Gluten Free Meal Ideas

[Lincoln]

Hey everyone,

I am struggling to find meal ideas that I will eat, I have Crohn's disorder so I cannot tolerate fatty foods such as dairy and many types of meat, Veal is ok, as is turkey and chicken. I am also intolerant to Gluten (obviously), and Soy.

I usually just eat corn based foods during the day but either too much reliance on corn or too much emotional toxicity is making me intolerant to it as well.

Wondering if anyone has any meal ideas that don't involve all the things I have mentioned, not recipes or anything like that, I don't want to spend all my time during the day cooking. Would love any suggestions.

P.S. Please no suggestions based on eggplant or anything like that as it will not be helpful to me.

[GottaSki]

So no recipes - do you have minimal cooking skills? A lot of my food is very quick to prepare, but using the kitchen is essential. We cook everything - some things simple, some more complex == but we make everything that goes in my mouth due to a ridiculous amount of intolerances.

Here are my staples that are always in the frig ready to throw in a frying pan:

Roast whole chicken or bake a family portion of chicken parts at least once per week

Keep small portions of hamburger defrosted

Bake a spaghetti squash every 2-3 days

Easy vegies - like bags of broccoli slaw or broccoli flowerettes

Blanched/slightly steamed large quantity of carrots

Chopped onion and diced garlic

Sauces -- I make carrot/garlic and cilantro or basil almond pesto in large quantities while the chicken is roasting once a week.

If you are looking for processed or pre-made foods, perhaps some others can help.

edited to add...re-read your post -- rice! Make a large portion to use later -- apples and cinnamon for breakfast - under a chicken/vegie mix for lunch/dinner. Potatoes - bake a few and use to fry them up with eggs and whatever else you have hanging around for breakfast or re-heat and top with some other combo of meat and vegies for lunch/dinner.

[Lincoln]

Thanks for the ideas, I have no problem cooking and am quite an accomplished Gluten free cook, I am realising that I may have to start cooking everything from scratch but do not want to as I have far more enticing things to do that spend 3 or more hours a day cooking as I eat alot of food, usually 5 or six meals a day of decent proportion. If it honestly comes down to it I will just drastically reduce my food intake to make up for lost time.

[GottaSki]

Thanks for the ideas, I have no problem cooking and am quite an accomplished Gluten free cook, I am realising that I may have to start cooking everything from scratch but do not want to as I have far more enticing things to do that spend 3 or more hours a day cooking. If it honestly comes down to it I will just drastically reduce my food intake to make up for lost time.

I do not spend three hours a day cooking...I do keep the items I mentioned on hand which takes a half hour to an hour here and there, but I throw my meals together in the frying pan with a little coconut oil in less than 5 mins as I often have to make a separate meal from what we make as a family.

[Lincoln]

cool

[tarnalberry]

we do a lot of stir-fry around here. serve it over rice or just add lots of veggies. certainly doesn't have to be fatty, or even very meaty if you don't want it to be. (you don't have to use soy sauce for a stir fry!)

pasta (gluten free) with either a tomato-based sauce, or as a salmon, chicken or veggie pasta salad is good too.

vegetable stew is good this time of year (I usually do meat based, but you can leave it out and add more veggies).

we did chicken enchiladas (no cheese, since I'm dairy free) the other night, with beans and sauteed veggies.

chicken rice soup is easy to make, and you can add all kinds of veggies.

baked chicken and roasted vegetables is easy, and great this time of year when you don't mind running the oven.

lentils and rice is very easy if you buy pre-made lentils and make extra rice with other dinners.

lentil soup is also tasty.

fried rice is easy, and you can skip the soy sauce.

(the vast majority of this stuff takes ~30 minutes to prepare (I have a toddler to mind, after all, and am doing this by myself most days) and all of it can make plenty of leftovers so you don't have to cook the next day if you don't want to.)

here's a big ol' long list of recipes (well, the first post has titles for most of them, but I can't update it anymore, so the last two pages have more that aren't listed there) - I know you don't want recipes, but this is a thread I started years ago and post things I cook to, so just skim for titles of dishes if you don't wnat to look at recipes: https://www.celiac.com/forums/topic/6981-as-promised-a-few-recipes/ (And there is no eggplant in any of these. Not a lot of tomato based dishes either, as my husband doesn't like them.)

[luvs2eat]

We use ground chicken a lot rather than hamburger. We make taco meat and chili w/ ground chicken. I did a meatloaf the other day and it was delicious. I make my own pizza w/ lots of veggies and we do a lot of stir fry as well.

[Glutin-Free Man]

I know you stated no recipes, but I think you're going to have to start doing more cooking for yourself.

Since my diagnosis, I eat almost nothing that I haven't made myself -- as consequences of illnesses go, it's really not that bad. It just takes more planning.

tarnalberry mentioned lentils & rice. This is a good standby at our house as we always have ingredients on hand, so it's what I make when I don't feel like cooking.

Ingredients

½ cup Olive Oil

1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced.

1 cup dry lentils

3 ½ cups cold water

1 cup uncooked white rice

1 tsp kosher salt

Instructions

Check lentils for small stones & discard. Rinse in a colander.

Boil the water in a wide, heavy pot, add the lentils & cover. Reduce the heat and simmer for approximately

10 minutes. Add the rice and salt. Mix, recover and cook for until the lentils and rice are tender (usually about 15 minutes for me).

While lentils and rice are cooking, heat the oil in a saucepan. Add the onion & saute for 10-15 minutes or until nicely browned. Stir occasionally.

When lentils & rice are done, pour the oil and onion over them. Mix & serve.

I also second the choice of fried rice, which is great with no meat. Gluten Free soy sauce is pretty easy to find now (it's often called Tamari, but check the ingredients, as Tamari can have wheat).

I will also make a stir fry of vegetables with rice noodles, with a bit of broth to bring it all together (similar to the Phillipino dish Pancit Bihon)

Another family favorite is cassoulet -- it's a French stew of italian sausage and beans. It does take more time to prepare, but a lot of that time is just cooking time, and it's a departure from corn & rice. Use turkey sausage if pork is too fatty.

Our favorite version is Open Original Shared Link

Fish tacos are good and easy to make. Cook your favorite fish in your favorite fashion (even boiling is OK for this dish), flake it up and serve between corn tortillas with some coleslaw.