Cooking Gluten and Dairy free

Having been a recipe maven, I am now at a stand still as to what to cook. My most loved recipes need to be set aside for the time being or abandoned. So onward to a brighter future.

We may end up eating out again.

Not that eating out is much easier with my limited choices.

Back to the kitchen.

So over the past year, before discovering my gluten+dairy malady, I have cut out almost all processed foods. Which is a fun adventure in learning how to cook EVERYTHING from scratch, albeit time consuming and labor intensive. But I will have to pause now as I try to interpret what is needed to make a gluten free flour. I hadn't yet gotten to how to make vanilla wafers or pasta. And then there really is no good cheese substitute. But I have found that I prefer almond milk over rice milk, and there are some passable soy products. So instead of bread or pasta, the mainstay of my diet, I now have to figure out new cheese free potato and rice recipes.

Chinese food is a fairly easy conversion. You must keep in mind that a wheat free soy sauce will be needed and a butter substitute. Most breading is done with corn starch, but a fry gizmo is a must for dumplings and rolls.

Salads are a no-brainer, just remember to get wheat free and dairy free dressing when you are feeling especially overwhelmed and forget that you can make your own.

And the spanish tortilla. You make me beg for ketchup.

My big plans to grow beans this summer will hopefully still ensue-- so that I will have beans to make dried beans to make 'beans' instead of buying canned beans. Or I could just freeze them I guess, I'll get to that when there are beans to be had. But last years tomato saving was a success! When we were overwhelmed with 4 dozen tomatoes a week I was able to freeze them fresh and whole from the plant. Whew. So over the fall and winter and now I just take said whole frozen tomato and pop it into boiling water, to remove the skin, and then chop the still frozen middle and then add it to soups and pastas. I still I have an entire gallon freezer bag of tomatoes. By the way you want to do this with romas and eat your heirloom slicer tomatoes fresh. Mmm Mr. Stripey.

Recipes will follow.