Totally edible! And brought to you by rice.
O.K., admittedly “totally edible” does not come across as a ringing endorsement. I wouldn’t look for it on menus any time soon.
From my perspective, though, totally edible feels like a total triumph!
First an update: Despite being officially reprieved from the Massively Allergen-Free Diet, I’ve stalled out on re-introducing foods thanks to what may or may not be esophageal yeast. The symptoms are the same yeasty symptoms as before, but it’s not responding at all to the anti-fungal medication.
The latest suggestion from Dr. Eos is that I’m experiencing an effect of the eos themselves, so we’ll try another bit of fluconazole, and then back to budesonide. For the moment, the only dietary additions in the last two weeks have been chicken and rice.
But what a difference some rice makes! It’s been on my plate nearly every day: white rice, brown rice, rice pilaf, volcano rice, rice noodles, rice puffs, rice milk. Happy, happy!
What makes me even happier is the chance to satisfy cravings I’ve had for weeks for something pasta-y and, even more, for something creamy.
I was going to wait until the weekend to muck around in the kitchen, but Twitter encouragement from colettefmartin, eah1234, and vegetarianmamma made waiting just too hard.
This recipe definitely needs some tweaking, but it was an entirely satisfying and, dare I say, rather thrilling first pass!
Totally Edible Non-Mac and Non-Cheese (First Draft)
This makes only about a serving and a half, since I didn’t want to go overboard first time ‘round. It was inspired by Chef Chloe’s awesome but potentially allergenic vegan mac and cheese.
Cooked rice pasta (I used rotini)
2 Tbs. canola oil
3 Tbs. gluten-free flour mix. (I’m sure a commercial preparation is fine, but I made my own: 1 part sorghum flour, 1 part rice flour, 1.5 parts tapioca starch)
1 cup plain rice milk
¼ tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. ground mustard
3 Tbs. nutritional yeast
1 tsp. lemon juice
Tiny dab allergen-free ketchup (or regular ketchup, or tomato paste)
1 Tbs. agave nectar
- Heat the oil in a saucepan over low heat.
- Whisk in the flour mix and keep whisking for about 5 minutes until well incorporated. The mixture should be a little foamy and seem a little cooked.
- Slowly add the rice milk, stirring constantly. Keep stirring until the mixture bubbles and thickens.
- Stir in the remaining ingredients and heat through.
- Pour over the pasta. (I added in some cooked green peas, too, just for fun.)
Next time, I’m thinking less agave for sure and maybe a little more zing—some extra mustard or a shake of cayenne, perhaps. What would you recommend?
