A dinner with your spouse, close friend, or family is usually a very fun way to catch up or simply go over the day. Cooking that meal can also be very fun. Dinner date ideas are one of the oldest tricks in the book to making that special someone in your life that much closer to you.

However, with allergies, this can be a bit rough. You may have to severely limit your choices of meal, or even make two meals! You don’t want to spend your entire evening in the kitchen while you miss out watching Young Frankenstein  (Have you had a movie date and not seen this yet? Well, do it.)

 I have been living with my girlfriend for several months, and have been cooking many meals for us before that. I being the one with all the annoying allergies have to make a lot of compromises but it works out. Here’s a few things I learned when cooking for two, with one heaping bag of allergies on the side!

Many substitutes taste great and will work just as well for your meal.

In our house, I never buy Wheat pasta anymore. Rice pasta tastes great and Miranda does not mind it. Almond Milk is also very common in our baking needs and we have found works very well in comparison to regular milk. Of course, not everyone likes a substitute …

You can make two dishes, but only add a few minutes.

When you think of two dishes. You think of using two pans, two sheets in the oven, two pots. Ugh! Not allowed. Instead, look up recipes that include your allergy later in the meal. Example? Many soups have a cream base. When making tomato soup, I will complete my portion, put it in a seperate bowl for my consumption/storage, then I add milk to the remaining batch. I get my tomato soup, and everyone else gets their delicious creamy tomato soup!

Spice it up with a side dish, or an appetizer for your guest.

Sometimes, you will simply find it very hard to create what you want that will work for both of you. If you simply have to create a basic meal that confines to your allergies and you are not sure if your guest will enjoy it as much as you hope (Side note: Eating gluten or dairy free DOES NOT equal boring mundane foods! But we’re taking it to the extreme here) .. Then add a small appetizer or side to your meal. I generally keep a nice loaf handy and cook up some garlic bread as a side. I can’t have it, but I know my guest will be just a bit more full-filled!

Get both of you in that kitchen!

What kind of dinner date is one where both of you are not cooking? Both of you get in there and split it up. You could make your own meal, or you make hers while she makes yours (What better way to teach her about your allergies?) Have some fun, and hope that your kitchen isn’t a small one - Oh, it is? Well make the best of it because you’re a great guy like that!

That should help you get started. Number one thing is to be open with your spouse, family, and guests about your allergies and they will be more then understanding. Over time, you will find yourself getting better and better at creating fun and interesting dishes that both of you can enjoy!

Thai Sun is located in Uptown Waterloo, in the Waterloo Town Square Mall, it’s all about the authentic thai food and promises to bring the best thai experience in Waterloo.

We got to the restaurant and unfortunately I was told by the waitress that most of the items on the regular menu have some form of gluten/wheat in them, mostly within the sauces; However, she was able to compromise as they had a special gluten-free menu.

The menu included about six items so the selection on entrees was not huge. Being a huge fan of Pad Thai (and at the same time looking to see if Thai Sun can beat Ben Thanh’s Pad Thai) I ordered just that.

I must say, I was not dissapointed. Infact, I was rather impressed. The Pad Thai dish I was served was massive and very, very delicious. Miranda had a pork entree and her serving looked miniscule to mine. The Pad Thai was very flavourfull, sweet, and the sauce was superb. I had to take some home as I could simply not finish my serving.

The pork dish Miranda received, as mentioned was smaller and to be honest it was not as impressive looking. Although, according to her it tasted great, just was a small serving.

The restaurant has a nice atmosphere although can get famously busy at times. The patio is a nice new addition if you’re looking for something a bit more open and quiet.

Price was just right. My Pad Thai cost a measly $12, and the pork entree was $15. With some drinks and tip, it’s a nice and different meal for $40-50.

Be sure to check out Thai Sun one time when you’re feeling something that is light, but filling at the same time.

Thai Sun
75 King Street South Unit 61-62
Waterloo, ON
N2J 4J6

But these awkwardly named ingredients do have a very important role in gluten-free baking. In todays post, I will go over how Guar and Xanthan are produced, what they are used for, how you can use them, and where to find them.

Guar Gum, a little bit of knowledge ..

• Is extracted from the Guar bean, which is mostly found in India (But generally grown all over the world)
• Know how Cornstarch can make you walk on water? Guar is about 8 times stronger, needing much less then cornstarch to produce nearly the same effect.
• Apart from food, it is used in many industries including Textile, Mining, Paper and Cosmetics. Yumm!

Ok Bart, enough! I don’t want to know how miners use it. How does it apply to food?

Actually, the food industry is the largest user of Guar gum. It is generally used as a thickener for sauces. For baking, it essentially fills the gaps lost by using rice, bean, and other substitute flours. How does filling the gaps help? It holds in the air, and helps create that “elastic” feeling most wheat-based doughs would have. Essentially, by keeping the air in, it improves elasticity, texture, keeps it crispy and helps promote a longer shelf life!

So how is Xanthan Gum different?

When it comes to food, not much different. Guar and Xanthan have a nice synergy in how they work but there are very notable differences in how they are produced.

• Xanthan is made in a labratory! Yup, it is essentially created from corn syrup in the corn fields, then shipped off to the lab where it is milled from the dried cell coat of a micro-organism called Xanthonomonas campestris. Scary sounding much?
• There are a good amount of cases where people are allergic to Xanthan, so they resort to Guar or the Mung bean.
• Xanthan is a protein versus Guar, which coming from a bean is a fibre. Some people prefer Xanthan because they cannot handle too much fibre in their diet.

In essence, Xanthan and Guar can be used hand in hand. I find Xanthan to be a bit more expensive then Guar at local grocers.

Thanks for letting me know my food is produced in a lab. So … how do I actually use these?

Well I’m glad you asked! (I’m quasi-interviewing my alter ego here or something, it’s weird?). When baking with these two bad boys, it varies based on what you are doing. Here’s a very simple rundown but I encourage you to expirement and adjust as you see fit:

For every cup of gluten-free flour:

• For Breads or Pizza, use 2 tea spoons. Breads rely much more heavily on gluten for their structure compared to cakes and cookies so it’s much more needed.
• For Cakes, use a single tea spoon
• For Cookies, it is not necessary but some people enjoy putting half to one teaspoon in.
• If you are using the Mung bean (as referenced above), split the above in half.

Oh boy I am excited as a young school girl! Where do I get this stuff?!

Xanthan gum and guar bean are actually pretty easy to find. I’ve been able to find them at my local Bulk Barns, but any large grocer or organic health food store will have them. Xanthan gum will run you a bit more for a package but it will last you a very long time so think of it as a great investment.

And that covers it! You can now sit down and talk to someone about Xanthan and Guar for a good 20 minutes and show how much of a expert you are. Feel free to comment if you have any suggestions on this post.

References: Wikipedia is your friend. Guar Gum, Xanthan Gum plus Google has a good amount of technical information on both the subjects.

The main issue when I initially went looking was there were so many choices. Generally, for milk substitutes you will find ones based on Soy, Rice, and Almond. I personally, did not enjoy the Soy and try not to ingest the stuff too much; So, I will go over two of the more popular brands today that you are most likely to find at your major grocer.

Almond Breeze by Blue Diamond and Rice Dream By Dream are two of the more popular brands of dairy-free milk substitutes. Each have their ups and downs, and for most it will be a win based on personal taste. Both are fairly cheap, and can mostly be found on regular price for $1.50 for a 32 oz container. My local grocer also has them on sale plenty of times at $3 for 2.

Quick rundown of Almond Breeze:

• Is “thicker” then the rice dream, feels less like water and more rich.
• I have used this very successfully in baking in substitute of milk. My girlfriend actually doesn’t use milk anymore as this has worked very well for any baking so far.
• The chocolate and vanilla flavours taste fake and too sweet. I personally cannot stand them!
• Yes, it’s made from almonds, which are very good for you. (But this product itself is not a good source of protein)
• Also available in unsweetened variety that has less calories and 0 grams of sugar. Tastes a bit bland by its lonesome but great for cereal and other mixes.

And a rundown of Rice Dream:

• Made from pure brown rice (not white).
• Has double the calories then the Almond Breeze brand (120 per serving versus 60). If you’re not on a strict diet, this is great as real milk has a lot of calories, so you won’t be throwing off your calorie intake too much.
• Unfortunately I found the Rice Dream milks to taste a bit watery. Not as rich as the Almond breeze
• It has a hint of rice taste obviously. This may be a total turn off for some

In the end, it all depends on personal preference but for me, Almond Breeze is the winner here. Great taste, cheap, healthy, and rich.

Check out the Almond Breeze website, and TasteTheDream.com for Rice Dream .

Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Diabetic, Soy, Celiac, Vegetarian, Vegan, Seafood, Shellfish and much more (even celery!) are things that a good part of us in this world have to live with, yet sometimes we simply aren’t catered to just as well as the regular people who can feast into anything they want and still walk that same night.

Many of us have come to terms with these problems, and have given up our favourite foods, eating plain, boring meals. Some of us however, experiment, try new things and figure out how we can live ling Kings and Queens of the food world despite those the fact those those grains of sugar, or gluten strands hate our bodies - We can get around it!

And thus, this is what this blog is for. I want to help you bring back some joy into your restricted food life and show you just how easy (and cheap!) living like this can be.