I have a confession: this post is more for me than it is for anyone else. I always need an idea for supper.
That meets our dietary restrictions.
That won't have rare/expensive ingredients.
That my kids will eat.
That doesn't take forever to make.
UPDATE: This list got so long and I am such a visual person, that I made a gallery you can view by clicking "Gluten, Dairy, Egg Free Meals" on the orange banner across the top of the site. Or, click HERE to view a list format without photos.
I am open to suggestions as far as how to organize this list as well as to contributions of recipes/ideas to add to the list. It is a short list now, but the goal is to add on over time. I'm also planning to make a list of snacks in the future.
Meal Ideas:
- Traditional (American) Shepherd's Pie: cook ground beef with onions/garlic (or whatever seasonings to taste) and then place in glass baking pan. Layer with frozen/canned veggies & top with mashed potatoes (again, seasoned to taste). Bake uncovered until heated through. If you can have dairy, feel free to sprinkle cheese on top the last few minutes of baking. If you want to stretch your meat, add in some cooked rice or some black beans along with it.
- Chili Style Shepherd's Pie: Use thick chili as a base; cover with mashed potatoes which have been seasoned with garlic
- Leftover Turkey/Chicken Shepherd's Pie: Saute onions & leftover turkey/chicken meat; layer with a LOT of mixed veggies; glob on some cold leftover gravy; cover with mashed potatoes (or just leave little "mounds" of them if you don't have enough to cover); bake till heated through.
- Sweet Shepherd's Pie: cook ground beef with onions and then place in glass baking pan. Layer with frozen/canned veggies & top with mashed sweet potatoes, or your favorite variety of cooked winter squash (butternut is our favorite). Then sprinkle on some brown sugar and a few dollops of non-dairy butter. (After trial and error this is the one we prefer, but I often add a little salt to mimic "real" butter flavor better. Other varieties of this same brand (soy free, etc) do not taste the same as this one!)
- Pulled Pork [traditionally for sandwiches] served in hard (corn) taco shells. Many brands are GF. Put in some lettuce or baby spinach and it's very tasty!
- Beef Fried Rice: It's not as hard as it seems; it can be done with ground beef. Do some digging around on AllRecipes.com, be sure to read the reviewers' tips/suggestions and have a go at it. Here's what I learned we like: Cook 3-4 cups white rice the day before (so you have 6-8 servings) & cool it in the fridge. This is SO important to get the right texture and make it so that the rice doesn't all stick/mush together. Fry 2 bunches green onion, chopped, in with 1.5 lbs ground beef in a huge nonstick pan with high sides or in a WOK if you have one. When the meat is done, drain if desired (you'll need to add some oil to the pan, so you can either use what is there from the meat or choose a healthier oil); add in the cold rice and drizzle with soy sauce (La Choy brand is wheat-free, but always check labels because they may change ingredients) to taste. Allow the rice to fry, so don't stir it too often. We also like to add a handful of frozen peas when adding in the cold rice. Sometimes we throw garlic or bacon in with the ground beef while cooking it. Some people have used leftover pork chops or ham diced very small. Once you get the technique of the rice texture down, you'll discover what works best flavor wise.
- Tacos: chicken or beef & your favorite toppings: lettuce/baby spinach, refried beans (the seasoned ones are so much better than "plain"), guacamole, salsa, taco sauce, black beans, rice, onions, tomatoes, etc. Use corn taco shells; many are GF. You can use the corn tortillas but they tend to break when you fold/roll them.
- Taco Taters: Make a baked potato; top it with taco seasoned meat & any of your favorite taco toppings.
- Fried Hot Dog Skillet: I don't know why this is so good, but it is. Slice hotdogs into little circles about 1 cm or so thick & fry them with potatoes or hashbrowns, throw in some kernel corn. The trick is to make sure you actually brown the hot dogs as well as the potatoes. Otherwise they don't get the right flavor. I'm not a huge ketchup fan, but when this is ready, a squirt a little over the top and I love it! Otherwise salsa may work or my kids like it w/out condiments. My mom used to make this with scrambled eggs in it, and that was sooo nummy, so if you can have eggs, by all means, do!
- Chicken Bog: Here's the recipe we have: (but there are others)
1 pkt. *Liption's Onion Soup Mix* (this used to be GF but they've recently added barley product so I make my own to have on hand. Other brands may be GF, I haven't checked.)
1 pgk (15-16 oz) Beef Smoked [Kielbasa] Sausage (Hillshire Farms is GF, check your labels though!)
2 chicken breasts
Boil chicken in enough water to cover them. When cooked through, remove chicken and save water. Slice beef sausage and chicken into bite size pieces. In a large pot add uncooked rice, meat, onion soup mix, and 4 & 2/3 c. water from the chicken (if you don't have that much chicken water reserved, just add tap water to make that amount). Bring to boil, then turn to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
- Chicken with [GF] Pasta: Use cooked/grilled chicken chopped into bite size pieces & warmed. Mix into prepared GF pasta. Mix 2 tsp. chicken boullion/granules per 1/2 cup hot water & season with basil and a little Italian seasoning to make a STRONG sauce to pour over pasta & chicken. You want the sauce strong to penetrate the noodles; you will be drizzling it over, not drowning it like spagetti sauce. Stir in some mixed veggies & you've got a meal. (We like Tinkyada brand brown rice spiral pasta from our local Walmart for this recipe, but Trader Joe's has cheaper corn penne pasta that is GF) This was adapted from a mock-lasagna recipe, so you could do it that way as well; just be sure to make enough sauce to brush over the top of each layer of your GF noodles/chicken/veggies so they will have flavor.
- Homemade Soup, Stew, chili (traditional or white) or in a pinch Dinty Moore beef stew. (Always check labels; at the time I wrote this, it was GF, EF, DF)
- Stir Fry: the possibilities are endless, and making your own GF stir fry sauce isn't that difficult either, just do a quick search for recipes and see which one is allergy friendly and appeals to your taste buds. (We use one with a base of La Choy soy sauce, honey, garlic & cornstarch.)
- Meatloaf: if your original recipe called for eggs & crackers, omit them. The cracker can be replaced with a handful of uncooked rice or GF oats, and the egg is mostly to "hold it together" and doesn't affect flavor. Choose your own side dishes, like: baked, mashed or roasted potatoes, with veggies on the side
- Crock pot/slow cooker pork loin with apples, honey & cinnamon: this recipe is good, but make sure your crock pot doesn't have a hole to let out steam, if it does, put some tape over that sucker!
- Carrot Cake Waffles: not as much work as they sound like and delicious!!
- Quinoa chicken salad: Cooked quinoa, chilled in fridge. Add in your mayo/miracle whip substitute (I use original Vegenaise and added a splash of vinegar for this recipe to make it taste more like Miracle Whip) and then mix in chopped pieces of cooked/grilled/rotisserie chicken, celery or celery salt, onion, pickles, salt/pepper to taste. Basically, season it the way you like your chicken salad! I was really impressed with this. I had made & tasted quinoa for the first time ever the night before (cooking it in chicken broth instead of water to add flavor). I had mixed feelings and wasn't sure what to do with it. I remembered a friend said it was "just as good cold" so I gave this a shot and was hooked! My 3 year old, who refused to eat any of it warm the night before, scarfed it down this way. The texture is much firmer- it reminded me of a cold turkey/wild-rice salad I've had. Which reminds me, that one had curry powder.... I'll have to try a bit on this!
- Spaghetti Squash Lo Mein: the original recipe is vegan, but a person could easily add cooked, cut up meat. I've never had spaghetti squash before this, but it was appealing to have a healthy, relatively inexpensive GF/egg free substitute for lo mein noodles. I was really surprised at how satisfying and flavorful this was- I typically never eat anything vegetarian- I even like to have chicken in my salads if it's available :). This recipe was good the night we made it, and AMAZING the second day- the flavors melded even better together. YUM!
- Homemade Taquitos- a great way to use up leftover chicken meat or hamburger
- Chicken legs/drumsticks (here's a great recipe for doing them in the crock pot) with steak fries or seasoned potato wedges. Add corn on the cob and you have a finger-food meal that's sure to please.