So this week I am joining you in the challenging endevour of eating both dairy and gluten-free. We saw a 4th year student at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine (where we have quite a few wonderful Farm Share customers) overseen by a licensed practitioner at a fee that was so reasonable I ran out of excuses not to go. She suspects a food allergy in my 2 ½ year old son, so we are plunging into the world of gluten and dairy-free eating, a world that shuns most traditional packed products (almost all of which contain gluten and dairy in some form). I am not one to embrace convenience foods, but I think making flavourful sauces and replacing our beloved cheese will be the greatest area of challenge. I am re-learning to make all those classics that my family loves. My husband and I agree that this is a good thing for all of us, who consume far too many of these products anyway.
To top it off, I finally viewed the documentary Food Matters, and was struck by how a diet with a majority of cooked food vs. raw foods causes your body to produce white bloods cells in droves, as if it is fighting a foreign invader or illness! I cant say that Im eating mostly raw, and my friends think I’m the healthy-eating one. How did our culture get so far off the mark in what we eat? I am eating some humble pie here- some humble dairy-free, gluten-free, raw pie, that is.
Half Shares
- red swiss chard
- green peppers
- honeycrisp apples (yay! Please excuse some spots- apples are very hard to grow organically and I sent the best ones in the orchard. The taste is awesome!)
- eggplant or zucchini
- green cabbage
- butternut squash
- green or yellow beans (we took a gamble and looks like we have beans in October…weird but wonderful)
- green leaf lettuce
- rainbow carrots
- parsley
Whole Shares
- red swiss chard
- green peppers
- honeycrisp apples (yay! Please excuse some spots- apples are very hard to grow organically and I sent the best ones in the orchard. The taste is awesome!)
- eggplant
- green cabbage
- butternut squash
- green or yellow beans (we took a gamble and looks like we have beans in October…weird but wonderful)
- green leaf lettuce
- rainbow carrots
- parsley
- red kale
- red leaf lettuce
- grape tomatoes
- radish
- cilantro
- zucchini
Raw Food Green Bean Salad (www.vegetarian.about.com)
Ingredients
- 2 cups green beans, sliced into ¼ inch pieces
- 1 cup shredded peeled carrot (pick any or all colours!)
- 2 tbsp. Diced leek, green onion whites or red onion
- 1 tbsp. + fresh parsley or coriander
- 2 tbsp. Cold-pressed olive oil
- 1 ½ tsp. Grated ginger (if desired)
Directions
- Slice beans, shred carrots, chop onions and herbs. Add olive oil and mix, mix mix. I would think some quality time in the fridge might make it more flavourful. The recipe recommends 20 mins to let the flavours combine. Also, lemon juice or lime juice could add a little something.
Have fun discovering new ways to be good to your body! P.S. I’d love some comments about how you eat gluten or dairy free and love it.