Cooking for an allergic child

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One never stops learning. When I was growing up I never cooked anything except instant noodles 😀 When I got married I had to learn how to cook rice (and use the washing machine too!). So you can say that I am so not Nigella Lawson 😀

Fast forward to today, I not only have to cook almost all meals for our family of 9, I also have to cook special meals for dd and myself since we have severe eczema. God is so not done with me, eh?

When I first saw the long list of foods that dd was allergic to I nearly fainted. Eliminating wheat and dairy is hard enough but her list was super long and included stuff that we eat without even thinking! But the thing that hit me the most is that we no longer have the luxury of eating out – at least till her body heals itself. And I no longer get a break from cooking. That was depressing.

Dh used to bring us out for meals at least once a week, especially on weekends to give me (and the rest of the family I am sure!) from cooking. But now, even when the rest of the family enjoy their food outings, dd and I will bring along our food and eat that. So I still have to cook, albeit in a smaller amount.

Before GAPS, I substitued rice and noodles with quinoa, buckwheat and sweet potato noodles. For seasoning and marinating I used a combination of salt, herbs (Italian usually), honey, pepper, sesame oil and tapioca flour. Is it boring? It hasn’t been as bad as I thought it would be. But since healing the body was top priority, even if it was boring, we still pressed on.

To solve the breakfast problem (do you realise almost all breakfast foods are wheat based?) I serve ourselves leftovers from dinner or eat home-made, grain free granola with almond or coconut milk (made fresh in my Blendtec and then frozen). I used to serve dd Green Smoothies which she loves but they don’t fill her up at all. Even when I add chia seeds and avocados. She is hungry by 10am!

I didn’t bake alternatives to bread since most recipes call for eggs and guar or xantham gum and usually have rice or sorghum as an alternative to wheat flour. But I did manage to find a grain free, vegan free wrap recipe. So we still got to eat something starchy in the morning instead of bread.

So actually switching to the GAPS Intro actually made my life easier since we mainly eat and drink meat and bone broth for all 3 meals. And almost everything is boiled in the beginning. Now if only all the family can switch to this diet 😀

However,  our gas bills have increased since there is almost always a pot of soup cooking on the stove the whole day. And the kitchen is just so hot and humid 🙁

But the actual cooking is easy. I usually throw in whichever meat and bones scheduled to be cooked into my largest pot, fill it up with water and some salt. Then I just boil the whole thing for a minimum of 2 hours on very low heat. Then I portion out what is needed for dd and myself for one meal and leave the rest of the soup in the pot. And voila breakfast, lunch and dinner is served! 😀

Boring? Yep. But super tasty! After being weaned from additives and “extra” seasonings, “plain” broth is super delicious!

After progressing through the various stages, we are now allowed roasted/baked meats and not just boiled meats so our meals have been more varied. But whenever I am pressed for time I fall back to just eating and drinking our meat and bone broth.

So while it has been really challenging to cook everything from scratch every single meal, I have, by the grace of God, been able to find some sort of rhythm to our days now.

Moving on to full GAPS will present another challenge I am sure as I have to learn to make new dishes but it will widen our repertoire of dishes served, which I am sure dd will appreciate. She’s been such a trooper. Never complaining about what is served and actually enjoying the GAPS meals.

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