Food allergies and the pursuit of a healthy self

My son had a long weird forbidden food list to try and avoid migraines, including old cheese, tomatoes, and MSG. I became an expert at reading labels, and making my own sauces.

Grains and flours to try incorporating include oats, buckwheat, teff, quinoa, and chia. A big challenge I see is you have no options to thicken sauces (I use flour or cornstarch). I suggest you practice making a reduction from your cooking. https://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/cooking-tips/article/how-to-make-a-reduction

Roast Beef https://canadabeef.ca/oven-roast-know-how/
Save and scrape the drippings for future sauces.

Make Caramelized Onions in your slow cooker (so easy!) and freeze individual portions in an ice cube tray. Can you tolerate butter? Clarified butter? No? Then use cooking oil instead. These can be added to your sauces to add loads of flavour (and no allergens).
http://dish.allrecipes.com/how-to-make-slow-cooker-caramelized-onions/

Serve with oat scones and potatoes.
http://www.phoebejenkins.com/cookbook/2015/8/31/easy-oat-scones-gluten-free

If I were you, quinoa would be a staple, made up as a Mediterranean salad. Just leave off the feta and the tomatoes. This is a very flexible and forgiving salad.
https://www.skinnytaste.com/mediterranean-quinoa-salad/

How about substituting Kale for spinach? Kale is a little tougher so you might need to blanch it first.

I hear you on the 'eating because I have to' thing, phew. I have something called a mast cell activation disorder, which basically makes your body react like it has an allergy to many, many things, even though you, strictly speaking, do not have the allergies.

While many of my reactions aren't lethal, to be totally healthy (which sometimes I'm not, to be totally honest, and then I pay for it, sigh), I can't do pretty much any of your 'no' list as well - although for the tomatoes, they all have a corn-based ripening spray from the store, so I can have tomatoes I grow myself, or from a certain farmer from the farmers market, but usually do poorly with ones from the store.

So, empathy from over here, and let me put down a few things I've had over the years that might be of use! Although, it sort of depends on if you are a 'no major corn' level of corn avoidance, or a 'no corn derivatives or corn contamination from factory' level of corn avoidance. I'm guessing it's the former, based on your pillsbury baking mix? Hopefully, it's just major corn avoidance - Some of the things I use, it may be hard to find brands that don't have corn contamination, you know?

So, some recipe and 'make food taste better' ideas.

1. Socca bread - this is a chickpea flour based flatbread from France. Many recipes online. Typically involve chickpea flour, oil, salt, water, and whatever spices you use. I've made it with overnight soaked chickpeas, that I blended up to a batter, even - texture isn't as good, but it's cheaper, if money is an issue.

2. Injera - an Ethiopian teff based flatbread. You ferment the flour for a few days (the more you ferment, the better the taste - most recipes say 3 days, but 15 days gives you a much more traditional flavor. Basically fermented teff starter and some salt - it's kind of like a crepe with sourdough overtones. VERY flexible, used to wrap around savory meat or lentil dishes. Look for 'traditional' recipes online, as modern ones sometimes add wheat in.

3. Great buy: an electric ice cream maker. One of the best things I ever got for desserts. I just blend up soft fruit until smooth, or cook hard fruit and then do the same, and then once cooled, you put it in the ice cream maker and bam, instant healthy sorbet. Sweetener or flavorings can be added, but seriously, just ripe fruit makes a very tasty sorbet, this way.

4. Great flavor enhancer: herb garden. THE best thing I ever did for my food was start an herb garden. I didn't care what the herb was, if I saw it and it was edible, I tried to grow it. Significantly improved the flavor I could add to my foods, and improved my enjoyment of them, too. In part because I could grow a lot more than I would usually find at a store in affordable amounts, so I could play around more, add handfuls in, and not pay through the nose.

5. Green soup - Take about 2 onions, 1-2 bulbs garlic, 2 heads broccoli, 2-4 zucchini, 1-2 bulb fennel, 1/4 cup each of 3-4 fresh herbs (I usually do some combination of cilantro, parsley, thyme, and/or savory, sometimes mint, even), 1-4 tb fresh rosemary, 1 pinky finger or so peeled and grated turmeric and/or ginger. roughly chop all but the turmeric/ginger. Heat up a little olive oil in a big pot, throw this stuff in and let cook for just a few minutes with the lid on, then add enough water to cover and cook on simmer for 30-60 min. Then let cool and blend up into a puree and you're good. I personally like to add in ground meat and/or rice to the soup when I put it in the bowl to eat, but it does okay without that, too. This tends to be somewhat anti-inflammatory, too, so can be good if you have that issue.

6. smoothies - melon smoothies. I take ripe melon (watermelon or cantaloupe have done best, IMO), cut it up and put it in the freezer. then take out enough to put in blender plus some water plus 1-2 lemons worth of fresh lemon juice, then blend up into a smoothie. Some blueberries with the watermelon are quite nice, and if you add a bit of salt and some calcium powder to the watermelon, along with the blueberries, you get very close to an electrolyte drink, actually. Mint with the watermelon is nice, too.

7. potato cakes - Heat up an iron skillet to med-med/high heat, with a few Tb of oil in it. Heat up oven to 425 F. While they are heating, grate a potato, then squeeze out the juice with hands (will still be some juice left). Mix with salt, and chopped green onions if desired. Pat into a little palm sized patty, then drop 2-4 into the skillet. Fry for 1 min, then turn and fry for 1 min, then put into the oven - still in the skillet - for about 10-13 min. Very tasty. For something to add to it, I have got red or yellow bell pepper, cut into pieces, and soaked them in some lemon juice + salt + water to cover, while the potatoes are being grated and then cooked. It's like a super-quick, semi-pickling that gives them a nice flavor to go with the potatoes as a garnish.

8. Plantains - very tasty. If you haven't cooked them, you want dark yellow, with lots of black, plantains, and then they require cooking to eat. Often fried. Green plantains, you can cook more like potatoes and make dishes with them that way - very bland, so you need lots of flavors to add to them, when green. There are some interesting plantain and egg tortilla recipes (that the tortillas are made OUT of plantains) online. One recipe I love is fried (yellow ripe) plantain slices topped with a little refried beans (salty is better), 1 jalapeño slice, a dab of guacamole, and can also add some chopped and grilled onions and roasted red bell pepper (replaces the original roasted tomato). It's a little finger food, but quite nice.

Plantains are also used in some DIY veggie burgers I've seen online, so that might be worth exploring.

10. cauliflower rice - where cauliflower is blended up into rice sized pieces, then cooked pretty quickly. Usually fried for 1-2 minutes, then covered and allowed to cook, steaming under the lid, for 3 minutes or so. I usually add some salt, grated ginger, and grated fresh turmeric for flavor and color, and it's lovely. And I don't like cauliflower, either, but this works all right.

10. Substitutions -
I don't often use substitutions, but I have either heard of or used the ones below. :-)

For soy sauce - have you checked out coconut aminos? I cannot recall if they are corn free enough for what you might need, but they are a coconut based soy sauce substitute - usually in the same section of the store, in health food-type stores. They have a similar taste, but a little sweeter, so usually better for sweeter dishes with soy sauce rather than completely savory, you know? If you can do that, this recipe is REALLY awesome (https://minimalistbaker.com/vietnamese-spring-rolls-with-crispy-tofu/#_a5y_p=2042949 ). I have made it using crushed, dried chiles instead of the chili garlic sauce, and with peanut butter (made myself, sometimes) instead of the almond butter. Rice instead of rice noodles. And for the kids, I used a meat instead of the soy-based tofu. Poultry worked well.

Also, there is a GF hoisin sauce recipe here, that works if you can have the coconut aminos, too - https://thankheavens.com.au/2013/03/13/gluten-free-hoisin-sauce/

For corn starch - potato starch has worked the best for me, for a similar texture and feel to it. Arrowroot powder worked better for Asian dishes that need that slightly more gelled thickening, you know?

for dairy - have you checked out cashew cream yet? This stuff is AWESOME. I make my own, because it's super easy and cheaper. You get raw cashews, soak them over night. Then get enough water to just cover, or not quite cover, and blend it until it's a thick shake/batter consistency. Then you just use this stuff like you would dairy, in situations where you need it to thicken (can thin it out as desired). Because cashew cream actually thickens with heat, so it's awesome. It's a little sweet, but not too much. I've even used it to make cream of mushroom soup before and it was really nice, but also seen it used to make faux nacho cheese sauce (lots of seasonings added), mac and cheese with GF noodles, smoothie thickeners, all sorts of stuff. If you look up vegan recipes plus cashews, you'll get lots of ideas. You can strain the stuff for a smoother texture, but I tend to use it as is, to get more nutrients out of it, you know?

for tomatoes - have you checked out something called nomato? - it's a sauce product, you can google it online and get the website right away - for tomato allergic folks or those who can't have tomatoes for other reasons. They have a tomato sauce, ketchup, and BBQ sauce. I am pretty sure the sauce, at least, is free from your allergens, although I am not sure about the other two, and I am not sure about contamination issues, if those are an issue for you.

Shellfish - I am not actually sure of this one, as it is more of a vegan hack I heard once for things like strongly salted meats, but chopped, firm olives were used (green ones) to replace a salty meat, as the olives were both salty and had a little of that chewy mouthfeel. I have thought they might be good in some cases to replace small amounts of shellfish in a dish, like maybe a pasta one, if the dish was salty enough they could blend. Haven't tried it, though.


11. Millet or sorghum porridge - great base for a savory dish. Like, make the porridge, maybe with some added onion or flavoring, then put on the plate and pour over a meat or lentil dish on top. These are very thick, thicker than mashed potatoes, so will hold their shape when put on a plate. Also, I believe you want to research millet a little - as I recall, if you don't cook it just right, it has a tendency for the inner portion to remain uncooked. :-)

12. roasted chickpeas - many recipes online. They turn out to be essentially like that snack food, corn nuts.

13. Oh, and for Thanksgiving - citrus mashed sweet potato. bake, then peel and mashed, 1-2 sweet potatoes. Then get freshly squeezed orange or lemon juice, maybe 1/2 cup or so. Boil the juice until it is reduced by half, if not more. Slowly mix in the juice to the sweet potatoes until you like the consistency and taste, and then bake the sweet potato mixture in a pie pan (just because it looks pretty) at a relatively low temp. until heated through and maybe a light golden on top (or just heat up and serve). The citrus juice makes it really tangy and lovely, and cuts a little of that earthy taste of sweet potato down a bit. However, you have to use fresh juice - pre-made juice typically has preservatives or other additives (which can be present even with '100% juice' listed as the only ingredients, ugh) and they impact the taste when you try to reduce it. Gives it a nasty chemically aftertaste (says the one who had to try a few different brands before realizing it's ALL of them, grrr).

14. Homemade, flour-free falafel and hummus - I make falafel with uncooked garbanzo beans (just soaked), plus onion and a LOT of parsley, and salt. I make small golf ball size, or smaller, falafel and then flatten them slightly in my hand. I heat up maybe 1 inch of oil in the pan, basically 1/2 the height of the falafel. Put a tiny bit of dough into the oil - when it cooks in 1 min, it's the right temp, usually around med on stove top burner. Then put a few falafel in the pan and cook 1-2 min on one side, and 1-2 min on the other. All done! The falafel should be able to hold it's shape, just, when you carefully put it into the oil. If it is too dry, it needs more onion. If it is too wet, it needs more chickpeas. For hummus, I often make it without tahini and use just olive oil (from a suggestion by someone who lived in the middle east in an area where olive oil was more expensive than tahini, so it was a status symbol to do it that way) - just blended up chickpeas (either cooked or just soaked works, different flavors), lemon juice, salt, sometimes roasted veggies, and oil. I eat the falafel wrapped in a lettuce leaf with some hummus plus some cucumber with lemon juice and dill - really enjoy this one!

That's all that comes to mind right off hand - I still struggle to find good bean dishes, honestly, so don't have many of those!

I do the AIP (Autoimmune Protocol) diet and Paleo. I have an autoimmune disease so my body has a reaction to certain foods. Nightshades are the worst offenders along with certain spices, grains, processed food and sugar. Pretty much have to eat straight off the tree/land so to speak, I've learned to adjust. Wellness Mama, Paleo Mom, The Coconut Mama....are all great places to get recipes. Also, coconut aminos in place of soy sauce, it is wonderful and is just coconut and sea salt, so no grains...etc.