Travelling with IC and gluten, dairy and soy free: Salad Dressing
Travelling when one has dietary issues like IC and being gluten, dairy and soy free can be a challenge -- especially when one needs to eat out. Burgers with buns are out. Can't have cheese on anything and most dressings have soy and vinegar in them. Yikes! What's a body to do??
Most restaurants carry main-dish salads. I have them leave off the problem items, like peppers, tomatoes, cheese, croutons. For the dressing, I bring my own "dressing kit." I carry it with me when we travel or even just go to a friend's house to eat. It's a pretty simple selection of items, and it's easy to pack. For a while I was trying to carry one of my home made salad dressings with me, but they are all egg-based. That's problematic especially when one is travelling for several days because they need to be refrigerated.
I came up with this combination after making a couple of salads recently that I made a vinaigrette type dressing using pear juice and olive oil.
This picture above shows exactly what I carry with me in my salad dressing travel kit. I bring a small bottle of olive oil, some Real Salt, a little spice container with some of my home made Adobo seasoning in it, and a re-used dropper bottle with pear juice in it. Below are shown the full-sized versions of these items to help with visualization:
The method is really quite simple. I just sprinkle some of the salt and adobo over the top of my salad, then I drizzle it with the pear juice and olive oil, then toss. Quick, easy and delicious.
Sometimes I use the olive oil and Adobo to dress a baked potato, as well.
By the way, I do this at home all the time, too.
Enjoy!
Ingredient Substitutions for the IC Diet
One of my biggest challenges since being on the IC diet is finding adequate substitutions for certain basic needs, like condiments. Mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, salad dressings, etc., all have vinegar in them. Not only is white vinegar made from grain, any vinegar is a real no-no for folks with inflammatory conditions, especially interstitial cystitis (IC.)
Anything tangy or tart is pretty much off limits on this way of eating. The reason is that acidic foods set off IC bladder symptoms like crazy. Some foods are worse than others. Here is the "official" foods list -- compiled based upon research and patient experience. I find I do best when I follow this list's suggestions strictly.
However, following this list strictly can lead to what seems like a very boring and bland diet! Thankfully, God has given me creativity in the kitchen. I've discovered some substitutions and ingredients that work just fine in place of the normal foods that most folks eat. Many, many times folks want what I'm eating and like what I've prepared better than "normal" food. I'm hopeful that my recipes and substitutions will open a whole new food world for those with inflammatory conditions, like IC, that have to restrict the acidity in their diet.
The biggest challenge is the inability to use Lemon juice and vinegar. Instead, I use "baby" pear juice, which can be found in the infant foods section of most grocery stores. Pear juice is already low acid, and the baby form is supposed to be even more so.
With the pear juice, I'm able to create all sorts of salad dressings and homemade mayonnaise. Check the sidebar for several recipes.
Tomato sauce is another big challenge. In the past, I've used pumpkin puree instead of tomato sauce in a few recipes. I've created a new pumpkin ketchup recipe, and I'll be experimenting with other pumpkin-based sauces.
