Occasional Cook?

[Anonymous]

My family is really struggling because DS has to be on a strict elimination diet for medical reasons. I have no idea how to cook for this or how to find the time. Has anyone dealt with this type of diet? Are there such things as occasional cooks who would come to my house and prepare strange recipes (or concoct their own) based on unique and/or limited ingredients? What would something like this cost?

[Anonymous]

OP, what are the foods that your son needs to eliminate and for how long?

[Anonymous]

Currently he can only eat chicken, rice, and greens. Each week we will be trailing a new food. If he passes it will be included and obviously excluded if it fails.

[Anonymous]

I should add that when I originally wrote the post we thought it would include more foods than it actually does.

[Anonymous]

If you're testing for sensitivities, the food has to be prepared without any other intredients, right? That makes it pretty simple. Baked chicken, steamed rice and steamed green beans.

[Anonymous]

If you are working with a doctor, they may be able to suggest a nutritionist or chef that could help.

There are also recipe search engines like these that can include/exclude ingredients:

http://www.mealsforyou.com/cgi-bin/advancedSearch

http://www.epicurious.com/recipesmenus/advancedsearch

Stir fry, lettuce wraps, grilled chicken salad, baked chicken with rice and salad--at least 4 different combos here.

Is he limited in terms of spice? If so, maybe other family members could have spice rub on their chicken or in their stir fry and his is plain. Can he do vinegar/oil? Dressings with ginger and rice wine vinegar will give it more of a Asian kick vs. balsamic and olive oil.

Ways with greens:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chicken-Lettuce-Cups-369491

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Lettuce-Soup-231995
(substitute the rice for the potato)

you can even grill lettuce:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Grilled-Chicken-and-Romaine-with-Caper-Dressing-241611

[Anonymous]

Risotto is very easy and you can make it with water not broth if necessary. It tastes creamy even without any added cheese, cream, etc.

Also, if you kid is limited to rice can he have rice noodles? There are some that are 100% rice. There are also rice paper wrappers:
http://www.yummly.com/recipes/gluten-free-rice-paper-wrappers

Also, if he can have rice crackers, you can blend these up like breadcrumbs and dredge chicken strips in it for a crispy coating. Without an egg binder it may have a bit of a hard time sticking but it can still be done.

Also, wild rice is actually a grass, but there many different kinds of rice--red, brown, black:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/06/rice-varieties_n_1189560.html#s593614&title=White_Rice

Also, you can make plain rice balls or put chopped cooked chicken/greens inside:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Simple-Rice-Balls/

[Anonymous]

Also, OP, don't forget to mix up the greens:
http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/seasonalcooking/farmtotable/visualguidesaladgreens

Butter lettuce, iceberg, radicchio, romaine make good holders for food like a lettuce wrap.

Arugula is naturally peppery tasting. Can be served raw or sauteed.

Endive is a little bitter. So good in a salad mix but it's texture like romaine and radicchio stands up well to grilling.

[Anonymous]

Wow, these are some great suggestions! The "strange" recipes that I referred to are things like quinoa turkey spinach carrot meatballs. Or a chicken rice-noodle soup. Things like this are challenging for us even though they're simple and I would love to have some freezer meals on hand for times when I can't prepare food easily.