I enjoyed the transition to the new diet a lot more when I discovered it was an excuse to develop a SYSTEM. I love systems. Here are some tools that have helped me, especially since the rest of the family is still eating a traditional diet.
Amazon Prime. Totally worth it! For a yearly fee, you get free two-day shipping on any prime-eligible items. This has been a HUGE blessing as we've done this special diet.
A Second Freezer. At first, you will be spending more time cooking and it is very nice to be able to make extra food and freeze it. I keep mine stocked with organic turkey bacon, other organic meats, organic turkey lunchmeat, frozen vegetables, homemade sorbet, and fruit for smoothies. I actually have an extra refrigerator, so the freezer side has that stuff, and the fridge side is full of bags of washed organic greens and other fresh vegetables, and sometimes extra bottles of homemade water kefir.
4oz. disposable souffle cups with lids from Amazon or your local restaurant supply store. These hold one ice cream scoop of homemade sorbet.
Ice cream scoop. Doing all this cooking is a lot more fun if you have the right tools, and it is fun to buy kitchen gadgets. I love to use my ice cream scoop to fill muffin tins with cupcake or muffin batter!
Cookie-dough scoop. This is just a smaller version of an ice cream scoop, and it is great for cookie dough but also for meatballs and rice balls.
Disposable rubber gloves. I like to keep a box of these from Costco or the drugstore on hand. Make sure you get the latex-free powder-free ones (some kinds are powdered with cornstarch). It makes it a lot easier for me to mix up meatballs or rice balls or touch meat if I have gloves on.
Pamela's Gluten-Free Flour Mix. My local regular grocery store actually stocks this, but it's cheaper from amazon. I store it in the fridge after opening just because my flour tends to get bugs in it. Even though it has some sugar in it, it is naturopath-approved. I use this exactly in place of wheat flour in all my muffins, cupcakes, cookies, and sauces.
Vitamix Blender. I have thought about this for a long time and finally took the plunge. I got the cheapest one they had on Amazon which was about $400. My teenage daughter and I drink green smoothies from this every day and she ASKS me to make them for her. It is worth it to have the kale and frozen peas, etc. ground up into tiny, drinkable bits.
Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker. This was reasonably priced and recommended by a friend and I haven't had any problems with it. It was so rewarding when we first started this diet to see my little boy enjoying the homemade sorbet I made for him from just coconut milk and pureed organic fruit. It works super fast. And now it comes in a whole bunch of cool colors! Definitely buy a pretty one. :)
Annie Chun's Brown Rice Noodles (Pad Thai): These are just made with brown rice and water and are the kind that are used in Pad Thai but it is not a Pad Thai mix. They sell them at the natural grocery store but I found them cheaper, for a while at least, on Amazon. Boil the water, plunge the dry noodles in, turn off the stove, and wait about five minutes. The trick to decent rice noodles is not to overcook them. Toss in some olive oil to keep them from sticking. What I love about international "carbs" like rice noodles and Brazilian Pan de Yuca is that many of them were intended to be gluten-free in the first place! So they are not weird imitations of something else--they are the real thing of what they are supposed to be.
Tapioca Flour/Starch. You need this to make delicious Brazilian Cheese Bread (Pan de Yuca). I have a recipe on this blog for Pan de Yuca that uses mashed potatoes instead of cheese. We even make mini pizza crusts with it and it is delicious. Apparently you can also use this instead of cornstarch to thicken sauces and gravies.
Countertop Electric Grill. I have a George Foreman but my friend has a Cuisinart and loves it. Marinated meat and chicken just taste better when grilled and with an autistic kid running around it is not always easy to fire up the barbie.
Celtic Gray Sea Salt. It was an exciting day when my naturopath told me that salt can be GOOD for you! I bought this on amazon and as the reviewers said, it comes kind of "wet" so I did spread it out on a dishtowel to dry, before I added it to a salt grinder which was just an empty pepper grinder from Trader Joe's.
Disposable Hot Drink Cups with Lids. I'm showing the Amazon link here but I get them from the local restaurant supply store. My teenage daughter says it is easier to drink green smoothies when she can't see them, and it's nice to be able to grab this at breakfast time and take it with me.
Thai Hand Roll Rice Paper Wrappers. These are made from rice and water and are naturally gluten-free. They come dried and you moisten them with just enough water to make them pliable, then you fill them with whatever you want and wrap them up.
Celtic Gray Sea Salt. It was an exciting day when my naturopath told me that salt can be GOOD for you! I bought this on amazon and as the reviewers said, it comes kind of "wet" so I did spread it out on a dishtowel to dry, before I added it to a salt grinder which was just an empty pepper grinder from Trader Joe's.
Disposable Hot Drink Cups with Lids. I'm showing the Amazon link here but I get them from the local restaurant supply store. My teenage daughter says it is easier to drink green smoothies when she can't see them, and it's nice to be able to grab this at breakfast time and take it with me.
Thai Hand Roll Rice Paper Wrappers. These are made from rice and water and are naturally gluten-free. They come dried and you moisten them with just enough water to make them pliable, then you fill them with whatever you want and wrap them up.
No comments:
Post a Comment