Lunches are a challenge if you are avoiding gluten. Packing a lunch that’s nutritious, got protein, and is affordable, filling, tasty AND fast to pull together is no small feat.
Here’s one of my go-to lunches—roasted sweet potatoes with melted cheese. It’s a good way to use leftovers, but also simple to make from scratch.
I had a hectic schedule this week, where food was often a necessary afterthought. It was a pleasure to finally have a little time to think up a delicious breakfast. This is nachos with old cheddar, baked in the oven until crispy, doused generously with tomatillo salsa and dotted with sour cream.
Some people have a bowl of cereal topped with fruit to start the day. How is this that different? Corn, dairy and fruit… It’s practically the same thing.
While that may be debatable, what is definitely true is that this was a tasty treat and a very welcome meal.
I just made this outrageously delicious version of nachos.
I picked up a jar of Huy Fong chili garlic sauce this morning and was mulling over how to use it. Then, a craving for nachos struck. The answer seemed obvious.
I used one can of refried beans, and mixed in a couple of spoons of the chili garlic sauce and one bunch of chopped green onions. I used the cheese I had, which was extra old cheddar.
The chili sauce gave the beans a nice kick and the green onions added a nice freshness. The extra old cheddar went really well with the spiciness, too. And, luckily, I had some sour cream on hand to help tone down the spice a bit. (Full disclosure: I always have sour cream on hand.)
It was a great combo. I am looking forward to eating the leftovers for breakfast tomorrow, and I will definitely be making these again.
This salad looks a little bland (I will have to work on that), but it it is big on flavour. To make it, I use a store-bought coleslaw mix, a store-bought blue cheese salad dressing and leftover, cooked chicken. It is fast to make and really delicious.
This spicy crab coleslaw was one of my favourite brown bag lunches in the past little while. It is fast to throw together and outrageously delicious.
I just used a pre-cut coleslaw mix, which includes carrots and red cabbage. I mixed up a spicy mayo, but you could make your own or use a store-bought variety. My current version includes Miracle Whip, Tabasco-style hot sauce, a bit of seasoned sushi vinegar and a bit of white sugar. I made my mayo in a couple of minutes, tore up some thawed fake crab, and mixed it all together with the cabbage. By the time I was eating it for lunch several hours later, the flavours had had a chance to meld and the crab and spiciness had completely infused everything.
This would make a great company salad or potluck item. Or, if you don’t mind envious stares from co-workers, a perfect lunch for the office.
I had a craving for butterscotch, so I made these blondies. I used this recipe for the batter, but instead of the nuts and chocolate, I added 1 cup of butterscotch chips and 2 cups of mini marshmallows. I (of course) used a gluten-free flour blend. The marshmallows mostly disappear, but leave behind crusty little craters in the top.
This is comfort food at its finest. I made this delicious kimchi stir fry yesterday. I was trying to recreate a meal I had at a Korean restaurant.
I made this by frying a medium size onion, adding chopped green onions and then adding cabbage. After that I added cooked rice, kimchi (which I chopped finely), juice from the kimchi and green peas. And that’s it.
I topped it all off with two eggs fried sunny-side up. Of course, the sunny-side-up technique I have been perfecting over the past couple of years involves frying eggs in a lot of butter (one could say more than is strictly necessary) and then spooning the hot butter over the top so that the egg can bathe in buttery goodness. This results in an egg that is more cooked than a regular sunny-side up egg, but less cooked than an over-easy egg. When I serve it on toast, I pour the melted butter over the bread first and top it with egg.
For the stir fry, I placed the eggs on top of the rice and cabbage and drizzled the butter over top of it all. And then I ate it, enjoying the amazing blend of kimchi, cabbage, onion, rice and eggs. I think I am going to have to add this dish to my repertoire.
Guess what I did today! I made these baked chocolate chip donuts. I had originally been looking at baked donut recipes so that I could use my brother’s donut pan, but in the end, I made mine into donut sticks by baking them in my mini loaf pans.
I decided to make a double batch so I that I would end up with six. The batter came together beautifully. I greased my mini loaf pans with oil, as well as lining each one with a strip of parchment paper. I subbed in a gluten-free flour blend for the all-purpose flour (my blend was a 4:1:1 mix of rice flour, sweet rice flour and potato starch) and baked my loaves/donut sticks for 20 minutes. I glazed them with a sugar glaze, in keeping with my memories of stick donuts.
The end result was very tasty and certainly satisfied my donut craving. And now I have breakfast for tomorrow. (I clearly need to do more baked donut experiments.)
I think I may have found an amazing alternative to eggs Benedict. Don’t get me wrong. I am a big fan of eggs Benedict. Well, used to be. When I order it now, I always order it without the English muffin, of course, but it is not really the same and not nearly as filling. And just this past fall, I tried ordering it in one restaurant where, apparently, the “hollandaise sauce” was not gluten free. I ended up eating something else.
But I love eggs—scrambled, poached, fried—you name it. And, as I may have already mentioned once or twice, I love cheese. Recently, I had the happy accident of having too much jalapeno cheese sauce on hand. I had about a cup sitting in my fridge, needing a purpose, so I toasted a Glutino English muffin in my panini press, reheated my cheese sauce in the microwave and fried up two eggs over easy.
The result was this delicious combination of eggs, cheese sauce and jalapenos. I had it for dinner, but it would make a lovely company brunch dish, too.
I have quick breads on the brain lately, so I made this currant loaf. It has lots and lots of currants, plus orange rind and citron peel. It turned out nicely—this photo doesn’t really do it justice. This is what I am having for breakfast tomorrow.
A Flour By Any Other Name 