Allergic to Cow

(Jacquelyn Graham) #1

Hi there, I have several food allergies that slightly complicate cooking for me. Allergic to everything “cow” except leather. (I’m a woman, don’t touch the shoes!!) I’m also allergic to almonds which makes a lot of the bready-type recipes difficult. So, no cow-based cheese, butter, cream cheese, etc. (which blows chunks, btw). No easy burgers, etc., and I live in Texas so I’m basically SOL at most parties since beef is ubiquitous here, but I’m managing fine. My pulled pork is to die for and my husband can vouch for it, he’s originally from Memphis and would rather eat mine than any he can find in restaurants around here.

My question is does anyone have any interesting recipes that don’t include almond flour, beef or cow products? I use goat cheese instead of cream cheese to make bacon wrapped stuffed jalepenos, for example, and am looking for anything unusual I might not have thought of already. I tried vegan cream cheese…Dear God, I tried it. Never again.

I can use coconut cream as a heavy cream substitute and make an awesome chocolate mousse with it and I’m playing around with coconut flour, etc.

I’m also allergic to soy, which is not a terrible thing on this diet anyway. My husband says I can only eat diet air and drink water, but he still likes my cooking anyway. :yum:

So, interesting and unusual recipes that fit my weird dietary restrictions; ready, set, go!

#2

Ground super fatty lamb, some beef broth (if you can stand it?), and a healthy dollop sour cream is deliscious.

(Jacquelyn Graham) #3

I do use ground lamb for burgers and it’s awesome. Unfortunately, I can’t do anything beef, including bouillon and sour cream, but that does sound wonderful.

#4

Try hazelnut flour in lieu of almond flour. If you can’t find it, you can make it yourself in food processor. In a frying pan, warm the hazelnuts, just enough so that the brown skin becomes loose and you can rub it off with a kitchen towel. Place skinned hazelnuts in food processor when cooled, and grind to flour meal consistency.

I have fooled many with my turkey faux veal cutlets. Marinate for 3 to 6 hours turkey breast slices (cutlets) in some balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, sliced garlic and fresh thyme. Salt and pepper to taste. Fry in lard. Serve with lemon slices. Will come off as “vitello al limone”…veal cutlets with lemon. Or, you can skip the lemon thing at the end and make veal parmigiana (small amount of tomato sauce, lots of mozzarella and parmigiano Romano. No need to bread the cutlets…still will come out delicious!). Hey…wait a minute…I’m a dork…instead of mozzarella and parmigiano reggiano, use goat cheese mozzarella (yes, it does exist…also provolone type goat cheese), and instead of parmigiano, use Romano cheese (which is made from sheep’s milk). Have you tried buffalo mozarella? Maybe you can tolerate it as the protein profile is different than cow.

(Jacquelyn Graham) #5

I will give that a try, thank you!

(John) #6

I don’t try to recreate the things that got me this way (pizza, bread etc), so i never use almond flour. Pork is my friend, ground Italian sausage meatballs last night with some mozzarella melted on top. You can get buffalo mozzarella, feta and roquefort are favorites as well. I eat lots of eggs, making up deviled eggs with bacon in there, jalapeno on top is great. Pork ribs are great, but lamb is very good as well. I smoke a ton of stuff, but everyone’s favorite is turkey. Turkey is awesome but for some reason people only think about it once or twice a year.
I’m sure you can get goat in TX, it is scary to some but for no reason, it is a great replacement for beef, especially ground.

(Jessica K) #7

Have you tried coconut flour? It’s a pretty good substitute, just a tad expensive :slight_smile:

(Jacquelyn Graham) #8

I have, it does work for some things, but it tends to absorb a lot more liquid so I have to play a lot with the ratios.

#9

I highly suggest you listen to this podcast

http://www.radiolab.org/story/alpha-gal/ .

It could very well impact your life in a very meaningful way.

(Jacquelyn Graham) #10

That was fascinating, thank you for sharing it. I’m able to eat other meats, though, just not beef. I’m not sure why, but I have always been that way. Itching, stuffed nose, BAD digestive reaction, etc, but I don’t have issues with pork, chicken, lamb, and whatnot. Cow dairy has always gives me unpleasant reactions. Still, there are substitutes. Very interesting, though.

#11

I have one other thought on this - have you tried real grass fed beef? I live in Texas too and it’s becoming widely available, even the ground type at Target. I generally get it at Central Market (aka HEB) and lesser so at Whole Foods. I order grass feed beef online from a farm like 100 miles from Dallas called Slancker - it’s expensive so it’s not an everyday thing. Possibly a bovine hormone or antibiotic reaction? Also, don’t laugh but perhaps organ meats would impact you differently (liver, kidney, heart) they are really much much more nutritionally beneficial to you…

Also, I didn’t see this brought up in the other responses - I do know that we Americans tend to live a life with an out of balance ratio of Omega 6 to 3, when it should really ideally be more like a ratio of 4:1 or 1:1. Grass fed beef has much higher Omega 3’s.

Lastly, have you had either or both blood and skin allergy tests at a immunologist? After eating beef for a few weeks and then going they may be able to identify the antibodies that you body is kicking off.

Best of luck - but hey, eliminating beef is not the end of the world, remember how hard it was to give up sugar!?! Bottom line is if something doesn’t make you feel good, just don’t eat it. Yeah pizza, pasta, tortillas taste good but they make me feel like junk (and you can substitute Julian Bakery’s Paleo pizza crust/fatheat crust, miracle noodles and julian bakery coconut wraps, respectively) soooo there has to be a replacement for beef like buffalo (YUM), venison (deer), and ostrich (don’t knock it till you try it).

#12

Jackie, Thank you for replying personally - I can tell you are the kind of
person that is going do your best to figure out the beef mystery and share
it with all of us. We are all just experimenting with our bodies and
sharing feedback. Stephen

(Jacquelyn Graham) #13

I like ostrich very much and venison. Buffalo I can have occasionally. I did have an allergy test, they stuck me all over because I had a bad reaction to almonds (never knew, and I only found out because it was an incredibly busy day at work and I only had a handful or two of almonds to keep me going and started having trouble breathing.) My doctor sent me for the test panel and found out about dairy, beef, almonds, soy, etc. I felt so much better cutting them out that it honestly hasn’t been a burden and Keto has finished the job. I love how good I feel now. I didn’t know anything different was possible, I’d never connected my skin, digestion and breathing issues with food. Silly, I know, but I’d always been that way, so for me it was just how I was.

I may try the grass-fed in a small amount just to test, but given my reactions in general I’m not too sanguine. The thing is, I get hives and these cyst-like bumps on my neck and back that last for ages and it affects my digestion and breathing, as well. So small amount sometime and I’ll see if it gives me a similar reaction. Thanks for the info and ideas!

(Ashley Crandon) #14

Can you please share your coconut mousse recipe Jackie?

(Kara) #15

My favorite lamb recipe: get some lamb leg steaks, and start warming a frying fat of your choice in a pan (cast iron works great). Grind some fennel and cumin seeds and dry rub the steaks. Sear on both sides, then lower the heat, add butter, garlic powder, and thyme to the pan and cook, turning, until cooked through. Serve with more butter :slight_smile:

I’ve also made lamb stew in the pressure cooker using cut up boneless leg of lamb and the same spice palette, and it was delicious.

(Jacquelyn Graham) #16

Absolutely. 1 can of coconut cream (you can buy it in the imported foods section of the grocery store normally. Not coconut milk, but coconut cream.) Put the can in the fridge overnight to separate out the liquid from the fat, it floats to the top and liquid settles to the bottom. Scoop out all the cream from the top of the can and, using a spoon or a hand-held blender, mix it with about three or four tablespoons of cocoa (or more, depends on how much of a dark chocolate fan you are), a couple of tablespoons of xylitol, and a teaspoon of vanilla. Blend until smooth and creamy. I keep it in the fridge and grab a big spoonful when I want something sweet or when I need a quick bit of energy.

(Ashley Crandon) #17

Thanks Jackie! I will give it a try :blush:

(Stickin' with mammoth) #18

Well said, and I share your philosophy.