The advice to avoid dairy may not be necessary. *Some* Coeliacs are lactose intolerant for a while as their villi heal, others don’t have the problem. There is no need to go lactose free unless your friend has further problems, but this can be tested by the doctor.
A gluten-free diet is perfectly manageable, but it’s a bit of a shock to get used to it, so restricting the diet further when it’s unnecessary is not a excellent thought.
OK – meal tips: The best place to start is to reckon what your friend likes to eat normally, and find ways to adjust meals to accommodate being gluten-free. For example there are plenty of decent gluten-free pastas (the rice-based ones are generally nicer than the corn-based ones). Rice is fine, as are potatoes, quinoa, millet, corn (and polenta)… and lots of other things (tapioca, buckwheat, teff…).
It may mean more cooking from scratch than your friend is used to, but fresh fruit and veg and plain meat, fish and eggs are all gf. Most cheese is OK, although you need to be careful of blue cheese and cheese spreads.
In some ways the huge range of foods available make it a hard question to answer, but for starters here’s what we are having this week:
Monday: Polenta ‘pizza’ – cook polenta as described on the packet (I used about 150-200g). Spread into a thin layer, top with spinach (cooked), spring onions and ricotta cheese – last 3 ingredients blended together, then dot with gf peperoni, tomatoes and mozzerella cheese. Cook in hot oven (400F) for about 20 min. Serve with green salad (careful with the dressing – balsamic vinegar and olive oil is fine).
Tuesday: Pasta with tuna sauce – gf pasta served with sauce made by frying an onion, adding a tin of tomatoes, tin of tuna, squirt of garlic puree (check this is gf, or use fresh garlic), 1/2 teasp dried oregano.
Wednesday: Quinoa bake – aka “What’s in the fridge” – cook 1 1/2 cups of quinoa in 3 cups of water for about 10 min, then leave covered with a teatowel to absorb the last of the liquid. Chop an onion, then ransack the fridge – celery, mushrooms, peppers, bacon… anything really – fry them all up together then add the quinoa – mix in some grated cheese and maybe an egg, then place in a casserole dish, top with more grated cheese and cook for about 30 min at 350F
Thursday: Sausages (be careful that these are gf, most aren’t, but certainly in the UK it’s getting simpler and simpler to find ones that are) and mashed potato.
Friday: Homemade fish and chips: – the fish can be anything – I don’t usually bother making batter – often I just griddle a piece of tuna. As for the chips – cut potatoes into pieces the length of the potato and about 1cm square in cross-section. Boil for about 5 min, then drain. Place them in a food bag with a excellent splodge (say 30 ml) of oil, maybe some paprika and/or garlic granules (check these are gf) and shake well to coat all the chips. Place on a baking sheet and place in a hot oven (400F+) for about 30 min. They are done when they are starting to brown. Serve with ketchup (check this is gf – in the UK Heinz is fine).
There is plenty of processed food that is absolutely fine (from a gluten/wheat-free point of view at least), it’s just a matter of getting used to reading marks very carefully and rejecting anything questionable.
Excellent luck to your friend – it really does get simpler in time.
Tweet This Post
Plurk This Post
Buzz This Post
Tasty
Digg This Post
Ping This Post
Reddit
Stumble This Post