Gluten and Dairy Free Lunchbox, Part 2

What's For Lunch???? Continued...

The picture above is my husband's lunchbox and a sample lunch idea. The sandwich to the left is my lunch yesterday. It is a raw bread with avocado and tomato slices and sliced white onions seasoned with sea salt and fresh ground pepper. The recipe is below as well.



We use a stainless steel thermos that we fill with hot water for 5 minutes, drain and then fill with warmed soup, stew or chili. This keeps the food warm for lunch without using the microwave which saves time and precious nutrients that might otherwise be destroyed by the microwave.


The thermos is filled with Lolita's Spicy Black Bean Soup with a tossed salad. The recipes will be found below.


Notes: Try to avoid lunch meats with nitrites, it is a known carcinogen. Boar's Head does have nitrites but is gluten free.


Other ideas for sandwiches, use fillings you enjoy.

• Cabbage, collard green or lettuce leaves, fill with lunch meat, egg, tuna or chicken salad.
  
• Omelets, beat 2-3 eggs with 1 Tbsp. water and pour into oiled non-stick skillet over medium heat, do not fold, flip and cook on both sides. Make in advance if you like and use parchment or wax paper to keep omelets separate until ready to use.
  
• GF Indian Lentil wraps is a great recipe at Living Without, a GF magazine that deals with other food intolerances as well. Here's another GF wrap recipe found on that site as well.
  
• Brown rice wraps, can be found in health food stores usually in the freezer section. They do need to be warmed prior to using in a microwave for 15 seconds or over steam if you can get it. Do not put mustard, avocado or mayo on to these wraps and expect to eat it quickly because they get soft fast, within 5-10 minutes. Better to take the ingredients and prepare prior to eating. I like to spread avocado on mine, sprinkle on seasoned sea salt, pepper and add romaine lettuce, lunch meat and red onions. I roll it up and eat it quickly.
  

Full Meal Salads:

• Salad nicoise, lettuce (romaine), tuna, olives, steamed/boiled small red potatoes
  
• Chef salad, choice of lunch meat, veggies, fruits, onions, or olives.
  
• Caesar salad, feel free to add olives, protein, and more veggies.

Other Ideas:

• Faux lunchables, cut up turkey, ham, or chicken, GF crackers, condiments such as Dijon mustard, pickles, grapes/dried fruits, and/or olives.
  
• Cut up veggies, fruits, GF crackers, homemade bean dip, hummus or refried (without hydrogenated oils) beans
  
• Apple with nut butter, cut an apple in half, remove core and fill with nut butter. If your child's school is nut restricted you can use sunbutter. This is also a great breakfast or snack idea!
  
• Coconut yogurt parfait, you can make your own yogurt or purchase So Delicious Dairy Free Yogurt and add fruits that you like.
  
• Raw parfait--this is a recipe from my GFCF menu planner, enjoy! Serve with your favorite fruits. Layer with pudding and fruits alternating layers.
  

Fruit Parfait--this will serve six.

• 4 ripe, refrigerated avocados
• 3/4 c. nut milk
• 2 Tbsp. fresh orange juice
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
• pinch sea salt
• 2 Tbsp. Agave nectar
• 4 c. of berries or cut up fruit such as peaches, apples, pears, bananas, grapes or some combination

In a food processor, place avocados and orange juice, process until smooth. Add salt, vanilla and Agave nectar, continue to process, slowly add nut milk until it has a pudding consistency. Divide among 6 bowls or cups, alternating the avocado pudding with fruit. Serve.




Lolita's Spicy Black Bean Soup
Serves 6

This recipe was inspired by my naturopath, Jodi Winter who also is an avid raw foodist. This is not a raw recipe but it is high fiber, quick and delicious! She suggested a can of black beans and diced tomatoes pureed and warmed. So here is my spin on her great idea!

• 2 cans of black beans drained and rinsed
• 2 cans of lentils, undrained
• 2 cans of Rotel or diced tomatoes with juice (can use one can hot and one mild for spicier soup)
• 1 Tbsp. chili powder
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. coriander

Puree black beans and tomatoes. Add seasonings, lentils and warm. Place in thermos for lunch.



Tossed salad
Serves 1

• 5-6 lettuce leaves of choice, I used red leaf, chopped or torn into bite size pieces
• 1/3 of cucumber cut into sticks
• 1 tomato chopped

Toss all and serve with dressing of choice.



Raw Open Face Sandwich
Serves 1

Matt Amsden's Onion Bread from Rawvolution, I used my oven for this recipe. I greased a large, foil lined cookie sheet and spread the batter thick about 1/4 inch. The lowest temperature the oven went to was 170F, I leave the door open a crack to hopefully reduce the temperature to that of the dehydrator's low temperatures. I left it in overnight and in the am flipped the bread, remove the foil and put it in for another 12 hours. If you leave it in for more than 24hours it will be more dry and cracker like. I enjoy the chewy consistency of bread. Your oven may turn off on its own after 8-12 hours. You may need to turn off the oven and turn it on again.


I took a piece of this bread, laid slices from half an avocado, thin onion slices and 4 thin tomato slices on top. Seasoned with sea salt and fresh ground pepper.

The Gluten and Dairy Free Lunchbox

Making lunch for yourself and your kids can be a chore when the days of slapping together a sandwich or grabbing a yogurt are no longer available. I don't miss bread very often except in Middle Eastern restaurants as I watch soft, warm pita breads bask on patrons tables in front of a plate of yummy hummus but I digress...... I realize lately that I miss the convenience of grabbing a bagel or cookie when I just need a quick bite. Being gluten free makes that an impossibility. There are some great raw food cookies/bars at natural food stores that can stand in, but those stores are not as readily available as many retail chains that have those convenience foods. I am not suggesting those foods are healthy by any stretch of the imagination. I would love for those places to have healthy, gluten free alternatives, but that is not a common place reality. Anyway no more pity party today.

Planning and Budgeting

What to make for lunch? There's always the stand in of leftovers and I specifically plan my weekly menu plan which includes breakfast, lunch and dinner with a few snack ideas for the week to avoid eating out or eating things that are not good for us. I plan some of my dinners to become planned leftovers such as Butternut Curry Squash Soup or Cobb Salad. Soup makes a great breakfast by the way!

When we think about lunch, we have to get outside of the breadbox. This means to avoid focusing on bread related foods all the time. You can of course purchase gluten free breads or make them yourself, but this can add unnecessary carbohydrates to your midsection. It can also lead you away from more exciting choices.

If you are needing frugal, but healthy choices, try to rotate the same lunch menu staples each week so that you can stock up when those items are on sale and you will have a basic idea of how much it is costing you each week.

Here is an example: Mondays, Tuna, crackers, carrots and fruit/ Tuesday, chef salad, crackers, apple/ Wednesday, Egg salad, celery, tomatoes and carrots, brown rice wraps/ Thursday Leftovers, fruit and salad/ Friday Waldorf salad, banana and cookie.

Let's say this lunch menu costs $20.00 a week for a family of 6. This is helpful to me because there is limited work and planning involved. The basic cost doesn't fluctuate too much, in fact the cost can go down because when tuna is on sale for 50 cents a can, I can stock up on that item. This is how my costs can go down in the future. I can also purchase my gluten free whole grain crackers for example from Costco and calculate the cost over the month which can reduce my weekly expenses on lunch.

This is just a basic food plan. You can put your favorites in there and rotate the menu. You can also vary the fruits and vegetables to accommodate what is in season and on sale.

Adult and Kid Friendly Ideas

Tuna salad (if you can't have mayonnaise try oil and vinegar instead)
Egg salad
Chicken salad with celery, grapes and scallions

Pair these salads with gluten free crackers or wrap in large lettuce/cabbage leaves, hold in place with a toothpick. Probably better to make these prior to eating and bring all the ingredients in separate containers. These salads can also be served on top of a bed of greens, in a tomato that has had the flesh taken out (can use in salad or save for broth, juicing, pasta sauce or soup), a zucchini boat, other squash that has been baked such as acorn filled with chicken salad or half of a red bell pepper.

Kabobs always a kid and adult favorite

Take toothpicks and thread chunks of turkey ham, chicken or any other meat (save money and avoid chemicals such as nitrites if you bake these meats yourself) alternating with fruit and vegetables. Gently cooked squash chunks, raw peppers, zucchini, grape/cherry tomatoes, onions, olives, grapes, apple chunks, cherries, berries, peaches, and celery.

To be continued next week..........