Fish for dinner

One of my favorite and also very easy meals is grilled fish. My husband is not much of a fish eater, so he will pick up a steak for himself, and I will get fish. I like to mix it up, I love tilapia but also like Salmon, shark, mahi mahi. I love fish!

On this particular night, I chopped a sweet potato and roasted it in the oven. I quickly brushed the pieces with olive oil, salted with sea salt and fresh crushed pepper. I roasted in the oven on 350 for about 20 minutes. (It will depend on how big your sweet potato is and also how many of them you are roasting at a time. This was just 1 decent sized potato) I sauteed some green beans. (Frozen to save time) I sauteed these in olive oil and seasoned with the same salt and pepper. (I have a thing for olive oil, sea salt and fresh pepper.) For the fish, I again brushed with olive oil, topped with fresh chopped garlic, some dry dill, and yep you guessed it a sprinkle of more salt and pepper. (I use just a dash of salt when I am seasoning my food. Don't go overboard!)To grill the fish, sometimes I will use planks, but on this particular night, I made a foil pouch (make sure and spray with a cooking spray so the fish doesn't stick!) and I covered the fish with the foil. Make sure and loosely cover it and leave an opening so that steam can escape. It will take about 8 minutes to cook on the grill again depending on how much and how big your pieces are. I also like my fish pretty cooked. If you don't own an outside grill you can easily do this on a George Foreman grill too. Just omit the foil pouch. Make sure you spray with a cooking spray!

This is such a fast and easy gluten-free meal. Obviously you can adjust any and all of this, these are just a few of my favorites. Make sure with any seasonings that you decide to use to check for any hidden sources of gluten.

Gluten-free quinoa recipe

I have grown to really like quinoa. (pronounced keen-wa) I eat a lot of rice and decided one day to try this instead. It is chewy in consistency and reminds me a lot of brown rice. The funny thing is I am not a huge fan of brown rice. One of the first ways that I tried it was by adding it to a chicken soup instead of rice, which was really good. For my lunch this week I decided to try a recipe that I found online at savvy vegetarian Although, I am not a vegetarian I prefer to eat a lot of veggies instead of meat. This recipe is full of vegetables and with the added quinoa it becomes very filling and nutritious as well.

Here is the recipe

Ingredients:

* 1 cup quinoa
* 1 1/2 cups cold water
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 2 cups cooked black beans. If using canned beans, drain and rinse well
* 1/2 cup chopped celery
* Optional: 1 carrot, peeled, halved lengthwise, sliced thin diagonally
* Optional: 1 cup chopped fresh yellow or green beans
* 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced OR 1 Tbsp minced fresh ginger
* 2 garlic cloves, minced, OR 1 tsp garlic powder
* 1 red pepper, sliced thin
* 1 green pepper, sliced thin
* 1 tsp cumin powder
* 1 tsp coriander powder
* 2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro or basil
* 1/4 cup chopped scallions
* Optional: 1 large ripe tomato
* Optional: 1/2 cup sliced olives
* Dressing:
* 2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
* 1/4 cup olive oil
* 1 tsp salt
* Fresh ground pepper
* Pinch cayenne or chili powder

Directions

1. The quinoa can be made ahead of time and refrigerated
2. Soak the quinoa 1/2 hour in cold water
3. Rinse very thoroughly in water several times. For each rinse, pour off most of the water and finish draining through a large fine mesh strainer
4. Place in 2 qt pot with 1 1/2 c. water and 1/2 tsp salt
5. Bring to a boil, turn down to low, cover tightly, and cook for 15 minutes
6. Remove from heat and allow to sit 5 minutes covered
7. Fluff gently with a fork and set aside to cool.
8. Saute jalapeno, fresh garlic, in 2 Tbsp oil until garlic is browned, pepper and celery are softened
9. Add the green and red peppers and saute briefly
10. Add the cumin and coriander, cook and stir 5 minutes
11. Blend dressing ingredients with a whisk or shake in a jar
12. Gently combine sauteed veggies, tomatoes, black beans, quinoa and dressing in a large bowl
13. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Stir in cilantro and scallions, and serve warm or cover and chill for later


This is so good! I cannot wait to enjoy this meal for lunch this week.


Here is a picture. It is already packed up and ready to take to work, so excuse the throw-away tupperware!

Shepherd's pie

Shepherd's pie is a great comfort food. Potatoes, ground beef, and veggies make this a satisfying meal. It is easily made gluten free which is even better! It is up to you on what veggies you put in it. I chose to use carrots, onion, corn, and green peas. I use the leanest ground beef I can find. (97/3)

Now for the recipe-

1 1/2 pounds of extra-lean ground beef
1 onion, chopped
2 cups of your choice of veggies (carrots, celery, corn, peas, etc.)
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 1/2-2 cups potatoes
1/2 cup beef broth
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste
cornstarch dissolved in water to thicken gravy


Peel and quarter potatoes, boil in salted water until tender.

While the potatoes are cooking coat large frying pan with olive oil.

Saute onions in olive oil. Add vegetables according to cooking time. Carrots first, then softer vegetables after carrots are mostly cooked.

Add ground beef and brown until no longer pink. Add salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce. (I add quite a bit more Worcestershire sauce than this recipe calls for because we really like it. I use more like 2 tablespoons.) Add 1/2 cup of beef broth and cook uncovered over low heat for 10 minutes. Gradually begin adding cornstarch (dissolved in water) to thicken the sauce into a gravy. I didn't thicken mine quite as much as I would have liked, but it still tasted fine.

Mash your potatoes. (I use a stand mixer for mine, but you can easily do this with a potato masher that you can find in a grocery store if you do not have a stand mixer.) I throw in 2 teaspoons of unsalted butter and salt and pepper in mine as well.

Place beef and veggies in a baking dish. Distribute mashed potatoes evenly over the top.

Cook in a 400 degree oven until bubbling and brown. (about 25-30 minutes) Broil for the last 5 minutes to brown the potatoes.

Chipotle, one of my favorite gluten-free fast food meals

Okay so I will admit that I am afraid to eat out, but I do love Chipotle. There are not many people that understand what celiac disease is and sometimes it can be hard to trust a restaurant and the wait staff not to make you sick. I have never gotten sick from eating at Chipotle, so I do go there often. I think I could eat it a few times a week and not get sick of it. I used to always get the burrito, but of course I can't eat it anymore since the tortilla is a flour tortilla. Luckily they have a few other options. I always get a salad because anyone that knows me knows that salad is my favorite food. There are so many endless options with a salad. The picture above is what I always get. The scoop of guacamole is my favorite. They have the best guac. You can also get a bowl instead of a salad which is basically a burrito in a bowl without the tortilla. I prefer more lettuce and dressing which is why I get the salad. I have also read from a couple of different celiac blogs that you can get hard tacos too. Check with the chipotle team before trying them just to make sure they aren't fried with anything that has gluten in it.

Naturally gluten-free cheese enchiladas

For dinner tonight we made cheese enchiladas. So good, fast, and easy. There are a lot of recipes out there for cheese enchiladas, but I always use the recipe that is in my Betty Crocker Big Red cookbook. This was the first cookbook I ever bought, and I use it all the time. I will post the recipe below, it was taken straight out of this cookbook.

Cheese Enchiladas

2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese (8 ounces)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (4 ounces)
1/2 cup sour cream (I use the light version)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
1 small green bell pepper, chopped (1/2 cup)
2/3 cup water
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh or 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 can (15 ounces) tomato sauce
8 corn tortillas (I end up using 12 total for this recipe. It depends on how full you stuff them)

1. Heat oven to 350.

2. Mix cheeses, sour cream, parsley, pepper and onion; set aside.

3. Heat remaining ingredients except tortillas to boiling in 2-quart saucepan, stirring occasionally; reduce heat. Simmer uncovered 5 minutes. Pour into ungreased pie plate.

4. Dip each tortilla into sauce to coat both sides. Spoon about 1/2 cup cheese mixture onto each tortilla; roll tortilla around filling. Place seam side down in greased rectangular baking dish. Pour remaining sauce over enchiladas.

5. Bake uncovered about 20 minutes or until bubbly. Garnish with additional shredded cheese, sour cream an chopped green onions if desired.


I do alter this recipe a little. I do not dip the tortillas in the sauce like the recipe says. I just pour all of the sauce over the enchiladas right before I put them in the oven and then I sprinkle more cheese and green onions over the top.


The filling



Right before they went in the oven





Enjoy!