Creative chefs: Up for a challenge?

My family have a very limited diet due to allergies %26amp; food intolerances (mental %26amp; physical problems associated with eating certain foods).





I want to go vegetarian, for the most part. I will give you a list of foods that we can eat, %26amp; ask (with a twinkle in my eye) that you concoct something tasty and nutritious, with a selection of those foods (%26amp; nothing else).





If you're up for the challenge, I look forward to seeing your ideas! Thank you!





Acceptable foods:





- white rice (not wholegrain)


- white pasta (not wholegrain)


- sago


- oats, rye, buckwheat


- any dried bean/lentil (NOT broad bean or peas)


- green beans


- iceberg lettuce


- cabbage


- brussels sprouts


- celery (kids don't like this, so limit)


- parsley


- pumpkin, carrots, sweet potato


- potato (limit)


- bamboo shoots


- corn (limit)


- cheese (white - good; matured - limit)


- eggs


- raw cashews


- pears


- mangoes


- apples


- spirulina, green barley, wheat grass


- garlic


- sea salt


- white sugar/stevia


- natural soy sauce (limit)

Creative chefs: Up for a challenge?
Unfortunately my specialty is desserts, so I saw a whole range of possibilities.





Cheesecake served with fresh fruit. Even lactose-intolerant people can often enjoy cheese without ill effects;) Cream cheese is also mild enough that the kids won't turn their noses up at it. One fun idea is to sprinkle the bottom of the pan with a little sugar (ie no crust), line with pear or apple slices, then pour the cheese cake mixture over the top. Bake as normal, but serve upside down. Another cheesecake idea is to blend in some cooked pumpkin. Pumpkin adds lots of nutritional value plus is naturally sweet.





Fruit pizza: make a shortbread crust. cool. Spread with a sour cream / cream cheese mixture (sweeten to taste, but shouldn't need a lot of sugar). arrange sliced fruits on top. garnish with mint and a sharp.





A GREAT side dish: cube the pumpkin and sweet potato. Cut the carrot into rounds. Sautee together with a little salt and chopped parsley. For breakfast, ommit the carrots and turn it into a hash or omlete.





Serve an Alfredo sauce (cream infused with garlic and thickened with a rue) over your favorite pasta. A handful of shredded cheese in the sauce makes it even more kid friendly.





Shred up cabbage and steam until al dente (about 3 minutes). toss with a little butter and crushed cashews. Also good with shredded carrots. Add salt and / or pepper to your liking. Celery seed adds a nice flavor.
Reply:email me at my id @yahoo, because you did not list very many spices or any oils that your family can have, my husband is a chef and loves a challenge. but we need to know theese things to help you.
Reply:egg is not acceptable as vegetarian
Reply:When I first read the question, I thought you said you had a "Twinkie" in your eye; ROFL after realizing my mistake!





Sounds like the makings of a lovely casserole, a delicious smoothie, and an awesome bean-and-veggie soup. Yumm.
Reply:tough one. here's one. also, for something else...can you use spices? if so which ones?





cook some white rice and let it cool down (should not be sticky rice)





take oil in a pan (any oil). saute chopped potatoes, green beans, cashews, carrots. once the potatoes are cooked, add the rice and mix well. add salt to taste. the colour of the rice should change to a little brownish because of the fried onions.





i know i used oil. if you cant do that, try this:





half-boil the vegetables (carrots, potatoes, green beans, garlic, parsely). add salt to taste. then use this water, along with the vegetables to cook some rice.





with mangoes:





take the pulp of mangoes, add a little water, and whip in a blender. it makes for great juice. if needed you could add sugar.





chop some apples, pears, pumpkin. add a little sea salt and mix well. you could add a little sugar if you like.





any lentil:





soak for 1-2 hours. boil in water until you its the texture is still thin but you cant see the water floating on top. add salt to taste.





i hope that sounds good. if you could use some spices (cumin, turmeric, coriander), you should add those.
Reply:i would start with a salad comprised of iceburg, diced apples, crumbled goat cheese, and toasted oats. i would dress this with. 1 small can mango juice ( grocery store might call it nectar) 1tbl soy sauce and oil as needed to make a dressing (dont know what you can use but i would use olive or grapeseed oil).





for dinner i would get some oil hot in a pan and saute a little garlic then add red and green shredded cabbage and shredded carrots. once they become tender add canned bamboo.(i would add sliced tofu just for protien purposes) for the sauce you could use soy or take 8oz of apple juice bring to a boil season to your liking (the juice will make the sauce sweet so if you can use anything to spice it up or make it salty it will create a nice contrast). once the juice is seasoned take in a seperate container equal parts sago and water and mix. slowly add to the juice while stiring till consistency is reached. let cook for an additional 5 min so that the starch taste will cook out. toss your vegies in this and serve over rice. top with cashews and parsley.





for dessert take fresh pears peel cut in half seed. place in red or white wine and simmer till a fork can be placed in and removed without sticking. remove from wine pat dry sprinkle with sugar and bake for 15min reduce wine till it is almost dry about 4ounces. i would reccomend a riesling or icewine. remove pears from oven place on plate top with a dollop of marscapone and drizzle reserved wine over.





some of the stuff used is not listed and if you dont like wine you could use apple juice. and marscapone is not generally very matured.
Reply:There are tons of things you could do with that.





As a side dish, I would say do green beans and cashews. Blanche the green beans, saute the green beans in whatever oil is acceptable, and then add the cashews in the last few minutes. You can also crush the cashews before adding them, so you get the crunchy texture/flavor without huge amounts.





You could also do a wonderful omelet with eggs, ricotta cheese and brussel sprouts. Blanche the brussel sprouts, saute them with a tiny bit of sugar and finely chopped garlic. Set aside to cool. Then chop them into 1/4s and mix with the ricotta cheese. Stuff your omelette with the mixture and add salt and pepper (if you like) to taste. You don't mention if you can have spinach, but this method works great with a ricotta, spinach mixture too.