Each week I make our menu for the week so I only need to make one trip to the grocery store. I usually reserve one meal per week for leftovers and if we don't have enough leftovers I find something pre-made in the freezer, canned soup, tuna, or something else easy. Tonight was that night and we didn't have enough leftovers for tonight's dinner and lunch tomorrow so I made some tuna "sandwiches." The main ingredients of this don't come easy given all of our allergens and I had to go to a lot of stores and had to read a lot of labels before figuring out these products work best for us. I still haven't had time to make gluten free bread this week so I resorted to my back-up plan....gluten free crackers. It can be hard to find decent tasting gluten free crackers, especially ones that are egg and dairy free too but about 3 months ago I found some pretty delicious ones that I have been hooked on! Food Should Taste Good makes a few different gluten free brown rice crackers flavors. The tomato basil flavor is good but strong in flavor so it depends what you are planning to eat with it. Beware though, their sea salt flavor contains soy. They also make a black pepper one but I haven't been able to get my hands on that flavor yet. I like the roasted red pepper flavor best (this coming from the girl who hates red peppers) so I used those tonight. Before Lola's soy allergy I would use original Vegenaise for mayonnaise, but it contains soy. They do offer a soy free version which also tastes pretty good but my mom and I like Earth Balance's vegan mayo better. It's soy free and usually cheaper! Finally the tuna....oh I searched high and low for this one the last 6 weeks or so. I like tuna as a back-up meal so when I had to go soy free for Lola I was concerned I had to eliminate one of the few quick meals I have for myself since most of the typical tuna brands like Chicken of the Sea and Starkist contain soy. For about 6 weeks, I read every label on every brand of tuna I saw at every store I went to. After about one week of searching I did find a soy free option at Target with with Simply Balanced brand but it was $4 a can!! Never mind, guess I won't be eating tuna. Then on the last week of our membership at Costco I looked at their Kirkland Signature brand of skip jack tuna and found that it's soy free! Awesome!! My Costco had a 12 pack of 7 oz cans for $14.99 so I thought that was a pretty good and average price too.
Tuna Sandwiches: Yield 2 servings
-1 can (7 oz) Kirkland Signature skip jack tuna or another soy free tuna
-1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons Earth Balance vegan, soy free mayo
-1/4 box or less Food Should Taste Good Roasted Red Pepper crackers
-1/4 teaspoon pepper
-salt to taste
-shredded lettuce
Mix tuna, vegan mayo, pepper and salt in a bowl. Place crackers on a plate. Drop a small spoonful of tuna mix onto each cracker (amount dependent on what you prefer and your taste). Top with a few small pieces of lettuce. This meal really screams appetizer in it's appearance more than dinner but it's still delicious!
Tonight I paired my tuna sandwiches with a fruit salad mix.
Disclaimer: It is always important to read labels because brands frequently change their ingredients. These ingredients and brands work for my family but some may be processed in the same facility as wheat, soy, dairy and/or eggs and therefore depending on your severity may or may not work for your family.
No comments:
Post a Comment