Lunch with no grains or peanuts?

[Slache]

The boy seems to have a sensitive stomach so we're eliminating some things. No leftovers because we have leftover dinner for dinner. It needs to be inexpensive. We're assuming at this point that his grain problem is my grain problem so rice and quinoa are still on the table for now. I'm hoping for something I can make a big batch of on Sunday and be done for the week. I'm thinking salad or mixed veggies with beans and rice or egg/chicken/tuna salad.

[catz]

I will say if we are having busy weeks, I poach 3-4 chicken breasts in an instant pot to use for lunches throughout the week.  Use them in green salads, chicken salad, quicky stir fry with rice, etc.

[mmasc]

Pepperoni slices and cheese, with olives or pickles is a regular for us. 

[Bambam]

Fried rice. Use eggs for the protein and toss in frozen veggies.

[HomeAgain]

Ds will eat the following for lunch happily:

-Stir fry vegetables w/egg over rice.
-Black beans, fried plantains, coconut rice, cilantro-lime chicken
-chili
-falafel, yogurt sauce, cucumber-tomato salad
-quiche & salad
-baked sweet potato & turkey roll-ups
-meatballs (dh will make up a huge batch)
-potato soup.  I make it with a roux, but maybe can be made with potato flour instead?
-grilled chicken.  We'll do up a few breasts at a time and slice them to use with all sorts of things. Or dh will smoke up some meat to serve cold for lunches.

[Soror]

1 hour ago, HomeAgain said:

Ds will eat the following for lunch happily:

-Stir fry vegetables w/egg over rice.
-Black beans, fried plantains, coconut rice, cilantro-lime chicken
-chili
-falafel, yogurt sauce, cucumber-tomato salad
-quiche & salad
-baked sweet potato & turkey roll-ups
-meatballs (dh will make up a huge batch)
-potato soup.  I make it with a roux, but maybe can be made with potato flour instead?
-grilled chicken.  We'll do up a few breasts at a time and slice them to use with all sorts of things. Or dh will smoke up some meat to serve cold for lunches.

I need the deets on the black bean, coconut rice etc pretty please!

How about Buddha bowls, endless combinations filling, healthy, and cheap. 

[mmasc]

1 hour ago, HomeAgain said:

Ds will eat the following for lunch happily:

-Stir fry vegetables w/egg over rice.
-Black beans, fried plantains, coconut rice, cilantro-lime chicken
-chili
-falafel, yogurt sauce, cucumber-tomato salad
-quiche & salad
-baked sweet potato & turkey roll-ups
-meatballs (dh will make up a huge batch)
-potato soup.  I make it with a roux, but maybe can be made with potato flour instead?
-grilled chicken.  We'll do up a few breasts at a time and slice them to use with all sorts of things. Or dh will smoke up some meat to serve cold for lunches.

How do you make coconut rice? Recipe? 

[HomeAgain]

12 hours ago, soror said:

I need the deets on the black bean, coconut rice etc pretty please!

How about Buddha bowls, endless combinations filling, healthy, and cheap. 

Okay, this is my lazy cooking.  Dh is amazing, but I was taught much differently than him, so I use a lot more short cuts.

Coconut rice: 1 cup of long grain or jasmine rice, 1 can of coconut milk+water to make it two cups of liquid, large pinch of sea salt.  Throw everything in a pan, bring to a soft boil, reduce heat to super low or turn off for the next twenty minutes to let the rice absorb the liquid.

Black beans: I make about a tablespoon of an almost-sofrito with finely chopped garlic, onion, bell pepper (or any green pepper in my fridge), tossing in some cilantro & salt. This gets cooked up on medium-low for a few minutes in the bottom of a pot with oil to be aromatic.  A can of drained black beans goes in with a bay leaf and just enough water to let it simmer.  When the rice is done I remove the bay leaf, add about a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to brighten the flavor, and mash the beans around a bit to make the liquid thicker.  (And yes, you can totally substitute the beginning ingredients with powdered when you add beans& water if needed.)

Fried plantains: we eat the black ones.  Green are too mealy.  I cut them at an angle in 1/2 slices, toss them with a little olive oil and salt, and pan fry them. 

I can make the rice and black beans totally ahead of time and either serve at room temp or heated in the microwave, but the plantains only take me a few minutes.


Buddha bowls are a great idea, too!  I'm going to have to try that next time we have leftovers at the end of the week.  Right now my go-to leftover method is stir fry.  We made apple-cabbage slaw last week and ended up with way too much green cabbage along with the other veggies.  Last night got to be stir fry w/shaved beef and all the leftovers in the fridge.

[Soror]

17 minutes ago, HomeAgain said:

Okay, this is my lazy cooking.  Dh is amazing, but I was taught much differently than him, so I use a lot more short cuts.

Coconut rice: 1 cup of long grain or jasmine rice, 1 can of coconut milk+water to make it two cups of liquid, large pinch of sea salt.  Throw everything in a pan, bring to a soft boil, reduce heat to super low or turn off for the next twenty minutes to let the rice absorb the liquid.

Black beans: I make about a tablespoon of an almost-sofrito with finely chopped garlic, onion, bell pepper (or any green pepper in my fridge), tossing in some cilantro & salt. This gets cooked up on medium-low for a few minutes in the bottom of a pot with oil to be aromatic.  A can of drained black beans goes in with a bay leaf and just enough water to let it simmer.  When the rice is done I remove the bay leaf, add about a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to brighten the flavor, and mash the beans around a bit to make the liquid thicker.  (And yes, you can totally substitute the beginning ingredients with powdered when you add beans& water if needed.)

Fried plantains: we eat the black ones.  Green are too mealy.  I cut them at an angle in 1/2 slices, toss them with a little olive oil and salt, and pan fry them. 

I can make the rice and black beans totally ahead of time and either serve at room temp or heated in the microwave, but the plantains only take me a few minutes.


Buddha bowls are a great idea, too!  I'm going to have to try that next time we have leftovers at the end of the week.  Right now my go-to leftover method is stir fry.  We made apple-cabbage slaw last week and ended up with way too much green cabbage along with the other veggies.  Last night got to be stir fry w/shaved beef and all the leftovers in the fridge.

thank you so much, sounds yummy!

[gardenmom5]

phad thai.  it uses rice noodles.

I have phad thai on the brain right now.   

 

you could also make spaghetti and use spaghetti squash "noodles" instead of pasta.

[ikslo]

Doesn’t Phad Thai usually have peanuts? If you make a peanut-free version at home, make sure the child learns that versions outside of the home have peanuts if peanuts are an issue.

[katilac]

18 hours ago, FuzzyCatz said:

I will say if we are having busy weeks, I poach 3-4 chicken breasts in an instant pot to use for lunches throughout the week.  Use them in green salads, chicken salad, quicky stir fry with rice, etc.

This is a great idea, and much more appealing to me than a big batch of something to eat all week. I love egg salad, but the thought of eating it five days in a row is rather gag-inducing. 

Ground beef isn't quite as versatile, maybe, but you can do variations on tacos/nachos plus pasta. 

Just pack the cooked meat in reasonable portions for each day. 

I know the OP said they eat leftover dinner for dinner (so can't have it for lunch), but, if you like those things, simply make double batches sometimes and portion out in the freezer. In just a few weeks, you have a variety of choices ready to go in the freezer and you can eat different things for lunch and dinner. 

[happi duck]

Chickpea salad is made just like tuna salad except with smashed chickpeas instead of tuna.  I use my stand mixer with the paddle to mash.  Before that I mashed them with a potato masher.

I like baked potatoes leftover, even cold.  I especially like them with salsa, sour cream, and beans.  I used to bake an entire bagful at a time.

[sweet2ndchance]

Like Happi Duck mentioned, baked potato bar with whatever toppings you want are a popular lunch here.

Make any kind of soup or stew that your family likes and freeze it in individual portions. Have a frozen supply of several different soups that everyone can pick their favorite for lunch. Serve with fruit or maybe rice cakes?

Beans and rice has always been one of my favorite lunches. Before I had to cut out tomatoes due to allergies, I made quick and dirty beans and rice. I would just mix a can of black beans, a cup of jarred salsa and either a tsp of taco seasoning or just cumin if I didn't have taco seasoning. Then heat it on the stove. If we had fresh garlic and cilantro on hand I would add that too, to taste. Once it was hot and bubbly, I would serve it over cooked rice (fresh or reheated depending on what I had on hand) with some grated cheese and a dallop of sour cream. Easy, cheap, quick and filling.

My husband and my son love chili cheese tater tot casserole. It goes together fast, is great reheated, and can be frozen in batches so all you need to do is pop it in the oven about an hour before lunch time. This recipe is pretty close to how I make it but without the hot dogs (but it could be good with the hot dogs too). There are lots of variations on tater tot casserole so you could make any type that suits your family.

Are corn tortillas okay or is it a grain in your case? If you can use corn tortillas you can make tons of mexican food inspired dishes for lunch.

Again, if corn is an option, corndogs might be something you could do from time to time just for something fun and different. Also corn bread, made from scratch, with non-wheat flour, ahead of time and frozen, could be something used as a side to chili or soup depending on whether or not you can do corn.

Sheppard's Pie, made ahead and frozen in portions, is another favorite lunch here. 

Tater tot nachos. Make nachos but substitute tater tots for the chips. Could be done similar to the baked potato bar where everyone makes their plate how they want.

[sweet2ndchance]

My son just reminded me of taco rice! Believe it or not, I was first introduced to this in Japan. It's very popular "international food" in some circles in Japan lol.

The way they make it in Japan, just make taco salad with all the trimmings (sans chips or tortillas)  on a bed of plain rice. 

Curry, made with Golden Curry blocks and the poached chicken breasts someone else mentioned, could be a cheap easy lunch over rice. I'm not sure if Golden Curry is peanut free and grain free though and I don't have any at the moment to easily check. If it isn't, you could make passable curry sauce by buying or making brown gravy that suits your dietary restrictions and adding curry spice blend to it to taste. Not quite the same, but it is close and does fine in a pinch.

[mmasc]

On 8/12/2019 at 6:19 AM, HomeAgain said:

Okay, this is my lazy cooking.  Dh is amazing, but I was taught much differently than him, so I use a lot more short cuts.

Coconut rice: 1 cup of long grain or jasmine rice, 1 can of coconut milk+water to make it two cups of liquid, large pinch of sea salt.  Throw everything in a pan, bring to a soft boil, reduce heat to super low or turn off for the next twenty minutes to let the rice absorb the liquid.

Black beans: I make about a tablespoon of an almost-sofrito with finely chopped garlic, onion, bell pepper (or any green pepper in my fridge), tossing in some cilantro & salt. This gets cooked up on medium-low for a few minutes in the bottom of a pot with oil to be aromatic.  A can of drained black beans goes in with a bay leaf and just enough water to let it simmer.  When the rice is done I remove the bay leaf, add about a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to brighten the flavor, and mash the beans around a bit to make the liquid thicker.  (And yes, you can totally substitute the beginning ingredients with powdered when you add beans& water if needed.)

Fried plantains: we eat the black ones.  Green are too mealy.  I cut them at an angle in 1/2 slices, toss them with a little olive oil and salt, and pan fry them. 

I can make the rice and black beans totally ahead of time and either serve at room temp or heated in the microwave, but the plantains only take me a few minutes.


Buddha bowls are a great idea, too!  I'm going to have to try that next time we have leftovers at the end of the week.  Right now my go-to leftover method is stir fry.  We made apple-cabbage slaw last week and ended up with way too much green cabbage along with the other veggies.  Last night got to be stir fry w/shaved beef and all the leftovers in the fridge.

Made the black beans and rice this week...SO YUMMY! I can’t believe how flavorful it is! Thank you for the recipe. 😊