Gluten Free Vegan Recipes?

[MamaMonica]

I am needing to go gluten free (tested pos. for celiac) -- this diet seems to be heavily geared towards meat in the cookbooks I've seen. Does anyone have any experience with this disease and being vegan? I have been veg and want to go vegan again. I can have no wheat, spelt, rye, oats, barley, barley malt or millet- or gluten in anything- even as a tiny ingredient.

[Kristine]

Dear Monica!
I believe that going vegan will make you enjoy life and thrive despite celiakia, because vegan food offers plenty of healthy and tasty varieties of food. As for the pastry - look for various Indian recipies with pea flour (it is called also 'beasn' or 'gram flour') also there is rice flour - just surf in the Internet and find some oriental food site with recipes for pastry of gram flour or rice flour. You can replace bread also with rice 'galettes' (I'm not sure if this is correct English word for those round pressed plates of puffed rice ). And there is also soy flour. Just look around, let your imagination work and you will forget about the existence of products containing gluten!
Good luck!
Kristine

[JudyMH]

Hi MamaMonica, Let me introduce myself I have just joined about 5 minutes ago. Well I am a vegan celiac. It is a little hard but not impossible. We can have Brown Rice, Quinoa, Teff, corn, potatoe starch, Tapioca Starch, Arrow Root, Buckwheat, Millet doesn't bother me, just make sure you rinse it thoroughly. If you have an asian market near there are great things you can do with coconut, and cassava. Personally I can eat a little soy, but have to watch it. I use flax or egg replacer for the eggs called for in recipes. I eat well, I just had to learn to bake bread, and I make my own flatbreads. There are pasta's you can get that is not made of wheat, I have my own version of pasties, You can have beans and rice, burritos, You can make your own veggie burgers, the list goes on.Be sure to read labels on all processed foods.I was diagnosed in 1996, I recently learned how to replace the eggs in my bread recipes, I am on a celiac vegan website, I find their advice very helpful, and would be lost without it. If you have any more questions feel free to ask me. If I don't have the answers I'll get them for you. Have a great day, Judy

[MamaMonica]

Thanks, Judy and Kristine. I am slowly learning to eat differently.

[MamaMonica]

Does anyone know if the Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet cheese substitute is gluten-free? I emailed the company about it a few weeks ago and haven't gotten a response. i want to eat it but don't dare in case it has barley malt in the processing- I had problems with Rice Dream and soy milks because of the barley...

[Erin Pavlina]

MamaMonica, I will find out for you. The woman who invented the cheese is a good friend of mine. In fact she just had a baby and I'm planning to talk to her shortly. I'll ask her and get back to you.

[MamaMonica]

Thank you Erin! I really appreciate that. I have the package sitting in my fridge and looks delicious.

[Erin Pavlina]

I have like 4 huge bricks in my freezer cuz I had lunch with Angel a few weeks ago and she brought me tons of cheese. I'm gonna make pizza, quesadillas, and mac and cheese with those suckers! Can't wait until I have time to do it.

[JudyMH]

Hi Monica, I have been thinking of you and thought I would just see how things are going. I KNOw it can be overwhelming when you are first diagnosed. You can do it tho, just take one day and one meal at a time. Hope you have a great day, Judy

[MamaMonica]

Thanks, Judy. I appreciate it. It has been hard when I run out of gluten free things and and am tempted by what is left in the cupboard- I am still learning how to keep stocked up on things I can eat. I almost put Rice Dream on my cereal because I ran out of Almond Breeze... even knowing it has gluten in it. I did hold off but felt bitterly deprived. I don't get that feeling too often, but it does happen.

It is a really big change. I have to pass by prepared foods I used to grab for quick meals like marinated tofu... and keep on top of the home cooking while raising two small children. Some days I fall behind and resort to almond butter and jelly sandwiches on gluten free bread from the store.

A gluten-free retaurant is opening about 6 miles away from us in Oct., so I'll be able to eat out sometimes there.

[JudyMH]

Hi Monica, I can really sympathize with you. The way I cope with it is I only bake Gluten Free, if my hubby wants something different he goes out to buy it. If you go to the Thai Section of your grocery you will find mixes that have non gluten ingredients. I got a yummy rice bowl for lunch. It had rice noodles. I also found Kashi dish, which is Buckwheat. I also found a potato pancake mix which was gluten free. I'm lucky because in Tacoma they have a health food store that caters to veggies. Also I invested in a bread machine and make my own bread. the 2 helpful books I have found were written by Bette Hagman. The Gluten Free Gourmet Bakes Bread, and The Gluten Free Gourmet cooks fast and Healthy.Just substitute the eggs for flax meal, and use Almond Milk instead of dairy milk. I use agar flakes, or emes for the gelatin. You have to add more protein by adding either ground nuts or a little soy for the protein enhancement. Because yeast needs the protein to help it work. I used to have to order my stuff thru the mail, but more and more products have been offered locally. This will get easier with time, I don't over think the situation anymore, this seems normal to me. Hang in there kiddo, and you will do jst fine. Judy

[MamaMonica]

Thanks Judy. I'll have to check out Thai food and look into baking my own bead. I'll get more adventurous soon I hope- right now I'm using a lot of pre-made mixes because I'm still learning the boundaries of what I can have. I just looked at your location after you mentioned Tacoma- I'm up near Edmonds! There is a health food store nearby called Manna Mills with a large gluten-free section which has made my life so much easier.

[alexis]

You should check out Asian supermarkets for the rice noodles, there's two kinds that i know of, the thin rice vermicelli called mai fun, mee fen, bee hoon, whatever, it's got quite a few names and the thck flat kind. What you can do for really fast meals is to fix a clear broth with veggies and stuff in it, then cook the rice noodles and add to the soup. This is a great opportunity to try out all kinds of different foods, don't feel deprived, think of it as an adventure instead...;)

[JudyMH]

Hi Monica,I agree with Alexis. We have an Asian Market in Bremerton, and it has been an education. I have been introduced to coconut icecream, and Cassava, which is a tuber. I cook that up like mashed potatoes.I have also made Shepherds pie with it. Tonight we had pizza, for the crust I had a combination of Rice flour,Tapioca, and Potatoe starch. See no need to miss wheat products there. I also tried some Cassava Chips. They taste a little like sweet potatoes. See the possibilities are endless. You still have to take time to mourn over the food that has turned on you. It wouldn't be normal if you didn't. There are alot of wonderful food out there for us to discover. All we got to do is be creative. (((BLESSINGS))) Judy

[MamaMonica]

Thanks ladies for your positive attitude. I am starting to feel that maybe this could be a big adventure reading your posts! I will check out the asian market. I remember seeing one near here.

[JudyMH]

Hi Monica, have been thinking of you, and hope you are doing fine.I know this is hard especially at first, but you'll get the hang of this and won't even miss the gluten. Keep up the good work, and my positive thoughts are with you. Judy

[alexis]

Hi...i just read a really cool book on kids nutrition and they had this really nice pizza recipe in the food intolerence recipe section..basically instead of a dough base, you use a rosti base...YUM...rosti is this lot of potatoes shredded up and fried into sort of a pancake thingy in a skillet...So what you do is make the rosti, then top with any kind of pizza topping you want and cook like a pizza...easy...

[JudyMH]

That is a very good idea, I've never thought of making pizza that way. No reason it wouldn't work though. Judy

[MamaMonica]

Judy, thanks for thinking of me :) I have no been able to stay vegan without any soy, and tomatoes and potatoes (and eggplant) are also a sensitivit for me....am still finding my way.

[JudyMH]

I read somewhere that a person who is newly diagnosed with celiac disease, is sensitive temporarily to alot of other foods also. I'm excited for you that you are going to actually be able to eat in a restaurant that serves non gluten foods, that is so cool. I think it took a couple years for me to be able to eat brown rice and millet. Hang in there it will come. You have to be able to heal up first then your tolerance to other foods will improve. ((BLESSINGS)) Judy

[SandyBeachBums]

I want to bump this thread up!

We are wanting to go Gluten-free for our sons. Our oldest is Aspergers. Our youngest, who is now 3, is extremely hyperactive, needs a LOT of sensory input (like jumping into things and practically hurting himself) and has started obsessing over keys and little books.

We eat a lot of wheat. We eat mostly Vegetarian. My oldest has decided to be a Vegetarian. I cook vegetarian food. I visit here a lot for ideas!

I wanted to say hi to Judy because we live in the same town and how often does that happen?

[vegma]

SBB, thanks for bumping this thread! I didn't even know it existed - probably because we weren't gluten-free in 2003! We've been gf for about about a year, and we're also vegan. It was a big change for us (the gf part) because we ate sooooo much gluten! But its pretty easy now. We concentrate on whole foods which makes it easier. Good luck with your changes!