Total Elimination Diet Food Ideas

Well, it’s been …a while. Lots has happened in the last 5 years and right now I’m on a Top 12 total elimination diet for baby G. This means no:

• Gluten
• Dairy
• Eggs
• Soy
• Oats
• Rice
• Corn
• Peanuts
• Tree nuts
• Legumes
• Chicken
• Beef

I wanted to create a list of foods I’ve made/ found that work for this diet for future reference and maybe help other poor souls going through a similar experience. Typically I make lots and then eat leftovers for a while to minimize food prep time.

(You’ll have to pardon my phone photos of food – I haven’t brought out my camera for food photography in years 🙈)

Breakfast Ideas

• Buckwheat porridge
  • Mix in a ripe banana at the end so you don’t need to add sugar
• Allergy Awesomeness’ Pumpkin Muffins
  • Remove xanthan gum, use 2/3 amount of sugar, use whole 398mL can of pumpkin, use mixture of tapioca/ potato starch/ millet/ light buckwheat/ sorghum, no glaze
  • Doubles well
    • I made 12 muffins and poured the rest of the batter into an 8×8 baking pan for pumpkin cake. Tastes great with sunflower seed butter!

• Oh She Glows Buckwheat Banana Blueberry Pancakes
  • For Substitutions:
    • 1/2 c. Buckwheat groats is ~90-100 g, so use that much light buckwheat flour
    • Use sorghum flour instead of rice and tapioca starch instead of cornstarch
    • Use homemade hemp milk or light gum free coconut milk, adjust amount as required to reach desired consistency
    • I add 2 tbsp of olive oil if using hemp milk for heartier pancakes
  • Recipe doubles and triples well. Pancakes freeze nicely and can be reheated in your toaster.

Snack Ideas

• Crunchy Coconut Granola Clusters from the Oh She Glows App
  • Just like the ones from Costco! My husband has requested that I keep making these
  • Sub honey for the rice syrup
• Lexie’s Kitchen Nut Free Energy Bites
  • A yummy bite that doesn’t use something sweet as binding!
  • I have used hemp hearts instead of chia, didn’t toast the coconut and added water to compensate for my thick sunflower butter to activate the flax so they would actually stick together.

Dinner Ideas

• Ground Lamb and Turkey mix really well together
  • We’ve made meatballs and burgers from this:
    • Mix ~1/2c. Buckwheat flakes with water to make it thick oatmeal consistency in the bottom of a stand mixer
    • Add 1lb ground lamb, 1lb ground turkey, 1 tsp allspice, 1 tsp nutmeg and 1-2 tsp salt and beat together until well combined.
    • Shape as desired and bake until cooked through
• Lamb Stew and Dumplings
  • Brown ground lamb. Add cut up onion and mushrooms. Cook until browned. Add celery and carrots. Add parsley, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, little bit of turmeric and nutmeg (or use free from bouillon). Cover with water.
  • Meanwhile, mix together Biscuit dough (scroll down to the end of the post for recipe – use 1/3c. Each tapioca, potato starch, sorghum, buckwheat, 2/3c. Millet and no gum, use 1c. homemade hemp milk or light coconut milk and ~100g palm shortening. Sprinkling in some dried parsley is nice, too)
  • Scoop dumpling dough onto meat mixture. Cover and cook until dumplings are cooked through. Thicken sauce as required.

• Millet Flatbread, when cooked to crispy makes an excellent replacement for buns or toast
  • This Recipe turns out quite well using olive oil, but there are simpler recipes I haven’t tried yet
  • They are usually good with avocado
• Pork tenderloin coconut curry served over quinoa
• Turkey Spaghetti Sauce over GoGo Quinoa’s Super Grain pasta
• Leftover Kalua shredded pork shoulder mixed with sauteed onions, apples, parsnips, carrots and greens
• Stanpot – so free from smoked sausages boiled with potatoes and kale
• BBQ herbed turkey breast (salt, pepper, herbs de Provence/ poultry seasoning) with olive oil mashed potatoes
• Taco Salad (ground turkey/ pork with onions, mushrooms and peppers with homemade texmex seasoning, salad, salsa, green onions, homemade guacamole, cilantro, greens, free from pasta if desired)
• Allergy Awesomeness’ Korean Chicken Broccoli
  • Use turkey or pork instead of chicken, free from hot sauce and serve with quinoa

I hope these are helpful for some different ideas for Top 12 free food ideas! If you need more, check out Free to Feed and their cookbook!

Stay healthy and Enjoy!

SRC: Making Miracle’s Mushroom Sausage Ragu

For this month’s Secret Recipe Club, I was paired with Rebekah of Making Miracles. Rebekah is a surrogate mother (which is awesome!) and has two kids of her own. Unfortunately, her 17 year old son recently had a stroke and so I ask you to spare a moment to pray for his recovery! She focuses on making food that is “quick, easy and family friendly!”

Rebekah has tons of delicious recipes, many of which Mr. Bean asked me to make: BBQ Chicken Salad with Cornbread Croutons, Crockpot Shredded Beef, Party Beans, Gourmet Mushroom Risotto and Perfect Summer Sandwich.

She has a large selection of baked goods, but I was visiting Mr. Bean in Red Deer for the weekend, so I had no access to my usual baking and gluten free flour supplies. I chose her Mushroom Sausage Ragu and it did not disappoint! It was fairly simple and very delicious, making it a perfect dinner. We ended up making about double her original recipe, which made excellent left overs.

Mushroom Sausage Ragu

1 lb gluten free mild Italian sausages
2 tbsp. Olive oil
1 large onion, finely diced
4 c. Chopped fresh mushrooms
2 – 3 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 – 798 mL can of diced tomatoes, partially drained with juice reserved
3 tsp. Italian seasonings
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh parsley, finely chopped
16 oz. pasta (I used gluten free penne)

1. Remove sausages from skins, break into pieces and fry up until browned in a large skillet.
2. Remove from skillet into a paper towel lined bowl. Wipe out skillet.
3. Add oil to skillet and sauté onions and mushrooms until onions are soft and mushrooms are cooked through. Add garlic and sauté for a minute.
4. Add diced tomatoes, Italian seasonings and salt and pepper. Simmer until most liquid starts thickening up. Add more liquid if desired.
5. Meanwhile, cook pasta according to instructions.
6. Serve Ragu over pasta and sprinkle with chopped parsley.
7. Enjoy!

Please check out the rest of Group D’s recipes by clicking the link below!

Roasted Vegetable and Sausage Pasta

This is a dish that I enjoy making and eating frequently as it’s easy, healthy and makes great leftovers! (Anyone cooking for one knows how awesome leftovers are!) I especially love making this meal in the summer on my BBQ. Unfortunately, my BBQ ran out of gas mid roast, so I ended up frying the sausages in a pan and roasting the veggies in the oven. How’s that for year round versatility?

There are a lot of veggies on this – perfect for veggie lovers like myself – but feel free to use whatever combination you want! I recommend using the tomatoes and the zucchini as they provide most of the moisture for the pasta. I usually end up making the tomatoes and zucchini in one pan and the rest of the veggies on another since there are so many. If you like spice, feel free to roast a chopped spicy pepper along with the veggies.

Gluten, Dairy and Egg Free Roasted Vegetable and Sausage Pasta

6 Servings

12 oz Pasta
6 Large Sausages (Or 12 if smaller)
1 lb grape, cherry or other small tomatoes
2 small zucchinis, halved and sliced
1 lb mushrooms, washed and quartered
1 onion, chopped
1 pepper, diced
1 bunch of asparagus, ends broken off and cut into pieces
1 head of broccoli, cut into florets
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
Any other seasonings you desire

1. Preheat BBQ or oven to 450F. Coat a non-stick pan with olive oil.
2. Toss veggies in a few tbsps of olive oil until coated. Spread out on pan and sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
3. Roast veggies for ~30 minutes until the veggies are soft, the tomatoes have burst and there is liquid in the pan.
4. Meanwhile, cook the pasta and grill or fry the sausages, pronking them with a fork or knife to let the fat out.
5. Once the sausages are cooked, paper towel the grease off and slice.
6. You can either assemble the meal in your bowl/on your plate or put everything in the pasta pot and stir until the pasta is coated in the tomato juices. You can add a bit of oil if the pasta is too dry for your liking. Salt and pepper to taste.
7. Enjoy!

What’s one of your favourite go to meals?

SRC: K&K Test Kitchen’s Warm Potato and Green Bean Salad

For July’s Secret Recipe Club, I was paired with of Kelsey and Kim of K&K Test Kitchen. They are a mother-daughter duo who started off testing recipes they had collected and come across and sharing them on their blog, which then opened the door to much more experimenting the kitchen. Despite claiming that they aren’t gourmet chefs, they  cook meals for everyday, which focus on quality, using common ingredients and everything delicious.

Both of them have lots of wonderful recipes, including the tasty looking Raspberry and Apricot Crostata, Potato, Corn and Green Bean Salad with Chipotle Honey Vinagrette, Street Slaw (slaw made without mayo – my kind of thing!) and their family recipe for Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls. Ultimately, I ended up choosing their Warm Fingerling Potato and Green Bean Salad and it did not disappoint!

I did make a few changes.

• I didn’t have any shallots, so I sauteed up some white onion with garlic. I also added some green onions.
• We couldn’t find any fingerling potatoes, so I used baby yellow potatoes instead.
• I’m not a huge sauce person, so I only made half the sauce the recipe called for and didn’t use all of it and found it to be plenty saucy.
• It’s been quite hot, so I didn’t want to turn on the oven, so I cooked the potatoes on the BBQ.

I made it for dinner and served it with grilled pepper and chicken bratwurst from a local European Delicatessen. It was definitely a wonderful summery dinner!

I imagine you could also make it a meal by itself by adding some bacon or prosciutto and/or Parmesan cheese for some protein.

Have you tried any good summery salads or meals lately? Please Share!

Please check out the rest of Group D’s recipes below:

Canada Day Cook Out

Happy Belated Canada Day to you Canadians and Happy Fourth of July for all of you Americans! I hope that you enjoyed/will enjoy your respective holiday with friends, family and food! I know I did!

Mr. Bean and I were lucky enough to spend most of our long weekend out at my family’s cabin. We enjoyed good company, great food and excellent weather. The only thing that was too bad that the river was too high and dirty to go swimming in.

Recently, my parents added a “social fire pit,” and Mr. Bean has definitely enjoyed it – his favourite things lately are chopping wood, making fire, cooking food on the fire and drinking beer by the fire. Lucky for us, he was able to do this practically the whole weekend!

We decided to make ourselves a fancier dinner over the fire for Canada Day. On the menu – steak (for Mr. Bean) and chicken (for me) cooked over the fire in Mr. Bean’s grilling basket, cornbread muffins (made in the oven), salad and asparagus. If you don’t have a fire or don’t feel like using your oven, you can easily make the meat and the cornbread in your BBQ.

For dessert, we finished it off with s’mores (complete with gluten-free graham-like crackers!), which I forgot to take photos of. Probably for the better as my camera would be a sticky mess!

I hope this shows that a beautiful and delicious meal doesn’t have to be difficult and provides some inspiration for you 4th of July procrastinators or anyone desirous of a wonderful, easy summer meal. Enjoy!

What did you do this year for Canada Day or for the 4th of July?