Dinner ideas for a really restricted diet

[mommaklo]

I know there are a million of these, but if anyone has ideas, I would greatly appreciate them. Im in a rut and sort of depressed by it all. I didnt think my emotions were so connected to food, but it is alot harder than I thought it would be mentally to give up so much just to breast feed my son. He cant have wheat, eggs, dairy, soy, nuts, chocolate, shrimp, or corn. I am not a big seafood fan....clams, oysters, *shudder*. Also we are waiting on a half of a cow to be butchered in feb, and my dh doesnt want me to buy conventional ground beef, and organic is really expensive, tho we might have a friend trade us for some soon. There are so many things I miss, but Im getting burned out of the meat, potatoes, and veggies, type dinner. Any other ideas, like actual recipes you use for dinner that are free of these things? I guess saying "throwing quinoa, peppers, etc together" only gets me so far, as some experiments Ive done have turned out awful based off these kind of recommendations. Not to be picky. Im not a bad cook, guess I just dont have much of an imagination, which is why Im asking in the first place I guess. Any help would be wonderful.

[mrforbes]

It's so hard to come up w/ideas! DS can't eat all the above for your DS plus some others so I sympathize.

You can stuff squash and/or tomatoes w/quinoa, broth, mushrooms etc Also have you tried Daiya cheese? It's dairy, soy free etc...You could do a ratouille w/gluten free pasta (also spaghetti and lasgana w/o wheat, dairy or soy -- both favs of DS and DH) Also we do an allergy friendly pizza that is popular. Roast chicken is an easy dinner, chicken w/rice soup, a chickpea/winter veg stew, butternut squash soup w/coconut milk. I have found wheat/gluten free bread crumbs and made crunchy skin chicken w/baked potatoes and a veggie side; you could also use the crumbs w/eggplant and make kind of crunchy skin eggplant sticks (DH was a little dubious on this one but hey, it's hard to come up w/ideas)

HTH.

[sosurreal09]

sweetie i have so been there! i had your's plus quite a few more actually!

like PP said stuff everything lol

i did alot of baking.

2 cups rice flour

1 cup sugar

a pinch of baking soda

1/2 cup EVOO

2 egg replacements (flax seeds ground i tbs-3tbs water mixed 5 mins ahead of time)

add fruit or seasoning!

that was for breads and muffins you can really switch it up alot! add 1tsp of blackstrap molasses to add some great nutrients and even switch 1 cup rice flour for 1 cup chickpea flour for added protein

i would always make extra dinner and eat that for lunch.

one of my fave quick and easy recipes is:

3 chicken thighs boneless and skinless cut into 1/2 in cubes

2 cups rice (cook to directions)

2 packets of sazon (the orange kind)

pan fry the chicken for about 10 mins add cooked rice and seasoning and just stir!

another great recipe for a hearty healthy stew

1lb kielbasa (the REAL Polish kind lol or at least close) should only be pork and spices sometimes has beef in it too

5 red potatoes

2 cups Kale

2 cups green cabbage (or red if you like it YUM)

1 can cannelli beans drained  (or dried)

chop it all up and throw it in the crock pot with water covering it add a little marijam (sp) and some salt pepper and let it cook as long as you like! or throw it on the stove in a pot for about 1 hr

just a tip so delicious coconut creamer and milk is awesome! i use that for everything!

earths balance soy free "butter" is amazing as well.

got to run baby is whining i will try and think of more for you! hang in there!

[mommaklo]

 

just a tip so delicious coconut creamer and milk is awesome! i use that for everything!

earths balance soy free "butter" is amazing as well.

 I have recently discovered both of these, wahoo! they have saved me. Where do you buy them? Having a hard time finding them in my neck of the woods, have to drive 45 min for the creamer....almost, but not worth it. My co op is small but carries some things. Not all.

Thanks for the ideas. I have got to do more with squash. Dh and I both love it. Also, what is sazon? Where do I buy?

[kjbrown92]

Daiya cheese has corn in it.

If you go to the resources sticky there's a recipes thread that has lots of ideas.

wheat, eggs, dairy, soy, nuts, chocolate, shrimp, or corn free.

okay, we've been gluten, dairy, soy, corn free for 2.5 years. DS hasn't had eggs for that long, and I've gone without chocolate for about a year of that. We can do some nuts though, and can do shrimp but not very often.

Chicken mirabella, chicken marsala

lasagna (rice noodles, frozen spinach, Vegan rice mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce, ground beef or mushrooms in there)

tonight we had fried potatoes and cubed pork chops, with a little onion. It was either fried in bacon grease or olive oil.

I've done macaroni & cheese with the Vegan Rice cheddar cheese and rice noodles that is really good (using rice milk)

I've made scalloped potatoes with a white sauce using rice milk and rice or sorghum flour

chili

baked beans

buckwheat waffles

baked squash

what kind of ideas do you want - snacks? meals?

[sosurreal09]

sazon is a seasoning you should be able to get it anywhere. they have some organic ones but i just buy the goya kind...it comes in packets.

i get my groceries at whole foods...not ideal but its all we really have here and its a 20 min drive. i but like 6 creamers at once since they dont expire quickly.

[lil_miss_understood]

Isn't EB soy free a corn based product?

[mommaklo]

mostly dinners, I eat whatever for bfast and lunch...

Thanks for all the ideas!

[sosurreal09]

Originally Posted by lil_miss_understood 

Isn't EB soy free a corn based product?

it has some kind of corn product in it but i dont think its corn based idk DD never had a reaction to it, but i did forget that!

[kjbrown92]

We can't have Earth Balance but I can't remember why so it must have something bad in it. We use palm shortening as a "butter" and shortening sub for baking. Check the Goya Sazon because we can't use that anymore either for some reason.

[sosurreal09]

i looked it up and it has less than 2% natural flavor derived from corn

[Mom2AandL]

I am BFing and am off dairy, soy, eggs, wheat, nuts and fish.  I also don't eat chocolate or anything gassy.

I've done a mini turkey dinner.  Buy an already cooked turkey from the market, make mashed potatoes with earth's balance butter (dairy and soy free) and rice milk.  If you have a Henry's or Sprouts Market near you, they carry Earth's Balance. Cranberry sauce and a vegi.

Shepard's Pie - I used ground turkey, mushrooms, mixed frozen vegi, dried seasoning, chicken broth.  Make mashed potatoes. Put meat mixture in bottom of casserole dish, top with potatoes and bake.

Turkey Tacos - Since you can't have corn, you could use a lettuce leaf as your wrap.  Add avacado, olives, tomato, and meat.

Soup is always easy.  I make a huge pot and eat it for lunch and dinner until it's gone.  I usually make chicken, vegi, brown rice soup.  I put tons of different vegi's - carrots, celery, potato, onion, zucchini, yellow squash.  Season well with dried seasoning.

I so feel your pain.  Hang in there!

[Italiamom]

This book might be helpful: http://www.amazon.com/Whole-Foods-Allergy-Cookbook-Homestyle/dp/1890612456/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

It's not corn free, but it is free of all of the other no nos you listed.  And the vast majority of the recipes don't have corn.  Might be worth a try for some inspiration.  I know that I like having it around, even just to try and craft ideas.

[saralm]

There are also lots of Asian (Chinese, Thai, Indian...) recipes that will work well within your restrictions.  Try rice noodles for pad thai (they are significantly cheaper if you can get to an Asian specialty store), coconut based curries and soups, all kinds of dals which are really quick to cook, chinese stir fries (you can do a clear sauce based on chicken stock, or mushroom broth and a little corn starch, if you aren't doing soy) or you can use the same ingredients to make a thai or vietnamese dish by replacing soy sauce with fish sauce (I know it smells gross but it can really make a finished dish delicious).  I find that I enjoy foods that were intended to be free of some ingredient instead of trying to make the things I grew up with but with a bunch of substitutions.