Easy wheat-free vegan dinner suggestions?

[escher]

Hi Everyone,

I've been vegetarian for ages, but I'm now trying to cut out wheat and dairy (to see if it helps with my 12-month-old's sleep). I'm having trouble coming up with easy (week night) dinner ideas beyond bean soup and fried rice. Any suggestions? Thank you!

[meemee]

there are lots of grains that you can enjoy that are fast. how about buckwheat and quinoa. if you want to use your crockpot, how about barley which takes a long time to cook.

you can either make the buckwheat adn quinoa like rice or you can add some veggie stock and some simple veggies like greens - mustard green, collard greens and chia seeds and thyme.

or you can have a bunch of roasted veggies - squash, potatoes, beets and other veggies in a simple sauce that you can put on the grain.

there is a wonderful quinoa, butternut squash and black bean dish. you can even add corn kernels to it.

[escher]

Those are good suggestions. Thank you! What kind of sauce do you use with your veggies?

[meemee]

sometimes my sauce is just water. its when i'm stir frying veggies on the stove top and i've added herbs or spices i throw in a little bit of water (maybe a quarter cup for a family of 4)

when tomatoes are getting to the end of season and they are no longer tasty i cut them or throw them in whole with teh veggies on stovetop and that makes a little sauce. i dont make a LOT of sauce, just enough to 'wet' the veggies so that if you are having some plain rice at least it adds some flavor to the rice or buckwheat. 

my favourite grain is buckwheat. but i find i dont like its flavor by itself. so i always add things to it to add some flavors or i make a lot of sauce. sometimes i make lentil sauce (i hate making sauce for the sake of sauce, it needs to be healthy, not flour and junk - or what i call junk-), or when we cook something like beets by itself in coconut oil we use the water we boiled the beet in. beets with juice in coconut oil goes WONDERFULLY on quinoa.

btw i make buckwheat flour and rice flour pancakes. i use both kinds of buckwheat - the dark kind - i think that's the russian kind. the bw stays seperate grains, but the other white/green one mushes a little bit. now i cant remember but i think either the brown rice flour or white rice flour has more 'gluten' so i use that one for baking. gluten meaning more binding quality. 

btw i also make a lot of savory pancakes or crepes and pile the veggies and eggs on top of it. 

[escher]

Thanks, Meemee! Those are lovely suggestions.

[*green*faery*]

Hi, I recently cut wheat out of our diet, but we do eat a little dairy & eggs. So far what I have figured out for dinner is:

Bean or tofu soft tacos (if you eat corn?)

gf homemade pizza & salad (if you eat vegan cheese?)

salad with garbanzo or white beans w/avocado & veggies

gf pancakes & eggs (we are having pancakes with shredded coconut tomorrow)

bean & squash enchiladas

rice pasta, pesto & broccoli

lots of soups, right now I love squash/pumpkin soup

potato w/veggies & mushroom gravy

If all else fails for dinner we have eggs & gf toast or rice :)

To try and make week days easier I usually cook a pot of brown rice, beans, and a pot of soup at the beginning of each week. I usually freeze some of the soup for a latter day. I also am trying to bake gf muffins 1x a week for snacks. I would love to hear other ideas!

[escher]

These are good ideas. Thanks!

[dbsam]

Originally Posted by *green*faery* 

bean & squash enchiladas

Can you please provide a recipe or link for this?

thx.

[sassyfirechick]

We are big time chili eaters here - toss in the crock pot and the house smells fabulous!  We do eat meat but I limit the amount and have made chili with the vegan ground "beef" - DD is obsessed with beans and will eat them regardless what is with them ;-)

[Ragana]

Another version of GF enchiladas - sweet potato/black bean:

http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2006/10/sweet-potato-black-bean-enchiladas.html

These are pretty flavorful, so you can leave off the cheese, or use vegan cheese. I use a jar of green salsa instead of making my own sauce. A friend of mine makes the filling in a pan and uses it to fill soft corn tortillas for tacos.
 

A very tasty veg chili:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/raes-vegetarian-chili/

The beer and mustard powder sound like weird ingredients, but really work. This can also be cooked in a crockpot. Leave off the cheese and top with avocado/green onions instead.

[neptunemama]

We aren't dairy or wheat free, but we like this recipe a lot. It's easy and relatively quick.  I like to make it b/c the only work you have to do is chop the onion, ginger and green onion.  I use boxed chopped tomatoes which speeds the process.  

1/2 Tbls cumin seed

1 onion, diced

5 Tbls ginger, diced

1 jalapeno pepper, diced (optional-add if you like things spicy-I leave it out b/c my kids don't like it)

12 oz tomatoes, chopped

3 cans of garbanzo beans, drained

1 cup of coconut milk

1-2 green onions, chopped

Heat 1/4 cup of canola oil over medium heat.  When hot, add the cumin seed and let them toast for 30-60 sec.  Add the onion and saute for 5-6 min.  Add the ginger, tomatoes and jalapeno pepper and let it cook for 7-8 min.  Add the garbanzo beans and the coconut milk.  Stir, bring almost to a boil, turn heat to low and let simmer for 10 min, stirring once or twice. Serve alone or over rice.  Top with green onions. 

[pek64]

Casserole : layers of sliced potatoes, red and green or brown lentils, parsley, grated carrot, sauted onion and garlic (with sea salt), rolled oats (if you can tolerate them), and a thickened dairy-free milk.