Theres Nothing To Eat Around Here!

[runningcrazy]

Im gluten free, dairy free, and vegetarian.

It seems like I never have anything good to eat and now all i eat is crap food it seems like.

I need some ideas that are super healthy. I love fruits and veggies and salads and more. It just seems like when it comes to snacks and sometimes meals im at a loss. By the way I recently got braces so though it doesnt hurt anymore, I cant be eating super hard things.

[Skylark]

My friend made stir-fried sliced zucchini with tofu cubes and SanJ tamari sauce the other night. It was really good!

Do you have any of the Laurel's Kitchen cookbooks? I've been making vegan bean, lentil, squash and pea soups from that cookbook for years. It's not a gluten-free/CF cookbook but there are plenty of recipes and ideas in it for vegetarian foods.

[lucia]

I feel your pain. I've been vegetarian except for fish for over a decade, but am only recently gluten-free, soy-free (although I do eat tempeh & miso since they are fermented), and dairy-free. How I miss cheese! I've been adding a lot of foods to my diet that I don't usually eat so much, or have never eaten before. Here are some of my new staples:

Seaweed:

Pan fry kelp in oil, it's surprisingly delicious!, salty and sweet, a bit like bacon, yum! (you can get it at Whole Foods or order online at Open Original Shared Link (Maine Coast Sea Vegetables).

Sprinkle granulated kelp over popcorn, baked potatos, or sticky rice.

Coconut milk:

Blend coconut milk up with an avocado and, if you like, a banana and some ice for a delicious shake.

Good for smoothies of all kinds with berries, peaches, bananas, etc.

Btw ... frozen coconut ice-milk is one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten! Expensive though : (

Oven-baked fries:

Slice up sweet potatos or regular potatos, coat in olive oil, sprinkle with (sea) salt & pepper, and bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. So much better than MacDonalds!

Hummus:

Use a blender or food processor to combine chick peas, lemon juice, cilantro, garlic, and salt-n-pepper. Serve with corn chips or carrots, celery, or peppers.

Salsa:

Blend crushed tomatos with jalapenos or other hot peppers, lemon or lime juice, and salt. You can also add pineapples, mangos, garlic, or whatever else you can think of. Serve with corn chips.

Popcorn:

I have always loved popcorn cooked on the stove. Use olive oil or canola oil. Sprinkle with salt, cayenne pepper, kelp granules, brewer's yeast, etc.

Baked potato:

I loved these when I was a kid, and now have the patience to wait an hour for one to cook in the oven. I discovered twice-baked potatos on this forum where you brush the potato skin with olive oil, pierce it with a fork a few times, cook the potato at 375 degrees for an hour, take it out of the oven, cut it down the middle, scoop out the insides, mash the insides with your own toppings (pesto, for example, or sauteed onion & tarragon), put the new mixture back inside the hollowed out potato, and bake for another 10 minutes.

Nuts:

Good plain, especially walnuts and cashews. Pine nuts and sesame seeds are good for adding to salads.

Dried fruit:

Papaya, apricots are good plain. Cranberries and raisins are good for adding to salads.

People post a lot of good recipes in the recipe section of this board. I also got an "Easy Gluten Free Recipes" book, and have found some great recipes in it. I like to make things like hummus or salsa on my own because it's cheaper and tastes better. True that cooking like this takes more time, but I love to eat enough that I find myself willing if this is my only option!

[miles]

I look to Asian foods for inspiration, stir-fry

[Mari]

What type of snacks do you like to eat? Would you rather buy them or make them yourself? Since you eat fruit, that seems to not be satisfying so you probably like some oil or fats in the snack. I eat gluten-free granola and soften it with a little water or prune juice or sometimes goat's milk yogurt. The gluten-free Specific Carbohydrate Diet has a recepie book and one of the forums here mentions the SCD - may be suggestions there. Nut butters are satisfying, I had a jar of pumpkin seed butter - excellent. Keep a loaf of gluten-free bread in the freezer and adorn it with cheese or Goat's milk Chevre, or yogurt and fruit. Sometimes Ieat 1/2 grapefruit when I crave a snack and after a meal when I still feel hungry, I think it stimulates bile production and so we feel satsfied as if we've eaten a fat or oil.

[Mango04]

The Gluten Free Goddess has some really good gluten-free, vegetarian recipes on her site.

Open Original Shared Link

[runningcrazy]

Thanks everyone! I do love fruit and I actually eat most of these suggestions, but you know sometimes it just gets old! and im 14 and have a pretty busy life with sports, clubs, friends and caring for our pets and health! I will definately check out all these recipes. and fruit is great but a lot of it hurts my mouth with my braces, right now im a melon, banana and peach girl! Tonight im making stuffed portabello mushrooms (stuffed with chipitle mashed potatoes) with a side of stir fryed veggies! Should be a nice change!

[GlutenFreeManna]

Do you have an Asian food store around there? Get some rice paper wrappers. I recently have gotten hooked on stir-frying veggies, (pretty much any combination that sounds good) and wrapping them up in those rice paper wrappers. I use garlic infused olive oil or sesame oil, but if you can have soy use some gluten-free soy sauce or teriyaki sauce. These make a good meal or a good snack or a good portable lunch. Supposedly you can fry them in oil or bake in the oven for an egg-roll type thing, but I have yet to try that--It's been too hot here to cook that much. I like these hot (right after filling with hot stir-fried veggies or cold). Sometimes I add rice noodles or (mung) bean thread noodles to them as well. And then you can play with making different dipping sauces. My favorite is a spicy peanut: 1/3 cup peanut butter, 1 tablespoon honey, 1 tablespoon gluten-free balsamic vinegar (or soy sauce), 1/2 tablespoon toasted sesame oil, 1/2 tea garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt (may not need salt if you use soy sauce), a dash of red pepper flakes to taste. The red pepper flakes will make the sauce spicier the long they stay int this so make it a day in advance or a few hours in advance and remember that a little goes a long way. The above amounts are all approximations, I don't really measure, just mix it and keep tasting until it's good.

[conniebky]

me too...I eat a lot of scrambled eggs, today I made some chicken salad....I feel like that too, there's nothing to eat...I don't like chicken salad, I'm about sick to pieces of all this.

that was not a helpful answer, but I went today and got a pack of cookies, a box of pasta, a couple of other gluten-free things and it was $42.00 and it fit in one bag and none of it tastes good to me at all.

[runningcrazy]

me too...I eat a lot of scrambled eggs, today I made some chicken salad....I feel like that too, there's nothing to eat...I don't like chicken salad, I'm about sick to pieces of all this.

that was not a helpful answer, but I went today and got a pack of cookies, a box of pasta, a couple of other gluten-free things and it was $42.00 and it fit in one bag and none of it tastes good to me at all.

I know the feeling! It sucks. But there are worse things and we just need to push through it! I think the best thing to do is find the things you could skip out on and make them homemade, it could save some money and taste better too

[kareng]

I know the feeling! It sucks. But there are worse things and we just need to push through it! I think the best thing to do is find the things you could skip out on and make them homemade, it could save some money and taste better too

Are you really 14? Wow, you are sounding more mature then me right now. I have a 14 year old boy who's trying to help me keep things straight.

Anyway. Try to order books on gluten-free cooking from your library. You can see if they are worth buying or copy the 2 recipes you like.

My favorite snacks are gluten-free pretzels & PB or almond butter. Or carrots and pretzels and hummus (I buy some made by a local guy who only makes that sort of thing).

[mushroom]

Tonight im making stuffed portabello mushrooms (stuffed with chipitle mashed potatoes) with a side of stir fryed veggies! Should be a nice change!

Could you please put some gluten ffee breadcrumbs and sausage and onions on me instead of the mashed potatoes ??

Thank ya kindly

[Juliebove]

When I was a vegetarian, I mostly ate beans and rice or beans and pasta. Popcorn for snacks. Not sure if you can eat popcorn or not. I know people with braces who do, but know others who say they can't. I did have braces as an adult but don't recall being told anything specific except not to chew gum. But then just the other day my daughter's friend with braces was chewing gum. Maybe it depends on what kind you have?

My daughter often has applesauce for snacks. Her favorite kind comes in little pouches so you can just sort of drink it. She also likes the little cans or cups of pears and fruit cocktail.

Baked apples make a nice dessert or snack. You can fill the centers with cinnamon candies for extra flavor. Or you can slice the apples (peel if necessary) and fry them in a skillet or on a griddle with a little coconut oil or whatever oil you use. You can add a little sugar and cinnamon after they are soft.

Lindsay now makes little snack size cans of olives.

If you eat eggs, you can keep hard boiled ones in the fridge for snacks.