Tired Of The Same Old Things

[AkBravo34]

I work a full-time job and live by myself...and when I come home I am usually too tired to make anything decent to eat for dinner....Some days I barely eat anything since I've been diagnosed...I don't pack lunches and will just eat little snacks throughout the day. Are there any good, quick recipes that anyone could share with me? I really like all kinds of foods but I think I need to start eating more or I'm going to burn out..

[Lisa]

Ya gotta eat good food.

Sunday make a big pot of stew:

Brown Stew Meat

Add 2 packs of Lipton ONION MIX (only one that is gluten free)

Cover Beef with water

Cook until tender

Add chopped carrot and clubed potatoes.

Add a little crushed hot pepper to taste.

.....Make a big pot and you can take it to lunch or have it waitng you for dinner. It is sooo easy, hardy and taste really good.

Make a big bowl of chicken salad

Home made soup you can freeze in individual servings.

Beans and Rice with Hillshire Kielbasa

Hard Boilded eggs with Boars Heads meats and cheese.

Shrimp Cocktail. Spriced Shrimp

Some of Amy's frozen dinners

Meat Loaf Sunday night, sandwitches during the week.

[JennyC]

We have this issue too. I could list some of the same old things we have, they may be different than yours. We eat quite a bit of gluten free pasta. We like to make spaghetti or alfredo. You could also buy frozen gluten free pizza crusts and make pizza. Tacos/nachos are also pretty fast. Of course healthier options such as salad or grilled meats are also quick to make. Baked potatoes are a fast dinner, especially if you start them in the microwave.

I think many people likely have this problem. It will be interesting to hear all of the ideas.

[blueeyedmanda]

Do you have access to a Wegmans?

If you do, alot of their store brand are gluten free and it is labeled on the package.

So if you have some Tikayada pasta and get some pasta sauce, very good meal.

If you have Bell and Evans chicken nuggets and french fries.

Soup.

Thai Kitchen makes good soups, I recommend the spring onion.

It is hard to cook for 1. I completely understand where you are coming from.

You can make a cheeseburger and leave out the bun. Those are very good.

[tarnalberry]

I have a post with a whole bunch of recipes Open Original Shared Link that includes a number of quick ones. Keeping leftovers around is a good thing!

[lcbannon]

Anything that can do double duty..

A roast chicken on sunday can become chicken sandwiches then a chicken on salad then chicken and noodles.

A roast in the crockpot around our house then becomes what my kids call roast beast, Trim fat from roast and grind it up with some sweet pickle, add mayo and some pickle juice and its great.

Tuna salad,

I usually cook 5 lbs of hamburger meat and divide into serving size bags and freeze, that way you can make something mexican, or goulash or sloppy joes or anything and its already cooked.

[JNBunnie1]

My easy, quick standby is eggs. You can add almost anything, or have them over-easy with toast. I like scrambled with cheese and diced tomatos and avocados. My other easy quick dinner is hot dogs. My favorite is the coleman brand.

[zkat]

A couple of our quick stand by's include:

Tacos-either sirloin cut into strips or lean ground beef and seasoned with Simply Organic taco seasoning

Frozen vegetables or precut vegetables from the grocery store

Canned Salmon-make like tuna fish, only tastes better

We cook about 3 lbs of chicken breast on Sun.

Heinze Tomato soup is gluten-free

Anything in a corn tortilla wrap, like a sandwhich

Ham and cheese and pickles with mustard, no bread

Peanut Butter and jelly no bread

Nuts and fruit and cheese slices.

All stuff is also soy free in our house, as neither of us can tolerate it and DH eats gluten-free 95% of the time

[annie76]

Leftovers for lunch are a must! I always make alot more dinner than we need, and I eat on it the next day or longer depending on what it is. My husband loves to throw leftovers away without consulting me first. It took me almost 2 months to get it through to him that he's literally taking food out of my mouth! If I'm super busy and crunched for time at night, I make breakfast for dinner, Omelets are easy and filling. You can put all kinds of stuff inside them. Tacos are easy, you can eat leftover taco stuff for days afterward (well not too many days ) Also if I'm out and about at dinner time, and cooking just isn't going to happen that night, I pop into Wendy's and grab a chilli and a baked potato. I've never gotten too into the frozen dinners, but I'm sure if its just you those are a good solution also.

[AkBravo34]

I had no idea Heinz tomato soup was gluten free...that is exciting news!! I've had some bad Wendy's experiences as of lately too, so I try to steer clear from there and I have been using a lot of corn tortillas but I wish those darn things would hold together a little bit better!! I don't have a Wegeman's near me but I do have Whole foods and Publix...however, whole foods is tight on the tiny budget.

Thanks for the help!

[Saz]

I made up some pasta salad this week. I used penne, I like the San remo one but I dont know if its available outside Australia. You basically cook the pasta and and toss it together with whatever takes your fancy. I added carrots, peas celery and onion and I par cooked them. I made a dressing using gluten-free mayonaise, seeded mustart and lemon juice.

For a easy dinner I like to cut up potatoe and cook them in oven, you can add herbs and spices for different flavours. They can take a while to cook but at least you can sit down will they're cooking.

[kbabe1968]

When I was single, I'd spend sundays cooking a big meal and pack it up for the week - or a few weeks.

One Sunday, I'd make a big pot of spag sauce and a whole lb. of spaghetti. I then would separate it out in meal sized portions in freezer containers and freeze it.

I'd also make a chicken and rice dish and do the same.

And a stew and do the same.

And a soup, too.

I would do this once a month, usually and make 4 different meals...and freeze in individual servings.

then, when I'd get home, I'd cook them.

All I had to add was a salad or veggie of some sort.

They also were used for lunches.

I still do some freezer cooking. Often when making something big like a lasagna (using Tinkyada now, of course), I will break it into two pans, cook one for that night and freeze the other so I have it for a night when I don't feel like cooking.

Hope you get it figured out, you really do need to eat.

[zkat]

I had no idea Heinz tomato soup was gluten free...that is exciting news!! I don't have a Wegeman's near me but I do have Whole foods and Publix...however, whole foods is tight on the tiny budget.

Thanks for the help!

Yea, I found it last week. I was very leery, I always am of soups and such. But the ingredients are safe-tomatoes, water, canola oil, sugar, Modified cornflour, salt dried skim milk, whey protien, cream, spice extracts, onion extract and citric acid. Then it says at the botom-suitable for a gluten free diet.

I have not tried it yet, so I am still a little leery, but I will let you know if I react.

[Joanne11]

If I dont have leftovers from dinner I usualy take an amy's meal with some fruit. I used to make a really easy tuna caserole before going gluten free, i havent made it with rice pasta yet but it would be the same.

It only takes about 20 minutes

saute a little oninon

garlic

1 cup any frozen veggie I used broccoli

1 can tuna drained

1 can mushroom soup, I found one brand at whole foods is gluten free, health valley

salt pepper a little italian seasoning a squeeze of lemon juice

cook everything for about 5-10 minutes then add cooked pasta 3/4-1 box or bag

put in loaf pan or cake pan and sprinkle w/ parm cheese

It makes a lot so if you make it one night you can have it for leftovers with a salad for dinner or freeze some in smaller portions for lunches.

[francelajoie]

Here are a few things we like to make:

Turkey Tacos (Rachel Ray recipe is awesome!..actually her cookbooks are awesome...everything is quick and easy)

Chicken nugetts (I use chicken tenders and gluten free bread crumbs)

Quasadillas (Use corn tortillas, you can fill them up with almost anything you have in the fridge)

[JNBunnie1]

A couple of our quick stand by's include:

Ham and cheese and pickles with mustard, no bread

Peanut Butter and jelly no bread

Nuts and fruit and cheese slices.

Hi zkat, I don't want to sound irritating but I must confess to being curious as to how you manage a peanut butter & jelly sandwich with no bread......

[DestinyLeah]

Yummy Pan Thai

Saute' sliced shiitake mushrooms, diced tofu or chicken, water chestnuts, and shrimp.

Toss with Sesame-Ginger Vinaigrette and bean sprouts, serve on top of rice noodles cooked while prepping.

Sesame-Ginger Vinaigrette

1 cup sesame oil

1/2 cup rice vinegar

2 tablespoons chopped ginger (fresh or in a jar)

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds

1. Toast sesame seeds in a dry, hot skillet just until they turn brown and begin to pop.

2. Be careful not to burn them.

3. In a food processor blend vinegar, ginger, soy sauce and sesame seeds.

4. Slowly blend in sesame oil until emulsified.

5. Refrigerate and Enjoy!

Polenta!

Pizzas-Use a pizza pan to bake polenta, then freeze until needed. Pull out of the freezer and top, then bake.

Pasta- Cut polenta into sections and fry, then use in place of pasta with sauces and cheese.

Sandwiches Fry or bake sections of polenta rolled to an appropriate size, then fill like a sandwich, even make excellent grilled cheese.

Veggies Alfredo

1 1lb Bag frozen veg medley

1/4 cup gluten-free rice flour

3 cups Fat free milk or soymilk

1/4 tsp. Ground nutmeg

1 cup Freshly grated Parmesan and mozzarella

1/4 tsp. gluten-free Worcestershire sauce.

Cook together until veggies are soft and cheese is melted. Serve hot over rice pasta.

Hope this helps break the monotony

~ Destiny

[zkat]

Hi zkat, I don't want to sound irritating but I must confess to being curious as to how you manage a peanut butter & jelly sandwich with no bread......

I don't mind at all. PB&J are one of my favorite things and I am not a fan of prepared gluten free foods. I just don't like the taste or textures, but I still crave PB&J so, I improvised-I put Peanut butter and jelly in a small bowl and eat with a spoon.

The first time I did this at work, my staff got a kick out of it. They are used to my different foods though. I don't like to do without, so I try to be creative in the kitchen.

Kat.

[loco-ladi]

Where I am just learning I have learned a few quick prep things for meals for 1...

While I am married I work away from home and am gone for 24-36 hours at a time, so having to take all my food with me means cooking for one but 2-3 days worth at a time.....

One thing I have started doing to help with the prep work and the expense of the other food is hitting my local grocery store early in the morning whenever possible.....and hitting the "clearance aisle" for meats.... go home and cook up all the steak, chicken, pork whatever I found..... ya know it takes the same time to cook all 4 burners plus the oven as it does to cook with just 1....so..... season each a bit differently, cook away enjoy the smells then after cooling a bit throw them into meal sizes freezer bags, dont forget to keep a bit of the juices in the bag as well so later when you microwave them they stay nice and moist!

For meals just grab a "precooked" meat of choice add a veggie or 2 and bingo you have a meal just right for one! And you got it all on sale! My local store has prices marked down up to 50% off so its quite a large amount of savings and where I cook it all right away and freeze it, it turns out just fine!

Not to mention the frozen meat in my cooler helps keep the other stuff cool longer!

Just my .00000002 cents worth