Super Easy Meal Ideas Anyone?

[KnightRobby]

Hello again. I am trying to get some very, very easy meal ideas together. I have some (three meals) but that is it. I heard that it is wise to start out with three meals and work your way up, to make it easy and also less overwhelming.

I really enjoy things like Fried Rice, Chinese Food (White Rice, Chicken, Broccoli), and Alfredo meals (I have one recipe). I know of a few websites that have simple recipes, including Gluten Free Mommy, etc but if you can think of another website that be great.

Thanks for your help!

[sa1937]

You might want to think of very simple meals like meat or fish, potato, veggie and salad, for example. No recipes required. I know you are also concerned about the cost of gluten-free foods. Use the Google search button at the top of your screen and put in words like budget meals, cheap meals, etc. A lot of topics will come up.

Also check out the recipe section for suggestions on Lunch and Dinner. It'll keep you busy for a month of Sundays.

[kareng]

Make extra, whatever you make, so you can microwave left-overs.

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link free&src=SH#/?st=6&term=gluten%2Bfree&pi=1&ps=9

Might want to get a crockpot. Under $20 at Target or Walmart.

Open Original Shared Link

We like this one I have posted on here before:

This is a crockpot one. Beef stew can be thickened with potato buds (instant mashed potatoes) or even a little corn starch. This one uses Rapid tapioca.

Crockpot Beef Stew

2 lbs beef stew meat, cubed

5 carrots sliced thinly

1 onion, diced

3 ribs of celery, diced

5 potatoes cubed (use the yellow potatoes and you don't need to peel them)

28 oz can tomatoes

1/3 cup quick-cooking or "Rapid" tapioca

4 bay leaves

salt & pepper to taste

Combine & cook 10-12 hours on low or 5-6 on high.

[GFinDC]

1 can cooked black beans

1 can mackeral

Herbs

Garlic powder (or fresh if you are that way)

Salt

Black Pepper

Tortilla chips

Throw all that in a pot, except for the tortilla chips. Put the heat on low and breakup the fish with a spoon into small chunks. If you pour the water/juice out of the can of fish first it makes a pretty nice, thick food like substance.. If you leave the juice in the can it will be runny but you can add a little psyillium husks or a tablespoon of Bob's red Mill hot cereal to thicken it. Remember I said low heat tho. Everything is already cooked so it takes a whole 5 minutes to heat this up.

Use your tortilla chips to scoop up the fishy-bean stuff and put it in your chomper. Tastes better than it sounds.

If there are guests you can take the food-like substance out of the pot and put it in a big bowl to dip from. Double dipping should follow local site rules

My simple meal has 7 ingredients and Crayon's has 10. I win! Plus mine is done in 5 minutes. Double win!

[irish daveyboy]

How about rice noodles (Angel Hair)

place them in boiling water for 4 minutes,

drain, stir in a teaspoon or two of green pesto

garnish with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

That's as simply as you can get!

[kareng]

1 can cooked black beans

1 can mackeral

Herbs

Garlic powder (or fresh if you are that way)

Salt

Black Pepper

Tortilla chips

Throw all that in a pot, except for the tortilla chips. Put the heat on low and breakup the fish with a spoon into small chunks. If you pour the water/juice out of the can of fish first it makes a pretty nice, thick food like substance.. If you leave the juice in the can it will be runny but you can add a little psyillium husks or a tablespoon of Bob's red Mill hot cereal to thicken it. Remember I said low heat tho. Everything is already cooked so it takes a whole 5 minutes to heat this up.

Use your tortilla chips to scoop up the fishy-bean stuff and put it in your chomper. Tastes better than it sounds.

If there are guests you can take the food-like substance out of the pot and put it in a big bowl to dip from. Double dipping should follow local site rules

My simple meal has 7 ingredients and Crayon's has 10. I win! Plus mine is done in 5 minutes. Double win!

But yours has CANNED MACKERAL!

[Celiac Mindwarp]

I'm loving avocado or sweet potato as the basis of meals at the moment.

Today was avocado, king prawns, tomato, cucumber and yellow bell pepper. No cooking either!

I have only been gluten-free about 4 weeks and I am starting to love it.

Cooking for the family is another story, but I love my new food.

Good luck

[GFinDC]

But yours has CANNED MACKERAL!

Yes, but it from China, so it is ok. And you take it out of the can, so it isn't canned anymore.

OK, another one then.

Throw some green beans or peas in a skillett. Add some sliced onion and mushrooms. Fry a few minutes and crack an egg or two on top. Sprinkle with herbs and salt, pepper, psyillium etc. Lid it for a few minutes. Eat.

[Lisa]

Canned Mackerel - eww, I shudder!

Scrambled eggs with rice on the side

Sauteed chicken, add frozen Chinese veggies, over rice (LaChoy Soy Sauce)

Marinated anything with La Choy Teriyaki Sauce...chicken, pork, seafood, beef - baked or pan fried

Stuffed Baked Potato - with anything in your fridge.

Pancakes with Biscuit Gluten Free Mix - and BACON!

Home made Pizza - Gluten free crust, Hunts tomato sauce (a shake or two of Italian herbs/red pepper flakes), pepperoni and cheese or anything at your pleasure.

Soup (Amy's, Pacific, Progresso - read labels) and Salad

Steamed shrimp with Cocktail Sauce.

....just thinkin' easy. If you need more, just ask.

Oh... All Classico Sauces are gluten free, including Alfredo and Three Cheeses. - BUT always read labels.

[KnightRobby]

Great meal tips. Will definitely use them for sure. I found some Gluten-free pancakes and the first batch, by following the instructions exactly, turned out way, way too dry. So I added double the eggs and water and it instantly reminded of good ol' pancakes! So that is good news.

And then to sweeten the deal, there's always chocolate pancakes to try out as a snack

[T.H.]

- for many green veggies, stir fried with a little gluten-free soy sauce and minced garlic. Served over rice

- steamed chicken breast. Brush it with rice wine and a little salt, steam it, and then cut into strips and dip in gluten-free soy sauce.

- pork chops and homemade apple sauce. We marinate the pork ahead of time, sometimes in salt water, sometimes in apple cider vinegar, and sometimes in apple juice with a little extra salt added. Apple sauce, we just chop apples and cook them a while. If we want it thinner, we blend them in the blender a little at the end.

- Shepherd's pie. Meat, carrots, celery, a few seasonings and a little extra water (or gluten-free broth), and top with mashed potatoes and bake. We sometimes thicken the gravy inside with a little potato starch, sometimes not.

- if you aren't a vegetarian, big slabs o' meat. Roast beef, roasted chicken with herbs, roasted turkey. These take a long time to COOK, but very little of actual time that you need to spend in the kitchen, if that makes sense? These are also nice to take for lunch, because they tend to taste fine cold as well as hot.

For snacks:

- sliced apples dipped in peanut butter, honey, or both mixed together. For a change up, use sunflower butter instead.

- popcorn or popped sorghum. To make it more robust, we add other things like salted nuts or seeds, dried fruit sometimes. Sometimes to sweeten it, rather than put butter (or olive oil and salt) on the popcorn, we put in a little honey instead to the melted oil/butter and mix that up. Got that from a friend from China who said they always had honey-butter on their popcorn. It's pretty good, actually!

- brown rice cakes with cream cheese. One of those college 'we have no money and two foods in the house' recipes, LOL. But it turned out awesome and I ate it for years afterward. As long as you don't get rice cakes that are too soft, these are great. The crunch has to be there to make this work.

[lpellegr]

Open a can of tuna, mix in a bowl with some mayo (or skip the mayo), scoop up with celery or Nut Thins crackers.

Slice an apple, eat with cheese or spread with peanut butter.

Hummus and carrots/celery or crackers.

Roll up lunchmeat (packaged, not sliced in the deli unless you are SURE the slicer has been cleaned) and cheese together and eat with your fingers.

Refried beans from a can, tostada shells or broken hard taco shells, shredded cheese, tomatoes or salsa.

Bowl of any kind of rice with just about any leftovers on top.

Salad greens, hard boiled egg, sunflower seeds, random raw or cooked veggies, leftover chicken or ham, olive oil and interesting vinegar.

Greek yogurt with honey or fruit and nuts.

Scrambled eggs or omelet with or without cheese and crumbled bacon or leftover ham or even Spam. Throw in some thawed frozen spinach so that the nutrition police will approve.

Most of these require no or minimal cooking (although cooking ahead to make intended leftovers is good). The occasional rotisserie chicken can be the basis for quite a few meals, and you can even make soup from the bones.

[user853]

Squacos - squash tacos. Roasted squash, can black beans, avocado, salsa, corn tortillas. Also great with sweet potatoes.

Bowl of quinoa, left over veggies, salsa, avocado

Hummus and veggies wrapped on swiss chard wrap

Salad!

Soup

[KnightRobby]

Thank you all for the excellent ideas!

[1974girl]

I am making my easy meal tonight. I got it off the crock pot 365 site. 1 pack chicken, 20 Oz pineapple, 1/4 cup gluten-free soy sauce like la choy. Put all in crock pot for3-4 in low or 5-6 on high. Serve over rice or spinach leaves. 3 ingredients! (You can add red pepper flakes if you want but my kids hate them)

[mushroom]

Those times don't sound right Should they perhaps be reversed??

[1974girl]

Haha! Yes. Reverse those times! I homeschool my kids and today my 6th grader learned about pi. It has been a long long long day.

[maximoo]

tacos--hard shelled corn shells of course. Season your ground beef add gluten-free toppings (lettuce, tomatoes, cheese,etc)

[cahill]

My favorite safe meal is :

ground lamb, browned in a frying pan with olive oil then add shredded cabbage and carrots cook until tender then stir in cooked rice Heavenly

[AlwaysLearning]

Even before going gluten free, I had found that steaming up some meat and veggies then serving them over rice with some sort of sauce was pretty easy, not all that time consuming, good for leftovers ... and also avoided the problems toxins developing in food due to high-heat cooking.

Ingredients:

• Your choice of meat. My favs include boneless chicken or sausage (and fortunately, my grocery stores carry gluten-free varieties)

• Your choice of vegetables. I normally go with sweet bell peppers, onions, garlic, mushrooms, and black olives but vary them to go with the meat. Include your favorites or experiment with new ones.

• Your choice of rice.

Step one: Put the meat in a pan to brown in either butter or olive oil. Only takes a couple minutes on both sides and does not require high heat. You just want to bring out a little bit of flavor.

Step two: Get your rice started.

Step three: Start cutting up your veggies. I start with those that take the longest to cook.

Step four: Your meat should be done browning as your first vegetable is cut. Add some water to your pot/pan and just keep adding your vegetables as you finish cutting them, keeping a lid on it so that it steams rather than fries. And you don't want too much water, just enough to keep the bottom of the pan wet, adding more if it cooks off. You're not boiling but steaming, so you don't want everything to be covered, rather just 1/4" in the bottom. (Any time there is water in your pan, the temperature won't rise above boiling point so you can avoid those nasty carcinogens that form when foods are fried).

You should be done adding your veggies in the first 10 minutes and have five or ten minutes to kick back while everything finishes cooking, depending on your rice's cooking time. And the meat should cook up pretty quickly because it is being steamed, heat surrounding it on all sides.

Step five: Add or make some sort of sauce.

If I used sweet italian sausage, I'll normally just add some spaghetti sauce and spices to my pot of meat and veggies, warm it up for another two minutes and then serve everything over rice.

If I do chicken, I'll pull all of the meat and veggies out of the pan, add some more butter/oil and water to the remaining liquid (so that I end up with enough sauce to pour over my rice/chicken and veggies) and use a combination of starches and flours (now gluten-free) to make a white, gravy-like sauce. You can add a little at a time until it thickens up but it should only take about five minutes. If you want it to be more like a white sauce and can do dairy, then I'd use butter and cream instead of olive oil and water.

This one will need spices so I normally add plenty of my favorite green spices (dried) such as basil, thyme, tarragon, and sage. I normally smell them as I go, so it varies according to my mood that day. Oh, and you'll probably want to salt it some too. Mushrooms go particularly well with the chicken though it does turn out rather colorless.

Either way, it normally doesn't take more than 20 minutes for the sausage version, 25 for chicken, and is great for feeding multiple people or for leftovers. Plus you get a meal that is very filling and doesn't leave you craving more.

But my favorite part of this is that most of the ingredients don't go bad quickly so it can be done without having been to the grocery store recently. Onions and garlic last for months, black olives come from a can, meat can be frozen, spices are dried, sauces are either from a jar or made from scratch, and even mushrooms can be the dried versions.

There is also plenty of room for variation and experimentation to switch out types of meats or vegetables. It's kind of like a halfway point between a crock pot and a stir-fry meal.