done this before, just try steaming them.  Please see the recipe below for more instructions, plus a dairy-free Hollandaise sauce.

And lastly, an artichoke has a HEART and it also has the word ART in it – two of my favorite things!

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