Convenience And The gluten-free Diet

[elfkin]

I haven't posted in awhile, my life has been so chaotic that even finding time to check my favorite boards has been a challenge. I am now working full time. Both of my kids have to eat gluten-free and my ds is nut free as well. They are home with my dh for some of my work day and with my Mom the rest of the time. I am packing lunch and snacks, and trying to plan meals ahead so that when I come home at night, it is as simple as I can make it. The local store that carries my gluten-free stuff is now closed for most of the hours that I am not at work. I am wondering about how to take control of all this. I could use ideas for:

convenience foods

quick and easy recipes (especially anything that can cook all day in the crock pot)

snack ideas to pack for the children

Also, I am wondering if I would be better served by ordering my gluten-free products on line now instead of trying to get to the gluten-free store all of the time. Does anyone have any thoughts about whether ordering online is more expensive? And where do you like to order from? Do you place one order a month with only one company or do you order from several? Does anyone run specials on shipping for that kind of thing?

Any help would be appreciated. I am feeling very overwhelmed right now. I am sick of the same old meals and my children deserve better than all of this chaos. I really need a plan. I suppose we are still transitioning with my new job. Hopefully I can get a groove going here soon. I feel very scattered.

[Ursa Major]

Hi Elfkin. Sorry you're a bit discouraged right now. Your life sounds stressful.

Are you able to place an order with your gluten-free store, and have your husband (or a friend or other trusted person) pick it up?

Cooking meals in your crockpot is an excellent idea. You can get it all ready at night, put it into the fridge, and turn it on in the morning. You can find tons of recipes on the Internet. But I don't even use any recipes, because it's so easy.

Just follow some simple guidelines. You have to put layers. The things that take the longest to cook go on the bottom, and the shortest on the top (with meat ALWAYS being the top layer). So, let's say you cook a meal that contains potatoes, carrots, celery, onions and broccoli, as well as a beef roast. You cut up a couple of onions and put one on the bottom. Put the sliced potatoes in next, then carrots, next layer celery, broccoli on top (all interspersed with salt, spices, maybe some chopped parsley, whatever you think will add some nice flavour, but beware, not overdo it, as cooking in the crockpot really brings out the flavour). Make a dent big enough for your roast in the middle (salt it, too), and put onions (and if you wish, garlic) on top. Put about one cup of water in (more if you want broth for something the following day), close the lid and set on low heat (8 to 10 hours). Depending on the size of your roast, it may be done after seven hours, but the meat will be more tender after at least eight hours.

Really, don't be afraid to just experiment. I find following recipes too time consuming and usually make up my own (and sometimes it doesn't turn out, but I learn from my mistakes). DON'T put cauliflower into the crock pot. I did once, and it was horribly mushy, yuck.

Some nice snacks are sesame snaps, fruits, gluten-free cereals. I can't think of many, because the only snacks I have left are sesame snaps, dark chocolate (which I need to limit due to adrenal problems ), and peeled pears.

Of course, ordering things from the Internet is convenient and definitely an option. But I hope your store owners will do their best to accomodate you, if you talk to them and explain your situation.

[Fiddle-Faddle]

Do you have a copy of Annalise Roberts' Gluten-Free Baking Classics? There are some marvelous recipes for breads, cookies, and cakes in there. I make her breads and they taste just as good to me as any gluteny bread I've ever had. All the prebaked breads I've tried taste like dried sponges. Anyway, I make 2 loaves at a time--they keep very well wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, then wrapped again in foil, and refrigerated. They make very good sandwiches, which helps with the convenience for packing lunches.

Do you have a Costco nearby? They make EXCELLENT rotisserie chicken and it's gluten-free. Serve the meat the night you buy it, then later that night put the bones in your crockpot with lotsa vegies (chopped onions, carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes, garlic, dill and parsley. Cover and refrigerate til morning. Vefore you leave for work, add water, turn on your crockpot (cover it!) and go to work. Come home to chicken soup! All you have to do is make the gluten-free noodles, wchih you'll want to do separately anyway.

Do you have a rice cooker? You can make a big pot once a week, and keep 4-cup portions in the fridge ready to microwave.

Do you like stir-fries? On Sunday, chop onions, green onions, carrots, red pepper, celery, broccoli, etc., and keep in separate ziplock bags. Chop chicken, too, and keep it in a ziploc bag with 1 TBSPN gluten-free soy sauce, 1 TBSPN rice wine or sherry, chopped garlic, chopped ginger, and 1 TBSPN corn starch all mixed together. (Bottled chopped ginger and garlic (not dried) are wonderful time-savers!) When you get home from work MOnday night, throw the rice in the microwave, the chicken in the wok, and stir-fry for two minutes, add the vegetables of your choice. Add a couple spoons of hoisin sauce (Dynasty is gluten-free), a squeeze of lime, and a sprinkle of sesame oil and chopped green onions.

Penguin had a fantastic recipe for ranch chicken strips, too, that works beautifully with fish:

Penguin's RANCH CHICKEN STRIPS

2-4 bonless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips

1 c. mashed potato flakes (I use idahoan premium)

1/2 c. parmesan cheese*

1-2 eggs, beaten (you can get away with only one egg with 2 breasts)

4 tbsp melted butter (or margerine)

HV Ranch mock up:

3 tbsp Buttermilk powder* (found with the other dry milk)

at least 1 tsp garlic salt

" " 1 tsp onion powder

" " 1 tsp dried dill

" " 1 tsp dried parsley

" " 1/2 tsp lemon pepper

Preheat oven to 375. Mix together the ranch copy cat powder and potato flakes. Dip the chicken pieces in the parmesan, then into the egg, and then coat with the potato mixture. Do this with all of the chicken pieces. Place chicken into a pyrex dish (or other oven safe dish with sides), pieces not touching, and drizzle with the melted butter. Cook 30-40 minutes or until done and golden brown.

I made this a total junk food dinner with ore-ida fries and broccoli with velveeta sauce.

If you can get this ready the night before except for the baking, stick the uncooked chicken on a greased cookie sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate til you get home from work the next day, and just shove it in the oven.

Chili works well in a crock pot as long as you brown the meat first and drain off the fat. Same with beef stew.

For snack, my kids like to dunk apple slices in honey, peanut butter, or cinnamon sugar.

Working outside the home is very, very tough. Really, children are a full-time job, and a house is a full-time job--so you are doing three full-time jobs! Can your mom hel with dinner prep for you?

Oh, breakfast for dinner is fast and fun (eggs, bacon, cereal, and fruit!)

[tarnalberry]

You might spend some time during your commute brainstorming what sorts of things work for your family. For me, chicken soup is an "easy" thing to make because, though it takes time, I don't have to pay attention to it. Plus, I can make a gallon at a time, and freeze leftovers. (My husband likes to eat it on tortilla chips for something different... It is quite tasty that way.) One of the things I'll do if I'm in a hurry is to make hummus and have veggies and hummus, maybe with some mesculin mix (or some other 'premade' salad) and some homemade dressing that I make in large quantity and have on hand for a month. A lot of it depends on what you're family likes to eat. Stir-fries are a staple in my house, and fast to make, but not everyone is happy with multiple takes on stir-fry, even if we think they taste significantly different.

[elfkin]

I am so encouraged by your helpful replies. I just want to print this whole thing. It is great to have someone else brainstorm for you when your own brain feels all dried up! I really want to learn to make good gluten-free bread. I would love to try that book. Making the rice ahead is a super idea. The crock pot hints are great too. I do need to just make a plan and plan ahead more. I had this great menu the first few weeks, then my dh got called away to Chicago on business for a long weekend, the house got cluttered, I had to work the next weekend and suddenly everything was chaos and I haven't been able to recover with some organization yet. Time seems to be in hyperdrive. I really appreciate your kind responses. Any more ideas are welcome - thanks!

[RiceGuy]

The thing that comes to mind about your situation and ordering online is the delivery time. If nobody is around to receive the packages, what would happen? Perhaps if the shipping office (UPS or whomever) is open late enough, they could hold the packages for you to pick up, though you'd have to check. As for prices, I find that online prices tend to be pretty competitive with what's available locally, and the shipping makes them about even. Your local prices could easily differ though, so you'd have to shop around and see.

Also, you may have yet another option - a co-op. Prices can be great since it's bulk, and since co-op members do the unpacking, you might well be able to pick up stuff at your preferred time. Whomever has volunteered to be the drop-off point might have no problems holding your packages. It really depends, but I think it's worth looking into.

As for convenience food ideas, one that comes to mind is if your microwave or oven has a delay timer. Then you could set potatoes/sweet potatoes to begin baking at just the right time for dinner. They won't spoil if you leave them whole. I suppose lots of things could be prepared and frozen, like waffles and pancakes, probably tacos would freeze too. Casserole dishes work nicely. Use pyrex or similar so you can go from freezer to microwave. There are even tupperware bowls made of some tough material that is apparently able to handle the temperature changes too. I think they're called "rock-n-serve" or something like that. It might work faster though if you take stuff out of the freezer and put them in the fridge like the night before or something, so by the time you put them in the microwave/oven, they won't be frozen solid.

[Guest nini]

another tip, anytime you take time to make a meal, make enough for leftovers, freeze leftovers in single serve portions either in freezer bags or those reusable/disposable plastic containers, with soups and casseroles I freeze them in ice cube trays and then transfer to a freezer bag once they are solid cubes... then you just reheat as much or as little as you want. This works great for my daughter's lunchbox or if I'm too tired to cook for dinner.

[Fiddle-Faddle]

Mac and cheese from scratch takes about 2 minutes longer than the boxed kind with the powdered cheese mix, and is SO much better. All you need is:

1 pack of Tinyada gluten-free elbows

8 oz shredded sharp cheddar cheese

A little bit of grated onion , or dried minced onion (only one TBLSPN if using dired, it's pretty strong)

2 cups of milk

3 TBLSPN butter

2 TBLSPNS gluten-free flour mix, or cornstarch or tapioca starch or mashed potato flakes or whatever you've got

Make the pasta as directed.

melt butter, add onion, add flour and stir like crazy for one minute, whisk in the milk, cook and sitr for 3 minutes, add the cheese (depending on my mood, I'll also add either a shot of mustard or a sprinkle of nutmeg), let it melt, and then dump the hot pasta in and stir!

This makes a TRUCKLOAD of mac and cheese. Store it in the fridge for upto 5 days, and add a little milk when you microwave it.

EDIT: you can make this into a main course by adding frozen peas and carrots and either a can of tuna or you can brown some ground meat with onions and garlic (and you can go nuts here with the seasonings: chili powder, or allspice and cinnamon for a Greek twist) and add a can of tomato sauce. By then, you'll have TWO truckloads--it'll last all week!)

[elfkin]

I made your mac and cheese recipe for my children for dinner tonight. They loved it. Thank you so much!

[Fiddle-Faddle]