Often, people who have to go gluten-free also benefit from going dairy-free, whether it’s to treat celiac, an autism spectrum disorder or a double food allergy. With my two sons, I have had to cope with dairy free for a few years and have found workable substitutes.
When a recipe calls for milk, I usually use soy milk cup-for-cup. Soy milk has a slight bean flavor, but this gets lost when it’s cooked. I have had success with soy milk in baking and white sauces. My favorite white sauce recipe can be found at White Sauce (Gluten & Dairy free) - 12353 - Recipezaar. Coconut milk, if you like the flavor, also works. As with the gluten free flours, an Asian store will probably provide the best deal on coconut milk. Some people prefer the nutty flavor of almond milk. Your choice, of course, will depend on personal preference, as well as other food sensitivities or allergies.
For baking with butter, there are a number of possibilities. Shortening works well, especially Butter-flavored Crisco. Just make sure to follow the directions for adding water when you use it as a butter substitute. When a recipe calls for melted butter, I’ll often use canola oil instead. Coconut oil is another good substitute that seems to melt even more smoothly than butter.
For frosting, use pasteurized egg white to make a meringue frosting. Mori-Nu Tofu offers a non-dairy frosting (as well as other non-dairy recipes) at Welcome to Mori-Nu Tofu.
Finding butter substitutes for topping things like mashed potatoes and (gluten-free) bread is probably easiest of all. Blue Bonnet Lite, Smart Balance and a number of other “heart-healthy” products are dairy free.
When looking for dairy-free products, make sure you read the labels as carefully as you would for gluten-free. Whey, ghee, curds and ready sponge are some less obvious dairy ingredients.
If you’re doing dairy-free because of autism spectrum disorder, anything with the words casein or caseinate is off limits, since that is the substance in milk that causes the problems. Unfortunately, I haven’t found a good whipped cream or cheese substitute, because the “dairy-free” ones contain casein.
Fortunately, for those avoiding gluten and casein, there is a way to cheat.* My sons take enzymes (such as Enzymedica’s GlutenEase and Enzymatic Therapy’s Gluten Defense). They can be a bit pricy, so I still have gluten- and dairy-free snacks available for them. However, the enzymes are great to have on hand so the boys may enjoy regular food. My older son keeps a key-ring pill holder we bought at the drug store in his pocket, so he can enjoy a few slices of a regular pizza when he’s out with friends.
So, if you’re already feeling overwhelmed with gluten-free cooking and facing having to tack on dairy-free as well, take heart. There are still a lot of reasonably-priced choices.
*This is not an option for celiac, but we can hope there will be something for us in the future.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
GOING GLUTEN FREE ON A BUDGET
Some time ago, I learned that I had celiac sprue, an autoimmune condition that requires a gluten-free diet. Gluten is the protein found in wheat, barley, rye and a few other grains.
I’m in company with millions of others. Thousands of Americans have already been diagnosed with celiac sprue, although millions more may have a “silent” version that mimics a number of other diseases.
Wheat is in almost everything at the grocery store these days. Often labeled as “modified food starch,” it’s in meats, canned soups, frozen entrees, candies, and many other surprising places at the grocery store.
Meanwhile, you can pay a premium to pick up anything with a “gluten free” label. Gluten free cookies, cake mixes, frozen entrees, pasta and flours are can be considerably more than their traditional counterparts. The tightwad in me yelled, “Noooooo!”
Fortunately, I am blessed with a good friend, a busy home schooling mother who took herself and her four sons off gluten years ago while on a tight budget. I’ve learned a lot about saving money from her and from my own experiences.
Get recipes for free. Once you find out you have celiac (by a blood test or by eliminating gluten from your diet), don’t run out to the bookstore for recipe books. If you already know someone with celiac, borrow books to see if it’s worth buying. Of course, there’s always that generous lender of books, the library, which may have some gluten free cookbooks. Search the web for free recipes, such as recipezaar.com, allrecipes.com, casceliacs.org and numerous gluten free blogs.
Go naturally gluten free. Instead of pasta, eat more rice and potatoes. Fill up more on healthier fruits and vegetables. Get adventurous with ethnic dishes that traditionally don’t have gluten in them. Use corn tortillas in place of flour tortillas.
Instead of gluten free cakes, cookies and pies for desserts, whip up a batch of meringue cookies or a dish of creamy Pavlova. Those flourless chocolate cakes are easy to make and are all the rage with their rich, decadent taste.
Go ethnic. Asians have been cooking with gluten free flours for years. At the Korean grocers in my area, I can buy rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, mung bean flour and corn flour for much less than at Whole Foods. An Indian store in my area offers a high quality, inexpensive rice flour.
Ethnic convenience foods are often gluten free and less expensive than the “gluten free” counterparts in the health food aisle. Rice noodles are an Asian tradition that cost about a fraction of “gluten free spaghetti” noodles. Thai Kitchen offers an instant rice noodle soup similar to those famously cheap Ramen noodles. Asian rice crackers are also much less expensive.
At the Indian store I can buy some inexpensive, spicy entrees that are naturally gluten free. Flavor mamra, Indian puffed rice, with cinnamon and raisins for a breakfast cereal.
If, like my younger son, you love the Middle Eastern pasta couscous, a good (and healthy) substitute is a South American fruit called quinoa. While a bag of quinoa may seem expensive, a little goes a long way. Three quarters of a cup, once cooked with water or broth, makes an ample side dish for a family of four.
Make your own mixes ahead of time. Even a busy cook could make ahead those special flour mixes that are so expensive in the health food section. Many of those cookbooks you can borrow feature recipes for combining all those special flours to get a close taste and texture to wheat flour. There are recipes for all-purpose flour, pancakes, cakes and cookies. Mix ahead of time and keep on hand for those busy days.
Make gluten free sauces and soups to freeze and have available for future casseroles.
Get time-saving appliances. Bread machines and food processors make gluten free cooking easier. They are also the kinds of appliances that people receive as gifts and never use. When I told my friends I was planning to buy a bread machine, several offered to give me theirs, since they were just taking up space in their homes. I’ve also seen bread machines and food processors offered on freecycle.org.
A diagnosis of celiac sprue doesn’t have to break your food budget. And once you go gluten free, you or your family members may feel so much better that cooking from scratch won’t seem like such a chore.
Some time ago, I learned that I had celiac sprue, an autoimmune condition that requires a gluten-free diet. Gluten is the protein found in wheat, barley, rye and a few other grains.
I’m in company with millions of others. Thousands of Americans have already been diagnosed with celiac sprue, although millions more may have a “silent” version that mimics a number of other diseases.
Wheat is in almost everything at the grocery store these days. Often labeled as “modified food starch,” it’s in meats, canned soups, frozen entrees, candies, and many other surprising places at the grocery store.
Meanwhile, you can pay a premium to pick up anything with a “gluten free” label. Gluten free cookies, cake mixes, frozen entrees, pasta and flours are can be considerably more than their traditional counterparts. The tightwad in me yelled, “Noooooo!”
Fortunately, I am blessed with a good friend, a busy home schooling mother who took herself and her four sons off gluten years ago while on a tight budget. I’ve learned a lot about saving money from her and from my own experiences.
Get recipes for free. Once you find out you have celiac (by a blood test or by eliminating gluten from your diet), don’t run out to the bookstore for recipe books. If you already know someone with celiac, borrow books to see if it’s worth buying. Of course, there’s always that generous lender of books, the library, which may have some gluten free cookbooks. Search the web for free recipes, such as recipezaar.com, allrecipes.com, casceliacs.org and numerous gluten free blogs.
Go naturally gluten free. Instead of pasta, eat more rice and potatoes. Fill up more on healthier fruits and vegetables. Get adventurous with ethnic dishes that traditionally don’t have gluten in them. Use corn tortillas in place of flour tortillas.
Instead of gluten free cakes, cookies and pies for desserts, whip up a batch of meringue cookies or a dish of creamy Pavlova. Those flourless chocolate cakes are easy to make and are all the rage with their rich, decadent taste.
Go ethnic. Asians have been cooking with gluten free flours for years. At the Korean grocers in my area, I can buy rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, mung bean flour and corn flour for much less than at Whole Foods. An Indian store in my area offers a high quality, inexpensive rice flour.
Ethnic convenience foods are often gluten free and less expensive than the “gluten free” counterparts in the health food aisle. Rice noodles are an Asian tradition that cost about a fraction of “gluten free spaghetti” noodles. Thai Kitchen offers an instant rice noodle soup similar to those famously cheap Ramen noodles. Asian rice crackers are also much less expensive.
At the Indian store I can buy some inexpensive, spicy entrees that are naturally gluten free. Flavor mamra, Indian puffed rice, with cinnamon and raisins for a breakfast cereal.
If, like my younger son, you love the Middle Eastern pasta couscous, a good (and healthy) substitute is a South American fruit called quinoa. While a bag of quinoa may seem expensive, a little goes a long way. Three quarters of a cup, once cooked with water or broth, makes an ample side dish for a family of four.
Make your own mixes ahead of time. Even a busy cook could make ahead those special flour mixes that are so expensive in the health food section. Many of those cookbooks you can borrow feature recipes for combining all those special flours to get a close taste and texture to wheat flour. There are recipes for all-purpose flour, pancakes, cakes and cookies. Mix ahead of time and keep on hand for those busy days.
Make gluten free sauces and soups to freeze and have available for future casseroles.
Get time-saving appliances. Bread machines and food processors make gluten free cooking easier. They are also the kinds of appliances that people receive as gifts and never use. When I told my friends I was planning to buy a bread machine, several offered to give me theirs, since they were just taking up space in their homes. I’ve also seen bread machines and food processors offered on freecycle.org.
A diagnosis of celiac sprue doesn’t have to break your food budget. And once you go gluten free, you or your family members may feel so much better that cooking from scratch won’t seem like such a chore.
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