Snacks And Lunch

[JacobsMom]

Can you give me some suggestions....I feel like my poor baby eats the same stuff over and over!!!

Jacob is 2-1/2 so his variety of foods is not that great:) It is so hard when you work to make alot of stuff and it scares me to buy stuff in the stores unless I know 100% that it is gluten-free....I feel alot of times that he is eating a full course meal for lunch and will think that is fine and end up with a weight problem...Of course right now we are happy b/c he is gaining:)

My mother in law is Betty Crocker/Martha Stewart all in one and she makes him chicken tenders, breads and pancakes and keeps me pretty well stocked up:)

He will also eat hot dogs, deli turkey, Dinty Moore chicken & rice, beef stew and the potatoe's with ham...but I do think he is getting tired of it..

Any ideas are appreciated..

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Brandi

[tarnalberry]

cut up fruit

raw veggies with dip

rice cakes

Just a couple thoughts...

[MySuicidalTurtle]

Egg sandwiches, noodles with different sauces, and all sorts of salads- regular, with fruit, potatoe, egg, and such.

I liked noodles and bread when I was little.

[Carriefaith]

Some suggestions:

French fries, watermelon, Lays Stax (don't get these if he is lactose/dairy intolerant), tuna salad sandwiches, peanut butter sandwiches (toast the gluten-free bread first), cookies, brownies... All gluten free of course

[Guest nini]

some of my daughter's favorite snacks...

fruit cups, jello, pudding, carrot sticks, raisins, Stonyfield farms yogurt tubes, applegate farms turkey bologna, corn thins, cheese sticks, Hormel Beanies and Weanies, Dinty Moore Beef Stew, Cascadian Farms Dill Pickles

[anerissara]

Here are some of our favorites (my kids eat dairy, so if you can't have that some of these are out):

Tuna or egg salad on a rice cake

Tuna salad with corn chips as a dip

PBandJ on rice cakes

Peanut butter, 1/2 banana, and honey all mixed together served with apples for dipping

gluten-free mac and cheese (rice noodles and velveeta, frozen in kid sized packages and reheated)

Oscar Meyer hot dogs in a corn tortilla (put cheese slices on the tortilla, put hot dog on cheese and nuke then roll)

gluten-free lunch meat roll ups. Put cream cheese on a slice of meat, followed by cheddar chesse slices, then roll it up. Can be cut into rounds for a neat spiral finger food, or you can add a carrot in the middle for a little crunch.

Cheetos chesse puffs.

gluten-free yoghurt with frozen berries (if you do it in layers it looks neat and keeps cold for sack lunches).

gluten-free pizza! Amy's makes a good frozen cheese pizza, we add Hormel pepperoni and extra cheese to ours. Also, you can buy frozen rice flour crusts and make your own.

gluten-free granola bars

Kraft pudding cups

Jello

Home made rice crispy treats. We use puffed rice rather than rice crispy type cereal....you can add anything from dried fruit to mini M&m's to make them interesting.

Nachos made with corn chips, refried beans, and cheese served with salsa dip

Hope this helps!

[connole1056]

It seems like your child is getting a good variety of foods. Most children that age like only a few things, so you seem to be ahead of the game! I think you should give him anything you would give a non-celiac. It is very easy to adapt recipes, just substitute anything suspicious with a similar gluten-free item. Anything can be made gluten-free. Don't let the diet limit you.

[cdford]

Mine also like

sliced apples and peanut butter,

veggies and ranch dressing,

steamed broccoli with cheese sauce

popcorn and use nutritional yeast and a little garlic powder for seasoning

banana slices with chocolate sauce or caramel

He is small for this, but gluten-free chili works around here as well. If you have a little time and money, make up some gluten-free "chex mix" and keep it around. There was a great recipe in a post not long ago.

[VydorScope]

Wow! Great thread! Keep it up!

[lbsteenwyk]

Jacobs Mom

Your son seems to be eating a pretty good variety (compared to my very picky daughter). Does he eat fruits and vegetables too?

Here are some of our favorite lunches; my daughter goes to preschool 3 days a week, so some of these are packed in a lunch box.

Amy's gluten-free Macaroni & cheese

Oscar Mayer mini hot dogs and Bush's Vegetarian Baked Beans (other Bush's varieties are gluten-free, too)

Grilled Cheese Sandwich on gluten-free bread (homemade)

Tomato Soup (Pacific and Imagine are gluten-free and come in quart size containers)

Hummus with Tortilla chips

Hummus and cheese grilled in a corn tortilla

Corn on the Cob - my kids love this

Carrots with honey

Cubed and steamed sweet potatoes with brown sugar/butter

Cottage cheese

[egardner]

I don't have kids but I am super picky myself and have NO time to make anything, one of our favorites is quesadillas, super easy, just heat two corn tortillas in a skillet with a pat of butter on each side(my dietician taught me that, works GREAT, makes them taste like flour ones!) and throw in whatever between them, leftover cooked chicken and cheese, just cheese, veggies, whatever. Nuke it in the microvae for a minute to melt the cheese or warm up whatever's on the inside. It takes about five minutes total if you don't have to cook any meats. I like to dip them into a little sour cream. (not a lot, I'm "liquid "lactose intolerant).Also, Pamela's Products brownie mix is AWESOME, and another tip from my dietician: make the whole batch, square them and freeze individually, when you want one, set it out for 30 minutes (or nuke it, but I actually like them frozen, they are still semisoft) and spread Duncan Hines Chocolate icing on it. YUM! I have to fight my non- celiac husband off! Hope that helps a little

[gigimom]

I have three kids, and now possibly all four, of my kids on the gluten-free diet. Needless to say the snack and lunch ideas postings are my some of my favorites. It can be hard to keep foods interesting and fun, especially when other kids get good school lunches or snacks at school or outings. I have found that they really enjoy gorp-type mixtures. I will vary the mix with M&M's, Reeses Pieces, gluten-free pretzels, raisins, peanuts, gluten-free cereals, popcorn, mini marshmallows, etc. I mix a big tub of it and then dish it out as needed. Of course, I have to remove the chokies for my 2 year old.

[Guest Lucy]

My 2 year old is diabetic and has celiac. I make him Van's frozen waffles,

kinnikinick bread sandwiches. I toast the bread. ,

hotdogs with chips and fruit,

chebe bread as "pigs in blanket" or pizza.

Jello or Hunts sugar free jello cups,

Snack size snickers ice cream bars.

Yogurt,

rice crackers with kraft cheese in a can. That is fun.

I often make extra casserole dishes when I make supper. Then there is left over for lunch.

He likes grilled hamburger patti with cheese. I make for supper. Warm one up for lunch.

Tator tots

My son loves corn tortillas. They are quick and easy. I throw on some salsa and slice of cheese and nuke it.

Taco meat warmed up with shredded cheese and corn chips

I will make a baked potatoe for lunch.

Can you tell I'm thinking out loud. Not organized, but hopefully some ideas for you.

[Jnkmnky]

To the person who posted about using butter to soften up a corn tortilla....THANKYOU. I tried it tonight for my son's dinner and it was a huge improvement. The burrito stayed together and was softer. Much better than heated with Pam (which was how I was doing it).

[Guest Lucy]

I think some Pam has gluten added. You may want to check that anyway. I could be totally wrong. I don't use it, but I would check.

[Jnkmnky]

Pam's fine, though they began making a version with flour added..so that wouldn't be fine!

[Carriefaith]

You could use these for soft taco's. They are very easy and fast to make and yummy!

Bean Flour Tortillas

These are great and can be frozen, I would suggest doubling it

1/3 cup light bean flour

1/2 cup cornstarch

2 tablespoons tapioca flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs or 3 egg whites

1 1/2 cups water

oil for brushing the pan or skillet

Mix everything together and let it sit in the fridge for about 20 minutes. Heat a skillet or pan at medium-high heat and cook them like pancakes, just keep turing them to avoid buring. Store in wax paper in a plastic bag in the freezer or fridge.

[cdford]

Thanks, Carriefaith. We are all the time looking for ways to incorporate more beans into our diets and that is a good one.

[ryebaby0]

(I love these threads.....we are egg allergic too....)

Breakfast food: Oscar Meyer Bacon, Diamond nut thins with peanut butter, milkshakes, homemade granola bars, fruit, Yoplait yogurt, AllerEnergy bars (we call them birdseed bars but they taste good and aren't hard to chew), PollyO twistums, and occasionally cornflakes (my son doesn't like cereal....)

Lunch: Hormel pepperoni and Kraft mozzeralla cheese quesadillas (I buy corn tortillas in the BIG bags, then freeze them in round containers in lots of 50), Amy's mac and cheese as "special" treat, RealFoods corn thins with peanut butter, or ham/cheese, melted american, cream cheese and (Ick!) pickles; pasta/spinach/carrots (buy the matchsticks for salad and save the work)/white beans with parmesean, Miss Roben's pizza mix made up into "hot pockets", rice and chicken and olive oil.... Soup!

Supper: meat, fruit, veggies..... sometimes pasta, or salad, or baked rice/veggies/chicken/beans/whatever. Scalloped potatoes and ham

The number one choice? I take pizza dough, roll a golf-ball round and squish it into mini muffin tins, add a little Contadina Pizza Squeeze (like 2tsp) and top it with mozzeralla, cook at 400 for about 6 minutes. We freeze them and reheat , but typically the boys eat them as snacks in groups of 5!

Next?

[Jnkmnky]

Yogurt and bananas mixed

pretzels and peanut butter

Cheese sticks and spaghetti sauce

Kinnikinnick bagels and peanut butter

Vans waffles with cream cheese (hey, the kid eats this!)

celery sticks with cream cheese or peanut butter with "ants" on them *sprinkles

fruit snacks

[Carriefaith]

Thanks, Carriefaith. We are all the time looking for ways to incorporate more beans into our diets and that is a good one.

No problem

I love these threads.....we are egg allergic too...

For my Bean Flour Tortilla recipe, you can add in an egg substitute instead of eggs. Although I'm not quite sure what an egg substitute is Maybe you guys do!

[tarnalberry]

Here's something I had for breakfast the other day when I was in a hurry:

heat up a corn tortilla in the microwave to make it soft. wrap it (like a taco) around a big leaf of lettuce and some lunch meat. I don't know what it is about the combination of the turkey lunch meat and the warm corn tortilla, but it was tasty, and (eating two) about 10 minutes from "enter the kitchen" to "leave the kitchen".

[chasesparents]

Most Ragu sauces are gluten-free, so I get the Ragu Double Cheese Sauce and gluten-free Noodles and make Mac + cheese with hotdogs. And spaghetti w/ Ragu sauce. Also Tator Tot casserole made with tator tots, cheese, Progresso Cream of Mushroom soup (which is gluten-free) beef, mushrooms and onions. (my son's favorite) My son also LOVES Mi-Del arrowroot animal cookies.