Q: I have a family member who is allergic to wheat, gluten, dairy and corn oil. Got any good recipes? I'd especially like to find a cookie recipe.

A: I do have a nice cookie recipe. But first…

My own diet rarely includes wheat, and is completely free of dairy or corn oil. Fruits and vegetables, beans, nuts and seeds. I know it sounds daunting to consider making that "small" range of foods into an entire diet, but it has to be experienced to be understood. Wheat is a relatively new invention - the Romans ate a grain called emmer that was cultivated into the wheat we know today (I was reading the Dorling Kindersley "Ecology" book with my 6-year-old this morning, that's how come I'm so smart). Dairy - the ingestion of another species' baby food - is just bizarre when you think about it long enough. And oil of any kind is so concentrated with calories and so devoid of nutrients that it has little place in a healthful diet.

End of sermon, time for cookie recipe. This adapted from the Health Promoting Cookbook, by Goldhamer and Lisle:

4 c. oat flour (oatmeal ground up in a blender)
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. nutmeg
2 ripe bananas
1 c apple juice
1/2 cup raisins or craisins
non-dairy chocolate chips, if you dare

Mix the dry ingredients together. Blend the bananas and apple juice until smooth, and mix into the dry ingredients. Add the raisins or craisins, and the chocolate chips. Drop by tablespoon-sized glob onto steel baking tray and bake at 375 F for 10 minutes.

If you're used to extremely sweet cookies, these may seem a bit bland. My kids, who don't get store-bought cookies, think they taste fine. Well, my son does, anyway.