Cooking for Special Diets

by Erin King

If you suffer from allergies, intolerances, have certain conditions or just eat differently from the mainstream, you have probably had some difficulty adjusting your diet to your needs at one time or another. I have worked with many people who for whatever reason have had to radically change their diets and have been at a loss as to how to cope. That is what this article is about: Cooking for special diets. Whether you are on a prescribed diet or just trying to eat better, this article is for you.

I will begin with tips for the most common diet these days, the vegetarian diet. There are so many vegetarian substitutes these days that you can make almost any dish vegetarian. Even “cream” sauces can be made with soya cream. The only thing I have found that can’t be replicated is cheese. If you are not lactose intolerant, or vegan, you will have a hard time giving this up as there is no real authentic tasting substitute.

My favourite product is by far the vegetarian ground beef. There is a Yves product which you can get in original, Italian and now even Mexican flavoured. You can use this product in so many ways that even if you are a meat eater you can substitute this for at least one meal a week and give you and your family a delicious, healthy vegetarian option. My husband is English and a meat lover and these products leave him satisfied and wanting for nothing. For me, that is impressive. You just have to know how to use it.

Lets start with a few quick recipes:

Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie:

1. Sautee onions and garlic in some oil, (I use coconut oil for all of my high heat frying, read the book, “The Coconut Oil Miracle” if you want to do a little research on this yourself).
2. Add the veggie ground beef and heat thoroughly.
3. Flavour with some white wine or beer if it gets dry.
4. Add some diced carrots and celery and heat thoroughly. (Or whatever vegetables you like, shredded zucchini, red pepper, chopped broccoli)
5. Flavour with Marmite, vegetable (or chicken or beef) stock powder, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon.
6. Fold in some shredded old cheddar cheese.
7. Place in an oven proof baking dish and cover with garlic and cheddar mashed potatoes and bake.

This one is so easy and so versatile that it leaves lots of room for experimentation. Keep in mind that it won’t taste quite “right” until you put the mashed potatoes on top. Once the potatoes are on it is just as satisfying as the original and quite a bit healthier.

Tip: If you want to ease your picky family into the taste of veggie ground beef, start by making these recipes using half ground beef and half veggie ground beef.

Tip: Marmite, ketchup and shredded old cheese are what really make this product shine, make sure you have them on hand when cooking these recipes.

Vegetarian Burritos:

1. Sautee onions and garlic.
2. Add the veggie ground beef.
3. Stir in some shredded zucchini and some chopped artichokes.
4. Moisten with white wine or vodka if it gets dry.
5. Add ketchup, marmite, salsa and a squeeze of lemon.
6. Heat thoroughly.
7. Pop a cheese topped burrito into the oven at about 425 degrees F until the cheese is melted.
8. Place some of the mixture in the burrito and add some shredded cheese and some shredded lettuce and roll up.
9. Top with salsa and sour cream. (Or plain yogurt if you want to save the calories, it tastes just the same)
10. Enjoy.

Vegetarian chilli and red pasta sauce are also so easy, just take your favourite recipe and replace the ground beef with the vegetarian version. Make sure to add some marmite and some soup stock powder to beef it up. A squeeze of lemon at the end will always brighten up the flavour, sometimes it is that something that the dish needs that you can’t quite put your finger on.

Here is a new recipe that I invented a few nights ago:

Vegetarian Meatloaf:

1. Take the Italian flavoured ground veggie meat and add bread crumbs, onion, garlic (or garlic powder), some chopped carrots and celery and a handful of walnuts and mix thoroughly. Then add a generous amount of shredded old cheddar cheese.
2. Add three eggs or as many as needed to hold the mixture together.
3. Add ketchup (lots), Worcestershire sauce (there is such thing as vegetarian), salt, pepper and a little Tabasco and the juice of one lemon (and the zest if you can) and mix.
4. Bake as you would meatloaf until cooked through and serve with a side of garlic mashed potatoes and salad.

If you are on a wheat free diet, there are many substitutes. Rice is a common substitute for many wheat products. You can buy rice bread, although it is quite heavy. You can use rice flower for baking and thickening sauces. Health food stores will carry a variety of wheat free sauces for flavouring dishes, just be sure to read the label. Do your homework though, some of the ancient grains do contain gluten.

Rice pasta is a great substitute for wheat for those of you who are pasta lovers. There are many good brands one of my favourite is Tinkyada. They make all shapes from fettuccini to macaroni and they even make a lasagne noodle. I have used this brand extensively and it cooks up nice and keeps its integrity.

There are other options such as lentil and various bean pastas but I have found that many of those get mushy and are not as nice. You really have to experiment because these products are really not all created equal.

Quinoa is another side dish option. It is one of my favourites and is so healthy. It is full of easily digested protein and calcium, great for any lactose free or vegetarian diet.

Quinoa is a seed, from a plant that is a distant relative of the spinach plant. It has a delicate nutty, creamy yet slightly crunchy consistency when cooked. I like to add nuts or beans to it for more texture and sun dried cranberries and sun dried tomatoes. These elements work really well with the flavour and texture. I like to add lots of lemon and lemon zest as well as fresh parsley or cilantro. Any combination these flavours make Quinoa a satisfying and healthy side dish.

You may also want to try amaranth, buckwheat or millet. Unfortunately, in my experience none of these cooked up very nice, amaranth is a great breakfast option and cooks up sticky, somewhat like cream of wheat. As a side dish however it is not my favourite. I find it is best used where polenta may be used as that is the closest in flavour and texture, in my opinion. Buckwheat and millet are mealy and mushy. They have a cardboard like flavour and texture and I find it difficult to make them taste like anything. I know many people who have become very discouraged when prescribed these grains in a special diet. It really pays to know your options.

If you are presented with an allergy diet, usually there are so many restrictions that it is difficult to make sense of the food list. Often these diets will be laid out on a spread sheet to form a three or four day rotation. I have seen many of these diets and usually the foods listed are not in any coherent order. It is a good idea to rework the list so that each day has a starch, a protein, vegetables and a selection of herbs that work together. This can seem like a daunting task, but if you take the time to do it, then the act of cooking with the list will become easier.

If you have arthritis, often relief can come in the form of a diet. Certain foods exacerbate this and other conditions.

Acid reflux can be helped with certain cooking techniques and by avoiding certain foods.

There is a lot of information out there about which foods to eat and an equal amount of information about how to cook such foods. If you can’t seem to get started or need some guidance, try the internet or hire a cooking coach for a day. If you have spent the money to get tested or have hired a nutritionist it is in your best interest to get some professional cooking help, because if you can’t cook the diet, you will not stay on it. So, just get going, it’s not as intimidating as the processed food industry would have you believe, and like anything else, the more you do it, the easier it will get, and the better you will get at it!

I do offer a one hour consultation by phone to help with this or any other diet issue. Often just one consultation is all that is needed to get a client on track.

Erin King
Personal Chef/Cooking Coach
Be My Guest Event Staffing and Support
Bartenders, Servers, Chefs
'Be a Guest In Your Own Home'

416-693-0198
esernasie@hotmail.com

"Beware the term 'local delicacy.' It's usually code for something revolting."
Lillian Marsano

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