Grain Free Substitutes for Rice Vinegar

 Rice vinegar is made from fermented rice. So, if you are avoiding grains you will be avoiding rice vinegar. Now some people can handle a little bit here and there but others want to avoid it 100%, If you are like me, I prefer to buy as few groceries as possible and get the most use out of each one. For that reason I like to find the most versatile food products that I can use in the most dishes. Vinegar is one of those and my number one choice I find can replace most all other vinegars is Raw Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar and so, for the most part, that is the only one I keep on hand. Any recipe that calls for vinegar of any kind I use Apple Cider Vinegar. There are only a few very specific recipes that may call for a very specific taste, say, maybe it needs a balsamic vinegar or something like that. Here are some great alternatives to Rice Vinegar:

Apple Cider Vinegar

Champagne Vinegar: a much more delicate light taste than apple cider vinegar

White Wine vinegar: some say when they use white wine vinegar in place of rice vinegar they add a scant amount of sugar as it is not as sweet tasting.

You could also use lemon juice or lime juice in place of vinegar, and vice versa. I avoid citrus for the most part and so I have used vinegar in place of lemon juice on occasion.

Vinegar, like lemon and lime juice is a healthy food. Remember to avoid Malt Vinegar as it is a gluten. 

"Clean" White 'CheeZy' Sauce

 

"CheeZy" White Sauce

• four tablespoons dairy free butter
• four cloves of garlic, smashed and minced
• two tablespoons tapioca starch
• two cups unsweetened almond milk
• 8 ounces dairy free cream cheese. I like Kite Hill brand and it is available in my local stores.
• two tablespoons Nutritional Yeast or Cashew Grated Cheeze like Nooch It.
• two tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
• Salt and pepper

In a skillet melt the butter, add garlic and cook 30 seconds. Sprinkle in tapioca starch, stir around and quickly whisk in the milk continuing to stir until a thin sauce consistency. Remove from heat and add seasonings to taste. Add cream cheese and stir until melted. This should finish thickening to the right consistency for a sauce. Add nutritional yeast or Grated Cheeze and parsley. 

This sauce can be used for alfredo sauce, chicken enchiladas (add pickle relish and black pepper and use cilantro instead of parsley)

Make this sauce a bit thicker and use in place of melted cheese in things like stuffed mushrooms.

Weekly Fresh Food Haul March 29 2023

 

Weekly Haul of 3/29/2023

Small bag of grapes, one orange, two gala apples, radishes, one avocado, one cucumber, two sweet potatoes, frozen spinach, frozen cauliflower and a head of lettuce.

The key to these fresh fruits and vegetables not going bad is to eat them in a timely manner. So I will start incorporating them into my meals tonight and every day until they are consumed. If you plan on throwing them into a draw and not pulling them back out for 5-7 days then it would be better to wait four or five more days before you purchase them. 

This is enough to last me about seven full days and it will stay fresh the entire time. I will focus on the fresh raw foods first and the frozen are for backup and to get me through to the next weeks grocery haul if I end up consuming all of my fresh foods before that time.

Healthy is not expensive!!

Grapes $1.38 for one pound

Two Sweet Potatoes $1.27 for both

Orange was $0.88 cents

Radishes were $1.78

Cucumber $0.78 cents

Frozen bag of spinach, 12 ounces, $1.12

Avocado was 0.78cents

frozen cauliflower (12 ounce bag) $0.98cents

I also bought an 18ct carton of eggs $2.72

Carton of Unsweetened Almond Milk $2.44

All of this only totals $14.13 and the frozen spinach will most likely last several weeks to a month. The eggs will last two weeks. The frozen cauliflower will last me two to three meals. The radishes and lettuce will last more than seven days if kept dry and in the vegetable drawer. I still have some fresh celery in the crisper drawer from last week and it has not ruined. Hoping to make some cream of celery soup this week and use some of it with an apple to make a celery apple salad.

I still have enough spaghetti squash left from last weeks haul and today I'm going to brown some ground beef and a bit of frozen mixed vegetables with the spaghetti squash for supper tonight to finish that off.

I already had some chicken breast in the freezer and other meats and seafood. But with the fresh weekly foods only costing around $15 or less I can afford to replace those foods as needed.

Your fresh food haul may look different then mine. However it looks I hope you will consider incorporating more fresh foods into your daily (every day) diet.

All of these foods are #glutenfree #dairyfree #soyfree #grainfree and #nightshadefree 

Breakfast Sausage Without Nightshades

 Finding a breakfast sausage without nightshades or soy can be challenging. Breakfast sausage, of course, is a processed food so we want to eat it sparingly, but, if you have the occasion where you need breakfast sausage at least choose the least offensive on ingredients. 

For me it is the Farmland Brand. They have several different pork products on the market so always read the ingredients list before purchasing but the Farmland Original Pork Sausage Roll is nightshade free, gluten free and soy free.

Another option is to buy ground pork in your meat department. It looks like a pound of ground turkey or ground beef. Then, you can add your own seasonings to it. A nice thing about buying ground pork is you could also use it for Italian dishes by adding italian seasonings as most italian sausage on the market are full of nightshades and many have corn syrup.

Gluten Free Alternatives To Cornstarch and Flour as a Thickener

 You want to make a sauce or gravy or thicken a soup or stew. Use to you would just grab a couple tablespoons of flour, traditional wheat flour. Since going gluten free you may have turned to cornstarch since the rice flour and other gluten free flours are much on making a roux.

Now, you have progressed your diet to avoiding grains which would include cornstarch. The first suggestion made is always arrowroot but not all of us are pleased with the gelatinous texture you can end up with when using arrowroot. For this reason we wanted to look at Tapioca Starch.

What is tapioca starch?

A: Tapioca is made by extracting the starch from the roots of the Cassava plant.

What is arrowroot?

A: Arrowroot is made from the roots of a plant called the Maranta Arundinacea. 

Both Arrowroot and Tapioca are gluten free and fine to use.

Some things to know:

Most people agree that arrowroot works well to make things like glazes and as a thickener for fruit desserts but can turn slimy and weird when trying to thicken a meat sauce or anything with dairy. Arrowroot seems to be the better choice for acidic liquids.

I have read in multiple sites that your best practice with arrowroot is to add it at the very end of cooking.

Tapioca on the other hand is my goto starch/flour for thickening gravy and savory meat sauces. If you avoid gluten but not dairy, tapioca is your goto thickener.

Both tapioca and arrowroot use the same principle to avoid lumps: always mix with a bit of cold water first before adding slowly to your hot mixture.

What Questions Do You Have About This Diet?

 Please post your questions below in the comments section! Or, suggestions on what you would like to see. This is a new blog and I am still adding content.

Frozen Strawberry Recall March 2023

 

Frozen strawberries sold at Costco, Trader Joe's, recalled after hepatitis A outbreak

"Frozen organic strawberries sold at stores across the U.S., including Costco, Aldi and Trader Joe's, have been recalled over the product's potential link to an outbreak of hepatitis A infections in Washington state."

https://www.npr.org/2023/03/18/1164557863/strawberry-recall-fda-costco-trader-joes-aldi 

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