So Frustrated..

[DuckyDiva]

I've been gluten-free for a week .. happy that almost all of my symptoms have gone away (except now I'm a little constipated) but frustrated at lack of yummy foods that don't involve actual cooking!

I tried Kinniknick bread .. didn't care for it too much, but I guess I just have to get used to having "fake" bread..

I tried rice noodles, ick! Amy's Shepard pie was too "southwestern"y for me. The spices were too overwhelming. But maybe it was just that box.

It's so hard now to run out to the store and just grab a quick bite to eat that doesn't involve cooking .. I am going to try a Healthy Choice frozen dinner that is gluten-free .. but other than that, I'm living off Corn Tortillas, Healthy Choice Vegetable Beef soup, and hershey bars!

Also - anyone know of a good gluten-free yellow cake mix? I tried Authentic Foods mix, but it had too much of a spice taste for my liking.

[aikiducky]

One thing I do for a quick meal is a bag of salad (a BIG bag!), chuck it in a bowl, add lemon juice, olive oil, a bit of salt, herbs, and then whatever I feel like, tuna from a can/ egg/ goats cheese/ olives/ nuts... doesn't involve any kind of chopping or cooking, just mix it all in a bowl. The portion I nowadays make for myself is what I'd have considered enough for 3-4 people before going gluten-free... :)I eat a salad for luch or dinner pretty much every day.

Pauliina

[Guest nini]

The Gluten Free Pantry has some good cake mixes...

If you want REALLY REALLY good biscuits or rolls with "minimal" baking... I highly recommend 1-2-3 Gluten Free mixes... the Southern Glory Biscuit mix is out of this world and the Aaron's Favorite Rolls are a great yeast roll... they also have cake mixes, pan bars, pancake mix (awesome) and more...

I also suggest keeping your diet as simple as possible until you get used to what is gluten free and what is not. Don't go out and spend a lot on gluten-free substitutes at first... Stick with "normal" foods that are naturally gluten-free... Dinty Moore Beef Stew, Hormel Beanies and Weenies (in the kids kitchen size container), Delimex Taquito's, Rice, Steamed Veggies with butter... , there really is a lot out there that is naturally gluten-free... just ask around this board, I'm sure you'll find something yummy you can eat.

Also, for pasta, a lot of us prefer Tinkyada Rice pastas... they are the closest thing to real pasta that I have found.

[bluelotus]

There is a good recipe for bisuits in The Gluten Free Kitchen by Roben Ryberg (kind of long to type out at the moment), but I do not like her cake recipe. There is a good yellow lemon cake from The Gluten Free Gourmet revised, and I usually would turn it into a pineapple upside down cake. I found a yellow velvet cake recipe in More from the Gluten-free Gourmet. Maybe you should check these books out? The recipes are pretty long to type out, though I might have time later.

[tarnalberry]

What constitutes "actual cooking" to you? Does making rice count? Heating a bunch of ingredients in a pot? (Just looking for a reference point to see if I can be of any help.)

[Jnkmnky]

Amy's mac and cheese is simple and good. I also like her Asian noodle dish. I throw in extra veggies because it IS strong flavored and it seems like a waste on such a small dish. Extra veggies help spread the flavor out a bit.

The Kinnikinnick bread is good compared to a lot of what's out there. Try french toast. The lifestream buckwheat wildberry waffles are tasty and easy for breakfast. I toast one and put peanut butter on it or just eat it plain in my hand while I walk the kids to school.

[DuckyDiva]

Thanks all for your responses

Actual cooking from me is (for example chicken faijitas) Have to sautee the peppers then remove them from the pot, season & cook the chicken, and then mix in the peppers..

I have no problem doing that on days I have time, but sometimes I just want to grab a quick meal where there is little to no cooking involved. Maybe already cooked chicken and I could just make rice to go with it... but what Chicken Broth's are gluten-free? I gave up because I saw wheat everytime.

[Jnkmnky]

If you have a whole foods near you, you can find gluten free broth. I use Pacific Brands broths. I've also got gluten free boullion cubes *from wf*.

[tarnalberry]

When you do have time to cook, make sure to make enough to have at least one or two instances of leftovers. (This works great with soups, stews, stir-fries, casseroles, salads (that aren't leaf-based), etc.) And, when you have time, make sure to make a few "ready to go" items that can store for a while (like some salads, hummus, etc.).

When you don't have time, that's the time to start making up quick recipes! :-)

Once, when I didn't want to do a lot of cooking, but needed a filling lunch as I was going to be out for a number of hours, I mixed up some canned tuna, half an avocado, some salsa, and slapped in in a corn tortilla. Instant tasty taco. (It took all of... 20 minutes to make, eat, and clean up after.)

Or sometimes I'll get home from my late yoga class, and it's 8:30 pm, and I need something, but something light, and something easy because I had a few chores to get out of the way. So I threw a box of Imagine vegetable broth and 1lb bag of baby carrots in a pot. I let that cook for half an hour, blended it with a hand blender, then added a bag of frozen, cooked shrimp and let it simmer until the shrimp were cooked through. Instant soup with protein and vitamins, and plenty of leftovers for lunch the next day. (It takes about 40 minutes to cook, but only needs your attention for about 5 of those minutes.)

And a friend came over once and we were all getting hungry for lunch, but I didn't want to deal with going out, so I chopped up half an onion, a bell pepper, some carrots, an avocado, and added a can of drained black beans and a can of drained kidney beans, then added some garlic salt, cumin, sage, cayanne pepper, and some honey mustard dressing. Fast, filling, and yet more leftovers! (This one takes about 10 minutes of chopping, but after that, it's just dump and stir.)

I think the key is just getting creative with what's in the kitchen. Of course, sometimes we don't even want to bother with that, so there's short cuts like cereal (hot or cold), rice cakes w/ peanut butter, and frozen meals. And sometimes, just a bag of chips and hummus. :-)

[DuckyDiva]

My new 'quick grab snacks' are corn tortillas.. I can eat 5 of them plain and be filled.

Another is peanut butter on bananas.

I just bought Dinty Moore Beef Stew today, I will have to try it. They sell them in the small plastic cans so I can take those with me if I am going out somewhere and need something gluten-free to eat...

Tonight my mom is making chicken faijitas, and bought a few pounds extra of chicken so that my sister and I could have some leftovers for lunch or dinner tomorrow..

I'm learning to make more of foods I like so that I do have some leftovers I can just grab and reheat.

Tomorrow, my mom, sister and I are all taking our first trip to a Whole Foods Store. My doctor recommended going there for gluten-free foods, so we're going to check it out.

[Jnkmnky]

Whole foods has great stuff. You can ask the manager to give you a gluten free tour. Tell him/her you're new to the gluten-free diet and need a tour to help you familiarize yourself with what's available to you. Also, check out Kinnikinnick's website. They have great donuts, bagels, bread, pizza crusts, and more that will make quick foods on the go easier. You can probably find Ener-G pretzels at wholefoods and those are good.