More Eeeeeevil Experimentation

This time with tapioca. Yes, yes, if you don't like tapioca, just deal.

Here's what the recipe calls for:

1/3 cup small pearl tapioca
3/4 cup water

1.25 cups 2% milk
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs, separated

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Because this recipe is very specific (2% milk rather than just "milk") and calls for separated eggs, I'm pretty sure this won't set with a straight substitution. So rather than relying on the whipped egg whites, I think I'll make this more like a cooked pudding and use arrowroot flour as a thickening agent. Since the egg yolks are probably for fat and flavor, and the egg whites are probably for texture, I'm not going to use the egg replacer in this recipe. Instead, I'll add some Dari-Free and a teeny bit of canola oil for the egg yolk and milk, and I'll use an arrowroot slurry for the egg whites.

And on top of all that, I'm doubling the recipe. 'Cause I'll probably want more later when I'm too lazy to cook it again.

So here goes:
2/3 cups small pearl tapioca
1.5 cups water

2.5 cups Pacific brand vanilla almond milk
pinch salt
2 tbs Dari-Free
1 tbs canola oil
1 cup Splenda

3 tbs arrowroot flour
extra almond milk

1 tsp vanilla (I use Watkins' Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla extract.)

I suspect that the recipe might need more almond milk than the 2.5 cups of milk that it calls for, but we'll see. [ETA: Duh. I forgot to double the milk amount. I tried it again with 4 cups and it worked a bit better, even if it was a bit more bland. But it's dang good and thickens really quickly with the 2.5 cups. So either way or anywhere in between works.]

Instructions:

Soak the tapioca in the water for 30 minutes.
Add the almond milk, salt, Dari-Free, canola oil, and Splenda and stir until it boils.
Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 10-15 minutes. [It's already thick enough at this point that I might not need the arrowroot flour. Perhaps the egg whites are only to lighten up the texture a bit so it's not such a thick, dense pudding.]

Remove from heat and add vanilla.

Ok, so I didn't use the arrowroot flour because by the end of the 10-15 minutes, it was niiice and thick. And the result? Not bad at all.

And if you have tree nut allergies, then replace the almond milk with rice milk or whatever milk-like thing you usually use. The tapioca is what thickens the pudding, so it'll work with whatever. It might even work with juice (not that I'd really be interested in trying it made with juice...).

You're Here!

Most of the recipes on here focus on treat foods: cookies, cakes, puddings. Why? Those are usually the foods allergic people crave and miss the most. But what happens in the day-to-day eating for someone who's trying to change their diet and eat healthier?

Here's the deal. After the birth of my third son, I went on a health kick and lost 45 lbs, and I've kept it off for more than 5 years. Yes, my dress size is lower single digits.

"But HOW?" I hear you scream in frustration. I hear ya. No, seriously. I do.

Those diet plans you see on TV? If you have food allergies, there's a 98% chance that the food you're allergic to is in the diet. And just following everything else about a weight loss diet or making simply substitutions with foods you can eat WON'T WORK! Yeah, those "easy to follow" diets are definitely not easy at all. I'm there. I know what that bleak diet landscape is like. I even had to send back the supplement that came with my P90X because it was whey based. And the first time around, I did the diet WRONG.

Most of the replacements I use in my foods are NOT nutritionally equivalent, and most diet plans involve balancing proportions of what we call macronutrients (which is a fancy word to describe protein, carbohydrates, and fat). In fact, many diet plans will start you off with a low carb, high protein diet. So what do you do if you're allergic to a bunch of proteins, especially the ones they recommend? (Sound familiar, maybe?)

Well, you have to get clever. You have to read a lot of labels (but if you have food allergies, you're already doing that, right?) And you have to have tools.

1. First of all: eating foods you're allergic to can keep you from losing weight. Your body is having a hyperactive response to the foods you're allergic to, and if your body is constantly hyped up about the allergens, it ramps up the cortisol and goes into a crisis mode (which usually causes your body to store up more fat). So my first piece of advice is to go to your allergist/doctor/pulmonologist/PCP and find out what foods you're allergic to. Then you need to research and find out what weird additives are derived from the food and cut them ALL out of your diet.

Me? I've been allergic to milk my whole life. I was diagnosed with a pork, peanut, egg, and fish allergy next. Then came the shellfish. And the low blow my body dealt me was an allergy to wheat, corn, and soy.

Holy cow, the last ones have been the hardest to avoid. But let me tell you--it's made a huge difference in how I feel and the way my body works.

Once I'd changed my diet, I tried doing one of those "easy to follow" fitness diets to help lose those last 10-20 lbs. You know, the most stubborn ones. Well, I was just doing the diet according to servings, (you know the kind: one serving of fruits, one serving of meat, blah blah blah) and substituting the usual foods DID NOT WORK. Why? For one thing, plain coconut milk yogurt is VERY nutritionally different from plain cow's milk yogurt.

I had to stop simply substituting what I always had to make things work.

"So what do I use?" You ask? Well, that's what you're here for, right?

2. ONCE YOU'VE ELIMINATED what you're allergic to in your diet, then you have to eliminate a few other things: high fructose corn syrup (no, I'm not kidding), and hydrogenated oils. I'd also say artificial sweeteners, but I haven't quite been able to kick that habit yet myself. I'm working on it, though.

3. THE THIRD STEP is to get thee to a diet journaling website. The #1 thing that people who successfully lose weight do is keep track of what they're eating and how much they're eating. Personally, I'm a big fan of myfitnesspal.com because I can customize it for my current needs. For example, if I need to eat 1800 calories, and it needs to be 40% protein, 40%carbs, and 20% fats, then all I have to do is enter it in, enter in what I'm eating throughout the day, and I can adjust what I'm eating throughout the day to meet that goal. if I'm low on protein, I can eat some more chicken or have a low-carb rice protein shake (Nutribiotic is a lifesaver. Just sayin'.) If I'm low on carbs, I might have a bowl of oatmeal. If I'm low on fat, I get to eat a small piece of chocolate, or have a tablespoon of the evilest food ever invented for food allergic people: Sunbutter. Yummy, addictive, delicious evil.

If you're not keeping track of what you're eating, how will you know what to change?

"So what the heck should I need to set my protein and stuff to?" I hear you ask. That is a good question, and one that doesn't have an easy answer.

So what does that mean? Well, I'm not a dietitian, and you'll probably need to go to one, or your doctor to really determine what you should be eating. But if you have food allergies and you're looking for free advice on to lose weight from someone who's "been there, done that" and struggled the whole way, you've come to the right place. PLEASE don't make the same mistakes I have. Read around this website. Email me, ask me, and I'll try to help you out. BUT! Even if you don't have food allergies and are looking for fun, healthy recipes and free advice on how to lose weight, you've also come to the right place.

A lot of the recipes I'll put up here will still be treat foods, but I'll also be putting in lower-fat, lower-carb, and higher-protein options. So enjoy!

And if you have any requests, let me know. I'm always excited to try new things.

Eeeevil Experimentation

Is it eeeeevil experimentation? Maybe.

I'm experimenting baking a cake that I can eat. My guess is that it'll be a total failure. But if it works, I just might be able to take over the world. Maybe.

Here's what I'm using:

365 Gluten Free White Cake mix. It's made out of potato starch, baking soda, and a few other things.

The problem with this cake mix, though, is that it's prepared with dairy products that are not easily substitutable with soy-free alternatives.

Required:
1/2 cup butter, softened (Normally, I'd use Smart Balance Light, but it has soy)
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk or water
1 tsp vanilla extract

I used:
2 tbs DariFree powdered milk substitute (1 tbs makes 1 cup)
2 tbs Ener-G Egg replacer (1 tbs makes 2 eggs, but it does weird things to baked goods so I usually add extra)
1 cup water
1/2 cup (ish) canola oil
2 tsp vanilla extract (to make up for the lack of creamy flavor from the milk and eggs)


The extra powdered milk substitute and oil are meant to substitute for the butter. The extra water and oil are also meant to substitute for the liquid in the eggs.

I worry that I beat it a little too much, 'cause that's usually what goes wrong when I bake. But considering that it's usually the gluten that makes the texture tough, I'm hoping that won't be a problem here.

Directions: Bake at 350 for 28 minutes.
I'm baking it at 325~ish because my oven runs hot.

After 28 minutes, it was about 1/2 done, so I added 10 minutes.

Result:

(Please excuse the lousy excuse for lighting and background.)



Texture: A little chewy on the outsides, but not too bad. It's kind of fluffy on the inside. Kinda like bread, in fact.
Flavor: Bland, but with a vanilla extract aftertaste. Perhaps I added a bit too much vanilla. I wonder what I could add to balance out the flavor.

Not bad for a wild experiment. Next time, I'll add some chocolate chips.