HOW TO COPE WITH FOOD ALLERGIESIt is impossible to imagine how convenient bread is unless you are one of those rare people who are allergic to gluten and can tolerate no grain at all except rice. Allergies to grain is just one of the many food allergies that many people have to cope with. Their best alternative is to prepare most of their own food so they can be sure that they are not consuming something that will set off an allergic reaction. This post will offer some alternatives to use, in food preparation. Allergies to MIlk and Dairy Products: Choose recipes that call for water instead of milk, or canola oil instead of butter or margarine. You can also substitute a soy beverage instead of milk. (Our Soy Satisfied Cookbook explains several ways of making your own soy milk or beverage) You will find that a homemade version is usually tastier than many of the store bought brands. Allergies to Wheat and Gluten: Wheat has more gluten than any other grains, so for anyone with slight allergies to gluten, you may be able to use other grains, such as rye, kamut or spelt. Kamut or Spelt have gluten but have a different genetic make-up than wheat (they have not been cross-bred or hybridized over the centuries) so they are a great alternative to those who have a wheat sensitivity but are not completely allergic to gluten. When one can have no gluten, choose flours made from seeds like rice or others mentioned below. Many recipes calling for baking powder or baking soda turn out well using these other flours, especially recipes for pancakes, waffles, crepes or even muffins. When baking with other grain flours or non-grain flours, try adding a teaspoon of guar gum (available at health food stores). While it will not produce a super fluffy product, it does help the rising somewhat and helps hold your bake goods together so they won't crumble as easily. Recipes calling for yeast rise better with wheat flour. It is better to use recipes that ask you to fold in the beaten white of eggs as that will also help your baking to rise higher. Allergies to Grain: Those with grain allergies, will probably be able to use potato flour, and rice flours ( I make my own brown rice from from Short Grain Brown Rice) , plus stronger flavoured flours such as buckwheat, soybean, chickpea, amaranth, almond or corn. All of these flours with exception of almond flour, can be milled at home in aNutrimill for a less expensive alternative. To give these a better flavour, add applesauce, nuts, mixed fruits, cherries, dates or sunflower seeds. Bake these loaves or cakes in small pans, not too high or even in muffin pans. Guar Gum can be added to give baking powder and baking soda a boost with rising Allergies to Eggs: These are some of the adjustments on can make: - Replace whole eggs with an egg substitute available in stores
- For each egg, mix 1 Tbsp. of ground flax mixed with 3 Tbsp. water. Allow it to sit for 2 min.
- For each egg use 1/4 cup soy Creme (Soy Satisfied Cookbook)
- Instead of using the whole egg, you can use all whites, or all yolks (one whole egg=1/4 cup)
- Replace with equal amounts of oil and mashed potatoes or lentil puree (former post on this blog). For each egg use 1/4 cup of this mixture
(Acknowledgement to our "Eat More Whole Grains Cookbook" Author. Our next post will deal with Celiac or Gluten Free Baking 
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