food/health talk

[alexseanchai]

I'm thinking about doing a gluten-free month starting this weekend, to see if it improves my life any. Given the example of my oldest sister, gluten might be the main driving force of my depression! Which would suck but better to know, right?

Rec me recipes? Things that don't have gluten substitutes, please—so no GF mac and cheese, for example. (Unless the part needing a gluten substitute is, like, a tablespoon of all-purpose flour. In that case I don't expect the taste/texture to be affected unduly by substituting all-purpose gluten-free flour.) I have umpteen other sources (see also, two gluten-free sisters) but I want to know if there's anything y'all like that I should try. I have no [other] dietary restrictions, though my doctor advises me to eat more salt (moderately, of course) because of the orthostatic hypotension thing, so recipes that are improved by salt would be good.

And a crucial point: whatever it is pretty much has to tolerate being cooked in a six-serving batch and then refrigerated and microwave-reheated, because microwave is the only way to heat a meal at work. I say 'pretty much' because if I can con my mother into thinking it's a good weekend dinner, then it probably isn't going to be a work meal.

Comments

mmm food

[syntaxofthings]

Everything Indian. (Or lentil-related.) Coconut Dahl is something I found a recipe for last week - so good over rice. Curry, period. Mushroom bhaji, if you can find that recipe, though the one I have doesn't make a lot. Quinoa salad. Shepherd's Pie? My roommate makes a vegetarian version, so it's lentils, carrots/peas/veggies, and mashed potatoes. I also have a reeeeeally good Thai lentil potato soup that makes a good amount to reheat later. Basically, red lentils are FTW.

Re: mmm food

[alexseanchai]

Shepherd's pie is definite noms. I shall investigate the other foods! Thanks!

Re: mmm food

[syntaxofthings]

Welcome! I was gluten-free for a couple of years, and my favorite recipes are still from that period. Indian food is just all sorts of yum everywhere.

[redsixwing]

So, not useful re: gluten, because as far as I'm aware nobody puts gluten in pickles in the first place, but.

If you like vegetables, and like sour things:

A very good way to up your salt intake is to make fridge pickles. I like the recipe that involves a pound-ish of harder veggie matter - be that chopped cabbage, cucumber, bell pepper, radishes, carrots, really whatever you like that is harder than lettuce- a couple tablespoons of lemon juice, and a couple pinches of salt. Massage the veggies for a couple of minutes, stick 'em in a nonreactive container, and ignore them in the fridge for at least half an hour.

This makes delicious, crispy, fresh-tasting pickles that can hold in the fridge without a problem. I make them on Sundays when I have time to do a bunch of chopping, and then the longer they sit in the fridge, the more pickled they taste.

You can vary the acid and add herbs or spices to change the flavor. (Chili, wasabi, horseradish, mustard powders all work well.)

Edit: Some pickle recipes last up to a month. Look for "tsukemono" or "fridge pickles" recipes; there's a zillion.

[alexseanchai]

That sounds intriguing!

[kaberett]

I have in fact written a booklet of recipes designed to be easily veganable, gluten-freeable, etc, and cheap, and cookable to trivially feed 12. Would you like a copy?

[alexseanchai]

OOH SHINY YESPLZ

[syntaxofthings]

Oooh I could use a copy of this as well. People keep feeding me, and I'd like to be able to do something in return. And/or feed myself enough for leftovers.

[kaberett]

Give me an e-mail address? It was a fundraiser perk so I'm a bit twitchy about putting it up in public...

[magistrate]

Everything I have tried from Chocolate Covered Katie has been tasty. Even in her baked goods (brownies, cookie pies, etc.) most of the starchy mass tends to come from things like chickpeas and black beans instead of flour – which makes them good high-protein desserts, too.

There are some recipes that call for flour, but the ones under the gluten-free tag all work with either oat, spelt, or commercial GF-flour blends.

(I always find bean-based desserts interesting, because beans are so heavily relegated to savory foods in the US when, in reality, they're pretty much as neutral-tasting as wheat flour.)

[alexseanchai]

Intriguing, thanks!

[kaberett]

My favourite for brownies is to replace the flour with ground nuts! Several of them recipes in my DW, Alex.

(Bean based dessertttttt. RED BEAN. SHAVE ICE.)

food and salt

[dialecticdreamer]

If you're allowed (or even encouraged) to increase salt intake, go looking for DIFFERENT kinds of salts. Finishing salts, like pyramid salt (Trader Joe's) and pink himalayan salt (also high in iron, hence the color) at Wal-Mart if you can believe that!

The large flake salt have a totally different taste and texture, and I think you'll like this aspect of changing your diet-- it's fun rather than a hassle for me, at least.

Re: food and salt

[alexseanchai]

Which runs bang into the "not spending money this month" problem, unfortunately.