I love the Irish
Mar. 14th, 2012 09:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
valancy_janeThe past few days have been challenging, to be sure, as we've tried to find food and snacks that do not include anything the husband is definitively or potentially allergic to during this elimination diet time - gluten (celiac disease: no messing around), corn, rice, soy, almost all nuts, white beans, eggs (unless baked in in small amounts), and peas. Plus, he's not allowed processed sugar or alcohol due to his liver right now. Throw in the fact that he doesn't like mussels, celery, or black-eyed peas, doesn't like eating the same thing repeatedly (except smoothies), and the fact that he has to lose another 20 pounds, and good heavens, it is tough.
Thus, we are our library's most faithful cookbook borrowers. In our latest venture, I was looking through all the many, many forgotten cookbooks (such a curious time machine, that aisle) and discovered, to my delight, the Irish Heritage Cookbook. About a quarter-second after I remembered that the Irish have one of the highest rates of celiac disease in the world, I grabbed it with glee.
The book is a delight. It is filled with many unusual ingredients (well, unusual to me), but I'm trying to be flexible, and there are so many recipes to choose from that are naturally gluten, corn, rice, and soy-free. They cleverly use oatmeal (which I can buy gluten-free) to "bread" many of their items; "pies" made with potato toppings are naturally perfect. The heavy use of milk (which he is NOT allergic to), game, and fish are all perfect fits, even if I will have to drive across town to the only place that sells duck, kidneys, liver, etc. The salads are also unusual and rely on leeks, cabbage, chard, and other not-just-lettuce bases, and the roasted zucchini with parmesan and butter on top is such pure, simple magic I could cry with relief. There are even several desserts he can eat, like Apple Snow, once his blood sugar is doing better.
We are ordering our own copy immediately; I feel better just holding it. Wonderful Ireland!
Thus, we are our library's most faithful cookbook borrowers. In our latest venture, I was looking through all the many, many forgotten cookbooks (such a curious time machine, that aisle) and discovered, to my delight, the Irish Heritage Cookbook. About a quarter-second after I remembered that the Irish have one of the highest rates of celiac disease in the world, I grabbed it with glee.
The book is a delight. It is filled with many unusual ingredients (well, unusual to me), but I'm trying to be flexible, and there are so many recipes to choose from that are naturally gluten, corn, rice, and soy-free. They cleverly use oatmeal (which I can buy gluten-free) to "bread" many of their items; "pies" made with potato toppings are naturally perfect. The heavy use of milk (which he is NOT allergic to), game, and fish are all perfect fits, even if I will have to drive across town to the only place that sells duck, kidneys, liver, etc. The salads are also unusual and rely on leeks, cabbage, chard, and other not-just-lettuce bases, and the roasted zucchini with parmesan and butter on top is such pure, simple magic I could cry with relief. There are even several desserts he can eat, like Apple Snow, once his blood sugar is doing better.
We are ordering our own copy immediately; I feel better just holding it. Wonderful Ireland!
