30 Days Gluten Free Quick & Easy: Day 3 - Brooke's Veggie Stir Fry

Welcome to 30 Days Gluten Free Quick & Easy Meals!

Today's post is written by Brooke, author of: Gluten Free... Who? Me?


Day 3: Veggie Stir Fry & Garbanzo Bean Cake


Not only am I a newbie on the blogging scene, I’m pretty new to the whole gluten-free thing too. When I first started my blog "Gluten Free…Who? ME?" it was out of a desire to create a virtual file cabinet for my out-of-control life. As if being a relatively new wife, new homeowner, newly graduated Social Worker, and in the first year of my first big-girl job wasn’t enough – I was diagnosed with celiac disease.

Basically, I was in the midst of complete chaos. Life was so chaotic with all the new things happening, especially with the celiac diagnosis, I felt like my life made no sense whatsoever. In my effort to get my own thoughts out of my head I decided to start a blog.

If you have the opportunity to stop by my blog please don’t hesitate to share any advice you might have – I’m still learning about blogging and being gluten free – in oh so many ways!

But for today I want to share one of my favorite recipes of all time, and now an even more important staple in our home since going gluten free.

This stir-fry is vegetarian and completely delicious – with so many vegetables adding a variety of textures you don’t even miss the meat (my committed carnivore husband even agrees).

You can certainly thinly slice some chicken, steak, or toss in a few shrimp if you would like; however, I really don’t think you’ll miss a thing. You’ll notice that I managed to track down some amazing gluten-free stir-fry sauce!

I found the sauce at Wegmans and it can also be ordered online as well. The entire recipe is so fresh, so simple, and so quick – you’ll have dinner on the table and all your daily vegetable servings done in no time!



Recipe for Veggie Stir-Fry (serves 4)
Originally posted @ Gluten Free...Who?Me?

6 cups fresh Veggies of choice (I used 2 cups of broccoli and mushrooms, 1 cup of peppers and baby carrots, and 1/2 cup of onions.)
1 can baby corn
1 can water chestnuts
1 bottle Wheat-Free/Gluten Free Premier Japan Teriyaki Sauce
Season to taste (I used ground ginger, garlic, red pepper flakes, and black pepper)

Use a little EVOO in a large pan or wok and add in the onions and garlic first. After you add each new veggies group drizzle some of the stir-fry sauce on top. Next the carrots (take about 5-10minutes for these), then add in the broccoli and peppers (give those about 5 minutes), and in the rest of the veggies and both cans (drain first), and give them about 10 minutes to all come together. Add in the spices and any remaining sauce - cook for about 5 minutes more and your done!

I served mine over brown rice and added about 1 T of stir-fry sauce to the boiling water.


And, I would not be true to myself if I didn’t share one of my favorite recipes since going gluten free – Flourless Chocolate Cake. I love this because I am not one for having to deal with flour mixes, gums, and whatever else gets concocted together to re-create wheat flour. I like simple and easy. And this recipe is not only simple and easy to prepare, it’s also pretty darn healthy too!
I really hope you’ll give it a go, even though you may find one of the ingredients to be a little…well…unusual.


Garbanzo Bean Cake:
originally posted @ Gluten Free...Who? Me?

2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
2.25 cups of garbanzo beans, rinse and drain
4 eggs
3/4 cup of sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a blender (I know its strange, just do it!) mix the beans, eggs, sugar, and baking powder.
Place 1.5 cups of chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and heat for 2 minutes. Stop to stir every 30 seconds. And the chocolate to the blender and blend to combine. Add the remaining chips and just stir to mix in.
Prepare a round baking pan (be sure to use a gluten free cooking spray or flower to coat - this cake is very dense and sticky so you want to be sure it lifts out later) and then dump the blended mixture in. Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes.

Suggested Toppings:

2 cups frozen raspberries (Place in microwave safe bowl, add two tablespoons jelly - whatever is on hand, and heat for 2 minutes or so in the microwave)
Powdered sugar to dust over top
French vanilla icecream
Any fresh fruit
Whipped cream
More chocolate
I could continue...but I think you get the picture...

Thanks so much to Carrie for allowing me as a newbie to share a little bit of my story and a few of the recipes I’ve fallen for since going gluten-free.

About Brooke (also known as "Ness"), author of Gluten Free... Who? Me?

Brooke is a new gluten free blogger. She's in her early 20's, is newly married, and spends her free time with her husband & two "kids" (doxies). Brooke works for a non-profit as a Social Worker and is very thankful for the daily opportunities she has to work with children who have survived brain injuries. Thanks so much for sharing a little about yourself and a few of your quick and easy gluten free recipes with us Brooke!

***********

Stay Tuned for Day 4 of 30 Days Gluten Free Quick & Easy Meals. Tomorrow Rebekah @ TheHappyTummy will share a super easy salmon recipe.

30 Days Gluten Free Quick and Easy Meals: Day 2 - What to do with Leftovers?

Welcome to 30 Days: Gluten Free Quick & Easy Meals!

Day 2: Making Meals with Leftovers.

My husband and I constantly have leftovers. There are only 2 of us yet I have a habit of cooking enough food for an army. I usually like to cook at least 4 servings of a meal. I know if we have 2 extra servings there will be enough for us to pack lunch the following day.

But how can you make dinner exciting with leftovers? Last night I needed to make a meal with the big bowl of brown rice and the chickpeas I had cooked on Sunday.

I decided to make a simple vegetable saute. I had several yellow squash from our CSA box. I love Greek Seasoning. I thought the combination of sauteed vegetables with Greek Seasoning served over brown rice sounded tasty.

Easy. Healthy. In less than 20 minutes dinner was done, using leftovers!

More thoughts on delicious leftover meals:

• cooked brown rice with any leftover vegetables sauteed and placed in a corn tortilla or Food For Life Brown Rice Tortillas. Add a scrambled egg for protein and you have a yummy & healthy breakfast.
  
• leftover chicken makes an amazing and healthy quick soup or stock, makes a quick chicken salad, is perfect in casseroles & skillet dinners, can be used as a topping for baked potatoes, etc...
• leftover ground beef can be used in chili, spaghetti sauce, added to a cream gravy (that was a favorite meal of mine growing up!), tossed into a bag in the freezer to be used on your next crockpot soup, etc... You can also make an excellent beef stock using ground beef.
• leftover salmon or tuna make wonderful salad toppings, are great on baked potatoes, can be added to casseroles, eaten with toast and eggs for breakfast, etc...
• leftover fresh leafy greens like spinach, kale, swiss chard, etc.. make a great base for green smoothies! Old bananas can be frozen and also added to green smoothies to help them taste delicious!
  
• leftover potatoes are make excellent hash, can be mashed and used as a gluten free crust for quiche or a savory pie, are excellent thickeners in soups & stews, are yummy as a tortilla filling, etc...
  
• leftover vegetables can be chopped & stored in the fridge to make quick all veggie salads. If you don't use them within a few days, move them to the freezer and you'll immediately have precut veggies for soups, roasts, and stir fries!!
• leftover gluten free bread makes really awesome french toast, bread crumbs to top casseroles or coat chicken fingers, desserts like bread pudding, croutons for salads, etc...
  
• Get creative! Share your thoughts in the comments on ways your family uses leftovers!
  

Quick Greek Squash & Mushroom Saute served over Brown Rice
an "unrecipe" for leftover vegetables and rice

2-3 yellow squash or zucchini, julienned (my husband likes the seeds removed)
1 cup fresh baby bella mushrooms, sliced
1 cup cooked chick peas
1 small sweet onion, sliced
1 green pepper, seed removed & sliced
2 roma tomatoes or a red pepper, seeds removed & sliced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon Greek Seasoning
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Directions:
Slice all vegetables and have them prepared before cooking.Heat oil in a large heavy bottomed skillet. Add onions, garlic, and green pepper. Saute for 5-8 minutes until onions are beginning to caramelize (turn a little bit brown). Add remaining vegetables and saute for an additional 5-10 minutes until vegetables are fork tender. Serve over 1/2 cup reheated leftover brown rice. Makes 3-4 large servings.

*********

Stay tuned for a delicious 30 Days Gluten Free Quick & Easy meal tomorrow shared by Brooke from Gluten Free... Who? Me?

30 Days Gluten Free Quick & Easy Meals: Day 1 - Brown Rice Bowls

Welcome to this new series about quick & easy (Q&E) gluten free meals!

Today's meal is a super easy recipe that can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Each week I try to make a large batch of a whole grain starch. I keep the cooked starch in the fridge knowing that I can make 2-3 meals instantly.

This week's starch is brown basmati rice. I love brown rice! It's so easy to prepare, can be used in SO many different meals, it's incredibly healthy, and it just tastes good!

Simple & Easy Cooked Brown Rice: Rinse several cups of brown rice. Place rice in a large bowl and cover with fresh water and soak for several hours (this helps decrease cooking time). Rinse and pour rice in your rice cooker. Add fresh water until rice is covered by about 2 inches. Cook for 20-30 minutes until rice is soft, or the texture you desire. Drain off additional water and store rice in a glass jar or airtight plastic container in the fridge.


I also generally cook a batch of beans each week. I know this sounds really hippy dippy... but if you have these healthy frugal foods precooked: you can make nutritious, gluten free, delicious meals in NO time flat on weeknights !

Last year Ali @ Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen posted a wonderful recipe for a Beans & Rice breakfast bowl. This post opened my eyes. I realized that breakfast didn't have to be cereal and milk or bacon & eggs. Breakfast could be beans. Breakfast could be brown rice. Breakfast could be kale, or spinach, or swiss chard. Why not?

Suddenly my breakfast became a much more nutritious meal & a really good start to my day.

We now make brown rice bowls for either breakfast, lunch, or dinner. If you have pre-cooked brown rice & beans you can make this meal in less than 10 minutes!



Brown Rice Bowls
An "unrecipe" for a really quick & easy dinner
Time to assemble: 10 minutes or less, with pre-cooked ingredients.

For 4 servings:

2 cups cooked brown rice
2 cups cooked beans of choice (canned is fine): chickpeas, black beans, red beans, cannelloni beans, lentils, black-eyed peas etc...
2-3 cups fresh leafy greens of choice: romaine lettuce, spinach, swiss chard, kale, etc.. you could even use a combination of greens + green beans, etc..
1-2 teaspoons Herbamare seasoning
1-2 teaspoons garlic granules
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons coconut oil

Optional Garnishes:
1-2 tablespoons salt-free tomato sauce
1-2 tablespoons blanched almond flour (a yummy substitute for parm cheese)
1-2 tablespoons raw pumpkin seeds

Directions:
Heat your cooked brown rice & beans of choice on the stove for about 5 minutes until warmed through. Mix seasonings & coconut oil with heated rice. In 4 bowls evenly divide ingredients & layer foods in this order (only if you want too.... any order is fine! :-) Green leafy vegetables, rice, and beans. Sprinkle any garnishes you would like on top! Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Stay tuned for Day 2 of our 30 days of Gluten Free Quick & Easy Meals tomorrow afternoon!

30 Days of Gluten Free Quick & Easy Meals

What: Quick and Easy Meals for the next 30 days!

When: June 7th - July 6th

Where: Gingerlemongirl.com

Would you like to contribute a guest post? Email me @ gingerlemongirl at gmail dot com

Posting Guidelines:
-Recipes need to be easily prepared in 20 minutes or less

-Gluten Free (of course!)
-A focus on whole foods, lots of fresh vegetables, whole grains, etc..
-Please use as little salt & sugar as possible
-If possible, please create meals that are dairy/casein & soy free
-Chicken, beef, healthy lean meat based main dishes are also welcome!

Why:

I taught a small gluten free baking class over the weekend. We baked a loaf of gluten free bread, made chocolate chip cookies, and just talked about gluten free living in general.

Laura asked "So what do you do for dinner?" Her question really intrigued me. It's so simple, yet it's something we face everyday.

I've learned to rely on using my pantry for quick dinners most nights, but I know this isn't as easy for people with children and have to get used to doing at least 5 things at once! (You moms out there really amaze me! I have a hard enough time keeping up with myself, my husband, and my cats! At this point in my life, I can't imagine adding children to the mix!)

So I thought it might be a fun experiment to chronicle our really quick dinners for the next 30 days. I am also welcoming ANYONE else who wants to contribute a post to this series!! Please email me at (gingerlemongirl at gmail dot com) to let me know you'd like to write a guest post for this series!

What I love about quick meals is that you can have a super easy dinner that's healthy, frugal, and delicious. No super expensive ingredients are necessary.

Our meals are mostly vegetarian, easy, and quick. Most of these meals take 20 minutes or less.

For a start, here are 3 meals that we already make a regular basis that are quick, easy, and delicious:

Super Easy Marinara Sauce - Serve over your favorite pasta and have a side salad!

Easy, Delicious Gluten Free Pancakes - Breakfast for dinner is one of our favorite meals!

Easy Gluten Free Stir Fry Recipe - Such an easy and delicious quick dinner!

Gluten Free Whole Grain Rosemary Garlic Pizza Crust Recipe

I really like easy recipes. My favorite recipes are the ones you just toss all the ingredients in a bowl, mix it up, throw it in the baking dish and you're done.

This recipe is sort of like that. A yeast-free (ie.. no rising time) gluten-free pizza crust that is very quick to throw together, shape on your baking sheet and you're good to go.

Another great thing about this crust is you can premix all the dry ingredients ahead of time and when you need a fast pizza just whip out the dry mix add the wet ingredients and in 5 minutes you have a pizza crust ready for baking.

How easy is that?

Summer calls for a fresh vegetable pizza. This pizza in particular is very vegetarian and almost raw. I guess it can't officially be a "raw" food since the crust is baked... but I think it's pretty darn close!

Eat your vegetables. Eat lots of them in the summer. Nearly all the vegetables on this pizza are from the CSA box we had last week.

My favorite way to make a veggie pizza is to simply bake the crust by itself. Then make a gluten free/dairy free "ranch" dressing, as your "pizza sauce" and then top it with fresh vegetables.

Done.

And then you can eat your vegetables for dinner! :-)



Whole Grain Rosemary Oregano Pizza Crust
(Gluten Free, Soy Free, Yeast Free, Egg Free, Vegan)
Created by Carrie @ Gingerlemongirl.com
Print-friendly version.

Dry Ingredients:
3/4 cup brown rice flour -or- millet flour
1/2 cup arrowroot flour
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoons crushed rosemary
1 teaspoon garlic powder

Wet Ingredients:
2 tablespoons ground flax seeds mixed with 1/3 cup hot water
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil

Optional Herbs:
1 teaspoon dried sweet basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon fennel seeds

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12" pizza pan with parchment paper. In a medium sized bowl whisk all dry ingredients together. Add any of the optional herbs to the dry ingredients. In a smaller bowl mix together all of the wet ingredients. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until you have a slightly sticky dough. Spread pizza dough in a large 12" circle using a spatula that's been spritzed with olive oil.

For a Traditional Pizza: Bake the crust alone for 10 minutes if you are adding traditional pizza ingredients. Remove from the oven. Add pizza sauce & toppings and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes. Yum!

For a Veggie Pizza: Bake crust for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven. Let cool 5 minutes and then add whatever type of sauce you want to use. Add veggies on top. Cut and serve! Yum!