We will start off with food products you can use in fresh cooking - All really easy to get hold of.
Creamed coconut blocks are great for making homemade mild curries
Garlic ranks as one of the most potent remedies due to its properties and health benefits.
Chickpeas: A 175g serving contains about 2.8mg of zinc. They also contain folate and are high in protein and dietary fibre.
Chickpea Curry anyone?...
Cinnamon is a great source of manganese, fibre, iron, and calcium. It can also help fight Candida, among a long list of other health problems. Try adding some into your pancake mix, or try making gluten free cinnamon oat biscuits. Half a teaspoon a day can add great health benefits.
Cider Vinegar is great to put on jacket potatoes and chips, or to use as an ingredient to salad dressing.
Its a great way to get your stomach producing stomach acid too, so if you are feeling heavy in the stomach, bloated, or both, have one or two tea spoons in a glass of water before eating, you should feel the benefits - it's worth the not so nice taste!
Pasta
Doves Farm Gluten free pasta is in my opinion the best alternative, you just need to practice cooking it. Stay away from the corn pasta as it's much higher gi.
Heinz have recently brought out a gluten free pasta which is very good.
If you're intolerant to rice, Buckwheat pasta is a great alternative.
Doves farm gluten free flours are the best flours to use in gluten free baking. Self raising is the best cake and cookie maker and plain being best for pancakes and white sauces.
All gluten free flours require more beating and kneading unlike normal flour. Mix your cakes, or whatever you're making for longer than you normally would, you will get better results!
If you're intolerant to rice flour like me, I like to use buckwheat, chestnut and tapioca flour
You will always need baking powder when making cakes when using the gluten free self raising flour, stops it from sinking whilst in the oven. Adding too much will make the mixture bitter.
Now you won't really need xanthan gum (unless you're gluten free vegan/egg free) but thought you might like to know of it if you want to experiment with baking. it acts like gluten, but you shouldn't get a reaction from it. It's good for making breads, cakes, and adds a crunchier texture to pastry and biscuits. If you add too much it will give a very bitter taste.
Same stuff, different company. Both 250ml - the one on the left is usually cheaper.
Agave nectar/syrup is a low gi sugar, very nice to taste, without having the sugar spike. It will make cakes heavier as it does not solidify at room or cold temperatures. Great for making ice cream with, and having on toast, or on porridge, pancakes... The possibilities are endless!
I also love Maple syrup and Coconut sugar.
You can buy these pizza bases from the co-op. They are the best pizza bases I have tried from supermarkets. Although they still bloat me out, I will allow it for a treat, cos I love pizza!
For a gluten free vegan pizza base I would really recommend the Venice-Bakery products - Seriously tasty!
Quinoa is sold almost anywhere these days It's a great source of protein and also contains calcium.
Try to purchase Quinoa that's grown in the UK (Essex Quinoa)
Millet is a great alternative to couscous and rice. It's also high in Magnesium which can help aches and pains.
Perfect alternatives for Sunday roasts. Make sure the bouillon is gluten, dairy and yeast free.
These milk alternatives are brilliant if you don't like rice or soya.
They contain essential calcium and vitamin D - It's very important you have at least half a pint of this milk a day; the average body requires about 800mg a day. So drinking this, along with calcium rich foods such as broccoli, dried fruit, nuts and organic freshly squeezed orange juice, you should have no need to take supplements.
These chocolate flapjacks are a super sweet treat for when you can't manage to bake. From Tesco
These flapjacks are also seriously nice and chocolaty, but be aware they are still high in sugar. Available at Tesco
Prunes are not to everyone's taste, but if you are constipated, they are natures laxative. They are also high in calcium and phosphorous, essential for healthy bones.
They are used alot in Moroccan cooking, as most dried fruits are.Okay, not everyone likes dried fruit, but they contain a lot of nutrients.
Dried apricots contain iron and calcium, vitamin A and E, and a good source of fibre, as all dried fruits are. All dried fruits are high in natural sugars, so only small amounts at a time to be consumed.
Dried pitted dates do not look nice, but I can assure you, they are, they are very sweet, just one will satisfy my own sugar craving, give them a go! They are packed with loads of vitamins, minerals and fibre too.
Cashews are amazing!
They are creamy, sweet tasting, nutritional and filling. They can be used in cooking in so many ways you will be surprised what you can do with them. Best consumed Raw so that you can benefit from the enzymes and antioxidants these little super foods
contain.
Pumpkin seeds are slightly bitter to taste, but agave nectar sorts that out straight away.
they are a good source for lots of vitamins minerals, and has been known to help give better quality sleep. contains vitamin E, calcium, iron, magnesium zinc, etc.
sunflower seeds go very well with pumpkin seeds, another good source of fibre, vitamin E, B vitamins (etc) and minerals (almost the same as pumpkin seeds)
Sesame seeds are brilliant to sprinkle over vegetables, they are a good source of most minerals our bodies require, taste good too.
Sweet potato is a scrumptious food, bake it, mash it, and turn it into chips, just like white potato. Not only is it sweeter and creamier than white potato, it's also lower gi nad a great source of vitamin A if you can’t eat meat. contains more fibre. An all round good food.
Most Tamari is gluten free so is a great soy sauce alternative
This brand of gluten free noodles is very recommended can be found at goodness direct and realfoods
Yes, you can have mayonnaise! just be careful with which ones you buy, some contain lactic acid, which is derived from dairy, Hellmann's full fat mayo is safe and easy to get hold of.
Breakfast cereals.
I'm not keen on cereals, as they are usually high in sugar - But if you really need it, then I would recommend Nature's Path cereals - Just be sure to check the label!
These 3 have no added sugar, great for adding your own coconut sugar and fruits.
Doves Farm Fibre flakes. I can only seem to find them in Sainsbury's and are by far the best bran flake alternative. I mix mine with gluten free oats, half a teaspoon of cinnamon, almond milk and agave nectar to make a yum breakfast or snack. Great with soya yogurt or sprinkled on to fruit smoothies too. Note: this is rough fibre and may make you constipated, which is why I recommend having some oats mixed in to keep the fibre intake at a balance.
Recommended recipe books available online
Recipes I have tried and loved from the recommended books.Vegetable crumble - So what do you eat?
Cashew nut loaf - So what do you eat?
Chilli non carne - So what do you eat?
Everything I have tried from cake angels has been amazing!
Flat bread - intolerant gourmet
basic biscuits - intolerant gourmet
sausage and bean stew - intolerant gourmet
I have recently acquired another book called Ms. Cupcake, The Naughtiest Cupcakes in Town. Its a great little book as most recipes can be converted to gluten free.
I haven't had a bad meal from any one of these books, they are really worth buying!
These are the only nut cutlets by create a good life that are wheat/gluten/dairy free free.
Linda Mc cartney Red onion and rosemary sausages contain no gluten or dairy and they taste amazing!
These flavours of innocent pot ready meals are all gluten and dairy free, all the other flavours contain wheat and dairy, so stick to these flavours. Worth paying for!
Reduced fat houmous can be easier to digest, but if you can handle high fat content foods then there's nothing wrong having the full fat version instead.
Rice cakes are a good easy snack if they don't bloat you out, Also yeast free.
Kallo use wholegrain rice, so if possible buy this one so you grab the minerals that go with it!
Whole earth peanut butter is the best out there, they don't add sugar, or any nasty oils, just pure peanuts with a bit of salt, if you want sweetness, add abit of Agave to it, or boil up some strawberries to go with it. Of course, everyone knows that peanut butter and banana is a match made in heaven...
If you must have some jam to go with your peanut butter, I recommend this one, as it has the lowest sugar content per 100g that I can find, If you find a lower one however (that is sweetener free) then please let me know!
Sainsbury's Soups
Okay, Sainsbury's win hands down for super soups! So, if you are in a hurry, or don't feel like cooking, these are the best soups that are milk and gluten free. If you want the best variety in easy soup, then Sainsbury's is the place to go.
Sweeties!
Now I didn't want to list these as I'm trying to keep you all healthy, but we need a treat sometimes, so by high demand I have a list of sweeties that you can enjoy that is gluten and dairy free (also vegan).
Chocolate
All plain chocolate that has no milk or (milk related) in the ingredients will have a warning on the back saying may contain milk traces; this is nothing to worry about most of the time.
These chocolates will be great to cook with, and if you keep trying it, you will probably get a taste for it on its own too.
Avoid chocolate that states 'Not suitable for milk allergy sufferers'
Why not try the Tesco Dark chocolate sweetened with Stevia as it is much lower is sugar and tastes great!
Ice Cream
I have recently tried the Almond dream frozen dessert and they taste sooo good! The salted caramel apparently tastes like real ice cream! no wonder we finished the tub! you can find it in most waitrose supermarkets.
I also Love Booja Booja (available in Holland and Barrett)
It's quite pricey, but so worth it!
