Published Feb 20, 2008 in the North Island Weekender 

Tanya, age 19, came into my office exasperated because the gluten free diet I had outlined for her was so difficult! Her digestive complaints were virtually gone by avoiding gluten for which she was thankful, but she wasn’t hardly eating anything because she just couldn’t figure out what to eat.  So I outlined a strategy to make it easier for her. Change is always hard especially for folks like Tanya who don’t like to cook. The idea is to try one new food per week and then incorporate it if it fits the palate.

First of all I suggested she find a few restaurants within her budget where she could purchase meals to go and then have them as lunches and dinners. Some of these meals would freeze very well to have on hand. Restaurants I suggested were Baan Thai, Amy’s, or the Noodle House in Campbell River and order soy/rice based dishes.

Here is a sample menu I suggested to her trying to choose those foods that required a minimum of cooking and preparation. If she is unwilling to cook at all this makes this exercise next to impossible! Choosing organic foods is always encouraged but due to financial restraints is not always possible.

Breakfasts:
The best frozen organic hashbrowns I have found are made by Alexia. They are fat free and cook up very easily in a little organic canola oil (a high temperature oil) in about 15-20 minutes. I find both of these at Quality Foods.

Organic millet rice oatbran cereal with almond or soy or rice milk.

Scrambled eggs. I cut up one Turkey Bite and fry for a few minutes. I then beat 2-3 eggs before adding them to the pan and cook together with the turkey. I don’t use any milk in scrambled eggs. 

Rice bread toasted with nut butter or jam. Steiners Bakery sells rice bread if someone like Tanya will not make the rice bread recipe I have on my website. This recipe is very simple and very tasty but requires a bread machine. Keep this bread frozen for a longer shelf life.

Gluten free waffles. These are found in the frozen section and most stores sell them.

Ultra Protein Plus (available at our office) drink blended with rice, soy or almond milk and a little fruit. The protein powder is made from pea protein and vanilla flavored so for those mornings when she had little time this drink works great while on the go!

Lunches:
Rice crackers of all sorts watching for sugar content. These are great with spreadable goat cheese Soignon brand or Sunflower Kitchen Babaghanouj dip (from Thrifty foods).

Rice pasta made with organic tomato sauce. A large amount can be made and stored or frozen for future meals. The trick to rice pasta is to cook it exactly 12 minutes and rinse it with cold water, so that it doesn’t turn mushy. It is very tasty.

Salads made with chicken, salmon or shrimp can be purchased at most restaurants. Because of the prevalence of gluten in salad dressings ask for oil and vinegar dressing that is served on the side. Delicious salads are served at the Riptide and Fusili Grill. Rice noodle type salads are served at the Baan Thai and the Noodle House.

Vegetable trays (Thrifty Foods) and salads ready to go are readily available. Organic baby carrots and organic cherry tomatoes are deliciously sweet on their own right out of the package. Frozen organic peas are good fresh out of the freezer without cooking. My favorite Caeser Salad dressing is made by Johnny’s which is gluten free making a Caesar salad very easy to prepare. Just cup up romaine lettuce, mix in dressing and season with salt and pepper.

Amy’s Organic split pea and lentil soup is gluten free along with Wolfgang Puck Organic Chicken and Rice soup.

Dinner:
Since Tanya was not willing to cook for herself many of the above suggestions could also be served at dinner.

Beef stir fry is pretty simple to make. Organic ground beef is available at Save On Foods and Alex Campbell Brand at Thrifty foods. Stir frying celery, peppers, garlic and onions first before adding the beef adds a lot of flavour. Once the stir fry is done then re-heating it or freezing it is very simple.  Mixed frozen vegetables steamed are a quick addition to this meal.

Wraps made with lettuce are also very easy and filling. Use ingredients such as capers, thinly sliced onions and lox rolled up in butter or romaine lettuce and dip in a soy mayonnaise. 4-6 wraps are very filling.

The Greek Salad recipe on my website takes about 5 minutes to put together. Purchase 4 tomatoes and one English cucumber, and one container of goat feta and there is enough for at least 4-6 servings.

Egg salad or canned salmon salad. It is pretty easy to make an egg salad mixture with soy mayonnaise and serve on a bed of romaine or butter lettuce. The same is true for canned salmon. My favorite canned salmon is from Heidi’s Seafoods, St. Jeans brand.

Turkey leg baked: this is very easy to cook! Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees, sprinkle turkey with paprika and bake for 30 minutes uncovered. Then turn down heat to 325 and cover with tin foil and cook another 60 minutes. Makes several meals and is delicious.

Snacks:
Organic frozen edamame soy beans in the pod (found at Thrifty Foods): these take 5 minutes to thaw before they are delicious eating, or throw into boiling water for a quick 5 minutes. The pods are not edible.

Almonds, soy nuts and walnuts are the healthiest nuts of choice. Keeping these in the car can stave off any hunger attack.

Turkey Bites (Pillers brand) also make a quick snack. This food is not perfect because it contains nitrites but they are gluten free and keep people away from sugar! 

Goat cheese with a handful of almonds makes a good snack. Favorite brands are Woolwich and Caprano.

Hard boiled eggs are also a good snack and travel well.

Avocado sliced in half, pit removed, with balsamic vinegar in the middle eaten with a spoon is very satisfying.

V.I. Vegetable Crisps and V.I. Sweet Potato and Carrot Crisps are gluten and trans fat free. (I found these at Quality Foods).

Que Pasa Organic Corn Tortilla Chips with salsa.

Popcorn: use an air popper and organic popcorn then apply melted butter, nutritional yeast flakes and Spike to flavour. Leftovers are great cold so keep in ziplock bag.

Tanya was encouraged that there were some easy suggestions for her to get started with. My hope was that she would find some foods that she enjoyed and then she would build her menu from there. Eating foods high in protein had the added benefit of maintaining her blood sugar and helping her with her moods and energy.