new to the forum

[chf-harold]

well sorta new got sidetracked used to be here a long time ago then got real busy and stopped coming in anymore. but i'm back. also if anybody knows anybody in the forums from china it would be a great help thanks

[Kate]

Hello - I entered "allergies, cooking" in my browser, and it brought me here!

Wonderful! I am passionate about cooking, growing as many ingredients as I can, using fresh organic foods, and trying anything once. I learned to cook and garden helping my grandmother; we cooked for 40 harvest hands most of every summer. Thought I had died and gone to heaven when she bought a mechanical dishwasher!

We do a lot of grilling, especially using fresh herbs. But you have to grow lots of them!

My husband is a diabetic, and we both have significant food allergies; I also have Celiac disease (gluten intolerance). So, I am looking for people who can help me find and learn how to use ingredients and foods with which I have no experience.

My reaction to shellfish is anaphylactic shock - people die from that!

We must AVOID wheat, oats, rye, barley, teff and spelt.

No Baker's Yeast, Brewer's Yeast, or any food product that develops yeasts naturally (meats that are hung to be cured, such as sausages, hams, jerky, etc.) or aged cheeses.

Nothing fermented - no wines, liquers, distilled spirits, vinegars, soy sauce, tamari, teriyaki, chili sauces. I would like to know more about using tamarind and miso as sauce bases.

No cane sugar: I find that I can substitute honey and date sugar in some things, and I still bake for my friends and family who don't have allergies. Anybody figured out how to use beet sugar in a cookie successfully?

We are also allergic to black and white pepper(yea, both of us! yeech!) I dry and crush papaya seeds, for a moderately-OK substitute.

The rest of the list isn't too bad, although we do miss cranberries and strawberries a lot! Bananas, pinto, lima, and kidney beans; radishes, sage, teas made from the camellia plant, juniper berries, fruit juice concentrates and soy round out our "no-no" list.

I am very allergic to sulphur, a compound in most fertilizers; it's also used to prepare a lot of frozen foods - particularly corn - so it's fresh, organic veggies when we can buy them.

I am always looking for dependable sources of reasonably-priced free-range buffalo, ostrich, venison, rabbit and other "wild" meats.

Oh - leftovers have to be planned carefully: we can only eat a food once in 4 days, so it has to be either no leftovers (learning to cook for two people has been a real challenge!) or freezable.

I am so thrilled to find a forum of creative people who understand food and cooking!

Kate

[panini]

Kate,
Do you have a food saver or something similar?
I think there is someone here that carries wild meats . Someone may know.

[Kate]

I used to have one, but it must have gotten lost in one of the moves! LOL!!

We've been looking at one of those vacuum-in-storage-container systems, but I haven't been able to find out how the vacuum does/doesn't affect the anaerobic nasties. There is no air supply, of course, but I don't know if the lack of air pressure is a factor in the little nasties' multiplying.

Storage temperatures may have as much to do with what does/doesn't grow as air supply.

Anybody know? oops! Am I in the correct forum for the continuation of this discussion?

[Mezzaluna]

Chf-harold, welcome back! Check out the International Chefs' forum to locate the members you're interested in talking with.

Kate, your list of "no-nos" is prodigious, but it sounds like you have a handle on what you and your family can and can't eat, and when. That must keep you busy! What else do you enjoy doing?

You're right, your discussion is ready to move out of the Welcome Forum and into the rest of the board. You could try Cook's Corner as a good spot for this topic.

Welcome!
Mezzaluna

[Kate]

Thanks for asking!

I have the great good fortune to have married the love of my life 15 years ago; just being together now that his kids and my kids are grown, and enjoying our 2 little grand-girls (Ally Ann is 3, Madeline Marie almost 3 months) and delighting in the kids' being such good parents takes up a lot of time.

We enjoy the beach, flying kites, and cruising in our seafoam green 1955 Ford Thunderbird. We are both artists - acrylic, charcoal, mixed media, collage - and are thinking of taking up tai chi.

[katbalou]

king arthur flour carries come gluten free mixes. you could check out there website to see if any might be good for you.
kat

[panini]

Seafoam green, white rag? The president of the local thunderbird club lives two doors down. He has two,Marroon/black rag, Seafoam green/white rag.
Used to talk all the time for I have a 66 comet cyclone pace car, but don't hear from him much since he found out I prefer my(what he calls, limey car) 1974 Jensen Healey.
We need to start a CT car club

[Mezzaluna]

I'll bring my gull-wing Mercedes, as soon as I buy one.