Helpful Resources
*Articles/ Help * Recipes * Resources* Cookbooks* Local Bakers*Where toBuy*
New to this gluten free, allergen-free cooking neighborhood?
The first thing I needed when I started this diet was information! How do I do this? What are all these crazy flours about? Where can I just get the basics like a good bread recipe? Where do I go?
As I go along, I’ll be compiling a list of soe great resources I’ve come across. They are all listed below and will be updated regularly.
PLEASE NOTE:
The information in this blog is not to be construed as medical advice. Please understand that the use of the recipes and ideas displayed here are at your own risk. When preparing food for someone with allergies please speak to your doctor/ medical specialist first. Thank you.:)
GREAT RECIPE SPOTS
If you are just starting out in this gluten-free world, Elana’s Pantry is a terrific landing spot. Her recipes are very simple, and very easy to follow. She uses no grain, and very little egg/dairy. She’s semi-paleo in her recipes. She uses no xanthan gum *yay*!
If you are a little more adventurous with your cooking, if you are free of all animal products, check this Canadian blog out. They are vegan, and GF, and (hooray), also steer clear of soy.
Paleo-inspired recipes, Kelly is completely grain free and refined sugar free. She does use eggs. Her recipes are simple, and follow a plan to help heal her autistic daughter’s gut. I love, love her recipes- check out her dairy free yogurt!
4- Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen
This blog is one big adventure into gluten free whole foods cooking with so very many options. She suits a variety of diets and intolerances, I am always checking in to see what she’s up to.
4- SCD Kat
If you are completely grain free and on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet or Paleo, this is totally your spot. She’s a local blogger and a bit of an SCD legend. Her resources are thorough and meticulous and her recipes are totally do-able.
Do you have multiple allergies? COME HERE. A beautiful blog that has lots of recipes for multiple food allergies and intolerances- free of gluten, egg, soy, corn, yeast, citrus, tomato, potato, sugar, peanut, and dairy. The author fights lupus disease and gluten intolerance, amont other autoimmune challenges, so she totally gets it when it comes to sick. I love this blog.
Easy, everyday recipes for grain free paleo-style living. I personally find preparing meat a bit intimidating and this blog is so helpful!
Beautiful images, and so many allergen free recipes! I always come to this site to look around and see whats new… its so exciting to see the possibilities of what you can do, regardless of your allergies.
Gluten Free weekly meal plans, and if you can have eggs and xanthan gum, she has the best bread recipe I’ve seen. She also has a great GF VEGAN bread recipe!
10- Raw on 10
Are you looking to add more raw foods to your diet? Sick of Salad? This is your best bet. Every Monday, week-long menus are planned and shared with readers, and they are on a budget of 10$ or less a day. All raw food dishes. Fascinating stuff!
RECIPE SHARING SITES
These are sites where hundreds of blogs submit their recipes, so you have pages and pages of recipes to browse, click on a picture, and go to the blog that hosts it. The wonderful thing about these sites? They are not your average ‘food porn’ sites of dishes you can’t eat. These ones are safe for you!!
The Foodee (paleo)
All everyday food, daily dinner ideas, and all paleo-friendly. Food thats naturally GF and sugar free, and lots of real meals by real people.
Chowstalker (paleo)
Their motto: We Don’t Do Cupcakes. This is your one-stop paleo dinner blog people. So many recipes and ideas. Wonderful.
XGFX (gluten free vegan)
For all the Gluten Free Vegans- yes, its out there, yes its possible. This is a giant community of big vegan GF bloggers all coming together to share their recipes. (You can thank me later for showing this to you ;) )
A gigantic recipe-sharing site of all things vegan. Beautiful photos, gorgeous recipe ideas. Go. Hundreds of ideas.
HELPFUL RESOURCE BLOGS
Great resource! How to survive restaurant dining gluten free, and what groceries are safe to buy. Loved the “Dining Cards” – to give to your waiter to help them help you with menu choices.
A personal meal planner with recipes, tailored to your diet. I can’t wait to try the GF option…
One stop shop on all matters gluten-free related. Its wonderful, has a blog show case, recipes, whats going on in the news, just go.
Food allergy support, articles, recipes, information packages, and just about anything under the sun related to raising kids with just about any type of food allergy.
COOKBOOKS
The Allergy Self Help Cookbook
Extensive coverage of food families, allergen precautions, etc. Very easy recipes. Its like you can live life again. It was the first cookbook I bought post-diagnosis, and I like it so much its always on my bedstand.
Extensive coverage of food families, allergen precautions, etc. Very easy recipes. Its like you can live life again. It was the first cookbook I bought post-diagnosis, and I like it so much its always on my bedstand.
A recipe book and dietary guide. Recipes, where to buy local products, and 4 day rotation diets. Very helpful. Very easy to read and use. AND she does personal diet planning consultations in Ottawa!
GLUTEN FREE LOCAL BAKERS!
Gluten free and gorgeous. Her cookies are so phenomenal, being gluten free is just a side note.
You MUST check out her chocolate smothered gooey chewy decadent walnut cookies!
Check out this post on Local Tourist Ottawa to find out other safe fresh food producers for GF diets!
WHERE TO BUY INGREDIENTS
Ok, so, I will be doing a detailed post on this in the future, for where I buy my ingredients, but as a starter, here are some tips.
1- FLOUR
Local: Purest Natural Products. They deliver 5kg and 10kg bags, way better than the small expensive bags. Email them directly because they don’t advertize their flour on their site yet. Certified gluten free, and soon to be certified nut free. If you need someone to split an order with, contact me. (myrealfoodlifeatgmaildotcom). For larger orders and almond flour, see Ventes Rudolph.
Elsewhere: Bobs Redmill you can order online for cheaper than buying through stores. They deliver to US and Canada. Almond flour: (both Canada and the US) BuyAlmondFlour
2- NUTS
Local: you can buy them gluten free through Ventes Rudolph in Lanark. They deliver- free delivery for large orders.
Elsewhere: Nutsonline delivers to both US and Canada, and they guarantee their nuts are processed in a GF facility and held in GF storage.
3- MIXES
Local: I buy Judy’s Magic Mixes– they’re a company from Orleans and their product is fantastic. Peter, the owner, is very meticulous about his flour and his product.
Elsewhere: Pamela’s Mixes are highly recommended and can be found in most grocery and health stores.
4- FRESH PRODUCTS
Check your local health food store or grocery frozen aisle. In Ottawa, I have a weak spot for Dolci (dedicated gluten free facility, municipality inspected, certifed gluten free ingredients, none from bulk). Here are other local safe bakers.
******
ARTICLES/ HELP
Part 1 Learning about Gluten Free Flours
Part 2 How to Substitute Eggs and Xanthan Gum
Part 3 How to Substitute Sugar
Part 4 How to Substitute Dairy
Part 5 How to Substitute Fats and Oils
Article: How to Substitute the Top 10 Allergens in your Kitchen
ADDITIONAL ARTICLES
A list of my personal go-to recipes I use all the time. Bread, Pancakes, tortilla chips… you name it.
How to modify your diet to make sure you’ve eliminated gluten, from Karina Allrich.
3- Gluten Free Vegan Baking Tips
How to subsitute eggs, milk, and learn about the different GF flours, from Karina Allrich.
A list of safe ‘junk’ foods from Gluten Free Recipe Box for people who are gluten intolerant.
An article by Amy Leger fromThe Savvy Celiac how to make sure your food is safe for gluten intolerant and celiac diets.
A thorough explanation of then ature of gluten, and what it is, by Gluten Free Society.
*****
So, listen. You need to be encouraged. There is beautiful food waiting for you to discover and eat. :)
13 Responses
leave one →
Hi there Lee! thank you so much for such wonderful feedback- i really like El Peto as well. .. I’m a bit spoiled though, i also order from Purest Natural PRoducts- they,re a mill in Perth, just out side ottawa that are dedicated gluten and nut free- i can buy wholesale with them, and in 5 lb bags instead of 25 lb bags… but for my starches, and more exotic stuff, agreed, el peto is great! If you want a good place for almond flour, check out JK Gourmet online too.
for pizza crust- there are seeveral bloggerst hat have great recipes- try googling Gluten Free Goddess, Gluten Free Girl, Spunky Coconut. Each has their own unique recipe and they all seem pretty good… let mek now how it goes.. i’m still working on the pizza anglie myself.. its that holy grail! :D take care- alea
I just stumbled upon your site while looking for a GF Ganache recipe. My daughter has Celiac disease and I have been a vegetarian for 28 years and can’t do dairy. It’s wonderful to find others who are living consciously and what I call conscious eaters. It was really great to find recipes that don’t use refined sugar to boot!
Here’s another resource for your list. El Peto in Ontario is a dedicated GF flour mill. They test to 5 parts per million (ppm) which is much better than the allowed 20 ppm. I order my flours directly from them and they ship to my door. They also carry other GF products. Also the Gluten Free Goddess is a another great blog.
Now, I’m in great need of a good GF pizza crust recipe. I’ve tried many but haven’t found one that by daughter gives the thumbs up too. She’s a teenager so pizza is a must.
Thanks again for sharing!
Oh kim!! I am SOOO happy to help!!! Please, i totally believe in sharing whatever I’ve got, so let me also share with you some amazing, amazing other blogs as well!
They all share the same philosophy that I do, so if you are ever in a pinch, you can find some exciting recipes here too! (once in a while you might find xanthan gum or eggs in one or two recipes, but other than that, great to go :D )
The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen
http://www.nourishingmeals.com/
The Spunky Coconut
http://www.thespunkycoconut.com
Lexie’s Kitchen
http://www.lexieskitchen.com/
Sketch Free Vegan
http://sketch-freeveganeating.blogspot.com/
Everyday Paleo
http://everydaypaleo.com/
Elana’s Pantry
http://www.elanaspantry.com/
Happy baking!! :) please let me know if there’s any recipes at all you’re looking for, i’m happy to help and would create whatever you need :)
alea
oh my! oh my! oh my! :)
i just had a wonderful new friend of mine send me the link to your amazing site!
my 5 year old son was tested for allergies a year ago. he is allergic to egg, soy, and corn. he has also recently been diagnosed with eosiniophilic esophagitis.
i have been on a mission to find foods that both he and his 22 month old brother can eat…well, foods that we can all eat…and things that are still safe for him to bring to school for snack. it has been a challenge, especially since i love to bake…and i am not so creative when it comes to cooking.
i have one egg free, soy, free, corn free cake recipe and i am too afraid to see what would happen if i tried using a different flour.
real food is my mission. i have been looking for main dishes…breakfast, lunch, dinner and healthy snack ideas. plain old fruit, on it’s own (because i have not found a safe dip) is getting pretty boring.
i am excited by what i have read so far! i can’t wait to make the nacho chips and hummus. (is hummus just as yummy if you don’t add the garlic?) that will be the first thing i make and i can hardly wait to see how excited my little guy will be to hear that there is something that he CAN eat!
THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!
hi joel- thanks for your comment! feel free to give me a shout at my email address – I’d love to hear more about your recipes.
Thanks!
alea
just wondered if you could add us as a resource. Our website is a work in action but will have GF recipes with videos
Hey there Jamie!! I’m so thrilled you are able to find some stuff that helps! i’m telling you, cooking with this many food issues, really, honestly, is not that bad. there are some awesome, awesome recipes out there… please don’t hesitate to give me a shout if there is ANYTHING you are looking for in particular… i love a good challenge :) Did you check out the Gluten Free Essentials page? there’s alot of good basics to help…
man. i’m so thrilled i can help. seriously, let me know if there is ANYTHING i can do for you! ~ alea
I’m so thrilled I found your blog! It seems you and I have the same food allergies, and you are the first blogger I have found that has as many allergies as I! I was diagnosed in January, and this year has been a roller coaster of trying to acclimate to this new diet and lifestyle. Thanks for all the recipes! :)