Help me out of my allergen free cooking rut!!!

[Stephenie]

 Please help me come up with new menu planning ideas that are free of:gluten, soy, dairy, citrus, peanuts, almonds, shellfish, beef, pork & pears. I am in SUCH a cooking rut and I need help. My kids are starting to refuse to eat the four meals I rotate in and out all too often and my two year old said "Mama, you needs imagination. You imaginations quinoa. You needs new imaginations," while I was cooking dinner last night. (cute, but harsh, lol!) 

Help? Any ideas? 

[goldenwillow]

Wow!  That is a tough road!    Know you are in good company. 

I really dig this gal.  I found her book at my local library.  She talks about GF, SF, V, night shade free and so on.  She is a holistic nutritionist.  I add/supplement foods to her recipes that I and my family can tolerate, we are not vegans, but darn close!  Easy and fun read.

Good luck to you.

[SweetSilver]

It is so hard to find general resources for a specific diet.  Every one is so different that you have to look and look and just improvise.  My husband and I put the cheese on the table for us.  I'll make a combination of simple foods that we can mix and match.  DH and I mix these together and top with fried onions and spicy chutney at the table.  We've progressed to a simple chicken soup and beef soup but our picky 5yo (no food allergies) won't eat that but she will eat the chicken broth with egg noodles cooked in.

It's all a bit a la carte.

For baking I've had more success converting regular recipes to our particular needs.  That takes a smidgen of confidence but I've never had my kids not like something in the treat department, especially when topped with chocolate frosting!  Everyday oat biscuits (dd's bread) took some tweaking to find one that was good, but we did figure one out.  It helps that we have chickens that love the rejects!