Cooking Challenge: Elimination Diet Recipes

July 5, 2006 9:44 AM

Cooking Challenge 2006: Someone once said that anyone can make great food if they can use any ingredients, but the real challenge is coming up with something with a very limited selection of ingredients. So, make/find/modify me recipes using *only* the ingredients on the (somewhat short) list inside, or conversely, that don't include any of the ingredients on the (very long) list provided inside. (Elimination diet)

Due to unknown food allergies, I have begun an elimination diet, where I am forbidden from eating most foods for a month, after which I can add back ingredients at a rate of 1/week.

Basically, I can eat lamb, turkey, most game, deep-ocean fish, most fruits and veggies, some nuts, and some oils.
I can't have grains, legumes, eggs, milk, sugar, onions, chocolate, potatoes, corn, rice, citrus, pepper (black or any hot pepper), alcohol, apples, or tomatoes. If it's related to one of these, I probably can't have it.

If you can provide me with some tasty recipes, this month will be much much easier (and I'll get to do a lot of cooking, which is nice, too). Bonus points for recipes that last in the fridge or freezer for multiple days, as cooking a lot on one day is easier than cooking three times every day. I'm actually trying to gain weight, rather than lose any, so feel free to go wild with the calories.

Example OK ingredients:
-Meat: Lamb, wild game (except buffalo, I believe), deep-water ocean fish (orange roughy, halibut, tuna, salmon), turkey, crab, lobster, oysters, deer, rabbit, duck, goose, clams, pheasant, frog legs, quail, scallops, cornish game hen, sardines in olive oil
-Veggies: All OK [except corn, white potato (sweet potato = OK), tomato, onions, all legumes]
Sweet potato, yam, cabbage, carrot, okra, radish, greens(beet, mustard, spiish, collards, etc), cucumber, eggplant, brussel sprouts, kale, avocado, broccoli, parsnips, green pepper (no hot peppers), rutabaga, leek, turnip, garlic, ginger.
-Fruits: All OK except apple & citrus (lemon and lime can be used for flavor).
-Nuts: Hazelnut, almonds, pecans. No peanuts(= legumes)
-Oils: Safflower, Sunflower, flaxseed, sesame, extra virgin olive oil.
-Condiments: Honey in small amounts, Stevia extract, cilantro, almond butter, sesame butter(tahini).

While I've written out most of the parameters, the full rules of the diet are here: http://drcranton.com/Elimination_Diet.pdf

Thanks in advance!

PS: Stuff I have so far:
-A good lamb-burger (tastes like shawarma!)
-A pretty good parsley pesto
-Baked sweet potatoes, just to have around
-Dried fruit/almond butter/honey/coconut balls
-Raw fruits and nuts

Stuff I could really use:
-Something resembling potato chips, for salty crunchy cravings (sooo sick of almonds, and it's been 2 days)
-Anything with lots of calories, especially if it's a snack food. I'm having trouble eating enough, and I'm training for a marathon, so this is pretty important. Figure me out some starch sources outside of my baked sweet potatoes.
-Is there *really* some way to make turkey moist? really? some way that I can do with these restrictions?

posted by sdis to food & drink (18 comments total)

If tapioca is okay, that's a way to get some starch. Also: tapioca is made from cassava root, and I've seen cassava chips in the Mexican foods section of my supermarket. Disclaimer: I've never tried them, so I can't vouch for how they taste.
posted by needs more cowbell at 10:06 AM on July 5, 2006

Off the top of my head, shred the turkey and make salad w/raisins (rehydrate in water), lemon juice, a bit of olive oil, carrots, and cilantro.

You're golden for a lot of SE Asian food, which doesn't rely on dairy. Also check out vegan recipes (you can add meat to them.)
posted by desuetude at 10:08 AM on July 5, 2006

The OK list sounds like a lot of pretty good stuff.

I would try out stir fries. You can't go too far wrong. Get a wok. Put in a tablespoon or so of one of your oils (I'd go with sesame), saute some leeks and garlic, throw in one of your meats, add some veggies and some nuts (assuming cooked nuts are OK).

Brussel sprouts the way they should be done: peel off any brownish outside leaves and trim the stem end; cut into quarters; saute in a wok or fry pan with one of your butters, stirring constantly until most of the flat sides are browned. Great nutty taste, not your grandmother's boiled sprouts. Works for cabbage, too.

To keep turkey from getting tough, and keep it moist, use a slow, moist-heat cooking method (like roasting a whole turkey). I don't know about turkey burger, but if you're not cooking the whole bird and just buy breast meat, try a scallopini: slice breast meat into pieces similar sized to a skinless chicken breast, put the slice between two pieces of plastic wrap, and pound the dickens out of it with a meat mallet (the flat side of the mallet). It should be about 1/4 inch thick when done. That tenderizes it well enough. Then, coat it on both sides with some of your nuts, crushed, and saute a couple of minutes on each side in one of the oils.
posted by beagle at 10:18 AM on July 5, 2006

Can you eat plantains? Plantain chips are amazing - get some nice green plantain, slice very thinly and deep fry until crispy (I've done it in a pan, but the oil will spit a bit). Add salt. Yum. You can also grill plantains, put into stews - basically try anything you would with potato, though it would cook a bit faster.

Breadfruit is also a good potato replacement - like plantains, it's a bit sweeter, but is great in stews, or fried on it's own.
posted by jb at 10:23 AM on July 5, 2006

check your natural food store. They'll have good substitutes for potato chips .... sweet potato chips, spinach chips, tomato chips, okra. They'll also have some substitutes for starches, possibly a bread or flour made of something on the approved list, maybe brown rice bread (can you have that?). Check into other root-based vegetables.

Check out tofu ... comes in various forms from liquid to firm.

my son has allergies to wheat, gluten, dairy, eggs, so we've needed to be a little creative. Wheat / gluten seems to be in everything.

Get to know your spices, experiment with making different soups, containing meats ... they'll stay more tender in soup.
posted by indigo4963 at 10:28 AM on July 5, 2006

http://www.snacksby.com/ is listed on projects, might be of some help
posted by edgeways at 10:34 AM on July 5, 2006

gah, sorry, Snacksby, should do the trick
posted by edgeways at 10:35 AM on July 5, 2006

If spices are allowed, lamb curry. Substitute leeks for onions, sweet potatoes for potatoes.
posted by beagle at 10:38 AM on July 5, 2006

to extend edgeways: if you hook up with snacksby you can stick everything on your "can" list into your [snacksby] pantry, and snacksby will give you a list of all of the recipes on the site that you can make. disclaimer: snacksby = mine.

if you hit up allrecipes they've got a pretty poor implementation of ingredient searching, but they do allow you to do elimination.
posted by soma lkzx at 11:24 AM on July 5, 2006

Please read labels closely, especially at natural food stores. I found, when on a very restricted diet, that most processed foods were out of bounds.

Garbanzo bean flour makes a very tasty flat bread. You can also deep fry canned or cooked garbanzo beans, then add salt. If you miss peppery/hot spicy, try something like raw chopped garlic wrapped in garbanzo bean flat bread.

Gluten-free cooking web pages have a lot of really good info on substitutions and ideas for recipes. It'll be necessary to read closely, though.

Best of luck. You can do it - I kept to a slightly different, but even more limited diet for nearly 3 years.
posted by QIbHom at 11:32 AM on July 5, 2006

For a snack, I love oven roasted pecans. Pour a cup or so on cookie sheet and roast at 450 for about eight minutes or until they smell toasty and delicious. Something about roasting pecans increases their deliciousness exponentially.

So you're sick of almonds? Have you tried some variations? Like a smoked almond or almonds roasted in tamari? I always buy tamari alomonds in bulk at my local co-op.

For salty cravings, (as I see that you're not a vegetarian), maybe you should get some jerky, like turkey jerky.
posted by Sara Anne at 11:56 AM on July 5, 2006

You can make a pesto out of just about any herb by following this ratio: 4 parts fresh herb, 1 part oil, 1 part nuts, 1 part hard cheese. For example, I make a parsely pesto out of 1 cup fresh parsley, 1/4 cup mild olive oil, 1/4 cup grated romano cheese and 1/4 cup toasted walnuts. It's yummy.
posted by elvissa at 1:55 PM on July 5, 2006

More ideas: roasted sunflower seeds (fairly caloric) (or maybe the raw kind if they roast the seeds in an un-acceptable oil, but the roasted ones taste better), roasted pumpkin seeds (not so caloric, but tasty and healthy), and, if it's ok, quinoa (which can be cooked and used pretty much like rice.) I'm not sure how you'd go about determining if it's acceptable or not, but I believe it's technically a seed rather than a grain or legume.
posted by needs more cowbell at 4:19 PM on July 5, 2006

For a crunchy potato-chip replacement, check out krupuk udang, Indonesian shrimp crackers. They're made out of tapioca starch and shrimp. You fry them in oil and they puff up to twice their original size, like delicious styrofoam you can eat.
posted by murphy slaw at 4:38 PM on July 5, 2006

Good suggestions so far; thanks! Somewhat fascinated by the idea of tapioca starch, which seems to be acceptable. I'll go research what to do with it over the next few days, but if anyone has any ideas, bring 'em on
posted by sdis at 6:19 PM on July 5, 2006

make potato chips out of sweet potatoes, or or parsnips or turnips or carrots. Just slice thinly, fry, douse with salt, and done!
posted by Kololo at 7:08 PM on July 5, 2006

Beagle's suggestion of stir fries is excellent, but don't neglect Asian curries as they seem to cover many of the foods you have on your list as well as packing a huge flavour punch. A fragrant Thai green curry with lemongrass and ginger in a coconut sauce can be used with any poultry, beef or sea-food really well and packs only as much punch as you want it.

Dipping sauce with nam pla (fish sauce) is a salty-sour mix that makes a fantastic salad dressing or dipping sauce if you can get past the smell of the fish sauce.

Dessert might be some stewed fruit (google "compote")with a crunchy nut crust served with some cream or custard.

Your crunchy cravings might do well to try "Wasabi Peas" which are sweet-salty with a horseradish kick that I love. Brands vary but most asian supermarkets will carry them, or similar items.

Good luck!
posted by ninazer0 at 2:58 AM on July 6, 2006

D'oh - peas are legumes. Ignore that bit.
posted by ninazer0 at 3:00 AM on July 6, 2006