Monday, December 14, 2009

Elimination Diet: What's been on the table?

All I can say at this point is that cooking completely from scratch is exhausting. My hat is off to all of you out there who do this from absolute necessity. I'm thinking of missionaries, who on top of living in sometimes adverse conditions with loads of responsibilities must spend time shopping and cooking and cleaning to this degree.

I have to admit that we've gone twice to Chipolte in these two weeks. They are very allergen friendly requiring the entire staff to change their gloves and utensils when filling our order. That was appreciated. We are able to order a bowl with rice, beans, chicken and lettuce. I could have so made this at home, but a break was much in order. Perhaps not the best use of money, but I'd like to think that my sanity is worth something.

With that being said, I'm happy to report that we are fairly settled in to our new routine. Everyone has found at least a few things that they like and now I feel like I can just cycle through the rotation. Hopefully, as I cook through these meals a second time I'll be able to put a few things in the freezer for the future or have leftovers for lunch.

Here's some samples from our first two weeks of a gluten, dairy, soy, corn, peanut, egg, nightshades, red meat, caffeine, alcohol and sugar free life.

Rice Noodles with Cashew sauce and Stir Fry Veggies (picking around the corn and peppers)


Baked Apples with cinnamon and apple juice


Blueberry pancakes


Mini turkey burgers with sweet potato fries and fruit salad


LOTS of smoothies and fruit drinks


Warmed apple cider with orange slices and cinnamon sticks


Pumpkin cake


Brown Rice pasta with Mushroom Nomato sauce and green beans


Coconut Breaded fish with sauted veggies, baked sweet potato and bread

We've also enjoyed: Black beans and Fajita Chicken with Lime/Cilantro rice
Salmon Cakes and Roasted Cauliflower
Banana Muffins
Chicken Soup
White Chili
Hummus and Fresh Vegetables


One wonderful thing about this diet is that there is not a speck of food wasted. We all seem to have a real appetite when we sit down and walk away from the table satisfied (most of the time). It is a challenge to keep up on the snacks, though. I'm finding that the kids need at least two snacks a day which usually ends up being trail mix (almonds/cashews/raisins/dehydrated bananas) or some sort of fruit. Last week they consumed 40 pounds of bananas and almost and entire box of oranges. The people at the grocery probably think I have monkeys living at my house!!

This week I'm going to attempt to make my own Nomato sauce. It was given to us by a friend to try and it is surprisingly just like tomato sauce!! However, it is quite expensive for just a jar that contains just two servings. Having that would open up a a lot of recipes for us.

I'm also going to try some grilled flatbread (if the weather stays clear). I think this would taste great with hummus. There is a coconut milk ice cream recipe that looks delicious, but, alas I have no ice cream maker. That one will have to wait.

I have some new grains on hand, so I might bake some more bread and muffins as well.

Hopefully, less time planning meals will mean more blogging this week. I have finally compiled my price list and have a lot of recipes to post over at the Full Table.








6 comments:

Heather L. said...

Your food looks SO amazing!!! i want to eat it all. I realize that I'm saying that without the burden of everything you have to give up, but it still looks really good!!! Can't wait until you are able to post some recipes!

Margaret said...

Wow, it sounds like you've done a great job of finding a variety of delicious foods, despite the limitations.

Andrea said...

We find that we hardly waste food anymore either. I do still struggle with snacks since dairy is no-no, so it's always nuts & fruit (sometimes Sunbutter or creamy goat cheese if I can afford them). I worry that they are hungry between meals even though the meals satisfy but I guess that just the normal 'mom' worry - lol!

With only 4 kids, I shop twice a month and the grocery people look at me like I have two heads when I bring them a cart LOADED with only produce and canned tomotoes or beans (I get my meat from farms around here) so I know what you mean! :-)
Looks like you've found some things that work for you. Keep looking for more so that you don't get tired of them...
Blessings,
Andrea

Tisha Alexander said...

It all looks YUMMY!!!! Have you noticed a difference with the kids' attention span?
After 3 weeks do you start adding things back in?

Brooke said...

It looks much better than what I thought when you first said you were eliminating everything. Hats off to your creativity and perserverance :)

Cindy-Still His Girl said...

My kids would be THRILLED to be eating all of that. Looks so yummy! I've been so bad about cooking lately. I WANT to love to cook. If I had a personal shopper getting the groceries, I think I would enjoy it more.

You go, girl. You're amazing.