Gluten Free-What to eat?

English: silesian sandwiches (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This becomes a major issue every day.

Especially when, like me, you are out and about during the day and maybe eating at cafes or having lunch with a friend or business colleague. Even the simple comment by a staff member,” I’ll just pop down to the shop and pick up some mixed sandwiches”, means you either have to say something or just not eat.

It is at this stage that we all say” Life wasn’t meant to be this difficult!”

I was amused when recently I attended a select buffet business lunch with some very immaculately groomed, high-profile business women. The buffet was impressive, but there was not one item that did not have some form of bread or pastry.The beautifully dressed lady next to me was busy piling six gourmet sandwiches on to her plate, and at my quizzical look she replied “I’m Gluten Free”. When I replied “Well so am I, and I was wondering what I was going to eat”-she said “This is what you do” with that she took a second plate from the buffet, proceeded to scrape all the fillings onto one plate and left all the bread on the other. She then asked for a fork and sat down to eat her chicken/tuna/egg/salad lunch.

This reinforced my thinking that we just have to be a little creative in how we solve this problem.

I love Chinese,Thai and Vietnamese cooking and especially eating at these restaurants. I now still have my favourite Laksa, but I ask for rice noodles instead of the usual egg/flour noodles. I have not found one restaurant yet who has refused my request when I explain why.

LINKS AND INFORMATION:

The Australian Coeliac magazine is produced quarterly and is part of the membership of the Coeliac SA & NT.

First time annual membership cost $95 standard or $85 concession.

Renewal is $55 standard or $45 concession.

Doctors are recommending that you join this or a similar association in your country, as you will have a better success rate of managing your gluten-free lifestyle than if you try and go-it-alone.

Website is: http://sant.coeliac.org.au

The website is full of free information and articles and the magazine has a wealth of where to shop and the latest research as well as stories and recipes.

GLUTEN FREE RECIPES:

As promised I will add recipes that are my personal favourites or ones that have been sent to me from fellow travellers.

With a background of 30 years in hospitality and a reputation as a gourmet cook, I am very selective when it comes to what I serve to other people.

They also have to be easy and not require hours of preparation-we just don’t have the time with our busy lifestyle.

I hope you enjoy the selection today from my recipe books.

SPINACH & CHEESE FRITTATA (SERVES 4)

Frittatas are wonderful. Whatever ingredients you have on hand you can add to the egg-base, for example you can replace the potatoes or spinach with pumpkin or chopped mushroom or sweet-corn and/or chopped ham and then serve it hot from the oven or cold next day with a salad or even as finger-food, sliced-up either hot or cold. If you are following the FODMAP program, leave out the onion and substitute dried chopped chives before you put it in the oven to bake.

Cooks tip: Don’t use salt in your cooking-replace it with lemon pepper. Your grandma would have told you that salt toughens up protein during cooking, so only add it after-if you must add it at all. Better to leave it out altogether-much healthier!)

20g butter

2 large potatoes or sweet potatoes cut into bite size cubes (just scrub & leave the skin on)

1 Onion chopped (or ½ cup frozen chopped onion)

Optional: 1 chopped tomato or ½ cup chopped capsicum

2 cups frozen chopped spinach

100g grated tasty cheese

8 eggs, lightly beaten

Freshly ground black pepper (I use lemon pepper, just my preference!)

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Melt the butter in an ovenproof  dish (corning ware or similar) or use a frying pan with an ovenproof handle. Add the  potato cubes (and onion if using) and cook for about 10 minutes or until just tender and going brown. (Prod with a fork to test)

Stir in the spinach, remove from heat. Lightly whisk together the egg and lemon pepper in a bowl, and add grated cheese. You can add a chopped tomato or a 1/2 cup of capsicum at this stage for colour if you wish. Pour over the potato and place the pan in the oven and bake for 25 minutes or until set. (using an oven glove-jiggle the pan to make sure it is set).

Allow to stand for 5 minutes before serving, or leave to cool and cut into fingers to serve cold or for the lunch box.

Enjoy!

Still to come: More recipes, FODMAP, yoga, Pilates