Thoughts on the Rotation Diet and some recipes for Round 1

I started out very gung-ho on the first four-day round of my rotation diet. I think I was a bit of an overachiever and wanted to do this perfectly. It's a good thing Pumpkin was there (as you can see in picture to the left) to keep me grounded. Here are some lessons I learned after just four days.

• Lesson 1: If you're going to follow your plan perfectly and never cheat--- have a really big family to feed or lots of freezer space.




• Lesson 2: Start out slowly. At first, try rotating one category, such as protein or grains. Gradually add in new categories over the course of several rotations. This isn't what I did but now I will follow my own advice.




• Lesson 3: Sometimes you're going to foul up and eat something two days in a row. Remind yourself, that it's still better for you and your food allergies than eating the same thing day in and day out.
  

With those lessons in mind, here are some other recipes I tried for round 1.

Recipes for days when you can eat amaranth or soy flour, and arrowroot.





Amaranth Drop
Biscuits




For breakfast, I made up a batch of these. I thought they were pretty tasty but my son, who doesn't have to avoid gluten, tried one and only one. He normally gobbles up biscuits by the handfuls. My advice is cut the recipe in half unless you have someone in your house who will help you polish these off.





Ingredients:

• 1 cup amaranth flour


• 1 cup arrowroot starch


• 2 tsp. honey or other sweetener


• 4 tsp. gluten-free baking powder


• 1 tsp. baking soda


• 1 tsp. xanthum gum


• 1/2 tsp. salt


• in place of 2 eggs, use an additional teaspoon of baking powder, 1 T. of liquid, 1 T. of vinegar or your favorite egg replacer


• 1/2 cup almond oil or other allowed vegetable oil or shortening


• 2/3 cup allowed milk or water or a mixture of the two

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees


• Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk together


• Add the vegetable oil to the dry ingredients and mix together


• Mix in the milk/water. Increase the liquid by 1 T. if you are skipping eggs and egg replacer and add 1 T. of vinegar. Or add in the eggs or egg replacer at this point.


• Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a baking sheet covered with parchment paper or well greased


• Bake for 10-12 minutes. They were yummy and flaky! I saved the extras in the freezer. I'm not sure yet how they will be the second-time around since I have to wait four days, unless I want to sneak one out of sequence. (Note: I actually did thaw one out four days later and they were still quite tasty.)

Soy Flour Tortillas

These tortillas are quick and easy to make. The amazing thing is you can change the type of flour you use each time you make them. They also require no yeast.






Ingredients for 4 small tortillas:

• 1 1/3 cups flour (you can use soy, amaranth, buckwheat or a mixture of flours. Your choice.)


• 1/3 tsp. salt


• 1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used sunflower oil.)


• 2/3 tsp. g/f baking powder


• 1/3 to 3/4 cup warm water or milk of your choice (or a mixture of the two.)
  
  

Directions:

• Mix the flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl.


• Add oil and mix with spoon or fingers to combine.


• Add water or milk or combo. Mix until a sticky ball forms.


• Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and allow to rest for at least 30 minutes. I made it early in the morning and allowed it to rest all day in the fridge before using it.)


• Divide the dough into four balls.


• Dust a pastry board with additional flour and roll out each ball of dough into a circle approximately 1/4-inch thick.


• Heat a heavy skillet over high heat. I pre-sprayed the pan with pan spray. Cook tortillas 30 seconds on each side or until dough looks dry, puffy and brown spots form on both surfaces.I saved extras in the freezer.
  
  

Note: These were yummy even though they were made with soy flour.

Pumpkin kept himself busy with a makeshift toy while I was cooking the
soy flour tortillas. Wouldn't it be nice to be so easily entertained?