Cookless Recipes

[Karli]

The thermometer will hit over 100 again today... Do you have ideas for meals that take very little cooking ... or meals that can be cooked in the early morning and served later?

[munkee41182]

What about Crock pot cooking? I usually throw in some chicken, veggies, spices and some liquid. what about a taco salad or a tostada. instead of trying to cook meat, just cut up some veggies, smear some refried beans on it and call it a taco salad (and a little sour cream too if you can have it). Tostada, same thing, but just layer it on a corn tortilla. I usually cook up some rice in the microwave for this too, give me a little more texture.

[celiac-mommy]

I second the crock pot! Although it's only 59 degrees right now in PDX ( ), at 6am I threw in 4 frozen chicken breasts, bottle of grilling sauce and can of drained pineapple tidbits, turned on low and it will be done by 5. It smells AMAZING, I'll serve on gluten-free toast with a salad.

[Lockheed]

This is my lazy recipe

gluten-free Corn tortilla

Spaghetti sauce

Garlic Powder

Onion Powder

cheese

smear spaghetti sauce on the corn tortilla. Sprinkle on garlic and onion powder to taste. Top with cheese and bake at 350F for 7-10 minutes in the oven.

I also like to add oregano, but hubby doesn't like oregano so much. And you can add ham to it for a Canadian bacon like feel.

[sickchick]

You could sever this salad with sesame chicken strips

Green Pea Salad with Sesame Ginger Dressing

Gluten Soy & Dairy Free

salad:

2 cups frozen peas (thawed)

1/2 cup red bell pepper cut into cube shapes

1/4 cup shredded carrots

1/4 cup slivered almonds

dressing:

3 tb sesame oil

3 tb lemon juice

1 clove garlic (minced, fresh)

2 tb ginger (shredded, fresh)

3 tb honey

1 ts kosher salt

In a medium mixing bowl, add peas, bell pepper, carrots, and slivered almonds.

In a small mixing bowl, add sesame oil. lemon juice, minced garlic, ginger, honey,

and salt. Whisk together, then pour over peas, bell pepper, carrots & almonds.

Toss together, cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Makes 4 servings.

[lpellegr]

Who says dinner has to be baked in the oven? Save that stuff for cool weather. Have breakfast or lunch for dinner, and only use the stovetop if you have to cook. Announce to the familly that hot steaming-in-your-face meals will go on vacation for a while. Notice also that most of these don't take much time to put together, saving you even more sweat.

Salads - only interesting with lots of toppings. Crumbled bacon, any kind of cheese, leftover meat in bite-size pieces (ham slice or steak from grill or frying pan, thin-sliced chicken marinated in anything interesting and sauteed), hard boiled eggs, nuts, raw veggies (broccoli, peppers, onions, cauliflower, shredded carrots, canned beans, beets).

Peanut butter or cream cheese on celery or on waffles. Serve with fruit.

Gluten-free rice side dishes like risotto or Lundberg's mixes, with cut-up veggies and cooked shrimp or bite-sized meat leftovers, cheese. Mix together like a casserole or keep separate on the plate.

Tuna salad, egg salad, etc. Who needs bread, eat them out of a bowl with a fork or scoop up with carrots or rice crackers.

Deli ham and cheese on a corn tortilla, microwaved just long enough for cheese to soften, then rolled up. Or precooked strips of chicken, beef, or whatever, rolled up with cheese, salsa, lettuce, dressing, or whatever sounds good.

Tyson precooked roast chicken - 7 minutes in the microwave. Serve with lots of veggies or salad.

Scrambled eggs, breakfast sausage, bacon. Omelettes.

Chop small and stir-fry: bok choy or any interesting cabbagy thing (Napa or even regular cabbage would work), onions, garlic, carrot shreds, broccoli florets, peppers, etc with your choice of Chinese-ish seasonings - gluten-free soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger. Throw bean sprouts on for the last minute if you have them, add some peanuts or cashews. Thicken the sauce if you like with a spoonful of cornstarch in a few spoonfuls of water and cook until clear and thick. Add cooked shrimp or meat (or don't), serve with or without rice.

Hummus with carrots, celery, Mary's Gone Crackers for dipping.

Rice pasta with sauce if you can stand the steaming pot of water. Ditto for rice elbow macaroni with melted Velveeta. Add veggies on the side to nutritionify your kids (or yourself).

[ShayFL]

Taboule made with quinoa, add pre-cooked chicken.

[elonwy]

How bout getting creative with sandwiches? I grabbed some Ener-G bread (I like this best for sandwiches), got some cream cheese, salami, spicy mustard and arugula and made little sandwiches. Throw in some cole slaw or a salad, you got yourself a non-cook, light meal. Hefty up a cobb salad as a meal, or any salad, really. Throw in some meat or chicken and some toast, its a meal. Cook something big late at night (like soup or something) then divvy it up into microwave portions for heating up when its hot. This is what I do

[purple]

Fry your meat in the a.m. then just microwave at dinner time. Tacos/Nachos are fast. Top with fresh veggies and whatever else.

[GlutenGalAZ]

I live in Arizona and its been 100+ for the past week (finally starting to cool down some ha not much though).

During the summer we BBQ a lot. Steak, chicken and hamburgers then we put frozen steam vegetable packs in the microwave and or instant potatoes on the stove. If you make extra meat on the BBQ then you can have leftovers for the next night or lunch the next day.

[Juliebove]

I like really quick things that require no cooking at all or only the use of the microwave. Like hotdogs, Ian's chicken nuggets, ham steak or precooked smoked pork chops and canned beans.

Salads of all kinds. 1/2 a melon hollowed out and filled with cottage cheese or ice cream, sorbet or yogurt and all kinds of berries.

An apple hollowed out and filled with peanut butter, or stuffed celery.

[purple]

cool bean salad, high in fiber and protein...peppers and onions too.

[missy'smom]

cool bean salad, high in fiber and protein...peppers and onions too.

Yes, I had forgotten about that. One of my favorite foods on a hot day. That plus some good quality olives and cheese and maybe some garlic bread. Yum!

[purple]

Yes, I had forgotten about that. One of my favorite foods on a hot day. That plus some good quality olives and cheese and maybe some garlic bread. Yum!

YUM!!!

[babysteps]

Tuna salad, egg salad, etc. Who needs bread, eat them out of a bowl with a fork or scoop up with carrots or rice crackers.

Any canned meat can make a tasty salad - salmon is one of my favorites (there's often a few choices of type or grade, whatever's cheapest is still plenty tasty!!), some mayo & seasonings, maybe some frozen peas (just run under warm water briefly to thaw, or put some in the fridge in the morning for use in the afternoon) or other no-cooking required vegetable.

Also, canned garbonzo beans (chick peas) are tasty, can be added to a meat salad or eaten on their own as a side dish - add some oil and or vinegar and seasoning for a yummy dish. No cooking required, just rinse in water.

Fillets of any mild fish, topped with salsa, can be cooked very quickly in a (gluten-free) toaster oven. If the house is too hot, plug the toaster oven in to an outlet in the garage or outdoors.

If you are going to cook rice or gluten-free pasta or quinoa, etc, make a double (or more) batch, use the leftovers later. leftovers can be great cold (well, room temperature) in salads. A little oil on the leftover rice or pasta or quinoa helps keep it from forming a block in the refrigerator. Short time in the microwave can revive to nice and warm if you wish, but if it's that hot cold is better

[Mango04]

I guess I'm on an avocado kick:

Corn Thins topped with Applegate Farms smoked chicken, avocado, mayo, salt, pepper

Garbanzo beans mixed with avocado, tomato, shallot, carrot, olive oil, balsamic, salt, pepper

Black beans, fresh salsa, corn tortillas, avocado

tuna, celery, carrots, red onion, tomato, mayo, lemon, salt, pepper... served with rice crackers

chopped salad: romaine, carrot (shaved with peeler), turkey lunch meat, cucumbers, olive oil, wine vinegar

[Wonka]

The thermometer will hit over 100 again today... Do you have ideas for meals that take very little cooking ... or meals that can be cooked in the early morning and served later?

The grill is your friend. In the summer I grill everything, meat, vegies, potatoes even gluten-free french bread (heat the whole grill, turn off the burners over the bread and leave the others on to act like an oven - works brilliantly)

[GlutenGalAZ]

Last summer before we got out new BBQ we used our George Foreman Grill a lot for hambugers mainly though, but you can use it with chicken, vegetables etc.