Gluten-free AND vegetarian?!?

[StaceyinLA]

How hard will it be to get all my nutrition like this? I'd like to try the GF to see if it will help my joint pain. I'm also vegetarian but will likely eat some fish if I try this, and maybe the free-range beef we buy from my sister once a week.

 

Bread is a MAJOR weakness and I eat a lot of it.

 

I would like more info on the soaking grains thing.

[GoVanGogh]

I have been gluten-free for over a year now.

I am a former vegetarian, though I still limit the amount of meat that I consume. DH decided to go on a (mostly) raw food diet earlier this year. I was apprehensive - thinking how hard it would be to be gluten-free and mostly vegetarian w/mostly raw foods. :glare:

I will say -- we eat an amazing amount of raw salads! :lol: But I have a lovely grocery store with a wide variety of produce, so I do have fun shopping for new veggies to add to our diets. We also round out almost every meal with a fruit salad.

I do add cooked beans to many salads. And lots of avocados!

Typical breakfast for me is either Greek yogurt w/ground flaxseed and almond slices or banana w/almond butter. When I went gluten-free, I didn't think I would ever be able to give up toast and bagels at breakfast.

I eat a large salad for one meal a day.

 

I am still amazed that my DH wanted to go on a raw diet. He has always been a good veggie eater, but also liked his fried foods and meat. But he was starting to have health problems and wanted to get control of his diet. With him totally on board, it has been easier for me to think of veggies as a complete meal. Sometimes we will have a raw veggie tray w/homemade guacamole for supper.

 

If you eat cooked beans, cheese and eggs, it would probably be easier to adjust.

 

Bread was a major problem for me. It nearly killed me to give it up. But - my joint pain went away w/in a week. The difference was so amazing that I decided I could live w/o bread.

 

You can buy gluten-free pizza dough, spaghetti, etc. Some are better than others. :tongue_smilie:

[bettyandbob]

If you do a search on amazon, you'll see some gluten free vegetarian cookbooks have been published in the last couple of years. I've gotten a couple and am starting to use them more. Vegetarian Times now notes in it's index whether or not something is gluten free, it's helpful enough that I subscribed to the magazine last year. In fact I made six quinoa and greens casseroles to put in my freezer tonight--a recipe from the mag. Vegetarian Times website is helpful too and has all recipes published in the mag so you don't have to subscribe. I've even used recipes they said weren't gluten free. One that comes to mind was called Samosa Pie. All I had to do was make my own crust.

 

I have to look at cook books carefully because our family has sensitivity to soy. So, cookbooks that rely on soy products are no good to me. Since we can't do soy, I don't think we can go vegan. We would be too limited on protien sources without dairy and egg. Maybe I'm wrong. Anyway, my gluten free family is making steps to be meatless many days of the week (much to the dismay of my self proclaimed "meatafertarian" 15yob).

[Lisa in Jax]

Ds is gluten-free, and dd wanted to be not just vegetarian, but vegan. ACK! ;-)

 

Here's a good GF bread recipe:

 

Combine:

2c brown rice flour

2c tapioca flour

2/3c. milk powder (Use Dari-free if you're avoiding casein)

1/4c. olive oil or butter

1/4c. sugar

3.5 tsp xanthan gum

1-1.5 tsp salt

 

In another bowl, combine 1.5 TBS yeast and 1 TBS sugar in 1.75 cup tepid water.

 

When the yeast water is frothy, add it to the dry ingredients, along with 3 eggs. Mix just until combined. The dough will be wetter than gluten-containing bread dough, but it will bake fine.

 

Spray two bread pans with non-stick spray or grease the pans with butter or olive oil. Add 1/2 of the dough to each pan, cover with Saran Wrap, and allow to rise until doubled. DO NOT poke the bread down.

 

Remove the Saran Wrap, and bake at 375F for 35-40 minutes. (If you don't bake this long enough, it will deflate when it is removed from the pan.)

 

Cool before slicing. Put waxed paper between the slices and freeze it in a ziplock bag if you won't eat it all within 3 days. To make the bread soft again after freezing it, microwave or toast it briefly.

 

You can also make rolls by putting the dough into muffin tins. If you want fresh bread on a regular basis, freeze it (unbaked) in the muffin tin. When you want fresh rolls, preheat the oven and take out a few frozen rolls (no need to thaw before baking) and bake a couple at a time. (Bake rolls for 15-20 minutes.)

 

HIH,

 

Lisa

Edited August 7, 2010 by Lisa in Jax

[StaceyinLA]

Would you be willing to share some salad recipes?? Dh LOVES his meat, but will eat several meatless meals each week if he has salad. He LOVES salad.

 

I'm starting Monday morning. I have a class reunion tomorrow night and it's at a top-notch seafood restaurant. I paid 50 bucks to go so I'm not being that careful! :-p

 

Any good gluten-free grain recipes? I'm gonna wanna fill in with lots of the ones I CAN eat.

[StaceyinLA]

I don't like to use much soy and I tend to shy away from vegan cookbooks that seem to have some form of it in every recipe.

 

Also, would you mind sharing the quinoa and greens recipe?

 

Lisa, is the bread light or really heavy and dense?

[Peela]

I added a soaked grain bread recipe in the other thread. http://www.2die4livefoods.com.au/recipes.html

Dh is gluten free and strictly vegetarian (he eats eggs daily though)...its not so easy but we are finding substitutes. He is having eggs on rice cakes for breakfast. He loves rice so rice dishes are doing well- various curries and rice, stir fry vegies and rice, fried rice . I make a lot of salads. We had miso soup last night, with rice crackers.

It is very possible. We tried shop bought gluten free bread. That stuff is disgusting, and looking at the ingredient list, I really cant see how good it is for you. I do have a good home made gluten free recipe but teh ingredients are a little obscure and I have only made it once. So I am making my soaked spelt bread for occasional bread, and the rest of the time, we use rice as our main grain, and eat ltos of vegies, eggs for protein (I eat some meat and fish when I crave more protein).

Its not so doable..but I havent yet bought a vegetarian gluten free cookbook and cant find one in my library- they all have meat recipes. Well, if you eat meat, its not really a problem is it! (from a vegos perspective).

[Food4Thought]

I find that I actually eat less meat since going gluten-free. I drink a lot of green smoothies and toss in some hemp protein powder. Here's my favorite green smoothie recipe:

 

Kale & Avocado Smoothie

3 kale leaves (only use the leaf part, the stem is sour)

2 bananas

1 c. strawberries

1/2 avocado

2 c. water

1/4 c. hemp protein powder

Blend all until smooth. Makes 2 meal-size smoothies, or 4 medium size. Will stay good in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

 

I invented a salad last year that I tend to make quite a bit too. I use red-leaf lettuce and spinach, pistachios, craisins, and apples cut into bite-sized pieces. My DH really likes it.

 

Bread was really hard for me to give up too. I was completely addicted to it. I used to be able to eat half a loaf of bread in one sitting. Now that I know what it did to me, I won't even touch the stuff.

 

Sorghum is a tasty grain with a lot of protein - I use a sorghum mix for the rare times I decide to bake something (usually scones). I also like Bob's Red Mill Pizza Crust Mix, because it uses a sorghum base.

[StaceyinLA]

I had a blowout today (Mexican-my fave) because I knew it was coming. I'm really hoping for some positive results because I really have been having tons of joint pain.

[melissel]

I find that I actually eat less meat since going gluten-free. I drink a lot of green smoothies and toss in some hemp protein powder. Here's my favorite green smoothie recipe:

 

Kale & Avocado Smoothie

3 kale leaves (only use the leaf part, the stem is sour)

2 bananas

1 c. strawberries

1/2 avocado

2 c. water

1/4 c. hemp protein powder

Blend all until smooth. Makes 2 meal-size smoothies, or 4 medium size. Will stay good in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

 

Amy, would it be OK if I just followed you around on here and copied all your recipes? :D Oh, wait, I'm already doing that! I've been wanting to try some smoothies but I'm kind of afraid. The idea of greens and fruit together still kind of grosses me out! But I like that this has avocado in it. Avocado makes everything better! This might be the recipe that finally prompts my trial run.

 

Stacey, the best thing about salad is that you can throw anything and everything that sounds good into it! When we're not getting lettuce from local sources over the spring and summer, I buy the huge Earthbound farms box of organic mixed baby greens. It's a bit more expensive, but it virtually guarantees that I won't lose the heads of lettuce in the produce drawer and let them rot :blushing: It's impossible to miss that giant box in the middle of the fridge!

 

My very favorite salad, the one I'll eat anytime, anywhere is this: a giant bowl of mixed greens, crumbled goat cheese (Costco has a nice, firm one at a good price--it crumbles into salad perfectly), cold cooked peas and sometimes soybeans (from leftover eda mame), lots of coarsely chopped pecans, and maple balsamic vinaigrette. Pure heaven. But I pretty much throw any and all veggies and cheeses into salad--chopped cucumbers, chopped peppers, peas, corn, chickpeas, beans, chunks of whatever cheese I have handy, shredded parmesan, peanuts with an Asian-style dressing, pecans or walnuts with a sweeter vinaigrette, loads of sliced veggies with a ranch or green goddess dressing... I can put away a shocking amount of greens this way :D

 

HTH!

 

ETA: Check out Panera's Web site for more salad inspiration. They have a summer salad that sounds so good, but I haven't tried it yet. It's the one with the strawberries, but if I liked tomatoes, I'd be all over that other one:

 

http://www.panerabread.com/menu/cafe/ (scroll down a bit)

 

And one final thought. When I was first limiting gluten, I had a hard time with the bread thing, but not quite enough to get myself into a bread-making habit. My fallback when I was really craving bread was to use Pamela's baking mix to make drop biscuits. I would add a good amount of grated Grana Padano cheese to add salt and moisture (any good, hard cheese would work--actually, even cheddar and other cheese would work!) and a good amount of rosemary and bake them up in just a few minutes. They were fast and easy and satisfied the need. Eventually the bread craving went away almost altogether, though I still yearn for it when I see and smell good artisan-type breads. Now, I wish I could say the same for my chocolate chip cookie craving, though I think I've found a pretty good substitute, finally.

Edited August 9, 2010 by melissel

[Food4Thought]

Amy, would it be OK if I just followed you around on here and copied all your recipes? :D Oh, wait, I'm already doing that! I've been wanting to try some smoothies but I'm kind of afraid. The idea of greens and fruit together still kind of grosses me out! But I like that this has avocado in it. Avocado makes everything better! This might be the recipe that finally prompts my trial run.

 

 

Hey, I'm glad somebody likes the recipes and doesn't think I'm a total nutcase like most of my local friends and family. :D Trust me, you can't taste the greens. Go easy on the kale at first, if you're afraid (one big leaf instead of 2 or 3). The other smoothie I make uses spinach, strawberries, blueberries, bananas & orange juice, and it comes out purple instead of green - so you'd never know the greens were there at all.

 

Those cheese drop biscuits sound really good!!

 

Stacey, I hope your first days are going well! The first 3 days were the hardest for me, but it's been a cake walk (all gluten-free cakes, of course) since then. :)

[StaceyinLA]

Today is day one. So far I've had a smoothie made with my fresh, raw goat milk, organic yogurt, blueberries, strawberries and wheatgrass powder.

 

I had a blackened shrimp salad for lunch.

 

For supper I am making homemade veggie soup and a squash recipe from Alicia Silverstone's book.

 

I did throw some beef soup bones in my soup, but I only buy grass-fed, free-range beef that my sister raises, so I feel ok to eat remnants every now and then.

 

It's gonna be tough not to have some crunchy bread with that soup, but I'm determined!

[Pamela H in Texas]

We don't do anything 100% and don't feel guilty about it.

 

Yesterday someone asked if we eat meat (I can't imagine why this particular person would ask that; maybe the only homeschoolers or non-drinkers he's known are vegans?). We were at a "cantina" with them. I said, "we eat it when we go out." We all had at least half a hamburger.

 

At home, we're mostly vegan. But not completely. My family, for example, had cheese as part of supper tonight (I did not).

 

I want my daughter and me to try, really hard, to do 100% gf for awhile. I think it might be a little easier for me for a couple weeks that I'm doing a more strict version of my diet, but....

 

I can't imagine NOT doing green smoothies. I learned about them (and got brave enough to try!) a year ago. Love, love, love them. Even my hubby will drink them sometimes (he has a real issue with the weird colors. If they ALL were red, purple, green; he'd do better, but he doesn't like "greeple" and some of the other funky colors they are sometimes).

 

I mostly want to be alkaline and nutrient-rich. But gf is probably my next step.

[lmrich]

I would love the recipe/portions for your green smoothie that comes out NOT green. My kids are just not going to drink a green one.

 

Thanks! Good luck with your dietary change.

 

Last year, I started grinding my wheat. My body could not handle that much roughage! Everybody is different and it is good to listen to what your own body needs.

[Heidi @ Mt Hope]

My blogger-friend has a beautiful blog with food and recipe ideas for GF and VEGAN! Fresh Clean Start.

[Heidi @ Mt Hope]

I would love the recipe/portions for your green smoothie that comes out NOT green. My kids are just not going to drink a green one.

 

If you add blackberries to any smoothie, it almost always comes out purple. I keep bags full of blackberries in the freezer just for smoothies. (Other berries, such as blueberries or raspberries, don't have the same color effect.) Red cabbage masks the green, too. :001_smile:

[bettyandbob]

Just noticed you asked for the Greens and Quinoa Pie recipe. It is from the March 2010 Vegetarian Times.

 

Serves 6

 

1/2 C quinoa, rinsed and drained

1 large bunch chicory (1 to 1 3/4 lb), cut into bite sized pieces bottom 1 1/2 inches of hard stems removed. ***{I've substituted kale with good results}

1 head romaine lettuce

3 T olive oil, divided

2 medium onions, thinly sliced (2 C)

2 green onion, thinly sliced (1/4 C)

1/4 C chopped fresh dill

3/4 C crumbled feta cheese, preferably Greek (1 oz)

1/4 C grated aged goat cheese or Swiss cheese

3 eggs lightly beaten

 

Place quinoa in a small sauce pan and toast over medium heat 2 to 3 minutes, or until almost dry. Add 1 C water, and season with salt, if desired. cover, and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer covered 15 minutes. Remove from heat, and transfer to a large bowl.

 

Heat large pot over medium heat. Add chicory, and cook 3-5 minutes, or until wilted, stirring frequently or tossing with tongs. Add romaine, and wilt 1 to 2 minutes more. Transfer greens to strainer and squeeze out excess moisture. Transfer to cutting board, and chop into small pieces. Stir greens into quinoa.

 

Preheat oven to 350F. Heat 1 T oil in skillet over medium high heat. Add onions, and saute 10 minutes, or until browned. Add cooked onions, green onions, dill feta, and goat cheese to quinoa mixture. Stir in eggs, season with salt and pepper, if desired.

 

Pour 1 T oil into 9 inch pie pan and place in oven. Heat 5 minutes or until oil is hot. Swirl oil to coat bottom of pan, then spread quinoa mixture in pan with spatula. Bake 20 minutes. Drizzle pie with remaining 1 t oil and bake 20-30 minutes more or until golden brown.