ELIMINATION DIET I HATE YOU

Have you ever had to go on the elimination diet? You are very lucky if you never have to. BUT if you have constant stomach pain, you should probably consider trying out this diet. It seems to have helped me at least a LITTLE bit so far :). 3 weeks of very specific eating... Then you slowly add things in and assess for pains and symptoms of discomfort. Anyway, it is an incredibly difficult diet, so I thought I would share some recipes you can do and some tips of food to eat for a bit of variety in your diet... :)
Foods you CAN eat:

• chicken, turkey, lamb, and cold water fishes 
• rice, soy, and nut milks 
• all legumes (beans, lentils) 
• all vegetables except corn and tomatoes
• all fresh or juiced fruits except strawberries and citrus fruits
• rice, buckwheat, millet, quinoa
• breads/pastas/cereals: rice, quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat, teff, millet, soy 
• clear, vegetable-based soups
• drinks: fresh or unsweetened fruit/vegetable juices, herbal teas, filtered/spring water
• fats/oils: cold/expeller pressed, unrefined light-shielded canola, flax, olive refined oils, salad dressings, pumpkin, sesame, and walnut oils
• nuts/seeds: almonds, cashews, pecans, flax, pumpkin, sesame, sunflower seeds,
• sweeteners: brown rice syrup, fruit sweeteners 

Foods you CAN'T eat:

• red meat, processed meats, eggs and egg substitutes
• dairy: milk, cheese, ice cream, yogurt
• creamed or processed vegetables
• strawberries and citrus fruits
• starches: gluten, potato, corn products
• breads/pasta/cereal: wheat, spelt, kamut, rye, barley
• canned or creamed soups
• margarine, shortening, butter, and spreads
• peanuts, pistachios, peanut butter
• brown sugar, honey, fructose, molasses, corn syrup

So basically buy a lot of vegetables, fruit, and rice. Things we've added to our diet to make up for some gaps in variety and deliciousness:

• almond butter
• coconut milk
• sweet potatoes
• V8 fusion
• rice flour pasta
• oats
• nuts: almonds, cashews, pecans
• rice crackers
• rice cakes
• avacados
• quinoa (it's actually quite delectable)
• lots and lots of salad - buy several different oil-based dressings

Anyway, for most of our meals we have simply adapted recipes that we already have. Some recipes haven't even needed to be adapted, just the toppings have been left out. Anyway, here are some recipes that we've been able to do and the changes invoked. :) Good luck!

1. White Chicken Chili - Just don't add the cheese at the end.
2. Curried Squash Soup -Leave out the butter. Don't add sour cream as a topping-just the cilantro is enough!
3. Dilly Veggie Pasta Salad - Use pasta made with rice flour and leave out the tomatoes and cheese. Add other vegetables such as cucumbers for more variety. Add apple cider vinegar instead of lemon juice in the dressing. :)
4. Sweet Potato Fries - no changes!
5. Roasted Veggies - Just leave off the Parm.
6. Breakfast Shake - Coconut milk, oats, almond butter, 2 ice cubes, coconut flakes, half a frozen banana
7. Oatmeal - use coconut milk instead of dairy milk. Add dried cranberries.
8. Beans and Rice - Leave out meat. Leave tomatoes out of salad.
9. Italian Wedding Soup - Use chicken instead of meatballs and rice instead of pasta.
10. Hawaiian Haystacks - Leave out tomatoes, chow mein noodles, and cheese as toppings. Add other vegetables if desired. Leave out flour and milk in gravy. Add some almond milk to make it more of a sauce.

Things I miss the most: DAIRY, WHEAT, sugar, potatoes, and tomatoes... Man. Those alone make up most of the foods I ate pre-elimination diet. Seriously. Every time we try to find something I can eat these are the main food products that make it impossible. AHHHHHH. Only one more week. Then I can start adding things back in... And stop dreaming of ice cream and cheese every night...

 

Tip #2

Do you ever see a recipe and think, "that looks really good, but we don't have everything to make it..?". Well, this post is for you! First off, this used to happen to us all the time! I think we have been better lately with planning our meals for the next two weeks. Makes it a lot easier to have all the ingredients we need for the meal. But it definitely still happens.
So what do you do? You get creative!
Find a substitute for what you are missing, this does take some practice, but most ingredients can be changed without changing your meal too much. Plus its one of the best ways to learn how different flavors and textures combine!
So, now some examples and ideas. One of the first things you can do is google a substitute, a lot of people post lots of ideas. Second, see if you can think of something you have that can mimmick the characteristics of your missing ingredient, for example substituting pine nuts for waterchestnuts in a lettuce wrap recipe to give it a good crunch, or using oregano in place of marjoram to give it a similar herby flavor. Now, remember, the original ingredient will still probably give you the best results, and you may have a few food disasters - so don't expirement when you have company coming over.
The most important thing though is to learn from your mistakes, if it didn't turn ask yourself why. Try something else and figure out what ingredients you like to keep on hand. Some of our staples are butter, garlic and onions, they do a lot for almost any meal. Don't be afraid of new things and keep track of changes you make that turn out tasty, that's kind of how this blog started!

Cooking Tip 1

So, just by introduction, I am by no means an expert at this stuff. But I love to cook and experiment. I will be posting tips I've found helpful.
Tip #1:
This is a personal pet peeve, cross-contamination...
I don't know how many times I've seen people cooking and cross-contaminating their food, but it's a lot. There is not a better way to ruin your meal! So here are tips to avoid cross-contamination.

1.  Wash your hands! 
2.  Have a designated cutting board for meats, and one for everything else. This is one of the simplest ways to keep you and your loved ones safe from food poisoning. I like to use a glass cutting board for meats because it is easy to clean, and doesn't get grooves where bacteria can grow. 
3.  Wash your hands! 
4.  Prepare meats separately from the rest of dinner.  If you are going to prepare something else on the same surface wash and sanitize it first (bleach water, or organic sanitizers with essential oils, we like method brand cleaners).
5.   Wash your hands! 
6.   Don't put your cooked meat back on the dish you had it on when it was raw. Gross! 
7.  Wash your hands! 
8.  Don't use the utensil you cooked the raw meat with to do anything else, without sanitizing it first. 
9.  Wash your hands! 
10.  Sanitize everything you used while preparing your raw meats. 
11.  Wash your hands! 
12.  Common sense, if it had anything to do with the raw meat and wasn't cooked or sanitized, don't let it near anything you are going to eat, or will use to eat! And finally... 
13. Wash your hands! This is the number one way to prevent food contamination, please wash your hands thoroughly before cooking and frequently while handling raw meat! 

Seriously, thousands of people die every year from food poisoning, and those that don't die from it can be pretty miserable for a day or two. Only you can prevent cross-contamination!

Does Anybody Else Struggle with This?

How many teaspoons are in a Tablespoon? How many Tablespoons are in a 1/4 c? 1/2 c? How about a whole cup? How many ounces are in a cup for that matter? I am always trying to remember these stupid conversions but I never can when it matters. So how about a handy dandy little chart? I'd like that.

1 tablespoon (tbsp) =	3 teaspoons (tsp)
1/16 cup (c) =	1 tablespoon
1/8 cup =	2 tablespoons
1/6 cup =	2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons
1/4 cup =	4 tablespoons
1/3 cup =	5 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon
3/8 cup =	6 tablespoons
1/2 cup =	8 tablespoons
2/3 cup =	10 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons
3/4 cup =	12 tablespoons
1 cup =	48 teaspoons
1 cup=	16 tablespoons
8 fluid ounces (fl oz) =	1 cup
1 pint (pt) =	2 cups
1 quart (qt) =	2 pints
4 cups =	1 quart
1 gallon (gal) =	4 quarts
16 ounces (oz) =	1 pound (lb)