Lucy

Three years ago I found out that I had developed a dairy allergy and, after making the switch to soy, I discovered I had a soy allergy as well. I spent a few months eating vegan to avoid the dairy problem but    I was never very good at balancing my meals so that was the end of that. By the end of the month I was too hungry to give a damn about anything and I went back to the eat-what-you-can diet. (The big difference being that eat-what-you-can is a big supporter of fried eggs). 

But eating vegan taught me to cook and I got comfortable making lentils, dicing onions, and finding nutritional yeast and seitan at the grocery store. Having gotten my feet back under me life threw me a new curve ball and the second bomb dropped, I discovered another food allergy; gluten. 

Gluten is the arch-nemesis of eating, or has been for me at least, the middle of the US is the bread-box of the nation and  any attempts made to explain gluten allergies are often met with blank stares and questions of "so... you can eat, like, bread and stuff right?" which, no. 

Seitan takes a back seat in cooking and lentils and quinoa grab shot-gun but trying to find recipes free of soy, dairy, and wheat is difficult. Cook books that specialize in one often compensate by leaning hard on another (I dare you to pick up a gluten-free book and find a recipe without milk or cheese in it).  The books that I have found locally which leave out gluten & dairy are "gourmet" with ingredients out of my price range.

What I've been looking for are recipes that are nutritious, tasty, easy, (fast), and affordable. I don't mind laying down the money for a jar of nutritional yeast every once and awhile but I can't go buying gf bread every week. At six dollars a loaf it isn't worthwhile.

The goal for me for this blog is to share the recipes that I do find and to share the recipes that I stumble on to in the hopes that everyone can find a couple of things they can eat. Or maybe it's a friend or a relative who recently developed an allergy and you're looking for a recipe to surprise them with next time they come over, sometimes you can't help but be picky and I'd like to help make the going easy for anyone else I can.

Outside of food I am working two jobs, one part-time and one full, and putting myself through school. Recipes I share will be allergy sensitive, cheap, fast, and full of attitude because fuck sometimes a burnt pancake is a reason to cuss. 

Much love,

Lucy