Alissa's book and allergies

[babeak]

Okay, I was just gearing up to do some of the recipes and I am disappointed that nearly everything that I was thinking of making has the cheeses or nuts in one form or another.

My daughter is allergic to wheat and nuts (specifically cashew, but we are now avoiding all nuts). Ergh...

Hmm....Anyone have suggestions on successful substitutions particularly in any of these recipes? Anyone else in the same boat?

[ReneeH]

Hi!

What recipes are you looking at? There are MANY that don't contain nuts that I've found... I have a son who is allergic to all nuts, except almonds for some reason.... Anyway, I usually substitute Sunflower Seed Cheese for him, which he loves...

For the recipes that call for nuts, you could try to substitute Pumpkin or Sunflower Seeds...

It is a challenge dealing with an allergy, I know. But, get creative! Let us know what you come up with!

[babeak]

I can't use rejuvelac, which is made with wheat for sunflower seed cheese. Last night I was flipping through the recipes that caught my eye and it seemed like they all had some kind of cheese in them.

[ReneeH]

The Quick Cheese can be made with Sunflower Seeds...just leave out the nuts... I actually add a couple of Garlic Cloves too and it's really good!

Here are some recipes I've made from Raw Food for Everyone (NUT FREE)...If you'd like to see photos of these, check out the thread:

http://rawfoodtalk.com/showthread.php?t=62303

All Smoothies and Juices
Collard Rolls & Nori Rolls
Onion Rings (substitute Almonds for Sunflower seeds)
BLTA (use Sunflower or Pumpkin Seed Cheese)
Potoato Chips
Sweet Potato Chips
Corn Chowder
Chocolate Pudding
Alissa's Worcestershire Portobello Dandelion Salad (I used Spinach, though...)
Pizza (with or without Seed Cheese)
Lettuce Wrap
Sweet-Potato Grapefruit Soup
Alissa's Enchaladas
Corn Chips
Raw Granola (leave out the Pecans...)
Star Anise Papaya Steak
Tomato Ravioli (use Sunflower Seed Cheese)
Marinated mushroom, with guacamole, tomato, sprouts and olive
Whipped Parsnips
Sweet Potato Pie (substitute Seeds or just do it without a crust...)

Hopefully this list will help you! :)

[Sweet lips]

Instead of rejuvalac you can use probiotic powder for the cheese, same effect.

[Conscious Midwife]

If the nut allergy is only nut specific then you might want to try brazil nuts with nutritional yeast as a very delicious substitute. To this I've added sea salt a lil onion and lots of garlic.

[Shona]

I can't use rejuvelac, which is made with wheat for sunflower seed cheese. Last night I was flipping through the recipes that caught my eye and it seemed like they all had some kind of cheese in them.

Have you tried making rejuvelac with another grain? A blogger I know is currently experimenting with quinoa rejuvelac. Rye, which ferments very easily, might work as well.

[tvillemom]

Can you use SEEDS???? I know I have almost always substituted sunflower seeds for almonds in a recipe.(because sunflower seeds were so much cheaper!!) Feel free to try and substitute any nut in a recipe for a seed....

[babeak]

She is allergic to cashew and they recommend eliminating all tree nuts. Dang. The seed cheese is fine, but rejuvalec is wheat, so that won't work. I have not tried other things. I like the probiotic powder idea. However, anytime that I have made a pate/burger with sunflower seeds she won't eat it....even when I put mushrooms, her favorite in it. She will eat sunflower seeds fine. The only way that she has eaten a sunflower pate is when it is dried between nori sheets. Go figure.

-Corn Chowdershe is not a huge fan of corn and blended raw soups have too much air for me and while they taste good, they *immediately* make me nauseated....though green smoothies are fine....can't find anyone else who has the same complaints
-Chocolate Pudding---not giving DD chocolate at this point
-Sweet-Potato Grapefruit Souptried this and did not have success...I ate a grapefruit from the same bunch and it is really that aftertaste that was awful with the soup
-Star Anise Papaya Steakneither of us like papaya that much and that requires smoking....not going to happen as we don't have that stuff
-Onion Rings (substitute Almonds for Sunflower seeds)I had a horrible horrible reaction (very sulfury belchs and other undesirable digestive issues) with one bite of onion bread and have sworn off onions...at least where they are the main ingredient off....kind of like some people who never partarke of tequilia after a bad experience
-Whipped Parsnips I am not sure about eating these raw http://ezinearticles.com/?What-Not-to-Eat-on-a-Raw-Food-Diet&id=3786342 and http://www.foodsmart.govt.nz/whats-in-our-food/chemicals-nutrients-additives-toxins/specific-foods/ I have avoided parsnips as I had kind of numbness in my mouth the last time I tried them raw....maybe I could try peeling them as suggested in this second link
-All Smoothies and Juiceswe do smoothies about once a day depending upon availability of ingred. These days where we live, the greens are absolutely terrible as portions of the measly bundles that can get right now of what I buy at the store on that day is not even edible (local farms are not available because of winter) and organic fruit is often limited to apples (don't make good green smoothies too much air) and green bananas, zucchini and cukes and avos are also just gross...:(, so as winter goes on smoothies become more and more limited. Seriously, today at the store the zucchini had mold and all the ends of the cukes were soft *AND* the greens were wilted, bruised and slimy:mad:. It does not make me eager to eat raw or veg for that matter.:(However, that is just a fact that we live very far out and fresh produce is hard to get, especially at this time of year.
-Collard Rollsnot really happening with DD and I can't even get collards these days... i will have to wrap them in something else....she is not a huge fan of wrapped up food anyway...though she is not your typical picky 3yro eater by any stretch, there are just some things she is not into wrapped foods being one of them &

Still I was looking for more entree like things assuming that I could get the seed cheese thing to work. If anyone has a tried a true seed cheese that is wheat/gluten free to work, I would be willing to try that. I just feel really sad that a lot of the cool recipes that one buys the book for are chocked full of nuts. That means a lot of experimenting...and frankly given my Grapefruit soup experience I want something that I know is supposed to work so that I can follow the recipe as written as Renee suggests.

I guess that leaves the following perhaps *if* I can get a wheat/gluten free seed cheese that is good.....Renee have you tried one without Rejuvalac?:
Alissa's Enchaladas
Corn Chips
Raw Granola (leave out the Pecans...)
Alissa's Worcestershire Portobello Dandelion Salad (I used Spinach, though...)
Pizza (with or without Seed Cheese)
Lettuce Wrap
Nori Rolls
BLTA (use Sunflower or Pumpkin Seed Cheese)
Potoato Chips
Sweet Potato Chips
Tomato Ravioli (use Sunflower Seed Cheese)
Marinated mushroom, with guacamole, tomato, sprouts and olive
Sweet Potato Pie (substitute Seeds or just do it without a crust...)

I am really bummed as we went to a potluck tonight and there was nothing that I could give my daughter except what I brought. In any case, it made me realize how tough it is going to be with DD if she does not outgrow these things. She had a sesame allergy and she outgrew that AMEN! I only recently starting giving her nuts because of that sparingly, but then she started reacting to cashews.

Sorry if this is sounding whiny, but I am currently frustrated by what is available, appealing and edible, and then this is further compounded and reduced by what DD can have and I am bummed that I can't make a lot of the recipes without substituting a lot of things.

Signed Bummed, Frustrated and Whiny :o

[Shona]

Here is a recipe for raw cheeze that doesn't use Rejuvelac. It is from Vibrant Living by James Levin and Natalie Cederquist. Because you don't want to use nuts, you could try this with all sunflower seeds instead. The flavour will be slightly different, but I don't see why it wouldn't work.

Basic Sun Almond Seed Cheeze

1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup almonds
2 cups filtered water
1 teaspoon white miso - miso isn't raw, but it is considered a living food

Grind the sunflower seeds and almonds until powdery. Add one cup of the filtered water and blend. Add remaining water and miso and blend well. Pour into a very clean jar, lay a dish towel over top, and let ferment at room temperature for 8 to 20 hours [the longer the time, the tangier the cheeze]. The mixture should separate into two layers - cheeze on the top and whey on the bottom.

This makes a soft cheeze. Save the whey to use in sauces or salad dressings. Store in the refrigerator.

[GreenT]

(don't make good green smoothies too much air) and green bananas, zucchini and cukes and avos are also just gross...

You don't have to use green bananas. I always use ripe ones. To have a "green" smoothie, not all of the ingredients have to be green. :)

[AllergyGirl]

You mentioned that she's not crazy about things with sunflower seeds in them. I too hate sunflower seeds, and anything made with them has that flavor that I can't stand. I've gotten around that by substituting pumpkin seeds for the SF seeds. I haven't tried to make a pate out of them, because I'm not that crazy about the things made with nuts (walnut meatballs, for example), and part of what I don't like about it is the texture, so I didn't figure I'd like the pate for that reason. But for other things requiring SF seeds, I just swap them out with pumpkin seeds. It might not taste like what it "should" taste like, but it appeals to me, and I figure that's what matters.

[babeak]

You don't have to use green bananas. I always use ripe ones. To have a "green" smoothie, not all of the ingredients have to be green. :)

I don't use green bananas! :p I was lamenting that that was all I can get for bananas. I get so irritated when I go to the grocery store and want a green smoothie and that is all I can get is green bananas...I don't use them, but wait until the "ripen" as green bananas really just go bad. They don't turn into those wonderful yellow bananas with green ends.

LOL

[ReneeH]

Sorry if this is sounding whiny, but I am currently frustrated by what is available, appealing and edible, and then this is further compounded and reduced by what DD can have and I am bummed that I can't make a lot of the recipes without substituting a lot of things.

Signed Bummed, Frustrated and Whiny :o

Hi Babeak...

I'm sorry you're so frustrated... I totally understand your frustration....my Son is allergic to nuts, so I have a challenge with him, too.

What I do is just try a LOT of recipes and make notes about what he likes/doesn't like...what he CAN have and what he can't... When I find that something works, I stay on that path. Some things I just had to make for myself and make him something else...trying to get as close to mine as possible for him. For example, when I made Alissa's Crepes, I filled his with Strawberries instead of the Cream (in LOLF)...when I make Quick Cheese (in RFFE), I use Sunflower Seeds or Pumpkin Seeds for him instead. When I made Alissa's Brownie Sundae, I omitted all of the nuts and just used Seeds for his...and it came out JUST AS GOOD!!!!

You've got to find what works for you with your family or you'll be heading for SAD food... Instead of focusing on what they CAN'T have, focus on what they CAN have. You *have* to be able to feed yourself or it's NOT gonna work for you. If you can't find things in RFFE that you can make, what about LOLF or another RAW book? If being Raw is what you want, you won't give up on it...you WILL find recipes that work for YOU and your family.

About the Corn Chowder: Try taking the Corn and rubbing it down with Avacado and adding Sea Salt!!! My DH doesn't like the corn Chowder, but *LOVES* the Corn that way!

The Whipped Parsnips are SOOO GOOD!!! But, if you don't want to do that, try Califlower...

Funny thing about Papaya....I actually never liked it...UNTIL I made the Papaya Steak!!! And, you don't need to Cold Smoke it! Take a peek at the recipe again...

Try different combinations...different seeds.... You have a unique situation that requires you to get creative! If they don't like Collards, who says you can't wrap the fillings up in Romaine!!! Or, use a bed of Spinach!!! Get CREATIVE!!! :) Be sure to post what you do so that others can also benefit from your creativity!

I'm sorry I wasn't much help to you! I tried....

[babeak]

Hi Babeak...

Some things I just had to make for myself and make him something else...trying to get as close to mine as possible for him. For example, when I made Alissa's Crepes, I filled his with Strawberries instead of the Cream (in LOLF)...when I make Quick Cheese (in RFFE), I use Sunflower Seeds or Pumpkin Seeds for him instead. When I made Alissa's Brownie Sundae, I omitted all of the nuts and just used Seeds for his.

I will sprinkle nuts on my things, but I try not to make anything that she can't have...she wants to try all kinds of foods and at 3yr it is hard enough to understand without making really yummy stuff she can't have and eating it in front of her. ;)

You've got to find what works for you with your family or you'll be heading for SAD food... Instead of focusing on what they CAN'T have, focus on what they CAN have. You *have* to be able to feed yourself or it's NOT gonna work for you. If you can't find things in RFFE that you can make, what about LOLF or another RAW book? If being Raw is what you want, you won't give up on it...you WILL find recipes that work for YOU and your family.

I have tons of raw books, but of course here on this site everyone raves about LOLF RFFE. However, I have not really found another cookbook that makes things like I want. I want more greens and less nuts.

About the Corn Chowder: Try taking the Corn and rubbing it down with Avacado and adding Sea Salt!!! My DH doesn't like the corn Chowder, but *LOVES* the Corn that way!

The Whipped Parsnips are SOOO GOOD!!! But, if you don't want to do that, try Califlower...

Funny thing about Papaya....I actually never liked it...UNTIL I made the Papaya Steak!!! And, you don't need to Cold Smoke it! Take a peek at the recipe again...

Thanks for these reccommendations....on the corn, she will want to pick them out. I will take another look at the papaya recipe.
.

Thanks for the support.