But I Don't Cook!

[aljf]

Hi,

I was diagnosed (bloodwork + endoscopy) a few weeks ago, and I am a single person living in NYC. Which means, basically, I eat out almost every meal. I am already seeing how difficult and stressful this will be, and that I need to learn to cook some meals.

SO

I bought a Betty Hagman book, but even that seems overwhelming-- and her recipes are generally for 4 to 8 people!

What are some "single-serving" meal ideas that a newbie like me might be able to make??? (The simpler and more explanatory the instructions, the better)

(I'm also afraid of having leftovers, as I have some portion-control issues as well, oink oink.)

Oh-- and I have a microwave, a normal oven/stove/whatever it's called, and 4 burners.

[celiac3270]

Yes--I wouldn't recommend Bette Hagman's recipes for someone who doesn't like to cook in the first place. Many of them are complicated or require a lot of time. If they some looked easy enough, though, you could just divide the ingredients from something that makes 4 servings by 4......then you get one serving. Or make all four and freeze it for when you don't want to cook another night.

Eating out will not be easy to do on this diet and you're always taking a risk, so you don't want to do that every day. A company, Amy's, makes some gluten-free some non-gluten-free frozen dinner-type things. Those require only the ability to press a few buttons on your microwave!

If you find that you eat portions that are too large, try eating on smaller plates (because you can only fill a smaller plate so much and you get the illusion that you're having more than you really are.

Umm....oh, if you get gluten-free noodles, such as Tinkyada, you can use the cheese shaker or packet from Kraft...it's gluten-free. Then you get very easy macaroni and cheese. Umm...breakfast you could have eggs or gluten-free bagels or gluten-free toast, Oscar Mayer has a gluten-free list and I know you can get their bun-length hotdogs...those just require boiling....dinner...meat, rice, vegetables.....pretty simple. Oh, for meat, I'd highly recommend those George Foreman grills (it's small and it's the easiest, most efficient way to do meat. Also, I think Mrs. Leepers has a chicken alfredo thing that you just need to heat up or something? And....oh, gluten-free mixes are always helpful...don't require much cooking ability...Pamela's makes a pancake mix...just use the mix, eggs, a tablespoon of canola oil, and something else (water or milk?).......mix together, and then you can just spoon the batter onto a pan....yea...I'm not the recipe-baking type either, but these are a few simple things that I think work.

By the way, I also live in NYC . Sorry my points weren't very...organized, but I was just typing them out as they came to me.

-celiac3270

[aaascr]

Since I have allergy issues along with celiac disease I have to pack my food everyday.

A few suggestions of things I take with me are:

Quinoa/veggies in a plastic container to heat up in microwave

1/4 c quinoa in the microwave for about 8-10 minutes

I add pepper, fresh ginger to it

Then some frozen veggies (usually broccoli)

a little olive oil and agave nectar for flavoring

heats up for lunch in 2 minutes

Sunshine's veggie burgers on a "foreman" grill for a few

minutes, some gluten-free mustard and a slice of tomato, pack in

plastic container - just eat later for snack.

Rice cakes lightly (very lightly) toasted, with

coconut oil and a gluten-free fruit spread or jam.

You can always make a salad.

I bought an electric tortilla maker (a good one) -

I use a mix of quinoa flour/tapioca flour/flaxseed meal with water for the tortillas.

Takes 5 minutes to measure and mix dough, let it sit for 30 minutes, then make

your tortillas - just a few more minutes as they cook fast. Will keep in the

fridge or freezer for later use.

I realize the above is not to everyone's tastes - I have an extremely limited

diet - but hope this helps some.

[KaitiUSA]

Amy's has gluten-free pizza and prepackaged mac and cheese.

Fried rice is easy to make

Veggies(to chop up and put in fried rice is really good)

Fruit

Peanut Butter cookies are easy to make: This is how I make them:

1 cup peanut butter

1 egg

1/2 cup of sugar(I can't take really sweet ones)

and then roll around in sugar

put in oven for about 20 minutes at 300-350 degrees

[celiac3270]

Also, if you want to eat out, it's still an option. Certain chains have gluten-free menus (on the internet), such as McDonalds, Outback Steakhouse, and Arbys. Here are some specific options in New York City:

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link (see the key on the side for the abbreviations that tell you which foods are gluten-free.)

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

There is also a restaurant on the Upper West Side called Sambucca. It will soon offer a gluten-free menu that includes 22 pasta dishes, homemade gluten-free bread, homemade brownies, and a kids menu. Check back on the...1st link to see when new restaurants open. The restaurants on this program are ones you can trust...

The last link is also quite good--two women who live in NY eat out in NY and take pictures of everything and basically have a whole blog on eating out gluten-free in NY...worth a read if you live here.

Feel free to e-mail about anything specific in NY Cool to have a fellow New Yorker on the board

-celiac3270

[celiac3270]

Peanut Butter cookies are easy to make: This is how I make them:

1 cup peanut butter

1 egg

1/2 cup of sugar(I can't take really sweet ones)

and then roll around in sugar

put in oven for about 20 minutes at 300-350 degrees

Yes--the PB cookies are great, simple, and quick.

[celiac3270]

Sorry...I'm back

There's a cooking/recipe section on celiac.com that I think is kept moderately simple. The PB cookie recipe is probably amongst them....

https://www.celiac.com/st_main.html?p_catid...-51105312601.75

[tarnalberry]

Cooking need not be complicated or time consuming - it's a skill that you learn, just like writing, driving, or anything else. But I know... some people hate it. ;-)

Search through the old posts to get a plethora of ideas, but in the mean time, here's my offering to the list (I'm dairy free too, or there'd be other stuff on this list as well, and have hypoglycemic tendencies, so they're relatively balanced):

Rice cakes w/ peanut butter

Fruit smoothies (esp. w/ rice protein powder or coconut)

Hot cereal (Bob's Mighty Tasty, millet grits, quinoa flakes, etc.) with soy milk, vanilla, and cinnamon

gluten-free pancakes (weekend only! I don't have time to cook before work!)

Leftovers from dinner!

Fresh veggies (raw) either plain, or with hummus or salsa

Tuna with salsa and avocados (served in warm corn tortillas - yum!)

Stir-fry (veggie and meat) served over rice

Chili (homemade)

Beef stew

Chicken soup

Carrot soup with shrimp

Baked chicken

Stuffed Tomatoes

Green Salads

Bean Salads

Fruit Salads

[Guest Leidenschaft]

These are all great suggestions... however some people just DON'T cook!!!

Is it practical to hire someone to prepare meals for you?? Perhaps for the $$$ previously spent on eating out, you could have someone cook gluten-free for you, either at your place, or theirs. Kind of like Meals on Wheels, but gluten-free!

Hey.... maybe I'm on to something!!

Seriously though, if you are motivated to learn, a good investment would be an electric wok! You can stir-fry ANYTHING!!! It's healthy, relatively inexpensive, and leftovers are great for next day. You could also prepackage prepared meats and veggies into individual portion sizes and just throw them in the wok with a bit of gluten-free soy sauce, fresh garlic, chiles etc. Make sure you get a wok that you can take the plug out and wash the whole thing! It makes life so much easier!

This board is an invaluable source of information and inspiration! Also a great deal of humor in spite of it all!

Good luck!

[KayJay]

I didn't know much about cooking either at first but I find that the gluten-free cookbooks are hard to cook with. I had a heart healthy fast and qucik cookbook and I like it a lot. They use cornstarch a lot of course you can always subsitute gluten-free flour for real flour. But they are simple fast and qucik meals that taste really good. Not to mention they are healthy.

[tarnalberry]

KayJay has a VERY important point - don't limit yourself to gluten-free cookbooks. Not only will you get a much smaller variety of recipes (I think ;-) ) but you won't learn how to make real-time substitutions. I'd say... maybe 15% of my cookbooks are "gluten-free" or "allergy" specific. The rest are all quite normal cookbooks. (Of course, spend plenty of time in the bookstores looking through the cookbooks you're thinking of getting to see if you'd cook any of the recipes! ;-) )

[Emme999]

What are some "single-serving" meal ideas that a newbie like me might be able to make???  (The simpler and more explanatory the instructions, the better)

(I'm also afraid of having leftovers, as I have some portion-control issues as well, oink oink.)

Oh-- and I have a microwave, a normal oven/stove/whatever it's called, and 4 burners.

I love the "portion control issues" comment! Thanks for making me laugh out loud with the "oink, oink"

You might try freezing your leftovers in small portions, then it's not so easy to just umm.. eat 'em! I mean, it will take you at least an extra thirty seconds with the microwave! Another recommendation a friend gave me was to have a big cookfest on the weekend and then you can freeze portions to eat during the week.

Good luck! I wish I had more advice but I'm a non-cook myself! I have a feeling that things are going to be changing for both of us though. I wish you the best. And let me know if you find any mini-recipies for single people! I'm surrounded by others but nobody seems to want to share the gluten-free diet with me Hosers!

[Japsnoet]

Hi I have just posted a recipe for