I'm wondering if anyone has any good recipies for spreads that I can use. My looong list of things I can't eat include: gluten, corn, quinoa, dairy (casein ok), soy, beans, nuts, and seeds. I can't eat some of my previously favorite stuff, like nut butters, and baba gannoush! What could I substitute for tahini in the baba gannoush, perhaps avocado? I get hungry, and I crave something easy to eat, like a spread on rice crackers or bananas.

Thanks, Claire

How about tapenade? If you google I'm sure you'll find a ton of different recipes. Basically it's olive oil, olives, and anchovies, sometimes with capers and sometimes with other things. I've made it without anchovies and it's still very good.

Rachel

Claire,

We are in a similar situation. My son and I are both gluten intolerant and have delayed food allergies to dairy, eggs, peanuts, soy, legumes, citrus, pineapple, and sesame. My son likes Annie's honey mustard on some things and he puts vanilla icing on enjoy life cinnimon raisin bagels. Trader Joe's has some eggplant and olive based spreads that might work for you. The red pepper eggplant dip is really good (sorry, I don't have any handy so I don't know the exact name). I am still searching for new things to eat also.

--Judy

We used to make a sweet potato spread.

1 medium sweet potato or yam
1 small onion
some figs or dates
maple syrup to taste

Steam the veggies. Puree all ingredients.

You could just make guacamole or avocado dip...lemon juice, seasoning and mashed avocado. Save the pit...lemon juice isn't enough to keep it from oxidizing.

I had a recipe somewhere that called for olives and artichoke hearts, pureed with a bit of olive oil. But...since olives (and oil) are on my no list, i don't know where it got off too...

Pesto is quick and easy too...puree spinach with a bit of dried basil, add garlic and olive oil until you like the consistency. Mmmmm...I need to try this with grapeseed oil...

Fruit cooks down to a nice "butter" too. And you can come up with some spreadable pumpkin options by playing with a pie recipe. (I'm sure there are pumpkin butter recipes on the net, too)

I think avocado, lemon juice, mayonaisse and salt would make a marvelous spread. It is what I do when I make an avocado sandwich, although I leave the avo pretty much intact.

If you like sweet spreads, you could make lemon curd. I make a no-sugar version of it for myself but I use it more like a custard than a spread.

What about a ground chicken, ground ham, or tuna spread, maybe with some finely chopped celery and onion (unless, of course, you are vegetarian). Can you do mayo?

I think the pureed vegetable dips sound interesting, and I bet you could get pretty creative trying out some things. Post back when you have a winner!

Cara

For a quick snack, I take and mash an avocado. I only add cumin, salt and pepper and then eat it. It is light and simple, but I really enjoy it with the cumin.

In the winter I sometimes make an eggplant dip. I had forgotten about it now because I don't roast vegetables in the oven in the summer--but I bet grilled vegetables would also make a great dip.
Cube, drizzle with olive oil, and Roast (400 for one hour or until tender)
sprinkle with any combination of spices (cumin, salt, pepper, paprika)
1 pound eggplant (or combination eggplant and zuchinni),
1 red bell pepper
1/2 red onion
1 clove garlic
cool mixture and place in a food processor with 1 TBS tomato paste and more salt and pepper if needed.

This keeps well in the fridge for up to a week.

--Judy

Although pesto is my favorite, bean dips are easy too. I get garbonzo mix in the natural foods department, mix with water, and dip is ready.
Leslie