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What is a typical gluten free meal?

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There’s a lot of confusion about gluten free diets and meals, and some might be asking:  What is a “typical” gluten free meal?

Well first of all, just because one can’t eat wheat doesn’t mean there aren’t still thousands of other ingredients and combinations available!  In that sense, it could be almost impossible to declare a typical or normal meal, but I can at least show you what kind of dinner is fairly typical for myself when I don’t particularly feel like cooking anything that takes effort.

A gluten free meal of steak, fried potato, and steamed vegetables

Nothing too fancy here, just the basics:  A small piece of flat iron steak, a few steak fries (Ore Ida), and a carrot steamed with a head of broccoli.  There’s a pretty nice slice of butter sitting on the vegetables, a bit of Cattleman’s Classic BBQ sauce (also gluten free), as well as a little salt and a whole lot of freshly cracked pepper on top of everything.

As you can see, this isn’t terrible different from a typical meal for anyone, whether or not they’re intolerant of wheat protein.

Cooking a gluten free meal can be easy

For this meal, there really aren’t that many steps.  First of all, peel and slice the carrots then break up a head of broccoli in to the steamer pot with them.  Wash it up, cover the lid, and then just let it sit on a low to medium heat while the other stuff cooks.

Carrots and broccoli in a steaming pot

For the steak and fries, just lightly cover the surface of a frying pan with some peanut oil, then cook for about 10 to 15 minutes on each side at a medium temperature.

A flat iron steak and steak fries in a frying pan

Once it is cooked, season and enjoy!  The vegetables are great with just a bit of butter and salt, and as you can see from the first picture I just love to put black pepper on everything!

Total prep time is about 5 minutes or less, and total cooking time is about 30 minutes or just a little bit less.

So next time you find yourself trying to cook a gluten free meal, don’t despair!  Just make sure the cooking surfaces are clean from any potential cross contamination, and try a recipe that doesn’t stray too far from fresh ingredients.

Food

Steak & Bacon (And Cheese)

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Gluten is completely off-limits.  A crumb or cross-contaminated spoon is way too much for me to handle.  Soy is OK, I can tolerate it so long as it isn’t a lot of protein isolate like the type you find in vegan meat & cheese imitations.  I’m not a big fan of beans, either.

This brings me to tonight’s dinner.  Just like the title says: chuck-eye steak wrapped in maple bacon, covered in melted mozzarella cheese and dunked in BBQ sauce.  Yeah.

Other than a side of steamed broccoli and cauliflower,  it was a carnivore’s feast.  I’m not trying to say its good for me or not I don’t know.  I do know that I don’t get the pains that accompany various vegetables and grains like wheat.  I know I can eat about two pounds of beef and just a few green, leafy vegetables and feel pretty darn good.

Unfortunately, cholesterol can be a problem even when you’re at a low weight.  I’m sure someday I’ll wish I had thought of that earlier… For now, my high meat, high fat diet has brought me down to the lowest weight I’ve been in 10 years – I have more energy and I need less sleep – and I can thank being gluten-free!

Food

Rice Fettucini Alfredo

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I hadn’t tried anything new since the last post, but I *am* currently working on my third pan of gluten-free walnut brownies.  These things are great!  I’ve tried the mix with butter and oil, and I think I definitely prefer the butter’s flavor.

After Christmas, my newest experiment was gluten-free rice pasta.  Fettucini Alfredo is one of my favorites and one of the meals I have missed the most, so it became my aim.  I readied my new Christmas gifts, some pots and a steamer, and I set out too steam broccoli, boil pasta, and bake some chicken.   The broccoli was lightly coated in butter and a few dashes of garlic pepper, the chicken was prepared in the same way.

Other than the baking time on the chicken (ya always gotta cook the chicken right!), the meal takes about 10-15 minutes of active work.  Most of that is walking to and from the kitchen to set the next phase or stir the pasta.  Once the pasta is cooked, I added the broccoli and the alfredo sauce and set it covered on a low simmer.

Then you can basically walk away again until the chicken is done and add that to the mix!

Who said a  gluten-free diet meant going without the starchy foods you love?  Just be careful when you’re picking out the substitute product and remember that “wheat-free” is not always the same thing as “gluten-free.”