Help me feed a 9 year old with very specific food exclusions

May 21, 2018 3:14 AM

Beloved grandsons are coming to stay next week and the youngest is on week 6 of a food exclusion diet to hopefully find and eliminate some of the cause(s) of eczema.

I've made a batch of vegetable stock and celeriac, apple and horseradish soup but would really welcome some ideas for recipes. If this glorious sunshine continues, the barbecue can be dusted off and used for grilling steak, chicken and vegetables, served straight to the table, lessening the "special meals" stigma which he must be sick of. He's also a big fan of broccoli.

Must not eat:
Tomatoes
Yeast
Cucumber
Mushrooms
Oranges
Sugar
Chocolate
Monosodium glutenate
Aspartame
Saccharin
Bio acidophilus
Potatoes
Anything containing potato starch (which rules out most gluten/wheat/yeast free products)

Foods he can eat:
Almond milk - specifically the 'Rude Health' brand one
Gluten free Nairns oatcakes
Gluten free Nairns crackers
Gluten free/brown rice/chickpea/edamame pasta
White fish
Alpro plain yoghurt with St Dalfour sugar free jams
Lizi granolas
Gluten free oats and almond milk to make porridge
Booja-Booja icecream as a treat pudding
Apples, bananas, grapes, blueberries, etc... all fruit except oranges

Examples of meals he enjoys
Steak and broccoli
Chargrilled chicken and broccoli
White fish with a crumb coat of lemon juice mixed with Mrs Crimble's gluten free breadcrumbs and served with rice
Pasta with homemade pesto (basil leaves, garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil, 1/2 lemon, pine nuts)
Roast vegetable soup, slightly curried

I've picked up some great tips from this earlier question but he's not (yet) a big fan of anything too spicy so would love to hear your recipe ideas please, especially for soups.

posted by humph to Food & Drink (14 answers total)

Best answer: How about farinata/socca/cecina?

If you buy the gram flour/chickpea flour to make it (which is often available in Indian and Middle Eastern specialty markets near me) that's also used to make dumplings in many Indian dishes. I was wondering if dumplings would be an interesting addition to the soups you've made, since he can't eat potatoes.
posted by XMLicious at 3:46 AM on May 21, 2018 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Forgot to add pea and ham soup and ham and green vegetable risotto to the "meals he enjoys" list:

- homemade ham stock (via oven roasting large hams), frozen peas, garlic, leeks, parsley, water and a blender for the soup;
- ham stock, peas, sugar snap peas (snow peas), green beans, broccoli, leeks, garlic, anchovies and gluten free rice for the risotto.
posted by humph at 3:46 AM on May 21, 2018

Response by poster: Update: I missed a section of from the "can't eat" list. Eejit.

Cows milk
Goats milk
Sheep's milk
Caseinate
Lactose
Whey
Butter
Cheese

The idea of not cooking with tomatoes has thrown me into a tailspin.
posted by humph at 3:51 AM on May 21, 2018

Response by poster: That's a great idea XMLicious, thank you.

(Although I no longer have easy access to the supermarket fabulousness of Slough, we do have a great Gurkha store within easy driving distance that for example has urdu beans at a quarter of the price elsewhere.)
posted by humph at 4:00 AM on May 21, 2018

Have you asked his parents? This seems like a case where specific recipes might be better than advice from Internet strangers.
posted by steady-state strawberry at 4:24 AM on May 21, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: steady-state strawberry - I've discussed this at length with his mother, we're both looking for new ideas that he and the family can enjoy. I can google with the best of 'em but the hive mind is especially good at thinking up ways to eat for those with restricted diets!
posted by humph at 4:53 AM on May 21, 2018

This is largely my full time diet, except that I do eat sugar and I don't eat wheat/gluten. Potatoes and tomatoes are nightshades, so I would assume eggplant is also off the list.

Eastern cuisines should be the source of a lot of inspiration: rice dishes, curries, rice or starch noodle soups, various meat-based stir fries. There's enormous variety. It doesn't have to be spicy to be good.

There's also things like tuna/egg/ham salad and all the places those can go. He can have nuts/legumes and most grains? You should be all set.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:37 AM on May 21, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I spent last summer dairy and tomato free. It is so hard!

Miso soup with ginger, soy sauce, rice noodles, green veg and spring onions.

Baked oatmeal bites using your milk alternative and whatever fruit you like.

Banana pancakes.

Make a white sauce with your milk alternative and cooked chicken, bacon and leek. Feels like it should be cheesy but isn't.

Can he have a roasted pepper sauce pureed?

Stir fry veg and cashew nuts with a satay sauce and rice noodles or rice?
posted by kadia_a at 7:10 AM on May 21, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I make ham, and then make stock from the bone, fat, and any bits. A hambone needs hours to simmer out the marrow but it's very tasty and a hambone can flavor quite a bit of stock. I have used it in risotto and soups. Lentils with ham stock, olive oil, salt & pepper, maybe some ham. Lentils cook in @ 20 minutes and are quite tasty without a lot of fuss.

Instead of milk/ cheese in casseroles, I use garbanzo flour; the same gram flour XMLicious recommends. It's best when it has time to soak in water, like several hours, but it's versatile. I make the batter for farinata and use it in casseroles or quiches. I like farinata quite a bit, as well.

I can't eat dairy, and I miss pizza. My substitute for the mouthfeel of cheese is polenta with plenty of olive oil, with cut up pepperoni mixed in at the end, also green olives because that's my preferred pizza combination. It's not pizza-like at all, but satisfying. Don't use prepared polenta, it's easy to make from scratch.

I make stirfrys a lot. Thinly cut chicken(beef), cabbage, onions, broccoli, snow peas, yellow squash (if you are in the UK it might be a marrow?) or any veg handy, neutral oil or olive oil. I make a sauce of soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, and corn starch. I usually add a bit of brown sugar but it's not required. Vinegar may not be allowed and can be omitted.

Rice noodles? I love them with peanut sauce; you have to find gluten-free soy sauce.
posted by theora55 at 7:12 AM on May 21, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: How about those nifty bean pasta - made from lentils or black beans. Tastes like beans but has pasta textures.
posted by bq at 9:11 AM on May 21, 2018 [2 favorites]

Best answer: That is basically what my former roomie and I could/couldn't eat when we combined our allergies.
When we wanted to eat together, we'd eat a lot of curries (based on coconut milk) and stir-fries; you can regulate the spiciness according to taste (she put extra chili on everything) One thing is, there is monosodium glutamate in soy sauce, and there isn't really a good replacement that doesn't have it, though an anchovy mashed into the pan gives a bit (and doesn't taste fishy at all). There are literally thousands of possible variations on both curry and stir-fry. Risotto was another favorite, as well as variations on paella. My kids love every type of noodle dish including noodle salads, and apart from rice noodles, you can get gluten-free soba noodles that are very tasty.
We also made homemade sushi (avoiding seaweed because of MSG), and I just made it yesterday with a 7 year old and an 11 year old, it was great fun! I guess you could also make poke bowls. If raw fish is scary, seared tuna or salmon are good too.
My kids still love a salad we made with smallish florets of cauliflower, finely chopped scallions, mayo, plain yogurt and mustard (+ salt and pepper, obvs). I use half and half of yogurt and mayo, but you can adjust the balance to taste.
When I was a kid, I loved buckwheat crepes with fillings. They are fun to make and eat, and you can easily make individual fillings.

Maybe I'll come up with more dishes later, but till then, I'd like to point you to this article I found yesterday: A possible new weapon against eczema: live bacteria. It seems very promising and logical to me. Luckily, I've "grown out" of my allergies, but thinking back it would make a lot of sense if what happened was that I somehow found out how to rebalance my skin microbiome. I hope this research is good, because living with the eczema was hell, I feel sorry for your grandchild.
posted by mumimor at 9:21 AM on May 21, 2018 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Some really great ideas, thank you all!
posted by humph at 4:38 PM on May 21, 2018

Best answer: I've been meaning to try Dhokla for my spouse (no gluten, no dairy) ( rice/chickpea "cake" not sweet!)

"a vegetarian food item that originates from the Indian state of Gujarat. It is made with a fermented batter derived from rice and split chickpeas.[1] Dhokla can be eaten for breakfast, as a main course, as a side dish, or as a snack."

I also make "fritters" or croquettes with broc/ham/a little buckwheat flour and eggs, whatever leftovers I have, really. I use the Victory Garden cookbook for the ratios. Sometimes I don't cook them individually, I just make a large spanish type omelet

We also like Brocco-slaw and jicama

jicama might be good with hummus

Our fave soup - equal parts pumpkin/coconut milk/broth (chicken or veg), light curry spices.

I saw a watermelon gazpacho recipe that would be a lot more summery than the pumpkin soup!
posted by egk at 9:03 AM on May 23, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Ah great ideas! I had to google jicama, it's not a vegetable name I'd come across but it looks as if turnips, especially baby turnips would be a great substitute here in the UK. I already use them in soups alongside or instead of potatoes for us when in season (October-March) but hadn't thought to use them elsewhere such as in a slaw.

Dhokla is also an inspired suggestion, it's the sort of thing we can make together instead of the sweet cakes and biscuits we used to make and which I was having a hard time letting go of, it must be said... (not only has he got shitty eczema, he can't have chocolate? Life's a bitch.)

But with all these ideas under my belt (and in a google doc), I'm approaching it in a much more positive manner, thanks egk!
posted by humph at 1:24 AM on May 24, 2018