Tall Order For Easy Dinners

[amybeth]

We are slowly introducing our one-year-old to table food and trying to get away from baby food. Normally for dinner, it is just the baby and me at home. I am seeking easy, low-maintenance, one-pot, no-bake, or quick gluten free recipes that I can make for myself and either give directly to him or separate into individual ingredients and give to him. We're talking probably a max of 10 minutes of prep time, if possible.

Of course, I can do chicken breast with sides - but I was hoping to find suggestions for more...integrated(?)...meals.

I have not been here in a while -- Little One keeps me on my toes most of the time -- but I'd really appreciate your help/input!

Thanks in advance!

[kareng]

We weren't gluten-free at the time, but my 14 year old wouldn't eat baby food at all. He was 3 before his older bro convinced him pudding cups were big kid food. We did lots of simple food. Grill chicken on Sunday to use all week. You can put yours on a salad or with BBQ sauce. He can have it plain with a little gluten-free bread. Give him a few lettuce leaves. Make rice And re- heat what you need with frozen vegs. Cut his vegs up little. Add an egg to the reheating rice like stir fry rice. Mine liked little thin strips of carrot stips , cukes, etc. He even liked chili with black beans (not mushy like pintos) and corn. Green beans kept crispy with a little olive oil. Little humans seem to like olive oil on veggies. Rice tortillas make great pizzas and quesadillas. Cheese & crackers and fruit & cold cuts. Soup or stew in the crockpot but less broth for the babe. Pasta with sauce & you can put small bits of zucchini, meat, carrots in the sauce. At his age, whatever you want, cut up small, he'll try. Mine even had left over steak cut into slivers because at 8 months he only had 6 front teeth.

[sb2178]

You can buy polenta in tubes. Top it with sauce, beans & veg, and/or cheese for you and the individual bits for baby. I like little corn tortillas for quesadillas.

You can try duck too, for a change from chicken. Or breakfast for dinner. Scrambled eggs or omelette with veg and/or meat. Potatoes in small amounts if you like them. Migas and Spanish tortilla are good options too. I'm going to throw up a simplified migas recipes on my blog sometime later today/tomorrow if you want to check back in I can copy it for you.

[GlutenFreeManna]

If you have a crock pot there are some really good/easy recipes on this blog: Open Original Shared Link

Of course you have to plan ahead what you are going to eat so it's not really "fast", but most crock pot recipes are one pot, don't use the oven and take very little prep time.

[RiceGuy]

I think it'd be difficult to make nutritious and tasty meals in such a short period of time. If you've got more time elsewhere in your schedule, like on weekends, etc, I'd suggest making a large amount, and freeze in individual portions. Then it's just a matter of reheating in the microwave or stove top.

[sb2178]

I think it's possible to make perfectly nutritious meals with 10 minutes active cooking time (and maybe another 10 of non-active time like for cooking quinoa). You just have to be willing to buy more expensive pre-cut vegetables (like depending on frozen vegetables and precut meats instead of slicing and dicing your own). They probably won't be exciting marvels, but perfectly decent.

I also used to make a lot of quinoa based pilafs. Throw it in a pot with a little oil and toast for a minute or two. Add seasoning as desired (chopped garlic, herbs/spices). Add water. Cover and bring to a boil. Go away for 10 minutes. Come back and add some type of protein (canned black beans, chickpeas, tuna, canned chicken, etc) and plenty of frozen vegetables. I used fresh most of the time (carrots, broccoli, etc) but frozen would work reasonably well. Stir well, add a little extra water is needed. Cover, get out plates, drinks, etc come back and you have a one pot meal.

[kareng]

I think the key to quick dinners is prepping ahead of time. When we grill hamburgers, we grill extras for the week and some chicken, too. You can cook rice ahead and reheat. Even baked potatoes can be cooked ahead. Crock pots are good to make extra. Even cut the veggies up ahead. Adding fresh fruit and a frozen veggie to a sandwich makes a healthy if not fancy meal.

[sb2178]

Quick and Easy Migas

2 eggs

1 corn tortilla

6 olives, sliced or chopped coarsely (feel free to substitute or add onion, tomato, pepper, etc)

2 T salsa of choice

2-4 Tablespoons cheese (optional)

Beat eggs in a small bowl with 1-2 tablespoons water. Heat a small saute pan and add 2 teaspoons oil or butter. Break the tortilla into 1/2″ pieces and add the tortilla and olives to the egg. Pour into the heated pan. Scramble. Top with the cheese and salsa. Serves one as a main dish, two as an appetizer.

[Nor-TX]

You can buy polenta in tubes. Top it with sauce, beans & veg, and/or cheese for you and the individual bits for baby. I like little corn tortillas for quesadillas.

You can try duck too, for a change from chicken. Or breakfast for dinner. Scrambled eggs or omelette with veg and/or meat. Potatoes in small amounts if you like them. Migas and Spanish tortilla are good options too. I'm going to throw up a simplified migas recipes on my blog sometime later today/tomorrow if you want to check back in I can copy it for you.

I've seen tubes of polenta but don't know how to use it? Could you give me some ideas? Is there any dairy in it?

[Juliebove]

Angela ate baby food only briefly. She didn't really like it. She would just grab food from my plate and eat it. I figured she was ready. At a year she could eat pretty much anything. We didn't know of the food allergies at the time though.

Two of her favorite foods were green beans, straight from the can, and black olives. If you are worried about choking, you can cut the olives in smaller pieces. She also liked apple slices, pear slices, bananas and grapes cut in pieces.

She liked mashed potatoes, rice, and pasta of all kinds. Macaroni and cheese was a big favorite. You can get the gluten free kind in a box. She also liked lasanga.

I used to make Quesadillas for her all the time. We've been buying some really good gluten free tortillas. Or you can use a corn tortilla.

She also liked sausages. Again, you would have to cut the links in smaller pieces if worried about choking.

She loved cheese of all kinds. Cottage cheese and fruit makes a quick meal. She loves raw veggies, but she did have all of her teeth at that age.

Pizza is quick to fix if you use a prepared crust like Ener-G, or half of a gluten-free English muffin or a tortilla. Again, she had no trouble eating these things. But a child with less teeth might not be able to do it.

I used to keep those little bags of cooked strips of chicken in my fridge because she did like those. Or cooked turkey cut in similar strips. She was less fond of beef, but she would eat ground beef.

[Juliebove]

I've seen tubes of polenta but don't know how to use it? Could you give me some ideas? Is there any dairy in it?

No dairy in it.

The way I make it for myself now is to slice it thinly, top with tomato sauce, freshly ground black pepper and some Italian seasoning. Then put it in the microwave.

The way I used to make it was to slice it thickly, dry it in olive oil, then put the sliced overlapping in a casserole. Top it with sauce and seasonings as above and maybe some cheese, then bake it. But nobody else in the house would eat it. So I quit doing that.

You do have to check the seasonings. I only like the plain. I've seen it with tomatoes, garlic and assorted herbs.

[Juliebove]

I think the key to quick dinners is prepping ahead of time. When we grill hamburgers, we grill extras for the week and some chicken, too. You can cook rice ahead and reheat. Even baked potatoes can be cooked ahead. Crock pots are good to make extra. Even cut the veggies up ahead. Adding fresh fruit and a frozen veggie to a sandwich makes a healthy if not fancy meal.

When Angela was little, I spent a good 2 hours a week cutting up veggies for the week. I also cut cheese into cubes. And I boiled a dozen eggs at a time.

Now that she is older, she likes to do the prep work so I don't have to do that.