A Gluten, Dairy, Egg, Soy & More Elimination Diary

    As many of you know, last summer Chloe was having severe abdominal pain. We thought she might be allergic to gluten, so we put her (actully all of us) on a month long elimination diet. No diary, eggs, soy, chocolate (that was a hard one), night shade veggies and citrus. It is hard to be 15 and not eat pizza or pasta with red sauce. Chocolate and cheese were the foods she missed the most.

    Still I was determined we would all eat well. This was not going to be a month of loss but of gain. We would look at this as a new challenge and would eat well. Boy did we eat well! I cooked my butt off even though we found out hubby had shingles and then the girls got chicken pox. We survived, they did well and healed quickly.

    Anyways, I kept a diary of all the dinners we ate. Even though it ended up Chloe is not allergic to anything (thanks goodness and has been pain free for months!!) we are still making some of the recipes and incorporating a more gluten free diet. I thought I would  share with you our diary and links to some of the recipes we used. I hope it inspires anyone with has to go on an elimination diet or anyone who wants to eat a more healthy!!

PS. It was quite a snow storm last week. Poulsbo did not get the ice but lots of snow. This is a view out my bedroom window at 7:30 in the morning. Can you see the lights reflecting off the water?

Raw Sesame Truffle, gluten/sugar/dairy/egg free

 

Oh my gosh these are so good, so decadent, a little goes a long way!! Which is good, you will not eat a lot! During Chloe’s elimination diet, I was determined we would eat well. The list of what she could eat was so limited, it was real challenge but I have to say we ended up with some really good recipes and these are one of them. With Christmas coming, I want some gluten/sugar/dairy/egg free treats to have on-hand and these will do the trick.

There are several raw sesame truffle recipes out there but mine is a little different because I added a pinch of cinnamon, ginger and some vanilla beans. I found without these the truffles were a bit flat. Now you do not want to taste the spices too much, you want the sesame and cashews to sing. The spice should be more of a back note but add a pinch, taste and adjust to your liking. Also these have a fair amount of salt but I think it is important to the taste. I think these would keep in the fridge for a good two weeks, if well wrapped but enjoy at room temp!!

 

Raw Sesame Truffles

These are a revision of Elana’s Pantry truffles

 

½ cup cashews

¼ cup tahini (if you have raw, that would be great)

1/3 cup mild honey

1 vanilla bean, scrapped and use the soft beans inside (you can use vanilla extract but it will  not be quite as yummy)

1 pinch of cinnamon

1 pinch of ground, dried ginger

1 tsp. salt

Sesame seeds

 

1. In a food processor, process cashews until you get a course, sandy texture.

2. Add the remaining ingredients, except the sesame seeds. Process until all comes together. Taste and adjust to suite your liking. I like it a bit salty, sweet. You really do not want to taste the cinnamon and ginger. It is just a back (subtle) note, to up the flavor. Process again for a few seconds.

3. Refrigerate mixture, 2 hours.

4. Roll mixture into little balls and roll the balls in sesame seeds and enjoy!!

Will keep two weeks in fridge, if well wrapped.