help me find meals I can eat!

[Hope Profile]

Vegan pad Thai rather than the stir fry?

I was also going to ask if you could eat nutritional yeast, I often use it in risotto to boost the savoury 'cheesiness' of the dish. There are also some vegan 'cheese' sauce recipes online using potato and carrot.

Could you veganise moussaka?

I'll have a think of what else we eat regularly that could be adapted.

thanks. I don't know how to do a pad thai, so will have to look that up.

I've made a few different vegan cheese sauces and actually found one i like recently. I use grated vegan cheese as I don't find the nooch is enough.

I've done a veggie moussaka before, but found it such a faff. Need to retry aubergine too.

thanks!

[Hope Profile]

Scullion - you added a bit about pasties after I'd replied, which is making my mouth water! I love pasties. But I sort of gave up on making GF pastry. I can make great wheat pastry, but always struggled with GF. It's made me realise how many foods I've just given up making. I must have another go at that!

[KeenCook2 Profile]

amchoor
I do have some, but I don't know how to use it - any idea on the amount to use?

As a rough guide, Madhur Jaffrey uses a tablespoon in a recipe for spicy chickpeas using 2 cans and a can of tomatoes, plus a lot of other spices - cumin, coriander, turmeric, cayenne, paprika, garam masala. We always go easy on the cayenne as we're not good with food that is too hot.

I know exactly what you mean about "how much" to use I've done that too, buying various spices etc and then not using them I'm like that with curry powders too

[herbidacious Profile]

I think we mentioned Anna Jones' chickpea and carrot pancakes on the Wildies site.

http://annajones.co.uk/recipe/carrot-an ... d-dressing

Ignore the ref to lemon. The basic pancake mixture is ok according to what you have mentioned so far. Topping can be what you like.

Might be worth looking at some of her other recipes.

Can you eat miso? That adds umami and can be added to non-Asian dishes, of course... could probably put it in mushroom risotto - to which I would defintely add dried porcini

Could this be adapted? Not sure i vegan marg would make a good crumble, but you probably know already whether it does or not.

http://annajones.co.uk/recipe/crumble-t ... tovers-pie

https://foodsguy.com/spelt-flour-substi ... of%20spelt.

I bought some Wicked mango masala powder from Tesco which might work for you? Not used it yet, but a finger dip suggests it will be good.

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/p ... /304785469

(no chilli)

You definitely need some umami. Porcini mushrooms, miso, kombu...

re cream, have you tried the Oatly one? sugar free, although contains 'citrus fiber' whatever that is. I imagine not acidic.

[scullion Profile]

the gram flour in the burmese tofu fritters is boiled. it's made into a custard, cooled, sliced then fried. i don't know if it can be baked as i've only made it the one way.

garlic changes with the amount you crush or chop.
cooked whole cloves are very mild and don't have the same pungency - so maybe some of the things that upset would be neutralised in that form? not being a nutritionist i wouldn't know - maybe a question for your allergy clinic medic.

chilli heat is something you learn to tolerate - but if you are allergic to tomatoes, peppers and aubergines it would be surprising that you could tolerate chilli and paprika - and other solanacae, no?

[mistakened Profile]

How are you with rice, if it is OK try Rice Noodles for a textural change

[Hope Profile]

I've done that too, buying various spices etc and then not using them I'm like that with curry powders too

Yes, buying spices is a totally different and quite separate activity from cooking with same spices! I have a few ingredients like that. I think I have an unopened packet of tamarind somewhere and a jar of miso with only 1tsp taken out of it... woops!

[Suelle Profile Website]

Scullion - you added a bit about pasties after I'd replied, which is making my mouth water! I love pasties. But I sort of gave up on making GF pastry. I can make great wheat pastry, but always struggled with GF. It's made me realise how many foods I've just given up making. I must have another go at that!

This is a recipe I worked on to make gluten and dairy free pastry. In this initial recipe the pastry was used raw, but since then I have used it in situations where it was baked blind and it worked OK, although it shrinks more than wheat flour pastry.

It's a little stickier to work with than wheat flour pastry, and I suspect you might need to keep it relatively thick if you wanted to make pasties.

https://mainlybaking.blogspot.com/2016/ ... -tart.html

[Hope Profile]

the gram flour in the burmese tofu fritters is boiled. it's made into a custard, cooled, sliced then fried. i don't know if it can be baked as i've only made it the one way.

ooh - that sounds interesting... off I go to google that...

garlic changes with the amount you crush or chop.
cooked whole cloves are very mild and don't have the same pungency - so maybe some of the things that upset would be neutralised in that form? not being a nutritionist i wouldn't know - maybe a question for your allergy clinic medic.

I will have to try a little roasted whole. I know I can't eat whole cooked garlic - tried before, caused more agony. I've not seen any of my specialists this year. Only saw one once who new much about my condition, so i'm pretty much doing all this testing by myself!

chilli heat is something you learn to tolerate - but if you are allergic to tomatoes, peppers and aubergines it would be surprising that you could tolerate chilli and paprika - and other solanacae, no?

I'm not allergic to those. chilli - any amount - causes severe reflux and triggers my asthma (waking up having an asthma attack is not fun!) It took me years to make the link, though, gradually reducing the amount of chilli I ate, but found it's best to just not have any.

I have a mixture of allergies, IBS and reflux which cause my various food restrictions. I don't know about aubergines, I need to retry them. Tomatoes and peppers also trigger reflux, but I don't know yet about paprika. I did a few times over the summer eat a cherry tomato (homegrown) and managed to tolerate them - and they were delicious. But if I eat a pasta meal with tomatoes in, I get reflux.

[herbidacious Profile]

How extreme is your reaction to acidic things? I wonder if someting tastes acidic then it just is acidic and will affect you... or not?

You can buy vinegar flavoured salts, which have dried vinegar in them. Woud you dare try them? I suppose it depends partly on what sort of reaction you have as well as how sensitive you are. Would only be of use to sprinkle on things, I suppose. But might make a nice change.

[Hope Profile]

How extreme is your reaction to acidic things? I wonder if someting tastes acidic then it just is acidic and will affect you... or not?

You can buy vinegar flavoured salts, which have dried vinegar in them. Woud you dare try them? I suppose it depends partly on what sort of reaction you have as well as how sensitive you are. Would only be of use to sprinkle on things, I suppose. But might make a nice change.

with all my things, it's a process of having to slowly work out which of my symptoms are caused by what thing. My acidic makes my reflux symptoms worse. I've tried things like mayo, where the vinegar is mixed in (still affects me) and also cooking off the vinegar in a dish (still bad). I haven't heard of vinegar flavoured salt, so will have a look out for those. One thing I do need to eat a lot of (cardiologist's orders!) is salt! (he rather enjoyed telling me that as normally he has to tell people the opposite!)

I should try other flavoured salts too. i've become a lazy shopper this year - just always buying the same things!

[herbidacious Profile]

Marmite and soy sauce then! (And miso, if you an have it. You need to check that it's a gluten free one, of course...)

[scullion Profile]

not seen any of my specialists this year. Only saw one once who new much about my condition, so i'm pretty much doing all this testing by myself!

hmm, i'd be inclined to get an appointment.
testing yourself is all well and good if you are rigorous but you may be rejecting some things unnecessarily and there may be other more effective treatments around that would be appropriate, if you wanted them.

[Hope Profile]

not seen any of my specialists this year. Only saw one once who new much about my condition, so i'm pretty much doing all this testing by myself!

hmm, i'd be inclined to get an appointment.
testing yourself is all well and good if you are rigorous but you may be rejecting some things unnecessarily and there may be other more effective treatments around that would be appropriate, if you wanted them.

It's pretty much what the doc told me to do, and unfortuately I can't see a specialist who actually knows a lot about my condition as there are less than a handful who do! I test and I retest several times, so I am quite rigorous about it. I tend to believe that I'm making it all up, but then have the same reactions to things. I've been able to gradually reintroduce a lot of foods over time (like how before I couldn't eat any allium). I'm also on 3 types of allergy tablets, one of which also treats reflux and one which I take double the normal dose (doc said I can have four, but i don't need that much!) The meds have helped a lot (I've been able to eat raw fruit this summer for the first time in years), but it doesn't stop all my symptoms!

[Hope Profile]

Marmite and soy sauce then! (And miso, if you an have it. You need to check that it's a gluten free one, of course...)

I have those. well own brand yeast extract (marmite contains gluten) and tamari. Although in some meals I tend to find them a bit heavy. I have miso, but not sure I like it!

[Hope Profile]

to scullion...
this didn't entirely make sense, just feel I need to clarify - in my life I've seen 3 docs who actually know about my condition. One appointment with each. they diagnose, advise and then release you to your local doctors, many of whom haven't a clue. My main specialist is my rheumatologist (locally) and she said I know more about it than she does. She knows I research well. I was supposed to have an appointment with her this year as I normally do, but of course it was cancelled. I have seen allergy doctors, but they didn't know about the type of allergy I have (Mast Cell Activation Disorder/Syndrome), so were completely unable to help. My local GPs (well some of them) are very thorough and helpful, but there's only so much they can do (due to lack of knowledge about my condition) and they tend to be cautious.

[Hope Profile]

re other treatments, other than meds, I did the low fodmap diet and it made me worse than I was before. My GP is on top of the reflux, but even with meds, certain foods are triggers, so we've agreed that I should eliminate those and can retry them occassionally just to check my reaction. Some docs have speculated whether these two symptoms are part of the MCAS too (these things often go together!) I'm actually an awful lot better than I was a year ago and can eat more than I could then. The treatment is definitely working!

[scullion Profile]

i hope i didn't come over as sceptical. i understand how difficult it could be. i had a patient years ago who, after release from a japanese pow camp, had developed allergic reactions to a vast array of things, including sunlight and some water. i couldn't swab with any alcohol based preparations and he was unable to tolerate any form of plaster mass - including the hypoallergenic ones (one becomes hyper vigilant welding a scalpel!).
he described himself as being allergic to life! i'm sure his diet was, possibly, equally as difficult as yours.

as for tvp, we had some interesting food at a sri-lankan restaurant that used it in many of the dishes. it was cooked in a way that didn't come across as being 'fake meat' but did add a bit of texture.

[Hope Profile]

Thanks Scullion... years of being dismissed by doctors (and others) have made me rather sensitive/defensive about it! It's hard when no one (especially in the medical community) understands your condition. I've seen MCAS/EDS come up so many times in these "medical mystery" type documentaries. There's one called soemthing like "the girl who's allergic to everything" - gymnast Natasha Coates- she has MCAS too, much more severely than I do. Sounds like your ex-POW patient might have had it too. (I've heard of others with MCAS who are allergic to sunlight and even hypoallergenic plasters - I've reacted to a few plasters/those sticky pads they put on for heart monitors and surgical tape!)

anyway, food, back on topic... must try TVP again. was it chunks or mince?!

[Hope Profile]

ps - also scullion I do remember some debate on an EDS group about whether Agent Orange or some chemical that soilders were exposed to in the war might be a trigger for EDS (which MCAS is part of). I know there are lots of other things that can trigger it in some people (certain, succeptible, how do you spell that? is that even the right word? sorry - having a mental block!) I need a liedown!