I need some dinner ideas for my family!

[Ruthla]

I can't have gluten or dairy, and I want to keep the house gluten-free to avoid the risk of cross contamination. I can eat small amounts of rice or quinoa without getting sick, but I don't want to fill up on those because of their carb content.

Since we keep kosher, we can't cook meat and dairy at the same time, but there's no problem with dairy and fish at the same meal- but not in the same dish, since I can't eat the dairy and DD1 doesn't like fish.

Other than Friday nights when we have roast whole chicken with rice and a cooked veggie on the side, I'm out of meal ideas that we can all eat together.

[rachelagain]

one of my friends would make "pizza"-- basically an omelette with pepperoni and artichoke hearts.
I can't think of anything else I ate with her that didn't have rice in it.

Is brown rice better? or do you wish to limit all rice?

[Ruthla]

I don't mind serving rice as a side dish that the kids eat- no fear of me getting sick if a little gets into my food, but I don't want to have a full serving of rice as it's just too many carbs and I won't be able to continue losing weight. I don't even buy white rice so when I say "rice" I'm thinking brown rice.

[krankedyann]

Take a look at this- it's a pdf file that gives you a whole menu for a week. http://www.cookingtf.com/sample%20menu%20mailer.pdf It also has the shopping list and preparation schedule.

I've got 325 recipes on my website, and they're all labeled for gluten and casein content. That will help you, too.

Send me your e-mail address and I'll send you a couple more of my mailers to help you out. I know how hard it is to go GFCF and figure out a menu. That's why I started the mailer.

[Ruthla]

I forgot to mention I also can't eat legumes. I didn't think of that in my original post- not until I looked at the menu mailer and saw all those bean dishes. Nor do I have access to kosher lamb- I guess I could substitute another kind of ground meat.

[krankedyann]

In the grand scheme, I don't use a lot of beans, or beans that can't be omitted. I have few recipes where the beans are essential to the dish. Same with grains, I try to keep grains to a minimum. Many of my customers have additional food allergies, and I do try to keep those in mind when writing mailers.

You can substitute ground beef for any ground lamb recipes.

[mesecina]

I'm thinking about things that I make that might work for you...most of them seem to be chicken, but it sounds as though you do eat chicken. How about:

chicken and broccoli or mixed veggie stir-fry - this can be so different with different sauces, that I serve chicken and vegetables several times a week. Try (wheat-free) soy sauce or other bottled Asian sauce one night, Italian herbs, black olives, and sun-dried tomatoes another night, barbecue sauce for another time, and even salad dressing. I don't know if you do soy at all, but the Tofutti soy cream cheese, added at the end and left to melt, makes a very nice creamy sauce.

Chicken and sweet potato stew.

Egg and vegetable frittata.

There are brown rice noodles out now that are really good, we get ours at Tj's or Whole Foods. Makes a nice change from whole rice sometimes.

If you like those, I'll try to think of more ideas later....but I don't know if my cooking is your style.

[425lisamarie]

Do you like meatballs? I love them and don't eat them with pasta....though you could do that type of spaghetti squash.

I put spinach and pecorino in mine and some fresh parsley. You could use a gluten free breading type thing instead of the bread crumbs....or almond meal maybe or something.

Or you could make a meatloaf?

Maybe come up with some side type dishes and then just cook a meat dish of some sort that everyone could eat. Baked potatoes are easy, does your DD like that?

My favorite dinner is roasted tomato soup and sandwiches, but you could do lettuce wraps maybe for you and a grilled sandwich for your DD. I put cream in my soups but you surely don't have to. I love soup and could eat it every day. I make roasted root veggie soup, that is my favorite, and it's just roasted veggies pureed with chicken broth.

It's always easy to serve soup with bread and a meat, and you could just skip on the bread part

ETA: i just thought of something else: Stuffed peppers or other veggies. I'm actually making this tongiht.....I make sort of a meatball mixture and stuff them in to peppers and hollowed out zuccinni then bake. I put marinara on the bottom of a dish, half the peppers after seeding (or you could stuff them whole) mound up some meat and cover with more sauce, bake at 400 for about 45 min. This is one of my favorites and you can make a little or a lot for levtovers in the same amount of time, and it freezes well too. If you half the peppers it's easier to reheat and the peppers cook better

[JosephnJamesMommy]

I need some really cheap but healthy meal ideas. :
Thanks ladies

[Ruthla]

To further complicate matters, I'm down to about $24 in Food Stamps until Feb 7th, and I'm just about out of cash (thanks to my poor planning, I have $90 in overdraft fees at the bank, so even when my ex brings me some cash I won't get to use all of it.)

I went to the store yesterday and bought eggs and milk, and we're planning all of meals based on what's already in the house. So I won't be able to make a lot of meatballs for a while.

Here's what we do have:

apples and oranges (some getting past their prime)
carrots, celery, bell peppers, onions, garlic, ginger, parsley, tomatoes, romaine lettuce
frozen chicken legs (about 3 or 4, frozen individually)
frozen raw chicken liver
2 packages hot dogs
mozzarella, cheddar, american cheese (plus a small amount of feta cheese)
canned tuna and salmon
rice
quinoa
brown rice pasta
jarred tomato sauce and canned tomato paste

I'm feeling kind of torn between wanting to keep my house gluten free to avoid cross contamination, and thinking that maybe now is a good time to use up some of that bread in my freezer (1 loaf whole wheat bread plus one package hot dog buns.) I'm certainly not going to purchase any more gluten-containing foods, but what to do with what I already have?

I also have a lot of dried beans- I can't eat them but maybe I can cook them for the kids and prepare something else for myself that night?

So, do you think I should put all the money into the bank and get my account above zero ASAP, or should I save back some cash to buy groceries? I'll be getting SSI around the 1st of the month, so there's no risk of my bank account being closed again.

[saratc]

Some meal ideas based on what you have:

Strange but good:
Cut up hot dogs and saute with onions. Add eggs and scramble. Mix in a few tbsp of the tomato sauce as the eggs are almost done. Serve with quinoa or rice.

I would debone chicken legs and stir fry with veggies to stretch the protein. You could probably get 2 meals out of them that way.

If partially past their prime, add the apples and/or oranges into a green salad, chicken salad or tuna or salmon salad. If really past their prime, puree and use as sauce or topping.

Also strange, but I've had it and it's less strange than it sounds -- grind up or mince the hot dogs. If you can, mince a little of the liver too, and stick it in tomato sauce to serve over the pasta. Saute some of the peppers and onions before adding the meat and sauce. Again, this will stretch your protein.