General Chat

My young cousin is coming to visit next week with his girlfriend.

I've just been informed that not only is she vegetarian, she also has IBS and is wheat/dairy intolerant.

They arrive on her birthday and I would love to make her a birthday cake.

Do any of you lovely people have wheat/dairy free recipes?

Thank you,

Julia

google will be your best friend.

I have been googling, but I'm hoping somebody might have a recipe that they've actually tried and tested, so that I know it works.

no flour no butter no milk this is gonna be a hard one hun

GOOD LUCK!!!!

Hi Julia

Not sure if I can help yet I have a cousin who is Vegan, the food at her wedding was glorious yet similar, will email her.

Sainsbury's sell foods for Celiac's, saw special flours and more yesterday whilst shopping.

xxx Shimms xxx

Thanks JoyBoroAngel, I think I'm going to need good luck!
Thank you Shimms, every bit of help appreciated, no Sainsbury's over here, think I will try a health food store.

My pleasure Julia, have just emailed my cousin, hopefully she'll come up with a recipe to help. xxx

check if she is vegetarian or vegan- again it will have a huge difference.

i'd make myself a list of what she could have, then wonder what I could make with it.

can she have egg for instance?

Julia
We are very lucky in the UK but you have taken on an expensive task. To bake you would need to buy all sorts of costly items that you wouldn't use up. Try going to the largest supermarket you can get to. You may be lucky and find cakes for sale. Here we find wheat/gluten free next to Organic and in Spain you usually find them close to the Diabetic/low salt ranges. I'm sure you would at least find bread & rolls.

Good luck and remember that baking gluten/wheat free is diferent to baking with ordinary flour.

Oh dear, German supermarkets are pretty pathetic compared to English, French and Spanish ones, methinks it'll have to be a specialist organic store.

Don't think she's vegan, have sent a mail to be sure.
If she eats eggs I could make a strawberry meringue, I think I've seen lactose free cream substitute somewhere.

Thanks all for the advice so far.

Julia

Maggie - Thank you so much, some great ideas, think I'll start making some things and freezing them for her and then I'll just cook "normal" stuff for the rest of us.

Julia

Just got a reply to my mail - she's not vegan - phew - can use eggs at least!

Hi Julia
The other day on one of the boards, someone was asking about recipes for specialised diets and they were directed to the site cookitsimply.com

I have a friend whose son is a coeliac and has to cook seperately for him all the time. I advised her of the site and she has used a couple of the ideas on there.

Possibly only Heinz beans because of any additives (or lack of in their case). I know that one type of ketchup is allowed but not another. And I always wondered why my friends son could eat a Mars Bar but not a mini mars bar. I was told that the Mars people put a whole load of other things in the mini version of their chocolates, almost to "use up the leftovers", so a mini mars bar sometimes included bits of malteser!!!

Very complicated, but if you stick to plain homemade foods as much as you can, you should be ok. Remember not to use sauces or gravy that may have wheat based agents in.

A lot of foods these days are marked as suitable for various diets, but maybe not so much in Germany. If you get really stuck, it could just be salad for every meal - I am sure she would understand how challenging the whole episode will be for you.

Good Luck.
DEBBIE

Soory to hear of your poor supermarkets. Try these websites:

www.celiachandbook.com/germany.html

www.bookofyum.com/.../gluten-free-travel-in-europe-german-and-austrian-reformhaus-product-reviews

www.centralcoastceliacs.com/resources/GF+in+Germany

And lastly the German Coeliac Society
www.dzg-online.de/english.41.0.html

All these sites are in English, several of them suggest which supermarkets to try.

I know somebody who is celiac, They even have a seperate toaster.
A vegan friend of my sons, when he goes to a BBQ,he takes his own food BBQ and tools.

Maggie, I didnt think vegans would eat honey.


Sorry not much help.
Marion

Thank you all so much for thetips and advice. You are all wonderful!

namelessone - big thank you to you for the very useful links. (I love your name by the way!) Will research now and make a shopping list for the Reformhaus tomorrow.

Have a lovely evening all,

Julia x

Looks similar Maggie lol

Imagine not eating chocolate though :((((

Please don´t worry too much about this. Anyone on a special diet DOES NOT EXPECT SOMEONE ELSE TO DO SOMETHING SPECIAL FOR THEM. I say this as I am on a very restricted diet . (No wheat, dairy amongst other things) I travel to and fro to the UK and have my suitcase filled with essentials, likewise if I´m invited to lunch I carry something like rice, nuts, veg, salad etc. My hosts are always relieved that they don´t have to worry about feeding me something special. I know it´s her birthday and you want to do something special, if that was me visiting you, I would love a freshly made big bowl of mixed fruit, (you can always stick a candle in the centre! ) I would stay clear of meringues ´cos of the high sugar content. (Patients with IBS usually don´t take sugar as it makes the IBS worse) The biggest thing is to give her a big hug and show her how happy you are to meet her. Have a lovely time together.

Chocolate!!!! Can't do without that!
Here's a simple recipe for a vegan chocolate cake (I know they're not vegan - but it covers all eventualities!)

http://www.selfsufficientish.com/vegancake.htm

Thank you Chica for that lovely advice.

Thanks Maggie in Winchester for the recipe, can't use it though, self-raising flour!