Intrepid Murmurings

So most of you know, from past postings or real life encounters, of Lonnie's dairy allergy.  It came on about 7 years ago, and it took him awhile to pinpoint what was making him so sick.  Once he eliminated all sources of dairy, all was well.  Since then we've become quit adept at dairy free cooking.  I, of course, still have my dairy stash in the fridge, but he rarely misses it.

Two weeks ago, he started feeling really sick again.  At first he thought it was bad oysters. Ha. But after it continued for awhile, getting worse after meals, he started to get suspicious.  It all seemed very familiar.  He decided to cut out soy, wheat, and nuts in a quazi-elimination diet.  Things improved.  He felt fine! We lamented the challenge of possibly having to cut out such prevalent ingredients, especially since dairy is already out of the picture. It was hard to shop and think up meal alternatives.

This week, he decided to give wheat a reintroduction with some flour tortillas.  Halfway through the meal, he started feeling sick again.  Boo!

But then, ah ha! He wondered if it might be the ground beef?  We quickly realized we had not had beef in the past week, either.  The day of the oysters also consisted of flank steak.  Later in the week, hamburgers.  I think there were sloppy joe's in there somewhere, too. 

It makes sense, given the dairy allergy.  Dr. Google doesn't have a lot to say on the subject, other than some studies about allergies in children.  One found 20% of children with a dairy or beef allergy were also allergic to the other.  Interesting....

Lonnie has since reintroduced soy, wheat and nuts with no problems.  Its definitely the cow, then.  Goodbye, steaks, pot roast, and juicy old fashioned hamburgers.  But we are actually quite relieved that its beef!  Many of our favorite recipes can be made using ground chicken, turkey, pork or lamb.   Maybe this will finally get us to eat more fish!  Hello, omegas, goodbye, clogged arteries.

So, in an effort to see if there is anybody out there actually still reading this blog, I am calling for comments, please!  What are your favorite non-beef dinners?  Or what traditionally beefy dishes do you successfully recreate with alternative meats or products?   Lamburgers?  Turkey meatballs?  Vegetarian cuisine?  Inspire us!