Suddenly Dairy and Wheat free...HELP!!!

[beckoes]

Thanks for the advice poopie...didnt realise you could get dairy free cheese!! amazing. might hit you up for the chocy cake recipie if it all gets too much /

[beckoes]

[christy]

I'm in a dairy free house, but most of our dinners are wheat free as well

Good ol' meat & 3 veg can work easy, as well as stir fry's, roast, indian curry's and curry's using coconut milk, laksa with rice noodles..... the list goes on and on We've been dairy free and gluten limited for 3 years in our house.

Most of my baking is with wheat however, I have done it with gluten free flour, but I much prefer a mix of different flours like potato/rice and linseeds ground... it seems to have a better texture. Things like lemon merangue with a small crust base using the gluten/dairy free ginger nut biscuits from the health food isle works marvels to get around a yummy desert that is gluten/dairy free.

My girls are also intolerant to soy, so we use rice milk in baking and on cereals here, as well as nuttlex instead of butter in all of our cooking. There's an awesome cereal in the health food isle called crunchola which is gluten free.... its sooooo yummy!!! I eat it.

[Junglemum]

Dairy= cow. So you can have goat and sheep cheese as well as milk. Rice milk isn't too bad. We have a lot of merediths goat cheese b/c it's delicious! You can buy hard goats cheeses from most deli's. They most often give you a taste before you buy if you ask. If is $$$ but i find the flavor quite strong so don't use as much.

You can have rice or potatoes in place of pasta. There are loads of gluten free (gluten is the protein in wheat) things in the supermarket, and often the mark GF things on a menu if you eat out.

[beckoes]

thanks SO much all, one more question. Chocolate...if i get the 70/80% stuff that says it has no milk solids in it is that ok. it has cocoa butter but that doesnt mean normal butter does it??? will definatley try that cereal, ive bought two so far and cant stomach either...both taste like card board, i guess rice milk takes a while to get used to cause im not enjoying it but i think il try goats milk. a few days innow and not doing to bad. my shopping bill actually was less this week!!

[thepixie]

Brookfarm has a gluten free muesli, that might be ok cause their other ones are yum. Expensive though. But could be worth a try.

[Junglemum]

There is an awesome dairy free chocolate made by Bonvita, but it is super $$$$. i think about $7 for a small block. You can get it at health food stores (not many though) or on line at allergyblock. You can also get heaps of other GF/dairy free things here. The best bit is you just put in that you can't have x,y and z and it gives you a list of things you can have. Flat rate delivery Aus wide. If you ever need help, i have found them really helpful on the phone too.

The dark choc with no milk solids is ok, but i don't like the taste much!

[Janie]

Yep, I'll second the Bonvita choc, it's great . My DS loves it, particularly the milk one. I personally love the 70% stuff, and always preferred it even before going dairy free.

Dinner stuff isn't too hard I don't think (thinks meat and veg, casseroles), but snacks can be tricky. Do you like things like rice cakes? Fruit and veg are always safe .

[beckoes]

so much good advice ladies, thanks so much. im finding breakfast the hardest cause i ALWAYS have a bowl of cereal, its like my coffee, my day just doesnt start right without a bowl of cereal!! but il find the right stuff, just trial and error i think. i normally just have the corn thins with avo and tomatoe, or tuna lettuce cups for lunch anyway....just would normally have cheese with them! so that hasnt been too hard, and dinners fine so far. bought a few recipie books to get me started and all looks good. even got a good choc cake recipie to keep me going!! ( thanks poopie )

How long do you think you would have to be dairy/Gluten free for to notice any difference or improvement??