In A Food Rut, Need Help Out

[EmmaQ]

I'm in a food rut. My kids are eating way too many Enviro Kids Cereal bars, it will get old soon and then they won't want them ever again, ever.

I have a toddler w/o many teeth who is Celiac. He can't eat apples, carrots, or other hard foods. He has trouble with stringy, like oranges. I'm in a rut about what to feed him.

School is out and I now have to prepare 3 meals and snacks a day for 5. I haven't got a clue how to keep it interesting. gluten-free cereal and eggs get old after a while. gluten-free Mac & Ch after 2 days is enough for me. Sandwiches are difficult due to the bread issue. I either have to get up off my duff and make some or go drive 110 miles round trip to buy some! I ran out this week.

I'm so bored with dinner!!! I should be making dinner right now and I'm not. The kids are easy they want mashed potatos, green beans and chicken. I'm like ugh.

My time is very limited in the kitchen. I don't want to be in there for hours baking and cooking.

HELP

E

[Darn210]

I'm in a food rut. My kids are eating way too many Enviro Kids Cereal bars, it will get old soon and then they won't want them ever again, ever.

I have a toddler w/o many teeth who is Celiac. He can't eat apples, carrots, or other hard foods. He has trouble with stringy, like oranges. I'm in a rut about what to feed him.

School is out and I now have to prepare 3 meals and snacks a day for 5. I haven't got a clue how to keep it interesting. gluten-free cereal and eggs get old after a while. gluten-free Mac & Ch after 2 days is enough for me. Sandwiches are difficult due to the bread issue. I either have to get up off my duff and make some or go drive 110 miles round trip to buy some! I ran out this week.

I'm so bored with dinner!!! I should be making dinner right now and I'm not. The kids are easy they want mashed potatos, green beans and chicken. I'm like ugh.

My time is very limited in the kitchen. I don't want to be in there for hours baking and cooking.

HELP

E

OK . . . I'll be reading along, too . . . I can always use a few new ideas.

Snacks here are string cheese, yogurt, pretzels, Florida's Natural fruit nuggets, Clif Kid's twisted fruit, Glutino crackers (the ones that look like ritz) w/cream cheese or peanut butter, and homemade (gluten-free) chex mix . . . along with some not so healthy stuff.

Lunches here include peanut butter and nutella on leftover pancakes (I make a huge batch and freeze the leftovers, separated by wax paper, thawed in the microwave), Bell & Evans chicken nuggets (or my own . . . whenever I make fried chicken, I make a bunch extra and freeze), peanut butter on corn thins or rice cakes, and hot dogs.

After trying a multitude of recipes, I decided that I like the Pamela's bread mix the best. It was pretty close in flavour with a "from scratch" recipe that I was using but loads easier to make since I could do it in my bread machine. I now buy it in bulk (6 mixes at a time) from Amazon through their "subscribe and save" program which gives you free shipping and an additional 15% off. (I paid about $3.25/bag) When you sign up, you place a standing order for having it shipped every 1, 2, 3, or 6 months. However, you can cancel it after you place your first order if you want. You can also change your interval, skip a shipment, whatever . . . We go through a lot of bread mix (we use Pamela's for our bread, dinner rolls, pizza crust, and cinnamon rolls) so it has saved me a lot of money. I get Pamela's pancake mix through the same program. I use it for loads of Pancakes and muffins. The muffins freeze well, too. We eat the Van's waffles, but we usually eat cream cheese on them.

Suppers are what they always were . . . just gluten-free versions. There's a thread on about a (gluten-free) crockpot blog. Check it out. I made something from it tonight. I should use the crockpot more often. Seems like we always get real busy about the time I should be making supper. It was great that I threw it together this morning and it was ready after we got home from my son's classes.

[Emilysmomma]

I don't have anything to add to what Janet said, but just wanted to say 'thanks' to Janet, you gave me some good ideas too! We've not even been doing this for a whole week yet, so I'm too new to give advice in the area, but I sure will be checking out your thread to see what others say!!!

[missy'smom]

For snacks I make gelatin with Knox unflavored gelatin and 100% fruit juice and occasionally add fruit. There are so many flavor possibilities. Also make popsicles with dollar store plastic molds that come with holders. Use 100% fruit juice for those too. I made some this week with an overripe watermelon that I pureed in the blender and strained and added a touch of sugar and squeeze of lemon juice. Gerber makes freeze dried fruit bits(strawberry, banana) in a pouch that are for toddlers and are good(I buy them for myself sometimes). They melt in your mouth. Many pudding cups are gluten-free. Fruit leather is another good choice.

I use a recipe for old-fashioned southern style cornbread that uses only cornmeal, no flour so I make it just like the recipe says with no modifications. It takes about 1 minute to mix and 20 to bake. So easy I can make it when I'm half asleep in the morning for breakfast.

This week corndog muffins were a hit, but were gone too quickly! I used a gluten-free cornbread mix from Whole Foods, cut hot dogs in lengths that would stand up and be only slightly higher than the tops of the muffin tins, stood one up in the middle of each tin and poured the cornbread batter around them. Then baked as usual.

[Amyleigh0007]

My Celiac son loves Ore-Ida fast food french fries and tater tots. He also likes BBQ sauce (Sweet Baby Rays) and skinless, boneless chicken breasts cooked in the crock pot. Cheeseburgers are good too. He never did like bread or buns so he eats them without a bun. He also likes Stax chips from Frito Lay.

[slmprofesseur]

My son was placed on a wheat free diet at 8 mos. He could eat rice cereal or Gluten-free oatmeal. There's a great recipe on allrecipes.com for Gluten-free pancakes. He eats a lot of bananas, avacados, black beans and rice (I make it like a casserole with rice on the bottom layer, beans (drained and heated) with salsa, and cheese on top. He also eats sweet potatoes, squash, and cantaloupe. I also made some Gluten-free oatmeal cookies. Yogurt is a great snack also.

[EmmaQ]

Hmmm, I guess I should have mentioned we don't do a ton of dairy products. And the baby can't have any.

I have the Celiacs who also are intolerant to oats. Beside even gluten-free oats should not be given to a Celiac child who is DQ2. The DQ2 gene group has the mark of oat reaction. It isn't the gluten protein cross contamination, it is actually an antibody reaction to the oat protein. Check it out in Pub Med or other medical research site.

I guess I'm in this rut b/c of the other limitations.

[BRUMI1968]

Sweet potatoes (baked in a tiny bit of olive or sesame oil or baked whole with coconut butter or olive oil on them when they come out).

Quinoa - this is an easy "grain" (actually a seed) that cooks in 15 minutes in the same manner as rice (bring to boil, lower heat, wait, let sit) with way more nutrients. I make a salad with quinoa, chopped veggies, olive oil and lemon - like a tabbouleh if you've had that. You can also put herbs and nuts in there, or seeds. I oftentimes mix quinoa with a green salad as well.

Hummus - this is also easy to make if you have a food processor, and cheap if you buy dried garbanzos. You can also make it bean free by using zucchini instead of beans...and if your kids don't like spicy, you can leave out the garlic - I do since my system doesn't take to it very well. I replace the garlic with onion. Anyway, I don't know if your kids would like it or not, but it's great on carrot sticks and celery sticks and the like.

Sauteed veggies with carmelized onions. I find the sweetness of the onions carmelized adds some palatability to veggies for folks that don't take to them (I don't know if your kids like veggies or not). They do take about 20 minutes to do. And there is some chopping, etc.

Corn tortillas with chili? I don't know about that one since I don't eat beans - but if your kids like beans, refried or otherwise, corn tortillas with some beans and sprouts or lettuce or onion or something.

I don't know. My partner's daughter had a weird palette - favorite food at 2 years old was salad with all sorts of things (raw mushrooms) and blue cheese dressing. Now she loves sushi and even eats my raw food with glee. I was a picky eater. Anyway, good luck.

[missy'smom]

For dairy free I use soy yogurt(Whole Soy and Co.) instead of buttermilk when the recipe calls for it. There is a powder called Vance's Darifree that you can reconstitute and use in recipes. Earthbalance Spread can be used instead of butter both as is and in recipes. It works well in baked goods. Vegan Gourmet makes cheeses that work well on pizzas and in casseroles. I use the cheddar for a broccoli, cheese, ham and rice dish.

Bob's Red Mill Mighty Tasty Hot cereal is a combination of gluten-free grains, doesn't contain oats and is a porridge type cereal. It's very tasty. You can make it as thick or thin as you like.

[Juliebove]

We have additional food allergies so our diet is more limited. I can get a lot of stuff here locally, but I do mail order some things. Orgran canned spaghetti is nicely soft. May need to be cut up more for a toddler, but kids love it. Tastes like Spaghettios. Daughter loves Ian's fish sticks, chicken nuggets and Super Tots. She likes applesauce and hummus for snacks.

I get my bread from Ener-G. I buy the 2 slice packages because DD is the only one who eats the gluten-free bread and she can not eat a whole loaf before it goes bad. Yes, it's expensive, but the packages last a very long time.

One thing I gave to my daughter for snacks when she was a toddler was canned green beans. Straight from the can. Her favorite was Del Monte. She liked the regular and the French cut. She liked beans so well that she would point them out at the store and she would scream if I didn't buy her some. I had to serve them with every meal. If I didn't, she would bang down her fork and say, "Hey! Where's my BEANS!" They are still a favorite food and she also likes the yellow (wax) beans now. I used to keep little cans of them in the car. The kind with the top that pops off. Made a perfect snack for her if we were out somewhere and couldn't find suitable food.

I always keep plenty of rice and gluten-free pasta in the house. I buy the canned chicken at Costco (have bought the canned beef but haven't tried it yet). By using a bit of broth and some sweet rice flour, I can make a quick gravy. I add a can of peas and carrots and have a near instant meal.

Tomorrow I will be making a tuna casserole. It's still not warm here, so no problems using the oven. If it were hot here, I would just heat it in the microwave. I make a sauce of mushrooms (fresh, dried and reconstituted and/or canned...whatever I have) mixed with onions and celery. It all gets chopped up in the food processor. I then cook it down, adding a bit of plain rice milk if needed. I season it with salt, pepper and parsley. If I need to thicken this, I add a bit of sweet rice flour. To this I add tuna, frozen or canned peas, and some cooked pasta. We like quinoa and corn macaroni. It's then baked until heated through and I serve it with some wavy potato chips on top.

[Virgie]

Thank you so much for posting this. I had tried to ask a similiar question on a different board but didn't word it right because I didn't quite get the response I was looking for. But at the present time my 13 year old celiac daughter is tired of alot of the gluten free foods and so wishes that she could just once have a regular pizza or McDonalds chicken strips, etc. She wouldn't cheat and she knows that she has to be gluten free and has done really well with the gluten free diet but like you said I think we are just in a rut. And it is true that now that the kids are home from school there is more cooking involved and I am at times at a loss as to what to make.

Thanks again for asking this question. I think we all sometimes have this problem. Even before gluten free I would have trouble of what to make tonight that everyone likes and is easy and fast, etc. etc.

Virgie

son 18 UC,EE, IBS, Asthma

daughter 13 Celiac Disease dx 9/07 & UC dx 1/08

[purple]

Thank you so much for posting this. I had tried to ask a similiar question on a different board but didn't word it right because I didn't quite get the response I was looking for. But at the present time my 13 year old celiac daughter is tired of alot of the gluten free foods and so wishes that she could just once have a regular pizza or McDonalds chicken strips, etc. She wouldn't cheat and she knows that she has to be gluten free and has done really well with the gluten free diet but like you said I think we are just in a rut. And it is true that now that the kids are home from school there is more cooking involved and I am at times at a loss as to what to make.

Thanks again for asking this question. I think we all sometimes have this problem. Even before gluten free I would have trouble of what to make tonight that everyone likes and is easy and fast, etc. etc.

Virgie

son 18 UC,EE, IBS, Asthma

daughter 13 Celiac Disease dx 9/07 & UC dx 1/08

Recipezaar #301552 has a gluten-free/df recipe for chicken strips. You can sub: potato flakes, cornchips, gluten-free doritoes, tortilla chips, rice chex crumbs, ground nuts, etc. (so I have heard, we tried the ranch doritoes, they were good). Dip them then drop in the bag you used to crush the crumbs and shake. Kids can do that to help. Drop some cut spuds into an oiled/seasoned bag and make jo-joes to go with them, then bake. Adjust the time so they get done together. Much healthier than McD's.

[Izak's Mom]

Quickie dinners:

- Fish (anything firm & white - ex, cod) with a bit of pesto smeared on it and sprinkled with gluten-free breadcrumbs - stick in the oven in a buttered glass dish covered tightly with foil, 350-ish until done and serve over the boxed Near East brand lentil rice pilaf

- Rice pasta a zillion different ways, ex. spaghetti with sauteed chopped apricots, garlic, olive oil, chopped parsley, parm cheese (or substitute for non dairy); with roasted red peps, black olives, feta

- Shrimp sauteed in olive oil with chopped garlic & big pinch each of cumin and paprika (my almost 3-year old LOVES shrimp)

- corn on the cob! sauteed green beans, plain rice

- steak in the broiler or on the grill - i marinate in gluten-free soy sauce, red wine, olive oil, onion powder, garlic, s/p

Other:

- corn tortilla rollups - Izak likes cinnamon sugar in the middle with a bit of butter, or jelly, or cheese - make sure you heat the tortillas in a pan first to warm them up

- egg salad, tuna salad, tomato/cucumber salad, potato salad, pasta salad!

- meatballs, meatloaf, burgers, tacos

...making myself hungry!

[jparsick84]

...my 13 year old celiac daughter is tired of alot of the gluten free foods and so wishes that she could just once have a regular pizza or McDonalds chicken strips, etc.

You can fry your own chicken. I live right behind a fried chicken place, and let me tell you, when I step out of my apartment at lunchtime - the smell is maddening!

I use Bob's Red Mill gluten-free All-Purpose Flour, (sprinkle in some pepper for taste), cut a chicken breast up into nugget-sized pieces, dip the pieces into a scrambled egg, then roll the pieces in the flour. I use olive oil to fry, just in my little omelette pan and it's pretty decent really - at least, decent enough to curb the craving! (Fried chicken is the #2 thing I miss the most - Cereal is #1. Cap'n Crunch, Lucky Charms, Honey Nut Cheerios...I ate 'em ALL! I never met a cereal I didn't like...<sigh>)

As far as pizza, Dad's Gluten Free Pizza brand, found at Open Original Shared Link is the best crust I've come across. If I hadn't made it myself, I'm not sure that I would have known the difference! You have to order it, which is a pain for me (I live in Florida, and if I don't get the box right when it's delivered, they start to spoil in the heat) BUT they're really good and you can get two meals out of it. You can keep them frozen for up to 6 months.

Tell her to hang in there!

[Carollynb]

I posted this to another parent with time and cooking concerns and thought the info would benefit you as well.

I forgot to add that cow's milk can be replaced with soy or rice milk and that we will eat baked (microwaved really) sweet or white potatoes, rice or mashed potatoes for variety. There are also many choices for wheat, gluten, and egg free pasta to make a variety of italian dishes (spiral tri-color pasta is always the fave).

I and my husband work full-time and have to send our 3 y/o son to daycare. I have a pre-printed menu for the month from his school that stays posted in the kitchen at all times. This helps to not duplicate lunches and dinners in the same day and enables me to make similar dishes so he doesn't feel like an outcast. I to, make the meals for our family and have to be very careful due to son's food allergies (eggs, wheat, nuts). I try to make extra at every meal or will get up extra early to prepare a meal for that day. It was difficult for a while to have a variety and my son's meals consisted of chicken or hamburger with fruit and vegetables. He couldn't have pizza, chicken nuggets, or fist sticks, some of the common foods for young ones. He had never had any kind of sandwhich and had no idea what macaroni and cheese was. For a long time he could only eat sausage and cereal for breakfast.

During the last 12 months I've discovered some great products for people with food allergies, some even premade:

Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Pancake Mix

Bob's Red gluten-free Bread Mix >>>>> These mixes are made with bean and potato flours plus tapioca.

Bob's Red Mill gluten-free Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix

www.bobsredmill.com

Ian's Frozen Fish Sticks

Ian's Frozen Chicken Nuggets >>>>> These are wheat, gluten, casein, milk, egg, nut, and soy free!!!

Ian's Frozen Mini Corndogs Expensive, but worth every penny!!

www.iansnaturalfoods.com

Van's All Natural Mini Waffles >>>>> Gluten, wheat, egg, and dairy free, vegan

>>>>> Can be lightly toasted and topped with wheat free sauce

plus meat for a really quick pizza!

www.vanswaffles.com

Barabra's Bakery Organic Breakfast O's >>>>> Wheat, gluten, dairy free, vegan, kosher

Barbara's Bakery Organic Apple Cinnamon O's

Enjoy Life Soft Baked Cookies (all varieties) >>> Anything made by this company is wheat, dairy, nut, egg, soy,

fish, and shellfish free!

Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips (I'll add these into pancakes sometimes and serve them as snacks during the day.)

www.enjoylifefoods.com

Whole Foods (store) Gluten Free Pizza Crust (2 per pack) >>> Topped with wheat free sauce and ground beef is a hit

with kids!

SunGold Natural Sunbutter >>>>> Gluten and nut free!!

www.sunbutter.com

Ener-G Egg Replacer >>>>> Gluten, wheat, nut, sugar, and dairy free.

www.ener-g.com

Annie's Organic gluten-free Macaroni and Cheese >>>>> No box currently in house but know it's wheat, egg, gluten, nut free.

Be careful, Annie's has a huge variety of organic but not many gluten-free!

We invested in a Breadman Ultimate Plus bread machine because all the store bought gluten-free breads either contained eggs or tasted awful. I don't know how I ever lived without it! It has numerous settings for a wide variety of breads, including pizza dough and bagels but I only use it to make perfect loaves of gluten free bread for our son. It has a specific setting for gluten-free bread. All I have to do is mix the wet ingredients in the loaf pan, pour in the flour, then top with the packet of yeast. It mixes in the machine, rises, then bakes. It doesn't get ANY easier, I promise.

I hope this list has helped a bit. It surely has simplified mine. Some of the stores I shop at (Whole Foods, Market Street, Kroger, Tom Thumb) didn't carry some of these items initially, but after speaking with a manager and requesting they carry them, I can now shop more easily, especially since sometimes a store will sell out of an item.