Help needed: very limited diet

[Lonestar]

My younger brother recently found out he is highly allergic to many common foods. Since eliminating them from his diet he has stopped having stomach upset, felt much better, and started gaining weight to return to a normal level. Unfortunantly, his diet is very limited and his food is becoming rather bland and repetative. I know almost nothing about cooking, and nobody in my family is very qualified. I would like to get together a list of recipies that would add more flavor and variety to his diet.

Things he is allergic too:

Bananas
Cheese
Corn
Eggs
Milk (cow and goat)
Peanuts
Pepper (BW and Green)
Pineapple
Radishes
Sesame
Sugar (cane)
Tomato
Wheat
Yeast (Bakers and Brewers)

If anyone has ideas for any course of a meal, I would appreciate it. I am hoping to get the recipies together and make a book for him to have.

Thanks

[urmaniac13]

Hi Lonestar and welcome to DC!! We would like to know what he enjoys to eat to which he is not allergic, also what he particularly dislikes. This will help us to get some idea!!

[Lonestar]

We are from Texas, so that is where the basis of the diet comes from. He will try just about anything, and with his new diet, he just want to have flavor in his food. Desserts are especially difficult, but he is mostly just eating meat and rice based meals right now.

As far as we know, he is not allergic to anything else but what is on the list, though obviously very exotic foods may not have been tested.

[urmaniac13]

Try some variety of recipe based with potatoes, beans and lentils, cooked with some vegetables (well, aside from tomatoes and corn...), make it interesting and exciting with a nice blend of spices and herbs...
Also rice noodles (can be found in the oriental food section of a supermarket or specialty shop) are tasty and versatile, either stir fried or as salad.
If you want to give some creamy effect to a recipe try a little coconut milk.
I will get back to you if I think of more useful ideas and try to get together some attractive recipes... right now it is getting to be almost morning, my brain is starting to slow down.... good luck in any case!!

[KAYLINDA]

With that list of allergies, I just have to say "God Bless Him".

[JessBoBess]

Poor thing! I will see what I can find, dessert wise. Just this week I made a sorbet that is delicious.


I just boiled some mixed berries in apple juice (the kind that is sweetened with deflavoured fruit juice) until they were soft, blended it until smooth, threw in some vodka (careful with the amount - you can't taste it in something that cold) and froze it. For the first 5 hours, you have to take it out the freezer every hour and whisk it to prevent sharp crystals from forming. Then it is basically ready, although it's best to freeze for a further 24 hours.

My hubby is allergic to preservatives and he is also hypoglycemic. It is summer here, so I've been making him ice lollies with fruit juice. You know those things we used to have as kids? It's basically a deep ice tray with plastic sticks. I fill it with all his favourite fruit juices and freeze it.

[JessBoBess]

This is a very tasty veg curry. My hubby, who normally loves anything meaty, begs for it.

1 tsp oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tsp minced garlic
ginger (I hate the stuff!)
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp cilantro (fresh coriander leaves are better)
2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp curry powder
some minced chilli (optional)
pinch of salt
1/2 cup water

1 large potato, cubed
2 cups pumpkin, cubed
1 cup cauliflower florets, cubed
1 tin chickpeas, drained
4 zucchini, thickly sliced

Fry onion and garlic in a saucepan until soft. Add spices and fry for a minute.
Add water and veg (except zucchini) and simmer for 20 minutes. Add zucchini and simmer for a further 10 minutes.

Cooking time is only a guide line. I normally over cook the pumpkin and potato a bit to create a mushy base.

[Floridagirl]

First of all welcome to DC!!!!!

OMG that is bad!!
well I don't have a recipe right now, but you can substitude some things....
I would use soy milk instead of cow or goat milk. There are also yogurts made from soy milk. Instead of cane sugar use fructose or a sweetner substitude or honey.

You can bake your own bread, use rye flour and spelt flour. Instead of a yeast bread use sour dough. Later today I'll post a recipe for a sour dough rye bread.
You can also substitude with buckwheat flour, millet flour, soy flour....

There is also cheese available made from tofu and soy.

substitude corn starch with rice flour or potato starch.

I found a vegan website, they make up the following things for 1 egg (depending on the recipe):

- 1 tbsp soy flour with 1-2 tbsp water
- 50g tofu and liqid from the recipe
- 1/2 banana, crushed

if in your recipe eggs are used as a bonding agent you can try the following (depending on the recipe)

- use soy milk, rice milk, coconut milk (always check the sugar content!!)
- crushed bananas
- plain tofu
- quinoa

I'll get back to you with the recipe for the rye sour dough bread and maybe another ideas for recipes later today!

Iris

[JessBoBess]

Stir fries are also an option. To thicken the sauce, use oat bran. Serve with rice.

[Zereh]

Quick thread derail: mmmm JoBoBess, that curry looks scrumptious! Thanks for sharing.

No ideas yet on dessert stuff for you brother, Lonestar, but I'll dig around and see what I can come up with.

There are some soy and rice based cheeses that aren't too bad (they'll never ever have the rich taste of the real stuff, but they melt decently and still give that cheese feeling). They even have a Parmesan type soy cheese.


Z