Musings and discoveries along the way

In August, 2013, when my nutritionist suggested I revise my diet to eliminate gluten, soy and dairy, I hadn't a clue where to start or what that would mean to my lifestyle.  I was so naive and also a bit freaked out.  Here I was, over 60 years old, just trying to get some advice to solve a few health issues, and now I'm being advised to eliminate many of my favorite foods!  Well, sure, I can do that, it's only temporary, right?  After more than four months on this new way of eating (not a "diet"), I'm discovering some subtle and mostly pleasant effects from paying so much attention to what I'm consuming.  And now I feel I'm ready to share some of the resources, recipes, and other types of guidance that I've found so far.

My husband and I have tried to eat as healthy as possible, seeking local foods when available, organic when affordable.  And initially, giving up a wholesome, crusty, kalamata olive chiabatta bread from the farmer's market was painful.  Or whole grain oat scones!  Or pizza - that was tough, really pretty tough.  But this led us to explore alternatives and though we found local stores and restaurants somewhat lacking in alternatives to gluten, soy, and dairy (especially combined), we either learned to do without or make our own substitute.  I should mention that my (retired) husband eagerly jumped right in with the food eliminations and helped research alternatives as well as cook foods for us both.  Now that's true love.

Now let's talk beer.  I'm married to a brewdude,  and beer is made with barley, and barley has gluten.  Years ago I learned to love home brew and living in Oregon, the land of wonderful craft breweries, I felt that giving up on good beer would be tough.  But I discovered that there's a really pretty good gluten-free beer from Widmer Brewing, called Omission.  They make three styles (pale, IPA and lager) and can be found in most grocery stores.  For those very occasional times that I want a local beer (there are so many great breweries in Eugene), I take two digestive enzymes (Enzymedica Digest Spectrum), which provide digestive support.  This is my cheat, and I try not to abuse it.  I also use them for the occasional pizza, though I order gluten-free crust but I just have to have a little mozzarella cheese to feel like it's a pizza.

Tonight we are going to a savory pie party!  The invitation was a challenge for me and creativity was encouraged.  I glommed together a couple recipe ideas and had fun developing a Savory Swiss Chard Tofu Pie. As the name implies, there is soy in this pie (tofu), but I needed something like ricotta so I will use my digestive enzymes tonight, just to keep on track.

Here's the ingredients, modified from a recipe found on http://www.ibreatheimhungry.com:

6 cups swiss chard, well chopped
1 T coconut oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup onion, chopped fine
3 eggs, beaten
1/8 t nutmeg
salt & pepper
1 lb mild turkey sausage
1 1/2 cups Vegan ricotta cheese substitute   (make this ahead)
1/2 cup Daiya mozzarella style shreds

Saute the onion and garlic in the oil until soft, then add the swiss chard and cook about 5 minutes, until the stems are soft.  Add the nutmeg, salt and pepper and remove from heat to cool.

Beat the eggs in a large bowl, then add the vegan ricotta cheese substitute and the Daiya shreds, then stir in the cooled greens.

I made this both in muffin tins for an easy hand-held party food, and made one small pie with the leftover.  I pressed the sausage between plastic wrap, rolling it flat with a beer pint glass then used that glass to cut out the round sausage, which I put into the muffin tin, lining it gently in the tin then adding the filling.  This does puff up some so don't overfill.  Bake in a 350 degree oven about 30-35 minutes until firm.  It's a good idea to put the muffin tin or pie plate on a baking sheet, just in case any juice from the sausage leaks out.




Voila!  The finished product - nutritious and very tasty.  Let's see what the judges say tonight but I feel this was a fun recipe to make and would be a great breakfast or brunch dish.