Category: Main dishes

Easiest Enchiladas

These enchiladas were ridiculously easy.  I just skipped the whole rolling up part and put enchiladas on the top and bottom of everything.  There is real cheese pictured here.  You could either use real cheese, skip the cheese altogether, or use a dairy free “cheese”.

Ingredients:

1/2 bag of black beans, pre-cooked in crockpot (about 8 oz)

1 1/2 lb ground beef, cooked

1 onion, chopped

1 small can of Rotel (10 oz)

1 large can of Old El Paso Enchilada Sauce (28 oz)

1 can tomato sauce (8 oz)

12 corn tortillas

1 c. white cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese, or non-dairy cheese (optional)

 

Directions:

Pre-cook the beans and beef separately.  Reserve 1/4 of the can of enchilada sauce for later. Combine all ingredients except the tortillas and cheese in a skillet and cook until warm.  Grease a 9×13 pan.  Put 1/2 of reserved enchilada sauce on bottom of pan to help keep tortillas moist.  Lay down a layer of 6 tortillas.  Pour in all of the ground beef and bean mixture and 1/2 c. of cheese.  Put down a second layer of 6 tortillas.  Top with the remaining enchilada sauce and make sure to cover every piece of exposed tortilla with a little sauce.  Sprinkle remaining cheese on top.  Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.

 

Gnocci and Spaghetti Sauce

 

Our store carries gluten free gnocci.  If yours doesn’t, I’m sorry and the link at the bottom has  recipe for gnocci.  If you need to to be gluten free, I would probably just blend some brown rice flour, tapioca starch and potato flour together instead of the all-purpose flour, but I haven’t actually tried that so I don’t know how it would go…  If you can’t find gnocci or you don’t want to make it, you could sub in spaghetti or macaroni noodles.

 

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef

1 onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves

4 cans tomato sauce (8 oz each)

1 can diced tomatoes (15 oz)

1 tsp dried oregano (I used 1 T. fresh)

1 tsp dried basil (I used 1 T. fresh)

1/2 tsp dried rosemary (I used 1 T. fresh)

1 to 2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

 

Directions:

Brown ground beef.  Add all ingredients and allow to simmer for 15-20 minutes.  Boil gnocci until it floats to the top.  Scoop out the pieces that have floated to the top until all pieces are cooked.  Stir into meat sauce.

See this link for gnocci and the original meatsauce recipe:

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/gnocchi-with-meat-sauce

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Grilled Lamb Chops

This was my first time ever cooking any type of lamb.  This was a chance to use fresh herbs from my garden, but you could use dried herbs as well.  I ended up making 8 large lamb chops which was way too much for us.  However, if you are feeding several people and want some leftovers, it should work.  Otherwise, feel free to just add half of everything.  Also, this recipe is naturally gluten free and such, so no changes required!

 

Ingredients:

4 garlic cloved, minced

2 T. fresh rosemary

1 tsp fresh thyme and 3/4 tsp dried thyme

Pinch of cayenne pepper

2 tsp coarse sea salt

4 T. extra-virgin olive oil

8 large lamb shoulder chops

 

Directions:

Put olive oil and all spices in a blender and blend until all are minced.  Rub onto each lamb chop and marinate the lamb chops in the fridge for one hour.  I put them in a plastic container with a lid and any extra oil mixture.  When you take lamb chops out after an hour, start the grill and allow the lamb chops to sit out for 20 minutes.  Toss them on a really hot grill and cook until the outsides are done- about 2-3 minutes on the first side and 3-3.5 minutes on the second side.  Our lamb chops were really large, so we did it just one or two minutes longer per side.  We served them pretty rare but you can cook them longer if you want.  Just don’t overcook them!

 

Original recipe:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/grilled-lamb-chops-recipe.html

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Lentil Stew

My neighbors came over on a rainy day to play board games.  I tossed this in the crockpot and served it over rice.  Unfortunately I didn’t get a picture…

 

Ingredients:

7 c. chicken broth (or vegetable broth if vegetarian)

1 bag of lentils (about 2.5 cups)

2 cans tomato sauce (8 oz each)

1/2 onion, chopped

1 c. carrots, chopped

4-6 garlic cloves

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp pepper

 

Directions:

Put all ingredients in the crock pot and cook on low for 4-6 hours.

 

 

 

Adapted from the recipe on the back of the HEB bag of lentils.

Quick Korean BBQ

I have been looking for new ways to use ground beef.  This recipe was really simple and was quite different than our normal go-to’s of spaghetti, tacos, curry, etc.  The only specialty ingredient it needs is gluten free soy sauce.  I happened to have sesame oil on hand, but you might be able to sub in another oil.  I’m not sure how it would affect the taste though…  We ended up adding in some Asian veggies later and it turned into a nice 1-pot wonder.

Ingredients:

1/3 c. brown sugar

1/4 c. gluten free soy sauce

1 T. sesame oil

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

1 t. vegetable oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 pound ground beef

2 green onions, thinly sliced (it’s ok to use more if you have more around)

Cooked rice

 

Directions:

Stir together brown sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, red pepper flakes, and ginger.  Put vegetable oil in a large frying pan/skillet and heat over medium high heat.  Add garlic and stir for one minute.  Add beef and cook thoroughly, stirring to break it up.  Drain off the fat if you don’t want it and add the sauce mixture and green onions.  Cook for another 2 minutes and serve over rice.

Notes:

I actually made this from frozen, pre-cooked ground beef that I had cooked myself.  I freeze it in containers and then it makes the meal even quicker.  If you are doing likewise, just defrost it and make sure it warms up enough in the pan.

Original recipe: http://damdelicious.net/2013/07/07/korean-beef-bowl/

 

Chicken Salad

This is one of my go-to’s for camping, picnics, etc.  It is so simple and versatile.  It’s hard to find a sandwich bread on a store shelf that is gluten, dairy, and egg free and that won’t crumble apart around your sandwich and baking bread takes awhile, so this is my normal solution.  If you are really in a hurry, you can use canned chicken.

 

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked and shredded chicken.

~1/4 c. regular or vegan mayonnaise (Vegannaise and EarthBalance have vegan mayos and I think there are more brands out now)

1/4 c. craisins

salt and pepper to taste

dash of onion powder

1-2 tsp celery seed

Optional:  add-ins such as chopped celery, onion, green onion, etc.

 

Directions:

Shred chicken.  Add mayonnaise until it is the moistness you like in your chicken salad. Add salt and pepper to taste as well as onion powder and celery seed if desired. Add in mix-ins such as craisins, celery, etc.  May be eaten with crackers, inside half an avocado, on a sandwich, or just by itself.

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Teriyaki Chicken

You know those days where you’re down to little bits of leftovers that aren’t really a meal?  This was one of those days.  I had about a cup of cooked rice as well as a tiny bit of baked chicken leftover and I was not looking forward to lunch.  However, I remembered that I had a coupon for San-J sauce and I needed to go to the store anyway.  My meal was rescued and here is the result!  As mine was just one serving size, I am guessing as to the amount of ingredients you need.  The good news is that this is a very forgiving recipe and you can adjust it to your preferences.  I did mine in the microwave since it was just one serving, but you could do it on the stovetop also.

 

Ingredients:

3-4 cups cooked brown or white rice

1 pound baked chicken, cut into pieces

1 small bag of frozen stir-fry vegetables

1 bottle or less of San-J gluten free teriyaki sauce

 

Speedy Directions:

Cook rice according to directions on the bag or in a rice cooker.  You can cook your chicken now or use chicken you have pre-cooked and frozen.  Microwave frozen vegetables and warm up chicken.  Add all ingredients together in a bowl and serve.

Stovetop Directions:

Cook rice according to directions on the bag or in a rice cooker.  Cook chicken in a pan.  Add stir-fry veggies and stir until cooked.  Add cooked rice and sauce and stir until warm.

Notes:

For my single serving, these are the ingredient proportions I used:

1 c. cooked rice, handful of cooked chicken, 1 c. microwaved stir-fry veggies, 3-5 T. San-J teriyaki sauce.  I microwaved all the ingredients separately except for the sauce.  Then I combined all the ingredients and added the sauce and microwaved it just enough to warm up the sauce.

Cranberry Almond Salad

I recently went camping with some friends.  I didn’t want to spend a lot of time preparing meals, so I tossed together this salad.  My husband and I ate the same salad at home and had the opportunity to warm up the meat, so you could do the meat hot or cold.

 

Ingredients:

2 handfuls of spinach

2 leaves of leaf lettuce, chopped

2 T. craisins

1 T. sunflower seeds

1 T. slivered almonds

1 handful of broccoli, chopped

3-4 chunks of baked chicken

Dressing of your choice

 

Directions:

Wash spinach, lettuce, and broccoli.  Place in bowl and add craisins, almonds, and sunflower seeds.  Add chicken (either hot or cold).  Add dressing of your choice and eat!

 

Notes:

I oftentimes make the chicken ahead and freeze it. Then I can pull out small amounts as needed.  If you are taking this salad on a campout, I suggest storing the dressing separate from everything else.  I also put the craisins, almonds and sunflower seeds in a separate container so they wouldn’t get soggy.  Happy camping!

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Dressing shown is Ken Martin’s Sweet Vidalia Onion Dressing.  It looks creamy but it has no gluten, dairy, or eggs.  I don’t know what magic is in it to make it look creamy.  Sometimes it’s best not to ask :-).

Herbed Spaghetti Meatsauce

Spaghetti is one of my easy meals, but sometimes I want to make it just a little bit fancier without adding a lot more work.  We have fresh herbs growing in our garden and I am trying to get them into as many of our meals as possible.  You could add in any Italian herbs, but I added basil and rosemary because that is what I had.  Oregano would go well also.

 

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef

1 red pepper, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 jar of Classico spaghetti sauce (I think this was the Fire Roasted Garlic one, but any of the non meat or cheese ones will work)

Handful of basil, chopped

1 stem of rosemary, chopped

 

Directions:

Cook ground beef with pepper and onion.  Add the jar of spaghetti sauce along with herbs and cook until hot.  Serve over gluten free noodles.  The noodles shown are HEB’s gluten free spiral noodles.

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This is the meat sauce cooking.  The steam is fogging up my camera lens :-).

 

Hamburgers

I love hamburgers.  There is just something about chargrilled meat that reminds me of summers around a picnic table.  There are many complicated hamburger recipes out there, but personally I like when it is just beef.  That’s all.  It’s so ridiculously simple.  You can spice it up with your toppings.  You can always add more to your meat, but if you want a really simple recipe, this is it.

 

Ingredients:

2 pounds ground beef

Directions:

Shape meat into round patties.  You can do 4-6 patties with this amount of meat.  Put a small dent in the middle with your thumb.  This helps the center to cook evenly.

Turn on your grill (I used gas).  Get the temperature up to 450 degrees (higher temperature seals in juices and makes a juicy burger).  Place the burgers on the grill being careful not to get licked by the flames if it flares.  Close the lid and cook for about 10 minutes or until the edges are browning and the center no longer looks bright red (should still be a little pink).  Flip burgers over carefully.  There will be a lot of juice on top so it may flare up.  Cook for another 5-10 minutes.  Check one of the larger burgers to make sure it is cooked inside.  Serve on a bun or in a lettuce wrap.  Add whatever toppings you desire.  I enjoy pickles, ketchup, bacon, lettuce and tomato.  Guacamole or avocado adds a nice touch.

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