Need Ideas

[xMichellex]

I am pretty new to going gluten free and I am struggling coming up with fast and easy meals. I am limiting myself to whole foods with very few pre-packaged items. I do make my own chicken stock and bread. I am in grad school and I have very little time to make elaborate meals (for two). Most of the time I take my meals with me but I am getting pretty tired of chewing on carrots for dinner while sitting in class. Any ideas or recipes would really be appreciated!

[cahill]

I have no time to cook during the week so on the weekends my crockpot and roaster are going all day

Today I have pork steaks in the crockpot,, turkey breast in the oven,also some sweet potatoes.Also beef for stew simmering on top of the stove,,,,what can I say it is cold and rainy here

Tomorrow I will use the homemade stock and make turkey soup, and what ever else I come up with today ...

Then I make up single serving size meals,in individual containers, and put them in the freezer for a quick and safe meal during the week .I even make my rice up ahead and freeze it in 1 or 2 cup baggies

[Mizzo]

Definitely invest in a crock pot. Invest in a big one with multiple settings or even better a heavy duty steamer/ rice cooker . my next purchase will be Wolfgang puck's

Just a couple or idea's:

Chicken taco soup goes a long way. Keep soup on thicker side for leftovers, extra's go great with tortilla chip for quick lunch or dinners.

Pork cutlets w/veggies, use extra with rice for another meal or two

Steak tips or even better cube steak in onion soup fabulous. Use extra steak on a salad for another meal

All these meats can be put in frozen so you don't need to defrost anything.

Buy a whole chicken and ask the meat dept. to cut it in half. Put chicken , potatoes and veggie with a can of broth. Again leftovers are great.

I love the idea of freezing idividual portions of rice that's great.

[zimmer]

I am pretty new to going gluten free and I am struggling coming up with fast and easy meals. I am limiting myself to whole foods with very few pre-packaged items. I do make my own chicken stock and bread. I am in grad school and I have very little time to make elaborate meals (for two). Most of the time I take my meals with me but I am getting pretty tired of chewing on carrots for dinner while sitting in class. Any ideas or recipes would really be appreciated!

A couple of ideas:

Lettuce wrap sandwiches - whole romaine leaves with gluten-free ham, cheese, tomatoes, onions, whatever you like. Add some chicken & rice soup.

Quesadillas - corn tortilla, refried beans, cheese. Heat in a skillet & fold over. Top with some fresh salsa. Also any leftover meats I have, like chicken or pieces of steak, I put dry rub type seasonings and brown in a skillet to stuff a tortilla with or else top a plate of nachos.

Baked potato w/ whatever you like on it. I love cottage cheese on mine. Bake an extra potato or two, and cut up cold potato chunks to put on a salad or brown in a little butter or oil for hasbrowns.

Yogurt, canned peaches, gluten-free granola. Drizzle some honey on it. Sprinkle on some pecans or other nuts.

Chili - brown the beef or chicken, add some water, beans, cumin, chili powder. Thicken with a little masa flour or corn starch. Very fast. Excellent topped with chopped onions, Fritos, sour cream! And makes great leftovers.

Black bean salad - salad greens with rice, rinsed can of black beans, maybe some corn (I always have a bag of frozen and it's easy to grab a handful and thaw in warm water). Experiment with seasonings and dressings that you like. Basic oil & vinegar works on most any salad.

I make soup / stew out of my leftovers toward the end of the week.

Hope this helps!

[CarolinaKip]

Definitely invest in a crock pot. Invest in a big one with multiple settings or even better a heavy duty steamer/ rice cooker . my next purchase will be Wolfgang puck's

Just a couple or idea's:

Chicken taco soup goes a long way. Keep soup on thicker side for leftovers, extra's go great with tortilla chip for quick lunch or dinners.

Pork cutlets w/veggies, use extra with rice for another meal or two

Steak tips or even better cube steak in onion soup fabulous. Use extra steak on a salad for another meal

All these meats can be put in frozen so you don't need to defrost anything.

Buy a whole chicken and ask the meat dept. to cut it in half. Put chicken , potatoes and veggie with a can of broth. Again leftovers are great.

I love the idea of freezing idividual portions of rice that's great.

I eat whole foods as well. I am mostly grain free, I have gluten-free pizza once a month. If you are eating grains ,pizza is a good take along meal for your class. I just found a recipe for mexican pizza. Also I eat a lot of lettuce wraps. You can make them all different ways. From slice grilled chicken to ground pork. I keep a lot of friut washed, bagged or in a container. Enough for three-4 servings. When I grill, I grill enough chicken and meats for two to three meals. I love grilled chicken with basil over a salad, lettuce wrap or on top of pizza. If you can do eggs, I always have some boiled eggs on hand, I eat them warm or make deviled eggs. Plus I cook extra veggies to have on hand if I come in hungry b4 dinner. You could always cook some casseroles and freeze them.

[Wenmin]

I make red beans and sausage in individual servings and freeze. I always have cooked tomatoes with cut seasonings (I simmer in crockpot for up to 15 hours) in the freezer to whip up a quick lasagna or spaghetti. Another great meal that is good as leftovers is cornbread with hot dogs and velveeta cheese cut up in it before baking. Serve over a mound of Chili (of course from the freezer). This will feed one person for about 4-5 days. Gumbo is made and frozen in individual serving sizes as well. Also, carrots and ground meat (in indivdual serving sizes out of the freezer) served over rice with a side of green beans makes and awesome meal.

Wenmin

[twe0708]

Ground turkey (not ground turkey breast) with McCormicks taco seasoning

Tomatoes, cheese, salsa and or guacamole with corn tortillas heated in the microwave or corn tortilla chips. I always have extras left and take it for lunch the next day. You can also fry the corn tortillas and make tacos that way too. We also started using all od the above ingredients minus the corn items and wrapping them in lettuce for lettuce wraps which are good too.

The turkey is great to use as a last minute meal bc you can defrost it in your microwave for a few minutes and it's ready to cook.

[eatmeat4good]

I have a teen and there has to be food ready.

I fry a bunch of burgers and put them in a baggie ready to microwave with cheese and eat with Udi's bread.

I also use gluten free chicken coating to do a bunch of chicken tenders and keep them in a baggie as well.

Either of these can be cut up and added to nacho's with cheese and salsa.

It's pretty simple round here.

We do pizza once a month.

I make Chili with ground beef and ground chicken and Williams Chili Seasoning (gluten free).

I freeze the Chili in individual bags.

I also make rice and freeze in 1 or 2 cup bags in the freezer. Then can make a quick veggie/meat stir fry and warm the rice in microwave.

Or the rice goes with one of the protein choices above.

I bake chocolate chip cookies with almond flour on the weekends and that is the sweet treat or snack all week.

Once in a while a gluten free chocolate cake.

Otherwise it is fresh fruit and nuts.

[xMichellex]

I have a teen and there has to be food ready.

I fry a bunch of burgers and put them in a baggie ready to microwave with cheese and eat with Udi's bread.

I also use gluten free chicken coating to do a bunch of chicken tenders and keep them in a baggie as well.

Either of these can be cut up and added to nacho's with cheese and salsa.

It's pretty simple round here.

We do pizza once a month.

I make Chili with ground beef and ground chicken and Williams Chili Seasoning (gluten free).

I freeze the Chili in individual bags.

I also make rice and freeze in 1 or 2 cup bags in the freezer. Then can make a quick veggie/meat stir fry and warm the rice in microwave.

Or the rice goes with one of the protein choices above.

I bake chocolate chip cookies with almond flour on the weekends and that is the sweet treat or snack all week.

Once in a while a gluten free chocolate cake.

Otherwise it is fresh fruit and nuts.

You all sound so organized! If I had the freezer space, I would probably cook all weekend and then freeze individual meals.

Do you freeze your burgers too?

I like the idea of having some homemade cookies on hand, rather than buying these supposedly gluten free ones. Where is a good place to find recipes?

Thanks for all the advice. It is truly appreciated.

[eatmeat4good]

If you don't mind the sugar- you can use the regular Toll House recipe and substitute 4 cups of almond flour for the 2 1/2 cups of flour. It worked perfectly.

Then I bought Elana Amsterdams Almond flour cookbook and like her recipe much better than the toll house.

Honey, I didn't cook at all and wasn't organized at all for the the last 7 years. But I want my son to stay gluten free so I gotta keep gluten free food on hand.

To be honest I do 10 burgers and fry the chicken tenders and put them eat in a big ziplock that stays in the fridge and he eats on them throughout the week. My baggies of rice in serving size are just in sandwich bags and I keep 5 in the fridge and a few in the freezer. I have wondered how long the protein will be good in the fridge, but it is always used within a 4 days.

Seems my kid and I never get tired of eating our few favorites.

You will find what you like and it will get easier.

I don't have a big freezer. I gotta do this every week.

Also it is Waaayy cheaper to make your own cookies and they taste better too!

The recipe section on here is a great resource.

I'm not a big baker. I just do the cookies once a week.

I won't attempt bread. Udi's serves us just fine.

Be sure to keep snickers, corn chips and cheetos on hand too!

That's my secret to success.

[xMichellex]

If you don't mind the sugar- you can use the regular Toll House recipe and substitute 4 cups of almond flour for the 2 1/2 cups of flour. It worked perfectly.

Then I bought Elana Amsterdams Almond flour cookbook and like her recipe much better than the toll house.

Honey, I didn't cook at all and wasn't organized at all for the the last 7 years. But I want my son to stay gluten free so I gotta keep gluten free food on hand.

To be honest I do 10 burgers and fry the chicken tenders and put them eat in a big ziplock that stays in the fridge and he eats on them throughout the week. My baggies of rice in serving size are just in sandwich bags and I keep 5 in the fridge and a few in the freezer. I have wondered how long the protein will be good in the fridge, but it is always used within a 4 days.

Seems my kid and I never get tired of eating our few favorites.

You will find what you like and it will get easier.

I don't have a big freezer. I gotta do this every week.

Also it is Waaayy cheaper to make your own cookies and they taste better too!

The recipe section on here is a great resource.

I'm not a big baker. I just do the cookies once a week.

I won't attempt bread. Udi's serves us just fine.

Be sure to keep snickers, corn chips and cheetos on hand too!

That's my secret to success.

Snickers?! Is that gluten-free too? That's the best news I have heard all day.

I have a question about the frozen rice. Doesn't it dry out terribly? Do you use white or brown or both? I would guess that brown rice dries out even more.

[eatmeat4good]

Yes! Snickers and Cheetos are gluten free!

When I learned that I knew I would be able to survive!

I only use white rice.

You can just sprinkle it with a little water before you nuke it and it should be fine.

But we don't even do that.

You are probably right, the longer you freeze it, the drier it gets.

But nothing lasts that long around here!

[Marilyn R]

My 5 qt. pressure cooker has been a life saver! I use it all the time.

My homemade stock only takes 10 minutes in the PC, and it is as flavorable as cooking it in a slow cooker or on the stove. Most soaked dry beans (rinse and put them in water when you leave in the morning) take 12 minutes to cook up perfectly, even chick peas.

What I like most is that in those minutes you need to watch the pressure cooker (about three minutes while it's coming up to pressure so you can turn down the heat) is usually just about the amount of time you need to clean up everything you've used to prepare the meal. (Cutting boards, knives, wipe down counter tops.) The PC really makes your kitchen time efficient.

Inexpensive meats that would normally take hours to cook taste pretty amazing in the PC in about 30 minutes. You don't have to watch it, baste it, turn it, deal with it, just walk away from it for 30 minutes after the PC comes up to pressure and you reduce the heat. I bought two packages of lamb neck bones for less than $4, cooked it in 30 minutes with various root vegetables and had enough lamb stew to freeze and refrigerate 8 individual meals.

I make hummus for wraps from those chick peas to spread on gluten-free flat bread that I make on the weekends and freeze, or for dipping those carrots in, and have whole cooked chick peas for salads. (Romaine lettuce, chopped cucumber, gluten-free SF Tuna, shredded carrot, chopped cucumber...with a simple homemade Balsamic vinagrette dressing.

If you like seafood, all seafood cooks up pretty rapidly (providing you remember to thaw it out the night before). I make panko crumbs by throwing a piece of Udi's frozen bread (no need to thaw) in a mini food processor for about 30 seconds. You can use those same breadcrumbs to make salmon cakes out of diced onion, safe salmon or left over fish, an egg, some lemon juice. Stick them in the refrigerator while you study, then fry them on med-high heat in olive oil for about 2 1/2 minutes per side. Freeze or refrigerate left-overs. They're even better the next day.

If you have a birthday coming up, I'd tell everyone who loves you that you'd love a pressure cooker.

[eatmeat4good]

Wow! I think I will get a pressure cooker for sure!

My mother used to cook with one all the time and she loved it.

The broth and soups....my mind is rolling now.

Do you have a cookbook? Or how do you know how long to cook each thing?

I guess google can help.

This could be fun!

[divamomma]

What do you all use for broth? I can't find any gluten-free broth here.

[Jestgar]

You all sound so organized! If I had the freezer space, I would probably cook all weekend and then freeze individual meals.

Put soups/stews/chili/other squishy stuff in ziplock bags and freeze flat. You can then store them lined up on end like books.

Freeze several small meals, but also the occasional big bowl of stuff. You can thaw it for a family meal, over leave in the frig for a few days if you don't mind eating the same thing several days in a row.

You can also cut up veggies on the weekend, then throw them in the crock pot with some stock in the morning, and dinner's ready when you come home.

Get a rice cooker and freeze smaller packs of stuff you'll thaw and put over rice.

[ciavyn]

What do you all use for broth? I can't find any gluten-free broth here.

Wegman's soups are marked gluten free, and often have gluten-free chicken broth. Also, there are bouillion cubes that are gluten-free as well. It's also easy to make your own with chicken parts with the bone in.

[mbrookes]

Swanson's chicken broth is gluten-free. Even though it is a bit pricey, I like to use Emeril's beef and chicken. I called the company and they said both stocks (and his seasonings) are gluten-free.

[xMichellex]

My 5 qt. pressure cooker has been a life saver! I use it all the time.

My homemade stock only takes 10 minutes in the PC, and it is as flavorable as cooking it in a slow cooker or on the stove. Most soaked dry beans (rinse and put them in water when you leave in the morning) take 12 minutes to cook up perfectly, even chick peas.

What I like most is that in those minutes you need to watch the pressure cooker (about three minutes while it's coming up to pressure so you can turn down the heat) is usually just about the amount of time you need to clean up everything you've used to prepare the meal. (Cutting boards, knives, wipe down counter tops.) The PC really makes your kitchen time efficient.

Inexpensive meats that would normally take hours to cook taste pretty amazing in the PC in about 30 minutes. You don't have to watch it, baste it, turn it, deal with it, just walk away from it for 30 minutes after the PC comes up to pressure and you reduce the heat. I bought two packages of lamb neck bones for less than $4, cooked it in 30 minutes with various root vegetables and had enough lamb stew to freeze and refrigerate 8 individual meals.

I make hummus for wraps from those chick peas to spread on gluten-free flat bread that I make on the weekends and freeze, or for dipping those carrots in, and have whole cooked chick peas for salads. (Romaine lettuce, chopped cucumber, gluten-free SF Tuna, shredded carrot, chopped cucumber...with a simple homemade Balsamic vinagrette dressing.

If you like seafood, all seafood cooks up pretty rapidly (providing you remember to thaw it out the night before). I make panko crumbs by throwing a piece of Udi's frozen bread (no need to thaw) in a mini food processor for about 30 seconds. You can use those same breadcrumbs to make salmon cakes out of diced onion, safe salmon or left over fish, an egg, some lemon juice. Stick them in the refrigerator while you study, then fry them on med-high heat in olive oil for about 2 1/2 minutes per side. Freeze or refrigerate left-overs. They're even better the next day.

If you have a birthday coming up, I'd tell everyone who loves you that you'd love a pressure cooker.

Want to adopt me for a week so that you can show me how you make all these fabulous sounding things?

I have thought of buying one before but I'm a little intimidated. How did you learn to use yours?

[Marilyn R]

I bought one cookbook: "Pressure Cooking for Everyone" by Rick Rodgers and Arelene Ward at a local book store. I also checked out a vegetarian cookbook by Lorna Sass at the library (she's the PC guru and has videos on U-Tube on how to make curried split pea soup in 15 minutes. (A great recipe, btw.) I actually e-mailed Lorna suggesting she write a PC cookbook for celiacs.

I've used my PC 3 times a day sometimes. If I had a bad day the previous day and didn't plan my lunch, I get something started in the PC, take a shower, put on my make up and it's ready to stick in a thermos (I can't rely on a microwave due to my line of work). You can do black eyed peas, split peas or lentils without soaking them first.

You will feel good about being "green" (significantly reducing the amount of energy used to cook. They say that more nutrients are retained when you PC meat and vegetables, too. (Closed system, shorter cooking time.) And you'll use fewer canned goods because it's so easy to make dried beans from scratch (economical, too).

Diva, for broths, I use any raw meat with a bone (haven't tried pork) but chicken, beef, lamb and fish has worked fine with any odds and ends of vegetables in the refrigerator, like brocolli stalks, zucchini, corn, celery, carrots, winter squash, potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoe. Onion, a bay leaf, cumin seed (a good source of iron) and S&P. If you cook it in a pressure cooker, go light on the seasonings, because the flavor intensifies. After cooking your stock (you can cook it in a slow cooker for a day, on the stove top for three hours, or in a PC for 12 minutes, strain it through a sieve or cheese cloth and stick it in the refrigerator . The fat will accumulate on top. You can save that fat to fry potatoes or eggs or fish, or dispose of it. Then pour the stock in ice cube trays or pint glass jars and freeze.

It sounds worse than it is. I'm more exhausted by writing about it then I am by doing it. It's all little steps with rest periods in between.

[xMichellex]

Put soups/stews/chili/other squishy stuff in ziplock bags and freeze flat. You can then store them lined up on end like books.

Freeze several small meals, but also the occasional big bowl of stuff. You can thaw it for a family meal, over leave in the frig for a few days if you don't mind eating the same thing several days in a row.

You can also cut up veggies on the weekend, then throw them in the crock pot with some stock in the morning, and dinner's ready when you come home.

Get a rice cooker and freeze smaller packs of stuff you'll thaw and put over rice.

Those are great ideas. Thank you! Are you ever concerend about leaving the crock pot on all day without being home?

[Jestgar]

Those are great ideas. Thank you! Are you ever concerend about leaving the crock pot on all day without being home?

I've never had a problem, and it has an auto shutoff after 12 or 14 hours so I really don't worry.

[AngieH]

I know what you mean by needing fast meals. Here's an under 10 minute recipe that will be a nice change for you if you are bored with sandwiches. It's called Rice Wrapper Turkey Rolls:

Open Original Shared Link

Enjoy,

Angie.

[xMichellex]

I know what you mean by needing fast meals. Here's an under 10 minute recipe that will be a nice change for you if you are bored with sandwiches. It's called Rice Wrapper Turkey Rolls:

Open Original Shared Link

Enjoy,

Angie.

Angie,

That was a great idea. I used to make Thai spring rolls with rice paper. This just reminded me of that and I can still eat those! Yay! Now that is good news

[pondy]

What do you all use for broth? I can't find any gluten-free broth here.

I just came from the grocery store - gluten free broth in hand. The brands are Pacific Natural Foods (beef broth) & Imagine (organic, free range chicken broth).

Haven't tried them yet, but both labels say "gluten free".

Good luck!